Naso Vax

Posted on by Thor

Only about 30% of Americans are fully vaccinated and boosted. That means about 70% of Americans are frightened of needles, or they are anti vax lunatics. People are tired of COVID-19. They are done with the virus although the virus is not done with us. The virus is becoming more transmissible with each new variant.

The vaccines that are available have turned the deadly COVID virus into something more akin to the common cold for the fully  vaccinated people who get infected. While these vaccines are great at protecting against severe illness and death, they cannot stop vaccinated people from contracting the virus and experiencing mild symptoms and possibly spreading the virus to others.

To help prevent mild COVID infections, what is needed are vaccines that protect us where infections start: in the mucus membranes of the nose, mouth, and throat. And for that, we are likely going to need nasal vaccines.

More than a dozen clinical trials with nasal sprays are under way, The Guardian reported, but the development process is tricky. Nasal vaccines must create an immune response but not be potent enough to make people sick. If the dose it too weak then the vaccine will not work. This sweet spot becomes even harder to find when some people already have some immunity to COVID from past infections.

A nasal vaccine could be more easily manufactured and distributed because it’s stored in a regular refrigerator rather than ultra-cold temperatures like the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines. A nasal dose could be produced for about 30 cents compared to $30 for a Moderna or Pfizer dose. Needle pansies might be more inclined to get vaccinated if they can just spray it up their nose.

Freedom of Speech

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The Guardian reported, School board meetings have become the front line in the culture war battle over wearing masks to keep children safe. These meeting have the energy of a Trump rally or January 6th insurrection. The few are by far the loudest.

I spend the day as I painted watching videos of school board meeting about the issue of children wearing masks in school. The level of anger and disrespect shown by many parents who do not want their children wearing masks was amazing. Some meetings devolved into out of control shouting matches.

Many meetings have been disrupted or even cancelled. In Bend, Oregon, proceedings had to be put on hold twice in two weeks, as angry parents shouted at school board members and heckled a Spanish-language translator. “School boards are a uniquely vulnerable spot in the culture war landscape, because they’re open to everyone and they’re not really prepared for it,” said Adam Laats, a Binghamton University professor who studies the history of education in the US.

In Texas, one parent assaulted a teacher by tearing a mask off her face, Eanes Independent School District Superintendent Tom Leonard said in a statement August 24, 2021. “A parent physically assaulted a teacher by ripping a mask off her face, others yelling at a teacher to take off her mask because they could not understand what the teacher was saying while her face was covered,” he said.

A California teacher was hospitalized after a parent physically assaulted her when a discussion about the use of face masks heated up. The teacher suffered “lacerations on his face, some bruising on his a face and a pretty good knot on the back of his head,” KCRA reported.

In a parking lot after a school board meeting in Franklin, Tennessee, parents harassed medical professionals who had spoken in favor of masks in schools. “We know who you are. You can leave freely, but we will find you.”

A Wave of Maternal Deaths

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The Guardian reported that Brazil has recorded 803 pregnant and postpartum deaths since February 2020. Authorities are warning women to delay pregnancy. “If possible, (the women should) postpone the pregnancy a bit to a better time so that (they) can have a more peaceful pregnancy,” Secretary of Primary Health Care of the Brazilian health ministry Raphael Camara said April 16, 2021.

23-year-old, Maria Laura Prucoli,  died from COVID-19 after her daughter Lavínia, was delivered by emergency C-section in Rio’s deprived outskirts.

On April 23, 2021,  a 20-year-old woman who was seven months pregnant died in the midwestern state of Mato Grosso after waiting four days for an intensive care bed.

A study suggested that 77.5% of the world’s Covid-related maternal deaths had occurred in Brazil. The pandemic deepened historically high rates of maternal deaths. Some suspect new forms of coronavirus, such as the P1 variant linked to the Brazilian Amazon, may also be partly responsible although there is still no concrete evidence of this.

Last year, most victims were non-white women from poor areas with risk factors such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. This year, white women with no risk factors have been dying as well. the health ministry this week include them in the priority vaccination group. So far, however, fewer than 10% of Brazilians have received two doses meaning most pregnant women will face a long wait.