All About Vaccines

[Tami]

With millions having died from the virus and cases ramping up yet again in Europe and the U.S., right on time for the holiday season, I’m of the opinion you can’t be knee-jerk enough. At the end of the day, it’s always better to err on the side of caution.

By the by, I made an appointment this morning for my Pfizer booster shot on December 6th.

Glad to hear.

Fauci: Data still being collected to determine need for a fourth booster shot

If a fourth shot is ever needed, I'm okay with that. After all, I get a flu vaccine every year.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Glad to hear.

Fauci: Data still being collected to determine need for a fourth booster shot

If a fourth shot is ever needed, I'm okay with that. After all, I get a flu vaccine every year.

Same here. It wouldn’t surprise me if yearly COVID shots become the norm.

[JB]

Pfizer testing its vaccine against new COVID-19 strain
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pfizer-...riant-omicron/

Pfizer said Friday that it can produce a COVID-19 vaccine for the new virus strain identified in South Africa in "approximately 100 days," subject to government regulatory approval.

The pharmaceutical firm said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch that its researchers are now conducting tests to see if the company's existing vaccine is effective against the variant, dubbed "Omicron" by the World Health Organization.

If not, Pfizer said it would "produce a tailor-made vaccine against that variant" alongside its German vaccine partner, BioNTech. Pfizer and BioNTech expect to have results from its tests on Omicron in two weeks, Reuters reported.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Pfizer testing its vaccine against new COVID-19 strain
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pfizer-...riant-omicron/

Good to know the scientists are working hard to stay ahead of the virus.

[CJStriker]

Pfizer Says New Vaccine Can Be Ready in 100 Days to Counter Vaccine-Escape Variants!

https://www.mediaite.com/news/pfizer...cape-variants/

"As concerns over a new coronavirus variant sent the stock market into a downward spiral Friday, its worst day of 2021 so far, Pfizer and partner Biotech offered a potential sigh of relief, saying that “in the event that a vaccine-escape variant emerges” they can have a new vaccine ready in 100 days.

“We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest. These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally,” Pfizer said in a statement Friday."

[JB]

Good to know the scientists are working hard to stay ahead of the virus.

Agreed. 100 days is still a lot faster than usual so let's see how the results go.

‘It's Coming': NY Declares State of Emergency Ahead of Potential Omicron Spike
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...spike/3421297/

[Kirby101]

Agreed. 100 days is still a lot faster than usual so let's see how the results go.

‘It's Coming': NY Declares State of Emergency Ahead of Potential Omicron Spike
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...spike/3421297/

As long as it means they cancel Stanta-Con, I am good with that.

[Tami]

As long as it means they cancel Stanta-Con, I am good with that.

Yeah, those Santa Clauses can get pretty rowdy when they are all drunk on spiked eggnog.

[JB]

As long as it means they cancel Stanta-Con, I am good with that.

Haha yes please!

[JB]

Just saw a clip of Boris Johnson saying they're going to "boost the booster campaign" amid the new variant, Omicron. I believe he also said everyone who arrives in the UK will be required to get tested on day 2 and self-isolate until a negative result is returned. Contacts of suspected Omicron cases will be required to self-isolate for 10 days.

[Tami]

How variants like omicron develop and what makes them variants 'of concern'

The new coronavirus variant was first detected recently in South Africa. The country's health minister, Joe Phaahla, said scientists were concerned about its discovery due to its high number of mutations and its swift spread among young people in Gauteng, the most populous province in the country.

Speaking at an online news briefing Thursday, Phaahla said South Africa had seen "an exponential rise" in cases over the span of four to five days and warned that the new variant appeared to be driving the surge.

Within days of the variant being identified, several countries said they found cases of B.1.1.529, now named omicron. Infections have been reported in Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel, where at least one case was identified in a traveler returning from Malawi, while two other suspected cases were placed in isolation.

As WHO explained on its website, all viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, evolve over time.

As a virus replicates, or makes copies of itself, it is normal for small changes, or "mutations," to occur. A virus with one or more mutations is then considered a variant of the original.

When a virus circulates widely throughout a population, as has been the case with the coronavirus, however, the chances of it mutating become higher, Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London, explained.

Most viral mutations can have little impact on a virus's ability to cause infections or severe health outcomes. However, if certain properties are affected — changing the virus's ability to spread or the severity of illness it causes, for instance — the impact can be significant, she said.

That, Gurdasani said, is when a variant can be on its way to becoming a “variant of concern.”

Under WHO’s “working definition” of a variant of concern, a variant must be found to be associated with one or more changes identified as concerning "at a degree of global public health significance."

Among those changes are an increase in transmissibility, which concerns spread, or an increase in virulence, which means the severity of the disease it can cause.

[JB]

Thanks for sharing that info.
It seems to be moving quickly.

Germany, Italy join list of countries with detected cases of omicron COVID-19 variant
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...-omicron-covid

[Tami]

South African doctor who first spotted the omicron Covid variant explains the symptoms

Covid symptoms linked to the new omicron variant have been described as “extremely mild” by the South African doctor who first raised the alarm over the new strain.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, told the BBC on Sunday that she started to see patients around Nov.18 presenting with “unusual symptoms” that differed slightly to those associated with the delta variant, which is the most virulent strain of the virus to date and globally dominant.

“It actually started with a male patient who’s around the age of 33 ... and he said to me that he’s just [been] extremely tired for the past few days and he’s got these body aches and pains with a bit of a headache,” she told the BBC.

The patient didn’t have a sore throat, she said, but more of a “scratchy throat” but no cough or loss of taste or smell — symptoms that have been associated with previous strains of the coronavirus.

[Phoenixx9]

I ran into a friend Saturday night who is a bit older. While he got the 2 Pfizer shots originally, he is hesitant about the booster and does not want to get it. I tried to ask why he was afraid, but could not get much of an answer. I tried to educate him on the benefits of getting the booster, but he did not seem like he changed his mind.

[JB]

On the topic of boosters, there are new guidelines for the UK.

UK’s minimum gap for Covid booster jabs to be halved to three months
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...hree-month-gap

The watchdog said adults aged 18 to 39 should be offered booster jabs and recommended cutting the gap between second and third doses from at least six months to at least three months.

Speaking in the Commons soon afterwards, Javid said the rollout would be staggered by age group, with older people invited for boosters first.