Pfizer and booster shots….
Representatives of Pfizer met privately with senior U.S. scientists and regulators on Monday to press their case for swift authorization of coronavirus booster vaccines, amid growing public confusion about whether they will be needed and pushback from federal health officials who say the extra doses are not necessary now.
The high-level online meeting, which lasted an hour and involved Pfizer’s chief scientific officer briefing virtually every top doctor in the federal government, came on the same day Israel started administering third doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to heart transplant patients and others with compromised immune systems. Officials said after the meeting that more data — and possibly several more months — would be needed before regulators could determine whether booster shots were necessary.
The twin developments underscored the intensifying debate about whether booster shots are needed in the United States, at what point and for whom. Many American experts, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser for the pandemic, have said there is insufficient evidence yet that boosters are necessary. Some, though, say Israel’s move may foreshadow a government decision to at least recommend them for the vulnerable….
Johnson and Johnson vaccine issues….
The Food and Drug Administration warned on Monday that Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine can lead to an increased risk of a rare neurological condition known as Guillain–Barré syndrome, another setback for a vaccine that has largely been sidelined in the United States.
Although regulators have found that the chances of developing the condition are low, they appear to be three to five times higher among recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine than among the general population in the United States, according to people familiar with the decision. The warning was attached to fact sheetsabout the vaccine for providers and patients.
Federal officials have identified 100 suspected cases of Guillain-Barré among recipients of Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose shot through a federal monitoring system that relies on patients and health care providers to report adverse effects of vaccines. Ninety-five percent of those cases were considered serious and required hospitalization, the Food and Drug Administration said. The reports are preliminary…
Delta Variant….
“Although we expected the delta variant to become the dominant strain in the United States, this rapid rise is troubling,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Thursday during a White House news briefing.
In some parts of the country, she said, delta is even more widespread. For example, in parts of the Midwest and upper mountain states, including in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa, the CDC’s sequencing of infections suggests the new variant may account for about 80 percent of cases….
Wash Post…
In the past week in the U.S. …
Among reported tests, the positivity rate was 3.8%.
The number of tests reported fell 28.2% from the previous week.
Since Dec. 14, more than 334,600,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the U.S.
More than 159,499,000 people have completed vaccination, or about 48.04% of the population. Read more in our vaccination tracker.
Wash Post ….Link
Note….
We keep seeing CDC figures ( 58.9% adults?)) for the number vaccinated fully and just first step ….
THOSE numbers ARE different from the numbers above….
The CDC numbers are higher?
Yes ….By using Adults vs ALL American’s as their media figures…..
Only a little less than half of Americans have been fully vaccinated….
No matter what….
The Delta cases are expected to level off lower than the worst 2020 months figures simply because there ARE inoculations and some mask usage still…But there are spreading quickly in certain states….
The Republican Party is rapidly becoming the anti Vaccination party .
It is. But prepared to be told you are the one making it political for pointing that out.
I thought that we Democrats were the pro-death party and the GOP the pro-life one.
Silly me.
The numbers have been more closely crunched…I heard on NPR yesterday, overwhelmingly the largest percentage of people not vaccinated are lower income of all colors and creeds…
Take New York for Example, the least vaccinated areas are inner cities and rural counties…Out here on the Island, almost 80 percent adults vaccinated (high income area)…
So while the Republican Party is certainly the most vocal anti-vaccine squad, Traditional democratic areas are also anti-vaccine just not putting out this open resistance to the vaccine as the looney toons right is…
But I do agree that Republicans are certainly leading the charge in this anti-vaccine/anti-mask/anti-common sense actions to curb a pandemic that has kept the country and the world in a constant state of alert/crisis…
For some, only one narrative matters.
I agree with bdog that while different voting demographics are lacking in vaccination rates one political party is uniformly pro-vaccine and the other is split with close to one half virulently opposed.
Do you disagree CG?
What still seems so surprising to me (and indicates that even The Man Himself will pander to his own base) is that Donald Trump has not taken credit (or at least not very audibly) for Operation Warp Speed, the one achievement that even his worst enemies will concede to him.
Because of the superstition and paranoia among his supporters, he won’t come out and say what we know he feels, “Joe Biden may want to take credit for the vaccinations that keep you safe, but they wouldn’t have come so soon or so copiously without me — not just one effective vaccine, but three!”
We know he feels that somehow the medical & regulatory establishment deliberately delayed final approval, production and distribution of the vaccines until after Election Day, and then until after he left office solely to help the Democratic Conspiracy.
He actually has tried several times
DSD?
I don’t think it has worked….
“This is outrage politics that is being played by my party and it’s going to get Americans killed…I call on Leader McCarthy ,I call on every leader in the Republican Party to stand up,say’get vaccinated’ and to call out these garbage politicians .These absolute clown politicians playing on your vaccine fears for their own selfish gains.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R- I’ll.)
For his efforts Kinzinger was belittled by Fox News entertainer Tucker Carlson .He said that Kinzinger “has a low IQ and can’t be fully responsible for most of the things that he says.”
An interesting study would be the IQ of the viewers of Carlsons political comedy program.A Federal Judge has previously ruled that no rational person can take what Carlson says on this comedy show seriously.
COVID-19 deaths in the USA are no longer decreasing. While remaining at very low levels, they should be decreasing because the virus is less likely to spread in the summertime.
I continue to wear a mask – not just to protect myself, but to potentially protect others who remain unvaccinated because of their stupidity or political beliefs.
By political belief I have to assume you mean Republican.
Yes Z …..
The numbers ARE increasing everywhere
I said here masks are everywhere around my way….
But states are not gonna close down again
And politically?
Masks and shots are being sold as Democratic evils….
Ur right though Z
The increases are small in relation to last years spikes….
And it isn’t the fall yet….
Didn’t they tell us we’d reach herd immunity by now?
Yea…..
And we’d be at 70% a week ago?
And 90% by Sept.?
Every single person becoming sick from Covid these days is unvaccinated. All of of them,.
james should be encouraged by his fellow Democrats to become part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Of course James should get vaccinated. But you can’t seriously think James will listen to me.
Offering advice is foolish when you know it won’t have an impact. Besides I don’t know his rationale, or that matter whether he hasn’t answered because he feels it is a personal question. if he is not getting a vaccine for religious reasons, faith will defeat logic every time.
I don’t recall anyone “ promising” herd immunity .
Those figures were thrown around by various people and they presupposed that vaccinations would be much more used by now.
Herd Immunity May be reached at some point ,but it will be the result of vaccinated individuals and unvaccinated persons who acquire a degree of immunity from having the virus.
Good column by Democrat Susan Estrich on masks:
https://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20210715/estrich-we-who-wore-masks-did-our-best
I completely agree with Estrich.
A nuanced look at the fast spreading Delta variant…..Which was pointed out here
…After the Alpha variant began spreading late last year, many people assumed that it was both more contagious and more severe. The data soon told a different story, though: Alpha seems to be only more contagious.
Now the story may be repeating itself with Delta. It is significantly more contagious than even Alpha by almost every measure. It does not appear to be more severe, based on the data available so far….
…
“As far as anyone can tell, Delta isn’t more dangerous in the sense that it causes worse disease,” Wurtz told me. “It’s a sneaky opportunist, not a mayhem man.”…
More…
I don’t. Wearing masks was difficult and uncomfortable at first, but now I usually forget that I even have it on.
Contrary to what CG said, the vaccinated can still get sick and die. 0.8% of the deaths in May were from people who were fully vaccinated, but that understates the risks. We still have no idea about the long term effects of getting Covid. There are people who got sick from Covid-19 a year ago, but who still are suffering long term affects.
Whether we should work to protect unvaccinated people who are either stupid or lazy is a question we can have a difference of opinion on. But recognize that there are also vaccinated people who die. And now we learn that the Phizer vaccine is only 64% effective against the Delta variant, so that 0.8% will likely grow.
What are the June figures for the vaccinated? Is it certain that the 0.8 died from Covid?
Nothing is 100 percent effective of course, but all the science shows that the vaccines are far, far more than 90 percent effective in preventing illness from Covid. Which government is saying 64%? Not the CDC, who has said that fully vaccinated people are very well protected against the variant.
People should have listened to the CDC last year when they said to wear masks, and they should also have the same trust in them now when they say that masks are not necessary for the fully vaccinated.
A very small amount of people vaccinated against the flu have died of the flu too certainly, perhaps even more than the .08 from Covid so theoretically, all people could have been wearing masks for decades to protect against the flu, but that was never a consideration.
If a vaccinated person wants to wear a mask, that is of course their right. There is no logical, scientific reason for a fully vaccinated person to have to wear one though.
There is some risk to everything in life of course. Being struck by lighting, being in a car, flying on a plane, etc. People understand that. Those who did the right thing and wore masks and got vaccinated should certainly not be shamed if they no longer wish to wear masks, as has always been the case in our lives before Covid.
Regarding masks, a main point of consideration is of course where you live. The virus is spreading among the unvaccinated in places where vaccination rates are low. These may be areas of poor, white rural citizens or areas of poor African-Americans or Hispanics either rural or urban.
Among the small amount of people who post here, it seems pretty clear that all of us live, work, shop, etc, in areas where vaccination rates are high and Covid infections are presently very low. Everyone, save perhaps for one person, is vaccinated, and that person should definitely wear a mask.
The 64% comes from an Israeli survey, which conflicts with other sayings, I will withhold further comment on the irony of citing Israel, but there are issues perhaps with the survey and other factors in place in regards to Pfizer vaccine and the Delta variant.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/13/how-well-does-the-pfizer-vaccine-protect-against-the-delta-variant-heres-what-we-know/?sh=32d076d0ff33
I would think it makes sense at present time if anyone here had plans to visit Israel to postpone them for now.
Even though I am fully vaccinated, I also would avoid any sort of prolonged, face to face, indoor interaction with any unvaccinated person, whether they are wearing a mask or not.
Vaccination status is a fair question to ask people these days whom you might come in personal contact with.
This does not count young children (relatives for example)
My understanding is that Phizer self reported the reduced effectiveness against the Delta variant; it wasn’t government data.
And I didn’t even address the issue that the vaccines may start losing their effectiveness after 6 months.
By the time we are finished with COVID, I predict that the number of COVID deaths among the vaccinated will be in the thousands. The number of deaths of people who die each year in airplanes will likely be a smaller number, but even airplanes require you to use seat belts.
It was an Israeli study. The 64%. The other studies show 80s to 90s, per the link I posted. Israel has different testing standards which may alter the data.
It also makes sense that Pfizer and other studies are interested in the possibility of a booster shot being needed, because that would be very good business for them, but the CDC is saying that does not appear necessary at this time.
Medical experts, certainly in the U.S., are not sharing your pessimism about vaccine efficacy.
Of course (as with so many other aspects of health, disease and infection), we have to wait to see if there is significant weakening of resistance to whatever Covid-19 variants are prevalent, in say, next winter or spring.
The more important point is reaching for some kind of group or herd immunity. At the moment — given what we know and can estimate so far — it’s infinitely more important, from simple humanitarianism, and vastly more effective, even from enlightened selfishness, to inject even one shot of a vaccine into the billions of Third World residents than to offer a booster to the fully-vaccinated in a developed country.
I can see at least some argument that at the pandemic’s start, it might have been better to cover a majority of people in a few countries, than to spread everything out so that 2 or 3% of the world’s citizens, everywhere, were protected.
But now that the U.S. has more than enough to fully vaccinate 100% of her population (once they’re willing), there’s no logic in what for now would appear to be overkill compared to the need in places like Africa (where, I think, well less than 20% of the people have had shots).
“By the time we are finished with Covid?..”
When is that going to be?
I doubt we will be “finished with Covid anytime in the near (or likely distant) future.Its likely to be with us for years to come.Certainly more people are going to die and yes, likely sonme who have been vaccinated.Nothing unusual about that.A lot of people who faithfully wore masks and social distanced are going to die too.
We need more people to be vaccinated and idle speculation as to effectiveness ,duration etc doesn’t help in that regard in my view
From the Washington Post…
“What began as “ vaccine hesitancy”has morphed into outright vaccine hostility ,as conservatives increasingly attack the White House’s coronavirus message ,mischaracterize its vaccination campaign and, more and more,vow to skip the shots altogether..
The notion that the vaccine drive is pointless or harmful ot perhaps even a government plot is increasingly an article of faith among supporters of former President Donald Trump,on a par with assertions that the last election was stolen and the assault in the U.S. Capitol was overblown.“
Tbe above is why every Republican congressional candidate needs to go on record as to whether or not they think the vaccine is safe and if they agree that everyone who can ahould be vaccinated.
Agreed and Demcrats too(in the interest of fairness of course)
Obviously, you all would elect me over james to represent PDog in Congress.
I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, CG, but that vote from the key Pollydog electorate would be out of concern for Congressional staff and visitors.
Washington doesn’t need to import Long Island’s problems.
I would call for hearings to be held on the Russian women that used to collude on here.
They were here, I’m now sure, to
(1) help Russia’s on-line antivax whispering or echoing campaign in the U.S.,
(2) spread viral smears against Hillary Clinton, and/or
(3) to hack the state-0f-the-art POLDOG anti-virus security system and hold it to ransom after sharing its code with the GRU, Wikileaks and REvil.
¶ Some of those Russian women had been observed loitering near Trump Tower (or, as we say in Rhode Island, “what used to be” Trump Tower.)
They are gone CG
There are plenty of sites on the internet u could find some
He, he , he…..
Im already surrounded by Russian women in my town.
Hey!
Long Island’s issues are important to other places also!
If CG could embrace the issues as a source NOT. Political advocate?
He’d be alright
I would deport Joey Buttafuoco
What did the guy do that u would want to reach back for him?
Don’t be dirty
Sorry wrong words
He’s history
Why go back to mess with him?
Were JB sent to DC, he’d no doubt sponsor a private bill to unite LI with the Jersey Shore, no doubt as the 51st state, incidentally making much of the current New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey landlocked. (who, in turn, following Russia’s example would invade countless neighbors over the next couple of centuries in the quest for a warm-water port — irrelevant after the 51st state is drowned by climate change.)
CG?
I would GLADY defer to U being the rep for this place…
But we’d have to have some ground rules🙄
If she or he had the wit or prescience to get one, every vaccinated Democratic hopeful should prominently post pictures of himself or herself getting vaccinated (with a date, if it was early) — especially if the GOP candidate hasn’t been vaccinated or is acting coy about the shot or shots that she or he got.
Let’s do public drug testing as well for the candidates in regards to any federally illegal subtance. Keep the Matt Gaetz, et al out.
Immaterial
Los Angeles County reimposes indoor mask mandate for all as coronavirus cases rise nationwide
Los Angeles County announced Thursday it will revive an indoor mask mandate applying to everyone regardless of vaccination status in response to rising coronavirus cases and hospitalizations linked to the highly transmissible delta variant.
The order to take effect late Saturday night in the county of 10 million people marks the most dramatic reversal of the country’s reopening this summer as experts fear a new wave of the virus….
More…
According to the NY Times 7/15/2021…..
AVG. ON JUL. 14 14-DAY CHANGE TOTAL REPORTED
Cases 26,513 +111% 33,932,150
Tests 569,059 –14% —
Hospitalized 20,305 +22% —
Deaths 284 +5% 607,365
State of the virus
Update for July 14
Case numbers are climbing across most of the country as the Delta variant spreads among unvaccinated people. Arkansas, Missouri, Florida and Nevada are experiencing full-fledged outbreaks.
The country remains in far better shape than at almost all previous points of the pandemic. Deaths remain near their lowest levels since spring 2020, and hospitalizations are a fraction of their winter peak.
The vaccination campaign has largely stalled. About 550,000 shots are being administered each day, down from more than 3.3 million at the peak.
Link….
And Republicans?
They’re more concerned about protecting the “rights” of the virus spreaders to spread the virus and potentially kill people.
Oh and as we all know?
They are “pro life”(another term that is meaningless often used in the Right Wing lexicon)
Gaetz?
Just another MAGA red hat wearing bootlicker Republican,a liar ,a cheat, and a would be thief,duly elected by those who share his “ conservative values.”
As for what the ahole puts in his body?
Couldn’t care less.
Seventy percent of U.S. active duty service members have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, the Pentagon announced on Friday, and 62 percent of the force is now fully vaccinated….
More…
Delta Variant Rattles Capitol Hill
Politico: “As Covid infections have crept back into the Capitol, they’ve shattered the sense of calm that had just begun to settle across the complex after the deadly pandemic and insurrection. After a weekslong trudge toward normalcy, fears are now spiking over the highly contagious Delta variant, which the Capitol physician confirmed Tuesday has been reported in Capitol office buildings.”
“Several fully vaccinated individuals on the Hill have tested positive for the virus — including the first known member of Congress since January — spurring a heightened sense of unease for the thousands of people who traverse the Capitol complex each day.l
Sure. I expect all of tbe Democrats responses will be pretty standard
On the GOP side I expect a lot of shuffling, mealy mouth attempts to avoid pissing off morons and dolts.
Profiles in Courage, every one.
Authoritarianism advances as world battles the pandemic
JILL LAWLESS
Thu, July 15, 2021, 3:45 AM
LONDON (AP) — Here’s some of what happened while the world was distracted by the coronavirus: Hungary banned the public depiction of homosexuality. China shut Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy newspaper. Brazil’s government extolled dictatorship. And Belarus hijacked a passenger plane to arrest a journalist.
COVID-19 has absorbed the world’s energies and isolated countries from one another, which may have accelerated the creep of authoritarianism and extremism across the globe, some researchers and activists believe.
“COVID is a dictator’s dream opportunity,” said Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American human rights lawyer who has been indicted on charges including treason in the ostensibly democratic southeast Asian nation, where Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power for more than three decades.
Human Rights Watch accuses Cambodia’s government of using the pandemic as cover to imprison political opponents without due process. Scores have been indicted and face mass trials.
When it comes to government opposition, “the fear of COVID, on its own and as a political weapon, has substantially restricted mobility for a gathering or movement to take shape,” Seng said.
The biggest global public health emergency in a century has handed power to government authorities and restricted life for billions of people.
Luke Cooper, a London School of Economics researcher and author of the book “Authoritarian Contagion,” said the vast economic, health and social resources poured into fighting the pandemic mean “the state is back as a force to manage society and to deliver public goods.”
Restrictions on civil liberties or political opponents have been stepped up during the pandemic on several continents….
https://news.yahoo.com/authoritarianism-advances-world-battles-pandemic-074517105.html