Interesting info, Jed. Thanks.
I hope these vaccines are effective, not because they need to be, but because
it will calm down the unnecessary panic over this relatively low risk virus.
There are no reliable statistics about the virus. False positives and negatives
abound. The CDC itself has said only about 6% of reported mortality could
reliably be attributed to the virus. When you take that into account, the
common cold probably has a higher mortality rate.
Big Pharma will get its payday out of this nonsense and more effective
treatments and preventatives will continue to be suppressed or ignored.
Incidentally, I notice that doctors have finally gotten around to using
nebulized n-acetyl cysteine as a treatment, which was a standard procedure for
viral pneumonia for years. What the hell took so long? Not enough money in it
for Big Pharma? People died from lack of this treatment, an effective mucolytic
and anti-viral.
The probable very high mortality rate in the virus' country of origin is likely
due to genetic factors and the fact that on the order of 50% to 60% of men
there smoke. The the stats in northern Italy are interesting because you can't
find out how many of the reported cases are from illegal alien workers from the
virus' city of origin.
Just for fun, read this:
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.creators.com/read/michelle-malkin=U=2ahUKEwi54cnf3I_tAhUEpp4KHUnXBTkQFjAAegQIABAB=AOvVaw1pLcfX-m4KL3QD7e3KPVuG
This woman is a notorious anti-vaxxer, but read it anyway, for another point of
view.
On Monday, November 16, 2020, 07:58:58 PM UTC, Jed Rothwell
wrote:
I realize this is off topic. And I expect everyone here has heard about it.
But I thought you would like to see some quantitative information.
Here is a note on temperatures. The second article says the Moderna vaccine can
be kept at -20°C. The Pfizer vaccine has to be kept at -75°C during shipping
and storage. It can be stored in an ordinary refrigerator for up to 5 days
before it is used. (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54889084) I asked a
nurse about this. She said there are several vaccines that require cold
storage. She said this will probably come as a powder, which is mixed with room
temperature fluid before inoculation. The older version of the shingles vaccine
was like this.
Good news! Moderna's vaccine is reportedly 95% effective. Here are the raw
numbers as reported by CNN:
15,000 vaccines administered. 5 people in that group got COVID-19. They had
mild cases.
15,000 placebos administered. 90 people in that group got COVID-19. 11 had
severe cases.
This is reported as 94.5% effective, which I think is too many digits of
precision. I would say >90%. But I quibble. I think there is no question it is
effective.
It seems the vaccine reduces the severity of the disease when it does not
prevent it completely
There were no severe side effects. There were some side effects in some
patients, such as headaches.
Fauci said this is good news. If the Pfizer and or the Moderna vaccines are
approved, the first ones may be administered in December to risk groups such as
doctors and nurses. Fauci predicted the general population may be vaccinated
from May to July 2021.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/health/Covid-moderna-vaccine.html
"Early Data Show Moderna’s Coronavirus Vaccine Is 94.5% Effective
Moderna is the second company to report preliminary results from a large trial
testing a vaccine. But there are still months to go before it will be widely
available to the public."
More good news, from CNN. This may drive down the stock market value of Pfizer:
While the two vaccines appear to have very similar safety and efficacy
profiles, Moderna's vaccine has a significant practical advantage over Pfizer's.
Pfizer's vaccine has to be kept at minus 75 degrees Celsius — or about minus
103 degrees Fahrenheit. No other vaccine in the US needs to be kept that cold,
and doctors' offices and pharmacies do not have freezers that go that low.
Moderna's vaccine can be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius, which is about minus
4 degrees Fahrenheit. Other vaccines, such as the one against chickenpox, need
to be kept at that temperature.
That means Moderna's vaccine can be kept in "a readily available freezer that
is available in most doctors' offices and pharmacies," said Dr. Tal Zacks,
Moderna's chief medical officer. "We leverage infrastructure that already
exists for other marketed vaccines."
Another advantage of Moderna's vaccine is that it can be kept for 30 days in
the refrigerator, the company announced Monday. Pfizer's vaccine can last only
five days in the refrigerator.
