COVID-19 News and Discussions

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Scientists Quit Journal Board, Protesting ‘Grossly Irresponsible’ Study Claiming COVID-19 Vaccines Kill
by Meridith Wadman
July 1, 2021

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/07 ... g-covid-19

Introduction:

(Science) Several reputed virologists and vaccinologists have resigned as editors of the journal Vaccines to protest its 24 June publication of a peer-reviewed article that misuses data to conclude that “for three deaths prevented by [COVID-19] vaccination, we have to accept two inflicted by vaccination.”

Since Friday, at least six scientists have resigned positions as associate or section editors with Vaccines, including Florian Krammer, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Katie Ewer, an immunologist at the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford who was on the team that developed the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Their resignations were first reported by Retraction Watch.

“The data has been misused because it makes the (incorrect) assumption that all deaths occurring post vaccination are caused by vaccination,” Ewer wrote in an email. “[And] it is now being used by anti-vaxxers and COVID-19-deniers as evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are not safe. [This] is grossly irresponsible, particularly for a journal specialising in vaccines.”

The paper is a case of “garbage in, garbage out,” says Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist who directs the Vaccine Datalink and Research Group at the University of Auckland and who also resigned as a Vaccines editor after reading the paper. Diane Harper, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who was founding editor-in-chief of Vaccines, also resigned, as did Paul Licciardi, an immunologist at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Parkville, Australia, and Andrew Pekosz, a respiratory virologist at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The resignations began Friday, the day after the paper was published. By early Monday, Fanny Fang, the journal’s managing editor, wrote to the editorial board members that Vaccines—a reputable open-access journal launched in 2013 by Basel, Switzerland–based publisher MDPI—had opened an investigation into the paper. “We are treating this case with the utmost seriousness and are committed to swiftly correcting the scientific record,” she wrote.

[weatheriscool]

Pfizer vaccine efficacy drops in Israel as delta variant spreads
Source: Telegraph UK

The efficacy of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine in preventing Covid-19 infections has declined by nearly a third in Israel largely due to the spread of the delta variant, data from the country’s health ministry suggests.

The vaccine had a 64 per cent efficacy rate from early June until early July, the latest figures show, down from 94 per cent a month earlier. The decrease coincides with a period in which the government reversed coronavirus restrictions and the delta variant spread through the country.

On Monday, Israel reported the highest rate of new infections since the start of its most recent outbreaks, with the ministry recording 343 new cases over the past 24 hours.

In the past fortnight 90 per cent of new cases have been caused by the delta variant, which is more than twice as contagious as the original strain. Recent data has shown that over half of new cases have been detected in fully vaccinated patients.

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... t-spreads/

[caltrek]

Five Things You Should Know About the Delta Variant
July 1, 2021

https://www.futurity.org/delta-variant- ... 9-2590042/

Introduction:

(Futurity) For the first time in more than a year, we’re feeling some hope—or at least cautious optimism—that the pandemic could recede to the background. But experts want us to know that there is still a concern that new mutations of the virus could bring it back, and it might be even stronger.

A major concern right now is the Delta variant, a highly contagious (and possibly more severe) SARS-CoV-2 virus strain, which was first identified in India in December. It then swept rapidly through that country and Great Britain as well, which has led to rising numbers of infections and deaths. The first Delta case in the United States was diagnosed a couple of months ago (in March) and now cases here are rapidly multiplying.

Inci Yildirim, a Yale Medicine pediatric infectious diseases specialist and a vaccinologist, isn’t surprised by what’s happening. “All viruses evolve over time and undergo changes as they spread and replicate,” she says.

But one thing that is unique about Delta is how quickly it is spreading, says F. Perry Wilson, a Yale Medicine epidemiologist. Around the world, he says, “Delta will certainly accelerate the pandemic.”

From what we know so far, people who are vaccinated against the coronavirus appear to be safe from Delta, but anyone who is unvaccinated and not practicing preventive strategies is at risk for infection by the new variant, the doctors say.

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Antivaxxers Want You To Believe Vaccines Don’t Work Against the Delta Variant. They’re Wrong
by Jackie Flynn Mogensen
July 4, 2021

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... r-moderna/

Extract:

(Mother Jones) The Delta variant is here. And as it continues its spread across the globe, the media has been in a frenzy. Last week, for instance, reports circulated about vaccinated individuals in Israel who became infected with the new variant. We saw headlines about the rise in COVID cases driven by Delta in the UK, and news of six vaccinated people dying of COVID in the Seychelles. Meanwhile, Los Angeles and the World Health Organization are advising the vaccinated to return to masking indoors.

…anti-vaccine groups…have begun to weaponize the confusion for their own gain. Some of their claims are just flat-out wrong…Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine group, Children’s Health Defense, issued a write-up about recent CDC data showing that about 4,115 fully vaccinated American patients who tested positive for COVID had been hospitalized or died of as of June 21. What the piece didn’t say is that more than 150 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated at the time—making these “breakthrough infections” very, very rare. It also failed to mention that experts say breakthrough infections are expected, and that data indicates that most breakthrough cases are asymptomatic or mild.

…For the Delta variant specifically, we’re seeing a similar trend: Vaccines are preventing the worst infections. In the UK, where an estimated 95 percent of infections are with the Delta variant, hospitalizations have also stayed flat—despite a surge in cases. That’s good news, (Dr. Monica) Gandhi, (a professor of medicine and an infectious disease physician at the University of California, San Francisco) says, because it means the vaccine is preventing severe illness. “That actually proves the rule that vaccines work,” she says. Similarly, in Israel, she notes, there have been zero COVID deaths in the last week. And preliminary data from Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna indicate their vaccines do provide protection against the Delta variant.

…Again, so far, the data we have suggests our vaccines are highly protective against the Delta variant and other variants of concern. If the vaccine is shown to be less effective against this variant, booster shots may be an option to, well, boost our immunity. Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson are currently conducting clinical trials on the benefit of booster shots.

[wjfox]

Data predicts 2m UK summer Covid cases with 10m isolating

Tue 6 Jul 2021 20.20 BST

Two million people could contract Covid this summer, potentially meaning up to 10 million must isolate in just six weeks, Guardian analysis shows, prompting warnings over risks to health and disruption to the economy.

The figures come as Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said England was entering “uncharted territory” in its wholesale scrapping of lockdown rules from 19 July. New infections could easily rise above 100,000 a day over the summer, he said, more than at any point in the pandemic.

[...]

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said the forecast 100,000-a-day infection level would cause about 5,000 long Covid cases a day and more delays to NHS treatment as hospitals admitted coronavirus patients.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... alth-fears

[weatheriscool]

Maryland Says 100% Of June Covid Deaths Were Among The Unvaccinated
Source: Forbes

The signal of the vaccine’s vast efficacy in Maryland comes after early data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week indicated nearly all of the U.S.’ coronavirus-linked deaths are now among unvaccinated people. An analysis of CDC data by the Associated Press found 99.2% of the 18,000 Americans who died from Covid-19 in May were not fully vaccinated against the virus. Meanwhile, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky went even further and said at a White House briefing last Tuesday that the preliminary data reviewed by her agency suggests 99.5% of the people who died from the virus over the past six months were unvaccinated.

“Any suffering or death from Covid-19 is tragic,” Walensky said. “With vaccines available across the country, the suffering and loss we are seeing is entirely avoidable.”

While the data released so far by U.S. state and federal health officials indicates a stark relationship between vaccination and protection from severe Covid-19, some highly vaccinated countries are still suffering from virus surges due to vaccination gaps and the threat of the more infectious delta variant. An Israeli study published Monday also indicated Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is significantly less effective at preventing infection with the delta variant than with previous strains of the virus. All this has driven American public health experts to emphasize the urgent need for vaccinations, particularly in parts of the country that are lagging behind the national rate of nearly 70% partial inoculation.

Maryland has seen its cases, hospitalizations and deaths plummet since early this year. According to The New York Times’ vaccine tracker, it is one of the most vaccinated states in the country, with nearly 75% of adults at least partially vaccinated against the virus and over 68% fully vaccinated. As of Tuesday, Maryland is reporting an average of 65 new cases, 303 new hospitalizations and 2 new deaths a day (numbers that have all declined from the prior two weeks).

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcev ... ationally/

[wjfox]

[Maximus]

Antivaxxers Want You To Believe Vaccines Don’t Work Against the Delta Variant. They’re Wrong
by Jackie Flynn Mogensen
July 4, 2021

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... r-moderna/

...

Indeed, you can see the vaccines protect against severe disease from the Delta variant by looking at infections vs deaths in the UK, where Delta is the dominant variant, over the past month or so. Cases have skyrocketed but deaths and hospitalizations have stayed relatively flat.

I am concerned though because if Delta has reduced the efficacy at preventing infection to 64%, what will the next variant reduce this to? These mRNA vaccines are apparently easy to adapt to new variants, but as before, supply would be an issue. New vaccines should be made specifically for the Delta variant. In fact, this should be a priority as soon as we discover that new variant that reduces efficacy to lower than 50%, or evades the vaccine altogether.

[weatheriscool]

Coronavirus death toll hits 4 million worldwide as Delta variant spreads
The number of deaths is approximately the number of people killed in every battle in the world since 1982
By Brie Stimson | Fox News

As countries rush to vaccinate their citizens, the global death toll passed 4 million on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The Delta variant is spreading through some countries where vaccinations lag, causing a "wave of death," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.

"Variants are currently winning the race against vaccines because of inequitable vaccine production and distribution," Ghebreyesus said at his biweekly conference in Geneva. "It didn’t have to be this way and it doesn’t have to be this way going forward."

The number of deaths is approximately the number of people killed in every battle since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo and more than three times the number of people killed in traffic accidents around the world every year.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/coronavir ... 175be38b67

[Yuli Ban]

Reading the old forum's archived thread on coronavirus is a real trip. Caltrek was the first to mention anything about it a few weeks before it blew up in China, and I knew something was fucky when Trump said "There's nothing to worry about." That was late January 2020, which feels like a completely different time now.


I've been meaning on writing a post about this sudden sci-tech acceleration I've noticed in the past half-year, with loads of unbelievable things coming out. It really feeds back into the disruption caused by the pandemic. I'm still half-stunned a pandemic like this even occurred in modern times. I know there's nothing stopping it; I knew sci-fi often spoke of it happening; I knew pandemics weren't really a thing of the past; I myself expected such a thing could potentially occur. But it's all been so surreal in actuality.

[wjfox]

Reading the old forum's archived thread on coronavirus is a real trip. Caltrek was the first to mention anything about it a few weeks before it blew up in China, and I knew something was fucky when Trump said "There's nothing to worry about." That was late January 2020, which feels like a completely different time now.


I've been meaning on writing a post about this sudden sci-tech acceleration I've noticed in the past half-year, with loads of unbelievable things coming out. It really feeds back into the disruption caused by the pandemic. I'm still half-stunned a pandemic like this even occurred in modern times. I know there's nothing stopping it; I knew sci-fi often spoke of it happening; I knew pandemics weren't really a thing of the past; I myself expected such a thing could potentially occur. But it's all been so surreal in actuality.

Yeah. Lately, I've been thinking back to the early stages of all this, before it was even classed as a "pandemic" by WHO. I remember when people started talking about it here, on the forums. In the status updates, when we did our usual predictions for the year ahead, I remember mentions of "that new virus in China" which seemed only a minor thing at the time.

But then, huge provinces in China began shutting down, amounting to hundreds of millions of people.

I remember the first cases in mainland Europe. But still, it was only France, Germany and Italy, right – it would never reach Britain... would it?

Oh.

So, we had our first cases in the UK, and eventually here in London. I remember a creepy photo in r/London of a posh-looking street, with people dressed in full hazmat suits.

In February, a friend messaged me with his prediction that cities throughout the Western world would be locked down. It seemed incredible, but I started to feel he must be right. Next month, the boss at my company ordered all staff to work from home "effective immediately".

And then the world changed, as we got the official "pandemic" confirmation from WHO.

As you say, it started to feel more and more surreal, as the case numbers and deaths ballooned exponentially.

Even more strangely, many were convinced that the whole thing was a hoax, and we saw just how stupid a large fraction of the population are.

And so, here we are today. It seems like the virus could be here for decades, perhaps even a century or more. And given the strong relationship between human activity, habitat destruction, and contact with animals, other pandemics may well emerge – perhaps even deadlier.

What a weird time to be alive.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

It's over for the UK.

A nation seemingly hell-bent on its own self-destruction. Whether through years of crushing austerity (cuts to social services as a result of Tory policy caused 120,000 excess deaths in the last decade); or via the insanity of Brexit (trillions in long-term economic damage, and likely breakup of the UK); and now through the deliberate spreading of a serious pathogen.

From the article mentioned by Eric Feigl-Ding:

"...exponential growth will probably continue until millions more people are infected, leaving hundreds of thousands of people with long-term illness and disability. This strategy risks creating a generation left with chronic health problems and disability, the personal and economic impacts of which might be felt for decades to come."

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanc ... w-27013292

Am I living in some sort of weird, alternate universe where half the population are complete and utter morons?

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Single vaccine dose just 10 per cent effective against Delta variant

4 hours ago

A single vaccine dose is just 10 per cent effective against the Delta variant, new research has found.

A study published in the journal Nature found that just a single dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine produced just 10 per cent protection against the variant first identified in India.

Researchers conducted laboratory experiments on blood samples from people who had received their first dose but not the second.

After a single dose, just 10 per cent of those samples had developed antibodies that neutralised the delta variant.

However, after two doses 95 per cent of samples had developed neutralising antibodies against delta.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sing ... 44919.html