Mega-Thread: Coronavirus Pandemic

[Unholyground]

We have to wait in Canada until our age group is allowed to get it.

[Forogil]

Your ranking is based on doses and people vaccinated per 100 people. Uncheck the Relative to Population box.

As percent of total country population, US is third (40+%) behind Israel (60%) and UK (50%).

No, it is based on including all countries: Israel at 62%, UAE 51%, uk 49%, Chile 41%, US 40%.

[Rasulis]

We have to wait in Canada until our age group is allowed to get it.

Excerpt from Mary Louise Kelly of NPR interview with André Picard, health columnist with The Globe And Mail, about the reasons behind the relative slowness of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts in Canada.

KELLY: Hi. So why is Canada behind?

PICARD: I think there's a number of reasons that we've had this bumpy rollout, but the main one is supply. We just have a lack of supply. We have contracts for about 400 million doses, but they're all backloaded, so they're coming very slowly. We don't have any domestic production. And then we have a very decentralized health system, which means that the different rules in different parts of the country are very confusing for the public. So a whole series of factors have made this kind of a mess.

KELLY: OK. Well, let me follow up on a couple of things you raise. One, the supply issue and no domestic vaccine production - that seems curious to me for, again, as I said, a rich country with an excellent health care system.

PICARD: This is a longstanding issue. For decades, we've been debating this about how much drug production do we need in our country. We're right beside this giant of the U.S., which produces most of the drugs we use. Our pharma companies tend to be branch plants, just sort of offices of the larger companies. So there's a lot of history to this that explains why we don't have vaccine production. Canada also has strict regulation of drug prices, so our drugs are much, much cheaper than in the U.S. And pharma companies don't really like that, so they don't really invest in the country. So there's all kinds of factors underlying this.

KELLY: What role does the U.S. play here? What percentage of vaccines does Canada get from your neighbor down South?

PICARD: Yeah. This may be curious to Americans, but we don't get any of our vaccines from the U.S. They all come from Europe and from India. And the reason is the U.S. doesn't like to export vaccines. They hoard them, essentially. And that makes Canadians very angry, to be honest.

On the hoarding part, I read that the US is sitting on enough raw materials for 2.2 billion vaccine shots right now. I don't understand the supply chain of vaccine production. However, apparently even India's vaccine manufacturing, #1 in the world, depends on those raw materials and the Indian government is begging the US to let up on the current export ban of those materials.

[Zan15]

What if your muscles are like this?



Asking for a friend...

then you are so fucking lucky!!!

you could actually itch every part of your back.
You could wipe so much better!
you can finally lick your own elbow.

So many bonuses

[Puupi]

But Pfizer was clearly always said to have 2nd dose less than month afterwards, unlike Astra-Zeneca. WTF?

In Finland it's 12 weeks between shots. I got my 1st Pfizer shot last week.

[Edge-]

In Finland it's 12 weeks between shots. I got my 1st Pfizer shot last week.

Weird, it's 3 weeks in my county in CA (and I think all over the state). Just got my second shot today 3 weeks after my first >.>

Does the Department of Health or whatever its equivalent in Finland is say why they want such a long spread between the two shots?

[Rasulis]

Weird, it's 3 weeks in my county in CA (and I think all over the state). Just got my second shot today 3 weeks after my first >.>

Does the Department of Health or whatever its equivalent in Finland is say why they want such a long spread between the two shots?

EU uses AZ vaccine. Apparently the efficacy is higher if the second shot is given after 3 months. Hmm, he did say Pfizer. Pfizer is supposed to be 3 weeks between shots.

[Puupi]

Weird, it's 3 weeks in my county in CA (and I think all over the state). Just got my second shot today 3 weeks after my first >.>

Does the Department of Health or whatever its equivalent in Finland is say why they want such a long spread between the two shots?

EU uses AZ vaccine. Apparently the efficacy is higher if the second shot is given after 3 months. Hmm, he did say Pfizer. Pfizer is supposed to be 3 weeks between shots.

Rough Google translation of an article about this:

The optimal dose range for coronary vaccines has not been studied due to the need for the fastest possible schedule.

Last week, the National Vaccine Expert Group (KRAR) decided to recommend extending the dosing interval for coronary vaccines to 12 weeks. This has raised readers ’questions about the rationale for the decision. Such a long vaccination interval is not what Pfizer, for example, recommends for its vaccine. Many other countries have come up with different solutions.
- Each country interprets the data independently and in the light of its own epidemiological situation. In Finland, we have previously made anti-marketing recommendations in the national program, for example for the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in infants. We relied on our own immunogenicity results and biological immuno-bridging reasoning in the recommendation. In the boost after the TBE vaccination series, we switched to boost for several years in violation of the marketing authorization. Here, too, was what we knew about immunology, says Chief Physician Hanna Nohynek in her email.
Nohynek notes that current data from both BioNTech / Pfizer's own marketing authorization studies and population-level efficacy studies with the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine from Israel indicate that the mRNA vaccine is highly immunogenic. Already a few weeks after the first dose, the effect is excellent.

Specialist researcher Simopekka Vänskä would shed light on the grounds for the decision on Tuesday at THL's webinar. Vänskä stated that the optimal dose range for coronary vaccines has not even been studied, as the aim has been to schedule the vaccines as quickly as possible.
- In vaccination programs, a longer dose interval almost invariably produces a better response, both quantitatively and qualitatively. In general, intervals can be extended, but not shortened, Vänskä said.
Vänskä described the uncertainties related to the current situation, which are helped by a longer dose interval. If vaccines are received more slowly than expected, it is important to delay the second dose to ensure vaccination coverage in the older age groups. Similarly, if the epidemic situation worsens, a rapid increase in vaccination coverage is important. If, on the other hand, new viral variants spread, delaying the second dose will allow the vaccine applied to the modified virus to be given.

https://www.laakarilehti.fi/ajassa/a...rokotusvaliin/


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lol... meanwhile here it's estimated that we will start vaccinating people 18-59 in june...

It's somewhat same here.

I'm in a priority risk group, therefore I got my vaccine already.

[Tuor]

lol... meanwhile here it's estimated that we will start vaccinating people 18-59 in june...

Same shit here in Portugal. My mother is 70 and she is getting the 1st shot next monday.

https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid...t-the-variants

[Rasulis]

Rough Google translation of an article about this:



https://www.laakarilehti.fi/ajassa/a...rokotusvaliin/


- - - Updated - - -


It's somewhat same here.

I'm in a priority risk group, therefore I got my vaccine already.

That made a lot of sense.

I was listening to NPR podcast on my bike ride this morning, they had an epidemiologist from UCSF. They were trying to figure out why the infection rate in CA is currently so low. LA County which was one of the worst hit in December and January had a 7-day positivity rate of less than 1%, even lower than the state's rate of 1.4%. She speculated that because CA was hit hard in December and January, 20% of Californians have developed immunity from having been sick. Parts of LA County which were hit the hardest may have up to 50% immunity rate. With over 50% of state residents having received at least one vaccine dose, and accounts for overlap, she concluded that nearly 70% of people in CA may have some level of immunity at this point. CA is pretty close to herd immunity.

Some update, UC and CSU systems (33 universities), Stanford, USC and Caltech will require all students, faculties and staffs for fall semester to be fully vaccinated. Burning Man is considering requiring vaccination for all attendants in August.

[Bakis]

I wonder if I will get my first shot in Sweden 20 years before I'm in the first priority group OR I will actually become that age.
Needless to say, great response from the government along with Astra Zenica bullshit.

I hope the EU sue the shit out of them but given how poorly the contract was written I doubt it will happen.

[Logwyn]

Coronavirus Pandemic is really proving the quote from MIB...

A person is smart. People are dumb, ...

[Easo]

Coronavirus Pandemic is really proving the quote from MIB...

A person is smart. People are dumb, ...

There was this saying, cannot remember the specific words, but something about the mob's IQ dropping with each additional member of the mob.

[jonnysensible]

I wonder if I will get my first shot in Sweden 20 years before I'm in the first priority group OR I will actually become that age.
Needless to say, great response from the government along with Astra Zenica bullshit.

I hope the EU sue the shit out of them but given how poorly the contract was written I doubt it will happen.

hows swedens eugenics experiment going? absolute basketcase looking from the outside in.

[Edge-]

https://apnews.com/article/health-ka...a35b80bbcf5b04

Good luck, Kansas. Not sure why so many people there are refusing to get the vaccine (well I do, but they're stupid as fuck), but I guess upwards of 60 counties still have supply and aren't in need of additional, expected shipments.

This is why this country is going to continue to struggle to effectively battle and "beat" the pandemic. Too many knuckledragging mouthbreathers fucking it up for the rest of us.

[Rasulis]

https://apnews.com/article/health-ka...a35b80bbcf5b04

Good luck, Kansas. Not sure why so many people there are refusing to get the vaccine (well I do, but they're stupid as fuck), but I guess upwards of 60 counties still have supply and aren't in need of additional, expected shipments.

This is why this country is going to continue to struggle to effectively battle and "beat" the pandemic. Too many knuckledragging mouthbreathers fucking it up for the rest of us.

On the other hand, in a couple of days, the number of people fully vaccinated in CA went from 28 to 34%, and people with one shot went from 50 to 57%.

Good news for India. The Whitehouse lifted the export ban on vaccine raw materials that the Serum Institute of India needed to make their vaccine. It appears that the US will also be sending 32 million doses of AZ vaccine to India, plus oxygen, PPE, test kits, ventilators, and covid-19 monoclonal antibody cocktail.

[PhaelixWW]

Good news for India. The Whitehouse lifted the export ban on vaccine raw materials that the Serum Institute of India needed to make their vaccine. It appears that the US will also be sending 32 million doses of AZ vaccine to India, plus oxygen, PPE, test kits, ventilators, and covid-19 monoclonal antibody cocktail.

Did anyone else in the US have that split moment of "Wait, what? Our government doesn't do things like that!" ...followed immediately by... "Oh, right... Trump's gone. YAY!"

I feel a tiny bit like an abuse victim, with my first reaction being a flinch before realizing that I'm not about to get hit again.

[PACOX]

Did anyone else in the US have that split moment of "Wait, what? Our government doesn't do things like that!" ...followed immediately by... "Oh, right... Trump's gone. YAY!"

I feel a tiny bit like an abuse victim, with my first reaction being a flinch before realizing that I'm not about to get hit again.

Trump was actually on good terms with India. Their leader is an interesting guy.

[Verdugo]

Trump was actually on good terms with India. Their leader is an interesting guy.

You would be interesting too with China as a neighbour.

[Forogil]

And now EU sues AstraZeneca for vaccine shortages (not totally unexpected):
https://www.politico.eu/article/euro...ine-shortages/