CORONA Main Coronavirus thread

155 arty

155 arty

Veteran Member
Jubilee on Earth said:
Yep, Michigan is a great case study for that. The mask mandate has been in place since July. You cannot even pop into a gas station for a second without a mask. Every business has a big sign on the doors. Even back in the summer they were required at the outdoor farmers markets and such.

Yet despite a very compliant state population doing their part to “slow the curve,” we are still the 10th in the country in number of cases. If the masks worked that well, we should be way lower on the list.
Click to expand...
If everyone would just ignore the damn signs what are they going to do ?
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
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CDC Says "No Evidence" UK COVID Mutation Is Deadlier, Or More Severe: Live Updates

TUESDAY, DEC 22, 2020 - 15:53

Summary:
  • SC Gov McMaster quaratines after COVID tests positive.
  • CDC says 'no evidence' new COVID strain causes 'increased risk of death'
  • Dr. Fauci vaccinated with Moderna jab
  • France allows truckers from UK with negative COVID test
  • US 7-day deaths average
* * *
Update (1300ET): Canada just followed in the steps of the CDC, as its chief drug regulator warned that it's "too soon" to say whether the new mutation will impact Canada in a serious way, following a similar remark earlier in the day.
Now, despite the EU's practically non-stop warnings, anxiety about the new variation is growing intensely.
* * *
Update (1145ET): As the world continues to panic about the new COVID mutation discovered in southern England (while others wonder about the 'hard evidence', of which there appears to be none), the CDC has officially weighed in for the first time, with the agency stating that there's "no evidence" the variation causes more severe illness, or in any way increases the risk of death.

The variant, which is knownby the name "B.1.1.7." also has yet to be identified by scientists in the US, though former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb said during an interview earlier that the new strain has almost certainly already made its way here.
Here's the rest of the executive summary:
A new variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 that contains a series of mutations has been described in the United Kingdom (UK) and become highly prevalent in London and southeast England. Based on these mutations, this variant strain has been predicted to potentially be more rapidly transmissible than other circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2. Although a variant may predominate in a geographic area, that fact alone does not mean that the variant is more infectious. Scientists are working to learn more about this variant to better understand how easily it might be transmitted and whether currently authorized vaccines will protect people against it. At this time, there is no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness or increased risk of death. Information regarding the virologic, epidemiologic, and clinical characteristics of the variant are rapidly emerging. CDC, in collaboration with other public health agencies, is monitoring the situation closely. CDC will communicate new information as it becomes available.
Click to expand...
The CDC also clarified some basic facts about the mutated variant discovered in South Africa, which has been reported to be the same as the strain found in southern England, was actually formed by a completely separate series of mutations, not migration from the UK to SA.
In other news from a slow pre-holiday Tuesday: Dr. Fauci has just received the Moderna jab. Live on TV.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1341414444937736192
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1341414444937736192
1:35 min

* * *
Boris Johnson managed to keep his promise to the British people, and on Tuesday morning, the French lifted restrictions on British travelers and truckers - with one important catch: to cross into France, truckers and travelers must provide a recent negative test for COVID-19 taken during the last three days.

The US, meanwhile, is reportedly considering whether to impose travel restrictions, though we suspect these leaked reports are merely a response to Gov. Cuomo's demands that all British travelers arriving at JFK be tested for COVID.


In other news during what many are hoping will be a quiet, holiday-shortened week in the US, we have some major news out of Taiwan, which has just recorded its first case of COVID-19 in more than eight months, ending the world's longest-stretch without a domestic infection. Late last month, Vietnam snapped a nearly 3-month streak. Both countries have been models for the international community, as other countries in the region - including Thailand, South Korea and Australia - have been unable to keep a lid on outbreaks.

As the world continues to worry about the mutated virus purportedly discovered in southern England and a few other areas around the globe, the EU has called on all its member states to at least reopen freight links with the UK.

Hospitalizations continued to climb across the US, while the number of new cases reported has declined for a second day.


But deaths nationwide are reaching new record daily tallies, with the 7-day average at a record 2.6K.


For months, scientists have been warning that the virus hasn't seen any notable mutations. But in yet another example of how our understanding of the vaccine can change at the drop of a hat, the world is now panicking about a mutation found in southern England and a handful of other places, which scientists fear could be as much as 70% more infectious than the 'original' COVID-19.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Netherlands has just joined Stockholm in placing all non-urgent health care on hold to allow hospitals to better care for the crush of Covid patients, as some are even being transferred to neighboring Germany. Speaking of Germany, Robert Koch Institute President Lothar Wieler said that while the variant hasn’t yet been identified in Europe's biggest economy, it’s only a matter of time. The country has already banned travelers from England and Northern Ireland, as well as South Africa.

"I would estimate that the likelihood that it’s already in Germany but not yet detected is very, very high," Wieler said.

Here's some more COVID news from overnigth and Tuesday morning:
  • Switzerland is trying to locate about 10,000 Britons who entered the country after Dec. 14 and must now quarantine for 10 days after the Alpine nation blocked borders for tourists coming from the U.K., according to Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger. The government will use passenger logs for about 92 flights to track down the visitors, many of whom traveled to ski resorts in southwestern Switzerland.
  • Hungary registered 1,238 new infections, the lowest daily tally in two months, according to official data released Tuesday. The number of deaths remained near record highs at 180, and infection figures have often been skewed by a low rate of testing.
  • Ireland is expected to close pubs and restaurants from Dec. 24 in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, state broadcaster RTE reported.
* * *
FiFBU NUnally, BioNTech's CEO said Monday evening that it is pursuing all its options to produce more vaccine doses than the 1.3BN the companies had promised to produce next year.
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment
www.dailywire.com

Fauci Says New, More Contagious COVID-19 Strain From U.K. Is Likely In U.S. By Now | The Daily Wire

www.dailywire.com www.dailywire.com

Fauci Says New, More Contagious COVID-19 Strain From U.K. Is Likely In U.S. By Now
“You have to make that assumption.”

By Joseph Curl
•Dec 22, 2020 DailyWire.com•

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 23: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases looks on before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. Photo by
Rob Carr/Getty Images
Dr. Anthony Fauci says a new, more contagious strain COVID-19 that has spread across the United Kingdom is likely already in the United States, but he added that the two vaccines now being distributed across the country should still be effective.

“When you see something that is pretty prevalent in a place like the U.K. — there are also mutations that we’re seeing in South Africa — and given the travel throughout the world, I would not be surprised if it is already here,” Fauci said Monday on “PBS NewsHour.”

“When we start to look for it, we’re going to find it,” he said, adding that “you have to make that assumption” that the new U.K. strain is already here. “Certainly, it is not yet the prevalent one, the way it seems to have assumed that prevalent nature in the UK,” said Fauci, an immunologist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

“But we’re going to be looking for it right now, and I’m sure, sooner or later, we’re going to run into it and find it,” Fauci said.

Meanwhile, a virologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School said the U.K. strain may not have originated there. “It may very well be here. It may have even started here. The sequencing in the US is so sporadic,” Jeremy Luban said, according to The Washington Post.

Scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are looking into the new mutation of the coronavirus to find out if it could be resistant to new vaccines that are currently being distributed across America, according to a recent report.

Dr. Nelson Michael, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research at the institute, told CNN that right now, there’s no indication that the inoculations will be ineffective. “It stands to reason that this mutation isn’t a threat, but you never know. We still have to be diligent and continue to look,” Michael told the network on Sunday.

It’s also unclear if the morphed strain is more deadly or causes more severe symptoms.

The Walter Reed scientists on Thursday began studying the genetic sequences of the new strain, which was posted online by British researchers. The “analysis will allow us to gauge how much concern we should have. Other teams around the world are doing this analysis, too,” Michael told CNN.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday, “There’s no evidence to suggest the vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant. Our experts will continue their work to improve our understanding as fast as we can.”

Viruses are always evolving in an attempt to keep spreading — and in many cases, the easier they are to catch, the less deadly they are. The flu, for instance, is constantly changing, which is why flu vaccines are altered every year, too.

In addition, new strains of COVID-19, which was first discovered in China, have been seen since the virus emerged approximately a year ago in Wuhan.

But the fact that the virus is changing, just as vaccines to target it are being distributed, has some concerned. “Health experts in the U.K. and U.S. said the strain seems to infect more easily than others, but there is no evidence yet it is more deadly,” The Associated Press reported Sunday.
 
PanBear

PanBear

Veteran Member
The SimpliSafe Social Distancing Sweater

Covid-19 Christmas sweater that ensures social distancing – it flashes and sounds alarm when people get too close
  • Home security company SimpliSafe’s Social Distancing Sweater goes off when someone steps within six feet of the wearer
  • It’s a playful way for people to protect themselves during this year’s holiday celebrations, company’s creative director says
What if SimpliSafe could protect your holidays like it protects your home?

Protect your holidays this year with The Social Distancing Sweater.
The only sweater that helps people come together while staying 6 ft apart.

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48 sec - Dec 14, 2020
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWesY_ote7A&feature=emb_logo

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1341477397925916673
View: https://twitter.com/SimpliSafe/status/1341477397925916673
 
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jward

jward

passin' thru
Implications of the Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variant VOC 202012/01


Executive summary
A new variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 that contains a series of mutations has been described in the United Kingdom (UK) and become highly prevalent in London and southeast England. Based on these mutations, this variant strain has been predicted to potentially be more rapidly transmissible than other circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2. Although a variant may predominate in a geographic area, that fact alone does not mean that the variant is more infectious. Scientists are working to learn more about this variant to better understand how easily it might be transmitted and whether currently authorized vaccines will protect people against it. At this time, there is no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness or increased risk of death. Information regarding the virologic, epidemiologic, and clinical characteristics of the variant are rapidly emerging. CDC, in collaboration with other public health agencies, is monitoring the situation closely. CDC will communicate new information as it becomes available.
Does this variant have a name?
At present, the variant is referred to as “SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01” (i.e., the first variant of concern from 2020, December), or “B.1.1.7.” The press often uses the terms “variant,” “strain,” “lineage,” and “mutant” interchangeably. For the time being in the context of this variant, the first three of these terms are generally being used interchangeably by the scientific community as well.
Why has this variant been in the news recently?
Since November 2020, a variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 has become prevalent in the southeast of England, reportedly accounting for 60% of recent infections in London. This variant has a mutation in the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein at position 501, where amino acid asparagine (N) has been replaced with tyrosine (Y). The shorthand for this mutation is N501Y, sometimes noted as S:N501Y to specify that it is in the spike protein. This variant carries many other mutations, including a double deletion (positions 69 and 70).
Why has this variant emerged in the UK?
We do not know. By chance alone, viral variants often emerge or disappear, and that may be the case here. Alternatively, it may be emerging because it is better fit to spread in humans. This rapid change from being a rare strain to becoming a common strain has concerned scientists in the UK, who are urgently evaluating the characteristics of the variant strain and of the illness that it causes.
Have we seen this variant in the United States?
The VOC 202012/01 variant has not been identified through sequencing efforts in the United States, although viruses have only been sequenced from about 51,000 of the 17 million US cases. Ongoing travel between the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the high prevalence of this variant among current UK infections, increase the likelihood of importation. Given the small fraction of US infections that have been sequenced, the variant could already be in the United States without having been detected.
What do we know already about variants containing N501Y?
Prior work on variants with N501Y suggests they may bind more tightly to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. It is unknown whether that tighter binding, if true, translates into any significant epidemiological or clinical differences. In one laboratory study of transmission of the virus between ferrets, this mutation (and one other) spontaneously arose in the ferrets during the experiment. The significance of this observation remains to be elucidated. VOC 202012/01 so far has no known association with animals or animal contact.
What about the other mutations in this variant of SARS-CoV-2?
SARS-CoV-2 mutates regularly, acquiring about one new mutation in its genome every two weeks. Many mutations are silent (i.e., cause no change in the structure of the proteins they encode) because they produce a three-letter codon that translates to the same amino acid (i.e., they are “synonymous”). Other mutations may change the codon in a way that leads to an amino acid change (i.e., they are “non-synonymous”), but this amino acid substitution does not impact the protein’s function.
VOC 202012/01 has 14 non-synonymous (amino acid [AA] altering) mutations, 6 synonymous (non-AA altering), and 3 deletions, notably including
  • 69/70 deletion: this double deletion has occurred spontaneously many times, and likely leads to a change in the shape of (i.e., a conformational change in) the spike protein.
  • P681H: near the S1/S2 furin cleavage site, a site with high variability in coronaviruses. This mutation has also emerged spontaneously multiple times.
  • ORF8 stop codon (Q27stop): This mutation is not in the spike protein but in a different gene (in open reading frame 8), the function of which is unknown. Similar mutations have occurred in the past. In Singapore, one strain with this type of mutation emerged and disappeared.
What implications could the emergence of new variants have?
Among the potential consequences of these mutations are the following:
  • Ability to spread more quickly in humans. There is already evidence that one mutation, D614G, has this property to spread more quickly. In the lab, G614 variants propagate more quickly in human respiratory epithelial cells, out-competing D614 viruses. There also is evidence that the G614 variant spreads more quickly than viruses without the mutation.
  • Ability to cause either milder or more severe disease in humans. There is no evidence that VOC 202012/01 produces more severe illness than other SARS-CoV-2 variants.
  • Ability to evade detection by specific diagnostic tests. Most commercial polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests have multiple targets to detect the virus, such that even if a mutation impacts one of the targets, the other PCR targets will still work.
  • Decreased susceptibility to therapeutic agents such as monoclonal antibodies.
  • Ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity. FDA-authorized vaccines are “polyclonal,” producing antibodies that target several parts of the spike protein. The virus would likely need to accumulate multiple mutations in the spike protein to evade immunity induced by vaccines or by natural infection.
Among these possibilities, the last—the ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity—would likely be the most concerning because once a large proportion of the population is vaccinated, there will be immune pressure that could favor and accelerate emergence of such variants by selecting for “escape mutants.” There is no evidence that this is occurring, and most experts believe escape mutants are unlikely to emerge because of the nature of the virus.
Is this new variant related to the newly emergent variant in South Africa?
On December 18, 2020, the South African government announced that it had also seen the emergence of a new strain in a scenario similar to that in the UK. The South African variant also has the N501Y mutation and several other mutations but emerged completely independently of the UK strain and is not related to it.
What is CDC doing to track emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2?
In November 2020, CDC officially launched the National SARS-CoV-2 Strain Surveillance (NS3) program to increase the number and representativeness of viruses undergoing characterization. When fully implemented in January 2021, each state will send CDC at least 10 samples biweekly for sequencing and further characterization. In addition, CDC’s COVID-19 response is actively seeking samples of interest, such as samples associated with animal infection and, in the future, samples from vaccine-breakthrough infections. Data from these efforts are continuously analyzed at CDC, and genomic data are rapidly uploaded to public databases for use by researchers, public health agencies, and industry. To coordinate US sequencing efforts outside of CDC, since early in the pandemic, CDC has led a national coalition of laboratories sequencing SARS-CoV-2 (SPHERES). The SPHERES coalition consists of more than 160 institutions, including academic centers, industry, non-governmental organizations, and public health agencies. Of the approximately 275,000 full-genome sequences currently in public databases, 51,000 are from the United States. (The UK currently has the most sequences, with 125,000).

www.cdc.gov

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

CDC provides credible COVID-19 health information to the U.S.
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov
 
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Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com www.zerohedge.com

Hospital Workers Turn Down COVID Vaccine: "There's Too Much Mistrust"

TUESDAY, DEC 22, 2020 - 15:25

Less than a week after we reported on widespread resistance among healthcare workers in one Chicago hospital, BeckersHospitalReview.com's Ayla Ellison reports that the virus of vaccine mistrust is spreading...


Many employees at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., have reservations about taking the COVID-19 vaccine, and CEO Anita Jenkins is trying to get workers to follow her lead by getting vaccinated, according to CNN.

The hospital, a major healthcare provider for the Black community, received 725 doses of the Pfizer vaccine Dec. 15 and expects to receive a second shipment this week. As of Dec. 18, only about 600 of the hospital's 1,900 employees had signed up for the shots, according to Kaiser Health News.
"There is a high level of mistrust and I get it," Ms. Jenkins told Kaiser Health News.
"People are genuinely afraid of the vaccine."
Click to expand...
The vaccination numbers, though low, still exceeded expectations, Ms. Jenkins told CNN. An internal hospital survey of about 350 employees in early November showed that 70 percent were not willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine or would not take it immediately after it became available.

Ms. Jenkins received the shot Dec. 15 in hopes of inspiring staff to get vaccinated. She's part of a widespread effort by healthcare experts and community leaders to combat vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans. About 35 percent of Black Americans said they probably or definitely would not get the vaccine if it was determined to be safe by scientists and widely available for free, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study cited by CNN.
Howard University Hospital isn't the only healthcare provider with workers who turned down the vaccine.

At Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, Texas, so many workers declined the COVID-19 vaccine that the hospital offered doses to other medical workers in the region, according to ProPublica.

The hospital received 5,850 doses of the vaccine, and it quickly became clear that not enough people eligible for the vaccine, like staff who work directly with COVID-19 patients, were opting to get it, DHR Health CMO Robert Martinez, MD, told ProPublica.
"You start to see similar numbers across the country, all this mistrust and misinformation," Dr. Martinez said.
Click to expand...
After the first day of distribution, DHR reached out to other hospitals and healthcare facilities in the region to offer doses of the vaccine. ProPublica reported that the vaccine ended up going to non-medical personnel as well, including state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. He told ProPublica he was invited to take the vaccine by DHR after officials explained to him that all eligible workers who wanted the vaccine received it.

In short, as we noted previously, nobody wants to be a guinea pig.
 
marsh

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On TB every waking moment
www.breitbart.com

Biden Coronavirus Task Force’s Osterholm on New Virus Variant: 'Nothing Will Stop This Virus From Transmitting'

Tuesday, Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force, weighed in on the new strain of COVID-19 popping up in the United Kingdom. | Clips
www.breitbart.com

Video on website 3:48 min

Tuesday, Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force, weighed in on the new strain of COVID-19 popping up in the United Kingdom.

After emphasizing the need for better testing, Osterholm told CNN’s “New Day” that the new variant goes to show that “nothing will stop this virus from transmitting country to country.”

“The U.S.’s program for sequencing these virus strains has actually been far under what we need,” Osterholm stated. “We need much better testing right now. The second thing is, remember, this has all emerged within the last couple of weeks. And so, the testing of only the strains within really the last two to three weeks would probably have given us the idea of how much of this is coming in from the U.K. or, for that matter, anywhere else. Let’s just be really clear right now: Nothing will stop this virus from transmitting country to country. Our job is to slow it down.”

“Right now, as you know, our hospitals are overwhelmed in many locations,” he added. “Imagine adding on 20% or 30% increased caseloads on top of what we already are experiencing because we have a virus that transmits much more easily. So, we really need to develop a national response, and we are looking forward to the CDC and the White House giving us all in public health an update on what are they going to do about this. How are they going to respond? What can we do to slow down transmission in the United States [of] this variant or the variant from South Africa or wherever these new variant viruses show up?”
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment

More Than 2.6 Million People Have
Gotten Vaccines: Covid-19 Tracker

The U.S. has given 1.01 million doses of vaccine and Bloomberg has details from 47 states and territories

Updated: December 23, 2020, 11:32 AM PST
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sha...cs/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/

Tracking Covid-19
The first Covid-19 shots have been given to more than 2.6 million people in six countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. It’s the start of the biggest vaccination campaign in history and one of the largest logistical challenges ever undertaken.

Vaccinations in the U.S. began Dec. 14 with health-care workers, and so far 1.01 million doses have been administered, according to a state-by-state tally by Bloomberg. Those numbers are accelerating as a second vaccine by Moderna Inc. is distributed.

Vaccines Across America
At least 1.01 million shots have been administered
  • 00.20.40.60.8doses as % of population
DC
GU
MP
AS
VI
Note: Data gathered from government websites, press conferences, public statements and Bloomberg interviews. Some states haven’t reported vaccination tallies, and it can take several days for counts to be added to local databases. State totals include city-level vaccine jurisdictions.

The U.S. is allocating 5.1 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine and 6 million doses of Moderna’s shot for distribution through this week. Both vaccines require two doses taken several weeks apart. The second doses are being held in reserve until they’re ready to be administered.

U.S. Vaccine Campaign
States reported their first inoculations against Covid-19

JurisdictionFirst doses allottedDoses administeredLast updated
U.S. official totals11,042,4501,008,025Dec. 23
Illinois407,62578,912Dec. 22
Chicago86,77512,736Dec. 22
California1,233,22570,258Dec. 21
Texas844,65060,631Dec. 22
New York635,77550,000Dec. 22
New York City274,20022,369Dec. 22
Florida675,02549,932Dec. 22
Pennsylvania416,52541,444Dec. 23
Indiana208,85040,000Dec. 22
Colorado175,55038,666Dec. 22
Massachusetts224,27534,953Dec. 22
Michigan318,87526,737Dec. 21
North Carolina323,12524,500Dec. 22
Tennessee211,72524,236Dec. 22
Louisiana146,77522,108Dec. 22
South Carolina159,52519,644Dec. 22
Puerto Rico112,07517,800Dec. 18
Georgia319,67517,505Dec. 22
West Virginia60,87515,914Dec. 22
Show more

Note: State totals may not match CDC nationwide numbers because of differences in reporting. Data gathered from government websites, press conferences, public statements and Bloomberg interviews. Some states haven’t reported vaccination tallies. State totals include city-level vaccine jurisdictions. States with asterisks have incomplete data.
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment
www.americanthinker.com

Unexplained explosion and fire destroy world's second largest pharmaceutical factory producing precursors for hydroxychloroquine

Prepare for supplies to tighten for the cheap, effective therapeutic treatment for early-stage COVID-19 infection, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). Just as the medical establishment in the U.S. is relaxing its absurd and lethal suppress...
www.americanthinker.com www.americanthinker.com

December 23, 2020

Unexplained explosion and fire destroy world’s second largest pharmaceutical factory producing precursors for hydroxychloroquine

By Thomas Lifson

Prepare for supplies to tighten for the cheap, effective therapeutic treatment for early stage Covid-19 infection, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). Just as the medical establishment in the US is relaxing its absurd and lethal suppression of the cheap, generic drug, following President Trump’s endorsement of it early in the pandemic, HCQ’s continued availability may suffer. The world’s second largest pharmaceutical facility producing the precursors for HCQ has been destroyed by an explosion and fire.

Taiwan English News reports:
An explosion at a pharmaceutical factory in Taoyuan City left two injured and caused a fire early this afternoon, December 20.
Click to expand...
People as far as Tamsui District in New Taipei City reported hearing the massive blast shortly after noon. Immediately after the blast, thick black smoke could be seen pouring out of the SCI Pharmtech factory. (snip)

The cause of the explosion is currently under investigation.
Liberty Times reported that the factory produces hydroxychloroquine APIs [active pharmaceutical ingredients - TL], and is the world’s second largest HCQ raw material supplier.
Click to expand...
226115_5_.png

Photo via Taiwan English News​
A subsequent report indicates that one of the injured workers, a Filipino guest worker who suffered third degree burns over 90% of his body, has died. The explosion broke out around noon and set off subsequent explosions in volatile substances nearby.

The Taipei Times reports that company spokesmen state, “… it would take at least six months to rebuild the plant, as most production lines were damaged by the fire….”

Supplies may be tight, as the SCI Pharmtech had already expanded production and sales of HCQ APIs to meet growing demand:
The company reported cumulative revenue of NT$2.61 billion in the first 11 months of this year, up 18.19 percent from NT$2.21 billion in the same period last year, thanks to steady shipments of APIs for hydroxychloroquine
Click to expand...
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Given the explosive character of some of the ingredients, there may well be a perfectly innocent explanation for the fire. But a six-month delay in resuming production may delay HCQ supplies to early stage Covid-19 patients, who could otherwise treat their affliction with it, combined with zinc and an antibiotic like azithromycin.

I’ve been to Taoyuan and visited industrial facilities there. It is very close to Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, the major international airport serving Taipei and Taiwan, and also to Hsinchu Science Park, a high-tech mecca, housing over 400 companies. This area is highly sophisticated and prosperous, and has a bullet train station connecting it to central Taipei in about half an hour’s travel time. It is not at all some third world backwater; quite the contrary.
 
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PanBear

PanBear

Veteran Member
COVID-19 will be ‘with us for the next 10 years’, vaccine inventor warns
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1341412486017413125
View: https://twitter.com/TheNationNews/status/1341412486017413125
(fair use)
COVID-19 will be 'with us for the next 10 years', warns vaccine chief
December 22, 2020 in Foreign, News Update
Agency Reporter

COVID-19 could still be causing outbreaks in 10 years’ time, the creator of the world’s first approved vaccine has said.

Ugur Sahin, chief executive of Germany’s BioNTech, partnered with US drug company Pfizer and took less than a year to get a vaccine approved.

Around 500,000 doses of the vaccine have already been administered in the UK and it looks set to be approved in several other countries within weeks.

Despite the progress, however, Sahin told a press conference on Tuesday that he believes the virus may survive for several years to come.

Asked when he believed the world might be able to return to normal, Sahin responded: “We need a new definition of ‘normal’.”

“The virus will stay with us for the next 10 years,” he added, “We need to get used to the fact there’ll be more outbreaks.”

Sahin continued that a “new normal” would not mean countries having to go into lockdown and that scenario could be possible “by the end of the summer”.

“This winter, we will not have an impact on the infection numbers,” he said, “But we must have an impact so that next winter can be the new normal.”

Sahin also urged caution on whether 60-70% of the world’s population being vaccinated would be enough to prevent further outbreaks.

“If the virus becomes more efficient…we might need a higher uptake of the vaccine for life to return to normal.”

It comes as both BioNTech and Moderna are scrambling to test their COVID-19 vaccines against the new fast-spreading variant of the virus that is raging in Britain.

Sahin said he needs another two weeks to know if his vaccine can stop the mutant variant of the virus.

“Scientifically it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine can also deal with this virus variant,” he continued.

“The vaccine contains more than 1,270 amino acids, and only nine of them are changed (in the mutant virus). That means that 99% of the protein is still the same.”

The mutation known as the B.1.1.7 lineage may be up to 70% more infectious and more of a concern for children.
It has sown chaos in Britain, prompting a wave of travel bans that are disrupting trade with Europe and threatening to further isolate the island country.

But the UK’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said on Saturday that vaccines appeared to be adequate in generating an immune response to the variant of the coronavirus.

More than 84,000 deaths involving Covid-19 have now occurred in the UK as of Tuesday, new figures show.
(www.newsnow.co.uk)

thenationonlineng.net

COVID-19 will be 'with us for the next 10 years', vaccine inventor warns

COVID-19 could still be causing outbreaks in 10 years’ time, the creator of the world’s first approved vaccine has said.Ugur Sahin,...
thenationonlineng.net thenationonlineng.net
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment
www.local10.com

Study investigates effects of COVID-19 vaccine on male fertility

Lead researchers Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, a reproductive urologist with U Health, initiated an earlier study which found the virus was present in the testicles for up to six months following infection.
www.local10.com www.local10.com

Kristi Krueger, Anchor/Health Reporter
Kathleen Corso, Special Projects Producer
Published: December 20, 2020, 10:22 am
Tags: News, Local, Health, Coronavirus
So far, only 1 area hospital offering COVID-19 vaccine to community

Study investigates effects of COVID-19 vaccine on male fertility

MIAMI – The University of Miami is investigating the possible effects of the coronavirus vaccine on male fertility.

Lead researchers Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, a reproductive urologist with U Health, initiated an earlier study which found the virus was present in the testicles for up to six months following infection.

That spurred his team to question the virus’ effect on sperm and reproduction.

His team is now looking at the potential impact of the vaccine as well.

“We’re evaluating the sperm parameters and quality before the vaccine and after the vaccine. From the biology of the COVID vaccine we believe it shouldn’t affect fertility but we want to do the study to make sure that man who want to have kids in the future to assure them it’s safe to go ahead and get the vaccine,” Ramasamy said.

Study participants must have a fertility evaluation before receiving the vaccine.

To protect fertility, some men may want to consider freezing their sperm prior to vaccination.
 
Last edited:
J

joannita

Veteran Member
marsh said:
justthenews.com

Some states prioritize blacks, Hispanics over whites for COVID-19 vaccines, report says

"Systemic health and social inequities have put many people from racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk,"
justthenews.com justthenews.com

Some states prioritize blacks, Hispanics over whites for COVID-19 vaccines, report says

"Systemic health and social inequities have put many people from racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk,"

By Joseph Curl
Updated: December 20, 2020 - 10:51pm

Half of U.S. states have laid out plans to prioritize black and Hispanic patients over whites as the rollout of two COVID-19 vaccines gathers steam, according to a new report.

According to an analysis by The Daily Mail, 25 states have "committed to a focus on racial and ethnic communities as they decided which groups should be prioritized in receiving a coronavirus vaccine dose." The moves follow guidance to do so by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"Some states have made even more specific plans to prioritize communities of color, with 12 states specifically mentioning efforts to partner with healthcare providers in areas with a large minority population to reach 'diverse populations,' according to the Kaiser Family Foundation," the Mail reported.

Maine, for instance, enacted a "Racial/Ethnic Minority COVID-19 Vaccination Plan" that will give preference to groups that "have experienced rates of disease that far exceed their representation in the population as a whole."

"Long-standing systemic health and social inequities have put many people from racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19," the CDC wrote in July. "The term 'racial and ethnic minority groups' includes people of color with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. But some experiences are common to many people within these groups, and social determinants of health have historically prevented them from having fair opportunities for economic, physical, and emotional health."

On Nov. 30, the CDC released more guidance, saying "race and ethnicity are risk markers for other underlying conditions that affect health including socioeconomic status, access to health care, and exposure to the virus related to occupation, e.g., frontline, essential, and critical infrastructure workers."

According to the agency's data, blacks were 3.7 times more likely than whites to require hospitalization to treat the virus, while Hispanics were 1.2 times more likely. American Indians and Alaska natives, meanwhile, were also more likely to require hospitalization than whites.
In addition, black and Hispanic people are almost three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites.

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Dec. 2 voted to direct that healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities will be the first to get the shots in the initial rollout — once federal regulators authorize use of a vaccine. The recommendation was approved by CDC Director Robert Redfield.

But state governors have final say on how the vaccines get distributed.

Said the Mail:
Click to expand...
My contact on the front lines of treating COVID patients says that it is the African Americans who are dying, due to their higher rate of co-morbitites.
 
D

Dozdoats

On TB every waking moment
Non-Original Rants: The water and the flame for boiling the frog slowly

Saturday, December 26, 2020
The water and the flame for boiling the frog slowly

Not surprisingly for those of us who are actually looking at studies that aren't being 'ignored' by the MSM, a couple of things have come out:

1) The Flame: A new study indicates that asymptomatic spread of the Wuhan is actually pretty darn rare. The fear of asymptomatic spread was the flame that caused the lockdowns, mask mandates, etc. Several studies have come out that indicate that these measures do not prevent the number of positive tests (check the links). There is also information that indicates that reopening from lockdowns did not cause any spikes, any more than Thanksgiving travel did.

2) The Water: WHO has changed the definition of herd immunity to exclude naturally occurring immunity and imply that herd immunity can only be achieved through vaccination. Add to this that Fascist Fauci has admitted that he keeps moving the goalposts for herd immunity. His goalposts, again, not surprisingly, only include percentage of people vaccinated and discount the people that have gained natural immunity through exposure and recovery.

3) The Frog: That would be the American public. And truthfully, the populace of most First World countries (witness the once-great Britain).
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com www.zerohedge.com

Two Pandemic Assistance Programs Expire Today, Leaving 12 Million Without Benefits

SATURDAY, DEC 26, 2020 - 15:00

With Congressional leaders feigning productivity for two months on a renewed stimulus - only for President Trump to veto their 11th hour porkfest and demand they increase direct stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 per person - a series of assistance programs are set to lapse into the new year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with President Trump in July
Two of them, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, will expire Saturday night, leaving around 12 million Americans without the assistance. As we noted in November, this would roughly translate into an income shortfall of $39BN in 1Q if these workers are unable to find work or alternative income support. BofA calculates that based on its work on fiscal multipliers, income loss of $39BN would translate into a 1.2% hit to growth on an annualized basis in 1Q 2021.

One of the two programs expiring Saturday, the PUA, provided unemployment benefits to around 7.3 million gig workers and others not eligible for traditional unemployment, according to the Century Foundation.

The expiring programs come after lawmakers cobbled a $900 billion pandemic stimulus package to a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill, which President Trump vetoed over the sheer amount of pork and $600 direct checks, which he deemed to small.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1341537886315950080
View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1341537886315950080
4:09 min

House Democrats will vote on a standalone bill Monday for $2,000 checks, while Congressional Republicans are expected to flatly reject it. Meanwhile, several additional programs are set to expire on December 31. Additionally, the concurrent expiration of eviction moratorium, mortgage forbearance programs, and suspension of student loan payments could all be headwinds early next year, creating further obstacles.


Unless Trump reverses course and signs the package on Tuesday, the government will shut down - sans another short-term bill to keep it limp things along into 2021.
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com www.zerohedge.com

Scientists Scramble To Identify Culprit Behind Covid Vaccine Allergic Reactions

SATURDAY, DEC 26, 2020 - 14:00
All is not going according to plan in the global rollout of what is arguably the most important vaccine in a century, and it is not just growing mistrust in the covid injection effort that was rolled out in record time: an unexpected spike in allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine may prove catastrophic to widespread acceptance unless scientists can figure out what is causing it after the FDA's rushed approval. So in a welcome development, the WSJ reports that according to scientists, the potential culprit causing the allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the compound polyethylene glycol, also known as PEG.

According to the CDC, at least six severe allergic reactions to the vaccine have been reported so far in the US out of 272,001 doses administered through Dec. 19, while at least two cases of anaphylaxis have also occurred in the UK.

Polyethylene glycol - a polyether compound derived from petroleum with many applications, from industrial manufacturing to medicine - is present in both the Moderna and Pfizer–BioNTech vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 as a PEGylated lipid, which is used as an excipient. Both RNA vaccines consist of Messenger RNA, or mRNA, encased in a bubble of oily molecules called lipids. Proprietary lipid technology is used for each. In both vaccines, the bubbles are coated with a stabilizing molecule of polyethylene glycol.

Polyethylene glycol
Scientists have focused in on PEG as a potential suspect even as health authorities say they are still investigating the incidents and plan to study the issue further. The compound is found in other drugs and is known to trigger anaphylaxis on rare occasions.

“Although I think we’re just speculating here…it is known that one of the components that is present in both of the vaccines—polyethylene glycol—can be associated, uncommonly, with allergic reactions,” said Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, at a Dec. 18 press conference.

“What we’re learning now is that those allergic reactions could be somewhat more common than the highly uncommon that we thought they were because people do get exposed to polyethylene glycol in various pharmaceutical preparations,” Marks added, noting that the FDA also plans to watch the Moderna vaccine rollout “very closely” since both vaccines contain PEG.
In a statement, Pfizer said it “will closely monitor all reports suggestive of serious allergic reactions following vaccination.” The company said its prescribing information includes a warning that “appropriate medical treatment and supervision should always be readily available in case of a rare anaphylactic event following the administration of the vaccine."

As noted above, in both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, PEG is part of the fatty envelope that surrounds the messenger RNA, the main ingredient in the vaccine. Once the mRNA gets into cells, it teaches them to make a protein that resembles the spike protein found on the surface of the coronavirus. That induces a specific immune response that shores up the body’s defenses for when it is exposed to the real virus. The PEG-containing fatty envelope helps ensure the mRNA gets across the cell membrane and into the cells.



Of course, with scientists openly scrambling and throwing anything at the wall hoping something sticks so it doesn't appear that they rushed the vaccines without actually checking for all potential complications, it is likely that the PEG trail is cold. As the WSJ reports, allergies to PEG are extremely rare, and it is possible that the few people who had reactions after getting the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reacted to something else. The compound is found in a range of products, they say, such as cosmetics, foods and drugs. Some vaccines also contain PEG-like compounds. Adding to the complexity, some types of PEG are more likely to cause allergic reactions than others.
“They’re all in a big large family, but in terms of their allergic potential, they’re not equal,” said Elizabeth Phillips, director of the Center for Drug Safety and Immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Types of PEG that are heavier are generally more likely to elicit allergic reactions than others, she said.
Click to expand...
At the same time, “the PEG in the vaccines is different than what has been previously associated with allergic reactions,” said James Baker, an immunologist who heads the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences at the University of Michigan.
“The overall structure is very different from anything that’s been in a vaccine before,” he said. That makes it hard to tell how allergic reactions to the PEG in the Covid-19 vaccines will compare to allergic reactions to other PEGs, like those in certain laxatives, that have caused rare allergic reactions in the past.
Click to expand...
Allergy experts say it isn’t certain yet whether the reactions seen so far were classic allergic reactions—that is, immune reactions involving an antibody called immunoglobulin E, or IgE, which are part of the so-called adaptive arm of the immune system, which learns to recognize specific intruders. The reactions could also be due to a misfiring of the innate immune system, causing a cascade of reactions in what’s known as the body’s complement system.

“We have to look at all the possibilities,” said . Baker. Both he and Dr. Phillips recently attended a virtual meeting hosted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to discuss the Covid-19 vaccine allergic reactions. The agency said it is designing a study to look more closely at the issue.

“We anticipate studying highly allergic individuals with prior episodes of anaphylaxis, as well as some other groups such [as] patients with known PEG allergy,” said Daniel Rotrosen, the director of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation at NIAID, in an email. The study will include healthy individuals for comparison, he said, and researchers will gather biologic samples before and after vaccination to monitor for any immune changes induced by the vaccine.

While PEG is a possible culprit, “we need to keep an open mind regarding other possibilities,” he added.

For now, the CDC says people who have a history of severe allergic reactions to any component of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines should not receive the vaccine, and those who have a severe allergic reaction after the first dose should not receive the second. The agency also says people who get the shots should be observed for 15 minutes after vaccination to monitor for possible adverse reactions. People with a history of anaphylaxis should be observed for 30 minutes, it says.

One final note: while until now all allergic reactions had been in response to the Pfizer vaccine, with the the rollout of Moderna's mRNA vaccine largely without glitches, that changed on Friday when a Boston doctor suffered a serious allergic reaction to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, the first of its kind documented, the NYT reported.

Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, a geriatric oncologist at Boston Medical Center, became dizzy and felt his heart racing minutes after receiving the vaccine on Thursday, he told The New York Times.
“It was the same anaphylactic reaction that I experience with shellfish,” Dr. Sadrzadeh told the paper, noting that his tongue became numb, his blood pressure plummeted and he broke into a cold sweat. “I don’t want anybody to go through that.”

His reaction was remarkably similar to what happened to nurse Tiffany Dover, at the CHI Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, who fainted on live TV shortly after getting the Pfizer vaccine.

Sadrzadeh self-administered an EpiPen he brought in the event of such a reaction, and was discharged following a brief emergency room examination, the report said. Sadrzadeh’s symptoms were the first known reaction of its severity to the Moderna shot.
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment
www.axios.com

Scientists suspect compound in allergic reactions to Pfizer vaccine

Scientists believe polyethylene glycol, which has never been used in approved vaccines before, is to blame.
www.axios.com www.axios.com

Scientists suspect compound in allergic reactions to Pfizer vaccine

Oriana Gonzalez

Picture of a patient receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine

Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Scientists believe the compound polyethylene glycol — known as PEG — is to blame for the reported allergic reactions to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Driving the news: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified six allergic reactions to the vaccine out of the 272,001 doses given through Dec. 19.
  • No allergic reactions have been reported for the Moderna vaccine, which also contains PEG. The Food and Drug Administration said it will be following the vaccine's rollout "very closely," according to WSJ.
  • The U.K. reported two severe reactions to the vaccine on Dec. 8.
What they're saying: "What we’re learning now is that those allergic reactions could be somewhat more common than the highly uncommon that we thought they were because people do get exposed to polyethylene glycol in various pharmaceutical preparations," said Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, per WSJ.

Worth noting: "PEG has never been used before in an approved vaccine, but it is found in many drugs that have occasionally triggered anaphylaxis," the journal Science writes.
  • However, scientists say PEG-induced allergic reactions are uncommon and also suspect that people could have reacted to a different compound in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The bottom line: Scientists still argue that vaccination must continue despite the suspected reactions to PEG, although more data is needed.
  • "We need to get vaccinated," Elizabeth Phillips, a drug hypersensitivity researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Science. “We need to try and curtail this pandemic."
 
jward

jward

passin' thru
zerohedge
@zerohedge
10m

L.A. County Is Running "Dangerously" Low On Oxygen To Treat COVID-19
L.A. County Is Running "Dangerously" Low On Oxygen To Treat COVID-19
Tyler Durden's Photo

by Tyler Durden
Saturday, Dec 26, 2020 - 20:00
Hospitals in L.A. Country are starting to run "dangerously low on oxygen" and other supplies used for treating those with Covid, despite a seven day trend of new cases looking like it may have finally peaked.
In addition to running out of supplies, patients are waiting as long as 8 hours in ambulances before being placed into ERs due to limited capacity, the LA Times writes. The situation has gotten so dire that "one L.A. County health official has asked providers to reach out to patients who have serious illnesses or are medically frail to review their advanced-care directives and ensure forms are on file detailing their end-of-life care."
There are also fears that gatherings during the holidays will exacerbate conditions in the area, as Thanksgiving gatherings are already receiving some of the blame for hospitals' current capacity.
But while the L.A. Times notes that the county saw its highest Covid-19 deaths per day last week, on Thursday with 140, the county's seven day rolling total (shown below) potentially indicates some reprieve.

People familiar with the hospital system in the county have revealed it is "dangerously low" on oxygen, which is used to treat people with virus-inflamed lungs. Oxygen is now being used in favor of ventilators, which were used at the beginning of the pandemic.
Instead, patients now get "a high-flow oxygen treatment, where oxygen is sent through plastic tubes placed in the nose". Covid-19 patients often need more than 10 times more oxygen than regular patients, requiring up to 60 to 80 liters of oxygen per minute. This means hospitals need about 10 times more oxygen than they did before.
Hospitals are also running low on the tubes used to transport oxygen, the report says.

The county asked healthcare providers this week to take additional measures to try and offset the flood of patients that require hospital-level treatment. There's about 6,700 coronavirus patients hospitalized throughout the county as of Wednesday last week - with 1,329 of them in an ICU. Those numbers are up 85% and 62% over the past 2 weeks.
The county wrote in a memo: “Hospitals have implemented their surge plans and are adjusting staffing and space to try to meet the needs of their community. It is critical that as a healthcare community we look at all available opportunities to help decrease the surge on hospitals and our 911 system, where possible.”
Dr. Sharon Balter, the county’s chief of communicable disease control and prevention told healthcare providers to inform patients only to call 911 or go to the ER "when it is a true emergency". She also pushed for quicker discharges.
“There are very limited hospital and ICU beds available and emergency departments are strained to capacity,” she said.

Santa Monica neurosurgeon Dr. Brian Gantwerker says he "dreads" what the next several weeks will hold. He says that the number of Covid patients increasing can delay neurosurgery patients in need of immediate care.
He said: “Then it becomes a question of: ‘Where is the breaking point? When do we have to start sending patients out to other places?’ And the nightmare scenario is: ‘What happens if there are no beds available in the county? Everything we’ve worried about and talked about and warned people about since February is coming to fruition — we’re at that point now.”
Finally, Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. County’s health services director, says that nearly 7,000 more people could die from Covid by the end of January if current trends continue.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti concluded: “We know that this emergency is our darkest day, maybe the darkest day in our city’s history. But we must find the fortitude, we must summon the strength to make sure that we save lives.”

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com www.zerohedge.com
 
TammyinWI

TammyinWI

Talk is cheap
Oh the fear-mongerin'! And the power-trippin'!

Sickening...more than a virus they are using to trip up everybody.

One day, they will very severely regret their sins, and it will be too late. This includes those who are accepting bribe/blackmail money on behalf of the hospitals, clinics, etc. that they work for.
 
ChicagoMan74

ChicagoMan74

ULTRA MAGA
Adequate levels of vitamin D reduces complications, death among COVID-19 patients (medicalxpress.com)

Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who were vitamin D sufficient, with a blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D of at least 30 ng/mL (a measure of vitamin D status), had a significant decreased risk for adverse clinical outcomes including becoming unconscious, hypoxia (body starved for oxygen) and death. In addition, they had lower blood levels of an inflammatory marker (C-reactive protein) and higher blood levels of lymphocytes (a type of immune cell to help fight infection).

"This study provides direct evidence that vitamin D sufficiency can reduce the complications, including the cytokine storm (release of too many proteins into the blood too quickly) and ultimately death from COVID-19," explained corresponding author Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., MD, professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics and molecular medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.

A blood sample to measure vitamin D status (measured serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D) was taken from 235 patients were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19. These patients were followed for clinical outcomes including clinical severity of the infection, becoming unconscious, having difficulty in breathing resulting in hypoxia and death. The blood was also analyze for an inflammatory marker (C-reactive protein) and for numbers of lymphocytes. The researchers then compared all of these parameters in patients who were vitamin D deficient to those who were vitamin D sufficient.

In patients older than 40 years they observed that those patients who were vitamin D sufficient were 51.5 percent less likely to die from the infection compared to patients who were vitamin D deficient or insufficient with a blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D less than 30 ng/mL.

Holick, who most recently published a study which found that a sufficient amount of vitamin D can reduce the risk of catching coronavirus by 54 percent, believes that being vitamin D sufficient helps to fight consequences from being infected not only with the corona virus but also other viruses causing upper respiratory tract illnesses including influenza. "There is great concern that the combination of an influenza infection and a coronal viral infection could substantially increase hospitalizations and death due to complications from these viral infections."

According to Holick this study provides a simple and cost-effective strategy to improve one's ability to fight the corona virus and reduce COVID-19's adverse clinical outcomes, including requiring ventilator support, overactive immune response leading to cytokine storm and death. "Because vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is so widespread in children and adults in the United States and worldwide, especially in the winter months, it is prudent for everyone to take a vitamin D supplement to reduce risk of being infected and having complications from COVID-19."
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment
www.livemint.com

UK scientists trial instant immunity antibody drug treatment for COVID-19

The study recruited the first participant in the world to the study earlier this month and has recruited 10 participants since then
www.livemint.com

UK scientists trial instant immunity antibody drug treatment for COVID-19

26 Dec 2020PTI

The study recruited the first participant in the world to the study earlier this month and has recruited 10 participants since then

The study, led by UCLH virologist Dr Catherine Houlihan, recruited the first participant in the world to the study earlier this month and has recruited 10 participants since then.
“We know that this antibody combination can neutralise the virus, so we hope to find that giving this treatment via injection can lead to immediate protection against the development of COVID-19 in people who have been exposed – when it would be too late to offer a vaccine," said Houlihan.

UCLH said its new vaccine research centre is running two clinical trials testing a LAAB combination treatment to protect against COVID-19.

The second Provent study is looking at the use of AZD7442 in people who may not respond to vaccination, for instance where someone has a compromised immune system or are at increased risk of COVID-19 infection due to factors such as age and existing conditions.

“We will be recruiting people who are older or in long-term care, and who have conditions such as cancer and HIV which may affect the ability of their immune system to respond to a vaccine.

“We want to reassure anyone for whom a vaccine may not work that we can offer an alternative which is just as protective," said Dr Nicky Longley, UCLH infectious diseases consultant leading the Provent study.

Antibodies are protein molecules that the body produces to help fight infections. Monoclonal antibodies are artificially produced in a laboratory and designed as possible medical treatments. They are designed to be injected directly into the body, unlike vaccines which “train" the immune system itself to produce antibodies.

“These two clinical trials are an important addition to testing new therapeutic approaches, as antibody treatments may offer an alternative to patient groups who cannot benefit from a vaccine, such as immunocompromised patients," said Professor Stephen Powis, the medical director of National Health Service (NHS) England.

The LAABs have been engineered with AstraZeneca’s "proprietary" half-life extension technology to increase the durability of the therapy for six to 12 months following a single administration. The combination of two LAABs is also designed to reduce the risk of resistance developed by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19.

“AZD7442 has the potential to be an important preventative and therapeutic medicine against COVID-19, focusing on the most vulnerable patients. This work complements our vaccine development programme," said Mene Pangalos, AztraZeneca Executive Vice-President for BioPharmaceuticals Research and Development.

“Storm Chaser is exploring the use of a combination of monoclonal antibodies given intramuscularly in those who have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 – a setting where vaccination would not have time to work and we have no other proven therapies to date. This makes Storm Chaser an important study that may have a large impact on our ability to control this infection," noted Professor Andrew Ustianowski, who is the chief investigator of the new studies.

UCLH said that in both Provent and Storm Chaser, researchers will assess whether the treatment reduces the risk of developing COVID-19 and/or reduces the severity of infection compared to placebo.

Key participant groups in the Storm Chaser trial will include healthcare workers, students who live in group accommodation, and patients who are exposed to anyone with the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as residents of long-term care facilities and industrial/military settings.

Both trials are taking place at the newly-created Vaccine Research Centre at UCLH, which opened this month to help accelerate the development of new vaccines and treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Both Storm Chaser and Provent are crucial to finding a solution to this pandemic," said Professor Vincenzo Libri, who leads the UCLH Clinical Research Facility backed by the UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

“The opening of our new Vaccine Research Centre will help to propel our fight against the virus, meet our aspiration to save as many lives as possible, and ensure a return to normality," he said.

“The recent progress on vaccines is hugely welcome, and developing these additional treatments will be vital to ensure everyone in society can be offered protection against COVID-19," Professor Marcel Levi, UCLH Chief Executive, said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.




Scientists in the UK have begun trials of innovative antibody drug treatments that they hope could provide instant protection against COVID-19.

The University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH) said that the researchers in the Storm Chase study believe a Long Acting AntiBody (LAAB) known as AZD7442, developed by AstraZeneca, may offer immediate and long-term protection to people who have been recently exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and prevent them developing COVID-19.
 
P

Pinecone

Has No Life - Lives on TB
jward said:
Joe Bastardi
@BigJoeBastardi
6m

NYT: Fauci admits to deceiving the public about herd immunity because he wanted more people to get vaccinated
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1343018508502892544
View: https://twitter.com/BigJoeBastardi/status/1343018508502892544?s=20
Click to expand...
So what else has he not been "totally honest" about. What does he really know or really does not know? Since when are "feelings" involved. He didn't even say "intuition" which some would better "stomach." But we have to "Follow the Science."

I hope he "follows the science" down to see how many levels of hell really exist. Without coming back with a report.
 
marsh

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com www.zerohedge.com

Major Covid Vaccine Glitch Emerges: Most Europeans, Including Hospital Staff, Refuse To Take It

SUNDAY, DEC 27, 2020 - 21:50
All is not going according to plan in the biggest global rollout of what is arguably the most important vaccine in a century, and it is not just growing US mistrust in the covid injection effort that was rolled out in record time: an unexpected spike in allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (and now, Moderna too) may prove catastrophic to widespread acceptance unless scientists can figure out what is causing it after the FDA's rushed approval, and is also why as we reported yesterday, scientists are scrambling to identify the potential culprit causing the allergic reactions.

Making matters worse, Europe rolled out a huge COVID-19 vaccination drive on Sunday to try to rein in the coronavirus pandemic but even more Europeans than American are sceptical about the speed at which the vaccines have been tested and approved and reluctant to have the shot.

While the European Union has secured contracts drugmakers including Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, for a total of more than two billion doses and has set a goal for all adults to be inoculated next year, this is looking increasingly like a pipe dream: according to recent surveys, the local population has expressed "high levels of hesitancy" towards inoculation in countries from France to Poland, with many used to vaccines taking decades to develop, not just months.

“I don’t think there’s a vaccine in history that has been tested so quickly,” Ireneusz Sikorski, 41, said as he stepped out of a church in central Warsaw with his two children.

"I am not saying vaccination shouldn’t be taking place. But I am not going to test an unverified vaccine on my children, or on myself."

Smart: why take the risk of getting vaccinated when others will do it, resulting in the same outcome.

Surveys in Poland, where distrust in public institutions runs deep, show that fewer than 40% of people planning to get vaccinated. Worse, according to Reuters on Sunday, only half the medical staff in a Warsaw hospital where the country’s first shot was administered had signed up. And if the doctors don't trust the vaccine, one can be certain that the broader population will refuse to take it.

The situation is similar in Spain, one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries, where 28-year-old singer and music composer German summarizes the skepticism of a broad range of the population, and plans to wait for now.
“No one close to me has had it (COVID-19). I’m obviously not saying it doesn’t exist because lots of people have died of it, but for now I wouldn’t have it (the vaccine).”
Click to expand...
A Christian Orthodox bishop in Bulgaria, where 45% of people have said they would not get a shot and 40% plan to wait to see if any negative side effects appear - meaning only 15% of the population will actually volunteer for a vaccine in the near future - is in the tiny minority when it comes to taking the vaccine.

“Myself, I am vaccinated against everything I can be,” Bishop Tihon told reporters after getting his shot, standing alongside the health minister in Sofia. He spoke about anxiety over polio before vaccination became available in the 1950s and 1960s.

To be sure, the establishment is pounding the table on why the vaccines are safe despite the record short time in development (even though not even the "scientists" can explain what is behind the spike in vaccine allergic reactions), and claiming that the new technology behind the mRNA vaccine is all one needs to know... when it is precisely this new technology that is sparking the skepticism.

“We’ll look back on the advances made in 2020 and say: ‘That was a moment when science really did make a leap forward’,” said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, which is backed by the Wellcome Trust. Oxford also received $750MM from Bill Gates in June in the billionaire's quest to vaccinate the world against Covid.

Only problem: nobody in Europe seems to care about these "scientific" justifications. Independent pollster Alpha Research said its recent survey suggested that fewer than one in five Bulgarians from the first groups to be offered the vaccine - frontline medics, pharmacists, teachers and nursing home staff - planned to volunteer to get a shot.

An IPSOS survey of 15 countries published on Nov. 5 showed then that 54% of French would have a COVID vaccine if one were available. The figure was 64% in Italy and Spain, 79% in Britain and 87% in China.

Since then things have gone far worse, and a more recent IFOP poll showed that only 41% people in France would take the shot. This means that a vast majority will not.



French Healthcare workers applaud Mauricette, a 78-year-old woman, after she received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease vaccine in the country.

Not even in Sweden, where public trust in authorities is absurdly and inexplicably high, is there a universal trust in the vaccine, with at least one in three saying they won't get the shot: “If someone gave me 10 million euro, I wouldn’t take it,” Lisa Renberg, 32, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in a paradoxical attempt to force more to sign up - not realizing that it will only have the precisely opposite effect - Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki urged Poles on Sunday to sign up for vaccination, saying the herd immunity effect depended on them. Critics have accused Warsaw’s "nationalist leaders" of being too accepting of anti-vaccination attitudes in the past in an effort to garner conservative support. Well... let's check back on said attitude in 10 years and see if perhaps it was the right one.

For now, however, the more European governments pressure their populations to get immunized, the fewer the people who will actually sign up and the worse the vaccine rollout will be, that much we can be 100% sure of.
 
jward

jward

passin' thru
Again, fighting the urge. . .

Helen Branswell
@HelenBranswell
2m

.
@DrMikeRyan
with a sobering message: This pandemic has been severe, but it isn't necessarily the big one. The virus is very transmissible, but the fatality ratio isn't especially high. Need to prepare for a worse foe. Truth. But not what I wanted to hear at the end of 2020!!
 
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