PanAmWT

NYT has an article today praising the great job Japan did. Its performance beats every one in the top ten economies of the world except China. The table they published is rather intriguing. Look at where India is in the table.

The Covid Olympics

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/briefing/olympic-games-japan-covid-summer.html

By The New York Times (May 5, 2021, 6:26 a.m. ET.) | Sources: Governments, health agencies and hospitals

radonc1

I thought that this NYT's article would stimulate some discussion about vaccinations. This is well worth the read for entertainment as well as information.

$100 as Incentive to Get a Shot? Experiment Suggests It Can Pay Off.

"A cash reward works best with Democrats, and relaxing safety guidelines seems to motivate Republicans, a survey study shows."

It is amazing that even research can get political.

Dan1113

Any thoughts on this news from the Seychelles?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-56992121

downinit

There is another thread on the same subject. The real question raised here is about the effectiveness of the Sinopharm vaccine, which accounts for over half of the doses administered there. It is also important to acknowledge that 40% of the population had no vaccine, yet the country reopened on the assumption that COVID is no longer a threat. I would like to see more data on breakthrough cases involving AZ. It also raises potential questions about the quality of the AZ coming out of India. I do find it interesting that China continues to trumpet their success against COVID, but there seem to be an endless string of stories of Chinese travelers arriving in various countries in SE Asia and testing postive for COVID upon arrival or in quarantine. Cambodia had a few very high profile super spreader events triggered by Chinese visitors recently. Chile is another cautionary tale on what happens when people rely on Sinopharm. Not looking to China-bash, as what they have accomplished in that country in the last 40 years is quite remarkable (human rights issues aside), but there are definitely a few red flags being raised on their vaccine and COVID data.

Stgermainparis

Question about Pfizer 12-15 vaccine. Once FDA approves and assuming CDC agrees, is there any reason (aside from state prioritization guidelines) why a 12-15 year old would not be able to just go get the first shot at the local Walgreens (or wherever)?

jmastron

I've been looking into the same thing, because my 15yo is itching to get it -- I think it's going to come down to how quickly each provider updates any flags/checks in their appointment or on-site system. I read an article that Chicago said they'll be ready to vaccinate 12-15s the day after a decision, but that doesn't help here!

I would assume they will need to be escorted with a parent staying with them, as my 16yo did for both shots.

GUWonder

Yes, the 12-15 year old child would need to satisfy the vaccination site's administrative personnel that there has been parental/guardian approval (and maybe even parental/guardian presence at time of vaccination). The same kind of thing has already been an issue for 16 and 17 year olds in places across the US. The vaccinating entities often ask for identifying info + info about any insurance, even if they don't require government-issued identification and/or insurance information.

A few days ago again I saw some older high school students trying to get vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine and the pharmacy's personnel said they can't process them because they wanted to make sure they had parental authorization before vaccinating them. And that was after they slowed down the check-in process for people with appointments because they were on a cellphone trying to find out what to do to go ahead. They ended up leaving without getting vaccinated that time.

PanAmWT

The common problem of surges after using the Chinese vaccines seems to be the removal of restrictions after one shot, and the great majority of people did not know that there is little protection immediately after the first shot. A famous story is a whole bunch of Chilean youths went to bar to celebrated their shot the day before. Imagine everyone in the US go into crowded bars (and without face mask) to celebrate the day after their first pfizer or moderna.

exp

You mean Chinese vaccines?

PanAmWT

Yes, Thanks!

Stgermainparis

Thank you! This is helpful. I should’ve included “with parent or parental consent”. I’m basically ready to be camped out like it’s Black Friday with my kid wanting the new Switch console.

GUWonder

After the US opens up for vaccinating 12-15 year olds, I suggest making an appointment online as soon as you can for the dates of relevance for the child. Latest survey data shows that about a third of American parents are going to get their 12-15 year olds vaccinated and many of them will do so as soon as they can in the summer and there will also be other people thinking they should rush to get vaccinated before the summer is over.

The US retail chains with pharmacies offering the vaccines allow easy online booking of appointments. [They don't currently allow Covid-19 vaccinations for anyone under 16 years of age, so no need to book the appointment for the child yet.] If a vaccinating site's online appointment tool asks for a Social Security Number for the child, 0000ing the field should work.

No insurance is required to get vaccinated in the country, but if you have insurance coverage and provide it to the vaccinating entity, then they will bill your insurance even as you will owe nothing for the vaccination; and for those without insurance coverage, they set the billing code for a domestic government entity to pick up the costs.

PanAmWT

Today's UCSF Grand Rounds

The State of the Pandemic, and Covid-19 and Immunosuppressed Patients

• California likely will reach regional immunity
• Large percentage of immunosuppressed (IS) patients have negative antibody response
• The time separation needed for treatment of various types of immunosuppressed patients and vaccination is still being studied. UCSF has a guideline in their web site of infectioncontrol.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/sites/g/files/tkssra4681/f/Vaccine_Guidelines_IC_Special_Populations.pdf
• Anti-spike antibody test can be done but it is not certain how to interpret the result or what to act
• B cell response and T cell response are correlated
• General recommendation is to treat vaccinated IS patients as un-vaccinated (face masks, social distancing, etc)
• Also to treat people with negative response to anti-spike IGg test as un-vaccinated
• IS patients may carry viruses for extended period and are still contagious

fransknorge

Thanks for sharing that.
This is not great news, there is a lot of implications for this:

• General recommendation is to treat vaccinated IS patients as un-vaccinated (face masks, social distancing, etc)

I am a bit surprised they consider patients treated with B-Cells affecting medications the same as people treated with TNF-Inhibitors.
This is the results from one study with a limited sample size, this is to be noted. More will come from larger studies.

downinit

Some data from the CDC regarding breakthroughs. As of April 26, 9245 infections and 594 hospitalizations reported from breakthrough cases out of 95M people. Given that we are still at 45k cases/day here overall, I would say those numbers are pretty good. Unfortunately, facts are not going to convince anti-vaxxers to get a vaccine.