Coronavirus (2022) thread

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BlueHammer85 said:
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has named a new strain of Omicron as a "variant under investigation".

The agency said: "The Omicron variant sub-lineage known as BA.2 has been designated as a variant under investigation.

"The number of BA.2 cases is currently low, with the original Omicron lineage BA.1 still dominant in the UK."

It added that "further analyses" will now take place
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Still looking for an office blocker, I see.
 
BlueHammer85 said:
Up to 15 hospital patients will be moved into a hotel in a bid to free up beds as the NHS continues to face "enormous pressure".

The patients, who do not have COVID, will receive care at a city centre hotel in Norwich in a pilot scheme that will last three months, NHS Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said.

The area's health and care system remains in a critical incident.
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Almost certainly caused by sacking care home workers for not having a vaccination for a disease they’ve probably already had, and which wouldn’t stop them catching it or passing it on. Still, if you think it’s bad now, wait until April when they sack doctors, nurses, porters, radiologists, hospice workers, mental health staff and the like.
 
roubaixtuesday said:
The risk benefit for children is very clearly in favour of vaccination.

The vaccine was approved in the UK for all children 12-15yo last June, and for 5-11 yo recently IIRC.

Not only has it been approved as safe and efficacious on the basis of clinical trials, many millions of doses have been given worldwide in real world settings, including in that younger age group providing further evidence of safety.

Meanwhile, have either procrastinated on or not proceeded at all with vaccinating these age groups in the UK, we're currently hospitalising record numbers, I think >100\day.

Now that's not, I hasten to add, some kind of health emergency. But as we have the means to stop it, why wouldn't we? Even without with the other concerns around long covid, transmission to older generations, school absences etc.

Surely that is obvious?
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Very clearly in favour? This was the JVCI guidance in November. I wonder when and it will be updated to reflect Omicron?
The committee’s assessment is that the health benefits from vaccination are marginally greater than the potential known harms. However, the margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal vaccination of healthy 12 to 15 year olds at this time.
It is not within the JCVI’s remit to consider the wider societal impacts of vaccination, including educational benefits. The government may wish to seek further views on the wider societal and educational impacts from the Chief Medical Officers of the UK four nations.
For the vast majority of children, SARS-CoV2 infection is asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, and will resolve without treatment. Of the very few children aged 12 to 15 years who require hospitalisation, the majority have underlying health conditions. The committee has recommended the expansion of the list of conditions to which the offer applies for at-risk 12 to 15 year olds.
There is evidence of an association between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and myocarditis. This is an extremely rare adverse event. The medium- to long-term effects are unknown and long-term follow-up is being conducted.
Given the very low risk of serious COVID-19 disease in otherwise healthy 12 to 15 year olds, considerations on the potential harms and benefits of vaccination are very finely balanced and a precautionary approach was agreed.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of COVID-19 Immunisation for the JCVI, said:
“Children aged 12 to 15 years old with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 should be offered COVID-19 vaccination. The range of underlying health conditions that apply has recently been expanded.
“For otherwise healthy 12- to 15-year-old children, their risk of severe COVID-19 disease is small and therefore the potential for benefit from COVID-19 vaccination is also small. The JCVI’s view is that overall, the health benefits from COVID-19 vaccination to healthy children aged 12 to 15 years are marginally greater than the potential harms. Taking a precautionary approach, this margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal COVID-19 vaccination for this age group at this time. The committee will continue to review safety data as they emerge.”
When deciding on childhood immunisations, the JCVI has consistently maintained that the main focus should be the benefits to children themselves, balanced against any potential harms to them from vaccination.
As longer-term data on potential adverse reactions accumulates, greater certainty may allow for a reconsideration of the benefits and harms. This data may not be available for several months.
Previously, the JCVI advised that children with severe neurodisabilities, Down’s syndrome, immunosuppression, profound and multiple learning disabilities, and severe learning disabilities or who are on the learning disability register, should be offered COVID-19 vaccination.
Following consideration of updated data on hospital admissions and deaths, the JCVI advises that this offer should be expanded to include children aged 12 to 15 with the following:
  • Haematological malignancy
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Type 1 diabetes
  • Congenital heart disease,
  • Other health conditions as described in Table A
Children with poorly controlled asthma and less common conditions, often due to congenital or metabolic defects, where respiratory infections can result in severe illness should also be offered COVID-19 vaccination.
 
BlueHammer85 said:
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has named a new strain of Omicron as a "variant under investigation".

The agency said: "The Omicron variant sub-lineage known as BA.2 has been designated as a variant under investigation.

"The number of BA.2 cases is currently low, with the original Omicron lineage BA.1 still dominant in the UK."

It added that "further analyses" will now take place
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It's been suggested that the rapid takeover of this strain in Denmark may have contributed to the continued rise in cases there, still going up despite being the first in Europe. Implies either more transmissibility, immune escape or both.

The good news is there's no evidence of it being any more severe.

Now, an Omicron variant, BA.2, accounts for almost half of all Danish Omicron-cases

So far, three subvariants of Omicron have been described: BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. Worldwide, BA.1 account for most of Omicron-cases. However, in Denmark BA.2 is gaining ground.
en.ssi.dk en.ssi.dk

1642774025893.png
 
roubaixtuesday said:
It's been suggested that the rapid takeover of this strain in Denmark may have contributed to the continued rise in cases there, still going up despite being the first in Europe. Implies either more transmissibility, immune escape or both.

The good news is there's no evidence of it being any more severe.

Now, an Omicron variant, BA.2, accounts for almost half of all Danish Omicron-cases

So far, three subvariants of Omicron have been described: BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. Worldwide, BA.1 account for most of Omicron-cases. However, in Denmark BA.2 is gaining ground.
en.ssi.dk en.ssi.dk

View attachment 34972
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yep and Vaccines are also expected to be effective against BA.2 in fighting severe illness, according to Danish health officials.
 
bluemc1 said:
yes which is why I stated earlier over 80% of reports to VAERS are by doctors and nurses but I knew your concerns would be mentioned so let’s say even if we half that number to allow for false reports it’s still an alarming number
Also one hell of a coincidence these numbers coincide with the vaccine companies getting exemption from paying damages and also for some reason in 2021 people decided to make false reports to VAERS in numbers overwhelmingly higher than in previous years

VAERS Summary for COVID-19 Vaccines through 12/31/2021 – VAERS Analysis

vaersanalysis.info
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Fair play, missed you mentioning that bit,

Even then tho. as others have pointed out. someone dying after having the vaccine doesn't mean they died of the vaccine. its the same catch as the Covid + 28 days later data, its good for rapid feedback but not as accurate as it can be, we should be looking at death certifications to see how many people have it mentioned as a cause/contributing factor for a real value.

One other possible point that skews the data in that report is the age that vaccines are given, in the most part all other vaccines are given at a young age where natural deaths are far less common that the old and vulnerable that this vaccine started with.

Thanks for the link BTW, lots of data to look at.
 
The Light Was Yellow Sir said:
Very clearly in favour? This was the JVCI guidance in November. I wonder when and it will be updated to reflect Omicron?
The committee’s assessment is that the health benefits from vaccination are marginally greater than the potential known harms. However, the margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal vaccination of healthy 12 to 15 year olds at this time.
It is not within the JCVI’s remit to consider the wider societal impacts of vaccination, including educational benefits. The government may wish to seek further views on the wider societal and educational impacts from the Chief Medical Officers of the UK four nations.
For the vast majority of children, SARS-CoV2 infection is asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, and will resolve without treatment. Of the very few children aged 12 to 15 years who require hospitalisation, the majority have underlying health conditions. The committee has recommended the expansion of the list of conditions to which the offer applies for at-risk 12 to 15 year olds.
There is evidence of an association between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and myocarditis. This is an extremely rare adverse event. The medium- to long-term effects are unknown and long-term follow-up is being conducted.
Given the very low risk of serious COVID-19 disease in otherwise healthy 12 to 15 year olds, considerations on the potential harms and benefits of vaccination are very finely balanced and a precautionary approach was agreed.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of COVID-19 Immunisation for the JCVI, said:
“Children aged 12 to 15 years old with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 should be offered COVID-19 vaccination. The range of underlying health conditions that apply has recently been expanded.
“For otherwise healthy 12- to 15-year-old children, their risk of severe COVID-19 disease is small and therefore the potential for benefit from COVID-19 vaccination is also small. The JCVI’s view is that overall, the health benefits from COVID-19 vaccination to healthy children aged 12 to 15 years are marginally greater than the potential harms. Taking a precautionary approach, this margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal COVID-19 vaccination for this age group at this time. The committee will continue to review safety data as they emerge.”
When deciding on childhood immunisations, the JCVI has consistently maintained that the main focus should be the benefits to children themselves, balanced against any potential harms to them from vaccination.
As longer-term data on potential adverse reactions accumulates, greater certainty may allow for a reconsideration of the benefits and harms. This data may not be available for several months.
Previously, the JCVI advised that children with severe neurodisabilities, Down’s syndrome, immunosuppression, profound and multiple learning disabilities, and severe learning disabilities or who are on the learning disability register, should be offered COVID-19 vaccination.
Following consideration of updated data on hospital admissions and deaths, the JCVI advises that this offer should be expanded to include children aged 12 to 15 with the following:
  • Haematological malignancy
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Type 1 diabetes
  • Congenital heart disease,
  • Other health conditions as described in Table A
Children with poorly controlled asthma and less common conditions, often due to congenital or metabolic defects, where respiratory infections can result in severe illness should also be offered COVID-19 vaccination.
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The data out of SA was that Omicron shows more in symptoms with children. That’s not to say people should worry about their child dying as a result of it as the stats are very low but it does affect them differently to Delta and Alpha.

Our grandson who’s 1 was coughing his little guts up with a fever over Christmas.
 
roubaixtuesday said:
Yes. The MHRA approve on the basis of risk/benefit.

The JCVI advise if it warrants a government rollout.

Different things.

The JCVI are completely out of kilter with most of the rest of the world on this.
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The MHRA regulate medicines (including vaccines), medical devices and blood products.
The JVCI consider vaccine safety, efficacy and look at the impact and cost effectiveness of immunisation strategies.

The JCVI looks at data on the impact of a disease, data from clinical trials and modelled data, then advises on the best way to get these vaccines to the public. In many ways the JVCI are to vaccines what NICE is to drugs and medical procedures summed by just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
 
The Light Was Yellow Sir said:
The MHRA regulate medicines (including vaccines), medical devices and blood products.
The JVCI consider vaccine safety, efficacy and look at the impact and cost effectiveness of immunisation strategies.

The JCVI looks at data on the impact of a disease, data from clinical trials and modelled data, then advises on the best way to get these vaccines to the public. In many ways the JVCI are to vaccines what NICE is to drugs and medical procedures summed by just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
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Agree, and the analogy to NICE is a good one.

The JCVI are, though, an absolute outlier in their assessment. We should ask why.
 
288 deaths

95,787 cases

Deaths up slightly on last week

Cases down both day to day in England (by around 10K) and week to week (by about 2K)

Full details on the other thread
 
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Dr Campbell is very detailed in his work: Vaccination advice in the age of omicron
 
England hospital numbers - more good news - further falls.

Full details will be on the other thread but headlines:

Patients down by 437 to 14,865

Every region falls well apart from South East which goes up.

Total down 1672 on last Friday.

The week to week fall has increased every day this week.

Ventilators fall yet again to a new lowest score since mid Summer last year. Down 21 to 552.

Every single region falls today. North West on 71,

It was nearly 800 in England mid December when Omicron arrived.

Seeing it fall as cases rise is so counter intuitive but is visible proof Omicron does seem to impact the lungs much less.
 
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Talking to my sister yesterday, she works in a hospital in the Nottinghamshire NHS Trust. She said her hospital is now referring to covid admissions as covid flu!
 
roubaixtuesday said:
On what basis?

Omicron is different for children in that it doesn't seem to be milder in the way it is for adults. Children's hospitalisation rates are unchanged vs delta. The vaccine is highly effective vs hospitalisation.
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The fact that around 60% can still get ill with Omicron even though they're vaccinated.
The current vaccine is fabulous for preventing people from being hospitalised and dying but the vaccine no longer blocks a large proportion of illness. That pool of people is bad news for stopping Omicron returning as vaccine immunity diminishes or from reducing the illness pool from the son of Omicron.
Yes boosters will help the vulnerable against Omicron and Delta.
Yes we can vaccinate those at risk with an updated vaccine (against Beta, Delta and Omicron) but it doesn't help in the next six months when Son of Omicron arrives that evades the vaccine even further.
Sadly as many people as possible in under 40 age groups need to catch Omicron to prevent them being a danger to older people next time.
It's a war and we're behind the curve in terms of counter measures and continually locking down the economy isn't an option going forward.
 
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