COVID-19 News

[Randall]

Let's look at where it stands now. Almost have of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated (68% of the adult population has received at least one shot). The number of potential side effects is extremely small, more with the J&J vaccine.

I think maybe you meant to say that the number of people who experience severe sides effects is relatively small compared to those who don't. Rather than simply that the number of side effects is small. The number of side effects is fairly wide ranging, and virtually everyone who gets a shot ( of any variety ) experiences at least some of them, usually fairly mildly and temporarily.

The numbers game is the way they are rationalizing, and appear to be, essentially covering-up what appear to be deaths and incidents of more severe side effect cases. The one guy points out out how many people experience an increase in migraines and severe headaches. You said you had one the other day. Is that normal for you?

He also pointed out how the pharmaceutical companies are immune from prosecution due to their status as emergency relief providers, and that if it were the case where it was a child's toy rather than a vaccine, it would have been pulled off the market according to the threshold for responsible distribution, and also points to other treatments that were discredited, but for which significant and better evidence than the vaccines exists in their favor, and which says exactly the opposite, and don't deserve to be written-off as "fake news". It looks like he's probably right about that too.

The number of "breakthrough" infections, those who get COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, is low. Again, the vast majority of new infections — and deaths — involve people who have not yet been vaccinated. Again, per the polls, most of these are Republicans, which is doubly troubling. A lot of that is due to much of the vaccine fear mongering is done by people who appeal to that demographic.

Politicization is indeed a problem. Virtually every source I've posted who comments on the issues agrees with that, and they aren't all Republicans, but even if they were, that doesn't make them automatically wrong. It also looks to me like there is a lot of hand waving and bias on the part of Democrats too, that is leading them to side with false information that is part of the the official narrative.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

I don't see the official narrative here as false. Just imperfect. Till infections increased in areas with more unvaccinated people due to the latest virus strain, the situation was highly improved. Even now, I go around without a mask everywhere except for a doctor's office. I do not feel constrained at all in any meaningful way.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

And more information about the negative impact of the DELTA strain of the virus in the U.S., which has become the virus of the unvaccinated, and the victims are primarily Republicans who don't believe in the value of vaccines:

Analysis: The upside-down reality many unvaccinated people are living in

The struggle to vaccinate enough Americans against the coronavirus in order to achieve herd immunity has produced frustration, anger and a whole lot of people doing things directly against their best interests when it comes to their health.

www.cnn.com

 

[Randall]

I don't see the official narrative here as false. Just imperfect. Till infections increased in areas with more unvaccinated people due to the latest virus strain, the situation was highly improved. Even now, I go around without a mask everywhere except for a doctor's office. I do not feel constrained at all in any meaningful way.

That's why I said, "false information that is part of the the official narrative" rather than a "false narrative".

And more information about the negative impact of the DELTA strain of the virus in the U.S., which has become the virus of the unvaccinated, and the victims are primarily Republicans who don't believe in the value of vaccines:

Analysis: The upside-down reality many unvaccinated people are living in

The struggle to vaccinate enough Americans against the coronavirus in order to achieve herd immunity has produced frustration, anger and a whole lot of people doing things directly against their best interests when it comes to their health.

www.cnn.com

The way the issue is framed in favor of the vaccines leaves out alternatives that appear to have been demonized by the purveyors of the official narrative in order to get the vaccines approved. I don't have the time right now to get into a whole exposé, and it seems you only watch half the stuff I post anyway, and write the rest off as fake news, like the Jewish doctor, who couldn't have been fake news because he was there on the scene treating people before there was any official narrative, or the doctor who pioneered the mRNA technology and has been attacked on social media as fake ( when he's not ), or the thousands of medical scientists from the GBD who were demonized, suppressed, and misrepresented.

It's not "Vaccines and lockdowns versus letting the disease rip through society". That's Fauci's propaganda and the misrepresentation as part of the official narrative. It's about alternative treatments and strategies that appear to me to have been far better than the official narrative and measures taken, but were suppressed, versus what we're left with as a result.

Proponents of the other treatments and strategies would likely say that had those been immediately pushed to the fore, the whole thing would have been over sooner, less people would have died, millions of people would still have jobs, hundreds of thousands of businesses would not have been lost, the variants wouldn't have had as much time to mutate, and the pockets of the unvaccinated wouldn't even be an issue.

But no. Let's keep forgetting any evidence in favor of that and continue to misrepresent and demonize healthy unvaccinated people, while continuing to deny them the alternatives they want . And if so many thousand people die from the vaccine and so many thousand more end-up with serious long-term side-effects, it's a small price to pay for everyone else's safety. Right?

 

[henris42]

With this new delta variant, research shows that a single vaccination shot is not sufficient, two is needed for it to be effective.
That means that neither US nor EU is close to "fully vaccinated". Here they are trying to speed up now - I myself was able to rebook my second shot later this week... But issue still remains that the young people are lazy to get vaccinated.

Local gov also says that we have now "fourth wave", but its indeed not showing as major hospitalizations as before. That means that vaccinations actually have already a huge effect. That means that the reasoning for restrictions they had before is not valid anymore.

About those masks: You indeed CAN buy mask that protects you from the coronavirus. When the pandemic started, I bought one made by 3M Scott, it has a filter that does not let particles as large as coronavirus pass though. It scary looking though, it makes peple look you funny in disbelief. I haven't used it much though as the pandemic is less worse than it could have been.

 

[Randall]

A study on viral transmission found that only 0.1% of viruses exhaled by a person are actually infectious, and when you look at how the studies were done, they literally have a person's head stuck in cone that feeds it directly to a collector. There are virtually no real-world situations like that, except possibly where people are kissing and sharing each other's breath.

So we begin with not everyone in a situation being infectious in the first place, then only 0.1% of the viruses those people shed being infectious, and then needing to have their head in a position to transmit it that is identical to the picture below, and then there's still a number of other variables the virus has to pass through intact before it can get to a place in a person's body where it can attach and replicate.

Add to that, that even surgical masks taped and sealed to heads of dummies don't stop all transmision anyway, and that even if infected, with coronavirus, the likelihood of a healthy person getting sick enough to end-up in a hospital from it is really small. This is a numbers game with a lot of chance in it. The only reason the virus became such a problem is that there are a lot of people, so even 0.1% of 0.1% can overwhelm a poor healthcare system, which is exactly what happened. But don't blame the lousy system, right? Blame healthy people who don't follow the rules.

On an individual level, in non-clinical settings, where a person can judge the circumstances for themselves, there doesn't appear to me to be enough reason to mandate masks and impose fines on those who don't follow the restrictions. It's like saying that there's a 0.1% of a 0.1% chance that you might commit a crime that isn't likely to hurt anyone but you, but we've judged you guilty, and if you don't cooperate, we'll inflict violence on you and throw you in jail.

This sounds paranoid, but I have seen them do that to protesters right here in Calgary, and literally thousands of fines have been handed out. What gets me, is that despite these stazi-like measures, which are doing real obvious harm to someone, the majority are so afraid of the "invisible enemy" that they think it's the right thing to do. Personally I have some problems with that, and think it's fair to question it. Of course then I get lumped-in with all the stupid anti-science conspiracy theorist victims of fake news. But don't worry. nobody actually cares what I think anyway - Take The Poll.

 

[Randall]

Here's A Good Rant ( Sorry Biden Fans )
We even get a mention of aliens!

 

[henris42]

I still have to ask from you not-wanting-vaxx ones, is it because mRNA in "untested", or what is it?
I have posted the mRNA science multi times here already... and its "kosher" so to speak - well to be realistic, its a revolution.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

We should also mention that, if a vaccine has any unsavory side effects, they'd been known early in the test cycle. In the U.S., 190 million people have received one or both doses. Numbers are growing in Canada and the UK. If there were serious side effects, we'd know. The ones discovered only impact a small number of people.

At least one of the vaccines currently under emergency authorization in the US will get final approve in the next month or so. That may sway some people.

We didn't have these arguments when they introduced measles vaccine and polio vaccine. It's the downside of social networks who care more about ad clicks and taps than in providing factual information.

The mRNA technology may be the one to help us perfect a universal flu vaccine, HIV vaccine, cancer vaccines, etc.

 

[henris42]

We should also mention that, if a vaccine has any unsavory side effects, they'd been known early in the test cycle. In the U.S., 190 million people have received one or both doses. Numbers are growing in Canada and the UK. If there were serious side effects, we'd know. The ones discovered only impact a small number of people.

At least one of the vaccines currently under emergency authorization in the US will get final approve in the next month or so. That may sway some people.

We didn't have these arguments when they introduced measles vaccine and polio vaccine. It's the downside of social networks who care more about ad clicks and taps than in providing factual information.

The mRNA technology may be the one to help us perfect a universal flu vaccine, HIV vaccine, cancer vaccines, etc.

100% so! mRNA tech, I believe, will quite quickly be utilized in cancer treatment. (and also longetivity...)

And total honest what happened with the Pfizer: 1st time: next day my arm was bit sore, thats it. 2nd. time: Not even sore, but I did feel bit tired. Hard to say if it was the vaccine or not. No any other side effects.

 

[henris42]

100% so! mRNA tech, I believe, will quite quickly be utilized in cancer treatment. (and also longetivity...)

And total honest what happened with the Pfizer: 1st time: next day my arm was bit sore, thats it. 2nd. time: Not even sore, but I did feel bit tired. Hard to say if it was the vaccine or not. No any other side effects.

A good book, is:

Krane, Raymer: Fundamental Concepts of Bioinformatics. ISBN 0-8053-4633-3.

I wholeheartedly recommend it, its kinda easy read.

 

[Randall]

We should also mention that, if a vaccine has any unsavory side effects, they'd been known early in the test cycle. In the U.S., 190 million people have received one or both doses. Numbers are growing in Canada and the UK. If there were serious side effects, we'd know. The ones discovered only impact a small number of people.

At least one of the vaccines currently under emergency authorization in the US will get final approve in the next month or so. That may sway some people.

We didn't have these arguments when they introduced measles vaccine and polio vaccine. It's the downside of social networks who care more about ad clicks and taps than in providing factual information.

The mRNA technology may be the one to help us perfect a universal flu vaccine, HIV vaccine, cancer vaccines, etc.

You obviously never watched the video I posted or you'd see why some people think there have been a lot more problems, including deaths than people have been led to believe. Plus there's the drain having to deal with with non-serious side effects that still end-up with an extra trip to the doctor or hospital. Numbers that were mentioned ranged from 6000 deaths to 20,000, and the data he presents was reasonable enough to seriously consider, especially when dealing with the real-life examples he gives. Even if half of what he says is partially valid, it's still alarming.

There are no alien conspiracy theories there. And the following interview with him included the scientist they've been smearing who was an inventor ( whatever ) of the mRNA vaccine, and the host is also well educated. So maybe you need to rethink your position. If not, and you can't show me a better reason than some authoritarian bureaucrat MD like Fauci misrepresenting it with pejoratives and personality attacks, then I'll start to take it seriously. It doesn't take much to see the numbers on vaccine incidents are way off.

A senior lady acquaintance of mine who I quite like as a person was recently afflicted with something resembling an epileptic seizure. It happened some length of time after receiving the vaccination. She has no history ever of seizures before the vaccine. She's not alone. Nerve symptoms in a wide-range seem to be common, and exactly what I expected. Yet our Prime Minister made a fine sound-byte today where he says the vaccines are "safe" and nobody has an "excuse" not to get vaccinated.

I'm more or less partial to the idea that if people are using excuses, then they're probably abusing their position, and right now it looks like failing to mention that "reasons" as opposed to "excuses" carry weight, and that talking down to reasonably intelligent people as if they are uninformed children, really isn't a very classy move. But it's easy to use power as an excuse to get away with it, and it's really nothing new. It such a shame because I was finding myself being accused of being an apologist for Trudeau. Now I'm off the fence. But who else would do any better?

This is a really disturbing social time to me. I've never personally seen academics attacked like those who started the GBD, or the literally tens of thousands of other scientists who backed them, not to mention thousands of health care workers. Funny how it always seems to be the academics that those in power go after first, right? And they always have some bureaucrat medical authority help in the process. All of that scares me way way more than coronavirus. It's so obvious. It's all around us. All you have to do is look. But people seem to be walking around like citizens in ...

The Matrix "— oblivious".

 

[henris42]

You obviously never watched the video I posted or you'd see why some people think there have been a lot more problems, including deaths than people have been led to believe. Plus there's the drain having to deal with with non-serious side effects that still end-up with an extra trip to the doctor or hospital. Numbers that were mentioned ranged from 6000 deaths to 20,000, and the data he presents was reasonable enough to seriously consider, especially when dealing with the real-life examples he gives. Even if half of what he says is partially valid, it's still alarming.

There are no alien conspiracy theories there. And the following interview with him included the scientist they've been smearing who was an inventor ( whatever ) of the mRNA vaccine, and the host is also well educated. So maybe you need to rethink your position. If not, and you can't show me a better reason than some authoritarian bureaucrat MD like Fauci misrepresenting it with pejoratives and personality attacks, then I'll start to take it seriously. It doesn't take much to see the numbers on vaccine incidents are way off.

A senior lady acquaintance of mine who I quite like as a person was recently afflicted with something resembling an epileptic seizure. It happened some length of time after receiving the vaccination. She has no history ever of seizures before the vaccine. She's not alone. Nerve symptoms in a wide-range seem to be common, and exactly what I expected. Yet our Prime Minister made a fine sound-byte today where he says the vaccines are "safe" and nobody has an "excuse" not to get vaccinated.

I'm more or less partial to the idea that if people are using excuses, then they're probably abusing their position, and right now it looks like failing to mention that "reasons" as opposed to "excuses" carry weight, and that talking down to reasonably intelligent people as if they are uninformed children, really isn't a very classy move. But it's easy to use power as an excuse to get away with it, and it's really nothing new. It such a shame because I was finding myself being accused of being an apologist for Trudeau. Now I'm off the fence. But who else would do any better?

This is a really disturbing social time to me. I've never personally seen academics attacked like those who started the GBD, or the literally tens of thousands of other scientists who backed them, not to mention thousands of health care workers. Funny how it always seems to be the academics that those in power go after first, right? And they always have some bureaucrat medical authority help in the process. All of that scares me way way more than coronavirus. It's so obvious. It's all around us. All you have to do is look. But people seem to be walking around like citizens in ...

The Matrix "— oblivious".

I have both mRNA shots now. Zero side effects. I just cannot buy into this FUD.

 

[Randall]

I have both mRNA shots now. Zero side effects. I just cannot buy into this FUD.

I don't suggest that anyone "Buy into" anything. I look at the evidence that people more well educated than myself are presenting. I'm intelligent enough to do my own "fact checking" as well. Your personal experience with the vaccinations doesn't represent all other experiences with it. There are a wide range of side effect types, and the severeness spans the full spectrum. Are you telling me you are just choosing to ignore that? Pretty sure you're smarter than that. But it's certainly your call. I'm burnt out from it myself. But it's not going to go away that easily.

 

[henris42]

Well, in my surroundings, everyone is taking vaxx happily, with no side effects. Thats a lots of people.

I have here zero "horror stories" of vaxx side effects, so I have to conclude its bueno. We're doing it to kids hopefully next, before school start at September.

Its you who is spreading FUD, I haven't seen any convincing evidence that vaxx is bad. Remember that 1 in million is really, really little.

 

[Randall]

Well, in my surroundings, everyone is taking vaxx happily, with no side effects. Thats a lots of people.

I have here zero "horror stories" of vaxx side effects, so I have to conclude its bueno. We're doing it to kids hopefully next, before school start at September.

Its you who is spreading FUD, I haven't seen any convincing evidence that vaxx is bad. Remember that 1 in million is really, really little.

My personal view on the COVID vaccine is that if people choose to get vaccinated regardless of the propaganda from all sides, pro or con, then that's up to them. But forcing or persuading kids who don't want it is another story. Parents may be legally allowed to make up a child's mind for them, but that's beside the point. Setting all requirements for medical knowledge aside, the logic works this way . . .

Possible vaccinate or don't vaccinate outcomes:

1. Getting COVID but NOT being vaccinated = some risk.
2. Getting vaccinated and NOT getting COVID = some risk
3. Getting COVID AND being vaccinated = some risk
4. NOT getting COVID and NOT getting vaccinated = ZERO risk ( from either the virus or the vaccine ).

Removing possibility 4 ( above ) arbitrarily takes the only ZERO risk possibility away from a child, and replaces it with a certainty of at least some risk.
Add that reportedly, the vaccine has killed people — a small percentage, but that's irrelevant. Any deaths above zero as a result of disobeying lockdowns was a good enough reason to impose fines and throw people in jail. But for some reason the same logic isn't being applied with the vaccines. But let's not get too far off track here.

Now the situation is where a parent has put the child in a situation where there is certain risk and the stakes are literally lives. This is justified by statisticians and politicians deeming the risk to the general population as acceptable. The thing is — don't be fooled by the numbers. Having a magazine with way more empty chambers isn't less of a game of Russian Roulette. Are parents justified in playing that game with their kids?

Virtually no otherwise healthy normal children die from COVID, or for that matter even get any serious symptoms. But let's jab them all with syringes filled with toxins and hope nothing serious happens? Really? More kids are likely to die as collateral damage from the poverty and disruptions caused by the lockdowns, than from COVID. The vaccines could turn out the same over the long-term.

Anyway, I don't have sufficient information to judge individual situations, so I'm not saying what you or any other individual should or shouldn't do with their kids on the decision to get vaccinated. But in general, I do I think both the pro people and the con people are too blasé. They are just "living out their lives" in compliance with their respective social conventions and/or are acting more out of fear, than from of a well informed, relatively unbiased, and deeply considered position, hence the allusion to The Matrix, which is an allegory for exactly that sort of obliviousness.

Jessica Lea Mayfield – Oblivious​

 

[Randall]

US Overdose Deaths Hit Record 93,000 in Pandemic Last Year​

US Overdose Deaths Hit Record 93,000 in Pandemic Last Year

Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday. That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase.

news.wttw.com

 

[Randall]

With the UK population currently at nearly 67 million, that’s one in every four or five people.
But another 700,000 people were plunged into hardship during the pandemic,
taking the overall poverty figure to more than 15 million.

UK poverty: the facts, figures and effects

The Covid-19 crisis has driven disadvantaged households further into hardship. These are the UK poverty facts you need to know

www.bigissue.com

 

[Randall]

Well, in my surroundings, everyone is taking vaxx happily, with no side effects. Thats a lots of people.

I have here zero "horror stories" of vaxx side effects, so I have to conclude its bueno. We're doing it to kids hopefully next, before school start at September.

Its you who is spreading FUD, I haven't seen any convincing evidence that vaxx is bad. Remember that 1 in million is really, really little.

Interesting perspective. Let's have a closer look at the. The FUD ( Fear Uncertainty & Doubt ). I'm not sure why you decided to get vaccinated, but I think it's fair to say that the "FUD" began with the spread of the virus, and that before they knew it wasn't nearly as bad as they feared, they were spreading that FUD to the general population, which gave them all they needed for lockdowns, fines, and other authoritarian measures. Then people became afraid of those too. Those are facts. I'm not making them up.

And that same fear is behind most of the compliance with the measures, including vaccination. Fear of becoming a COVID victim, fear of enforcement, fear of social disapproval, fear that someone they care about, like their kids,( who virtually never die from the COVID ) will die if they don't get them injected. Maybe you're not afraid of any of it, and you're just following along with all the good obedient citizens. Or maybe you've already fallen for the official FUD and are projecting it back onto me to make you feel confident about your decisions?

Perhaps in some sense I'm guilty of fighting fire with fire. But instilling fear isn't my intent. I'm not out to make people unafraid of the "invisible enemy" or the authorities. On one hand, the masses have been moved to comply by the official FUD. On the other, I'm saying there's another point of view. I haven't fallen for the official FUD or the out-there whacko alien world domination FUD. I'm shining a light on the official FUD and its victims. They deserve to be seen and acknowledged. Sticking-up for the underdog and the disenfranchised is an annoying habit of mine.

When a person weighs it all relatively objectively, and finds that hundreds of millions of lives have been severely affected in a bad way by pandemic management, and that the official narrative has propaganda in it as well, and that there are very real scientifically proven real-world examples of risks with the vaccines, then it should raise a corresponding level of FUD, otherwise you're just in a state of blissful denial and focused only on your personal subjective experience rather than seeing the exceptions.

That being said, I'm really glad you're doing okay. Not everyone has been as unaffected. My own personal FUD is on both sides. I don't want the virus or the vaccine. I don't want either one in my body. I want the option of pursuing the only zero risk option for myself, and to defend my rights and the rights of others to do the same, without being labeled a fear monger. Is that really too much to ask?

 

[marduk]

I still have to ask from you not-wanting-vaxx ones, is it because mRNA in "untested", or what is it?
I have posted the mRNA science multi times here already... and its "kosher" so to speak - well to be realistic, its a revolution.

Very much so. It's a fantastic and safe toolkit. mRNA doesn't change your DNA at all; it simply floods your body with messages to encode certain proteins.

In the case of COVID, these proteins are then extruded on the surfaces of your own cells, triggering your immune system to respond to them.

In theory this can be used for many things - from HIV to many cancers - to train your body to respond to a variety of things. This will likely be a key tool in the arsenal in the future.

People that are hysterical about mRNA vaccines clearly don't understand even the basics of our our biochemistry and while the technology is new, the basics of the science is decades old. Descriptors for this kind of thing could be found in my 25 year old genetics textbook from my first year university.