All About Vaccines

[CaptainEurope]

Good charts, thanks for posting.
I'm glad the CDC is drilling down deeper into what percentage of deaths included multiple co-morbidities (they recently stated around 75% having 4 or more). Unfortunately we're known to have an unhealthy population here in the States, meanwhile Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world. F

Important context: That is about the rare cases of VACCINATED people who still die from/with covid. If you are unvaccinated, you do not need 4 comorbidities to die from it.

[Tami]

‘I Had Never Felt Worse’: Long Covid Sufferers Are Struggling With Exercise

When Natalie Hollabaugh tested positive for Covid-19 in March 2020, her recovery felt extremely slow. Eighteen months later, she was still suffering from a litany of symptoms, including fatigue, shortness of breath, headaches and joint pain. She saw a cardiologist and a pulmonologist, who both ruled out other health problems, she said. And they advised her to start exercising, suggesting that some of her symptoms may have been a result of being out of shape. So Ms. Hollabaugh dutifully began using an exercise bike, speed walking on a treadmill and walking her dogs several miles a day.

But instead of helping, her new exercise regimen only exacerbated her symptoms. “I had never felt worse,” said Ms. Hollabaugh, 31, a lawyer who lives in Portland, Ore. She found she had to start taking daily naps, that her heart rate would skyrocket even when she was at rest and that she was so tired she couldn’t concentrate.

As one of the many Americans suffering from long Covid, a condition characterized by new or lingering symptoms that can be felt for months after a coronavirus infection, Ms. Hollabaugh is not alone in experiencing setbacks with exercise. Natalie Lambert, a biostatistician and health data scientist at the Indiana University School of Medicine, has collected self-reported data from more than a million long Covid patients through a collaboration with Survivor Corps, a Facebook support group for Covid survivors. Patients frequently report that their doctors have advised them to exercise, she said — but many say that when they do, they feel worse afterward.

“The research that I’ve done has shown that inability to exercise is one of the most common long-term symptoms,” Dr. Lambert said. Some people are simply too tired to exercise, she said, while others experience debilitating symptom relapses like increases in fatigue, brain fog or muscle pain. This worsening of symptoms after engaging in even just a little bit of physical activity — what is sometimes called “post-exertional malaise” — seems to be common among long Covid patients. When researchers performed an online survey of 3,762 people with long Covid, as part of a study published in August, they found that 89 percent reported post-exertional malaise.

[JB]

Important context: That is about the rare cases of VACCINATED people who still die from/with covid. If you are unvaccinated, you do not need 4 comorbidities to die from it.

Yeah I read that but she was talking about deaths from the start of the pandemic, including the time before there were vaccines, so she definitely should have made a clearer distinction.

[JB]

Sweden declare pandemic over, despite warnings from scientists
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ts-2022-02-09/

Sweden scrapped almost all of its few pandemic restrictions on Wednesday and stopped most testing for COVID-19, even as the pressure on the healthcare systems remained high and some scientists begged for more patience in fighting the disease.

Sweden's government, which throughout the pandemic has opted against lockdowns in favour of a voluntary approach, announced last week it would scrap the remaining restrictions - effectively declaring the pandemic over - as vaccines and the less severe Omicron variant have cushioned severe cases and deaths.

Norway lifts almost all remaining COVID restrictions
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt...tions-82844110

Norway says it is lifting almost all remaining COVID restrictions as it doesn’t see a major health threat to citizens any more, even though the omicron variant is still spreading in the Nordic nation.

“This is the day we have been waiting for,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere during a news conference in Oslo on Saturday. “We are removing almost all coronavirus measures.”

As of Saturday, Norwegians are no longer required to wear masks in crowded places and the one-meter (3-foot) distancing rule is abolished. In addition, self-isolation requirements are lifted and replaced with a recommendation that infected adults stay at home for four days.

[JB]

Biden Contractor Vaccine Mandate Blocked by Arizona Judge
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-...-arizona-judge

An Arizona judge issued a final judgment in a challenge to President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring Covid-19 vaccines for federal contractor workers, shielding the state’s employees and companies that do business with the government from the mandate.

Judge Michael Liburdi of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in Phoenix on Thursday granted a permanent injunction against the executive order, after a previous order from January that temporarily blocked its enforcement and didn’t define its full scope. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued over the vaccine requirement, saying it exceeded the scope of executive power.

NY vaccine mandate today: Here's who could lose their jobs (and who won't)
https://www.cnet.com/health/ny-vacci...-and-who-wont/

As deadlines hit, unvaccinated workers face the consequences of state and local mandates.

In New York on Friday, more than 3,000 employees face termination for not complying with the city's mandate (that's less than 1% of the city's 370,000 municipal workers). A few hundred protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge Monday and took their complaints about the mandate to City Hall.

[CaptainEurope]

Yeah I read that but she was talking about deaths from the start of the pandemic, including the time before there were vaccines, so she definitely should have made a clearer distinction.

I think she made that distinction but the interview was edited on tv. If you know it's about vaccinated people, you can do better than to repeat it without the clarification, Benito.

[CaptainEurope]

Sweden declare pandemic over, despite warnings from scientists
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ts-2022-02-09/



Norway lifts almost all remaining COVID restrictions
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt...tions-82844110

No politician can declare the pandemic over. At this point, they can just declare they are no longer protecting vulnerable groups.

[JB]

I think she made that distinction but the interview was edited on tv. If you know it's about vaccinated people, you can do better than to repeat it without the clarification, Benito.

I said I read that but it didn't quite track with me because they were discussing the, at the time, almost 900K that we lost to covid. I was watching the interview live and it wasn't a conversation specific to vaccinated or unvaccinated.

You seem well informed on the topic of vaccines so you could have shared with us that your country's STIKO stated only the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine should be offered to people under the age of 30, and to no longer administer the Moderna vaccine to them.

[CaptainEurope]

I said I read that but it didn't quite track with me because they were discussing the, at the time, almost 900K that we lost to covid. I was watching the interview live and it wasn't a conversation specific to vaccinated or unvaccinated.

You seem well informed on the topic of vaccines so you could have shared with us that your country's STIKO stated only the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine should be offered to people under the age of 30, and to no longer administer the Moderna vaccine to them.

I think the STIKO has been a disaster, especially as far as communication is concerned. And they are completely immune to learning from criticism, as could be seen by the rollout of the new Novovax vaccine. Again, like with previous vaccines, they say "we do not recommend it fro pregnant women" instead of "as there are no studies about pregnant women and the vaccine, we are withholding a recommendation at this point until there is more data." What the people hear and remember is that the vaccine might be dangerous for unborn children, when there is no evidence of that, while covid is causing miscarriages.

[JB]

I think the STIKO has been a disaster, especially as far as communication is concerned. And they are completely immune to learning from criticism, as could be seen by the rollout of the new Novovax vaccine. Again, like with previous vaccines, they say "we do not recommend it fro pregnant women" instead of "as there are no studies about pregnant women and the vaccine, we are withholding a recommendation at this point until there is more data." What the people hear and remember is that the vaccine might be dangerous for unborn children, when there is no evidence of that, while covid is causing miscarriages.

Then we certainly have that in common where the leading authorities on the subject have been communication disasters. After the CDC here cut the self-isolation time in half and recommended that medical professionals don't have to quarantine when testing positive (!!!), people were in an uproar and public faith in them plummeted. When comparing data reporting with other nations, I find we're far behind here in the States.

[JB]

New CDC Covid-19 metrics drop strong mask recommendations for most of the country
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/25/healt...nce/index.html

New York state school mask mandate will end Wednesday
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mask-ma...rk-covid-rate/

New York City to lift vaccination mandate for businesses, events
Mask rules for city schools were likely to end the same day, March 7, Mayor Eric Adams said. Masks are optional at Tuesday’s State of the Union address in Washington.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ents-rcna17415

Washington DC to drop coronavirus vaccination requirement to enter businesses
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md...ctions-lifted/

Washington DC’s mask mandate is ending in most indoor settings
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/v...6-a39e02233d08

California, Oregon, Washington to drop school mask mandates
The governors of California, Oregon and Washington have announced that schoolchildren will no longer be required to wear masks starting March 12
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt...dates-83162388

[CaptainEurope]

So, Novavax is here. It's a protein based vaccine, so it's the first "old fashioned" covid vaccine, similar to how the flu vaccine works.

Many anti-vaxxers in Germany had guaranteed us that they just did not want to be "guinea pigs" for new vax treatments.

To nobodody's surprise, there isn't much of a run on Novavax, either. Antivaxers will antivax.

[JB]

France To Lift Vaccine Mandate March 14, Paving The Way For Novak Djokovic To Defend French Open Crown
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzag...h=18284f5a5330

France will lift its vaccine mandate on March 14, paving the way for world No. 2 Novak Djokovic to defend his French Open title later this spring.

The French Open runs May 22-June 5.

“The health situation is improving,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex told TF1 television Thursday as the country gradually eases Covid health protocols amid signs the virus is receding in France.

Apparently Castex also said mandatory mask mandates will be suspended as well.

[CaptainEurope]

Denmark currently has the highest number of daily deaths since the start of the pandemic.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The indoor mask mandate here in Philadelphia was lifted early yesterday afternoon. The only exceptions at present are schools, medical facilities and mass transit.