Coronavirus

[GO-NAD!]

Were there any information about vaccination rate?

No hard vaccination numbers in the report, just this statement:

Nova Scotians who were unvaccinated or had not completed their primary series were hospitalized
and died at approximately two times the rate (1.8 and 2.2, respectively) as those who received a
booster within 168 days.

 

[Mr._Clark]

The Nova Scotia government just released some COVID stats. Over the past year, 404 Nova Scotians died from Covid - 371 were over 70 years old, 31 were between 50 and 69. Just 2 were under 50.

Over the same period, 70 people died from influenza. So clearly, Covid is still not "just the flu".

Do you know if the 70 deaths attributed to influenza includes deaths from pneumonia?

In the US, the two are commonly included in one number. Here's an example:

Stats of the States - Influenza/Pneumonia Mortality

www.cdc.gov

Also, the CDC estimates deaths due to flu here in the US:

How CDC Estimates the Burden of Seasonal Influenza in the U.S. | CDC

Links to key resources on the burden of influenza - CDC

www.cdc.gov

I'm not sure how accurate these estimates are.

I tend to think you're correct that COVID is still not just the flu, but it is difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison here in the U.S.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Do you know if the 70 deaths attributed to influenza includes deaths from pneumonia?

In the US, the two are commonly included in one number. Here's an example:

Stats of the States - Influenza/Pneumonia Mortality

www.cdc.gov

Also, the CDC estimates deaths due to flu here in the US:

How CDC Estimates the Burden of Seasonal Influenza in the U.S. | CDC

Links to key resources on the burden of influenza - CDC

www.cdc.gov

I'm not sure how accurate these estimates are.

I tend to think you're correct that COVID is still not just the flu, but it is difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison here in the U.S.

It made no mention of pneumonia, so I can only assume it doesn't.

 

[Mikado463]

some more Fauci talk ........

Fauci Had Knowledge of Gain-of-Function Research Being Conducted at Wuhan Lab: Newly Revealed Emails

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Thursday made public an email that raises concerns regarding Anthony Fauci, former White House coronavirus task force advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The email, shared on the...

beckernews.com

Joe pulling $$ support ......

The Biden administration has halted the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to federal funding after the lab failed to provide documents about safety and security measures

The Biden administration has halted the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to federal funding after the lab failed to provide documents about safety and security measures, per Bloomberg. Per Bloomberg: "The Department of Health and Human Services notified the Wuhan Institute on Monday of the...

unusualwhales.com

 

[Swerd]

some more Fauci talk ........

This is absolute bs. You know better than to post this.

 

[GO-NAD!]

some more Fauci talk ........

Fauci Had Knowledge of Gain-of-Function Research Being Conducted at Wuhan Lab: Newly Revealed Emails

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Thursday made public an email that raises concerns regarding Anthony Fauci, former White House coronavirus task force advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The email, shared on the...

beckernews.com

Joe pulling $$ support ......

The Biden administration has halted the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to federal funding after the lab failed to provide documents about safety and security measures

The Biden administration has halted the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to federal funding after the lab failed to provide documents about safety and security measures, per Bloomberg. Per Bloomberg: "The Department of Health and Human Services notified the Wuhan Institute on Monday of the...

unusualwhales.com

C'mon, there are far more reliable news sources than this!
Becker News - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)

 

[Mikado463]

I knew I could count on you boys to set the record straight !

0k , so Farci had no prior knowledge, got it. How bout Biden admin pulling $$ from Wuhan ??

 

[GO-NAD!]

I knew I could count on you boys to set the record straight !

0k , so Farci had no prior knowledge, got it. How bout Biden admin pulling $$ from Wuhan ??

That appears to be factual.
Biden administration suspends funding for Wuhan lab | CNN Politics

The Biden administration has suspended funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology following a monthslong review that determined that the Chinese research institute “is not compliant with federal regulations and is not presently responsible,” according to a memo from the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS, which conducted the review, also proposed barring the Wuhan Institute from doing business with the federal government going forward, according to the memo, which is dated to Monday and was first reported by Bloomberg.

The lab has not received any federal funding from the US National Institutes of Health since July 2020, according to an HHS spokesperson.

 

[Trell]

C'mon, there are far more reliable news sources than this!
Becker News - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)

Typical Mikado link of very low quality and in this thread he has done so several times. He’s incapable of evaluating the content or the source of what he posts, which is just another sign that he’s dumb conservative.

 

[davidscott]

Totally ignorant question here. Was this lab also funded under Trump and Obama? Just curious.

 

[Mr._Clark]

This looks promising. If @Swerd is willing to weigh in, I'm curious how difficult it is (typically) to produce a vaccine once a desired antibody is identified?

>>>“Three antibodies stood out as exceptionally broad and potent, capable of neutralising all tested SARS-related viruses at very low concentrations,” said first author Dr Chia Wan Ni . . . The most powerful antibody, named E7, neutralised both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 sarbecoviruses, animal sarbecoviruses and newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as Omicron XBB.1.16. It was shown to neutralise via a unique mechanism of binding that bridges two parts of the coronavirus’ spike protein that it uses to invade cells. This appears to lock the spike in an inactive conformation and block the shape-shifting process the virus requires to infect cells and cause illness.

“The neutralising potency and breadth of the E7 antibody exceeded any other SARS-related coronavirus antibodies we’ve come across,” noted Dr Chia. “It maintained activity against even the newest Omicron subvariants, while most other antibodies lose effectiveness.” . . . “This work demonstrates that induction of broad sarbecovirus-neutralising antibodies is possible—it just needs the right immunogenic sequence and method of delivery,” said Prof Wang. “This provides hope that the design of a universal coronavirus vaccine is achievable.” <<<

Duke-NUS Medical School - All News

Check out the latest news and media highlights at Duke-NUS.

www.duke-nus.edu.sg

 

[Swerd]

This looks promising. If @Swerd is willing to weigh in, I'm curious how difficult it is (typically) to produce a vaccine once a desired antibody is identified?

Yes, it should be easy to produce a vaccine from that knowledge. In the lab, synthetically produce a series of peptide molecules, about 15 amino acids long, whose sequences overlap and correspond to the region (epitope) those investigators identified that "bridges two parts of the coronavirus’ spike protein that it uses to invade cells". Mix them and immunize test animals. That technique is essentially the same as what was done during 2020 once the sequence of the parent-strain coronavirus was published. That original effort was directed against the spike protein (entire sequence?), instead of focusing on the spike protein's 'bridge' region.

And yes, a vaccine directed against that bridge portion of the spike protein MIGHT work as a universal vaccine recognizing most of the SARS-CoV-2 variants. It also might not. That requires clinical testing.

I wonder why these investigators are focusing on neutralizing antibodies (B-cell immunity) and not looking directly at spike protein epitope(s) that work at stimulating potent and long-lasting T-cell immunity. Finding neutralizing antibodies is cheap & easy work to do compared to finding ways to immunize for T-cell responses, but this approach has already been shown to produce short-lived immunity in humans.

And finally, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has surprised everyone in it's ability to rapidly mutate and adapt to changing conditions. Developing a vaccine that might be universal, might also be temporarily universal. The existence of this or any vaccine will definitely change the biological conditions the virus faces for reproduction. The unanswered question is will this universal vaccine wipe out the virus once and for all – or – will it challenge this highly mutable virus to develop more mutations that allow it escape immunity again.

The best answer is to develop many different vaccines, using many different approaches. We've already been doing that since 2020.

 

[cpp]

Totally ignorant question here. Was this lab also funded under Trump and Obama? Just curious.

The lab has been in operation since 1956,
In 1962 the lab was renamed Wuhan Microbiology Institute.
In 2005, a group including researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology published research into the origin of the SARs Coronavirus.

The rest is history

 

[TLS Guy]

I know you are all tired of this, but variant XBB.1.9.2 a related to the omicron variant, also known as EG 5 and dubbed "Eris" seems to be a problem variant.

Judged by it spread it would appear to have increased transmissibility. However this is hard to discern in the face of increased population immunity. There is increasing evidence that this variant does have immune escape. Obviously that makes it hard to asses whether the increase in cases world wide is due to increased transmissibility or immune escape. As far as I know none of the vaccines have yet been tweaked to cover this variant.

The pandemic phase remains over. What the endemic phase will look like is very uncertain. I would say that this virus is unusually unstable. I personally believe that it is unlikely a naturally occurring, and was designed for gain of function.

This has been a problem in many countries, and especially the UK. On that note my wife's sister and her husband recently got significantly ill from this despite being fully vaccinated.

This variant is showing up in sewage in increasing numbers in the US. The only way we have of tracking cases in the US now, is by hospitalization rates, which are on the rise. Interestingly the movie Barbie is getting a lot of the blame for the spread.

The endemic phase of this infection is still hard to predict. But certainly it seems to be proving much more unstable than the influenza viruses. This has to be a concern, and will make keeping vaccines current a challenge. The search for a universal Sars vaccine needs to proceed at pace.

 

[cpp]

Interestingly the movie Barbie is getting a lot of the blame for the spread.

And the Taylor Swiffy concerts

 

[Mikado463]

I personally believe that it is unlikely a naturally occurring, and was designed for gain of function.

easy there Doc, I posted back on 7/19 a 'possible' Fauci involvement in such and was immediately reprimanded by the Gestapo.............

 

[TLS Guy]

easy there Doc, I posted back on 7/19 a 'possible' Fauci involvement in such and was immediately reprimanded by the Gestapo.............

I think the Chinese could do this without Fauci's help.

 

[TLS Guy]

And the Taylor Swiffy concerts

Yes, that as well. Things are on the move again, we had a friend from Benedict stay and leave a car here while going to Washington DC to help with child care. She flew back and arrived here early hours of Tuesday, and left Tuesday morning. She fell ill Thursday, and tested positive for Covid today, and so was quite likely infectious while here.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Yes, that as well. Things are on the move again, we had a friend from Benedict stay and leave a car here while going to Washington DC to help with child care. She flew back and arrived here early hours of Tuesday, and left Tuesday morning. She fell ill Thursday, and tested positive for Covid today, and so was quite likely infectious while here.

We just don't learn fast enough.

 

[davidscott]

The lab has been in operation since 1956,
In 1962 the lab was renamed Wuhan Microbiology Institute.
In 2005, a group including researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology published research into the origin of the SARs Coronavirus.

The rest is history

Nice to know. So, the virus is out there and continues to evolve on its own, I guess.