Coronavirus: Vaccines

[AndyinPA]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... time-study

Getting a Covid booster and a flu shot together is better than getting them separately, a new study has found.

The study, presented at an annual Vaccines Summit in Boston, involved two groups of Massachusetts healthcare workers.

The first group of 12 received the bivalent Covid booster and seasonal influenza shot together. The second group of 30 healthcare workers received the Covid booster and flu shot on different days within the same month.

The antibodies of both groups were then measured. The research concluded that the group that had their shots administered together had higher levels of immunoglobulin G1, or IgG1 – the antibodies that counter Covid-19 and that strain of influenza.

Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told the Guardian that it was an interesting finding.

“[It’s] possibly due to enhanced stimulation of the immune system by both vaccines being present at the same time,” Adalja said. “The key thing is to see if this has any kind of meaningful clinical benefit – do the higher levels of antibody translate into more protection against infection or disease?”

[MN-Skeptic]

Well, dang. I thought I read that they're more effective if they're given a couple of weeks apart, so I had my latest Covid vaccination a couple of weeks ago and I'm getting my flu vaccine tomorrow. Oh well.

[Rolodex]

I needed 3 shots, so I combined RSV and Covid (the new Moderna one is called...wait for it...SPIKEVAX!! Hardcore huh.

I usually get my flu shot later in the season bc our season spikes in like Jan/Feb. After Thanksgiving is my usual timing.

But the Covid/RSV knocked me for a loop. I had a really bad day; aches, chills, headache. When I got shingles vax last year, I had zero side effects, so I'm spoiled.

[Slim Cognito]

I asked my doctor if I should get the RSV, But because I have no lung issues and I’m not around any small children, she didn’t think I needed it. But if you’re around the grandkiddies, it’s definitely a good idea. It’s apparently very contagious.

[Sam the Centipede]

I asked my doctor if I should get the RSV, But because I have no lung issues and I’m not around any small children, she didn’t think I needed it. But if you’re around the grandkiddies, it’s definitely a good idea. It’s apparently very contagious.

Subject to my faulty memory:

Yeah, RSV is contagious. Its R₀ is about 4 – remember R₀ from Covid? – the average number of people an infected person will pass the infection to in a non-immune unprotected population. Symptoms are usually mild and cold-like so one doesn't notice it. Almost everybody gets it fairly early in life. But for a few unlucky kiddies or vulnerable oldies it's a serious or deadly disease, hence the wish to prevent it.

What it does is fascinating horrible. All viruses need a trick to sneak into the host cell, where can hijack the cell's replication machinery. The RSV virion uses a protein to merge with the cell's membrane but that protein also promotes fusion between the membranes of adjacent cells. So these cells merge to form a syncitium, which is a single cell with multiple nuclei, definitely abnormal in most animals and plants.

Yay biology!

[NewMexGirl]

[quote="Slim Cognito" post_id=228341 time=<a href="tel:1700098861">1700098861</a> user_id=52]
I asked my doctor if I should get the RSV, But because I have no lung issues and I’m not around any small children, she didn’t think I needed it. But if you’re around the grandkiddies, it’s definitely a good idea. It’s apparently very contagious.

Subject to my faulty memory:

Yeah, RSV is contagious. Its R₀ is about 4 – remember R₀ from Covid? – the average number of people an infected person will pass the infection to in a non-immune unprotected population. Symptoms are usually mild and cold-like so one doesn't notice it. Almost everybody gets it fairly early in life. But for a few unlucky kiddies or vulnerable oldies it's a serious or deadly disease, hence the wish to prevent it.

What it does is fascinating horrible. All viruses need a trick to sneak into the host cell, where can hijack the cell's replication machinery. The RSV virion uses a protein to merge with the cell's membrane but that protein also promotes fusion between the membranes of adjacent cells. So these cells merge to form a syncitium, which is a single cell with multiple nuclei, definitely abnormal in most animals and plants.

Yay biology!

It can be very serious for and Spouse, who was gifted the virus by a grandchild, had it for more than six weeks, two visits to the emergency room (difficulty breathing), he lost his hearing (has recovered some, but not all) and even after he recovered, he slept four hours during the day for another month. It was the sickest he had ever been in his entire, long life. He was, and now is again, outstandingly fit and healthy. I wore a mask the entire time and escaped. Yay, masks!

[Volkonski]

COVID-19 hospitalizations are increasing in US, rates are highest among oldest and youngest Americans

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-19- ... =105452104

As of Nov. 25, there were 19,444 weekly hospitalizations due to the virus compared to 15,006 four weeks earlier, data shows.

While this marks an increase of 29.6%, it is lower than the 150,650 weekly hospitalizations at the peak of the omicron wave during the 2021-22 season.

Rates of COVID hospitalizations remain elevated among senior citizens, middle-aged adults and children under age 4, meaning the virus is affecting both the oldest and youngest Americans.

"COVID has not disappeared, although it may have gone from many people's minds and the top of their attention," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. "I'm afraid the COVID virus is still very much with us."



Another reason is vaccine uptake and waning immunity. While 94.4% of adults aged 65 and older completed a primary series of the original vaccine, 33.3% of adults aged 65 and older have received the updated vaccine, according to CDC data.

"Many people, although they have been vaccinated in the past, have not taken advantage of this updated vaccine," Schaffner said. "And the protection afforded by the previous vaccinations is now slowly declining. And so, we have a highly vulnerable population whose protection is slowly waning."

[Volkonski]

Availability of ICU Beds Dwindling as Tripledemic Spreads Across the US Just Ahead of Holidays
Inpatient and intensive care unit beds are reaching capacity heading into the holidays

https://themessenger.com/health/covid-h ... cdc-update

Tens of thousands of Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, as the world braces for a fourth year dealing with the deadly virus.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, COVID hospitalizations are on the rise for the third straight week. This comes after figures trended down for more than two months previously.

COVID hospitalizations have increased by nearly 11%, resulting in almost 20,000 new hospitalizations during the week ending on November 25, the CDC confirms.

Although the numbers are starting to climb again — and will likely continue to do so as we head into the winter months when viruses tend to spread more easily — they are still below what they were at this same time in 2022 and significantly lower than those seen in 2021 and 2020.

[AndyinPA]

https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccin ... 18a07e4f3b

NEW YORK (AP) — Older U.S. adults should roll up their sleeves for another COVID-19 shot, even if they got a booster in the fall, U.S. health officials said Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans 65 and older should get another dose of the updated vaccine that became available in September — if at least four months has passed since their last shot. In making the recommendation, the agency endorsed guidance proposed by an expert advisory panel earlier in the day.

“Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older. An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection ... for those at highest risk,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a statement.

I'm planning to travel in May, so I think I'll take this advice.

[pipistrelle]

https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccin ... 18a07e4f3b

NEW YORK (AP) — Older U.S. adults should roll up their sleeves for another COVID-19 shot, even if they got a booster in the fall, U.S. health officials said Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans 65 and older should get another dose of the updated vaccine that became available in September — if at least four months has passed since their last shot. In making the recommendation, the agency endorsed guidance proposed by an expert advisory panel earlier in the day.

“Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older. An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection ... for those at highest risk,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a statement.

I'm planning to travel in May, so I think I'll take this advice.

I have a tickler on my calendar to look into getting a shot every six months or so. Not over 65 but high risk for other reasons.

[Uninformed]

“German patient vaccinated against Covid 217 times”:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68477735

“A 62-year-old man from Germany has, against medical advice, been vaccinated 217 times against Covid, doctors report.
The bizarre case is documented in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
The shots were bought and given privately within the space of 29 months.
The man appears to have suffered no ill effects, researchers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg say.”

[AndyinPA]

Can't be true. The vaccines are worse than the disease. Or so some morans on the right would argue.

[RTH10260]

At least he had the common sense to go for the real deal and not Invermectin

[Sam the Centipede]

This bone dry line at the end of the BBC News article (link above) amused me:

Covid vaccines can have side effects. A common one is a sore arm from the injection.

It's not really a "side effect", is it? It's a direct effect of somebody jabbing a sharp object into one's arm muscles.

It's rather like describing a broken nose as a side effect of being punched in the face.

[Sam the Centipede]

Still on the Germany guy with a vaccination obsession: I understand why medics would be curious about what goes on inside his body. I can't remember the details but persistent chronic exposure to some antigens or infectious agents can sometimes cause the immune system to respond inappropriately or weakly, possibly because the antagonist is misidentified as the new normal – I really don't know!

With this guy, perhaps the high level of circulating antibodies in his blood simply immobilized each new influx of the spike-like proteins generated by the mRNA in the vaccine? Inject – synthesize – bam! – gone!

With this study, the researchers might answer the question, although it is only a sample of one, so generalization is tricky.

His arm must have been sore!

[pipistrelle]

This bone dry line at the end of the BBC News article (link above) amused me:

Covid vaccines can have side effects. A common one is a sore arm from the injection.

It's not really a "side effect", is it? It's a direct effect of somebody jabbing a sharp object into one's arm muscles.

It's rather like describing a broken nose as a side effect of being punched in the face.

Some jabbers seem to be better at minimizing the soreness than others, I've noticed. The two Shingrix injections were more painful than any others, which they told me is typical. (But not as painful as shingles.)

I give myself an injection in the thigh every 10 days. It used to sting like hell, but it was reformulated without the preservative and with a slightly smaller needle and no longer stings. It doesn't hurt because it's not intramuscular. It can hit a blood vessel and leave a nasty bruise.

[p0rtia]

Got vaxxed today. Lost count of how many I've had. I think two a year since March 2021.

No side effects.

ETA: Never had COVID

[AndyinPA]

I need to get mine, too.