Covid Vaccine thread

[Sour Masher]

More evidence that Trump doesn't really believe the bullshit that he feeds to his crowd. Trump is really thinking "You suckers and losers don't need your shot. But, i'm making damn sure that i get mine because my life is more valuable than yours."

Yeah, but the real problem is those Trump voters will hold onto the dangerous ideas over the man. Which means he can and likely will be replaced by another wannabe authoritarian despot hell bent on destroying democracy if it means maintaining power and enacting what his followers want at all cost. It is clear many Trump supporters hold having their ideas enacted in higher regard than they do our system of government. Jan 6th may be only the first step toward the end of our democracy and our union. It likely won't be, but I don't think considering that possibility, depending on how things shake out over the next year years is overly alarmist.

[The Feral Slasher]

Maybie since it wasn't part of the Big Pharma conspiracy some people will more inclined to get this when it is available

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10335105/Army-announce-developed-single-vaccine-protects-variants-COVID-SARS.html

After nearly two years, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research believe they have developed a vaccine that is effective against all COVID and SARS variants.

Researchers at the Maryland-based facility expect to officially announce the completion of the vaccine in the coming weeks, Defense One first reported.

[revo]

How it started (Sept 3):
Former President Donald Trump says he will likely not get a COVID-19 booster shot as the Biden administration weighs proposals to roll out boosters to already-vaccinated Americans.

In an August interview on Fox Business, Trump denounced booster shots as "a money-making operation for Pfizer," the maker of one of the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the US.

https://sports.yahoo.com/trump-says-probably-wont-covid-203928082.html

How it's going (Dec 21):
Former President Donald Trump was booed by a portion of an audience in Dallas on Sunday when he said he had received a Covid-19 booster shot, according to video of the closed press event that was shared on social media.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/20/politics/donald-trump-booster-shot-boos/index.html

[nullnor]

Ontario becomes the first province to list fluvoxamine as a COVID-19 treatment to consider

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/ontario-becomes-the-first-province-to-list-fluvoxamine-as-a-covid-19-treatment-to-consider-1.5717489

John’s Hopkins University has also endorsed the drug for use within seven days of symptoms, provided the patient is not in their third trimester of pregnancy.

While Ontario is the first province to list the drug as an option, Pai said other regions are also considering the medication as a possible preventative therapy.

[nullnor]

early reports are omicron attacks the upper respiratory system instead of lower. if true this would result in more transmission but less virulence or pathology or severity. because of the wacky mutations my first guess would be covid recombined with a cold-like coronavirus in an animal and jumped back to humans. also, if it's true viruses would rather be more transmissible than severe if given the chance, it's a logical path for the virus. but I have no idea why a virus would originally have a preference for either route. it's easier to infect the upper respiratory system and then once they become established they attempt mutations at the lower system. but this seems to be reversed this time.

[nullnor]

I have some questions. if you could, how could you force a virus to a new host? also, do most viruses infect one species at a time? how does one variant outcompete another?

thus, you CAN vaccinate your way out of this. just not in the traditional way with a sterilizing vaccine. what you do is make the virus change by setting up roadblocks and making it use it's own natural tendencies to your own advantage. which sounds like something Sun Tzu would say. and if all this is true, it would mean viruses are specialists. and being a specialist is not good when your most glaring attribute is mutation or change.

how did Omicron come to exist and what were the selective pressures? is it even possible to have 40 mutations in an HIV positive immunocompromised patient? this is where you would have to ask a doctor or virologist etc.. a professional that does it for a living. moreover, everyone can get information from whatever source you like, but eventually all roads are going to lead to the shoulders of giants; and the backs of turtles. this is what institutions are. they are foundations. they are what Robert Frost calls 'home'. for example, you can be a rando and go off the reservation exploring any hypothesis you can think of, but if you are true to science every answer can be reduced to a simpler answer. every force in nature can be combined like the electroweak force. in nature we call it unification. in viruses we call it assimilation. in sociology we call it conformity.

intelligence is a collaboration. in nature, it's an open forum of ideas. the most fruitful species are cooperative. at the molecular level this means assigning jobs. so essentially, all life is cooperative. and not one person or specialist or species or molecule has the answer. also, what happened to Neanderthals anyways? where did they go? what happened to our forebears or ancestors? did they reach an evolutionary dead end or did they become something else? perhaps they were assimilated. Immanence.

if Omicron emerged from an immunocompromised patient then it was a game of whack-a-mole. since their body couldn't fight off the virus, medical interventions kept forcing it into different places. this was the selective pressure. eventually the efforts forced it to mutate out of the lower respiratory system to the upper and then a spillover event happened.

so how does one force a virus to a new host or make a variant outcompete another? what happens is when a virus is more contagious it gets to the new host first. and then when the more severe variant comes a long, it still has recognizable epitopes the host can use to ward it off. as a result, the new variant has outcompeted the older one. like they say, half of life is showing up. the real trick is forcing it to a new species altogether. smallpox is a good example of a virus reaching an evolutionary dead end. it became such a specialist by the time we figured it out, it ran out of tricks.

[nullnor]

even in flyover country if you are unvaccinated you are an outcast. you are a villian. the other day, one of the guys that comes by the yard, the type of guy that doesn't trust anyone, and just gives you the feeling he hates you for being an outsider. my liberal tendencies, i can't change who i am. finds out i am unvaccinated. and even though he is vaccinated, he's like huh, nullnor is the last guy i figured would be unvaccinated. still thinks i am an idiot. and he may be right. but at least it solves the problem of being an outsider.

i haven't harmed anyone, i started wearing my double masks again, surgical underneath my n95 with Omicron. i don't think i've been infected yet. i am not a vector, i am just a meat popsicle. but i am a villain, and an outcast. our numbers are down to 10-15%.

[nullnor]

this is low hanging fruit and whataboutism but since all along the vaccines were non-sterilizing and vaccinated ppl are more likely to be vectors, yet they throw stones while living in glass houses.

[nullnor]

the true story of life is seeing my cats hugging each other while they sleep. like life clinging to each other.

[nullnor]

maybe nullnor would get vaccinated for 100 bucks? would you sell your principles for 100 dollars?

[nullnor]

conformity, comirnaty, that just pisses me off. that's some subliminal shit right there.

is there an f pat. nope sorry.

i am not really a big wheel of fortune guy.

i am an asshole though. i used to say, i hope Alex Trebek fucking dies someday for being such militant conservative. same thing for Pat Sajak, but Trebek was actually a nice guy, while Sajak is just an asshole.

[nullnor]

so the old guy had some multivitamin bottle on his fridge. i haven't ordered the viral combo care kit i mentioned yet. i should though. that shit might save your life if you get infected and hit it early. it's like trying to save someone falling off a bridge, and they ask if you are a democrat or republican, and if you give the wrong answer they refuse to be helped. ...oh yeah ivermectin is horse paste, har har. well you know you can spend $55 for 12 days or 3 million for 3 months. and i was never really good at math. fucking shit may save your life, but you're going to stay true to your principles. i respect that even though i disagree.

i take vit c 1000mg (you can take 3000mg if you stagger) zinc, b12, extra strength vit d 125 mcg (5000 IU). what is this, the fucking metric system?

so then the old guy starts questioning his nurses after i tell him vitamins are good and starts rebelling against his pills. which was not my intention. he takes north of 100 pills a week. and for good reason.

you know i actually respect internal medicine doctors. and pharmacists. and when you got someone taking 25 different pills a day, you got your shit together. so i immediately ceased and desisted. the old guy is more upset his meds make him pee so much. they already include a multi vitamin anyways. and when someone is already taking that many pills it's best to stay out of it. but i tell you, i could get a list of all the pills he takes if i wanted and go over everyone one of them and look up what each one does and see if any of them or contradicted or syngeneic. and report back. Ken would call me a google hero and wonder why i am questioning experts. but it's not my battle.

when you try to help ppl, it really causes all kinds of problems. doctors are great if you need one thing done, but the minute you throw too much at them, like when your cat has a constellation of symptoms, they get rattled just like everyone else. after-all they are human.

i feel like i should be in a progressive insurance commercial, Mr Hand from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, is it just me or is everyone on drugs? but it's not drugs, it's a constellation of symptoms. the environment is so fucking polluted at this point you can't tell what the fuck the original cause was. .. heck finding a cure for a virus is easy compared to the pernicious moronity exhibited in todays world.

[nullnor]

in order to help ppl you have to earn their trust, and that can take a long time. just like getting the feral cat in my camper a night before something outside eats her. it takes years. but no-one has the time to play the long game anymore. and you have to bribe them. i bought the old guy a new TV, got him cable and cooked Christmas dinner, but my real goal is getting him to walk outside regularly and get some exercise. he's 315 pounds, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, COPD. he has everything. and it's the pills that keeps him going. and i know this because my cat had a dissecting aortic aneurism i kept her alive for over 2 years with. i wouldn't recommend lisinopril for cats though. she really didn't like that drug. that drug fucked with her kidneys.

the old guy got gout in both feet and would call me up at 3am trying to get in bed. i'd be trying to help him move 5ft and he'd be naked and i'd be like dude put some clothes on. try helping a 315 pound naked guy with gout in both feet into bed. it's not easy. i look at his feet and wonder how long before they amputate. and i have a vested interest in him surviving since i live on his land. but that is the real battle, how do i get him to walk up the street and exercise every day. if i can't get him to do it we are not long for this world.

and let me say, firing a bunch of nurses and doctors during a health crisis for not being vaccinated when they probably have more resilient natural immunity is stupid. professionals like that don't grow on trees. they are not logs you can chop and throw away and put up a help wanted sign and expect to grow back. it takes years to train them. it would be like FDR threatening to take away ppl jobs during a depression. it's unheard of. Biden is a headstrong idiot.

[nullnor]

let's make a word problem out of this.

1) ppl in rural counties are suspicious and distrustful of outsiders.
2) it takes years to build up trust
3) you fire a bunch of healthcare professionals that won't be vaccinated in places that are unvaccinated.
4) wait shit, i think that works because now only pro vaccinated ppl are giving ppl distrustful of outsiders advice.
5) or it doesn't work because it takes years to build up trust.
6) the ppl that are unvaccinated are giving the wrong advice anyways so fuck it, and start over.
7) health care systems get overloaded from the confusion.

see, i find the whole $300 payment per child a problem. over-all it helps red state more than blue ones. that money is going to go farther. not to be eugenic, but those kids will grow up someday and vote republican. which is something james carville would point out. but it does show magnanimity. but it's just a band-aid. it's only a symptom. the real problem is inequality, greed and gluttony.

for example, the Pope just criticized Italy for it's low fertility. but that's a result of inequality. it's an economic problem not a biological one. you can pay ppl all the money in the world to be fertile. but if they don't think it's a sustainable solution they are not going to procreate.

it's almost like every decision Biden has made has been a poor political choice. student loans, free community college, then mandates. leaving Afghanistan when it wasn't really an issue with the public.

personally, i think the whole mandating this vaccine in itself was a potential threat to mankind. but it turned out to be ok. i could give you a motherfucking pop quiz to see if you are attentive. what is worse, something bad that only affects a few ppl, or something potentially less bad that affects everyone? but that really doesn't do justice to the whole story, because it hasn't been written yet. the confidence in vaccines is sky high. there's no limit anymore in our expectations. there's no such thing as emergency approval. everything is an emergency now.

you know there is a reason why 99% of vaccines never make it out of phase 1 or phase 2 trials. but not anymore.

[nullnor]

i am not complaining. i got my Biden money. they should've paid for my retraining, but my school didn't qualify after i found out. the RV guy's GF took off to Colorado with his two kids with her Biden money. which he deserved since he was a fucking asshole. conservatives might call it separating families. but i know better.

yet, over-all the system works, for now.

it's like an episode of the TV series Quantum Leap. wasn't the main character so nice. yet in todays world trying to be nice feels disquieting.