Coronaviral

[manpe 10,855]

18 hours ago, Vesper said:

 

It's kinda satisfying to see stuff like that (yeah I'm a douche I know) happening to such obnoxious cunts. Do what you do, believe what you believe, don't get vaccinated, don't wear a mask.. whatever, I personally really don't care what people choose to do as long as they're respectful about it. But if you're going around being loud and abusive about it, you get zero sympathy points from me once karma finally strikes.

Edited January 13, 2022 by manpe

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

 

[Vesper 27,318]

[Vesper 27,318]

 

[Jase 43,479]

5 hours ago, Vesper said:

Djokovic now has a potential problem with the next Grand Slam - Roland Garros. France now require athletes to be vaccinated to compete in the country. 

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

4 hours ago, Jase said:

Djokovic now has a potential problem with the next Grand Slam - Roland Garros. France now require athletes to be vaccinated to compete in the country. 

The thing is he can even buy Covid certificate here for 500 euros that he is vaccinated but he won't do that because looks like he thinks it would be embarrassing for him that public think he is vaccinated. 

[Vesper 27,318]

[lucio 5,395]

muh science , and actual scientists who do raise objections get demonised and censored 

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10495833/South-African-doctor-discovered-Omicron-says-pressured-making-variant-sound-worse.html#

South African doctor who discovered Omicron variant SLAMS pressure from countries to make the virus sound worse than it actually is

[Vesper 27,318]

Enrolment site for the investigational UK trials of the Moderna mRNA-1273.529 Omicron-tweaked jab

A clinical trial of a COVID-19 booster vaccine for volunteers ages 16 and older

https://connect.trialscope.com/studies/7dff1448-9e85-4beb-81a4-ec4f9170c769

A clinical trial conducted by Moderna is evaluating an investigational booster vaccine that may protect against the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Trial ID: mRNA-1273-P305 [EudraCT ID: 2022-000063-51]

Trial Details

The mRNA-1273-P305 clinical trial is evaluating the safety and immune response of the investigational mRNA-1273.529 booster vaccine that may protect against the COVID-19 Omicron variant. The investigational mRNA-1273.529 booster is being compared to a booster dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax, which is the vaccine that received conditional marketing authorization in the EU. All participants will receive either mRNA-1273.529 or Spikevax.

With different strains of COVID-19, there is an urgent need to develop vaccination plans that will provide greater protection. A booster vaccine that protects against COVID-19 variants, including the Omicron variant, would be a crucial public health tool to help curb the pandemic.

Estimated Enrolment - 3000 Participants
Phase 2/3

Eligibility Criteria

Participants must:
Be 16 years of age or older
Be in good health
Have previously received two or three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine
Participants who have previously received a third dose must have received an mRNA vaccine (Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech) as a third dose
Participants who have previously received two doses may have received mRNA (Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech) or non-mRNA (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Janssen) vaccines
Participants must not:
Have received a COVID-19 vaccine within the past 3 months
Have tested positive for COVID-19 since November 8, 2021 or have had significant exposure to someone who has tested positive within the past 14 days
Have participated in another trial in the past 28 days

Check Eligibility

Complete a few questions to check qualifications.

snip

[Vesper 27,318]

Got a Covid Booster? You Probably Won’t Need Another for a Long Time

A flurry of new studies suggest that several parts of the immune system can mount a sustained, potent response to any coronavirus variant.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/health/covid-vaccine-antibodies-t-cells.html

As people across the world grapple with the prospect of living with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future, one question looms large: How soon before they need yet another shot?

Not for many months, and perhaps not for years, according to a flurry of new studies.

Three doses of a Covid vaccine — or even just two — are enough to protect most people from serious illness and death for a long time, the studies suggest.

“We’re starting to see now diminishing returns on the number of additional doses,” said John Wherry, director of the Institute for immunology at the University of Pennsylvania. Although people over 65 or at high risk of illness may benefit from a fourth vaccine dose, it may be unnecessary for most people, he added.

Federal health officials have said they are not planning to recommend fourth doses anytime soon.

The Omicron variant can dodge antibodies — immune molecules that prevent the virus from infecting cells — produced after two doses of a Covid vaccine. But a third shot of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech or by Moderna prompts the body to make a much wider variety of antibodies, which would be difficult for any variant of the virus to evade, according to the most recent study, posted online on Tuesday.

The diverse repertoire of antibodies produced should be able to protect people from new variants, even those that differ significantly from the original version of the virus, the study suggests.

“If people are exposed to another variant like Omicron, they now got some extra ammunition to fight it,” said Dr. Julie McElrath, an infectious disease physician and immunologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

What’s more, other parts of the immune system can remember and destroy the virus over many months if not years, according to at least four studies published in top-tier journals over the past month.

Specialized immune cells called T cells produced after immunization by four brands of Covid vaccine — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax — are about 80 percent as powerful against Omicron as other variants, the research found. Given how different Omicron’s mutations are from previous variants, it’s very likely that T cells would mount a similarly robust attack on any future variant as well, researchers said.

This matches what scientists have found for the SARS coronavirus, which killed nearly 800 people in a 2003 epidemic in Asia. In people exposed to that virus, T cells have lasted more than 17 years. Evidence so far indicates that the immune cells for the new coronavirus — sometimes called memory cells — may also decline very slowly, experts said.

“Memory responses can last for ages,” said Wendy Burgers, an immunologist at the University of Cape Town who led one of the studies, published in the journal Nature. “Potentially, the T-cell response is extremely long lived.”

Throughout the pandemic, a disproportionate amount of research attention has gone to antibodies, the body’s first line of defense against a virus. That’s partly because these molecules are relatively easy to study: They can be measured from a drop of blood.

Analyzing immune cells, by contrast, requires milliliters of blood, skill, specialized equipment — and a lot of time. “It’s orders of magnitude slower and more laborious,” Dr. Burgers said.

Few labs have the wherewithal to study these cells, and their findings lag weeks behind those on antibodies. Perhaps as a result, scientists have frequently overlooked the importance of other parts of the immune system, experts said.

“Most people don’t even know what they are — a lot of doctors and scientists are not completely clear what a T cell is,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston who led one of the T-cell studies.

“Fundamentally, I would argue that T cells are probably more important than what many people have given them credit for,” Dr. Barouch said.

Antibodies spike after every shot of vaccine — or after each exposure to the virus — and inevitably decline within a few weeks to months.

Waning antibody levels after two vaccine doses prompted federal officials to recommend boosters for everyone older than 12. The extra shots fortified antibody levels and helped to contain Omicron’s spread, but they too appear to lose some of their ability to prevent infections within four months, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Antibodies recognize two or three key parts of the spike protein, a protrusion on the outside of the coronavirus that allows it to latch on to human cells. But T cells detect many more parts of the spike, and so are less likely to fail when the virus gains mutations in some of them.

Vaccines also encode a memory of the virus in B cells, which can churn out fresh batches of antibodies within four or five days after a new exposure to the virus.

This dual punch of T and B cells help explain why many people who received two or even three doses of vaccine could still be infected with the Omicron variant, but only a small percentage became seriously ill.

“You will see a decrease of the antibody levels over time, but if memory B cells are still there, and memory T cells are still there, they can kick back into action relatively quickly,” said Alessandro Sette, an immunologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology who led a new study of T cells published in Cell.

Memory B cells become increasingly sophisticated over time, and they learn to recognize a diverse set of viral genetic sequences. The longer they have to practice, the broader the range of virus variants they can thwart.

Researchers showed last year that the elite school inside of lymph nodes where the B cells train, called the germinal center, remains active for at least 15 weeks after the second dose of a Covid vaccine. In an updated study published in the journal Nature, the same team showed that six months after vaccination, memory B cells continue to mature, and the antibodies they produce keep gaining the ability to recognize new variants.

“Those antibodies at six months are better binders and more potent neutralizers than the ones that are produced one month after immunization,” said Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis who led the study.

In the newest study, another team showed that a third shot creates an even richer pool of B cells than the second shot did, and the antibodies they produce recognize a broader range of variants. In laboratory experiments, these antibodies were able to fend off the Beta, Delta and Omicron variants. In fact, more than half of the antibodies seen one month after a third dose were able to neutralize Omicron, even though the vaccine was not designed for that variant, the study found.

“If you’ve had a third dose, you’re going to have a rapid response that’s going to have quite a bit of specificity for Omicron, which explains why people that have had a third dose do so much better,” said Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University who led the study.

Memory cells produced after infection with the coronavirus, rather than by the vaccines, seem less potent against the Omicron variant, according to a study published last month in Nature Medicine. Immunity generated by infection “varies quite a lot, while the vaccine response is much more consistently good,” said Marcus Buggert, an immunologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden who led the study.

Although most people, vaccinated or not, show only a small drop in their T cell response against Omicron, about one in five had “significant reductions of their responses” of about 60 percent, Dr. Buggert said. The differences are most likely because of their underlying genetic makeup, he said.

Still, the recent studies suggest that in most people, the immunity gained from infection or vaccination will hold up for a long while. Even if mutations in new variants change some of the viral regions that T cells recognize, there would still be enough others to maintain a reasonably strong immune response, experts said.

One big unknown is how slowly the T cells may decline, and whether two doses of vaccine can create a long-lasting response, or if instead people would need three — as some experts have suggested — to cement immune memory.

“That’s a question that we don’t know the answer to yet,” Dr. Burgers said. “Those are the kind of studies that we’re going to need to do.”

 

[Vesper 27,318]

Who is dying of COVID amid omicron surge and widespread vaccine availability?

Recent CDC data shows unvaccinated people are 20 times more likely to die.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/dying-covid-unvaccinated/story?id=82834971

When the recent COVID-19 wave fueled by the omicron variant hit the U.S., no one expected it would lead to the number of deaths it did.

As of Wednesday, the nation is reporting 2,200 new COVID daily deaths on average. While this is lower than the 3,400-peak seen last winter, it's still three times higher than the number of average fatalities recorded two months ago.

MORE: COVID hospitalizations and deaths surge in Los Angeles County

Additionally, last winter, vaccines had only just started to roll out, children were not yet eligible and the conversation surrounding boosters was far off.

With around 60% of Americans fully vaccinated during the most recent wave, daily deaths from omicron are still relatively high, which begs the question: Who is dying of COVID-19 when there is such strong vaccination coverage?

Infectious disease doctors say it is still mainly unvaccinated people, most of whom are in their 30s and 40s with no underlying health issues, who are dying.

"The vast majority of patients -- anywhere from 75% and greater -- we're seeing is primarily unvaccinated individuals who are getting COVID and wind up in the hospital severely ill and are currently dying," Dr. Mahdee Sobhanie, an assistant professor of internal medicine and an infectious diseases physician at The Ohio State University, told ABC News.

A small percentage of deaths are among fully vaccinated (and boosted) people who are either older or have preexisting conditions that increase their risk of dying.

Unvaccinated still make up majority of deaths

Nearly two years into the pandemic, unvaccinated Americans are still making up the majority of COVID deaths.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that during the first week of December -- when the omicron variant began taking hold -- unvaccinated people were dying at a rate of 9 per 100,000.

By comparison, fully vaccinated people were dying at a rate of 0.4 per 100,000, meaning unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to die of the virus, according to an ABC News analysis. State-level data, from California to Mississippi, shows similar results.

"We started [in 2020] with the most vulnerable deaths among the elderly," Dr. David Zonies, associate chief medical officer for critical care services at Oregon Health & Science University, told ABC News. "As we transitioned into different variants, the age demographic shifted. Now we see very young people dying. It's around 30-year-olds and 40-year-olds."

One of those people was father-of-two Christian Cabrera, a 40-year-old comedian from Los Angeles with no underlying conditions.

"He's always brought joy and laughter to everybody," his brother, Jino Cabrera Carnwath, told ABC News. "He would be the type of person that would bust out into song in a quiet elevator."

However, he was unvaccinated. Christian feared potential side effects and, because he didn't get sick often, he didn't think he needed the vaccine, his brother said.

MORE: Amid scarce supplies, some unvaccinated patients prioritized for COVID treatments

But, right after the Christmas holidays, he started to develop symptoms. After attempting to treat himself at home, his oxygen levels began dropping dangerously low.

Christian was taken to Sherman Oaks Hospital, where he was admitted to the ICU and where he remained until he passed away on Jan. 21.

Jino, who has set up a GoFundMe for Christian's 3-year-old son Noel, said two days before his brother died, he received a text message from Christian in his hospital bed saying he regretted not getting vaccinated.

Christian Cabrera with his fiance, Vivien, and his 3-year-old son, Noel.

"He sent me a text saying, 'I can't breathe. I wish I had gotten vaccinated. I really regret it. If I could do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat to save my life,'" Jino said. "I think that was his message too to everybody: if you're on the fence, please get all the protection you can, get your vaccine, get your booster."

Dr. Taison Bell, a critical care and infectious disease physician at the University of Virginia, told ABC News many of his unvaccinated patients had similar feelings and regretted their decisions.

When he asked why they weren't vaccinated, they would mostly answer, "I just thought I didn't need to get vaccinated."

"And there are sighs of regret in how they say it," Bell said. "These are preventable deaths now, by and large. The people that we have in the ICU could have avoided hospitals altogether if they were vaccinated."

Christian Cabrera intubated at Sherman Oaks Hospital in Los Angeles, as he battles COVID-19, January 2022.

Fully vaccinated people with preexisting conditions also dying

While most U.S. COVID deaths are made up of unvaccinated people, there is a small percentage of fully vaccinated Americans who are getting breakthrough infections and dying.

Doctors say the overwhelming majority of these cases are among people with underlying conditions, many of whom are on immunosuppressive medications.

"Also, patients who have other medical conditions: obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV," Sohbanie said. "So, if you have other medical conditions that can also put you at high risk, those are the [fully vaccinated] patients that can wind up getting hospitalized and dying of COVID."

Jeff Sales, a 47-year-old Army veteran and nurse, from Sarasota, Florida, was one of those patients.

He enlisted in the Army at age 18 with the goal of being a medic and served two tours in South Korea, according to his son, Brayden Sales, 22.

Jeff Sales at a bowling alley with his oldest son, Brayden.

During one of those tours, Jeff came down with rheumatic fever, which went untreated for several weeks. This led to a hole in his heart and, at age 22, he had a metal heart valve installed.

After being medically discharged from the Army, he got his nursing degree and was a nurse for more than 15 years, mostly in Utah before the family moved to Florida in August 2020.

"Everything in his life was about helping people and making special connections and doing everything he could for everybody and anybody," Brayden told ABC News.

Although Jeff worked as an orthopedic nurse, his unit had been converted into a COVID unit to deal with the influx of patients. He took several precautions including always wearing a mask and getting fully vaccinated and boosted.

MORE: Nearly 1,500 NYC municipal workers fired for not being vaccinated against COVID

However, on the night of Jan. 20, another nurse told him he was looking pale. Then, he developed chills. He was admitted into the ER and at 6:00 a.m. the next day, his COVID test results came back positive.

Brayden said a few hours later, his father was struggling to breathe, and his condition rapidly declined.

Jeff Sales, back, working as a nurse with two colleagues.

Individuals with heart valves have an increased risk of blood clotting compared to the general population, and one of the side effects of COVID is an additional increased clotting risk. "When his blood thickened up, it caused his heart valve to fail and, when his heart valve failed, he went into complete organ failure," Brayden said. "If it wasn't for his heart valve, it wouldn't have hit him as hard, and he probably would still be here."

On Jan. 21, just 12 hours after testing positive, Jeff died.

Dr. Scott Curry, an assistant professor in the division of infectious diseases at Medical University of South Carolina, called the deaths of fully vaccinated people the "most heartbreaking" to him.

He said, in Charleston, as of Feb. 10, COVID-19 deaths have comprised about 50% severely immunosuppressed, vaccinated patients and 50% unvaccinated patients of all ages

MORE: Nearly 1,500 NYC municipal workers fired for not being vaccinated against COVID

"When you're a healthy adult who chose not to get vaccinated, you rolled the dice and took your chance," Curry told ABC News. "But when you're immunocompromised, and you live with someone who won't get vaccinated or you're exposed to someone, those are the ones who will die when they get COVID. They are the ones at the greatest risk."

Brayden said he hopes his dad's death encourages others to do what they can to limit the effects of COVID.

"He always was an advocate of doing something to prevent the spread," Brayden said. "If he could get one person to just think about what they're doing and change something to make it so this virus doesn't spread as much, he would be happy."

[dakiiey43 0]

Why did he even travel? It was obvious he ought to never play...Probably stupid Deschamps demanded Kante to make the ride cos he does no longer agree with our scientific department to get service from secured moving.

[Vesper 27,318]

crazier than a shithouse rat