591–600 of 717 posts
Interesting. So far the Omicron variant has shown itself to be mild with minimal hospitalizations and 0 reported deaths worldwide. Is there even a need to vaccinate at all? It would seem this is the variant we would want to spread worldwide and let it take over the more dangerous strains.
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That’s a weird way to phrase your second paragraph, considering hospitals have been close to full very recently in parts of the us. https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/hospital-utilization
Hospitals are not designed to be empty, though. So you can’t just point to 80% full ICU beds and say a hospital is overwhelmed. Is there any data showing ICU beds filled above carrying capacity? Or number of patients transferred to a different hospital due to bed shortage?
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I got the flu when I was in my late 20s. Up until that point, in common I suspect with most teens and twenty-somethings, I had thought myself pretty much indestructible, so would never have even thought about getting a flu vaccine - I thought that was only for the old and vulnerable. However, since that experience, I try and get one every year - even if you are young and healthy it can be pretty rough, and why risk h…
> about whether catching something gives you better protection than having a vaccine It's also medically incorrect. When you get a vaccine you are literally getting a live virus injected into you. There's no difference for your immune system. One isn't "fake" and the other "natural". Period. To your point, viruses mutate and so similar to the flu and flu vaccine, if COVID-19 continues to mutate in ways that are diffe…
This is false for the mRNA vaccines according to the CDC:
mRNA vaccines do not use the live virus that causes COVID-19 and cannot cause infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 or other viruses.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different...
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The linked article both describes the mechanism and has plenty of recent references observing and studying the effect whether or not you think it makes sense. The general mechanism is that recognition of the antigen by memory B cells produces a response that also inhibits (non-memory) B cells from reacting to the antigen. So when the antigen has drifted enough that memory B cells still recognize it, but the antibodie…
Eventually you clear the infection in most cases. How do you think that happens?
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No there is not strong evidence. The Israeli study highlighted previous infection versus vaccinated but not (yet) infected. Note the "previously infected" category did not exclude the vaccinated, but the vaccinated category did exclude the previously infected. The only solid conclusion to make from that is: that even if you have been previously infected, get a vaccine.
> The Israeli study highlighted previous infection versus vaccinated Yes, they did this, and showed that natural infection was superior to vaccination alone. > but not (yet) infected. Incorrect. > Note the "previously infected" category did not exclude the vaccinated, but the vaccinated category did exclude the previously infected. No. You only have to read the link to see that your understanding of the study is enti…
"the higher hospitalization rate in the 32,000-person analysis was based on just eight hospitalizations in a vaccinated group and one in a previously infected group. And the 13-fold increased risk of infection in the same analysis was based on just 238 infections in the vaccinated population, less than 1.5% of the more than 16,000 people, versus 19 reinfections among a similar number of people who once had SARS-CoV-2."
These numbers are very small for distinguishing between the effectiveness of two different and effective immunization methods (natural and vaccine). By now, we should have more data to support if the effect size is that strong. Do we?
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> Omicron deaths are still at zero Omicron hasn't been around long enough to expect many deaths yet. Even the optimists need to wait a few more weeks.
Plenty of evidence that Omicron has been around for a substantial period of time. I believe the lower bound is at least a month in the US and Europe at this point, presumably longer at the point of origin.
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Not the same. They are not giving advice or recommendations, they are reporting the results of a study. That's the beauty of a good scientific study: you do not have to trust the author. In fact don't, the more people try to find errors the better.
General Mills had studies showing sugary cereals are a part of a healthy diet.
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> The vaccine hasn't stopped spread in rich countries, why would it do so in poor countries? It has greatly slowed the spread. The highest vaccinated countries have almost stopped it. There is every reason to believe that high vaccination across the world would stop covid, and anything less will ensure continued spread (and mutations). People demanding an all or nothing from a vaccine are missing the big picture.
The highest vaccinated countries have almost stopped it? Israel had among the highest vaccination rates in the world prior to its most recent peak, which has now declined. Other countries are going through the same thing. There is only a very rough/weak correlation between vaccination rate and positive cases.
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How much of your comfort in these drugs is based on who is holding power wherever you may reside? I don't really know what you are talking about with the murder analogy. Obviously the uncomfortable issue at play here is the duality of: Your right to swing your arms ends at my face or whatever. Who's doing what to who here? Are you punching me with the mandate or am I punching you with my hypothetical infection and hy…
> How much of your comfort in these drugs is based on who is holding power wherever you may reside? Literally zero. I know enough about science and economics to know that the US president has no bearing on the efficacy of the COVID vaccine whatsoever, just like politicians have exactly zero bearing on how well the flu vaccine works or how well Ibuprofen works. > Your right to swing your arms ends at my face or whatev…
https://covid19pulse.usc.edu/ (granted the numbers have been going down recently, but it still illustrates the hysteria quite well)
And I also wouldn't trust big pharma to have my best interest in mind.