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

Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

investors.modernatx.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 198 posts

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#101

Post by greatpatton »

impendingchange wrote: post #72
bipson wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All this talk about "mild" cases with Omicron are failing to grasp the whole situation at two very important corners: - countries affected so far have excellent immunization rates, i.e. if I take these populations as a reference, I'm just checking how immunized people are affected. Not every country has had either a lot of cases or large/successful immunization programs - if the transmission rate in South Afrika and…

0 out of 79 cases requiring hospitalization? If we assumed a _generous_ vaccination rate of, say, 80% for SA or GB, then we could say that 16 of these cases are with unvaccinated individuals. So, 0 out of 16 is still pretty good for no hospitalizations. Or am I figuring this wrong?

96% of the participants were fully vaccinated.

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#102

Post by astura »

thaufeki wrote: post #35
beervirus wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? We get a flu booster every year, and that’s fine. I’m happy to get a shot every so often if it means I can go about my life like normal.

Why do people keep saying this? I have literally never received a flu shot, they have always been reserved for the sick and elderly Why not, instead of shots, do these pharmaceutical companies not prioritise developing an effective at home treatment for the symptoms of Covid-19? It's very hard to see light at the end of this tunnel, which appears to be becoming a booster merry-go-round.

In my country (USA) flu vaccines are certainly not "reserved for the sick and elderly," they are emphatically recommended for almost everyone.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/flushot.htm

>CDC recommends use of any licensed, age-appropriate influenza vaccine during the 2021-2022 influenza season.

>Everyone 6 months of age and older should get an influenza (flu) vaccine every season with rare exception. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has made this recommendation since the 2010-2011 flu season.

>There are many flu vaccine options to choose from, but the most important thing is for all people 6 months and older to get a flu vaccine every year.

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#103

Post by kypro »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #79
kypro wrote: post #63

I only realised how serious a threat omicron was when I looked at the South African data recently and you can see how much of a impact it's had on deaths in a largely unvaccinated population. Even if you just compare the case numbers in South Africa to the UK (where most are double or triple vaxed) you get a good idea of how well vaccines are working. For example, in South Africa deaths have gone from about ~15 a day…

With respect to comparing South Africa to UK, there’s probably a lot more going on besides vaccine availability. Presumably as a wealthier country, UK healthcare is better and not as thinly stretched as South Africa (where Omicron was first detected), for example.

I'm sure there are a number of factors worth considering here which could account for some of the data, but if vaccines were truly as efficacious as governments and pharma companies have been suggesting then given the success of the UK vaccine rollout can we honestly say this is the trend we would expect to see?

I completely accept this isn't proof that vaccines are not effective at managing the pandemic, but the fact data like this is so hard to justify within the context vaccines being highly efficacious it's a bit concerning, especially since it's not like we have much of a choice but to get it here in the UK. My partner is getting her booster today, not because she wants to or feels she needs to (also had a prior infection) but because she feels pressured by government policy. Then just last night I was out shopping and a ~30 y/o guy in the store was complaining about having chest pain since getting his booster, and I've had many similar experiences over the last few months. I hate brining up anecdotal evidence because I know it means nothing, but what I'm seeing with my own eyes in the real world and in the data right now is so hard for me to understand within the context of a safe and effective vaccine. If the data was clear then fair enough, but it's far from clear. I don't want that to be the case, but it is.

What's worse is that every time I've brought this up the response I've received has basically been dismissal, "must be some explanation, vaccines are effective".

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#104

Post by nharada »

ed_balls wrote: post #99

Meta: Let say I'm 30 years old, healthy, vaccinated with JJ over 6 months ago. Denmark, Sweden, Finland have banned Moderna for younger than 30. Some countries were recommending it to people over 50. Whole communication is a mess. Should I get a booster shot? What are the pros and cons? Is there any data on that? I asked a friend doctor and she said that I should get a test for antibody count (a lab one, not garbage…

I'd get it -- J&J is already known to be weaker coverage, and Omicron spreads so easily that the odds you get COVID are fairly high if you interact with people regularly. If you're looking at it from a sickness perspective, the expected value of sickness without the shot is probably higher (lower chance of many days of feeling bad vs high chance of a single day).

Single person anecdote: I was quite sick from J&J and had zero symptoms from my booster. So just know it's not necessarily guaranteed you'll be sick from this one too if that's your main concern.

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#105

Post by najqh »

crate_barre wrote: post #10
amznbyebyebye wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shame you’re being downvoted and people don’t get that there might be just a small conflict of interest for the Pfizer ceo to be the one dictating that we need a fourth vaccine. [1] [1] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/12/08/omi...

Us sheep will put up with this one, if it’s the last one. Just this one last booster. Now if we tread into the 4th or 5th booster for the n-th variant, then that’s my breaking point and I will have to call out the shenanigans. Moderna’s revenue since 2016: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107794/revenue-and-net-... These companies certainly don’t mind the state of things.

Good luck. I already reached my breaking point with omicron. I am not taking a booster at all. It is quite clear that this will never end. We have to send a message to the authorities.

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#106

Post by incrudible »

dahfizz wrote: post #93
skuhn wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your claim is directly contradicted by the abstract of the paper you linked to: "We estimated an extra two (95% confidence interval (CI) 0, 3), one (95% CI 0, 2) and six (95% CI 2, 8) myocarditis events per 1 million people vaccinated with ChAdOx1, BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273, respectively, in the 28 days following a first dose and an extra ten (95% CI 7, 11) myocarditis events per 1 million vaccinated in the 28 days afte…

OPs comment is deleted, so I can't see the paper. Is there a reason to believe the risk of myocarditis will continue to rise with each booster?

The comment is flagged by the "community", not deleted. You can see it by turning on "showdead" in the settings.

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#107

Post by criddell »

ed_balls wrote: post #99

Meta: Let say I'm 30 years old, healthy, vaccinated with JJ over 6 months ago. Denmark, Sweden, Finland have banned Moderna for younger than 30. Some countries were recommending it to people over 50. Whole communication is a mess. Should I get a booster shot? What are the pros and cons? Is there any data on that? I asked a friend doctor and she said that I should get a test for antibody count (a lab one, not garbage…

Often the booster is a half dose, so you may not be as affected by a booster as you were from the original shot(s).

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#108

Post by treffer »

ed_balls wrote: post #99

Meta: Let say I'm 30 years old, healthy, vaccinated with JJ over 6 months ago. Denmark, Sweden, Finland have banned Moderna for younger than 30. Some countries were recommending it to people over 50. Whole communication is a mess. Should I get a booster shot? What are the pros and cons? Is there any data on that? I asked a friend doctor and she said that I should get a test for antibody count (a lab one, not garbage…

Cons: you might be sick for a day. (Had very bad reactions to the shots and this one lasted 1 day - but I caught something else before/after...)

Pros: seems to help against Omikron. And given the speed at which it spreads you don't have time to wait for updated shots or alike.

JJ was particularly bad in not catching it, and even worse after 6 months. Get a booster or have a close to 100% chance to catch Omikron.

Official communication is often skewed by availability. E.g. Germany didn't order enough BionTech but got plenty of Moderna so they announced that Moderna is way better. Just check the numbers and forget about anything else in the news. Numbers are like a weather forecast. Read it, prepare, put it aside.

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#109

Post by kypro »

ed_balls wrote: post #87
kypro wrote: post #63

I only realised how serious a threat omicron was when I looked at the South African data recently and you can see how much of a impact it's had on deaths in a largely unvaccinated population. Even if you just compare the case numbers in South Africa to the UK (where most are double or triple vaxed) you get a good idea of how well vaccines are working. For example, in South Africa deaths have gone from about ~15 a day…

I really hard to compare UK and SA. - average age 28 SA vs 40 UK - a lot of immunocompromised people in SA (AIDS) - UK has most of it immunity from vaccination which was mainly targeting AC2 receptor. It's possible that natural immunity or Sinovac (attenuated virus) has better protection than mRNA vaccines - not confirmed. - SA is doing fewer tests.

> average age 28 SA vs 40 UK

I think this is definitely part of the explanation.

> A lot of immunocompromised people in SA (AIDS)

Wouldn't this mean more deaths or am I missing something? Are COVID deaths in AIDS patients attributed to AIDS not COVID?

> UK has most of it immunity from vaccination which was mainly targeting AC2 receptor. It's possible that natural immunity or Sinovac (attenuated virus) has better protection than mRNA vaccines - not confirmed.

Okay, so should we perhaps not be pushing vaccination on healthy individuals? I had a COVID infection early on in the pandemic and I've interacted with infected people since and not caught it. My sister who's younger than me (in her 20s), but was vaccinated before being infected has tested positive for it 5 times. Perhaps just a coincidence but odd that she's so much more susceptible to it.

> SA is doing fewer tests.

Sure, but deaths are much lower too.

Re: Moderna booster increased neutralizing antibody levels against Omicron ~37-fold

#110

Post by chasd00 »

crate_barre wrote: post #15
beervirus wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? We get a flu booster every year, and that’s fine. I’m happy to get a shot every so often if it means I can go about my life like normal.

You don’t lose your job for not getting the flu vaccine. Again, it’s an unprecedented situation and I’ll accept the mandate for the three shots, but this has to have an end at some point.

I only “accepted” the mandate from my employer because I won’t risk my family’s well being for a piece of paper. I’m 100% pro vaccination (got a Moderna booster two day ago even) but am 110% against mandates.

The government using private industry as a proxy to enforce policy they know will not pass the legal process is wrong.

Post reply on HN