Here’s a dispatch from a doctor in Milan, Italy as they move into their second wave. Depressing stuff.
This second wave is more difficult than the first, where the adrenaline kept us up. Today we are tired and in some cases even demoralized, but we don’t ask ourselves many questions. We keep our head down and we work, as always.
In all this effort and despair, if there is one thing that pisses me off, it is the deniers. Until a few days ago, I was smiling at their bullshit. It’s crazy for us who see what this virus does, to hear things like “it’s all hype from higher powers,” “hospitals take 2,000 euros a day per patient and then hospitalize the asymptomatic,” “the emergency rooms are full of people who feel well and ambulances go around empty, to scare us.” Today I no longer laugh. A dull anger rises. Come on, denier, come and see how you die from COVID. Take reporters into hospitals to see patients who can’t breathe, the dead, or our dripping sweat.
I have seen a very slow rise in the number of ‘Sovcit’ type messages from UK Facebook posts this year when I had previoulsy seen none whatsover, and they all seem to use Magna Carter type fuckwittery, along with Government Control rubbish in relation to travel restrictions for lockdown zones.
When you look at their profiles it is very obviously fed by CT theories. We’ve always had a bit of CT in the UK but these took the form of Urban Legends - gossipy circumstantial stuff and usually in relation to Ghost stories and serial killers - not organised US style Gubmint style cover-ups.
I am not sure that it has quite gained enough of a culture to have its own UK style yet.
The problem is that social media amplifies the voices of idiots so it seems that there is widespead idiot opinion when in truth you see the stupidity more because they make the comments and sensible folk just ignore them - classic case of silent majority.
Digging a little deeper, this seems to be a local temporary/emergency authorisation
Approval process for a potential COVID-19 vaccine
Until the end of December, and as part of the transition period, COVID-19 vaccine candidates can be licensed (authorised) via the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and that authorisation will automatically be valid in the UK.
However, if a suitable COVID-19 vaccine candidate, with strong supporting evidence of safety, quality and effectiveness from clinical trials becomes available before the end of the transition period, EU legislation allows for temporary authorisation of supply in the UK, based on the public health need.
Had to go out for a couple of hours - when I got back the MHRA website had been updated with this press release re the approval.
Note the comment that
This was done using a regulatory process known as a ‘rolling review’. A ‘rolling review’ can be used to complete the assessment of a promising medicine or vaccine during a public health emergency in the shortest time possible.
Speaking as a retired pharma regulatory person (industry side) I cannot think of another occasion when this has been done (though no doubt it is being done for several vaccine applications in many territories as I write this). Generally, an incomplete application will be returned to the applicant.
Note also the publication of the Summary of Product Characteristics and Patient Leaflet (equivalent, loosely speaking, of the US pack insert, which lies somewhere between those two documents in terms of patient friendliness).
Huh, that leaflet says it should be administered within 6 hours of thawing. Worse than I thought. Lately I’ve seen the Moderna one lasts several days in the fridge, better than I thought.
Well here we go. Mass distribution of a whole bunch of drugs rushed to market. Interesting times.
It does look like this behavior in other countries was at least influenced by the U.S. I didn’t notice this happening elsewhere until after it started getting attention here. Especially the idea that hospitals are making money from covid, which is really sort of specific to the way our healthcare system is run. There are plenty of crazy people in other countries who could watch all this and make it their own.
Eric Garcetti just ordered everybody to stay home, and businesses that require workers to work away from home to close down. With exceptions. Bloomberg - Are you a robot??
My impression has been that the UK has been more or less out on the forefront in the way of lockdown skepticism. I’d say out ahead of the US, even, though the respective circumstances are not quite the same.
The notion that there is now a sort of covid ‘industry’ in places is intriguing. You’d think the US would be far and away the front runners in that regard, especially as compared to a place like the UK with its NHS, or another big country like Brazil that seemingly just wants to stop thinking about it all.
I do think it’s somewhat interesting to consider just how far-reaching the economic support from the US government is. Here’s the list of providers that have received support. Their number is presently nearing 400,000 – which is, of course, more than one per fatality, if one were inclined to look at it that way:
I stumbled across an article today about the AstraZeneca vaccine - and how the protocol of “half dose today, full dose in 1 month” is MORE effective than “full dose today and full dose in 1 month”. Interesting.
Evidently it was actually an accident - several thousand participants got the half-dose at first by mistake.
This article suggests reasons why it works that way.
Utter rubbish.
By the way, nice set of weasel words to try say something as fact but yet leave enough room for you to distance yourself should the need arise.
Out population density, along with smaller more crowded housing explains it well enough, along with late implementation of control measures and opening up too early.