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[ChairmanPoo]

A good start would be to remove the patents component from the price calculation for the duration of the pandemic, and to distribute product fairly across the globe based on national population numbers (times vaccination willingness%/100    /s).

This would not matter that much for most of the current vaccin prices, because current vaccin producing pharma companies are actually trying to keep their prices somewhat-reasonable, but it would matter a whole lot for the prices of this new cure we were discussing. Most of it's 12k-30k per pop price is because it's still a new and patented medicine (which has not been developed for covid but for a rare auto-immune disease). It's a simple-to-produce oral pill that doesn't need ice cold storage or special transport

Itīs a pill alright. I donīt know where the "simple to produce" bit comes from.

For that matter, it kind of sets a bad precedence to deincentivize research on rare conditions, you know


Also, I wouldnīt  for granted that itīs harmless. TKIs are supposedly "targeted" therapies but you scratch a bit of the surface and they have a surprisingly high number of off-target effects. Honestly, if this pans out it will probably be for severe cases that are in hospital, not for covid outpatients.

[martinuzz]

Well, okay, relatively simple to produce compared to a RNA vaccin or a vaccin based on a modified virus

[Frumple]

Second shot get. Now to wait and see how badly it's going to mess me up. Here's hoping I'll be okay by Monday...

[Starver]

There was something the other day about how both AZ followed by Pfizer and vice-versa (for first and second shots) gave vastly more secondary side-effects (headaches, muscular pains, etc) than either 'matched pair' injections.

I'm assuming it's because those bodies that decide to react that way to sudden infusions of something new (as, for the first dose, happened to me) is similarly differentiating the new newness of the dissimilar 2nd dose. But the article I read did not have any information to correlate against reported 1st-dose effects (which would seem to me to be an additional dimension of data to record) so I don't have any info to support or dismiss such a supposition.

It's still a number of weeks until my follow-up, but this time I'm going to be prepared for (but hope I don't have) the smaller chance of same+same dosing's muscle aches and fever. I really hadn't planned for it, the last time. Only later did I remember I had some home medication[1] that I'm usually so reluctant to use.


[1] Once the early 2020 'panic buying' had subsided, and the paticular supermarket shelving appeared in no danger of being subjected to shortages, only then did I speculatively pick up a pack of paracetomol 'just in case'. Then when I was regretting being blasé about the innoculator's trotted-out suggestion that I could always pop some painkillers if I needed to, I had completely forgotten this and assumed I was 'stranded' without any such recourse. I also, even later, found some old Lemsips (and I've still yet to check if they're out-of-date... they probably are).

[None]

Welp, CDC says vaccinated folks can more or less mingle publicly without masks except as determined by private businesses, public transportation, and in healthcare/elderly care locations.Here's straight from the source.

It's gonna take me a lot to truly be at ease, especially since we don't know exactly how long the vaccine provides protection for, but this seems to me to be a pretty strong indication for its efficacy in preventing covid spread, too.

[Vector]

I, don't really want to admit it, but I don't buy that for a second.

I'm giving it at least a couple months before I believe it. 2/3 of our population isn't fully inoculated yet and I don't really believe that free mingling will save us from another goshdanged lockdown. As far as the disease curve goes, compare where we are now to the peak of the first wave ... I remember how I felt last year seeing the numbers go up and up and up ...

I do believe that the vaccine is effective, but I also am so desperate to have normal school that I'm willing to keep curve-flattening for a while.

[None]

Fortunately, being slow to adopt these new guidelines doesn't really hurt anyone (well, we'll see how many funny looks I start getting when the backwater numbfucks that occupy my state drop masks immediately, if they hadn't neglected that already), so as long as you're still getting your social needs met, that sounds like a good plan.

I mean, it IS the CDC, so they should know best, but I can't help but wonder if they know something we don't, like if there's a threshold for social damage that's met, or if there's an economic factor involved, or if this is a relaxing to curb isolation fatigue in case it twists again, or if it's really just that the vaccines are profoundly effective at curbing infection and propagation and we're really actually in the home stretch. I thought we were gonna be in the thick of it until 2022 or something.

What about needing boosters later, or if the virus mutates? Children aren't getting vaccinated yet- not to be that guy that goes 'think about the children,' but...?

[ChairmanPoo]

I, don't really want to admit it, but I don't buy that for a second.

I'm giving it at least a couple months before I believe it. 2/3 of our population isn't fully inoculated yet and I don't really believe that free mingling will save us from another goshdanged lockdown. As far as the disease curve goes, compare where we are now to the peak of the first wave ... I remember how I felt last year seeing the numbers go up and up and up ...

I do believe that the vaccine is effective, but I also am so desperate to have normal school that I'm willing to keep curve-flattening for a while.

Ditto here.

Like I said before, we got an internal memo at work. Advice is regardless of any official goverment or EU guidance on the subject, we keep masking up and social distancing, and we get a workplace quarantine enforced if we travel abroad (as in they cant force us to quarantine but we wont be let in for 2 weeks, and is out of our holidays).

I think its reasonable. The way this thing spreads I think the cautionary principle would suggest being very careful. If we keep being careful a few more weeks and nothing happens there is no great harm done. But if we all throw caution to the wind and we get something funny to happen either with vanilla covid or the variants, then we are in deep shit (and lets not forget that this happened back in March 2020. Pretty much all western disease control agencies downplayed the risk in February. And I believed them at the time, more fool I)

[Frumple]

I mean, definitely on a personal level, I'll stop masking in public and mostly avoiding people when the plague stops... and local statistics, unreliable as they are, are very clear that hasn't actually happened yet. At all. Barely even a little.

Most I plan on changing up is maybe getting some delayed non-vital doctor visits in (probably warranted eye check, some annoying but not dangerous dermatology stuff) and maybe finally get the damage to the car I'm driving from Michael fixed up.

Vaccine is pretty damn effective, sure, but it ain't 100% and you ain't supposed to fuck around with a goddamn plague, regardless as to if the CDC is saying you're okay to play silly buggers again.

[Bumber]

Vaccine is pretty damn effective, sure, but it ain't 100% and you ain't supposed to fuck around with a goddamn plague, regardless as to if the CDC is saying you're okay to play silly buggers again.

Fatalities and hospitalizations are more important than COVID positive results, though. As long as the hospitals aren't overflowing, we've got better treatments now that can cure even severe cases.

If the risk of COVID death after vaccination is lower than death by car accident, then that's an acceptable return to normal, IMO.

[Frumple]

Meanwhile, I'm not a goddamn nergal worshipper and will not start doing the equivalent of driving drunk just because they've finally installed a seat belt, thanks.

[Sirus]

Glad to see I'm not the only one iffy about going maskless so soon. There's still way too many people out there who don't bother to take even basic precautions, and I bet loads of them will lie about being vaccinated so they can go wild.

Meanwhile my dad, who is fully vaccinated, seems like he can't wait to go maskless. I'm not sure what to say about that.

[martinuzz]

As long as the hospitals aren't overflowing, we've got better treatments now that can cure even severe cases.

Not really. Chance of dying when admitted to ICU is down a little bit, from 1 in 3, to 1 in 5 (in rich countries with excellent health care that is) but nowhere near something that can be called 'cure'.

[Bumber]

As long as the hospitals aren't overflowing, we've got better treatments now that can cure even severe cases.

Not really. Chance of dying when admitted to ICU is down a little bit, from 1 in 3, to 1 in 5 (in rich countries with excellent health care that is) but nowhere near something that can be called 'cure'.

Looks like I misused the word "cure" to mean "suppress the fatal symptoms of", and left out "would-be" in front of "severe cases". Didn't spend enough time proofreading.

We've got anti-body treatments for the virus, as well as drugs that can prevent the immune system from attacking the lungs, etc. If you reach the hospital after your lungs are already screwed, you're still likely to die.

[martinuzz]

drugs that can prevent the immune system from attacking the lungs

No we don't. The medicine I mentioned is still in the trial phase in 150 or so hospitals in North- and South America. Initial results do look hopeful, but still too early to tell if it's going to be a game-changer.

Sure, there's general immunosuppresants, but those were used a few months into the pandemic already, and do relatively little to prevent ICU deaths.