Coronavirus (2021) thread

[Marvin]

Surprised you are not all jumping up and down about the Pfizer news...

early data from the company’s own studies shows that a third booster dose generates antibody levels that are five to 10-fold higher than after the second dose.

The only thing keeping Covid alive is variant evolution, and if there are vaccines in the pipeline that are that effective then in the medium term it's just had its legs cut from under it.

I seriously hope that these pharmaceutical companies are not keeping these products back in order to maximise their profits from existing products. OK the current Pfizer vaccine might work but if you have one that produces 5 to 10 times the amount of antibodies, then why what's stopping you from launching it?

Seems the BBC's news a few days ago that they understood that the booster campaign would not be based on variant specific jabs was wrong.

 

[Gremlin]

Christ, nearly a fifth of us would like a 10pm curfew permanently? So much for our famed ‘liberty of the individual’ outlook.

Mori polling for The Economist shows some Brits support anti-covid restrictions *permanently*, regardless of covid risk.

- 19% for nighttime curfews
- 26% for closing casinos and clubs
- 35% for travel quarantine
- 40% for masks

They're probably the ones who live next door to the pubs

 

[artfuldodger]

Covid: Children's extremely low risk confirmed by study

The overall risk of death is around two in a million children, scientists looking at England's data estimate.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[twosips]

Surprised you are not all jumping up and down about the Pfizer news...

early data from the company’s own studies shows that a third booster dose generates antibody levels that are five to 10-fold higher than after the second dose.

The only thing keeping Covid alive is variant evolution, and if there are vaccines in the pipeline that are that effective then in the medium term it's just had its legs cut from under it.

I seriously hope that these pharmaceutical companies are not keeping these products back in order to maximise their profits from existing products. OK the current Pfizer vaccine might work but if you have one that produces 5 to 10 times the amount of antibodies, then why what's stopping you from launching it?

Seems the BBC's news a few days ago that they understood that the booster campaign would not be based on variant specific jabs was wrong.

I think it's because most people kinda hope to not be locked into what could possibly feel like a never-ending cycle of jabs tbh. It doesn't feel like good news on a personal level, just kind of exhausting and like we're gonna start all over again, constantly. It's a personal thing, but seeing signs up everywhere outside about jabs and all this just makes me miserable. It's all very dystopian, and I really can't be fucked with another huge, massive rollout and constant pandemic reminders everywhere.

And you also touched on the cynicism yourself - I can't pretend i'll ever be happy having to think about what pharmaceutical companies are gonna roll out for us next. There will always be one slightly better, and they will always have money to make from it. I'd rather just ya know...not have to think about it a tall. Tl:dr version - the idea of boosters just makes me sigh if i'm being brutally honest.

 

[grunge]

Christ, nearly a fifth of us would like a 10pm curfew permanently? So much for our famed ‘liberty of the individual’ outlook.

Mori polling for The Economist shows some Brits support anti-covid restrictions *permanently*, regardless of covid risk.

- 19% for nighttime curfews
- 26% for closing casinos and clubs
- 35% for travel quarantine
- 40% for masks

I bet if anyone was asked a similar ( not masks and quarantine obv ) these questions before Covid you would have had a similar set of result.

There are a set amount of people out there who have views like this as a standard.

 

[Marvin]

I think it's because most people kinda hope to not be locked into what could possibly feel like a never-ending cycle of jabs tbh. It doesn't feel like good news on a personal level, just kind of exhausting and like we're gonna start all over again, constantly. It's a personal thing, but seeing signs up everywhere outside about jabs and all this just makes me miserable. It's all very dystopian, and I really can't be fucked with another huge, massive rollout and constant pandemic reminders everywhere.

And you also touched on the cynicism yourself - I can't pretend i'll ever be happy having to think about what pharmaceutical companies are gonna roll out for us next. There will always be one slightly better, and they will always have money to make from it. I'd rather just ya know...not have to think about it a tall. Tl:dr version - the idea of boosters just makes me sigh if i'm being brutally honest.

All these pharma companies must have projects with variant-based vaccines. A state will release a new vaccine as soon as it is viable. These companies have doubtless other motives in mind.

But it's still good news, however cynical we maybe, that we are staying ahead of the virus.

One huge difference in the next 12 months is that when we vaccinate into the population in the UK, 90% plus will already have some kind of exposure to Covid so runaway variant spawning surges are imo ending with this wave.

The current cycle of waves spawning variants is unlikely to happen in the future because immunity is not going to melt away that quickly. This really is very good news.

Boosters have the probability of ending this. How else do we bring the cycle to an end? It wont stop at the delta variant it will keep going until it is optimised for human transmission. I think you have some family with whom you have had vaccine arguments!

 

[domalino]

I seriously hope that these pharmaceutical companies are not keeping these products back in order to maximise their profits from existing products. OK the current Pfizer vaccine might work but if you have one that produces 5 to 10 times the amount of antibodies, then why what's stopping you from launching it?

AFAIK Pfizer hasn't made a new vaccine - that would take months of licensing and testing even for a variant of an existing vaccine.

The booster shot is literally just that, a third shot of the same thing. That's what they've petitioned the CDC for permission to do.

It's the bodies immune response realising this is a repetitive threat that makes it react so much more strongly and produce a stronger and longer lasting antibody response.

 

[BobKowalski]

I bet if anyone was asked a similar ( not masks and quarantine obv ) these questions before Covid you would have had a similar set of result.

There are a set amount of people out there who have views like this as a standard.

Agreed.

That 20% of the country would prefer to live under authoritarian rule where you have to be indoors by 10pm is an eye opener though.

 

[twosips]

Agreed.

That 20% of the country would prefer to live under authoritarian rule where you have to be indoors by 10pm is an eye opener though.

I would just guess that 20% are what we usually would just call miserable old cunts. There's definitely a lot of them, so not too surprising.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

AFAIK Pfizer hasn't made a new vaccine - that would take months of licensing and testing even for a variant of an existing vaccine.

The booster shot is literally just that, a third shot of the same thing. That's what they've petitioned the CDC for permission to do.

It's the bodies immune response realising this is a repetitive threat that makes it react so much more strongly and produce a stronger and longer lasting antibody response.

Fully agree, but on the first point you may be interested in the approach being taken to variant vaccine development. This is from UK, but the main regulators (FDA, EMA) are doing similar.

Modified COVID-19 vaccines for variants to be fast-tracked, says MHRA and other regulators

Future vaccine modifications that respond to new variants of coronavirus to be made available quickly to UK recipients, without compromising on safety, quality or effectiveness.

www.gov.uk

I think the studies outlined there are currently ongoing against the Beta variant.

I think there are several reasons variant vaccines aren't being contemplated for the boosters:

(1) There's more than one variant and they emerge quickly (look at Delta). How to choose which?
(2) The variants may be more different to each other than they are to the original wildtype. So you get better protection against multiple variants with the original.
(3) The emerging evidence is that a third booster with the original works extremely well. So why bother with changing?