Indian scientists divided over restricted use approval for Covaxin — Science Chronicle

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

While some scientists have raised concerns about granting restricted use approval to Covaxin even in the absence of efficacy data, four-dozen scientists have in a statement slammed them saying “reprehensible utterances are causing huge credibility crisis for the Indian scientific community”. Apparently, questioning the approval process by the Indian regulator is seen as being anti-Indian […]

Indian scientists divided over restricted use approval for Covaxin — Science Chronicle

India’s drug regulator approved two COVID-19 vaccines on 3 January, a decision Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed on Twitter as “a decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight!” against the pandemic and a testament to the Indian scientific community’s self reliance. But some scientists and patient advocates are sharply critical of the move—in particular, the decision to greenlight Covaxin, a vaccine developed in India by Bharat Biotech, without awaiting the results of a phase III trial to determine efficacy and safety…

Efficacy data from a challenge study in rhesus macaques and immune responses in a human phase II trial suggested the vaccine was likely to be very effective.

The approval of a vaccine without phase III data is “unconscionable,” says Vineeta Bal, an immunologist at India’s National Institute of Immunology.

Scientists criticize ‘rushed’ approval of Indian COVID-19 vaccine without efficacy data — https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/scientists-criticize-rushed-approval-indian-covid-19-vaccine-without-efficacy-data

It worked in monkeys so let’s just skip the Phase III trial.

See my earlier post I would not take Covaxin without efficacy data: Gagandeep Kang — Science Chronicle

Utter Chaos? No Just Your Normal Vaccine Rollout in a Pandemic

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

With the vaccine rollout left mostly up to states and counties, they have had to rapidly devise their own methods for distributing shots to their residents. Every state has its own priority system and way of scheduling appointments, which sometimes change week to week. The complicated logistics paired with inconsistent communication to the public has resulted in mass confusion. The result: People are spending hours seeking information and searching for coveted appointment slots.

‘Just utter chaos’: A Twitter thread offers a window into the frustrating search for Covid-19 shots — https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/28/just-utter-chaos-twitter-thread-offers-window-into-frustrating-search-for-covid19-shots/?utm_campaign=rss

Here in Oklahoma we’re in Phase 2 of the rollout and the process to get a Covid vaccination appointment in this state can best be described as incredibly difficult. We don’t have a huge number of residents here in flyover country and to be honest, that’s a good thing. I can’t imagine how difficult this process is in the more heavily populated areas of the country.

BTW I’m getting jabbed tomorrow.

Covid-19 Vaccine for Cats (not The Onion)

/ SupremeCmdr / 1 Comment

A feline vaccine for COVID-19 could be available by the end of the year. “We are also concerned with vaccinating people, but we believe that any reservoir of the virus is one to be concerned about,” says James Hayward, CEO of Applied DNA Sciences, which will soon begin clinical trials of the new feline vaccine in New York. The company is working in partnership with Italy-based Takis Biotech, and has manufactured the first doses of a DNA-based vaccine for the trial. “It has never been demonstrated that cats can transfer the virus to humans. But even having been vaccinated, I think I would not want sleeping at my feet a reservoir of SARS-CoV.”

Will your cat need a COVID-19 vaccine?

Does anyone other than myself suspect a profit motive here?

Midlife Crisis? Just Another U Shaped Curve

/ SupremeCmdr / 4 Comments

Subsequent research discovered that this age-related U-shape in job satisfaction is part of a much broader phenomenon. A similar midlife nadir is detectable in measures of people’s overall life satisfaction and has been found in more than 50 countries. On average, life satisfaction is high when people are young, then starts to decline in the early 30s, bottoming out between the mid-40s and mid-50s before increasing again to levels as high as during young adulthood. And this U-curve occurs across the entire socio-economic spectrum, hitting senior-level executives as well as blue-collar workers and stay-at-home parents. It affects childless couples as well as single people or parents of four. In short, a mid-career crisis does not discriminate.

Why So Many of Us Experience a Midlife Crisis Harvard Business Review Hannes Schwandt — https://getpocket.com/explore/item/why-so-many-of-us-experience-a-midlife-crisis?utm_source=pocket-newtab

This post originally appeared on Harvard Business Review and was published April 20, 2015. A link popped up on my browser webpage.

U shaped curves are everywhere.

Immune system mounts a lasting defense after recovery from COVID-19

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

A closer look at the memory B cells revealed something surprising: these cells had gone through numerous rounds of mutation even after the infection resolved, and as a result the antibodies they produced were much more effective than the originals. Subsequent lab experiments showed this new set of antibodies were better able to latch on tightly to the virus and could recognize even mutated versions of it.

Rockefeller University. “Immune system mounts a lasting defense after recovery from COVID-19, researchers find.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210121131909.htm (accessed January 26, 2021).

Journal Reference – Evolution of antibody immunity to SARS-CoV-2. Nature, 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03207-w

Vinay Prasad MD MPH is a Very Smart Person

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

For most people, once you get 14 days out of your second dose of vaccine, I believe you can ease up on masking or another restriction, such as visiting a loved one for lunch or having more than one person visit a nursing home at the same time, or a small gathering of vaccinated people for dinner without masks.

Op-Ed: Throw Away Your Mask After COVID Vaccination? — Op-Ed: Throw Away Your Mask After COVID Vaccination?

Dr. Prasad’s Op-Ed article is worth reading. Or if you’re a watch, listen and learn type check out the video.

BUT if you have an hour to spare the following podcast is downright entertaining.

More Than One Third of COVID-19 Infections Are Asymptomatic

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

In the current systematic review, the highest-quality evidence comes from large studies in England and Spain. The nationally representative evidence included serologic surveys from more than 365,000 people in England and more than 61,000 in Spain. When analyzed separately, about the same proportion of asymptomatic cases emerged: 32.4% in England and 33% in Spain. 

“It was really remarkable to find that nationwide antibody testing studies in England and Spain — including hundreds of thousands of people — produced nearly identical results: about one third of the SARS-CoV-2 infections were completely asymptomatic,” said Oran, a researcher at Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California.

Cite this: More Than One Third of COVID-19 Infections Are Asymptomatic: Review – Medscape – Jan 25, 2021. — https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/944662?src=rss#vp_1

Flaming Lips Play the World’s First Space Bubble Concerts in OKC

/ SupremeCmdr / 5 Comments

“It does prevent that thing where people start to get drunk and the music is loud and they start screaming into each other’s face, which is the way that the COVID-19 is most spread. … Not screaming bad, but that’s just how conversations are when you’re at big gatherings,” Wayne Coyne said. “You can be in a Space Bubble with your friends that came to the show with you who you’ve been with your whole time and you know aren’t sick.”

In response to COVID, Flaming Lips on the verge of playing ‘the World’s First Space Bubble Concerts’ in OKC — https://oklahoman.com/article/5680749/in-response-to-covid-flaming-lips-on-the-verge-of-playing-the-worlds-first-space-bubble-concerts-in-okc

Two sold out shows this weekend. The video is from the “test” concert October 2020.

Watch the video and your opinion about Oklahoma will forever be changed.

Update on Severe Allergic or Anaphylactic Reactions to Initial Dose of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine — The Skeptical Cardiologist

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

A report from two CDC scientists was published online today in JAMA Insights which describes in detail 21 cases of anaphylaxis that were reported to the US Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System between December 14-23, 2020. This corresponds to a very low rate of 11.1 cases of anaphylaxis per million doses administered. 17 of these…

I continue to urge all my patients to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Benefits far outweigh the risk.

Update on Severe Allergic or Anaphylactic Reactions to Initial Dose of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine — The Skeptical Cardiologist

What Scientists Are Learning About Covid-19 Using the Nation’s Blood Supply — Smithsonian Magazine

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

Labs and blood banks collect millions of blood samples each month, offering a distinctive source of data on the disease…

Their data so far suggest that a lot of people have had Covid-19 without ever receiving a diagnosis. Confirmed case counts suggest that almost 7 percent of people in the U.S. have had the virus. Data from the arm of the study looking at blood from clinical laboratory tests from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico found rates of antibody positivity that at times ranged from under 1 percent in some states to 23 percent in New York…

Some experts have reservations about the use of blood donation data to estimate the prevalence of Covid-19. “The problem with blood donors — and this is also supported by evidence from other epidemics like HIV, and previous pandemics — is that blood donors are weird people” from a statistical point of view, said Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist at the University of Wollongong. “And blood donors who give blood during a pandemic, when the country is in lockdown in particular, are very weird people.”

What Scientists Are Learning About Covid-19 Using the Nation’s Blood Supply — Science | Smithsonian Magazine

A long but interesting article from Smithsonian Magazine.

“Blood donors are weird people”.