Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

fdanews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 245 posts

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#141

Post by mlyle »

jmarbach wrote: post #136
mlyle wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, you cite data showing very high efficacy of the vaccine, and are like -- look at it in a few weeks! Omicron is going to make it worse, but even unboosted folks in South Africa seem to enjoy about 30% efficacy against infection and much higher efficacy against hospitalization and death. But your gossip trumps the data, I guess...

"Omicron is making it worse" is gossip to you and a fact for me. That's where we disagree.

No, Omicron making it worse is a fact that I already ceded.. but we have data that shows low (but still around 30%, not 10%) efficacy against infection with Omicron.. and still high efficacy (70%) against hospitalization and death.

But you say "has proven less than 10% effective" ... because you are making stuff up.

Further, it may be a mistake to assume South Africa predicts exactly what will happen here (30% fully vaccinated, nearly 0 boosted, 20% HIV incidence, vs. 60% fully vaccinated, 25% boosted, 0.3% HIV incidence).

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#142

Post by jjulius »

vidoc wrote: post #130
jjulius wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Scientists are not yet sure of how the vaccine affects transmission – and this is currently undergoing research. I don't know how much clearer they can get with that next sentence.

(replying to your last message) If you read my initial message one more time, you may notice that I mentionned a google serach container. I'm not certain it is the appropriate term but basically, you can ask a question to google and it will select an authoritative answer from a trusted source (Reuters, AP, etc). Back in the early day of the vaccine, if you were to ask google whether the vaccine prevents the transmiss…

>If you read my initial message one more time, you may notice that I mentionned a google serach container.

It's pretty common knowledge within the tech community that those fields are populated automatically, often via scraping (just look at what happened with Google and Genius, re: lyrics). Google is notorious for faulty data being in there, either through questionable sources or misquotes, for an untold number of queries.

I'm not saying this to doubt your claim that that was what was displayed and it appeared misleading; Google needs to fix it because clearly it causes problems. I just think that it's an incredible stretch on your part to suggest it was intentional misinformation placed there by a "side".

Edit: I say this as someone who usually doesn't defend Google whatsoever.

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#143

Post by mlyle »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #38
zackbloom wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is very good data on this. Infection rates are roughly 5x higher, and death rates 13x higher, among the unvaccinated.

Infection rate is orthogonal to preventing people from being infected. If you're not exposed, you can never be infected. It also depends how you define efficacy/effectiveness. Does it mean for each exposure, over a period of time, etc.

> Infection rate is orthogonal to preventing people from being infected. If you're not exposed, you can never be infected.

Sure, there are confounds: people who choose to be vaccinated don't behave exactly the same way that people who don't choose to be vaccinated do. Therefore, the observational data is somewhat confounded.

Two directions for the confound: people who are vaccinated may choose to take more risk after vaccination. People who are vaccinated may be those who take COVID seriously to begin with and be biased to take less risk in general. Probably the latter "wins", though I certainly do a lot more than I would do if I wasn't vaccinated.

However, IMO this is all moot: we have vaccines that showed massive efficacy in randomized, controlled trials (over a period of time), and case control studies that show ongoing high efficacy against Delta... and the confounded observational data shows a truly massive effect.

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#144

Post by mlyle »

Msw242 wrote: post #117
dnautics wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC Vaccination seems to do a poor job of preventing person-to-person transmission of delta (and likely, even less, omicron). If you are currently getting vaccinated, you should be doing it for selfish reasons, and you should not count on it to protect, say, a vulnerable or unvaccinated person you live with.

It's not perfect, but the vaccinated people shed way less virus, and are contagious for a much shorter window of time. Also, it makes you less likely to take a bed in the ICU, preserving that bed for grandma's stroke

> It's not perfect, but the vaccinated people shed way less virus, and are contagious for a much shorter window of time.

And are significantly less likely to get infected in the first place.

My dad has SLL, which some of the worst breakthrough cases have been in. He's vaccinated (with likely poor efficacy). His children and grandchildren are vaccinated. We're careful with our overall level of exposure and wear a mask around him even in situations where this seems paranoid. Us being vaccinated is one of the many layers (and one of the most effective, pre-Omicron) in protecting my dad.

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#145

Post by mlyle »

CydeWeys wrote: post #118
Msw242 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are allergies to vaccines (not to the dose, but to everything else that is in the concoction that enables it to work). Also, immunocompromised people often can't take vaccines. Usually you can get a doctor's note explaining this, and you can participate in daily life normally (like going to school or college, which rightfully require vaccinations). I don't know if policy around the COVID vaccine is different...…

> Also, immunocompromised people often can't take vaccines. Nope. Immunocompromised people need extra doses of the vaccine, and even then it doesn't work as well. This is one of those false talking points that antivaxxers love to spread.

It's just conflating/confused:

* Immunocompromised people have poor efficacy with the vaccine even with boosters, like my dad who has SLL.

* Other people who have autoimmune and inflammatory conditions are often immunocompromised (because of taking low dose chemotherapy, etc, to manage their conditions). Also, recommending a vaccine for these people is complicated, because vaccines can kick up immune and inflammatory responses and make their conditions worse. Most are still better off with the vaccine but I can understand both providers and patients being hesitant.

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#146

Post by jjulius »

jmarbach wrote: post #132
jjulius wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, as another user pointed out, for the variants of the time. Second, "completely" is a strong word there; your link, and the part you quoted, still clarifies that it's possible to get infected. Edit: You are also misreading what you're quoting[1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29619347

You're right. I will never question Pfizer again. There could be infinite mutations of the virus moving forward which would impact the weight of their claims.

>I will never question Pfizer again.

I didn't say you, nor myself or anyone else, shouldn't question them, just that they haven't been incorrect in this instance as you've suggested. I'm not sure why your snark is needed in your multiple responses here.

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#147

Post by 14u2c »

treeman79 wrote: post #140
chki wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry if this is inappropriate but what health reasons prevent you from getting vaccinated?

I have a severe reaction to almost all medications. I already had covid twice. Once before vaccines were ready. Second time was only annoying. So yea. I have no interest in it. Though if I hadn’t had covid already I would definitely get vaccine. Being told I “must” get it is definitely provoking a “hell no” reaction on top of everything.

> So yea. I have no interest in it. Though if I hadn’t had covid already I would definitely get vaccine.

Well I guess the mandate is working, because based on this response you are an individual that I would prefer not to be exposed to in the workplace without the mandated testing.

This is not a judgement of personal worth, just an observation that you are not behaving rationally. Top down policies such as the mandate are helpful for the whole in the these situations.

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#148

Post by heyitsguay »

jmarbach wrote: post #139
heyitsguay wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the variants at the time. The spread of the delta and omicron variants was tracked so closely and garnered so much attention in large part due to their abilities to at least partially evade vaccine-induced immunity, but this was always a known risk. The larger the infected population, the more chances for such an event to occur, hence the importance of measures like vaccinations, social distancing, and lockdowns…

In this case we should edit the title of the post to clarify, "for the variants as of x date" - agree or disagree? As to not spread misinformation.

Yeah that's a big omission that i don't see addressed in the article. In particular given the development timeline, does it have the same efficacy for the omicron variant? I doubt the trials being reported here tested it.

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#149

Post by treeman79 »

14u2c wrote: post #147
treeman79 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a severe reaction to almost all medications. I already had covid twice. Once before vaccines were ready. Second time was only annoying. So yea. I have no interest in it. Though if I hadn’t had covid already I would definitely get vaccine. Being told I “must” get it is definitely provoking a “hell no” reaction on top of everything.

> So yea. I have no interest in it. Though if I hadn’t had covid already I would definitely get vaccine. Well I guess the mandate is working, because based on this response you are an individual that I would prefer not to be exposed to in the workplace without the mandated testing. This is not a judgement of personal worth, just an observation that you are not behaving rationally. Top down policies such as the mandat…

No post body was provided.

Re: Pfizer’s Covid-19 Pill is 89% Effective in Phase 2/3 Study

#150

Post by vmception »

pokstad wrote: post #128

Does this mean COVID is over? I thought once the vaccines were available we could move on with life, but somehow the goal posts kept moving. Will people accept the much smaller risk of hospitalization once this pill is available?

The goal posts change because the variables change while the prior post is never met.

In my world, everyone that could segregate from vulnerable populations already has and vice versa. They moved, and go out with everyone else that wont go home to an immunocompromised or prediabetic or elderly person.

Multiday 300,000+ attendee music festivals have occurred in major US markets without making the news as reckless and welcomed by all levels of government at the time.

Commonwealth countries and major markets in Europe seem to be less tolerant to the idea of governing, I mean a lower threshold to infection to justify continued restrictions.

Many of their citizens are coming to the US if they can, as well.

US is still doing way worse with infections, deaths, ICU capacity, but its a two tiered reality. And as long as emergency services remain available for everyone else I think thats a good enough bar for people to make their own decisions - which is an opinion matched by even the most restrictive major municipalities in the US, for some time. Remote work has been normalized enough for enough people/office jobs to not require a compromise to stay home.

Post reply on HN