208,713,930 total cases
4,383,937 dead
187,103,804 recovered
In the US:
37,736,986 total cases
638,798 dead
30,227,302 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
New Zealand continues to act sensibly, IMO:
In Mississippi, they are stuffing patients into parking garages.
But there are no problems, nothing to see here, move along, no need to mask up or anything.
This hot story is all over the news now, so I needn’t link any additional cites. But this is what I wonder, which I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere: Will this be a repeat of the same vaccines we already got? Or will they be coming out with a new improved vaccine that specifically addresses the latest variants, Delta in particular? (In the same manner as our annual flu shots, which are continually being re-customized to address the flu-du-jour each year.)
ETA: So, I’ll be due for mine in mid-December.
My husband is eight months out from his original vaccination, so he went in today to our local CVS after filling out the online form. He got his booster right away.
Mine is scheduled for Thursday over the lunch hour.
All the talk of booster shots are repeats of the same vaccines.
This disappoints me. Compare with flu shots: They come out with a new customized vax every year, without needing the multi-year drawn-out development and approval process. So they have it down to an industrial assembly-line process to create a new specific flu vaccine each year.
I’m hoping they can do the same with these new mRNA vaccines, to produce quickly a new on-point vax for the new variants. I would think it would be even easier: If I understand aright, these mRNA vaxes are entirely synthetic, built to contain just the right mRNA codes for the spike protein. So is there some obstacle to producing new synthetic molecules for all the new variants as they arise?
Any ideas if we should expect similar side effects?
I felt 10x worse after my second shot than I did with actual COVID. I’m not looking forward to having to experience that every 8 months for the rest of my life.
If I had to take a WAG, I would guess probably not so much. The first shot was described as “priming” the immune system, so that the second shot would really fire up the immune system. Thus the increased side effects from shot #2.
So my uneducated total WAG is that, now that we are full of those antibodies, then future shots would probably not be such a jolt to our immune system.
(Disclosure: My side effects were mild and brief, so I could probably easily tolerate a significantly worse response next time. So this probably pre-judges my anticipated reaction to the next shot. YMMV.)
I’ll post back to let you know of my husband’s reaction to his booster, and mine as well. I’m curious too.
There is already some data on the effects associated with the Pfizer boosters:
FDA Authorizes 3rd COVID-19 Booster Shot: What Are the Side Effects? | Observer
In summary, the effects of the booster are about the same as the effects of the 2nd dose.
This is what I posted several weeks ago and was told that I was posting anti-vaxx propaganda. I’ll reiterate: CDC has been flying blind. They made a decision in May - several actually - that had very critical consequences. One consequence is that they don’t have their own quality data on vaccine efficacy; they are relying on Israel, the UK, and other institutions. Whatever analysis the CDC makes is probably going to be consistently 2-4 weeks behind what Israel does. Let’s just keep this in mind going forward.
Ugh. 2nd shot knocked me on my ass for a day and a half. Oh well, better than the statistical alternative.
Fake vaccination cards in the news:
I’m not an expert, but I suspect the main obstacle is bureaucratic. mRNA vaxx is a relatively new technology, so they’ll most likely make them jump through the same hoops each time for every new version. Even though the only difference is a few codons that code for the minor differences in the spike protein.
Throw the whole book at these fuckers. Like littering, it’s just too easy and tempting a crime to commit, and too attractive (to those of a certain mind-set), and to easily gotten away with unless we have full jack-booted enforcement, and too dangerous for society to let it become rampant.
Shut these guys down to the max, and make sure everybody knows what kind of jail time they are looking at if they try it.
To be sure, the sources may be largely off-shore and untouchable. But the law also criminalizes the people who buy or use these fake-shit cards.
When Customs intercepted that shipment of fake cards, what they OUGHT to do is let them go through, but then track them to their final destinations. Every stateside middle-man should be identfied, as well as every end-user, and nail the lot of them.
I suspect but do not know that they may be able to make custom seasonal boosters after full approval.
The flu shot doesn’t have to be approved over and over, but it also is fully approved.
I hope so. I’m already looking forward to my upgrade in mid-December, and I want it to be a new Vax 2.0 to cover the latest bugs out there.
And I am boostered. I took a chance that I could do a walk-in today over my lunch hour at a CVS which is close to where I work. They sent me a link right from the pharmacist’s window to my phone, which link contained the usual questions about allergies and if I was feeling sick that day. It did have a question about immuno-deficiency, to which I answered yes - I have a condition which puts me on the cusp of that one. I answered all the questions, sat down, and got my booster within a couple of minutes.
Boo to the idea of having a bad reaction to this booster. I was hoping it’d be mild, but we’ll see. Pharmacist said to take only Tylenol to combat any fever.
This is the trials for Moderna, side effects. I haven’t read it yet.
Set you dates, and criteria.