Yeah, I guess I should have held my editorial comments in that thread.
I think things like night clubs and other purely social gatherings should be put on hold until it’s determined that the vaccines in use are protective against this variant. It seems bizarre to me to presume that it is.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I’d like to take a look at what this is based on, if you have a link. As I understand it, Oxford/AZ is only about 60% effective against delta. I don’t see why one would assume it would give really good protection against an even more mutated variant that has shown some evasion of more effective vaccines.
I see that for Adele’s Las Vegas residency they are requiring both proof of vaccination AND a negative test:
I held a dance last weekend, and required full vaccination and a negative test. I also required masks and didn’t require, but strongly encouraged, boosters.
I like the idea of dancing in masks…
Well, Bexar County’s (San Antonio) numbers are going back up. We’ll probably be at our peak just in time for spring semester to start. Yay…
Today it was decided that our annual conference in May is going to be virtual for the third year in a row. The university lawyers said we can’t require vaccinations and the hotel in Texas says we can’t require masks, so…
Can l just say hurrah for my neighbor? Not my next door neighbor, admittedly, but I could walk over if I had to.
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Mrs. L.A. got a J&J shot in… April? Today she got a Pfizer booster. She forgot to take her vax card, so she’ll have to take it in.
The point is that both things can still be true. The 60% you mention is to do with neutralising the virus so you don’t get infected in the first place. A stronger and longer lasting T-cell response won’t necessarily prevent you getting it but it will prevent the majority of severe illness and death and a longer-spaced two shot of the AZ seems to do that very well.
This can be seen from the UK figures which, athough higher during the delta wave than any previous wave, still saw low levels of hospitalisation and death.
When delta hit other european countries with equivalent vaccine rates (who shunned the AZ vaccine and relied more on RNA vaccines and a shorter two shot window) higher rates of hospitalisation and death were seen.
Coupling that initial program with a mix and match booster now, using an RNA vaccine, (which likely does give better neutralising protection)
is likely to offer pretty decent protection against severe illness and death and holds the potential to be a really good long-lasting protection.
This is all tentative of course and it’ll be interesting to see if the theory works well against the omicron, but I’m optimistic.
Thanks. That first one is subscription only, but your explanation and the title of the article led me to some non-paywalled articles like this one.
It looks like the combination of an adenovirus vaccine and Moderna in particular might be extremely powerful. Not just Moderna as a booster, but also Moderna as a second shot. Novavax was also very effective as a second shot with Oxford/AZ.
yes, I think it is really good news that people are looking into this. Individually the vaccines are all excellent but if they can act together to be even more powerful then what’s not to like?
It’s not very interesting but a friend of mine in the Indianapolis area just came down with COVID a few days ago. For me it’s a milestone of sorts because he’s the first person I actually know who’s caught it. You read so much about it and it makes you think a lot. But for me I got a new way of thinking about it when it’s a friend.
He says he isn’t so bad; that it’s like a bad flu for him. He manages several restaurants and thinks it’s likely he was infected there. He’s vaccinated but I think hardly anyone has been wearing masks inside his restaurant.
I keep thinking it’s good that he “only” feels flu-like symptoms. And then I realize—even though I already thought I knew it—he likely isn’t going through anything worse only because he’s been totally vaxxed.
Like I said—not interesting, and totally obvious. Just a new perspective for me.
Yes, and bad flu symptoms are significant. And hopefully he will fully recover.
I don’t consider myself a long hauler, but 7 weeks after I first got sick, I still can barely smell and my energy is not back to normal, nor is my lung capacity. Last time I had the flu, it was also really bad, took me a long time to feel better, and I lost my sense of smell for a year. (Yes, it can happen from the flu.) True influenza gets downplayed, but it can be very very bad. And we think of covid as mild when it’s only like the flu.
I’d consider you to be a long hauler and I’m sorry you are still suffering. I can tell that hubs still has brain fog and he has erectile dysfunction going on as well.
How are your kids? And wife, she was pretty sick for a while as I recall.
@eschrodinger thanks for the update. Sorry you’re still struggling. I heap curses on the heads of those people who think COVID isn’t real. 
I was wondering this, too.
@JaneDoe42 and @ThelmaLou, the kids are great. They got first vaccine doses last weekend. We were holding off a little because we worried that they would have a bad reaction if it was too close to the infection, but we wanted them to have one dose in before seeing family (all vaccinated) just after Christmas. With the omicron news, I’m very glad they got the shot. Both just had a sore arm for a few days. 8-year-old immune systems, man. Nothing like 'em.
My spouse is doing well. Better than me. She has her full sense of smell back. Full energy level, too I think. A little diminished lung capacity still, but probably in line with slowly recovering from pneumonia.
I have an appointment scheduled with my primary care doctor next week. Maybe I’ll ask about whether anything is being tried for the loss of sense of smell.
So glad the kids are doing well. That would be very hard to deal with…
Wishing your family a sweet, peaceful holiday with lots of warm fuzzies. 
Good news on three sides, I sure hope your doctor can come up with something to try for your sniffer. Have you lost much weight? I don’t think I’d eat as much if I couldn’t smell my food.
I’m thinking we all bounced better when we were young 
Certain parts of me certainly did!