3 ms·

The best against omicron? Better than nothing, I suppose. Last numbers I've seen is 40-70% efficiency (compared to 96% of the initial strain) and those numbers

by klabb3 5y ago

The best against omicron? Better than nothing, I suppose. Last numbers I've seen is 40-70% efficiency (compared to 96% of the initial strain) and those numbers are for recently vaccinated, and it's a quickly waning protection that needs at least 3-4 injections that we know today, likely more (Israel is debating dose #4 atm). On top of that even 2 doses have problems with cardiotoxicity in young people, according to the FDA. It's a great vaccine for reducing deaths but it won't exterminate covid, even with a fully vaccinated (2-3 doses at time of writing) population, by a long shot.

ianbutler 5y ago
40-70% efficacy is basically as good as the yearly flu shot. My point being is Covid is going to wind up being endemic and we just need to control it to a point where deaths, transmission and strain on healthcare are comparable to the flu -- we can't go on with our lives on pause forever. We'll get our shots every 6mo to a year and plan around it and influenza on the medical side. Exterminating this before we return to 'normal' is starting to look ridiculous to me and I was someone who locked down pretty tightly over the last two years.
- klabb3 5y ago
  Yeah agree that's where we're heading, I think independent of how hard we push vaccinations and lockdowns. Most of the outcome is determined by the dice roll of each new strain, which nobody can control. The difference is the "new normal" can be used to push mandates, censorship and other measures permanently, the same way the patriot act and TSA is still around. We're already seeing the rhetoric shifting from absolute to relative risk. For instance, the current public health narrative for vaccination (of non-risk groups and people with existing antibodies) against the new dominant omicron strain which appears much milder, is "the infection risk is reduced compared to not taking the vaccine" which is a trueism and at best misleading in terms of risk of serious disease. That said, Omicron appears contagious enough to saturate populations even in tightly locked down regions, which would be novel even for this pandemic.

by klabb3 5y ago

ianbutler 5y ago

40-70% efficacy is basically as good as the yearly flu shot. My point being is Covid is going to wind up being endemic and we just need to control it to a point where deaths, transmission and strain on healthcare are comparable to the flu -- we can't go on with our lives on pause forever. We'll get our shots every 6mo to a year and plan around it and influenza on the medical side. Exterminating this before we return to 'normal' is starting to look ridiculous to me and I was someone who locked down pretty tightly over the last two years.

klabb3 5y ago
Yeah agree that's where we're heading, I think independent of how hard we push vaccinations and lockdowns. Most of the outcome is determined by the dice roll of each new strain, which nobody can control. The difference is the "new normal" can be used to push mandates, censorship and other measures permanently, the same way the patriot act and TSA is still around. We're already seeing the rhetoric shifting from absolute to relative risk. For instance, the current public health narrative for vaccination (of non-risk groups and people with existing antibodies) against the new dominant omicron strain which appears much milder, is "the infection risk is reduced compared to not taking the vaccine" which is a trueism and at best misleading in terms of risk of serious disease. That said, Omicron appears contagious enough to saturate populations even in tightly locked down regions, which would be novel even for this pandemic.