Coronavirus, Ebola and Infectious diseases, Food & Drugs, Studies, Recalls #7

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Message 2068524 - Posted: 16 Feb 2021, 1:38:34 UTC - in response to Message 2068501.  

And another one in the UK. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/15/32-cases-of-latest-covid-variant-of-concern-found-in-uk
Another coronavirus variant with a potentially worrying set of mutations has been detected in the UK and should be targeted in surge testing, experts have said.

The variant, known as B1525, is the subject of a report by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, who say it has been detected through genome sequencing in 10 countries including Denmark, the US and Australia, with 32 cases found in the UK so far. The earliest sequences were dated to December and cropped up in the UK and Nigeria.
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Message 2068528 - Posted: 16 Feb 2021, 4:11:49 UTC

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/15/uk-study-finds-kent-variant-may-be-70-more-deadly
The findings from the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), published on Friday on the government’s website, underscored concerns about how mutations may change the characteristics of SARS-CoV2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and alter the course of the pandemic.

NERVTAG’s report was based on a dozen studies that found the so-called Kent variant, named after the county where it was first identified, is likely 30 percent to 70 percent more deadly than other versions of the novel coronavirus in circulation.

Those studies compared hospitalisation and death rates among people infected with the B.1.1.7 variant and those infected with other strains.
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Message 2068537 - Posted: 16 Feb 2021, 8:02:51 UTC - in response to Message 2068528.  

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/15/uk-study-finds-kent-variant-may-be-70-more-deadly
The findings from the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), published on Friday on the government’s website, underscored concerns about how mutations may change the characteristics of SARS-CoV2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and alter the course of the pandemic.

NERVTAG’s report was based on a dozen studies that found the so-called Kent variant, named after the county where it was first identified, is likely 30 percent to 70 percent more deadly than other versions of the novel coronavirus in circulation.

Those studies compared hospitalisation and death rates among people infected with the B.1.1.7 variant and those infected with other strains.

I think that the 70% number probably comes from the 30% more transmissible and 30% more deadly.
1.3 * 1.3 = 1.69
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Message 2068545 - Posted: 16 Feb 2021, 10:51:07 UTC

Be Warned.
BBC - Covid: Ardrossan care worker caught virus twice and fears it could happen again
A Scottish care worker has revealed how she caught Covid twice within seven months.
Michelle Lamont, from Ardrossan in North Ayrshire, tested positive for the virus in April 2020.
But the 50-year-old was "stunned" when routine testing picked up the infection again in November.
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Message 2068586 - Posted: 17 Feb 2021, 6:03:34 UTC

By the end of the last reporting period saw the world's total case tally pass 110 million along with over 2,428,300 deaths. :-(

In the top 30 of the death list saw Portugal take 25th place from Ecuador in the only change there and now for the changes in the case list.

Malawi bumped Australia out of 110th place, Senegal took 108th from Ivory Coast while Mozambique removed Finland from 99th, Estonia slipped past Luxembourg to claim 97th as Zambia passed Montenegro to take over 91st, Sri Lanka moved into 89th passing Ghana and Moldova followed by Palestine passed Armenia to claim 65th and 66th spots respectively.

Belarus took 46th place from Georgia and then Malaysia and Ecuador followed putting Georgia back down to 49th while Slovakia removed Nepal from 44th as the U.A.E. claimed 40th from Jordan and Switzerland replaced Bangladesh in 32nd.

Well that's it for this update.
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Message 2068619 - Posted: 17 Feb 2021, 18:33:23 UTC

Is this pandemic taking far too long?

Has the news media got us all exhausted??

Unfortunately, perhaps so:


Covid deaths: If the news leaves you numb, you're not alone
wrote:
... When the UK Covid death toll reached 100,000, it was a devastating milestone. Now it's over 117,000.

Many of us struggle to process such huge numbers, which get bigger by the day. Carrying on as normal seems inadequate, but what else can you do?...



Also, how can we best deal with those people that after a year, yet still do not believe or care that there is a pandemic and that themselves and all others around them are at risk?


Stay safe folks!
Martin
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Message 2068621 - Posted: 17 Feb 2021, 18:45:29 UTC - in response to Message 2068619.  

Also, how can we best deal with those people that after a year, yet still do not believe or care that there is a pandemic and that themselves and all others around them are at risk?

What do you propose to do with idiots and morons? Do a bean counter on them, do they add or subtract more to society?
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Message 2068626 - Posted: 17 Feb 2021, 20:22:51 UTC - in response to Message 2068621.  

Also, how can we best deal with those people that after a year, yet still do not believe or care that there is a pandemic and that themselves and all others around them are at risk?

What do you propose to do with idiots and morons? Do a bean counter on them, do they add or subtract more to society?

For better or for worse, Natural Selection will naturally do some counting regardless.

As for the rest: This is where we need to have some useful strategies in place to safely accommodate them...


Unfortunately, the progress of this pandemic shows that our present strategies are inadequate to avoid or to recover from any pandemic.


Stay safe folks!
Martin
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Message 2068671 - Posted: 18 Feb 2021, 11:05:01 UTC
Last modified: 18 Feb 2021, 11:09:09 UTC

Pfizer says South African variant could significantly reduce vaccine protection
(Reuters) - A laboratory study suggests that the South African variant of the coronavirus may reduce antibody protection from the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE vaccine by two-thirds, and it is not clear if the shot will be effective against the mutation, the companies said on Wednesday.
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Message 2068686 - Posted: 18 Feb 2021, 17:57:52 UTC - in response to Message 2068671.  
Last modified: 18 Feb 2021, 17:59:04 UTC

Pfizer says South African variant could significantly reduce vaccine protection
(Reuters) - A laboratory study suggests that the South African variant of the coronavirus may reduce antibody protection from the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE vaccine by two-thirds, and it is not clear if the shot will be effective against the mutation, the companies said on Wednesday.

Thanks for that, but what a misleadingly hideously worded article! The news sensationalism has badly got in the way of accuracy for that article!!

The key note buried in there is:

... “We don’t know what the minimum neutralizing number is. We don’t have that cutoff line,” he said, adding that he suspects the immune response observed is likely to be significantly above where it needs to be to provide protection.

That is because in clinical trials, both the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and a similar shot from Moderna Inc conferred some protection after a single dose with an antibody response lower than the reduced levels caused by the South African variant in the laboratory study.

Even if the concerning variant significantly reduces effectiveness, the vaccine should still help protect against severe disease and death, he noted. Health experts have said that is the most important factor in keeping stretched healthcare systems from becoming overwhelmed...



Stop the deadly pandemic: Go get yer vaccination!

Stay safe folks!
Martin
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Message 2068753 - Posted: 19 Feb 2021, 8:34:51 UTC

Scarcity of niche biotech ingredients hinder vaccine production
Acuitas, a tiny biotechnology firm in Vancouver, B.C., has just 30 employees and leases its labs from the University of British Columbia. The company doesn’t even have a sign on its building. Until last year, it outsourced production of only small volumes of lipid nanoparticles, fat droplets used to deliver RNA into cells, for research and a single approved treatment for a rare disease.

But now, one of Acuitas’s discoveries has become a precious commodity. A proprietary molecule called ionizable cationic lipid is a crucial piece of the mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and it is in urgent demand to produce billions of vaccine doses worldwide.

Scaling up production of formerly niche substances such as lipid nanoparticles for a global vaccine drive has been among the most complex challenges facing the Biden administration as it aims to ramp up the frustratingly slow provision of shots across the country, according to interviews with company officials and outside scientists and government reports.

On Jan. 21, the new president’s second day in office, the Biden administration issued a report that cited shortages of lipid nanoparticles among “urgent gaps” in the vaccine supply chain.

“It’s on a scale that hasn’t been done before,” said Pieter Cullis, the Canadian scientist and Acuitas chairman who is considered a godfather of lipid nanoparticle technology.
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Message 2068810 - Posted: 20 Feb 2021, 6:10:51 UTC

The last reporting period saw the world's total case tally pass 111.2 million while deaths passed 2,462,600. :-(

The U.S. still leads the way with over 28.6 million infections being recorded along with over 507,000 deaths while Brazil (3rd) has passed 10 million with over 244,900 deaths (2nd on that list).

Anyhow there's been no change to the top 30 positions on the death list so I'll do the place changes on the case list.

Cameroon has taken 106th place from Cyprus, Cuba has replaced Uganda in 102nd while Mozambique displaced Luxembourg from 98th, Estonia slipped past Afghanistan to claim 96th as Ghana nudged Sri Lanka out of 89th, Latvia took 87th spot from Uzbekistan and South Korea passed Kyrgyzstan to take over 85th.

Guatemala claimed 67th place from Armenia, Greece took 63rd from Egypt as Bulgaria and the Dominican Republic both passed Azerbaijan to take up 52nd and 53rd respectively, Bolivia nudged Croatia out of 50th while Malaysia jumped over both Belarus and Nepal to land in 45th and then Belarus passed Nepal to take up 46th spot. Mexico also became the 13th country to pass 2 million cases.

Anyhow that's it for now and the next update will come once the all the weekend's numbers are in.
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Message 2068811 - Posted: 20 Feb 2021, 7:23:02 UTC

Is this woman for real? Covid-19: UK should send vaccines to poorer nations now - WTO chief

Does she know that most of the vaccines ordered either haven't been manufactures yet, or are from companies that haven't had their vaccines approved yet.
I'm told from a knowledgeable person in the NHS that the time from departure from the manufacturing plant to being injected in an arm can be less than 5 days.
And going by what has been reported in the press, those that think they might be in line for their 1st jab in April and onwards might be disappointed as most of the vaccines available will be required for 2nd jabs, in people like me. Extending the period between the 1st and 2nd jabs beyond 12 weeks is not up for discussion say the experts.
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Message 2068832 - Posted: 20 Feb 2021, 13:17:59 UTC

Fighting COVID (with a side dish of budget pork for CA).
House COVID bill includes over $100 million for controversial Silicon Valley underground rail project.

"It doesn’t help one person get the vaccine or boost testing capabilities. This is just further proof that congressional Democrats view the reconciliation process as a means to push through their wish list – which includes forcing taxpayers to pay even more for an over budget and delayed construction project in one of the wealthiest regions in the country."
"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

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Message 2068834 - Posted: 20 Feb 2021, 14:21:04 UTC - in response to Message 2068832.  

True, it won't get one person vaccinated, but that's not the purpose of the bill. The purpose is in its title - to STIMULATE the recovery from the damage done by the virus and attempts at its containment over the last year.
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Message 2068841 - Posted: 20 Feb 2021, 15:46:54 UTC

I'm sure $100 million worth of preferential treatment for CA is not going to stimulate much more than backslapping by the democrats that are pushing it through by attaching it to COVID based legislation.
"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

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Message 2068848 - Posted: 20 Feb 2021, 16:42:51 UTC - in response to Message 2068832.  

Fighting COVID (with a side dish of budget pork for CA).
House COVID bill includes over $100 million for controversial Silicon Valley underground rail project.

"It doesn’t help one person get the vaccine or boost testing capabilities. This is just further proof that congressional Democrats view the reconciliation process as a means to push through their wish list – which includes forcing taxpayers to pay even more for an over budget and delayed construction project in one of the wealthiest poorest regions in the country."
Poor thanks to the Howard Jarvis Landlords Association's proposition 13 that stripped cities and counties of their tax base to perform infrastructure projects.
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Message 2068895 - Posted: 21 Feb 2021, 1:55:38 UTC

"Have The New Jab"

Stay Safe
Andy
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Message 2068989 - Posted: 22 Feb 2021, 14:30:29 UTC

Okay. Walked away, had a nice coffee & sat outside in the fresh air. Came back in. Good, nice & calm. :-)
Approx. 11:55 received a call. Posted publicly via Google on surgery.
Your telephone system is shambolic. You lack security concerns. Received a call a short time ago purporting to be your surgery. Caller requested to speak to my partner, a patient of your surgery, so passed phone over to her.
Call was to book a Covid jab & all went well until I heard my partner give her address & D.O.B. Banks & companies do not do this. They only require confirmation when the call is initiated by the client/customer/patient.

I interrupted call at that point & asked the caller to confirm their identity. All I got was that this is the doctors surgery & mentioned something about calling on mobile? Then she hung up.
Tried called the surgery & got told that I am 11th in queue, a short time later, that went to 10th..................
....gave up after 30 minutes waiting. Experienced numerous scam calls over the years which was the reason for the call to the surgery.
In this day & age with the amount of hacking & scams out there, don't you think your staff should identify themselves when they initiate calls?

As for using your online feedback form. Negative you ask for too much personal information which you have no need to have.
When you initiate calls, you have the patients details on screen so why ask for them along with failure to identity yourselves that has all the hallmarks of a scam.
I rate you 1/10
Just like a school teacher, I'll add a comment....
...Could do much better!
BTW, just like mine, her jab is someplace else out in the sticks. Another edge of the city. Sheesh.
Oh, if many think I am out of order, I recognised the voice, it was the surgery. Unless I initiate a call, I don't do personal info over the phone.
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Message 2069002 - Posted: 22 Feb 2021, 16:42:52 UTC - in response to Message 2068989.  
Last modified: 22 Feb 2021, 16:47:12 UTC

BTW, just like mine, her jab is someplace else out in the sticks. Another edge of the city. Sheesh.

Here in the UK, the vaccinations are only being done in large public venues, even cathedrals(!), or only in the larger medical centres. From what I've seen, that looks to be a very good idea to be able to safely get large numbers of people through, quickly, and with enough space to keep everything safe. Some are organized by the military to very good positive effect.

And that is all a good idea that appears to be well organized. OK, that may well mean you need to travel to 'foreign parts' away from your 'normal' territory.

The vaccine roll-out looks to be one good success for our government!


Oh, if many think I am out of order, I recognised the voice, it was the surgery. Unless I initiate a call, I don't do personal info over the phone.

Yes, our medical admins seem to be somewhat behind the times and rely on a name, address, date of birth check for identifying anyone. That is actually intended as a check against mistakes rather than an actual security check. (Those three details are pretty much publicly available in any case...)

Unfortunately, scam callers have pretty much made cold calling poisonous. You can't rely on the caller-id not being spoofed either. Perhaps the only reliable way is for your doctors to send a message for you to call them back on a known number and confirm a security phrase that they sent you with their callback request. However, that secured procedure will be beyond some people to follow...


Stay safe folks!
Martin
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Message boards : Politics : Coronavirus, Ebola and Infectious diseases, Food & Drugs, Studies, Recalls #7


 
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