Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

Post Reply New Topic

I dunno if that would make me feel better:

https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/21/tun ... 1613928876

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rluUL0 ... oCommentTV

U.S. reaches 500,000 deaths from the coronavirus

Progress of COVID Inoculations

According to the coronavirus vaccine tracker, the U.S. has now administered 63.09 million vaccine doses with around 18.8% of the U.S. population vaccinated (with at least one dose). In the United States an average of 1.33 million doses were injected daily. [These numbers are slightly depressed due to the snowstorm gripping the country. Many trucks carrying the vaccine shipments were trapped in this winter mess. Many vaccination centers were closed. *** A week has past and the vaccination rate numbers are down - I wonder if there is another problem. ***]

Globally 205.48 million vaccine doses have been given with the U.S., China and U.K. in the top three positions.

Source: COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker

Side Effects of the Second Vaccination Shot

Josh Bloom recently received his second shot of the vaccine and described his experiences.

It is common knowledge that "Reactions to the vaccine are expected to be worse with the booster shot."

Just like the first time the shot was painless, and after the obligatory 15 minute waiting period, I waltzed out of there back to the parking space that I, as a New Yorker, skillfully found. A slightly sore arm that night, but no big deal. I got off easy. Or so I thought.

The next morning the sore arm turned into the "more than a little sore arm." It wasn't as painful as, say, watching the Yankees, but it still hurt pretty good.

But by that evening, things had worsened considerably...

It was a strange night. Woke up with the chills once or twice during which time I saw some vaguely disturbing things in my bedroom. I still have no idea whether they were real or not.

The next day was unremarkable, just a whopping headache and a healthy case of fatigue. It was tough to get out of bed. Fortunately, my wife was supportive and understanding.

So I wouldn't say that my experience with shot #2 was a blissful interlude. For a while, I felt like a 10-pound turd in a 5-pound bag, but it didn't last long. And in five days I'll be immune. That feels very good indeed.

Source: COVID Shot #2 Trip Report: Not So Much Fun This Time

UK starting to head out of the covid world!

Numbers dropping dramatically, schools fully open again in 2 weeks, roadmap out of it now laid out and 12th April pubs and gyms are opening. By June life will be normal again and we are told WFH is then no longer advised.

U.K. is one of the leaders in vaccinating their citizens.
The U.K. has administered 18.35 million doses of the vaccine to about 27.4 percent of the population.

Progress of COVID Inoculations

According to the coronavirus vaccine tracker, the U.S. has now administered 64.18 million vaccine doses with around 19.1% of the U.S. population vaccinated (with at least one dose). In the United States an average of 1.37 million doses were injected daily. [These numbers are slightly depressed due to the snowstorm gripping the country. Many trucks carrying the vaccine shipments were trapped in this winter mess. Many vaccination centers were closed. *** A week has past and the vaccination rate numbers are down - I wonder if there is another problem. ***]

Globally 209.77 million vaccine doses have been given with the U.S., China and U.K. in the top three positions.

Source: COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker

How Safe is the Pfizer and Moderna COVID Vaccines

One of the problems noted early on with the mRNA vaccines was an allergic reaction to the vaccine. I came across an interesting article that puts this allergic reaction in the proper perspective.

Safety data based on more than 17 million Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccinations was just published in a JAMA online article. How safe were they? Very.

Sorry, anti-vaxxers. If you're hoping to find some bad news about the COVID vaccines, you've come to the wrong site. Perhaps you should try AlienDNA.com, or I'm out of my F#####Mind.org. I've got nothing but good news.

The good news comes to us thanks to a new paper in JAMA Insights. Tom Shimabukuro, MD, MPH, MBA, at the CDC Immunization Safety Office, and colleagues evaluated the chances of vaccine recipients developing anaphylaxis following a shot. It should put you at ease; anaphylactic reactions to both the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines are very rare. More than 17 million vaccines were administered, and only 66 people suffered a reaction.

If you're worried about a bad reaction to the vaccine, this should put your mind at ease. The incidence of anaphylactic reactions was very low – 4.7 per million (0.00047%) for Pfizer and 2.5 per million (0.00025%) for Moderna. These are not the kind of numbers you should be worried about. To put this in context (and for some yuks), here are some common activities and the risk of dying.



It's a bit riskier than jogging and a bit less risky than bicycling. Most people don't give either of these a second thought.

Of the 66 people (17 million shots) who had reactions, 92% received emergency epinephrine treatment; half were treated in the ER, and half were admitted. Seven people required intubation; no one died. And keep in mind that more than three-quarters of this group had a history of allergies or prior anaphylactic episodes. For the rest of us, the chance of running into this problem is close to zero.

Source: The Pfizer And Moderna Shots Are Safe. Really Safe.

jimmy m. got his second shot today!

It was the Moderna vaccine. The shot was painless. They were using a type of micro needle [22-25 gauge needles]. So I hardly felt a thing when they injected me. I will report back in a day or two to the side effects of the second shot.

My state Indiana has opened up the age qualification to "60 and older" this week.

South African Variant

Several variant of COVID-19 have appeared. The one of most concern at the moment is the South African variant. Many of the vaccines in production/or in development may not be able to defend against this variant. As a result some vaccine manufactures are already pursuing the development of a booster shot to up the vaccines effectiveness against these variants.

Moderna on Wednesday announced that the COVID-19 vaccine it recently developed to address a concerning new coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa is ready to be tested in humans in clinical trials.

Moderna in a news release said that it has shipped the first batch of doses of the new jab to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to commence a Phase 1 clinical trial "that will be led and funded by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)."

The new vaccine candidate, dubbed mRNA-1273.351, was created to better address the South African variant after the company’s existing vaccine — the second COVID-19 vaccine to see emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) late last year — was found to have reduced efficacy against the mutation.

Source: Moderna’s new COVID-19 vaccine for South African variant ready for human testing

I had my second shot of the Moderna vaccine yesterday and I thought I might report back.

There are two observations that seem to hold true for the mRNA type vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer)

1. The side effects from the second shot seem more severe than from the first shot. These side effects are very short lived lasting only a day or two. They include mild to moderate fever, chills, tiredness, and headache.

2. Older people suffer less side effects than younger people.

Twenty four hours has passed since my injection. I have no symptoms. My arm is not even sore. So I think the second observation is true. I am 72 years old.

New York Variant

Researchers studying COVID-19 and its variants across the U.S. have expressed concern over a mutation found in New York City that could diminish the effectiveness of vaccines on the virus. The New York Times reported that researchers at Caltech and Columbia University studied the mutation, called B.1.526. One scientist told the paper he was more concerned about the variant in New York than the one in California. The report said that the researchers found that E484K and S477N mutations present in more than a quarter of samples in the study.

The E484K mutation has been called the "escape mutation" because it could help COVID-19 evade a human immune response, and the S477N mutation creates spike proteins that affect how it attaches to cells. Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, said, "Given the involvement of E484K or S477N, combined with the fact that the New York region has a lot of standing immunity from the spring wave, this is definitely one to watch."

Source: New COVID-19 variant in New York City ‘definitely one to watch’

Progress of COVID Inoculations

According to the coronavirus vaccine tracker, the U.S. has now administered 68.27 million vaccine doses with around 20.4% of the U.S. population vaccinated (with at least one dose). In the United States an average of 1.31 million doses were injected daily. [These numbers are slightly depressed due to the snowstorm gripping the country. Many trucks carrying the vaccine shipments were trapped in this winter mess. Many vaccination centers were closed. *** A week has past and the vaccination rate numbers are down - I wonder if there is another problem. ***]

Globally 225.07 million vaccine doses have been given with the U.S., China and U.K. in the top three positions.

Source: COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker

I wonder how much of a problem a certain amount of vaccine-refusal is gonna be in the future. I hope that there’s at least some who are changing their minds from no to yes after many people have gotten both doses and have been just fine, myself included.