121–130 of 641 posts
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Yes the J&J shot still works using only the spike protein. IIRC only Novavax uses traditional inoculation of using the weakened SARS-CoV-2 virus.
weakened how?
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Herd immunity happens long before we are all infected. Less than 40% of the US population is completely unvaccinated, which means we can open up more without overwhelming hospitals. That does put the unvaccinated at increased risks, but the general public is seemingly unwilling to continue lockdowns to protect people choosing not to be vaccinated. If ~85% is needed for herd immunity then we could be rapidly approachi…
With an R0 of about 6 for the Delta variant, herd immunity won't provide a meaningful level of protection for most people. Herd immunity works with less contagious diseases because susceptible individuals can go their whole lives without exposure. But with SARS-CoV-2 now being endemic worldwide we'll all eventually get exposed, it's just a question of when. So the smart move is for everyone to protect themselves by g…
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There's math you can do to roughly judge impact of partial vaccination. If R0 is six, and you're looking at hospitalization, estimate vaccine efficacy for Delta at around 90% (I've seen estimates above and below that). Taking your estimate of a 60% vaccination rate: 6 * (1 - (.6 * .9)) = 2.76 2.76 is the effective Rt, which is far above 1, so no, that is not enough to open up more without eventually overwhelming hosp…
2.76 assumes normal conditions, social distancing literally changes the equation. Mask use for example pushes that down. It’s easier to get below 1 with a 50% vaccination rate than a 0% rate. Meaning we can open up more without overwhelming hospitals.
Since the deadliest virus mutations kill their hosts, weaker virus mutations can spread (without killing their hosts) more quickly. US deaths peaked in January 2021, before Delta became prevalent in the US, before substantial vaccination, https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/#graph-... US daily vaccines peaked in April 2021, https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/us-daily-covid-vaccine-do... India (origin…
Deaths are down because we vaccinated all the old people who were dying in the first waves
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Take Vitamin D/C/Zinc/Niacin and build up natural immunity?
It's sad that this comment (and probably mine) downvoted despite being a reasonable long-term response to this virus. Instead of mandating this vaccine worldwide, why don't we focus on collectively building a better / stronger health that would prevent the large majority of severe cases?
I see the sentiment here expressed, that Covid is far from over. To be honest, I stopped following news since being fully vaccinated some time ago, so I am kind of ignorant here. Is the main problem, the unvaccinated, or that the Delta (and co.) variants are still, too dangerous for vaccinated people? Or is it the fear, that they will get more dangerous?
The main problem is that the U.S. federal government in particular has been pretending for a while that we can get to zero COVID, then blaming the unvaccinated when it doesn't happen. First, they said we need 50% vaccination to achieve, herd immunity. Then 60%. Then 70%. Then 80%. When things don't work out, they vilify and blame the unvaccinated. In reality, unvaccinated with natural immunity are likely more protect…
Given the vaccine is not approved for people under 12, there's no way it could be 90%, as 28% of their population is 0-14 years old: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel#Age_str...
Covid is going to be endemic like the flu and cold. It's not going to be eradicated, unfortunately, and I don't think we've come to terms with this yet. Now what's our plan exactly? Get vaccinated every 6 - 12 months indefinitely and always wear masks? What's our goal and what's our new normal?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7252012/
https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/175...
Eventually almost all of us will be infected by some variant of SARS-CoV-2. Fortunately the vaccines are very effective at preventing death.
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genetic sequencing is pretty cheap these days.
Is it to the price level (e.g. under $1K) where an individual patient could pay a lab to sequence their own virus sample? How about the cost of sequencing one drop of the vaccine vial they received, as a quality control sample of the distribution supply chain?
Sure. It'll run under $50 in bulk. Less, but not that much less, if you're only interested in sequencing the spike.
> How about the cost of sequencing one drop of the vaccine vial they received, as a quality control sample of the distribution supply chain?
This isn't a useful quality check. A negative result implicates your field assay rather than manufacturing.
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It's sad that this comment (and probably mine) downvoted despite being a reasonable long-term response to this virus. Instead of mandating this vaccine worldwide, why don't we focus on collectively building a better / stronger health that would prevent the large majority of severe cases?
It is downvoted because it's pseudo-science.
Covid is going to be endemic like the flu and cold. It's not going to be eradicated, unfortunately, and I don't think we've come to terms with this yet. Now what's our plan exactly? Get vaccinated every 6 - 12 months indefinitely and always wear masks? What's our goal and what's our new normal?
Why indefinitely? If that was the case we would need shots for the other cold viruses as well, which we don't. As you say, Sars-2 will turn into an endemic virus and thus we will get used to it over time, death rates will drop and it will turn into a cold. There is absolutely no historic precedent to think it will turn out differently.