What can we expect from first-generation COVID-19 vaccines? (Lancet)
The article goes on to talk about vaccine allocation, pointing out that although we’d perhaps want to vaccinate the elderly first, the vaccine might not work as well in the elderly as in the young, as is the case with flu vaccines. The whole article is a good brief discussion of various issues we’ll have to face as these new vaccines begin(we hope!) to get approved.
Certainly not - would not want to get they them, but since they did go public with them, it would be great to see the results of the inoculatons in those countries - hopefully they start soon.
@“Cardinal Fang” sobering read, thank you.
Just plugging in numbers is sobering. Google says we have roughly 330 million people in the US. 200,000 have died in the past 6 months from Covid.
That’s 330,000,000/200,000 or 1 in every 1650 people from one brand new disease. Granted some of those would have died anyway if they were frail, but certainly not all of them. Who knows how many are like my lad and dealing with potentially permanent after effects. It has to be far more than 1 out of 1650.
How quickly life can change. A year ago pretty much no one would have guessed such a thing except for movie producers or book writers.
Looks as though my grad student daughter may be among the statistics She got tested this AM. Began with extreme fatigue and a headache on Friday, chills added on Saturday. Now describing chest “tightness” (she has asthma, so a feeling she is familiar with) and difficulty taking a deep breath. Pulse ox is still fine. No cough yet. Fatigue is debilitating and makes reading or writing papers near impossible. I know it’s bad because she actually told her advisor what was going on, and normally, she would try to gut through.
She has various underlying conditions and has been ultra-careful and doesn’t even go into grocery stores. In the last two weeks, the only places she had been (other than walks in the community, masked) were to get her flu shot (Tuesday prior to symptoms developing) at CVS, and the allergist, the Tuesday prior to that. Had to take her mask off briefly at allergist, but other than that, she was wearing a good mask, as were healthcare workers. Chicago-area cases aren’t super high, so it’s not circulating there as much as it is elsewhere. Knowing how careful she is, and presuming she’s got it, makes me think it’s really just a matter of luck when you do have to leave the house.
Her first day of class (online) was last Wednesday, so I’m hoping this doesn’t make for a really horrible quarter…
I’m confused about the discussion from a couple of pages ago re people getting a vaccine and then not getting sick but could get Covid and be asymptotic. Are you saying that the vaccine itself can cause someone to get an asymptotic case of Covid? And then that person could then transmit Covid to someone else?!
If that’s the case, then can’t this become a nightmare of people trying to do a good thing (get vaccinated) actually ending up doing an awful thing (get the unvaccinated people sick). I can’t believe that this would be a possible result, right?
I’m sure I’m not the only household where I’ll get vaccinated but my spouse refuses.
dogs being used to sniff COVID at Finland airport
@Collegefortwins please let us know if your daughter actually has COVID.
@Creekland has your son had any heart tests? Troponin, EKG, echocardiogram, MRI?
@melvin123 wrote:
Melvin, I can see how you thought that might be the case, but in a word, the answer is, “No”. We were talking about people who are vaccinated, but still get the virus from an infected person. The vaccine does not prevent infection 100%.
Let’s say a woman named Jane gets the vaccine. The vaccine causes Jane’s immune system to make antibodies to the virus, but only the kind that circulate in the blood, not mucosal antibodies which are in the nose. Jane goes to a bar with live music. She does not wear a mask, and she gets into a 45 minute conversation with Frank, who is sitting next to her. He is also maskless and is shouting to be heard over the music. Frank has Covid, and Jane is breathing in the tiny, virus-filled droplets spraying out of Frank’s mouth.
Since Jane doesn’t have mucosal antibodies in her nose, the virus has free rein there. It starts invading cells and replicating itself. The viral load in Jane’s nose gets high enough for her to be contagious. However, as soon as the virus tries to go further into her body, the antibodies in her blood get rid of those viral particles. Therefore, she doesn’t get sick. Despite being vaccinated, Jane has a contagious, asymptomatic infection.
If she had not been vaccinated, Jane wouldn’t have had any antibodies to the virus already circulating in her blood, and she may have gotten very sick.
Okay, I hope that explanation was fairly clear. Immunology is super complex, and this pandemic is the first time encountering it for most of us!
No, his lack of insurance puts all of these things out of his price range. We may end up helping him out, but were hoping he’d gradually get better. (We paid for his x-ray and ER visit that he got instead of the “free” test he called about and went in for, only to find out he couldn’t have one.) We shudder to think about the cost if something major is really wrong.
When we visited back in Feb and he told us about dropping health insurance when he switched jobs we told him that was a bad and risky way to do things - then he got sick in March.
FDA poised to announce tougher standards for a covid-19 vaccine that make it unlikely one will be cleared by Election Day
The guidance is part of an effort to boost transparency and public trust as polls show many are skeptical a vaccine will be safe and effective.
By Laurie McGinley and Carolyn Y. Johnson
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/22/fda-covid-vaccine-approval-standard
@3SailAway that was an amazingly clear and helpful explanation. Thanks!
ACA open enrollment starts November 1 – so less than 6 weeks away. I think if your son enrolls right away, he’ll can probably get a policy that takes effect on Dec. 1st. (And be very grateful that at least for now, he can’t be denied insurance due to the pre-existing condition he now seems to have acquired.)
@“Cardinal Fang” and others…
Not sure if you saw this article in the Atlantic. Very thorough discussion on what we know and don’t know about myocardial infection with Covid.
@Creekland that Atlantic article makes a distinction between long-haulers and those with cardiac issues, putting them in two separate groups (for now). So your son’s symptoms may be in the long- haulers (from effects on immune system such as dysautonomia).
In our state, you can get insurance anytime if you don’t have it: you don’t have to wait for open enrollment. Our hospitals have financial counseling offices where they can help you, with a direct line to insurance, and insurance starts that day.
I realize other states are very different.
I hope your state has easier access than some, and that he gets on a policy soon.
@compmom I just finished reading the article and hope, as it says, that more research is being done. The numbers of the pandemic definitely make it worthwhile, and if knowledge from it can spill over to others who have dealt with similar things from other viruses, great! Based on the article and what my guy says, I’m not sure if he’s a long hauler or if it’s a heart issue. I doubt anyone would know without actual tests to see what’s going on beyond getting easily fatigued.
My guy is in NC. I’m not sure what their health insurance laws are. I know I’m going to nag him to sign up with open enrollment starts and I’m hoping if he’s still not back to normal by then that he’ll agree.
Actually, I hope he agrees even if he is back to normal. Who knows what lies down the road?
From New York Times, today – about vaccine trials:
Link to full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/opinion/covid-vaccine-coronavirus.html
(Note: it is clearly marked as an opinion.)
Basically, the writers’ opinion is that the vaccine trials should be counting only moderate or severe cases or COVID-19, rather than counting all (including the more common mild) cases, to determine vaccine efficacy.
North Carolina is in the United States. For now, the ACA is the law, anyone can buy health insurance without underwriting during open enrollment (starting in November), and everyone of the same age in the same area pays the same price for the same policy. Your guy can’t, as of now, be dinged for the lasting effects of his covid.
I hope your son gets insurance. He should see a doctor.
@Momof3, thanks for the link! I hope the FDA goes through with the requirements for Emergency Authorization. They sound reasonable and prudent.
As I mentioned before, Pfizer was planning to try to get emergency authorization for the vaccine after 32 participants got symptomatic covid. But if the FDA requires five severe cases of covid in the control group and some cases in older people, 32 total cases won’t be enough.