The biology of coronavirus COVID-19 - including research and treatments

Mij said:
The first elderly woman to be vaccinated in Québec contracted COVID 2 weeks later, but had very mild symptoms. The vaccine may have saved her life. That would have made her 'feel better' for sure.
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That probably assumes two things

1. That this is what happened, that one shot of vaccine diminished the ability of the virus to kill her, that without it it would have done, and
2. That in a pandemic the main threat is from the virus. At least from my point of view the virus isn't the problem, other than at a population level. The threat to individuals, like me, or her, comes not from the virus, but from people.

Vectors of transmission are practically the only important thing, if I want to not get infected, staying away from.

This is mainly people, and the way they behave.

Not buildings or places, as the authorities seem to want people to think.
strategist said:
I wonder if Collins will have to answer some hard questions once the devastation caused by neglecting research into ME/CFS and PVFS will become evident.
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I really, really, doubt it.
 
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Jonathan Edwards said:
It seems common over here - everyone feels a lot better after the jab, even if they hadn't been feeling ill.
I a looking forward to it, although Israel seems to be saying that one dose doesn't work. I will have to make sure I feel better after the second dose.
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Just occurred to me the UK is pretty much running an experiment on whether 1 dose of vaccine is effective. E.g. if you check the number of people who have had 1 dose and been admitted to hospital after 1 month and before the second dose is effective --- maybe I've picked this idea up somewhere --- @Snow Leopard ?

EDIT came across this after I posted the above:
"However, Public Health England’s head of immunisation has said that if infection data showed vulnerable groups, such as the over-80s, were well protected by their first shot, then second doses could be delayed to get a first jab to younger people as well."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/18/when-how-will-i-get-covid-vaccine-uk
 
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Rogue antibodies could be driving severe COVID-19
More than a year after COVID-19 emerged, many mysteries persist about the disease: why do some people get so much sicker than others? Why does lung damage sometimes continue to worsen well after the body seems to have cleared the SARS-CoV-2 virus? And what is behind the extended, multi-organ illness that lasts for months in people with ‘long COVID’? A growing number of studies suggest that some of these questions might be explained by the immune system mistakenly turning against the body — a phenomenon known as autoimmunity.

“This is a rapidly evolving area, but all the evidence is converging,” says Aaron Ring, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

Early in the pandemic, researchers suggested that some people have an overactive immune response to COVID infection. Immune-system signalling proteins called cytokines can ramp up to dangerous levels, leading to ‘cytokine storms’ and damage to the body’s own cells. Clinical trials have now shown that some drugs that broadly dampen immune activity seem to reduce death rates in critically ill people, if administered at the right time.

But scientists studying COVID are increasingly also highlighting the role of autoantibodies: rogue antibodies that attack either elements of the body’s immune defences or specific proteins in organs such as the heart. In contrast to cytokine storms, which tend to cause systemic, short-duration problems, autoantibodies are thought to result in targeted, longer-term damage, says immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, a colleague of Ring’s at Yale.
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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00149-1
 
Kalliope said:
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The ME Association in the UK has asked about experiences with vaccines (or at least the flu vaccine) in the past on their polls on their website:

  • Have you had a flu vaccination either this year, or within the past five years? If so, what effect did this have on your ME symptoms?

    • Minor exacerbation (12%, 136 Votes)

    • Moderate exacerbation (11%, 115 Votes)

    • Severe exacerbation (8%, 86 Votes)

    • No effect (32%, 345 Votes)

    • Minor improvement (1%, 9 Votes)

    • Major improvement (0%, 2 Votes)

    • Do not have the flu vaccination (36%, 401 Votes)

      • Total Voters: 1,094
    Start Date: October 7, 2020 @ 7:05 am
    End Date: No Expiry
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  • How did your flu jab affect your ME/CFS symptoms?
    • I felt the same (45%, 86 Votes)

    • I felt much worse (27%, 52 Votes)

    • I felt slightly worse (22%, 42 Votes)

    • I felt slightly better (4%, 7 Votes)

    • I felt much better (2%, 4 Votes)


      Total Voters: 191
Start Date: November 13, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
End Date: September 10, 2009 @ 2:06 pm
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Wits_End said:
You mean this?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coro...vulnerable/ar-BB1cTT3o?ocid=ASUDHP&li=BBoPWjQ
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Yes, it has come out in various news outlets.

There is a suggestion that for the vulnerable elderly a single dose of Pfizer vaccine is almost useless or at least gives only a few people protection.

It does not surprise me. These vaccines are using new technology and we have no evidence for good efficacy from one dose. I don't think there are good data on the elderly anyway and so the figures originally put out by Pfizer even for 2 doses may have been optimistic.

The idea of just giving one dose seems to be a huge poorly organised experiment that would never have got through an ethics committee. It might turn out to be a good idea. However, the UK policy on Covid has so far proven to be the worst in the world so there is little reason to think anyone knows what they are doing.
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
Yes, it has come out in various news outlets.

There is a suggestion that for the vulnerable elderly a single dose of Pfizer vaccine is almost useless or at least gives only a few people protection.

It does not surprise me. These vaccines are using new technology and we have no evidence for good efficacy from one dose. I don't think there are good data on the elderly anyway and so the figures originally put out by Pfizer even for 2 doses may have been optimistic.

The idea of just giving one dose seems to be a huge poorly organised experiment that would never have got through an ethics committee. It might turn out to be a good idea. However, the UK policy on Covid has so far proven to be the worst in the world so there is little reason to think anyone knows what they are doing.
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Pfizer (official trial) data is for symptomatic cases - Israeli data is for PCR positive (un-symptomatic?) cases - would be worrying if people are still infectious as well as PCR +ve though.
 
FMMM1 said:
Pfizer (official trial) data is for symptomatic cases - Israeli data is for PCR positive (un-symptomatic?) cases - would be worrying if people are still infectious as well as PCR +ve though.
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Yes, one may be too optimistic and the other too pessimistic. But if a vaccine does not prevent a person growing up enough virus to show up on PCR then it would be disappointing.
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
Yes, one may be too optimistic and the other too pessimistic. But if a vaccine does not prevent a person growing up enough virus to show up on PCR then it would be disappointing.
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So are you expecting the vaccine to reduce transmissibility from people who have been vaccinated, even if they get infected? There seems to be such doubt about this in the media.
 
Sasha said:
So are you expecting the vaccine to reduce transmissibility from people who have been vaccinated, even if they get infected? There seems to be such doubt about this in the media.
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I think it is unlikely that if a vaccine reduces symptomatic infection it does not reduce transmission. If you make enough virus to cough around and infect others you almost certainly have made enough virus to feel ill. There is no certainty that the two will match but it would be surprising if there was major infectivity despite abolishing symptoms.
 
California calls for pause of 330,000 doses, investigation after allergic reactions to Moderna vaccine batch

A cluster of allergic reactions prompted state officials to call for a pause of Moderna batch 041L20A
An abnormally high number of people experienced anaphylactic shock, a severe allergic reaction that requires immediate medical attention, after receiving a shot of the Moderna vaccine at one San Diego vaccination site, Dr. Erica Pan said in statement Sunday night. While the number was fewer than 10, the cluster of negative reactions prompted the California Department of Public Health to recommend pausing the administration of some 330,000 doses from the batch, which had been distributed throughout the state, until an investigation was complete.
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https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01...-allergic-reactions-to-moderna-vaccine-batch/
 
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Can a person suffer anaphylactic shock from a vaccine even if no previous history of anaphylaxis? Or is it something that can be guarded for by taking special precautions for people who might be more susceptible?

Intriguing it's at just one vaccination site. Maybe something else is going on.
 
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