BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 10:35 AM

An interview with a pediatric office nurse today on NPR talked about the contact they expect to have with a group of parents of young children who consider themselves healthy and young enough to not need the shot, many of them healthy enough that they don't have regular physicians of their own to see annually. She thinks the interface of pediatrician's office where they will take their children for the shot is the place the staff can also convince the parents (with logic and science) to get the vaccines themselves. Chances are the pediatrician's offices can't give the parents the shots (though that would save a step if they could.)

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 10:45 AM

We are booked for boosters in the morning!!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 10:54 AM

I was told my mum got the booster and flu jab in her care home recently...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 11:28 AM

Good for you Bonzo! Hope it goes well.
Wish our surgery would call us in for our boosters, but our second jab was in July - maybe it's a bit early for the booster.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 11:43 AM

Roll out of the flu jab is a shambles..

Last year our GP contacted us to say we were entitled to a free jab,
right late near the end of the flu season.
We'd already paid for them in Tesco Pharmacy well before xmas.

This year we got texts from GP that we will be notified when available.
That was some months ago.

So last week we just walked into tesco for on the spot drop in free flu jabs.

Now waiting approx 3 weeks for protection to become effective.
Which aint easy with mrs punkfolkrocker working in an infant school...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 01:03 PM

Yep. Our flu jabs, booked long in advance, have been cancelled - twice. I'm booked in now for Nov 6 but Mrs Steve, who goes to a different medical centre, can't even rebook yet.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 01:14 PM

Just a suggestion, phone your nearest tesco pharmacy, and ask if they have drop in sessions. Or if you need book online.

If they have an appropriate qualified pharmacist on duty,
my wife got jabbed same day.
I waited until after the weekend.

This on presumption all tescos provide this service...?

Sod waiting for useless gp surgeries...!!!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 01:27 PM

After the holidays I'll be looking at my 4th jab. Self Immune disorders may not make as many antibodies per shot as others might but its still a crap shoot when it comes to beating the odds.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 04:29 PM

I'll have a pot at that tomorrow, pfr. The only thing is that where we live in pastyshire the nearest Tesco is 20 miles away...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 04:31 PM

Incidentally, Boots told the missus today that the earliest date for her would four weeks from now. I'll bet that if she offered to go private for £14.99 they'd do her tomorrow. B*ast*ards...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 04:38 PM

Since June up to today 49 of the 50 deaths from Covid 19 in Washington DC were black. 60% of those deaths were in the black neighborhoods of ward 7 and 8.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 05:09 PM

The Launceston Tesco does flu jabs, I've just discovered. That's 20 miles. The next nearest is Barnstaple, an hour's drive. These city-slickers don't know they're born...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 06:01 PM

Mrs G and I get our flu jabs and covid boosters next Wednesday. Hope the cocktail is OK!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 06:08 PM

picking the vaccine to promote best results

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 10:27 PM

I got my booster in early September, just walked in and there was no line. But there is an embarrassment of riches here when it comes to vaccine availability. Now if we could just convince more people to take advantage of it.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 06:28 AM

Just has Pfizer booster from a junior nurse at our surgery - would have preferred a senior nurse or doctor.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 06:46 AM

Why, because she couldn't reach the top of your arm?

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 08:59 AM

”Just has Pfizer booster from a junior nurse at our surgery - would have preferred a senior nurse or doctor.”

I would very much prefer that junior medical staff do the mundane, simple, repetitive jobs like administering C-19 vaccinations, so that the senior, more highly-trained ones are freed to get on with treating patients who are already sick and need their superior skills and knowledge.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 09:06 AM

No, because she never asked if I was on blood thinning medication which the instruction sheet handed over after the injection stated she was supposed to do, whereas the senior nurse who administered flu jabs recently of course did ask, and aagain when having the first covid jab last February.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 10:17 AM

Well a senior consultant nearly whipped out my gall bladder until I protested...He'd got me mixed up with somebody else...And it ain't junior nurses who leave swabs and scalpels inside patients...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 11:35 AM

What do you expect in mere Cornwall??

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 11:42 AM

Devon.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 12:13 PM

In mere Devon then!!!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 12:28 PM

Meanwhile, in the race to vaccinate against COVID-19, White House details plan to roll out Covid-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11

The Biden administration has secured enough vaccine supply to vaccinate the 28 million children ages 5 to 11 who would become eligible for vaccination if the vaccine is authorized for that age group and will help equip more than 25,000 pediatric and primary care offices, hundreds of community health centers and rural health clinics as well as tens of thousands of pharmacies to administer the shots, according to the White House.

"We know millions of parents have been waiting for Covid-19 vaccine for kids in this age group. And should the FDA and (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) authorize the vaccine, we will be ready to get shots in arms," White House Covid-19 response director Jeff Zients told reporters at a White House Covid-19 briefing on Wednesday.

Zients continued: "Kids have different needs than adults and our operational planning is geared to meet those specific needs, including by offering vaccinations in settings that parents and kids are familiar with and trust."

The administration is also launching a partnership with the Children's Hospital Association "to work with over 100 children's hospital systems across the country to set up vaccination sites in November and through the end of the calendar year," the White House announced.

The administration also plans to help make vaccination available at school and other "community-based sites" with help from Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 01:04 PM

Retired pediatrician Dr Ros Jones says we should not have another lockdown: "We have 90% of the adult population vaccinated and we're still worrying whether we have to protect the NHS."

While some doctors are calling on the government to initiate “Plan B” in response to rising Covid cases and hospitalisations across the country, others say more restrictions would be “illogical”.

GP Dr Grant Ingrams thinks Covid cases are increasing due to anti-maskers: "I popped into the shop. I was the only person wearing a mask. Here we are in the middle of a pandemic. Everyone seems to say it's fine."

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 01:22 PM

The GP appears to be the victim of received wisdom. After a disastrous spring last year, UK cases plummeted to less than 2000 a week by July (they're currently around 50,000 a week). But all that happened before masks were made mandatory. Now isn't that odd. Of course, we have many a siren voice at present claiming that the current spike is the result of mask-wearing being made voluntary in July. Considering the 2020 experience, you don't have to be Einstein to see that that connection simply doesn't stand up.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 02:43 PM

By the Niagara River there are people who also say "Com'on in the waters fine".

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 03:56 PM

I'm sure that Steve Shaw would argue that shit doesn't stink if it suited him!!!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 04:18 PM

Feel free to refute via measured argument, Bonzo!

As a matter of fact, on your point, I remember that great organic gardener, Lawrence Hills, saying that a huge pile of fresh horse manure can actually smell very nice...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Oct 21 - 04:30 PM

My mom once said "She wouldn't say shit if she had a mouthful".
Today people say shit all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Oct 21 - 12:01 PM

. . . and some talk more shit than others!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Oct 21 - 02:23 PM

Fellow Mudcatter Dave the Gnome has been attempting mightily
to make a working blue link clicky
to articles from The Conversation,
which go into some depth about surviving COVID-19,
in particular the do's and don't's of face-masks.

Let me see if a working link is possible here
(Dave has been trying from the UK thread).


The Conversation: COVID-19 masks FAQs


Dave The Gnome,
I think the above blicky ought to work!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Oct 21 - 11:00 PM

No One Will Stop You From Getting Whatever Booster You Want
The CDC indicated that it would move toward a hands-off stance: Booster-eligible people should stick with one brand, but may mix and match at will.

Mixing and matching vaccine brands is officially on the table in the United States. But that option might soon be billed as the B-list choice.

Last night, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky gave the green light for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster shots, the long-awaited follow-up to a similar recommendation given to the Pfizer formulation last month. As the endorsement stands, all who are eligible for an additional jab—which now includes tens of millions more Americans—should be able to pick whatever booster brand they like. But discussions among a panel of experts who advised Walensky hinted at a catch: The agency has yet to issue its final clinical guidance on who, specifically, might want to boost with what—and an early draft of the recommendations suggests that Americans “should” stick with the same brand they got in their first go-round.

Switching to a different shot would be allowed, as was authorized by the FDA on Wednesday; per the draft CDC guidance, people may opt to mix and match based on availability or preference, after assessing their individual risks and benefits. (As a reminder, the FDA’s authorizations tell Americans what vaccines they’re allowed to get. The CDC follows that up with advice on what folks should do with those options.)

The CDC’s stance on mixing and matching, then, could end up being a relatively soft one, neither extolment nor excoriation. That might also be the most practical course of action for the agency, given the variables involved and the lack of clear-cut evidence that could untangle them. But the wishy-washiness of Pick whatever is confusing as hell.

Read the rest at the link

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Oct 21 - 03:21 AM

Thank you keberoxu. Much appreciated

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Oct 21 - 06:58 AM

Gov. DeSantis of FL. is saying that Fkorida would be the sanctuary for police or others who wish to disobey vaccine mandate laws,
DeSantis, a Trump wannabe, is the villain who used to wear a pencil thin moustache.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Oct 21 - 08:07 AM

Stilly, Sat, Night Live said we are entering the 'just wingin it' phase of our pandemic response with our mix and match apecials.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 26 Oct 21 - 10:13 PM

Why people believe Covid conspiracy theories: could folklore hold the answer? Researchers use AI – and witchcraft folklore – to map the coronavirus conspiracy theories that have sprung up. Researchers have mapped the web of connections underpinning coronavirus conspiracy theories, opening a new way of understanding and challenging them. Using Danish witchcraft folklore as a model, the researchers from UCLA and Berkeley analysed thousands of social media posts with an artificial intelligence tool and extracted the key people, things and relationships. (read on)

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 06:14 AM

Just had my booster. Tizer this time instead of Asda Vinegar. Had the flu jab at the same time so I hope all them little antibodies are not fighting...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 06:21 AM

Hahaha Dave, love it! My very Norfolk neighbour always calls it the Asda Vinegar. But 'Tizer' is even better.
Hope you have no too-troubling side-effects, and well done for being sensible. We're still awaiting our boosters, plus the flu jab.
And still well-masked-up.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 07:00 AM

For the refusnics who want to wait, how long is long enough?
30 years? Generationally?

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 07:40 AM

Ask Facebook. Somebody'll tell you and Zuckerberg won't notice.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 08:08 AM

Folklore and Bill Gates be damned, the main cause of distrust and conspiracy about medication is the Oxycontin addiction suffered by millions, while it was said to be non addictive.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 09:07 AM

Lies about medicine is like lies from politicians.
All Trump and the Brazilion President did was give permission to believe Covid was fake and not mention vaccine as a cure. Like any process of defamation all sorts of ideas can be burned into people.

America used to burn disco records but today good old fashioned book burnings about race theory are virtual and real.
Its a slippery slope when certain book titles to be burned, turns into burning ANY Democratic Jewish sounding scienctific and medical book.
Meanwhile opiate addiction is still ravaging all the Trump states in the midst of a war on drugs.    its crazy


The thing about politicians is that people thought they had good ideas.
The ultimate recipe: Ideas are immortal, just add mortals.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 09:37 AM

Completely off-topic and utterly inappropriate, but Donuel's misspelling there immediately brought to mind my favourite ancient Dubya joke:


Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, three Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

Head in hands, tears streaming down his face, he finally asks, "How many is a brazillion?"



Now back to the fray while I get me coat...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 11:39 AM

At this point in time only five percent of the population on the continent of Africa have been vaccinated. That probably means a higher rate in North Africa and barely there in the rest of the continent. I think most of the discussion and transfer of vaccines is a nation-to-nation thing, I haven't heard about NGOs distributing the vaccine. There doesn't seem to be a mechanism for individuals to support groups to get the job done.

Accelerating COVID-19 vaccinations in Africa from the Brookings Institute.

Already, regional institutions, led by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Union, the African Export-Import Bank, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, have worked tirelessly to obtain much-needed medical supplies, ventilators, diagnostic tests, and personal protective equipment, among other essential materials, in order to shore up Africa’s defenses against the virus. Of course, one of the most effective tools for combating the spread of the virus is the vaccine, of which many versions now exist.

However, this essential tool continues to be out of reach for most Africans: Indeed, the region is far behind the rest of the world in obtaining and distributing the vaccine due to a myriad of challenges, including inadequacy of vaccine supplies, logistics and capacity constraints within Africa, and vaccine hesitancy. Donations of these vaccines from the U.S., Europe, and many other partners—both bilaterally and through the efforts of COVAX—have increased supplies, but those donations are far too few, and the speed of the vaccine rollout is much too slow to truly blunt the impact of COVID-19 in the region, especially as variants continue to accelerate the spread. In fact, as of this writing, less than 2% of Africa’s over 1 billion people have been fully vaccinated. . . .

Both panelists warned that the issue of vaccination has become a global political pain point. Sidibé urged, in response to this trend, that leaders think about medicine as a public good, calling for a conversation around the democratization of health and describing this vaccine inaccessibility as a “denial of the right to medicine.” Binagwaho agreed, warning that politics have begun to overtake the science of the pandemic, leading to a situation where the Western world has become comfortable giving their populations booster shots while only 3% of the developing word has been able to procure any.

Politics, indeed, have become a huge stumbling block. The worst timing of this pandemic is that it happened during the Trump administration. The Know-Nothings Do-Nothings let this get even more out of control than it might have.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 12:15 PM

A few numbers, my approximations from graphs and lists:

Democratic Republic of Congo, 1 person in 600 has received at least a single dose of vaccine.

Tanzania, 1 in 70,

Ethiopia, 1 in 30.

Nigeria, 1 in 25.

Kenya, 1 in 11.

The populations of the above countries add up to half a billion people.

Saudi Arabia, 96 in 100.

Canada, 78 in 100.

Japan, 77 in 100.

UK, 73 in 100.

US, 66 in 100.

We seem to be living in two worlds.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 01:44 PM

Steve, I just told that joke last night in a pub. Great minds.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 10:33 PM

From the New York Times

A cheap antidepressant lowers the risk of Covid hospitalization, a large study finds.

A large clinical trial has found that a common and inexpensive antidepressant lowered the odds that high-risk Covid-19 patients would be hospitalized. The results, published on Wednesday, could open the door to new guidelines for the drug’s use both in the United States and globally.

The drug, fluvoxamine, has been safely prescribed for nearly 30 years as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. But when the coronavirus started spreading, researchers were drawn to the medication because of its ability to reduce inflammation, potentially allowing it to quell the body’s overwhelming response to a coronavirus infection.

Several smaller studies of fluvoxamine earlier in the pandemic showed promising results, but none was as large or persuasive as the one published on Wednesday by a group of researchers in Canada, the United States and Brazil, outside scientists said. Among nearly 1,500 Covid patients in Brazil given either fluvoxamine or a placebo, the drug reduced the need for hospitalization or prolonged medical observation by one-third, the study found. It was published in The Lancet Global Health.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 28 Oct 21 - 07:57 AM

Mrs Bonzo had an appointment today at our local BMI Hospital with the Professor of Ophthalmology. He looked at the scans of her left eye and identified a blood clot, but not a bleed suggested by our Ophthalmist who performed the scan earlier this week, which he thinks was probably caused by the Pfizer Covid booster, although because of the short amount of time that the booster has been available, there is insufficient available data to be absolutely certain.

The nurse who injected her was supposed to ask if she was prone to blood clots, but instead of a brain in her head, she has a small pea. Mrs B will have to have four injections in her eye - one a month starting today - not my idea of fun!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Oct 21 - 09:49 AM

It simply isn't possible to justify that conclusion based on a single case.