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The flu shot is a vaccine!As we speculated early on it is more a flu shot than a vaccine, so boosters will most likely be required annually.
Spot on Rob, I was making reference to the fact some sections of the media, in the early days were inferring to it as it is applied to something like a polio vaccine, where the one shot is it for life. Whereas we were saying on the forum, it is a virus and as such can and will mutate, as you explained perfectly in your response.The flu shot is a vaccine!
From what is known to date, not a lot is clear about the long term efficacy of a jab, and it's even more complicated given that different variants appear to have markedly different outcomes for the same vaccine. Just as flu shots cater for many different viral strains of the flu, it may be possible for covid vaccine manufacturers to also incorporate multi strain effectivity. To date I have only read that "mixing and matching" vaccine types (eg inactivated with mRNA) could be a solution to increased efficacy.
A growing concern of virologists is that as lower income nations remain poorly vaccinated, they may give rise to increasingly altered variants of covid and currently available vaccines may prove only marginally effective.
In the meantime we can only hope that as more nations come closer to herd immunity the chance of worse variants propagating will diminish.
See how it goes. We got through the last scare just fine. NSW generally has done an exceptional job of contact tracing. And I have no doubt if the numbers get away they will simply lockdown. It has so far been the hardest working government in keeping things as normal as possible.Sydney is watching the highly contagious Delta COVID variation take off - but Gladys is still insisting people should be sensible, wear masks and "be careful" - but still go out and enjoy themselves.
Meanwhile SA and WA have simply closed the border to anyone coming from NSW. They are being "sensible and careful" as well.
Vic closed the border last night.
If this gets away in NSW I wonder where it will stop. The overseas experience of this strain spreading rapidly and ruthlessly is daunting.
I gather most of the new cases were already in isolation. Can't confirm where I saw that though... but FWIWSee how it goes. We got through the last scare just fine. NSW generally has done an exceptional job of contact tracing. And I have no doubt if the numbers get away they will simply lockdown. It has so far been the hardest working government in keeping things as normal as possible.
Avoiding lockdowns is just as important as saving lives. Billions are lost locking down.
Isn't pneumonia what you die from, with covid?*Official flu and pneumonia deaths now 10x higher than covid in UK
Flu and pneumonia deaths now 10 times higher than Covid
New ONS data reveal that coronavirus deaths now make up just 0.8 per cent of all fatalities, down from 1.3 per centwww.telegraph.co.uk
This new strain is very contagious. I think there is actually a lot of hidden community infections they are scrambling to trace. If they can't trace it within a certain time frame, they Start implementing harsher restrictions.I gather most of the new cases were already in isolation. Can't confirm where I saw that though... but FWIW
It's a contributory factor. Below is the chart showing comparative numbers:Isn't pneumonia what you die from, with covid?
So if the pneumonia isn't covid related, what strain of flu is it related to?
Brilliant, terrifying ? Fascinating mixture of stories that are known about early COVID infections (but long forgotten or ignored) and a presentation style that mixes the seemingly absurd with the directly relevant. Very cutting satire.Here's a strange take on using and abusing science and data, including playing with dates and countbacks:
The media focus on an extremely unlikely lab leak is just a continuation of the "China bad" syndrome driving the West.This lengthy analysis of the origins of COVID offers food for thought. In particular the concluding section highlights that COVID was also identified in a number of locations before being officially noted in Wuhan.
Other studies on the origin of the virus
- In November 2020 a study by Italy's National Cancer Institute about people who were screened for cancer in Lombardy shows that several patients already had covid antibodies in early October 2019 (paper). Quote: "antibodies were detected in 111 of 959 (11.6%) individuals, starting from September 2019 (14%), with a cluster of positive cases (>30%) in the second week of February 2020 and the highest number (53.2%) in Lombardy". Unless there is another explanation for why covid antibodies would arise in people, covid was in Italy in September 2019, three months before the outbreak in Wuhan.
- Also in November 2020: A retrospective serological study by the CDC finds that covid antibodies were present in blood samples taken in mid December in several locations of the USA (paper)
- Also in November 2020: a study by Libing Shen (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Funan He (Fudan University) and Zhao Zhang (University of Texas at Houston) tried to pinpoint the least mutated genetic strain of the coronavirus, which should be its phylogenetic root. They observed that the Indian subcontinent has the highest strain diversity and estimated that the earliest transmission from an animal to a human host happened in July or August 2019 (paper). According to this study, covid was born somewhere in India in the summer of 2019.
- In December 2020 the CDC published a study that found covid in early December 2019 in Italy (paper).
- In January 2021 Italian scientists found traces of covid in skin biopsies conducted in Milan in November 2019 (paper).
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