COVID research: Masks, Vaccines, Social Distancing, Treatments

[Dave from down under]

Super spreader event - the 70’s have a lot to answer for -

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2021-12- ... /100697836

A Hunter public health controller is predicting a 1970s-themed prom night at a Newcastle nightclub could become one of the highest COVID-19 transmission events in the world.

Key points:

COVID cases soar in nightclub cluster, with more than 200 recorded in the health district today
Health officials say it could become one of the biggest super spreader events in the world
Many of the cases are likely to be the new Omicron variant
More than 100 new cases were recorded across Newcastle today, as numbers in the city rapidly rise after the event at Argyle House last Wednesday.

Health officials said of the 650 people checked into the event, 150 people have so far tested positive to COVID-19, most likely with the new Omicron variant.

In the 24 hours to 8pm last night, the Hunter New England health district recorded 224 new cases of coronavirus.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/heal ... lovid.html

A highly anticipated study of Pfizer’s Covid pill confirmed that it helps stave off severe disease, the company announced on Tuesday. Pfizer also said its antiviral pill worked in laboratory studies against the Omicron variant, which is surging in South Africa and Europe and is expected to dominate U.S. cases in the weeks ahead. “We are confident that, if authorized or approved, this potential treatment could be a critical tool to help quell the pandemic,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive, said in a statement. Last month, Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the pill, known as Paxlovid, based on a preliminary batch of data.

The new results will undoubtedly strengthen the company’s application, which could mean that Americans infected with the virus may have access to the pill within weeks. In Tuesday’s announcement, Pfizer said that if given within three days of the onset of symptoms, Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent. If given within five days, the risk was reduced almost as much, to 88 percent. The results, based on an analysis of 2,246 unvaccinated volunteers at high risk of severe disease, largely match the company’s initial, smaller analysis of the clinical trial, released last month. Pfizer said that 0.7 percent of patients who received Paxlovid were hospitalized within 28 days of entering the trial, and none died.

By contrast, 6.5 percent of patients who received a placebo were hospitalized or died. Pfizer also released preliminary data from a separate trial looking at people with a lower risk. These volunteers including vaccinated people who carried a risk factor for severe disease, as well as unvaccinated patients with no risk factors. mong this group of 662 volunteers, Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 70 percent, the company said. Mikael Dolsten, the chief scientific officer of Pfizer, was exuberant about the results after having overseen the development of the drug since the spring of 2020, with more than 200 company scientists crafting the molecule and then testing it in animals and people. While the drug was in development, Dr. Dolsten held out hope that it might be 60 percent effective. Its true potency left him stunned. “We really hit the top of the board,” he said in an interview.

In both trials, most of the volunteers were infected with the Delta variant. But Pfizer said on Tuesday that in laboratory experiments, Paxlovid also performed well against the highly mutated Omicron variant. The drug jams into one of Omicron’s key proteins — called a protease — just as effectively as it does with other variants, Pfizer found. Pfizer’s good news came as its rival, Merck, awaited word on authorization of its own antiviral pill, known as molnupiravir. In October, Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced that the pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death from Covid-19 by 50 percent if taken within five days of the onset of symptoms.

Edited to add a link to another article that says pretty much the same thing, but is more accessible.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... se-omicron

[RTH10260]

we need a double-blind study comparing it to Ivermectin

[northland10]

If the CDC and Fauci (and Biden) back it, the anti-everything crowd will be against it.

[MN-Skeptic]

If the CDC and Fauci (and Biden) back it, the anti-everything crowd will be against it.

No, I think they'll love it. One more reason they can cite as to why you don't need the vaccine.

[northland10]

If the CDC and Fauci (and Biden) back it, the anti-everything crowd will be against it.

No, I think they'll love it. One more reason they can cite as to why you don't need the vaccine.

Possible but I think their anti-vax is more at its heart, anti-Fauci. Also, taking Ivermectin is their payback to big Pharma, just ignore that Ivermectin is made by a pharmaceutical company. When it is finally released I expect some antis to refuse it when they are sick and demand Ivermectin.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

If the CDC and Fauci (and Biden) back it, the anti-everything crowd will be against it.

No, I think they'll love it. One more reason they can cite as to why you don't need the vaccine.

Nah, they'll take the hybrid approach: use it as a reason to not take the vaccine, then trash it in favor of ivermectin in the next breath.

And I'm dead serious. I've seen it dozens of times since paxlovid was first announced.

[RTH10260]

Sinovac has been donated in large quantities thruout Asia and Africa

Hong Kong researchers find that two doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine are inadequate against Omicron.

By Paul Mozur and John Liu
Dec. 15, 2021

A new study looking at blood samples from people who received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine made by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac suggested that the vaccine would be unable to prevent an infection of the new, highly infectious Omicron variant.

The research, which analyzed the blood of 25 people vaccinated with Sinovac, is the latest sign of the new challenge Omicron presents as it spreads across the world. The scientists from the University of Hong Kong found that, in laboratory experiments, none of the 25 samples produced sufficient antibodies to block the variant from invading cells. The researchers said it was not yet clear whether a third shot of Sinovac would improve the results.

The studies are preliminary, and antibody levels do not give a complete picture of a person’s immune response. It is unclear whether the Sinovac vaccine can fend off severe disease or death from Omicron, but it most likely offers some protection.

Sinovac said in a statement Wednesday that while two doses of its vaccine were much less effective against Omicron, three doses might prevent infection with the variant.



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/worl ... study.html

[AndyinPA]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medica ... ar-AARTusA

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on a recommendation from its advisory committee Thursday that people who have a choice should get an mRNA vaccine, either Pfizer or Moderna, over the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine after a review of new CDC data on rare blood clots linked to J&J.

The rare blood clots are not a new safety concern, and the J&J vaccine has already become far less common in the U.S. after it was given a Food and Drug Administration warning label about the clotting condition. But more data that confirmed a slightly higher rate of clotting cases and deaths than was previously reported caused the CDC and FDA to take another look at the data this week.

"Today's updated recommendation emphasizes CDC's commitment to provide real-time scientific information to the American public," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. "I continue to encourage all Americans to get vaccinated and boosted."

The CDC has now confirmed a total of at least 54 cases and nine deaths from the severe clotting event, which is called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, or TSS, out of the 17 million people who have gotten the J&J vaccine in the U.S.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... id-at-home

FDA authorizes antiviral pill as first approved at-home treatment for Covid

Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized its antiviral Covid-19 pill, making it the first at-home treatment for the coronavirus that is expected to become an important tool in the fight against the fast spreading Omicron variant.

Data from Pfizer’s clinical trial showed its two-drug antiviral regimen was 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths in patients at high risk of severe illness. Recent lab data suggests the drug retains its effectiveness against Omicron.

The agency authorized the oral drug for the treatment of high-risk adult patients and pediatric patients at least 12 years of age with Covid-19 outside of the hospital.

The company said it was ready to start immediate delivery in the US and raised its production projections to 120m courses of treatment from 80m in 2022.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.coastmountainnews.com/news/ ... unity-ubc/

A group of University of B.C. scientists have unveiled a molecular-level analysis of the Omicron variant that is swiftly becoming the dominant strain of COVID-19.

The analysis, which was done at “near atomic resolution” using a cryo-electron microscope, showed how the heavily mutated variant infects cells and is “highly evasive of immunity.”

Sriram Subramaniam, a professor at UBC’s faculty of medicine’s department of biochemistry and molecular biology, said that the Omicron variant had 37 spike protein mutations, much more than any previous variants.

According to Subramaniam, that has big implications for how the variant will act, because the spike protein is responsible for both how the virus attaches to and infects human cells and because its also where the antibodies attach to fight off the virus.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... e-covered/

Private insurers will be required to cover the cost of up to eight at-home coronavirus rapid tests per person per month, the Biden administration said Monday, as the country continued to battle record levels of newly reported cases fueled by the omicron variant.
FAQ: What to know about the omicron variant of the coronavirus

The plan, announced by the Department of Health and Human Service“Today’s action further removes financial barriers and expands access to COVID-19 tests for millions of people,” Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a statement.

Experts consider the antigen tests to be a key tool in the fight against the pandemic. Other countries have been relying on them for months, in some cases with governments buying them and distributing them for free.s, will take effect Saturday and applies to all at-home tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Consumers may purchase the tests online or in person at a pharmacy or store, and the cost will be covered upfront or be eligible for reimbursement after the fact, HHS said in an announcement.

[RTH10260]

Covid loses 90% of ability to infect within 20 minutes in air – study
Exclusive: Findings highlight importance of short-range Covid transmission

Linda Geddes Science correspondent
Tue 11 Jan 2022 18.45 GMT

Coronavirus loses 90% of its ability to infect us within 20 minutes of becoming airborne – with most of the loss occurring within the first five minutes, the world’s first simulations of how the virus survives in exhaled air suggest.

The findings re-emphasise the importance of short-range Covid transmission, with physical distancing and mask-wearing likely to be the most effective means of preventing infection. Ventilation, though still worthwhile, is likely to have a lesser impact.

“People have been focused on poorly ventilated spaces and thinking about airborne transmission over metres or across a room. I’m not saying that doesn’t happen, but I think still the greatest risk of exposure is when you’re close to someone,” said Prof Jonathan Reid, director of the University of Bristol’s Aerosol Research Centre and the study’s lead author.

“When you move further away, not only is the aerosol diluted down, there’s also less infectious virus because the virus has lost infectivity [as a result of time].”

Until now, our assumptions about how long the virus survives in tiny airborne droplets have been based on studies that involved spraying virus into sealed vessels called Goldberg drums, which rotate to keep the droplets airborne. Using this method, US researchers found that infectious virus could still be detected after three hours. Yet such experiments do not accurately replicate what happens when we cough or breathe.

Instead, researchers from the University of Bristol developed apparatus that allowed them to generate any number of tiny, virus-containing particles and gently levitate them between two electric rings for anywhere between five seconds to 20 minutes, while tightly controlling the temperature, humidity and UV light intensity of their surroundings. “This is the first time anyone has been able to actually simulate what happens to the aerosol during the exhalation process,” Reid said.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -air-study

[MN-Skeptic]

My sister-in-law sent me the table below which appeared in an article in the Wall Street Journal. The article is behind a paywall, but here's the link if you're interested - https://www.wsj.com/articles/cloth-face ... 1640984082.

Masks.jpg (116.46 KiB) Viewed 2189 times

[RTH10260]

too much story telling until the article gets to the point, read yourself

Some COVID Patients Need Amputations to Survive
Impaired blood flow leads to loss of limbs


https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... o-survive/

[RTH10260]

The Swiss NZZ newsletter mentions high efficiency for the (third) booster shot among the retiree age group.

Hospitalization approx 30% compared to the only double vaccinated
Death rate approx 25% compared to the double vaccinated

Numbers are well below 10% when compared to the unvaccinated.

(w/o link)

[Azastan]

too much story telling until the article gets to the point, read yourself

Some COVID Patients Need Amputations to Survive
Impaired blood flow leads to loss of limbs


https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... o-survive/

When I ask about COVID vaccination, Candice, a flight attendant and nursing student, tells me that she was so busy working “that I just wasn’t able to get it.” Now, she adds, “this whole process has brought me to thinking that it’s important to get vaccinated so you don’t lose your limbs and you don’t lose your life. I have lost three of my limbs and half of my foot. It’s scary, and I’m only 30.”

I have no words.

[Sam the Centipede]

That sounds like quite a reduction in quality of life and a bar to both of her professions.

What a hard way to learn a lesson!

[RTH10260]

A fourth shot may not offer much more protection against catching Omicron, an early Israeli study suggests.

By Isabel Kershner
Jan. 18, 2022

JERUSALEM — Preliminary results from a small Israeli study examining the effects of a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose suggest that despite an increase in antibody levels, the additional dose a few months after a third shot may not do much more to prevent infection with the Omicron variant.

Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, the director of the Infectious Disease Unit at Sheba Medical Center and the leader of the research, cautioned that the results were not yet peer-reviewed. But she said that there was no evidence of any risk from getting a fourth dose, and that she supported giving the shots to vulnerable people who might have some benefit from it.

She said the study’s initial results raised questions about giving the extra dose more broadly, including to generally healthy people in their early 60s. For them, she said, it might be preferable to wait for a newer vaccine adapted to deal with variants like Omicron.

On Tuesday, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, a senior official at Israel’s Health Ministry, told Kan public radio that the decision to offer a fourth dose to older and more vulnerable people had been correct, since they had produced higher levels of antibodies. Higher levels of antibodies likely would give added protection against serious illness.

Initial results from the study showed that the fourth dose boosted antibodies fivefold. But Professor Regev-Yochay told reporters that two weeks after 154 hospital workers received a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the number of participants infected with the coronavirus was only slightly lower than the number of infected in a control group that had not received a fourth shot. The hospital did not release the raw data.



https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/worl ... srael.html

[RTH10260]

‘Nocebo effect’: two-thirds of Covid jab reactions not caused by vaccine, study suggests
US researchers show negative version of placebo effect behind many symptoms such as headaches and fatigue

Ian Sample Science editor
Tue 18 Jan 2022 16.00 GMT

More than two-thirds of the common side-effects people experience after a Covid jab can be attributed to a negative version of the placebo effect rather than the vaccine itself, researchers claim.

Scientists in the US examined data from 12 clinical trials of Covid vaccines and found that the “nocebo effect” accounted for about 76% of all common adverse reactions after the first dose and nearly 52% after the second dose.

The findings suggest that a substantial proportion of milder side-effects, such as headaches, short-term fatigue, and arm pain are not produced by the constituents of the vaccine, but by other factors thought to generate the nocebo response, including anxiety, expectation and misattributing various ailments to having had the jab.

In view of their results, the researchers argue that better public information about nocebo responses may improve Covid vaccine uptake by reducing the concerns that make some people hesitant.



https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... y-suggests

[scirreeve]

Umm - I believe in Science etc. but anecdotally this was not my experience. I am not scared of shots and had a sore arm after all 3 of them (not uncommon in getting any shot). Only got the feeling shitty thing after the 2nd one - not the 1st or 3rd. Seems like I would have got that after the 1st if it was a nocebo thingy. That is all.

[p0rtia]

I buy it.

I have a friend whose knee swelled up a bit a couple days after her first vaccine. She decided it was because of the vaccine. And maybe it was, but her certainty was unwarranted.

Same sort of story with several other friends. Drove me a bit crazy.

[RTH10260]

An Israeli study finds a slightly higher-than-expected rate of heart problems in vaccinated boys.

By Apoorva Mandavilli
Jan. 26, 2022

Boys aged 12 to 15 have a small but increased risk of heart problems after receiving a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Israeli researchers reported on Wednesday.

Myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, occurred in one of 12,361 boys of that age group within a week of receiving a second dose, the study found.

The cases were mild, and the side effect remains uncommon. Moreover, several studies have shown that the risk of myocarditis after Covid is much higher than that after vaccination.

Still, the Israeli figure is higher than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate of one case per 16,129 vaccinated adolescents aged 12 to 17. Israeli researchers previously reported that nearly 11 of every 100,000 boys and men aged 16 to 29 were at heightened risk of myocarditis after vaccination.

Although the new results are based only on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, other studies have found that the incidence of myocarditis may be higher with the mRNA vaccine made by Moderna. Myocarditis can manifest as chest pain, shortness of breath and the feeling of having a fast-beating, fluttering or pounding heart, according to the C.D.C.



https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/heal ... -boys.html

[AndyinPA]

Grist for the RWJs.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ba2-omicr ... -covid-yet

New Mutant Omicron Feared to Be the Most Contagious Variant Yet
GIVE US A BREAK
Just when it looked like Omicron had peaked, a stealthy new variant is starting to surge and experts are warning it’s even “more contagious.”

This week, cases started rising again in several countries. And some experts think an elusive form of Omicron, the so-called BA.2 sublineage, might be responsible.

If that’s the case and BA.2 proves even more transmissible than baseline Omicron—the BA.1 sublineage–then we should brace for a difficult spring. BA.2 is already making inroads in the U.S. It could slow or even reverse our recovery from the first Omicron wave.

Don’t panic quite yet. But don’t let down your guard. And if you’re unvaccinated or unboosted, you know the drill. Yesterday was the best time to get your jab.

If there’s good news in this exhausting, seemingly unending pandemic, it’s that BA.2 might be more transmissible than BA.1 and every other SARS-CoV-2 lineage, but it doesn’t appear to reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines. At least, no more than BA.1 does.