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Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#631

Post by DanBC »

015a wrote: post #443
34679 wrote: post #82

Omicron has been found in 38 countries and there are still no deaths caused by it. [1] The media are running with the story that the first death from Omicron just happened in the UK, but read Boris Johnson's quote: "Sadly at least one patient has now been confirmed to have died with Omicron," Johnson told reporters [2] This sounds batshit crazy, because it is, but in the UK, if you die from something unrelated while…

This is an unfortunate reality of this pandemic; the vast majority of deaths, even with Delta and the OG, were among those people with pre-existing conditions, including the most common: obesity and related disorders like type-2 diabetes. I think Boris' statement is accurate, but you're right; our reaction to it needs to be taken in context. The media and government will talk non-stop about vaccination and treatments…

> and even kids who are so impacted by at-home learning and impaired social lives they commit suicide.

Suicide rates may rise in future, but all the available data says that they have not gone up yet. This is using real time monitoring data.

> Don't lie;

Quite.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#632

Post by drited »

krona wrote: post #600
drited wrote: post #590

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>marginally lower case fatality rate The op didn't state marginally could you please share where you are getting this from? The first publicly confirmed death globally from Omicron was reported just yesterday (source: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-says-omicron-spread... Given that the South African study discussed in this Washington Post article included 78k people, none of whom died if the above Reuters a…

> The first publicly confirmed death globally from Omicron was reported just yesterday With Omicron, not from Omicron. It's an important distinction.

The headline says "with" and the first bullet point says "from". The first paragraph says

"the first publicly confirmed death globally from the swiftly spreading strain"

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#633

Post by bbatchelder »

hpoe wrote: post #530
oceanplexian wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, vaccines were never advertised as tools to prevent infection. The story has always been that it reduces symptoms and hospitalization, so there are plenty of opportunities for the disease to get “tickets” in the evolution lottery. Between that, the animal reservoirs (COVID can spread to different species), and the millions of people in undeveloped countries who will never get a vax, COVID was guaranteed…

I've heard that but then why do people say we need to get vaccinated to protect the most vulnerable members of society if the vaccine isn't actually slowing the spread and doesn't prevent infection? EDIT: To be clear I already had COVID and didn't have any serious symptoms so the argument about a hospital bed doesn't necessarily apply to me. Beyond that I actually got vaccinated, my question centers around the dispar…

Vaccinated people are between 60-80% less likely to infect others, and they are infectious for less amount of time.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#634

Post by sharken »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #618
yread wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could have ended the wildtype pandemic. As soon as delta appeared it was impossible. They have 90% efficiency at best and you need 84% of all people protected to stop delta (1-1/R0 for R0=6). It's impossible to get such high vax rate.

It was kinda-possible to return to normality with delta though. The entire EU is above 70% of the total population, with some countries above 80%. And of the unvaccinated, most are children who are less susceptible in the first place. But with Omicron, it's literally like we're back to March 2020. Norway (with 81% vaccination rate) went from normality to full lockdown in the past two weeks. I'm pretty sure that's com…

If lockdown is considered then it goes to show how little politicians know about the virus.

We need to treat Corona the same way we treat the flu and we should start now.

As an example the current number of hospitalizations here in Denmark is about 50% of the worst period for the 2017/18 flu.

The thing is that various governments have neglected hospitals and health care, that is the real problem that must be dealt with.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#635

Post by dang »

jimmyearlcarter wrote: post #510
pwthornton wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your definition of require. The flu doesn't require a vaccine, but if we had much higher vaccine uptake each year we would save hundreds of thousands of lives a year. It's possible that with really high vaccine uptake and other measures we could make the flu a lot more rare. If we end up with a version of COVID that is less deadly and then we decide to not take vaccines seriously, we'll end up with endemic…

You know Covid-19, like the flu, is treatable right? https://covid19criticalcare.com/covid-19-protocols/ . Also in what universe does the flu kill hundreds of thousands of people?

We've banned this account because (a) single purpose accounts aren't allowed here; (b) using HN primarily for ideological battle is not allowed here; (c) trollish usernames are not allowed here.

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

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#636

Post by JudasGoat »

I am going to go against the grain here and ask someone more knowledgeable than myself if the large number of changes in this variant is typical in virus evolution? Because as an outsider, it appears to me that studying the history of past pandemics would present a road map as to what must be modified to attenuate the damage potential in a virus. I suppose my question really is, why are we chancing GOF research, if not to use in this situation?

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#637

Post by de_keyboard »

teolandon wrote: post #613
jimmyearlcarter wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vaccine was initially sold as the tool to end the pandemic and get life back to 'normal'. The narrative has evolved to suit the deficiencies of the vaccine and keep profits from sinking.

Any links to any marketing material "selling" the vaccine as the tool to end the pandemic?

The UK government absolutely did this.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#638

Post by kenjackson »

native_samples wrote: post #369
Sargos wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Spanish Flu was over a hundred years ago and hit the world the same way Covid did even though there was no McDonald's or obesity epidemic back then.

Spanish Flu definitely not the same severity as COVID, not even close. Apparently though people's risk perceptions about COVID are wildly off base, by orders of magnitude. https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/354938/adults-estimat... 40% of US Democrats think COVID hospitalization risk if you're unvaccinated is 50%! Fifty percent! The real answer is less than 1%. Other polls have shown similar things for fatality r…

How is it possible that anyone thinks 50% of all unvaccinated people have been hospitalized -- for just about anything! Seeing polls like this give me so little faith in our ability to make judgments as a country on anything non-trivial.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#639

Post by mikem170 »

jat850 wrote: post #599
johnchristopher wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It amazes me that there remains this misguided view that vaccination efficacy around protecting others is a binary mechanism. It's not. There is evidence of at least partial reduction in infection, not just outcome, by being vaccinated. I do not understand if this argument is made in good faith or if it's covid deniers stirring shit up in the public debate or just rationalizing their fear of the syringe (yes, I kno…

I think with the majority of instances it's a matter of repeating what they've seen online somewhere, where it is nearly unilaterally presented in similar tone. Some cases are malicious intent I'm sure, but I wouldn't guess the most of them.

Seems some people have a genuine difference in the way they asses their risk.

Some people are scared that there have been 800k+ deaths in the U.S. Others say that's only 1 in 400, mostly old and with commodities, and not that big a deal.

Re: Omicron variant more resistant to vaccine but causes less severe Covid: study

#640

Post by mikem170 »

random314 wrote: post #320
mohanmcgeek wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you realise that mutation is not something the species can consciously control? How could the virus have mutated to become milder to suit the social response if the society, as it stands today, is continuing to do what they previously did..?

The lockdown prevents severe mutations from replicating because of lockdowns. Milder mutations don't result in lockdowns hence ...

Or do lockdowns just prolong the inevitable?
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