Vaccine Inequality

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How many people in the world could be vaccinated? Enough vaccine doses have been purchased to cover more than 80% of the adult population of the world, high-income countries own enough doses to vaccinate more than twice their populations while low and middle income countries can only cover one-third of their population.

In the United States about half of the country has not been vaccinated. Vaccines are free and readily available but they are being turned down by skeptics and anti-vaxers.

A month ago, a joint statement by the CDC and FDA had said that fully vaccinated Americans did not need a booster dose. Vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infections wanes over time, but the protection they offer against hospitalizations continues to remain high.

On August 18, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that a third booster dose of the vaccine will be available to people 8 months after their last dose. That means I will be eligible for a third dose this coming December 2021.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that third doses of the vaccines should not be administered. The WHO called on countries with high vaccination rates to donate surplus vaccines to poorer countries rather than administering third doses. The reasoning is that the pandemic will not end until the entire world is vaccinated. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) had called a moratorium on booster doses at least till the end of September 2021. “We’re planning to hand out extra life jackets to people who already have life jackets, while we’re leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket,” WHO’s emergency director Mike Ryan told reporters on Aug. 18, 2021. A COVID infection anywhere is a COVID infection everywhere.

Independence Day

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On March 12, 2021 President Joe Biden declared July 4 could mark the start of US “independence from this virus.” In a July 4, 2021 speech, he celebrated the “heroic” vaccination campaign on the country’s Independence Day holiday. He hadn’t learned from history that declaring victory too early is often short sighted.

In Barnstable County, Massachusetts people gathered in large groups to celebrate the holiday. It was the Hot Vax Summer Celebration and people wanted to party mask less as they had before the pandemic broke out. Pool parties and shirtless conga lines were in store.

469 COVID-19 cases were identified among people who attended. 346 (74%) occurred in fully vaccinated people. Among five COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized, four were fully vaccinated; no deaths were reported.

The bottom line conclusion was that the  SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant is highly transmissible and can be spread between vaccinated individuals. The study implies that the viral load of vaccinated and unvaccinated persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 is similar. Because of this study the CDC has recommended on July 27, 2021 that all individuals both vaccinated and unvaccinated should wear masks indoors or when in crowds. The delta variant of the coronavirus is more contagious than previously thought. It is more communicable than Ebola and can spread faster than the chickenpox. While vaccines appear to remain strong against the virus, new evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people with so-called breakthrough infections may be every bit as infectious as those yet to receive their shots, even if their own cases remain relatively mild. As of July 31, 2021 the P-Town outbreak had ballooned to 965 cases.

Provincetown, Massachusetts, has restored its indoor mask mandate after a cluster of Covid-19 cases followed the Fourth of July holiday.

The Incredible Shrinking Brain

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A new study based on data gathered by UK Biobank, found that COVID-19 survivors suffer from grey matter loss in the brain.

The long-term experiment, which involved 782 volunteers, compared brain scans of individuals before the pandemic. For an analogy between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic brain scans, researchers then invited 394 COVID-19 survivors to return for follow-up scans, as well as 388 healthy volunteers.

Researchers saw significant effects of the virus on human cerebral matter, with a loss of gray matter in regions of the brain. This incredible shrinking brain syndrome is particularly evident in the incoherent ramblings of the former president (45) who held a rally last weekend in Ohio. It has been nice not having to think about this psychopath for the last six months since Joe Biden was sworn in and oversaw a epic vaccination effort which surpassed several of it’s goals but might fall just short of the 70% hoped for by July 4, 2021.

Even die hard MAGAts got bored with the ramblngs of the ex-president and decided to leave the rally early while he was still droning on about the past. He was infected by COVID-19 in October 0f 2020 and clearly his brain has shrunk.

Lab Leak?

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President Joe Biden asked the intelligence community to redouble their efforts to examine whether COVID-19 emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident. The COVID-19 lab leak theory seems to be gaining ground after 3 researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were reported to have gone to a hospital with COVID-19 like symptoms in November 22020, a month before the outbreak was reported in China. Those researches have yet to be identified.

SARS and MERS were linked to an animal host that then infected a human. It  should be noted that finding the source of an outbreak can take decades, so a quick evidence based answer may not come with the report President Biden requested. The World Health Organization (WHO), reported that there’s no support for the lab leak theory. However the director of the WHO said that the lab leak theory is still on the table. Bat caves about 1000 miles from Wuhan have been considered as a possible source for the virus. However researches have yet to find the virus in captured bats from the caves. The Chinese government has sampled something like close to 80,000 different wildlife samples. The outbreak began in the winter which is a time when bats would have been hibernating.

In the Untied States, the National Institutes of Health grants money to this EcoHealth Alliance which then grants money to other groups, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Peter Daszak, the head of EcoHealth Alliance orchestrated a letter that discredited the lab-leak theory. A number of the signatories on that letter were on EcoHealth Alliance payroll. There is a clear conflict on interest. When the WHO went to China to research the origins of the virus China approved one U.S. representative, and that was Peter Daszak who had authored a letter discrediting the lab leak theory.

U.S. State Department investigators  investigating the possible lab leak theory realizes they might be opening a Pandora’s box since U.S. tax payer dollars were being used to fund research that might have caused the COVID-19 outbreak. The investigators put out a statement that Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducting classified military research. Gain of function research takes an existing virus and makes it more contagious for humans.

China acted to cover things up from the beginning of the outbreak by initially claiming that the virus was not transmissible from person to person, they downplayed outbreak severity, and they silenced of scientists and doctors in China who spoke out about this. Journalists who went to the Wuhan marked were detained by police. Shortly after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak China invested in beefing up the safety protocols a the virus research institutes. A critical database that contains about 22,000 viral samples was taken offline several months before the official outbreak of the pandemic and has not been restored.

Back in 2012 six miners in China went to the Mojiang mine shaft to shovel bat feces. They became incredibly ill with symptoms that resemble COVID-19. Three of the miners died. The incident was not reported to the WHO. Viral samples of from that mine shaft  were taken to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and analyzed. The virus sampled was 96.2% similar to COVID-19.

There is no smoking gun to prove or disprove a lab leak theory. Weather the virus transferred naturally from an animal to humans or it leaked from a lab, it is important to find the answer of how this outbreak began. Much like how the FAA always looks into every plane crash, finding the problem that caused the crash can prevent future crashes or pandemics.

Vaccine Incentives

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President Joe Biden has a goal of seeing 70% of Americans vaccinated with at least one shot by July 4, 2021.

Dating Apps including Tinder, Hinge, OK Cupid, BLK, Chipsa, Plenty of Fish, Bumble, and Badoo will be offering badges for singles to display their vaccination status, and give vaccinated users free benefits like boosts, super likes and super swipes.

The apps are also implementing filters so people can see who has been vaccinated as well as promotions and links to vaccine.gov to help people find where to get the shots.

“Hinge will encourage users to share their vaccination status on their profile and give vaccinated users a free ‘Rose,’ which is premium content that indicates to other users that they’re especially excited to get to know them,” the White House said.

“Vaccinated people will also receive a free ‘Boost’ to move their profile to the front of a daters’ stack,” the White House said of the app’s plans. The White House noted that OkCupid has found that people who are vaccinated or who plan to be receive 14 percent more matches compared to those who don’t.

This might seem like small beans compared to “Vax-a-Million” which gives Ohio residents a chance to get one million dollars if they get the shot. The state will pick the name of name of one vaccinated person per week for 5 weeks. The “Ohio Vax-a-Million” lottery will be funded with the state’s federal coronavirus relief dollars, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said during a statewide televised address on May 19, 2021.

Along with Melinda Gates, lets hope the Ohio winners get bumped up to the top of the dater’s stack.

 

 

Johnson & Johnson Blood Clots

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended there be a “pause” for the Johnson & Johnson  vaccine after 6 women developed rare brain blood clots after getting the vaccine. One woman died.

The CDC‘s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will convene April 14, 2021 for an emergency session, with a vote scheduled on “updated recommendations for use” before the group adjourns at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden‘s chief medical adviser, told CBS Evening News, that it appeared that the adverse effect occurred within six to 13 days, and “so if you’ve had it a month or two ago, I think you really don’t need to worry about anything.” He went on to emphasis that the chance of these adverse side effects is “less than 1 in a million,” but he said to be alert to the symptoms such as severe headache, some difficulty in movement — such as in a neurological type of a situation — or some chest discomfort and difficulty breathing.

The cases the FDA and CDC are investigating occurred involved a blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, which was seen alongside low levels of blood platelets, according to their statement. All of the six women were between the ages of 18 and 48. “Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered. Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots. In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given,” they said.

The agencies said the “adverse events” seem to be extremely rare, but that the pause is important so that health care providers can be made aware of the reactions and properly recognize and manage the cases, given the unique treatment required. It has not yet been determined if the vaccine was the direct cause of the blood clotting cases. The AstraZeneca vaccine, used in Europe and not yet available in the USA has also been linked to cases of blood clots. Both the AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines use an inactivated form of a common cold virus, called an adenovirus, to teach the immune system to recognize the spike protein found of the surface of the coronavirus. Experts believe it’s possible that on rare occasions, the adenovirus itself could lead to clotting, due to a reaction involving platelets.

Regardless this will become a rallying point for any anti vaxers.

2021 A COVID Odyssey

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A virus anywhere in the world is a virus everywhere in the world. Wealthy nations of the world are hoarding vaccines. This has been referred to as Vaccine Nationalism or Vaccine Apartheid.

Astra Zeneca/Oxford, Pfeizer/BionTech, and Moderna said that together they will produce 5.3 billion doses of vaccine in 2021. That is enough for 3 billion people, over 1/3 of the global population.

The majority of those doses have already been set aside.  The European Union, America, Canada, Japan, and England have already pre-ordered half those doses. Canada had 9 doses for every one of its residents and the US has ordered just over 7 doses per person. These countries only account for 13% of the global population. For poorer countries there will not be much to go around. Most people in poor countries will have to wait until 2023.

There are dangers to Vaccine Nationalism. Granted rich countries will have the first access, and will begin to recover from the pandemic and economically, but the poor countries will have to wait. The virus does not respect boarders. No wall will keep it out. Counties believing they are safe while the virus rages in poor countries are very foolish. It does not work. Global economies are based on open commerce and travel. COVID-19 loves to travel. Every plane flight can ignite an outbreak anywhere in the world.

Drug patents will result in hundreds of thousands of deaths for poorer nations. South Africa and India hoped to have patents suspended for the duration of the pandemic so cheap generic vaccines could be mass manufactured for poorer countries. The motion was overruled by wealthy nations. Multinational drug companies are very effective at lobbying governments. Patents bring huge profits to the drug companies and allow then to control the prices. However these companies received billions of dollars in public funds for research and development. Profit, or death in poorer nations? The answer is easy for the richer countries. The South African variant of the virus is infecting people who have had the Pfeizer vaccine. The virus is mutating and spreading from poor countries and America is the perfect petri dish.

President Joe Biden said, “We’re going to start off and ensure Americans are taken care of first, but we’re then going to try to help the rest of the world.” He said it was clear that the pandemic would not be over until it was ended everywhere. “We’re not going to be ultimately safe, until the world is safe,” he said.

Sold Out Superspreader

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Globe Death Field in Arlington Texas will be the first Major League Baseball stadium to reopen at full capacity – roughly 40,000 seats – since the pandemic began. This decision was made one month after Texas Governor Greg Abbott ended the state’s mask mandate and insisted that businesses to reopen fully.

Everything is big in Texas including stupid. Half hearted measures will be in place for safety, like a gentle request that fans should wear masks except for while eating, guzzling beer and yelling. Over 38,000 fans packed the stands on opening day April 5, 2021.

“We made a commitment to everybody [season ticket holders] that they could hold tickets if we would allow them for the proper Opening Day,” executive vice president and chief revenue and marketing officer Joe Januszewski told MLB.com. “We’re going to honor that, so in order to do that, obviously we would be at a full capacity.”

When asked about the full capacity decision, President Joe Biden said, “They should listen to Dr. Fauci, the scientists and the experts. But I think it’s not responsible.” Biden warned about potential surges, citing the jumps in European nations that have reopened, and reiterated that vaccinations need to increase before businesses can reopen fully. “We have to get to the point where enough people have taken the vaccine, so we diminish the possibility for it to spread,” he said.

Texas ranked 47 out of all 50 states in percentage of the population to receive at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. “I worry we’re in for the perfect storm. We’re lifting restrictions, the B.1.1.7 variant is here in a big way, and we’re lagging behind on vaccinations. None of that is good news,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, the Dean of Baylor College of Medicine. “We’re going to be in a much better shape in a couple of months from now. I don’t quite understand the urgency to lift restrictions.”

Early Spike

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With COVID vaccines finally rolling out in a timely manner the tenancy of clueless governors is to assume the pandemic is over. The trouble is that the daily cases in America have plateaued at about 50,0000 to 60,000 cases a day which is similar to the case counts during last summer’s surge.

CDC officials warned a far more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain (B.1.1.7) will likely become the dominant source of infection in the United States. Florida is leading the country with the most cases of the U.K. coronavirus variant. B.1.1.7 is about 50 percent more contagious than the original strain. This the virus can spread much faster and  cause more deaths than the original virus.

Dr. Fauci warned against early re-openings, he said, “We’re not in the end zone yet. And that’s one of the issues that when you plateau, there’s always the risk of a surge,” the top infectious disease expert added. Despite this warning, states like Texas and Mississippi have dropped mask mandates and opened 100%. President Joe Biden declared that every American should be eligible to get vaccinated by May 1, 2021. If everyone gets the first available vaccine tragedy can be averted. However about 49% the former president’s supporters have said they are against getting vaccinated. The former president and his wife were vaccinated in secret before leaving office. Fauci said he wishes the former President would use his popularity among Republicans to persuade more of his followers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Mad Mask Abbott

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Texas Governor Mad Max Greg Abbott announced on March 2, 2021 that the states mask mandate would be lifted and all business could open at 100% capacity starting March 10, 2021. The CDC had warned the day before that states should not ease public health safety restrictions. As of March 1, 2021, only 6.57% of Texans have been fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University.

COVID case numbers have fallen since the insanely high numbers of January driven by the holidays, New Years Eve and the Super Bowl. However the number of new cases have leveled off at about the worst of the summer surge which was the worst imaginable horror at the time. Since new cases of COVID-19 have been leveling off at about 50,000 new cases a day, there is a risk that there could be a 4th wave driven by states lifting health guidance too early. New variants of the virus are spreading and some are resistant to the vaccines being distributed. In Brazil, people who recovered from the COVID virus at the beginning of the pandemic are getting re-infected. The second infections are more severe and deadly.

A team of researchers in Houston, Texas, has sequenced the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from 20,400 COVID-19 patients treated at a single health system there, and they’ve found cases of all the major variants that public health experts say could increase the transmission of the virus or the severity of infection.

Ironically President Joe Biden‘s fast vaccine roll out is partly the cause of governor Abbott letting his guard down. President Joe Biden slammed Abbott on March 3, 2021 for putting lives at risk by clinging to “Neanderthal thinking” rather than heeding advice from the nation’s top scientists. “I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers. “We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we’re able to get vaccines in people’s arms….The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask. Forget it. It still matters.”

Biden noted the death toll, 511,874 Americans at last count. “We’re going to lose thousands more…. We’ll not have everybody vaccinated until sometime in the summer,” Biden said. “It’s critical, critical, critical, critical that they follow the science. Wash your hands, hot water. Do it frequently, wear a mask and stay socially distanced. … I wish the heck some of our elected officials knew it.” To date, Texas has lost 43,266 lives.

“We at the CDC have been very clear that now is not the time to release all restrictions,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asked about Texas’ change of policy during a White House briefing. “The next month or two is really pivotal in terms of how this pandemic goes.”