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[Rolan7]

Sitting next to someone on Memorial Day who doesn't say anything.  I sip a pint and read my phone.  He stares at the TV.

That's one of my memories of human connection, and alcohol wasn't really involved.

[King Zultan]

Human contact is over rated, who needs it when you have...    I don't know pets or something.

[Egan_BW]

I don't need human contact, I need people to LEAVE ME ALONE WHILE IM GAMING

HAHA GET IT BECAUSE IM A G̟͟A̙̣̣̦̕M͔̮̭͞E̸̤̖̗̙R͇̮̣̮͓

M̱͕̟̼̞I̖S͎AN̻̳͠T̫̫̝̼̙͇HR̮̣̻̘̤͠Ọ̣P̯̱̱Y ̵I̼̻̼̞͔S̫̱͠ ̴̬F͟U̠͚̗̻̱̠̯͜N͏̦̞̝̥͇͔N̥̝̳Y̟ ̩̠͉H̺̫͉͇̰̹̱́A̹Ḩ͈A҉̲̯͇̰̪̜̪

[wierd]

Silly poser.

The truly asocial fill their time with simple pleasures, and simply have no real love for human contact to begin with.

(I speak from experience.)

It need not be gaming. It could be crochet, or knit, or going camping or fishing.  Something simple, solitary, time consuming, and enjoyable.  Just that in the modern world, gaming seems to fit that bill nicely for a lot of people.

[Iduno]

Or opening a school, but not offering education.

Wow, big slam on the US out of nowhere.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We've been forcing schools to open, despite doctors and teachers saying it's a bad idea, and also everyone is somehow getting sick from it.

[martinuzz]

Fuck, it is official now.
The AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines do not work against the South-African variant. As in, not at all. There was no difference in number of infected between the test groups and control groups.

It is not yet known if the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are also ineffective against it, that is still being researched.

EDIT: As a small consolation though, the Janssen vaccin did signicficantly reduce the disease's severity. Those who were infected needed no hospitalization.

[Starver]

Where's that from?

AZ was apparently less effective against ZA[1] variant but still mitigated any illness that resulted, last I heard.



[1] Totally unpunningly intended, but notably ironic[2] now that it's written in.

[2] Maybe only in an Alanis Morissette way...

[martinuzz]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/world/africa/covid-vaccine-astrazeneca-south-africa.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/virus-ontsnapt-aan-vaccin-in-zuid-afrika-dit-kon-wel-eens-een-groot-probleem-worden~b6de786e/

[Starver]

I think that matches what I was talking about, then. Just differences in interpretation[1] and stress.



[1] In the sense other than "translation". But I only read your provided NYT link, so maybe the native Volkskrant diverges further.

[martinuzz]

The Volkskrant diverges a bit further, in that it states that it is as of yet unknown if AZ also helps lessen the disease's severity, like the Janssen vaccine.

The article also states that, even though the available vaccins do work against the British variant, there is still cause for concern, because the British variant has also remutated a couple of times at the same spot that makes the South-African variant dodge the vaccin, possibly through recombination with the South-African variant.

There's worries that we will see more and more recombination amongst virus variants as they spread around the world and mingle.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266429-uk-coronavirus-variant-gets-nastier-as-south-african-variant-spreads/


EDIT: but yeah, interpretation and stress too I guess. In my opinion, the task of a vaccin is to prevent infection. It doesn't do that at all.
It's nice and all that it apparently does decrease disease severity, but that's not going to help much with attaining group immunity.  If anything, it could make spread easier. People might have less severe complaints (or not notice at all they are carrying it), they can still be infectious.

[Rolan7]

I just heard on the radio that existing vaccine stocks can be updated for new strains, though I'm sure that's a labor intensive process.

[martinuzz]

Well yeah, that's what we've been doing with flu vaccines for the past few decades. Every year scientists estimate / guess which strains of the flu are going to be predominant that year, and they develop their vaccines accordingly.

But that's the flu. Pharmacists have a lot of experience with the influenza virus.
The corona virus, while not brand new, is still mostly unexplored territory for vaccin developers.

So yeah, hopefully vaccin developers will be able to update their vaccines for new strains.
We can expect to need regular re-vaccination for everyone.  Like, twice a year or yearly.

[ChairmanPoo]

Fuck, it is official now.
The AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines do not work against the South-African variant. As in, not at all. There was no difference in number of infected between the test groups and control groups.

It is not yet known if the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are also ineffective against it, that is still being researched.

EDIT: As a small consolation though, the Janssen vaccin did signicficantly reduce the disease's severity. Those who were infected needed no hospitalization.

Well its not. Not official I mean. It was a minuscule study that did not achieve clinical significance. Lets not forget that AZ wasnt terribly effective at preventing symptomatic covid to begin with. 60% prevention is the lower bracket of acceptable vaccine parameters

Btw: severe covid suppression, if confirmed, would be a good enough reason to give these vaccines to people if lacking stock from the others. Its not a small consolation, its a pretty big deal. If we didnt have several vaccines with >90% efficacy we'd be dancing a jig for a vaccine that minimized hospitalizatiom and death to manageable levels


There is some invitro evidence of the Pfizer vac working against SA variant but like all IV stuff, tske with a pinch of salt

[martinuzz]

But a vaccin's purpose should not be relieving pressure on hospitals by decreasing disease severity, it should be preventing infection.

I know, we really need to relieve pressure on hospitals.

A vaccin that lowers disease severity but not infection could be a Trojan horse that seeds us with typhoid Maries.

[ChairmanPoo]

But a vaccin's purpose should not be relieving pressure on hospitals by decreasing disease severity, it should be preventing infection.

Well the flu vaccination campaigns work on that principle.