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Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

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Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#701

Post by throwaway2037 »

st1ck wrote: post #696
throwaway2037 wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wrote: > I double checked on Wiki. There are two founders -- husband and wife. While both have Turkish heritage, only one is a Turkish immigrant. To be fair, I agree with the overall sentiment of your comment! Husband: Uğur Şahin was born in Turkey, and immigrated to Germany at age 4 Wife: Özlem Türeci was born in Germany. Her parents immigrated to Germany from Turkey. If anyone is interested to learn more about…

You can say one is 1st generation immigrant, and other is 2nd gen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrant_generations

Sorry, but I need to push back against this sentiment. Where is the limit? It strikes me as exclusionary, and many other young, educated Germans have agreed with me on this specific point. When I lived in California, I met Chinese Americans who had lived in the United States longer than my family (1850s, 5+ generations). With a purely reductionist view, does everyone remain an immigrant in the United States ad infinitum except Native Americans? Is that also true in Malaysia, Canada, Peru, Taiwan, Brazil, New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia from their/your cultural view? It strikes me as "Ad Absurdum". To really stir the pot: Considering the recent Black Lives Matter movement, are all African descent people absolutely and continuously for all eternity "immigrants" where ever they live away from the African continent? Repeat for the descendents of the Indian subcontinent, whom form one of the largest diasporas in human history. I have watched and read multiple interviews with Özlem Türeci, and, each time, she specifically pushes back against this posturing: "Oh, but you are 'truly' Turkish."

Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#702

Post by throwaway2037 »

ulfw wrote: post #583
throwaway2037 wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doses of BioNTech vaccine distributed by gov'ts in Hongkong and Macao were manufactored by Fosun Pharma. As vaccination rate has dropped dramatically since the initial rush, I don't know if Fosun Pharma is still manufacturing the BioNTech vaccine. Weirdly, I still don't think any foreign made vaccines are approved in mainland China. Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosun_Pharma#COVID-19 I cannot find any reference…

That is not true. All BioNTech doses used in Hong Kong were manufactured by Baxter in Germany for BioNTech and then distributed in HK by Fosun. Latest: https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202110/16/P2021101600482... (they keep falsely claiming Baxter to be a city in Germany. It's a company that manufactures for BioNTech, not a city. https://www.baxter.com/ )

I found more: https://www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/en/faq

60. Where is the Comirnaty vaccine supplied to Hong Kong produced? How to ensure the quality of vaccines supplied to Hong Kong?

According to the information provided by Fosun Pharma, the Comirnaty vaccines for Hong Kong will be produced in Germany. Click here to read the package insert.

The vaccine manufacturer must comply with the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, or equivalent. The imported vaccine also has a Certificate of Analysis to prove that it meets the specifications. >>

Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#703

Post by dang »

beervirus wrote: post #515
ostenning wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No its not fine because not everyone reacts well to these vaccines. I know numerous people, including myself, that have had crippling heart inflammation after their second dose. I can apply for an exemption but ultimately that does little for what rights I am afforded. People are being left behind, and its not okay.

>numerous people The incidence of myocarditis after vaccination is around 2 cases per 100,000. You are lying.

You can't attack another user like that, regardless of how wrong they are or you feel they are. We ban accounts that do this, so please don't do it again.

More generally: would you please stop posting flamewar and/or unsubstantive comments? You've been doing it repeatedly and we've had to ask you about this more than once before. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#704

Post by nostrebored »

creato wrote: post #448
hcurtiss wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Relatively high mortality”? Can you think of any virus even close to COVID mortality that we take these kinds of draconian measures to prevent?

Can you think of any virus that caused hospitals around the world to be overwhelmed with patients, compromising their ability to treat normal ailments?

Hospitals are frequently overwhelmed and operate at capacity limits basically constantly in large parts of the world

Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#705

Post by nostrebored »

eliotsplyt1 wrote: post #488
dolni wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, "we" don't all get the flu vaccine every year. Those of us who are healthy can elect not to get it and be just fine. Secondly, the flu vaccine isn't the same vaccine every year. It is reformulated to target the flu strains that are predicted to be dominant that season. Thirdly, the flu vaccines effectiveness varies wildly from pretty darn good to almost worthless. Usually depending on how accurately flu…

As a young, healthy person you don’t get the flu vaccine to protect yourself, you get it to lessen the chances that you’ll pass on the flu to someone elderly or immunocompromised for whom the flu is often deadly. This is how vaccines work toward public health. Not by preventing illness in all cases, but by lessening the pool of potential cases to ease the health burden on the population. It’s good practice as a citiz…

Many vaccines do not prevent transmissibility.

Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#706

Post by codeulike »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #649
codeulike wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's the whole t-cell and b-cell stuff that protects from serious disease but it's much harder to test/measure so you don't get these rapid headline grabbing lab studies. T-cells as I understand it are much less likely to be thrown off by spike mutations because they react to whole genome of virus (edit: T-cells from an infection that is).

> because they react to whole genome of virus Why do you think that? A genome codes for protein production. T-cells are something like a Unix grep for protein sequences (instead of character regexes) with their grep argument a memorized protein sequence to recognize in the wild. So it's some sort of dumb luck if the entirety of proteins, specified in a genome's blueprints, would happen to have t-cells assigned to rec…

Good question. My vague understanding is that antibodies react to the external shape of the virus, the spike and so on. Whereas T-cells react to the little chunks of rna produced during multiplication of the virus, kindof the byprodyucts of a virus-factory-cell, and as such are not restricted to the 'outside' of the virus but can potentially learn about any part of the virus' genome. Hence T-cells are less likely to be thrown off by spike mutations. But my grasp on this is very vague.

Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#708

Post by dmead »

pcbro141 wrote: post #64
dmead wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what? so we shouldn't be protected because capitalism? There is a deafening lack of coherence here.

I think their point is just be mindful Pfizer is heavily incentivized to push for more and more boosters, if there's even a marginal benefit then they will advocate for more boosters (more $$$).

the benefit is not marginal. it's uhh, whats the opposite of marginal?

substantial?

bringing it up in this context is just low key anti vax bullshit.

Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#709

Post by robbedpeter »

robbedpeter wrote: post #689
q1w2 wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the meat in the meat... > Neutralization against the Omicron variant after three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was comparable to the neutralization against the wild-type strain observed in sera from individuals who received two doses This means that the vaccine is still effective - but very clearly LESS effective than it was against earlier variants. We need UPDATED booster shots each year. Th…

Is there any evidence for covid reinfection?

Returning to this one after doing more research, there seems to be a 90%+ protection after reinfection, from all strains so far, and similar protection against hospitalization. Vaccination effects on previously infected individuals is touted as giving better protection, but the data is shaky at best. We'll need years more data.

Re: Pfizer and Biontech provide update on Omicron variant

#710

Post by smus »

hcurtiss wrote: post #523
smus wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah let's play this game! Let me count all the viruses that killed close to a million Americans in the last 2 years! 1. COVID

Transmissivity /= mortality rate

Why are we talking about the mortality rate and not the overall mortality of the virus? Seems that the metric that matters is how many people it kills. Especially since we are actively fighting the virus harder than most in the past few years.
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