COVID-19 treatment and vaccine update thread

[Ralph-Wiggum]

My 101 year old grandmother tested positive for Covid a week and a half ago. She likely got it from a temporary assistant living nurse who was in the facility to help with staff shortages. A number of other residents that interacted with the nurse also tested positive. Somewhat amazingly, my grandmother hasn’t experienced any symptoms. Thank you, vaccine!

[malchior]

Oy, I'm so sorry to hear that. Make sure you prepare yourself to hear someone tell you that the vaccine is actually the cause of her heart damage - so you don't immediately try to choke the life out of them.

Luckily the risk of that is remote for us but still the situation stinks.

My mom needs to have another heart ablation because she's back in Afib and I'm legitimately concerned they're going to need to push it off until the spring due to rising hospital use now. It's not a major procedure, but it is in-patient and requires at least one overnight. They're trying to lower stroke risk now with meds and a monitor, but she definitely needs to have it done.

Yep I know so many people including myself who have put off medical care due to this. The toll is going to be high.

I wish I had a magic 8 ball and could see what the next 60 days looks like, but my gut is telling me "not so good". Hope you get better news.

Indeed. She seems mostly fine other than the high blood pressure but she has had issues with walking and talking for months. It really pisses me off how they put her at risk as waves of COVID ravished the school. Not that I can say this out loud in her company but we tried to convince her to retire last year. Staying 23 years versus 22 years was worth maybe a hundred dollars a month in the PERS calculation versus what may be long-term health impacts.

[Carpet_pissr]

I had absolutely no COVID symptoms after my 3rd jab (just a sore arm from the jab I guess), but wife, again, has been wiped out within 24h of getting hers (3rd for her as well). We must have very different biologies. It's like she has the flu. Great idea to get it 2 days before Thanksgiving!

[El Guapo]

I had absolutely no COVID symptoms after my 3rd jab (just a sore arm from the jab I guess), but wife, again, has been wiped out within 24h of getting hers (3rd for her as well). We must have very different biologies. It's like she has the flu. Great idea to get it 2 days before Thanksgiving!

Yes, I bet she is all torn up about getting incapacitated right before a big family event. That must be an unexpected and devastating turn of events for her.

[Jeff V]

Ugh, Yesterday I stopped at the supermarket, they were not accommodating walk-ups for the Covid booster. They were fully scheduled, with nary a customer in sight. He said come back tomorrow, when no appointment is necessary.

I did so, and there was at least 15 people in line. Fuck that. Hopefully Football and Turkey Day won't kill me.

[gbasden]

I just got my booster. I did Moderna since I had Pfizer to start with. Luckily it hasn't been that difficult to get them scheduled out here. As with my original two shots, my biggest symptom has been a pretty sore arm.

[Carpet_pissr]

I had absolutely no COVID symptoms after my 3rd jab (just a sore arm from the jab I guess), but wife, again, has been wiped out within 24h of getting hers (3rd for her as well). We must have very different biologies. It's like she has the flu. Great idea to get it 2 days before Thanksgiving!

Yes, I bet she is all torn up about getting incapacitated right before a big family event. That must be an unexpected and devastating turn of events for her.

??

[El Guapo]

I had absolutely no COVID symptoms after my 3rd jab (just a sore arm from the jab I guess), but wife, again, has been wiped out within 24h of getting hers (3rd for her as well). We must have very different biologies. It's like she has the flu. Great idea to get it 2 days before Thanksgiving!

Yes, I bet she is all torn up about getting incapacitated right before a big family event. That must be an unexpected and devastating turn of events for her.

??

Sorry, just joking around - in my experience getting knocked out and unable to attend a family event is often far preferable to family events.

[hitbyambulance]

i have a friend in MN who has now come down with covid-19 for the second time (she has two doses of the mRNA vaccine as well)

[Kraken]

I had absolutely no COVID symptoms after my 3rd jab (just a sore arm from the jab I guess), but wife, again, has been wiped out within 24h of getting hers (3rd for her as well). We must have very different biologies. It's like she has the flu. Great idea to get it 2 days before Thanksgiving!

Yes, I bet she is all torn up about getting incapacitated right before a big family event. That must be an unexpected and devastating turn of events for her.

??

Sorry, just joking around - in my experience getting knocked out and unable to attend a family event is often far preferable to family events.

Bonus points for not having to fake being sick.

[Alefroth]

i have a friend in MN who has now come down with covid-19 for the second time (she has two doses of the mRNA vaccine as well)

Yikes. Is she in a situation where she has frequent exposure?

[Isgrimnur]

I had absolutely no COVID symptoms after my 3rd jab (just a sore arm from the jab I guess), but wife, again, has been wiped out within 24h of getting hers (3rd for her as well). We must have very different biologies. It's like she has the flu. Great idea to get it 2 days before Thanksgiving!

Yes, I bet she is all torn up about getting incapacitated right before a big family event. That must be an unexpected and devastating turn of events for her.

??

Sorry, just joking around - in my experience getting knocked out and unable to attend a family event is often far preferable to family events.

Bonus points for not having to fake being sick.

You really have to commit to the bit.

[hitbyambulance]

i have a friend in MN who has now come down with covid-19 for the second time (she has two doses of the mRNA vaccine as well)

Yikes. Is she in a situation where she has frequent exposure?

she said she was doing 'everything right' as she lives in the same residence as her mother who has heart problems and was working in a dentist's office when she contracted it the first time. yet she also thinks this infection resulted from 'trivia night'. <emoji shrug>

[Isgrimnur]

BBC

The latest is the most heavily mutated version discovered so far - and it has such a long list of mutations that it was described by one scientist as "horrific", while another told me it was the worst variant they'd seen.

It is early days and the confirmed cases are still mostly concentrated in one province in South Africa, but there are hints it may have spread further.
...
The variant is called B.1.1.529 and is likely to be given a Greek code-name (like the Alpha and Delta variants) by the World Health Organization on Friday.
...
In a media briefing Prof de Oliveira said there were 50 mutations overall and more than 30 on the spike protein, which is the target of most vaccines and the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway into our body's cells.

Zooming in even further to the receptor binding domain (that's the part of the virus that makes first contact with our body's cells), it has 10 mutations compared to just two for the Delta variant that swept the world.

This level of mutation has most likely come from a single patient who was unable to beat the virus.

[LawBeefaroni]

I had absolutely no COVID symptoms after my 3rd jab (just a sore arm from the jab I guess), but wife, again, has been wiped out within 24h of getting hers (3rd for her as well). We must have very different biologies. It's like she has the flu. Great idea to get it 2 days before Thanksgiving!

Yes, I bet she is all torn up about getting incapacitated right before a big family event. That must be an unexpected and devastating turn of events for her.

??

Sorry, just joking around - in my experience getting knocked out and unable to attend a family event is often far preferable to family events.

I got it. And I agreed.




Although this year I'd love to see the family.

[Kasey Chang]

This level of mutation has most likely come from a single patient who was unable to beat the virus.

And there centered one of the most insidious lies antivaxxers cooked up... that vaccines will pressure the virus into mutating, so we shouldn't vax and let nature take its course.

They don't seem to understand or care that these variants came about because COVID virus had a free reign for 10+ months, and even now we're still playing catch up in most of the world, and these vaccines only reduce symptoms and transmission, but does not prevent it (because we can't wait until we make the "perfect" vaccine). It doesn't help when one of the mRNA team went senile and joined the antivax side.

Mutations occur naturally in an infected host. So to minimize chances of infection, you vaccinate and wear masks. Which will slow down the appearance of variants.

It's as if they intentionally mixed up virus vs bacteria and made an antivax antiscience trope out of it.

It's basically they don't want it, and they are MAKING UP reasons not to get it as they go along, no matter how anti-science it becomes. The more you expose their lies and misunderstanding, the weirder their arguments get. Some pulled out the UNESCO Bioethics and Human Rights Declaration claiming vaccinemandate is against that, when bioethics professors say human rights are secondary to public health.

Another tweeted "Why do we mandate vaccines when it doesn't prevent the disease?"

I clapped back "Why do we mandate airbags and seatbelts when it doesn't prevent auto collision death?"

Someone tried to claim "Did you know how many decades of study went into airbags and seatbelts?"

I clapped back "Did you know vaccines were invented in 1798?"

Then the guy went Gish Gallop on me bringing up all the usual antivax tropes, from human rights violations to antiscience crap.

[hitbyambulance]

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-wor ... -vaccines/

you'll never guess who came in second place...

The Moderna and Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines both edged the version from Pfizer in effectiveness in a large-scale study of five different immunization shots conducted by Hungarian researchers.

Moderna’s vaccine was 88.7% effective in protecting against coronavirus infection and 93.6% effective against COVID-related mortality, compared with 85.7% and 95.4%, respectively, for Sputnik, according to the paper published Wednesday on the website of the Clinical Microbiology and Infection medical journal. Pfizer came in third with 83.3% and 90.6%, respectively.

The research reviewed the effectiveness of five vaccines in people at least seven days after they received their second dose. Data from more than 3.7 million vaccinated people aged 16 and over were reviewed from January to June of this year.

[Isgrimnur]

I'll settle for my Moderna topper to my Pfizer course.

[Smoove_B]

Updated info on "the pill". Surely a coincidence it's being released in the early morning hours that day after Thanksgiving because of the results...

Merck reports final analysis of molnupiravir trial in high-risk, non-hospitalized #covid19 patients. Final efficacy analysis is 30% reduction in risk of hospitalization or death (interim analysis showed 48%):

[El Guapo]

So Smoove, how scared should I be about the South Africa variant?

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

[Blackhawk]

So Smoove, how scared should I be about the South Africa variant?

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[Smoove_B]

So Smoove, how scared should I be about the South Africa variant?

I'm over on the other side of the fence, dropping knowledge.

In short, it's not time to panic but we really need some leadership here (America, globally) to escalate vaccination efforts and start mandating masks for winter. If it's as nutty as it's looking in SA (spread), we're going to know soon enough. Too soon to know if it's more deadly or if it can penetrate vaccination, but the broad consensus so far is that vaccinated people (boostered) shouldn't be worried. Everyone else...

Chandler always a good option.

[Kraken]

Finally got boosted with that sweet sweet Moderna a couple of hours ago, and just finished running all the errands I need to get thru the weekend. If it's going to lay me low, I'm ready now. I just hope Omicron doesn't laugh at it and kick off a whole new vaccination cycle.

[Blackhawk]

Screw it. I went ahead and scheduled the booster for myself and my oldest for the day after we should receive our 'all clear' test results. If they come out positive, I'll cancel.

[jztemple2]

So Smoove, how scared should I be about the South Africa variant?

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

The World Health Organization has named the B.1.1.529 first detected in South Africa "Omicron" and classified it as a highly transmissible variant of concern.

[hitbyambulance]

close enough:

[Isgrimnur]

NY Post

Nu and Xi were apparently the next letters in the Greek alphabet that have yet to be used for a variant, according to data on their website.

Although the WHO didn’t immediately explain the decision, Internet pundits and politicians speculated that the group skipped Nu to avoid confusion with the word “new” and passed on Xi because of its written similarity to the name Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) retweeted a Telegraph editor who cited a WHO source saying Xi was skipped to “avoid stigmatizing a region.”

[Blackhawk]

In short, it's not time to panic but we really need some leadership here (America, globally) to escalate vaccination efforts and start mandating masks for winter.

I can't help but wondering how much the first part relies on the second part.

[Xmann]

Quick question, what's the consensus on someone with both vaccines and booster being around someone with both vaccines and no booster? Wife and I are boosted but my 18 year old son has not gotten the booster yet. All living under the same roof.

[Kraken]

As a Facebook-certified expert in infectious disease, I assure you that you're fine pending further research. But I'll punt this one to my esteemed colleague Smoove.

[Blackhawk]

Quick question, what's the consensus on someone with both vaccines and booster being around someone with both vaccines and no booster? Wife and I are boosted but my 18 year old son has not gotten the booster yet. All living under the same roof.

He's unlikely to get it or to be able to spread it to you. You're super unlikely to get it or to spread it to him. Your family is arguably safer (immunity wise) than any family anywhere in the world has been in the past two years prior to boosters starting up.

You've got a +200 on your D100 roll (a 1 is always a failure.)

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, Blackhawk has it right. Booster for your son will likely do more to keep him out of the hospital than anything else.

Everyone should still be masking up though!

[El Guapo]

Finally got a vaccination appointment for my wife's booster shot, for Dec. 11th. Makes me somewhat glad that appointments are tough to get around here, at least.

So as of Dec. 25th everyone in my nuclear family will be as vaccinated as possible.

[FishPants]

The Ontario government continues to pontificate in their incompetence - boosters are still only for 70+, or those that had two shots of AZ (and the last shot was 6+ months ago). Otherwise the age gating with begging the 70+ to show up for all of these available shots and slots continues well into 2022.

I wonder if I shouldn't just book my family somewhere in the states if there's a spot that isn't on fire with Covid and get the boosters done that way - Canada has already thrown out over 1M expired shots (and that's with 3 provinces, including Ontario refusing to provide their disposal numbers to the feds - so it's a LOT higher). So. Fucking. Frustrating.

Our province is 90% vaccinated in 12+ year olds, if they would just open up the damn booster appointments and let people figure it out we'd be in a much better spot when Omicron comes knocking.

[Max Peck]

When Ontario rolled out it's booster roadmap at the beginning of the month, they indicated that they would start providing 3rd shots for everyone beginning in "early" 2022, with the eligibility criteria being 6-8 months after completing the initial 2-dose series. I don't recall when eligibility opened up for everyone, but January is pretty much 6 months from when I got my second dose, so I'm hoping they stick to the plan they laid out.

I haven't heard anything anything since then to indicate that they're pushing that timeline back in any way, but I also haven't seen anything to indicate that they've set an actual go-date either. I expect there to be some sort of advance notice given that the health units will likely need to re-open some of the shuttered mass vaccination clinics to handle the renewed demand. Availability through family doctors and pharmacies is spotty at best, at least in my area. There is a provincial election coming up next year, so Ford has a strong motivation open up boosters for all asap (while also doing everything he can to avoid actual vaccination/masking mandates, of course). Screwing the pooch again could well cost him his job.

[Kraken]

Moderna booster kicked my ass about 18 hours after getting the shot. Chills, hot flashes, slight fever, headache, and my body felt like someone was playing whack-a-mole with heavy hammers. But the worst of it only lasted 2-3 hours and I'm confident I'll be fine when I wake up tomorrow.

[Kasey Chang]

Trying to find a booster shot, as I became eligible... a week ago. Closest appointment at a nearby pharmacy is in... 10 days?

And closest appointment at a medical center (where I got my first two shots) was in... a MONTH?

At this rate, I may just try the walk-in tent on Monday. Just want to get it over with.

[FishPants]

When Ontario rolled out it's booster roadmap at the beginning of the month, they indicated that they would start providing 3rd shots for everyone beginning in "early" 2022, with the eligibility criteria being 6-8 months after completing the initial 2-dose series. I don't recall when eligibility opened up for everyone, but January is pretty much 6 months from when I got my second dose, so I'm hoping they stick to the plan they laid out.

I dunno man, that chart isn't what I would call a laid out plan. This constant age gating when we seemingly have enough doses to be throwing them in the garbage as they expire is the pinnacle of stupidity. "Hold on everyone..we need to ease into this". I understood when vaccines were hard to come by, and we wanted to cover the entire country equitably - but now?

I guarantee you by the time they get around to announcing it, it's going to be another week or to for health units getting ready, then it's going to be split into age waves with a shit load of media "Please come fill the appointment spots! WE HAVE APPOINTMENT SPOTS" trying to entice boomers to come back.

I also realize I'm definitely cynical now, why each PHU can't just decide the age ranges they are serving based on demand (or lack thereof) is mind boggling.

[ImLawBoy]

Twins got their second dose on Friday. We went to the same hole-in-the-wall pharmacy as last time, and we only had to wait a little bit. Another dad was taking his daughter in for her second shot and decided to get the booster spur of the moment - there were no issues there. Jeff, if you want to head into the city you can probably get boosted on a walk in basis at Armitage Pharmacy (3650 W. Armitage).

[Max Peck]

Ontario reviewing 3rd dose vaccine strategy in wake of omicron variant, top doctor says

Ontario is reviewing measures to protect residents in the wake of a newly discovered COVID-19 variant of concern in the province, chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said.

Included in that review is the possible acceleration of the province's third dose vaccine strategy, Moore said at a news conference on Monday.

"We will be reviewing options and providing them to government in the next few days, and I would anticipate an announcement by the end of this week on an enhanced strategy to best protect Ontarians," he said.