The COVID Vaccination Thread

[Pocket]

Virtually any Republican who could conceivably emerge as 2024's front-runner has a better chance of winning than Trump himself does, unless he also runs as a spoiler. Even if the field includes Trump clones like MTG, they'll just lose the primary when everyone who likes them just votes for the man himself instead.

 

[NovaSaber]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1590323788830605313

 

[Pocket]

Sure is a good thing we're not the ones who have to pay for them, then!

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1590323788830605313

1/ Full story below.

Pfizer expects to hike U.S. COVID vaccine price to $110-$130 per dose

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc expects to roughly quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine to about $110 to $130 per dose after the United States government's current purchase program expires, Pfizer executive Angela Lukin said on Thursday.

Lukin said she expects the vaccine - currently provided for free to all by the government - will be made available at no cost to people who have private insurance or government paid insurance.

Reuters earlier on Thursday reported that Wall Street was expecting such price hikes due to weak demand for COVID vaccines, which meant vaccine makers would need to hike prices to meet revenue forecasts for 2023 and beyond.

The U.S. government currently pays around $30 per dose to Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE). In 2023, the market is expected to move to private insurance after the U.S. public health emergency expires.

"We are confident that the U.S. price point of the COVID-19 vaccine reflects its overall cost effectiveness and ensures the price will not be a barrier for access for patients," Lukin said.

It is not yet clear what kind of access people without health insurance will have to the vaccine.

Pfizer said it expects the COVID-19 market to be about the size of the flu shot market on an annual basis for adults, but that the pediatric market would take longer to build based on shots given so far.

So far the U.S. rollout of updated COVID-19 booster shots which target both the original coronavirus strain and the Omicron strain has lagged last year's rate despite more people being eligible for the shots.

Around 14.8 million people in the U.S. received a booster shot over the first six weeks of the rollout of the new shots. In the first six weeks of the 2021 revaccination campaign, over 22 million people received their third shot even though only older and immunocompromised people were eligible at that point.

Lukin said she does not expect purchasing of the vaccines to transfer to the private sector until the first quarter of 2023 "at the earliest." The move is dependent on the government contracted supply being depleted.

(Source: - https://www.reuters.com/business/he...ce-covid-vaccine-110-130-per-dose-2022-10-20/ )

2/ Here's an opinion piece on it:

- https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...ure-of-us-healthcare-pricing/?sh=fbe578258098

3/ The "slap in the face" article seems to have originated from "The Daily Mail" tabloid newspaper in the UK:

- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...-pandemic-multi-billion-dollar-franchise.html

Please be aware that "The Daily Mail" has been analysed and found to lack credibility by some sources (see below):

-

Overall, we rate Daily Mail Right Biased and Questionable due to numerous failed fact checks and poor information sourcing.

Questionable Reasoning: Right, Propaganda, Conspiracy, Some Fake News, Numerous Failed Fact Checks
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: LOW
Country: United Kingdom
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY

...The Daily Mail is a known supporter of the Conservatives. They are also one of the pro-Brexit tabloids. According to a Reuters article, the Daily Mail published a controversial headline in response to a Brexit Court ruling criticizing the judges by branding them as ‘enemies of the people.’ According to CNBC, the Daily Mail has also been criticized by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales for publishing fake news articles and “hyped up” headlines and “mastered the art of running stories that aren’t true.” Further, CNBC reported that DMG media responded by saying, “DailyMail.com is the very antithesis of click-bait and hype headlines. We just tell stories better than anyone else.”

The Daily Mail tends to publish stories utilizing sensationalized headlines with emotionally loaded wordings such as “Woman, 63, ‘becomes PREGNANT in the mouth’ with baby squid after eating calamari”, which is a misleading headline. In 2017, Wikipedia banned the Daily Mail as an ‘unreliable’ source. When it comes to sourcing information, they use minimal hyperlinked sourcing and sourcing to themselves. Further, a Reuters institute survey found that 26% of respondents trust their news coverage and 47% do not, ranking them #11 in trust of the major UK news providers. In general, most stories favor the right; however, the Daily Mail will report either side of the story is sensational enough...

(Source: - https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-mail/ )

- https://www.politifact.com/personalities/daily-mail/

- https://www.thefactual.com/blog/is-the-daily-mail-reliable/

Hope this helps.

 

[Pocket]

Just got word that the Biden administration announced it's ending their state of emergency in May, meaning no more free vaccines or testing kits, among other things. Despite, you know, everyone still needing annual boosters for the rest of their lives.

But enough about this shithole country; how's the civilized world getting on? Is COVID even still a thing there? Boy it must be nice living somewhere where at least one political party gives a shit whether you live or die.

 

[wonko the sane?]

Despite all the head doctors basically saying "we're still in pandemic, we still need all the resources and infrastructure" everything is getting cut back or cut off because the politicians don't want to deal with it anymore and are acting like the emergency is over. The only thing they've actually DONE in the last few months is mandate a clean test from people flying in from china, and that is due to be dropped in less than 2 months.

Frankly, if it meant quebec would stop making and airing those stupid ads asking us to wash our hands and wear masks if we feel sick, I wouldn't overly mind. Three ******* years on and despite all the dead it feels like we accomplished nothing.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

And people wonder why I'm still wearing the mask.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

But enough about this shithole country; how's the civilized world getting on? Is COVID even still a thing there? Boy it must be nice living somewhere where at least one political party gives a shit whether you live or die.

News from Japan (Spoiler tags added to reduce post/page length) :

- COVID-19 deaths in Japan top 60,000 since start of pandemic

Spoiler

Japan's cumulative total of COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic exceeded 60,000 on Sunday, a tally showed, in the midst of the eighth wave of coronavirus infections.

Compared with the total topping 50,000 on Dec. 1, Sunday's figure highlights the increased pace of deaths at 10,000 in just around a month.

After the number since Japan confirmed its first domestic case of COVID-19 in January 2020 eclipsed the 20,000 mark last February, 10,000 deaths were reported every three months until December, according to the Kyodo News tally...

(Full story: - https://english.kyodonews.net/news/...-japan-top-60000-since-start-of-pandemic.html )

Low immunity, overwhelmed hospitals fuel Covid-19 deaths in ageing Japan

Japan still retains masking requirements

Spoiler

Low immunity against Covid-19 and a growing population of frail elderly is driving a surge in coronavirus deaths in Japan which had, for a long time, upheld some of the strictest pandemic restrictions.

Japan once boasted one of the lowest Covid mortality rates, but the figure has been trending upwards since the end of 2022.

It hit an all-time high on 20 January this year, surpassing the UK, US and South Korea, according to Oxford University's Our World in Data...

(Full Story: - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64494095 )

FEATURE: Return to maskless world still only in realm of fantasy in Japan.

People wearing masks cross a pedestrian crossing near JR Osaka Station in the Umeda commercial district of Osaka on the 11th Nov. 2022. (Kyodo)

Spoiler

More than seven months have passed since the Japanese government relaxed its guidelines on voluntary mask usage in May, reflecting receding fears of the virus due to a stabilization of cases. But the public ignored suggestions that mask use could now be dropped when "speaking with people at distances of at least two meters," for instance, or in quiet indoor spaces with ventilation.

That is unlikely to change at least in the short term as Japan experiences its eighth wave of the pandemic. The Japan Medical Association last month asked people to refrain from "high-risk behavior" to prevent the spread of the virus.

The resurgence of the virus comes after the Japanese government removed its cap in October on daily foreign arrivals and its ban on individual travelers from abroad and non-prearranged trips. It also started a subsidy program for residents to boost domestic tourism.

Unlike in some other countries, mask wearing in Japan has never been mandated by the government. But an online survey conducted in October by Laibo Inc. shows that it remains firmly entrenched almost three years since the start of the pandemic.

Less than 1 percent of 1,011 respondents, who were in their 20s to 50s, said they do not wear masks at all...

(Full story: - https://english.kyodonews.net/news/...-still-only-in-realm-of-fantasy-in-japan.html ]

 

[Ironbite4]

But they allow cheering at wrestling events.

Ironbite-why didn't you report on that!?

 

[abates]

You can basically see where the New Zealand government threw their hands in the air and gave in:

There's been no word on vaccinations past the second booster, which was only for certain people (the elderly or health compromised) so I've no idea if we're getting yearly vaccinations or not.

 

[Anonymous X]

It’s that time of year again, and I’ve had my winter booster. The clinic I was at was almost empty though; even the people eligible for a booster seem not to be bothering for the most part.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

It's like the flu now. And how many people skip the yearly flu shots and then wonder why they got sick?

 

[wonko the sane?]

Much like the flu: getting the shot does not mean you won't get the disease. There's more sentence after that point: but just about everyone tunes that bit out cause if it's not perfect protection, it's not worth getting metal in your arm.

Quebec, in the one of the few things they've done right in years; is offering to give both shots at the same time. My age group opens in mid october, and I will be getting both the new covid shot, and the flu shot.

Related: our normal thanksgiving is canceled because we were supposed to have it at my brothers place this year: but they're all down with covid right now, and the parents are supposed to leave for spain the following tuesday and consequently are taking no chances. For my confused american friends: our thanksgiving is this sunday.

 

[Paladin]

and we've officially given up even PRETENDING to care anymore.

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www.nytimes.com

 

[Rhinox]

. . . . yeah. Figured this would happen. Covid is now just a new version of the flu.

 

[Dekafox]

What I find annoying is that they changed their guidelines effectively because "no one was listening to us" so by bringing it in line with what those people who weren't listening are doing, they can now claim victory, even though those people won't listen or care that they did so, except as vindication. Especially when 7% of the US currently has one of the many forms of organ damage called Long COVID. Guess if everyone's life expectency gets reduced enough due to repeated COVID infections, that's that much less money the insurance companies and any pensions that still exist have to pay out for people getting old.

On the plus side, according to the article I saw, the vaccines still have a 54% success rate in preventing symptomatic infections according to a study finished earlier this month, even against current strains(like JN1 presumably, as that's apparently become the dominant one in NZ at least, if not elsewhere)

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

What I find annoying is that they changed their guidelines effectively because "no one was listening to us" so by bringing it in line with what those people who weren't listening are doing, they can now claim victory, even though those people won't listen or care that they did so, except as vindication. Especially when 7% of the US currently has one of the many forms of organ damage called Long COVID. Guess if everyone's life expectency gets reduced enough due to repeated COVID infections, that's that much less money the insurance companies and any pensions that still exist have to pay out for people getting old.

On the plus side, according to the article I saw, the vaccines still have a 54% success rate in preventing symptomatic infections according to a study finished earlier this month, even against current strains(like JN1 presumably, as that's apparently become the dominant one in NZ at least, if not elsewhere)

Meanwhile, in Japan...

Japan likely experiencing 10th wave of COVID-19

The spread is being driven by the highly contagious new JN.1 variant.

www.japantimes.co.jp

 

[Kup]

As someone who has dealt with various forms of Long Covid since 2022...to say this makes me angry doesn't capture my frustration.

Perhaps the most maddening aspect is the difficulty in getting diagnosed and then finding which bodily system is causing the problem. I'm convinced the virus is still in my cells and whenever I get a secondary infection, it flares up.

Covid took away so much from me. One of the biggest? My ability to handle strenuous exercise. That was my outlet, my escape, how I burnt off stress. Now, if I hit the weights hard, I'm bed bound for two weeks. My road bike sits unused. I've barely touched my mountain bike. Both are because of my balance issues. When I do use my mountain bike, its mostly around town as if its a hybrid, and I gotta try and keep my heart rate below 120.

This is the life we're condemning others to with policies like these. It's like The Purge, just less in your face. At least tell me you want me to die, be up front about it.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

Over four years after SARS-CoV-2's debut, researchers still struggle to understand long COVID, including the ostensibly simple question of how many people have it. Estimates for its prevalence vary widely, based on different study methods and definitions of the condition. Now, for the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has attempted to estimate its prevalence among adults in each US state and territory. The results again show a wide range of prevalence estimates while revealing the states that were hardest hit as well as those that seem relatively spared.

Overall, the CDC found that seven states in the South, West, and Midwest had the highest prevalence of long COVID in the country, between 8.9 percent and 10.6 percent: Alabama, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wyoming, and, the state with the highest prevalence of 10.6 percent, West Virginia. The results are published today in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

On the other end of the spectrum, New England states, Washington, and Oregon had lower prevalence rates, between 3.7 percent and 5.3 percent. The lowest rate was seen in the US Virgin Islands with 1.9 percent. Washington, DC, and Guam had ranges between 1.9 percent and 3.6 percent.

(Source - Ars Technica)

 

[wonko the sane?]

Hmmm, it KINDA looks like the states with highest prevalence for pre-existing poor health also have the highest instances of long covid.

Just saying.