COVID-19

[David L]

Pfizer increasing the cost of doses of the covid jab from $30 to $130 in US

https://qz.com/pfizer-plans-to-sell-its-covid-vaccine-at-a-10-000-mar-1849688359

[David L]

[David L]

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-inquiry-focusing-solely-on-safety-of-vaccines-will-not-be-opened-govt-says-12729605

[Slim]

Must admit there hasn't really been a lot of discussion about the supposed new information on the vaccine risk from respected sources which is unfortunate as the tin foilers are having a field day with it at the moment.

All medication carries risk, as Chris Whitty pointed out very frequently during the vaccine rollout. The question is whether it outweighs the risk of inaction.

The video above doesn't make the case that it does. I wonder what the presenter's qualifications are. A public health statistician? Physician of some sort?

[Slim]

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-inquiry-focusing-solely-on-safety-of-vaccines-will-not-be-opened-govt-says-12729605

""The government has already commissioned a public inquiry into the pandemic, and COVID vaccines will be reviewed as part of this inquiry. There are no plans for an inquiry solely on vaccine safety."

Seems entirely reasonable to me, I must say - especially in light of:

"There is no evidence that people are at an increased risk of cardiac arrest in the days and weeks following the vaccine, and the risk of getting myocarditis or pericarditis after the vaccine remains very low."

[David L]

I wonder what the presenter's qualifications are. A public health statistician? Physician of some sort?

His qualifications are irrelevant. He's presenting the findings of a serious paper by the Japan Institute of Pharma-Co Vigilance

[Nick]

Booked my booster for next week.

[dom]

Had the flu vaccine on Tuesday and Covid vaccine in Wednesday. No ill effects from either. Was expecting the Covid one to have me suffering a bit but nothing!

[David L]

Interesting. Data from around the world suggests that the pre-vaccination infection fatality rate (IFR) was much lower in non-elderly populations than previously suggested. The models that recommended lockdowns, mask wearing and vaccination of the whole population were very inaccurate as they were based on an assumed IFR that was wrong - quelle surprise

[Slim]

At this point, I can't really trust Campbell to present these conclusions honestly, and certainly not expertly. I get that he's presenting real studies, and real data but there are a lot of those to choose from.

Also - we didn't need to model or predict the power of COVID to overwhelm hospitals, because we'd seen it happen in countries that were ahead of us on the curve. No question in my mind that the lockdowns, masks and universal vaccine rollout were necessary.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-they-call-it-the-apocalypse-inside-italys-hardest-hit-hospital-11960597

[David L]

No question in my mind that the lockdowns, masks and universal vaccine rollout were necessary.

And that was always going to be the most important place in which those things were considered to be necessary 

[David L]

Money being wasted all over the place. Good news for big Pharma.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/covid-vaccine-doses-wasted-rcna31399

https://news.err.ee/1608765268/estonia-seeking-to-escape-deluge-of-covid-vaccine-doses-save-some-cash

https://www.thesun.ie/health/9629930/covid-vaccine-ireland-shock-tiny-number-used/

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid-19-vaccines-expired-waste-moh-3026591

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14736329

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-42-of-pfizer-vaccines-going-to-waste-in-nz/6RDK366R2T6N2DAFR57NLCHP3I/

[Matt2112]

The chances of very bad outcomes are far greater from being infected by Covid compared to having any of the vaccines - which, beyond any doubt, are very likely to significantly mitigate Covid symptoms.

Adults having the vaccine, it strikes me, is therefore a no-brainier, in the absence of medical advice to the contrary.

Yet still there is a loud element in the discourse surrounding the discussion that continue to insist, in the teeth of all the accumulated evidence, that the vaccines are more hazardous to health than Covid itself.

Well, while acknowledging that the plural of anecdote is not data, I will say that my three Covid jabs so far resulted in a bout of light-headedness at worst, last year's winter flu jab caused me to take a day and a half off work, and Covid itself quite recently made me feel the shittiest I've ever been since I had a nasty case of gastroenteritis about 12 years ago, when I also spent a week and a half off work.

If vaccines had a mitigating influence, then the consequences of being unvaccinated don't bear thinking about.

My recommendation would be to play the percentages.

[David L]

The chances of very bad outcomes are far greater from being infected by Covid compared to having any of the vaccines - which, beyond any doubt, are very likely to significantly mitigate Covid symptoms.

Adults having the vaccine, it strikes me, is therefore a no-brainier, in the absence of medical advice to the contrary.

Yet still there is a loud element in the discourse surrounding the discussion that continue to insist, in the teeth of all the accumulated evidence, that the vaccines are more hazardous to health than Covid itself.

Well, while acknowledging that the plural of anecdote is not data, I will say that my three Covid jabs so far resulted in a bout of light-headedness at worst, last year's winter flu jab caused me to take a day and a half off work, and Covid itself quite recently made me feel the shittiest I've ever been since I had a nasty case of gastroenteritis about 12 years ago, when I also spent a week and a half off work.

If vaccines had a mitigating influence, then the consequences of being unvaccinated don't bear thinking about.

My recommendation would be to play the percentages.

In the light of strong data from worldwide studies suggesting that the lethality of covid (Wuhan variant) in the pre-vaccinated population was overstated, the conclusion is that the result of any risk/benefit analysis was incorrect.
To me, that seems quite important and supports my own decision.
Of course, personal decisions are what it's about but most made decisions without the most relevant facts.

[Slim]

A week ago I went to a gig with my friend Ian. Ian had phoned me the day before to say that he had tested positive for COVID and had mild symptoms. He'd understand if I didn't want to drive him to the gig, as we'd arranged.

Since I'd had COVID myself only one month previously I reasoned that I wasn't vulnerable to infection. I wouldn't have gone to an indoor public place myself in those circumstances but it's not my place to superimpose my conscience onto other people, so we went.

Hence I spent about 90 minutes last Sunday in all in a confined space (my Volkswagen UP) with a symptomatic COVID sufferer, and a couple of hours in a less confined space (the Rescue Rooms at Nottingham). And I haven't become infected myself, or at least I haven't had any symptoms.

A practical experiment in the power of natural immunity. Nothing surprising, of course - it's well known that you're highly unlikely to get another dose of the disease within three months. But quite interesting nonetheless.