Coronavirus

The Johnson and Johnson one being emergency approved would be huge, apparently the production capacity for it is absolutely incredible, something about it being a diverted development from an HIV drug approach they were planning to ramp up so were ready to produce massively (sorry, forgot the exact details).

NovaVax is doing Phase 3 clinicals in my area. Since I'm somewhere around "last" on the regular list, my wife and I signed up.

In fact I just got the second shot (of what might be salt water!) this morning. I figure a 2/3 chance of being vaccinated in January beats waiting until June or who knows when.

Also, if you haven't seen it, this is a great article on "how hard can it be?": blog.jonasneubert.com/2021/01/10/explori...a-covid-19-vaccines/

My partner's father (83) got his shot in December and was to receive the second shot this week. Our Health Minister (BC, Canada) announced that Pfizer cut their supply. The anticipated new date could be mid-February or even later, which means he may miss out on the window required for the second shot. He may have to start the treatment all over.

That being said, so far it seems the vaccines are going to the right people, which is encouraging.

^that's horrible

I got my shot today. Took two hours and they decided to give me the Pfizer shot randomly. So only 21 days till the second round. I've heard the second one is rough.

Two hours because of a line?

Nope. I had an appointment. Things weren't, uh, running efficiently.

Gary Sax wrote: ^that's horrible

I got my shot today. Took two hours and they decided to give me the Pfizer shot randomly. So only 21 days till the second round. I've heard the second one is rough.

Thanks, but to put things in perspective my elderly parents (late 70s and early 80s) live in the Caribbean and there are no dates as to when the vaccine will arrive on their island. They're okay but my brothers and I worry.

A good, short read on continued transmissibility after vaccination -- www.sltrib.com/news/2021/01/14/can-vaccinated-people/

Yesterday my wife got shot #1. She’s a teacher so she’s high up on the tier list. The nurse gave a big spiel to the group: “Do NOT go out to parties; keep doing what you’re doing; you are not actually immune until two weeks after the SECOND shot.”

Today she got notified that one of the students in her class tested positive. So she (and the other students) have to quarantine for two weeks. Awesome.

Fingers crossed for your wife.

My first day back to in-person hybrid class was today had no students showing up in person, so my rhetoric about how I wouldn't come if I were them but I am being paid to do it must have worked. It'd be nice if that continued.

Gary Sax wrote: Fingers crossed for your wife.

My first day back to in-person hybrid class was today had no students showing up in person, so my rhetoric about how I wouldn't come if I were them but I am being paid to do it must have worked. It'd be nice if that continued.

Cough a bit in your next live session.

According to the news today, Minnesota has only used 47% of its initial vaccine supply so far. I really hate that we are facing a major crisis as 50 small countries instead of one great nation.

Nice story here:

jalopnik.com/health-care-workers-give-co...motorists-1846157972

The new single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine has only 66% efficacy, though it is 85% effective at preventing a severe case of COVID. And it is reportedly less effective against the new strains that have emerged in recent months. I suppose that it is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but I would much rather get one of the two-dose vaccines with significantly higher efficacy.

It's a really interesting situation, the individual level incentives are to get the most effective bar none, but from a public health perspective with effectiveness in the 60s the main priority is giving everyone that kind of 1 shot vaccine because it could come close to putting a stop to the public health crisis on aggregate.

The Washington Post article on this talked through this problem---some public health quotes on how a strategy would be to prioritize high risk people with the most effective vaccine and give young and healthy people the less effective vaccine while there is scarcity.

J+J getting approved would be huge simply because of production capacity. 100 million doses are on order by June. There's a simultaneous trial on doing two doses of J+J which might rival effectiveness of Pfizer and Moderna, we just don't know. There's also the possiblity that the type of vaccine J+J is conitnues to work better and better over time---anecdotal evidence was 90+ percent effectiveness like four or five months out iirc.

Here's that WP article: www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/29...johnson-and-johnson/