Covid-19: Treatments, Cures, and Vaccines

Seems like the vaccine is working.

 

That's why the second shot hurts like a SOB.

 

Two interesting points with this:

1. Really good news additional anti-viral drugs are moving into the late trial stages to add to the tools for treating those infected when the disease progresses beyond mild.
2. Even better news that despite issues with a minority of people with the AZ vaccine, the UK is showing plummeting new cases counts due to their aggressive vaccine program.

Roche looking for new place to test COVID-19 pill after cases plummet in UK

 

I wonder if that facility requires flu vaccines? That is pretty standard practice in health care settings.

If anywhere should require the vaccine, it should be health care facilities. Makes no sense to require flu vaccine, and not require protection for something 10x worse.

 

In fairness, the Flu shots are approved by the regulatory agencies, which means that they have had years of safety studies. No vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus meets that standard. Most employers are wearing for forcing a yet-unapproved vaccine onto their employees. Pfizer believes that they will have enough safety data by the end of the calendar year to put together an application for full Authorization from FDA. They will likely be the first to be able to do so.

 

Get cases low by mitigation and vaccination and then open. Will lead to a robust recovery if coupled with testing and contract tracing measures while cases are low. Sound public health.

 

CDC to resume vaccinations with the Johnson & Johnson shot but with a warning and improved guidance to medical providers.

Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, on pause for 10 days, appears poised for another green light

 

I can't speak to gator pa, but medicine is a broad field, and not all people involved in it are experts at all aspects of it. That is true for any profession. What strikes me is some who may have some understanding of biology and vaccines, but fail to grasp statistics. They get spooked at 1 in 1 million unknowns, but are willing to take know risks that are far more common than that.

From the beginning I thought pausing the J&J was a mistake. The miniscule risk of the clots was far less than being negatively affected by covid, and or transmitting the disease.

In terms of herd immunity, no you don't have to have 100%, but the more people that are vaccinated the more likely the disease substantially goes away. While kids are highly unlikely to get materially sick, older kids can transmit. And while the vaccines are highly effective, for people in high risk groups like sick and in old folks home can die even if vaccinated. The risk is substantially decreased but it isn't zero. Plus there may be some who medically can't or shouldn't get the vaccine.

To the extent variants are floating around, the vaccine is highly effective against them too, but the chances of somebody getting a mild case and transmitting are greater. The greater the proportion unvaccinated, the higher the probability of variants and mutations. Look at the flu this year. Almost non existent. And there aren't many new strains, because you have to have enough virus to start with the make mutations and variants possible.

 

That is true. At first there were legal questions (i.e. if it is even LEGAL for an employer to mandate a vaccine that is still technically only under EUA rather than full authorization). But I believe the FDA did eventually come out with a determination that yes, an employer could require it even under the EUA. It's probably not settled law or anything, but employers have the go ahead. At this point the vaccines are so effective it's almost crazy to think a facility might only have 50% of staff vaccinated.

 

US to supply India with crucial raw materials to ramp up vaccine production

India coronavirus: Can it make enough vaccines to meet demand?

 

This is the first news I have seen on this drug in quite some time. I honestly thought that Pfizer had abandoned it. If this drug proves in human clinical trials to provide a benefit, this could be another home run for Pfizer as far as Covid goes. IT looks like they were pretty wise to steer clear of US government money and go it alone. The cynic in me sees how this could be a huge profit generator for Pfizer for years to come.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/27/pfi...lable-by-year-end-ceo-albert-bourla-says.html

 

I agree with everything you said.

The pause for the J and J vaccine did nothing to help vaccine acceptance I think it gave credence to the the people who are anti vax at all levels. The risk of clots in the vaccine group is very similar to the risk in the general population. (Based on the data I have seen).

 

Merck has a drug in the same class that seems to be doing very well also. It would make a huge impact. Think Tamiflu for COVID.

 

Certainly the sample size is great but the review of adverse events is not nearly the same as people in trial so it takes much longer.

Read about Baycol it was an FDA approved statin was on the market for a good number of years and then was taken off as it had a higher than acceptable rate of causing rhabdomyolysis and renal failure. I actually had a patient early on when there started to be questions about the safety.

 

Has there been any research concluded on whether being fully vaxed helps reduce your chances of transmission to others? I know this was an open question before.

 

This won't help vaccine acceptance.

Denmark bans Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine, citing the risk of rare blood clots

Denmark has become the first country to stop using Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus shot, weeks after the country banned AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine.
The Danish Health Authority said in a statement Monday that the risk of unusual blood clots outweighed the benefits of the J&J vaccine for the country.

• Denmark banned Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.
• Authorities said the risk of unusual blood clots as a side effect outweighed the shot's benefits.
• J&J's vaccine was highly effective in trials, and blood-clot reports have been vanishingly rare.

Denmark bans Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine, citing the risk of rare blood clots (msn.com)

 

About 6 weeks ago I read an article about an Israeli study that highly suggested it did, but I haven't seen any follow up.

 

Yes, vaccines block most transmission of COVID-19 (nationalgeographic.com)

 

This is just stupid.