Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

I really should read my own blog.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Oct. 28-29

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Oct. 28-29

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More than 160 former world leaders and global figures have called on the UK and other rich countries to immediately airlift millions of surplus Covid vaccines to less developed nations.

They say it would be unethical for doses to be wasted while thousands are dying with the virus every day…

While more than six billion Covid vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, they say 70% of these were administered by only a few countries and just 2% of people in low-income countries have received a jab.

The letter says that between them the US, EU, UK and Canada will have 240 million unused vaccines by the end of this month, which could be airlifted immediately to countries most in need.

Millions more vaccines should be transferred each month, totalling 1.1 billion in the next four months, it adds.

If this is achieved, it says the World Health Organization’s target for 70% of all adults to be vaccinated by spring next year can be met.

“Without a detailed plan, 100 million vaccine doses will have passed their use-by date at the end of the year,” the letter says.

“If we do not act quickly, that figure could exceed 200 million by the end of January 2022.”…

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Reader Interactions

58Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    Monroe County website: 224 new cases yesterday cases and NYSDOH says 232 new cases yesterday.

  2. 2.

    satby

    “Asked can’t he just get a doctors note and guy responds “yes but it is really hard to get a doctor to sign one. They all want me to get the shot.”

    ??? telling the fool at work “who couldn’t wear a mask” to get a note from the doctor is how I got her in a mask last year. She’s since quit ??, but at least she got vaccinated when she was eligible.

  3. 3.

    Central Planning

    My bigco just required everyone to be vaccinated or have a medical/religious exemption.

    Predictably, crazy people are losing their shit… they don’t trust the company with vax status, just a step closer to totalitarianism, vaccines don’t work, vaxed shed more, and on and on

    They don’t get that they are not entitled to their job, and they most certainly have a choice if they don’t want to get the shot.

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 6,060 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, tfor a cumulative reported total of 2,460,829 cases. It also reports 95 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 28,769 deaths – 1.17% of the cumulative reported total, 1.20% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.95.

    492 confirmed cases are in ICU, 208 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 7,297 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,361,919 patients recovered – 96.0% of the cumulative reported total.

    11 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 5,763 clusters. 460 clusters are currently active; 5,303 clusters are now inactive.

    6,047 new cases today are local infections. 13 new cases today are imported.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 147,242 doses of vaccine on 28th October: 18,493 first doses, 123,182 second doses, and 5,567 booster doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 49,581,855 doses administered: 25,431,328 first doses, 24,165,940 second doses, and 152,036 booster doses. 77.9% of the population have received their first dose, while 74.0% are now fully vaccinated.

  5. 5.

    Matt McIrvin

    I’m dismayed by the extent to which media coverage of child COVID vaccination is focusing on parental fears while burying or erasing discussion of whether those fears are justified or not. I was hoping somewhere around half of parents would vaccinate their kids, and now I’m thinking it’s going to be a very low fraction because these news stories are just transmitting anxiety about the vaccine.

    They say risk to kids from COVID infection is “low” and then give the impression, without saying it but implying it in a “many people are saying” way, that it’s lower than the risk from getting vaccinated, which is just nuts–unless there’s basically no community spread in your neighborhood, and there is community spread everywhere.

  9. 9.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Chris T.:

    Some say … that on a full moon, the vaccinated turn into werewolves!

    And that they spent all of last week fantasizing about feeding Tucker Carlson into a ham slicer.

    All we know is … they’re a lot less likely to be felled by COVID-19.

  11. 11.

    New Deal democrat

    Well, cases turned *up* today nationwide, and yesterday was revised upwards as well.

    The good news is that the nationwide upturn was entirely due to a CA data dump. And when the 800 pound gorilla has a dump, it’s going to smell everything up.

    The bad news is that the confirmed uptrend has spread to several other States. CO, NM, and UT have been joined by MN and ND, and by slight upturns in IA, KS, and NJ. This may finally be the beginning of a winter wave.

  12. 12.

    lee

    My wife and I got our 3rd shot of Pfizer yesterday. No we are not officially eligible but we are 6 months past our 2nd shot and have travel plans. CVS didn’t bat an eye at us signing up. The person giving us the shot asked us two questions “Do you have your card?” & ‘Which arm?”

    My wife, as usual, feels fine today. I, as usual, feel a bit puny.

  13. 13.

    lowtechcyclist

    Just a reminder that the Washington Post Co. sold Newsweek about a decade ago, and while it still tries to dress up as respectable, it’s basically a garbage publication nowadays.  Whatever the faults of the MSM are (and they are many), I don’t think Newsweek’s coverage of anything would be an example.

  14. 14.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Child vaccination of all kinds have dropped:

    The foundation’s research, released this month, shows the number of doses given of recommended childhood vaccines has dropped below pre-pandemic levels — down by as much as 6% to 18%, depending on the vaccine or the age group. Babies and young children have been somewhat more likely to stay on schedule with most of their recommended vaccinations during the pandemic, the foundation’s data shows, in comparison with adolescents and teens. But every age group is behind. For example, the number of doses of Tdap vaccine — boosters given to kids ages 11 and up to prevent tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis — has dropped 16.7% since 2019. And orders for shots containing measles vaccine are down 18.2%.

    If “orders for shots” = unvaxxed kids an 18% drop is big. 

  18. 18.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 10/28 China reported 48 new domestic confirmed (3 previously asymptomatic) & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 19 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 136 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic suspect cases in the region.

    • Ejina Banner in Alxa League reported 18 new domestic confirmed (all at Dalaihob Township; all from mass screening). There currently are 114 active domestic confirmed cases there. The Dalaihob Township remains at High Risk.
    • Alxa Left Banner in Alxa League did not report any new domestic positive case. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in there, at Bayanhot. 1 sub-district of Bayanhot Township remains at Medium Risk
    • Erenhot in Xilingol League reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 10/19. There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed cases there. 3 communities are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Hohhot did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 1 active suspect cases in the city. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Ejin Horo Banner in Erdos did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the banner.

    Xi’an in Shaanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.

    Ningxia “Autonomous” Region reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 26 active domestic confirmed cases in the region.

    • Wuzhong did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 10 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • Yinchuan reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases, both traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine since 10/20. There currently are 15 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 3 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Zhongwei did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city

    Gansu Province reported 12 new domestic confirmed cases (7 mild, 2 moderate & 3 serious). There currently are 75 active domestic confirmed cases (including 12 serious & 1 critical) in the province.

    • Lanzhou reported 10 new domestic confirmed cases (6 mild, 2 moderate & 2 serious), 8 traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine & 2 found via mass screening. There currently are 54 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 3 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Zhangye reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases (1 mild & 1 serious), both traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Jiayuguan did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • At Longnan there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed case remaining.
    • At Tianshui there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.

    Hebei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 3 active confirmed & 3 active asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Shijiazhuang did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. Phylogenetic analysis has shown that the cases are connected to the ongoing outbreak spreading from Ejina Banner in Inner Mongolia.
    • Xingtai did not report any  new domestic confirmed cases (both previously asymptomatic). There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • Baoding did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.

    Hunan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Changsha there currently are 4 active domestic confirmed cases remaining.
    • At Zhuzhou there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.

    Zunyi in Guizhou Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.

    Beijing Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases (1 mild & 1 moderate), both traced close contacts. There currently are 27 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 1 community remains at High Risk & 1 community is currently at Medium Risk.

    Rizhao in Shandong Province reported 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 7 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 residential compound is currently at Medium Risk.

    Zigong in Sichuan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.

    Qinghai Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • Xining reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases, a family who returned from travel to Longnan in Gansu on 10/19. At least 1 member of the family had tested negative on 10/20, but they were not tested again until late on 10/27. They also had not been placed under quarantine, perhaps because Longnan still does not have Medium/High Risk areas.
    • Haidong in did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.

    At Tianmen in Hubei Province there currently are 2 domestic confirmed cases (1 mild & 1 moderate) in the city.

    Heihe in Heilongjiang Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), of the 6 new domestic positive cases 5 are traced close contacts & 1 is found at fever clinic. There currently are 10 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 2 units in 2 separate residential buildings have been elevated to Medium Risk.

    Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed cases (at Longchuan County, already under centralized quarantine). There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 27 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture.

    At Fujian Province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining in the province, at Xiamen.

    At Henan Province there currently are 5 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, all at Shangqiu.

    Imported Cases

    On 10/28, China reported 16 new imported confirmed cases (5 previously asymptomatic), 20 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:

    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases (previously asymptomatic), 1 each coming from Kyrgyzstan & Singapore; 1 asymptomatic case, coming from the UAE; all off flights that landed at Guangzhou
    • Dongguan in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases, 1 each coming from the DRC & Turkey, off flights that landed at Guangzhou
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 4 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Benin (via Istanbul), the DRC (via Nairobi), Japan & Malaysia
    • Shanghai Municipality – 3 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Armenia (via Vienna), Israel & the US; 1 suspect case, no information released
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 3 confirmed cases ( 1 previously asymptomatic), no information released
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 2 confirmed cases (both previously asymptomatic); 6 asymptomatic case, 2 coming from Russia & 1 each Indonesia, Cameroon, Mozambique & Guyana
    • Ruili + Longchuan County in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province – 2 confirmed & 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Beijing Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the UK (via Stockholm)
    • Hohhot in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region – 1 confirmed case, off a flight diverted from Beijing
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Japan
    • Wuhan in Hubei Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Singapore
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Cambodia

    Overall in China, 22 confirmed cases recovered (19 imported), 13 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (12 imported) & 8 were reclassified as confirmed cases (5 imported), & 837 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 801 active confirmed cases in the country (375 imported), 38 in serious condition (1 imported), 408 active asymptomatic cases (366 imported), 3 suspect cases (2 imported). 42,199 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 10/28, 2,254.252M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 3.332M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 10/29 Hong Kong reported 5 new positive cases, all imported (all had been fully vaccinated).

  22. 22.

    Kay

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I think we need to wait and see how if the anti-vaxx group of people has gone up, or if this is just a blip.

    They’re recruiting anti-vaxxers with the covid vaccine hysteria. There will be more of them.

  24. 24.

    Kalakal

    @debbie: We have a collection of elected imbeciles here in Florida who are spouting similar sociopathic garbage eg

    “Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, filed a bill  that would ban local governments from enacting mask mandates or requiring vaccines. Any vaccine. It’s very broadly written. It says, “A county or municipality, directly or indirectly, may not require that any citizen of the United States submit to any medical procedure or receive any medical treatment.” Any medical procedure? OK then, an end to all drug testing.”

     

    Personally I love the way they all have “concerns” about “experimental/untested” vaccines because of something something genetics but are all for infusions of antibodies harvested from mice spleens and fused with myeloma cells or even yummier harvesting ascitic fluid from deliberately induced tumors in the peritonea of mice ( lets not even mention recombinant CRISPR tecniques). Natures way indeed

    I really loathe these people

     

  25. 25.

    trnc

    Unvaccinated workers say if their employer gave them the choice of getting a #COVID19 vaccine, doing weekly testing, or leaving their job, 11% would likely get the vaccine. (1% of all adults) If no testing option were offered, that share rises to 17%. https://kff.org/coronavirus-co

    What’s the point of these polls anymore? It’s pretty clear that most of the people who claim they’ll quite their job over a vaccination requirement don’t follow through. I’m not surprised that some media outlets continue to beat that dead horse, but KFF?

  26. 26.

    trnc

    @debbie: ​
     

    Some clown in the Ohio legislature tried to introduce a bill ending mandates on ANY vaccines for children. ??‍♀️

    I’m frankly surprised it took this long for one of them to get around to that. Of course, people who vote him in will be SHOCKED that the gov’t doesn’t help them more when their kids start coming down with every disease on the planet.

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I hope they aren’t successful with that. I think parents are much more concerned with diseases like measles and polio, and it will be a lot harder to persuade them not to vaccinate against diseases like that. I’m hoping that this is mostly about missed appointments due to Covid, and that there will be a catch-up period this year and next.

  28. 28.

    Soprano2

    @trnc: Our paper had an op-ed by Vicky Hartzler (R-MO-Crazy) that claimed that millions of people are quitting their jobs over Covid vaccine mandates. There is absolutely no evidence of this being true, but they printed it anyway.

  29. 29.

    Matt McIrvin

    @trnc: It’s very similar to people threatening to leave the country if political candidates they don’t like get elected. Some people do, but it’s a relatively small fraction and they tend to be the most comfortable segment of society who would have been in a good position to emigrate anyway.

  30. 30.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kalakal: Are your descriptions of how anti-viral drugs are made with mice spleen cells accurate? If so, I am impressed beyond words that someone could think that up and know it would work.

  31. 31.

    Soprano2

    I see that once again my area is making the news for embarrassing things. It’s the only way anyone even notices that we’re here. Now Nixa is known for two things – being the home of fictional character Jason Bourne, and trying to recall a good mayor because some MAGA’s are butthurt over his mask mandate last year. They think “the whole community” should have been involved in the decision. These people really do not understand the concept of representative government.

  32. 32.

    Kalakal

    @Ohio Mom: It’s a basically accurate overview of how you produce monoclonal antibodies. The technology behind the production process is incredible. The basic theory  dates back to 1908, it won the Nobel prize and at least 2 more Nobels have been awarded since. The process really began in the late 70s but has developed astoundingly in the last decade or so.

  33. 33.

    smith

    I noted from LGM last night that DeSantis is predictably whining that he’s not getting nearly enough credit for valiantly defeating Delta in FL. Pay no attention to the more than 21,000 dead of covid there since July 1, by far the most in the nation, even when you adjust for population. That’s more than 2.5 times the number of Delta deaths in CA. And forget that most other states are also seeing declines in infection rates, only without so many dead people. And of course, the whining will probably work, and Politico will award him another medal.

  37. 37.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kalakal: He’s Zapp Brannigan bragging about how he defeated the killbots by sending wave after wave of his own men at them until they reached their preset kill limit and shut down.

  38. 38.

    Sloane Ranger

    Thursday in the UK, we had 39,842 new cases. This is a decrease in the rolling 7-day average of 9.8%. New cases by nation,

    England – 33,903 (down 3599)

    Northern Ireland – 1122 (down 169)

    Scotland – 2153 (down 413)

    Wales – 2664 (up 82).

    Deaths – There were 165 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. The rolling 7-day average is up by 16.2%. 124 deaths were in England, 9 in Northern Ireland, 20 in Scotland and 12 in Wales.

    Testing – 916,286 tests took place on Wednesday, 27 October. The rolling 7-day average is down by 8.3%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on this date was 877,520. We should start seeing an increase in testing from Monday, when English children return to school after half-term.

    Hospitalisations – As of 27 October, 8914 people were in hospital and 945 were on ventilators. As of 24 October, the rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 10%.

    Vaccinations – As of 27 October, 49,838,202 people had had 1 shot of a vaccine, 45,627,499 had had 2 and 6,995,982 had had a booster shot. In percentage terms this means that 86.7% of eligible people had had 1 shot, 79.3% have had 2 and 12.2% had had their booster.

  39. 39.

    Emmyelle

    “Balanced” journalism:

    Mathematics strongly believe that two plus two is four.

    But not everyone agrees.

    Fuck these people. They gave us Trump.

  40. 40.

    Kalakal

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “Men, you’re lucky men. Soon, you’ll all be fighting for your planet. many of you will be dying for your planet. A few of you will be put through a fine mesh screen for your planet. They will be the luckiest of all.”

  41. 41.

    The Moar You Know

    Newsweek has taken a hard right/Trumpist turn very recently.  Wonder what that’s all about?

  42. 42.

    Emmyelle

    I just will not understand why people are not terrified of COVID. Yes, I know a few people who got sick, pre-vaccine, and seem relatively ok. But I know more people who, a year later, still feel tired and a little less mentally sharp, and have strange new body aches. And then there are the nightmare stories of people who are more or less disabled. And then there are the seven hundred thousand, seven hundred thousand, and counting, who are DEAD.
    And I’d love to go to a concert, or a conference, or a baseball game, without testing before durning and after, and without my glasses getting fogged up because of a mask, and without worrying about hugging someone.

  43. 43.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 2,732 new COVID-19 cases reported today. The test positivity rate is 7.7%. There were 24 new deaths reported but note that Register Offices are generally closed at weekends. ICU bed occupancy numbers are 60 up three from yesterday while hospitalisations are 926, up one.

    There were about 4,800 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday (Thursday) with about 40% of these being first vaccinations. 92.0% of 16+ adults are now vaccinated with their first dose and 85.8% are fully vaccinated. 75.2% of 16 and 17-year-olds have now received their first vaccination and 53.5% of 12-15 year olds have now received their first vaccination.

    There were about 28,500 booster vaccinations carried out yesterday in Scotland with a total of about 628,000 boosters to date.

    On a personal note I’m just back from getting my COVID-19 booster vaccination, a half-dose of Moderna mRNA vaccine (my original vaccination was two doses of AstraZeneca about 11 weeks apart). This was a two-fer with a flu vaccination in the other arm in the same session. Both arms are slightly sore, the Moderna shot being a little more painful. I’ll hit it with some prophylactic paracetamol after I’ve had some lunch. The vaccination centre out by the airport was busy dispensing booster shots and I had to wait for over an hour to get serviced.

  44. 44.

    The Moar You Know

    We had three people at the workplace decide that the vaccination thing was the hill they were going to die on.  Two are gone.

    The guy who lawyered up and was going to sue us because the government won’t take his religious exemption, and we can’t give him work that’s not in a government facility, is in the hospital with the COVID and “not doing well”.   I hope he dies.  Not kidding.  Had enough of these people.  He certainly didn’t care if he infected all his co-workers and they died (and he did infect his coworkers, but thankfully they were all vaccinated) so fuck him.

  45. 45.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Emmyelle: We had a society-wide freakout for ten years and permanent policy changes for 20 and counting because of a terrorist attack that killed as many people as COVID currently kills in the US every two days.

  46. 46.

    Matt McIrvin

    @The Moar You Know: I see this as basically equivalent to saying the Second Amendment gives you the right to start spraying automatic weapons fire in a shopping mall. If you’re so scared, you can stay home, or wear one of those bulletproof vests that are supposedly so great!

  48. 48.

    Emmyelle

    @The Moar You Know:  if my young adult kid had said something like that six months ago, I would have expressed my disappointment with her and said something like “I know it’s frustrating, but..”

    well, six months, one variant, and a gazillion dead people later, I’m with you.

  49. 49.

    Cermet

    @Central Planning: Yet the company has their social security number, birthday, full name, address, and often family contact information but sure, they don’t trust the company for an irrelevant vaccination status – LOL. What a dumb fracker these people be.

  51. 51.

    Peale

    @Soprano2: I hope so, too. But people are really bad about getting back on track with stuff like that. Because their kids didn’t get rubella two weeks after missing the shot, they’ll just assume that its not urgent to get the shot.

  52. 52.

    Taken4Granite

    @Emmyelle: We have been seeing “Opinions Differ Regarding Shape of Earth” type headlines since at least the Bush 43 administration, so this is not a new thing. But it’s still frustrating. Too many journimalists pay no attention to facts.

  53. 53.

    Bill Arnold

    Rates of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have sunk significantly in the US since a wave driven by the highly contagious Delta variant peaked in September.

    CNN headline fail, Jason Hanna. The COVID-19 Delta wave peaked in certain pro-disease Southern Pathocracies[1], but so far hasn’t taken root in more Northern states as they entered their indoor season, because their populations are more vaccinated, and take NPIs more seriously, including masking, distancing and limiting social gatherings indoors (sometimes limiting to the vaccinated).

    [1] Ruled by psychopaths.

  54. 54.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Greece: still bad. Daily new cases are fluctuating between 2,000 and 4,000 (3,643 new cases today). Deaths are also climbing. Almost 90 percent of the 392 people in ICUs on ventilators are unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated.

    They’re offering booster shots to people over 50 who had their shots over six months ago, as well as younger people with underlying health conditions. I’m nearly in the former category (second Pfizer shot was in early May), but because I got both shots in the US, my records can’t be added to the Greek system to prepare for eligibility for the booster. I’m actually still listed in the Greek IKA health system as unvaccinated and eligible.

    There is a procedure for people who got their first shot overseas to get their records updated for eligibility for their second shot. It doesn’t work for the booster.

  56. 56.

    Chris T.

    @Ohio Mom: It’s not just mouse spleens.  It’s also Chinese hamster ovaries.

    Jake Glanville: Antiviral antibody therapies don’t get enough credit. In addition to RSV (Synagis) and Ebola (REGN-EB3 and others), several other success cases of antiviral antibodies should be mentioned: rabies (HYPERRab), HIV (Trogazo), anthrax (raxibacumab), hepatitis C (bavituximab) and a dizzying portfolio of military research into mAbs for rare but exceedingly deadly viruses. Antibody therapies in the form of polyclonal convalescent sera have been used for over a century, including for 1918 Spanish flu, smallpox (vaccinia immunoglobulin), measles, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Argentine hemorrhagic fever, Ebola and Lassa hemorrhagic fevers, cytomegalovirus, hepatitis B virus, vaccinia virus, varicella zoster virus, RSV and West Nile virus.

    That said, it is certainly the case that the mAb therapy drug sector is dominated by oncology and immune targets. A likely reason for this is that these are high-value sectors where antibodies have proven very effective and can command a premium in a limited number of patients. Monoclonal therapies don’t scale particularly well due to historical reliance on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell manufacturing, and therefore high-value (tens of thousands of dollars per infusion per patient), high-impact markets are preferred. This manufacturing and pricing model is not well aligned with infectious disease, where very large numbers of doses may be required and are expected/need to be relatively affordable due to community expectations around costs of antivirals and antibiotics.

    The boldface in the second paragraph here is mine. See this article in Nature.

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