C19 Notes

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41
C19 Notes Database / mRNA vaccine stability
« Last post by stog on March 14, 2021, 11:29:45 AM »

Hacked EMA emails and mRNA vaccine stability

This week a piece in the British Medical Journal provides some insight into how the medical regulatory bodies scrutinised the novel RNA vaccines that were the science marvels of 2020.

Investigative journalist Serena Tinari was one of the people who received anonymously a large, though selective, bundle of hacked emails and documents dating back to November copied from the servers of the European Medicines Agency.

They make mention of concerns the Agency had over the levels of effective RNA contained in some batches of the industrially produced Pfizer Biontech Covid vaccine compared to the laboratory produced doses.

The EMA did subsequently licence the vaccine - the problem having presumably been solved. However, as Serena describes, she was then surprised that the companies and agencies she and the BMJ approached would not tell her what the threshold was for adjudging acceptable levels, given as is well known, the fragility of mRNA and the need to store it carefully.

They said it was commercially sensitive. But as RNA researcher Prof Anna Blakney tells Science in Action, there are fascinating reasons why that might simply not be known, and also why precise accuracy likely doesn’t matter too much compared to the better-known clinical efficacy these vaccines continue to demonstrate.

2nd item in this episode - programme available for 28 days from post date
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszky4

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the BMJ Article is here -- March 10 2021 https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n627
42
C19 Notes Database / Re: A reminder why we have restrictions and wear a mask
« Last post by stog on February 09, 2021, 05:59:33 PM »
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology puts out regular briefings, which are clear, succinct, comprehensive overviews of a particular area.


the latest COVID-19 analysis, as evidence becomes available


https://post.parliament.uk/tag/covid-19/

==

articles include


COVID-19 vaccine roll-out started in the UK on 8 December 2020. Results from Phase 3 clinical trials have been published for all the vaccines approved for use in the UK. But how does the performance of vaccines under real world conditions differ from clinical trial results? When will we able to observe the impacts of the COVID-19 vaccination programme?

 https://post.parliament.uk/the-performance-of-covid-19-vaccines-in-clinical-trials-and-in-real-world-conditions/


The Government’s COVID-19 Winter Plan, relies on three things to provide the UK with a “route back to normality”: vaccines, treatments and testing. In addition to laboratory-based tests, lateral flow tests are being used for rapid testing in communities and workplaces. What are the latest data on how good these tests are? What are the pros and cons of using them for mass testing?

https://post.parliament.uk/mass-testing-for-covid-19-january-update-on-lateral-flow-tests/

In recent months several new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been detected in various countries around the world. This article examines how these variants arise, how genetic variation might affect the characteristics of the virus, and the possible impact that these new variants might have on the course of the pandemic.https://post.parliament.uk/sars-cov-2-virus-variants-a-year-into-the-covid-19-pandemic/

The rapid production of safe, effective and consistent vaccines is essential for supporting COVID-19 immunisation programmes in the UK and globally. However, manufacturing vaccines is challenging for various reasons that include the complex processes involved, the specialist knowledge and experience required, and the natural variability of the biological materials and systems used. Urgent demand is leading to manufacturers and governments taking on significant financial risks in order to speed up production. What is the UK Government doing to accelerate vaccine manufacture? How are vaccines made? Why is manufacturing vaccines at large scales so challenging?

https://post.parliament.uk/manufacturing-covid-19-vaccines/
43
C19 Notes Database / Re: A reminder why we have restrictions and wear a mask
« Last post by stog on February 02, 2021, 04:02:34 PM »
then this
44
C19 Notes Database / Re: A reminder why we have restrictions and wear a mask
« Last post by stog on January 31, 2021, 10:46:08 AM »
Reality as endured in this Opinion piece by a NHS consultant anaesthetist.

Quote
I'm an NHS consultant anaesthetist. I see the terror in my Covid patients' eyes
As a hospital consultant working in intensive care, the reality of coronavirus and patients’ fear is brought home to me every day

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/31/im-an-nhs-consultant-anaesthetist-i-see-the-terror-in-my-covid-patients-eyes
45
C19 Notes Database / Re: A reminder why we have restrictions and wear a mask
« Last post by stog on January 20, 2021, 03:05:36 PM »
Herewith a website set up to answer the Anti-Virus: misinformation The Covid-19 FAQ

Quote

Q. Who paid for this?

A. Nobody. We've been writing this site in our spare time. We haven't requested or received any money whatsoever and we've paid for the website costs out of our own pockets. Some of us have been paid to write articles on Covid for various news and comment outlets, but we've received no money for this website. (Update: Notion, the service we've used to build this site, has given us a free plan as part of its efforts to support grassroots groups fighting Covid. We are extremely grateful to them.)


Q. Why should I listen to you?

A. All of our arguments link to credible, peer-reviewed literature where relevant. Don't take our word for anything – follow the links, read the evidence cited on both sides, and decide for yourself.

Q. Surely you don't think there's just one "right answer" to questions on COVID. It's a new disease, after all. How can you be sure you're not just as wrong as the Sceptics?
A. We do not claim to have a single right answer, and we change our minds as the evidence changes. But there are some clearly wrong answers that persist because people are unaware of new evidence, or unwilling to change their minds. This site is about highlighting those persistent wrong answers.


Q. Why are you singling out specific individuals? Do you have some kind of grudge against them?

A. A few people, for whatever reason, have consistently made false claims and bad predictions throughout the COVID pandemic, and have refused to admit when they've got it wrong. Some of these people have been very prominent and influential during the pandemic. We try to use their own words to show that many of them are not reliable people to listen to.



https://www.covidfaq.co/
46
C19 Notes Database / Re: Contact Tracing
« Last post by stog on January 19, 2021, 02:51:16 PM »
The UK NHS  Test and Trace provides training for suitable candidates who wish to work in contact tracing and there is also the Johns Hopkins contact tracing course, which is recommended to people who haven't previously done contact tracing. It goes into the underlying principles and obviously you'd have to be mindful of administrative differences from the UK system, but it is worth going through if you are interested in the subject.

 link is to an official university-accredited and widely recommended course, used by contact tracers across the USA and elsewhere

https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19-contact-tracing

47
C19 Notes Database / Re: A reminder why we have restrictions and wear a mask
« Last post by stog on January 04, 2021, 10:54:58 AM »
also latest UK Govt figures are saying 1 in 3 tested showing as asymptomatic, so if you apply that to my back of the envelope calculation above, you get extraordinary figures ie nearly 70% of Covid-population have symptoms -- so if 1 in 5 of those need to be hospitalised ...

then if 1 in 4  of them suffer long term either at home and/or post hospital discharge -- then so many more people are incapacitated.. and key service workers are further stressed as more and more of their colleagues remain off work.

===

another person asked the following questions:


Quote
Can I still catch covid after vaccine? Yes

Will I still have to social distance? Yes

Will I still have to wear a mask? Yes

Can I still pass virus on to others after vaccine? Yes

Er...... why am I having it?


which is oversimplistic..

i told him

"
Quote
you ask various questions & answer over simplistically "Yes" to your own Questions. This then leads you to question incorrectly why we need the Vaccine. The real answers are more than a tweet can convey so here are my answers for you, and I should be pleased to provide more info"


Can I still catch covid after vaccine?
Yes  (But you are unlikely to need hospitalisation, with a Vaccine, it becomes a survivable disease for most of us )


Will I still have to social distance?
Yes (until the number of cases drop to low levels or until you contract a less damaging Covid, when after 10 days or so you will not be infectious)


Will I still have to wear a mask?
Yes (until the number of new cases drop to lower levels or until you contract a less damaging Covid, when after 10 days or so you will not be infectious)

Can I still pass virus on to others after vaccine?
Yes (If you contract Covid and are within the infectious period of 10 days or so


Er...... why am I having it?
Answer == because you will be less likely to be hospitalised if you contract it, meaning our Health Services are under less pressure, and Services such as Police, paramedics etc and vulnerable people and older folks will also be less likely to be hospitalised, and generally people will be less afraid to go out, and be less likely to be hospitalised themselves, and the Economy can then gradually be re-opened.

Yes, there will still be flare ups, but with the better evolved test and trace systems in place now, it will be easier to rein in outbreaks.

Also if more people are vaccinated and thus have lesser symptoms when they contract the virus, it allows the virus to take its course quicker with fewer more dangerous evolving variants, which is especially important at the moment when our Health services and staff are under such pressure.

Remember both asymptomatic and pre-symtomatics are infectious for 10 days or so, so unless someone has already had the virus, they can’t be sure not to be passing it on, thus masks and distancing will still need to remain for many months, but Vaccines allow a way out of the cycle by at least allowing businesses to open again, and the young to do what the young do, without jeopardising others which is the case at the moment without a vaccine, as for many (1 in 5 of those who get symptoms) it means hospitalisation.(+ the 1 in 4 of symptomatics who are long term incapacitated or reduced functioning at home)

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the other mistruth being paraded is "Covid is just flu" This is not true.
Covid is more infectious than flu and 10 X more lethal

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Flu does not take out frontline health workers in their 100's (and 1000s) as this pandemic has.

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stay safe sane and smiling and think of others

48
C19 Notes Database / The Mysterious Link Between COVID-19 and Sleep
« Last post by stog on December 27, 2020, 04:27:52 PM »
The Mysterious Link Between COVID-19 and Sleep.
The coronavirus can cause insomnia and long-term changes in our nervous systems. But sleep could also be a key to ending the pandemic.


Interesting article

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/12/covid-19-sleep-pandemic-zzzz/617454/
49
C19 Notes Database / Masks lower spread by 99.9%
« Last post by stog on December 23, 2020, 12:43:05 PM »
Mask Study
this from Guardian LIVE today 23 Dec 2020

Quote
Face masks lower the risk of spreading large Covid-linked droplets when speaking or coughing by up to 99.9%, a lab experiment with mechanical mannequins and human subjects has found.A woman standing two metres from a coughing man without a mask will be exposed to 10,000 times more large droplets than if he were wearing one, even if he is only 50 centimetres away, researchers reported in the journal Royal Society Open Science.The study focused on particles larger than 170 microns in diameter, which are understood to be the main driver of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.“There is no more doubt whatsoever that face masks can dramatically reduce the dispersion of potentially virus-laden droplets,” senior author Ignazio Maria Viola, an expert in applied fluid dynamics at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, told AFP.According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle, Washington, 55,000 lives could be saved in the United States over the next four months if a policy of universal mask use were adopted.The WHO updated its Covid-19 guidance to recommend masks be worn indoors in the presence of other people if ventilation is inadequate earlier this month.

https://www.ed.ac.uk/covid-19-response/latest-news/masks-block-spread-of-covid-linked-droplets
50
C19 Notes Database / Re: Vaccine Queue Calculator for the UK
« Last post by stog on December 22, 2020, 09:54:52 AM »
Number of vaccinations to prevent 1 death in priority groups

from https://t.co/lFswyDUFzU?amp=1

https://www.covid-arg.com/bulletins

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