The Vaccine Thread

[Scott G.]

Well shit........we lost Tom today on no kidding, his 60th B-day - he made it awhile intubated, long enough to require a tracheotomy but he couldn't beat it, it killed him dead.

Niece & anti-vaxx BF are alive

Fuckign dummies.
They didn't have to go through any of this.


- Garro.

Not dummies, people haven't evolved their decision making capabilities to deal with life
outside hunter/gatherer societies. Check back in 2,000 years.

[gregl]

Not dummies, people haven't evolved their decision making capabilities to deal with life
outside hunter/gatherer societies. Check back in 2,000 years.

On the path humankind is going, there's no way our species will be here in 2,000 years...

Greg

[Octave]

One of the challenges for societal institutions will be progressing to an acceptable level of severe disease burden in this heterogenous and dynamic pandemic. Based on figures from nations and regions which offer granular data, the case fatality rates for Covid-19 overall continue to be higher than the flu for fully vaccinated individuals. For a few groups, the more frail elderly and immunocompromised, the case fatality rate hovers near 2% in the fully vaccinated. That number doesn't appear to be dependent on population level vaccination rates as breakthrough infections are now very common in highly vaccinated places. As Octave is more qualified to comment, I'll only speculate that there's tacit acknowledgement that more targeted boosters (with very high uptake) are the true long term exit strategy.

Yes, targeted and/or adaptive mRNA vaccines with very high rates of uptake is the exit strategy - however, note that "exit" means "reducing disease severity outcomes and transmission rates to manageable values" not "eradicating SARS-CoV-2." If we play our cards right and people accept vaccines at much higher rates than they currently do, we can certainly "defang" the virus and reduce the burden on our healthcare systems to a point where we can actually manage the pandemic. This won't happen by magic. It will happen with a significant shift in social acceptance of the vaccine(s), whether via mandates, moral bargaining, or other changes (or a combination, most likely).

[steve garro]

Not dummies, people haven't evolved their decision making capabilities to deal with life
outside hunter/gatherer societies. Check back in 2,000 years.

If only they had been offered a free, easy way to not have this happen........

On the path humankind is going, there's no way our species will be here in 2,000 years...

Greg

Agreed

- Garro.

[AngryScientist]

The good news is some of the strategies that are being employed ARE working. I have several acquaintances, friends-of-friends, etc who were pretty vocal anti-vax people and a number of them work in the school system, teachers, maintenance people...

Here in NJ the rule is that if you are in the school system in any capacity, either show proof of vax or get the swab shoved up your nose (i think at your expense) twice a week. Magically in the first week of Sept many of those folks swallowed their pride, and went and got the shot. It's silly that we have to drag some people kicking and screaming to get them protected, but if that's what it takes...

[beeatnik]

The good news is some of the strategies that are being employed ARE working. I have several acquaintances, friends-of-friends, etc who were pretty vocal anti-vax people and a number of them work in the school system, teachers, maintenance people...

Here in NJ the rule is that if you are in the school system in any capacity, either show proof of vax or get the swab shoved up your nose (i think at your expense) twice a week. Magically in the first week of Sept many of those folks swallowed their pride, and went and got the shot. It's silly that we have to drag some people kicking and screaming to get them protected, but if that's what it takes...

I wonder if offering individuals who have been previously infected the option of antibody or T cell tests taken once yearly would go a long way in producing good will and reducing distrust in the "Health Establishment." And at this point, it's not an issue of transmission or reinfection (both very low in the previously infected) but an issue of disease outcome. If you're reinfected will you have a mild case; the evidence points to yes.

Jonathan Isaac shares that he's had Covid in the past when answering a question on vaccine hesitancy.

https://twitter.com/beyondtheRK/stat...ald_trump.html

JONATHAN ISAAC: I would start with, I have had Covid in the past. Our understanding of antibodies, of natural immunity, has changed a great deal from the onset of the pandemic. It is still evolving.

I understand that the vaccine would help if you catch Covid, you'll be able to have less symptoms from contracting it. But with me having Covid in the past, having antibodies, with my current age group and physical fitness level, it is not necessarily a fear of mine.

[Walter Sobchak]

Mr. Isaac is out of his element.

[Clean39T]

Can we just take a minute to recognize that a tired old hotel chain has produced some of the most memorable ad campaigns of the past decade or so?

My favorite is the ongoing saga of the middle-age son living at home.. "what do you think this is, a Holiday Inn?"



Geico of course takes the cake - but Holiday Inn is right up there.

[beeatnik]

He's not wrong about natural or acquired immunity. And the subtext is acquiring antibodies through vaccination being the reasonable or responsible choice.

Mr. Isaac is out of his element.

Dan, I like your style.

[jmgorman]

Well, my wife just got her booster at the Target and they gave her a $5 coupon for purchases $6 or more. So, we got some $1.23 contact solution! Seems like a win win scenario to me.

[ides1056]

On the path humankind is going, there's no way our species will be here in 2,000 years...

Greg

I was at a family meeting last weekend: house and graveyard in a trust. There was considerable discussion about changes to the layout of the graveyard, which is pie shaped and nearing capacity in some slices. When one of my cousins expressed concern for his childrens' grandchildren having room to be buried my jaw dropped.

I give us fifty, maybe, realizing this is "apres moi, le deluge."

[Chik]

What struck me is how measured this 16-year old is. Perhaps it is his mental defence mechanism at work, but I suspect there is also a dose of maturity in evidence.

When Parents Forbid the COVID Vaccine: A teen-ager explains how his parents’ resistance to vaccination has strained their family life, and the options he’s explored for receiving the shot without their permission.

[robin3mj]

What struck me is how measured this 16-year old is. Perhaps it is his mental defence mechanism at work, but I suspect there is also a dose of maturity in evidence.

When Parents Forbid the COVID Vaccine: A teen-ager explains how his parents’ resistance to vaccination has strained their family life, and the options he’s explored for receiving the shot without their permission.

Very measured. Pretty sad to be the voice of reason in a house at that age.

[monadnocky]

What struck me is how measured this 16-year old is. Perhaps it is his mental defence mechanism at work, but I suspect there is also a dose of maturity in evidence.

When Parents Forbid the COVID Vaccine: A teen-ager explains how his parents’ resistance to vaccination has strained their family life, and the options he’s explored for receiving the shot without their permission.

Heartbreaking. I hope some part of them knows they have a hell of a kid.

[zachateseverything]

This reinforces how happy I am that my parents aren't very engaged with social media.

[Chad]

Can we just take a minute to recognize that a tired old hotel chain has produced some of the most memorable ad campaigns of the past decade or so?

My favorite is the ongoing saga of the middle-age son living at home.. "what do you think this is, a Holiday Inn?"



Geico of course takes the cake - but Holiday Inn is right up there.

The guy that plays the son in the Holiday Inn commercial, lives here in Lincoln, NE. See him fairly regularly at a mutual friends. That's really him, not an act.

[bigbill]

My MIL is in a nursing home in Wyoming and has Covid. She is in advanced stage Parkinson's so she recognizes no one and cannot communicate. The facility has several dozen infected patients and have lost 16 so far. My MIL is vaccinated as are most of the people who have died. She didn't exhibit symptoms, but tested positive. She is symptomatic now. In a building of co-morbidity, you're going to lose some folks. National Guard nurses are filling in for the staff that is infected.

[jimcav]

sorry to hear this--does that mean the current outbreak at that nursing home is due to a staff transmitting it, or visitors? The continued (esp. asymptomatic transmission), even after vaccination makes it hard to limit the virus from the vulnerable without lots of testing, which doesn't seem to be occurring here as it is elsewhere in the developed world.

[thollandpe]

One of my high school and college classmates died from complications due to Covid.

He did well, and did good. He graduated college with a degree in music but made a splash in the food world.
Made in New England: Meet Michael Smulders of (Gluten-Free) Bakery on Main

[jimcav]

sorry you lost a friend. I have a tiny circle of friends, and everyday I am thankful they all got vaccinated.