Coronavirus: awaiting for the new wave

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Normally this shouldn't take longer than 2 days, and is still a lot less severe than the actual infection.


I just wondered why the Chinese and Russian vaccines are not approved in Europe (but in various other countries like Serbia).
I pinged a friend at the Dutch GMO authority, who need to do environmental impact assessments for the vector vaccines, and she says that the Russian one is nowhere to be seen.
So... did they not bother brining it on the market here, did nobody buy it here, or what's the reason :think:?
 
COVID vaccines might lose potency against new viral variants

Newly emerging, fast-spreading variants of the coronavirus might reduce the protective effects of two leading vaccines.
Michel Nussenzweig at the Rockefeller University in New York City and his colleagues analysed blood from 20 volunteers who received two doses of either the vaccine developed by Moderna or that developed by Pfizer–BioNTech (Z. Wang et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/frdn; 2021). Both vaccines carry RNA instructions that prompt human cells to make the spike protein that the virus uses to infect cells. This causes the body to generate immune molecules called antibodies that recognize the spike protein.
Three to 14 weeks after the second jab, the study participants developed several types of antibody, including some that can block SARS-CoV-2 from infecting cells. Some of these neutralizing antibodies were as effective against viruses carrying certain mutations in the spike protein as they were against widespread forms of the virus. But some were only one-third as effective at blocking the mutated variants.
Some of the mutations that the team tested have been seen in coronavirus variants that were first identified in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa; at least one of these variants is more easily transmitted than other forms of the virus now in wide circulation.
The findings suggest that vaccine-resistant variants might emerge, meaning that COVID-19 vaccines could need an update. They have not yet been peer reviewed.
Nature bioRxiv


Particles of SARS-CoV-2 (green) lurk in a study participant’s intestinal cells 92 days after the onset of symptoms. Nothing to do with the news, but fluorescent microscopy makes beautiful images.
 
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I had thought the Oxford-AstraZeneca team were being pretty ethical about the vaccine, with licencing it around the world. Not really, it seems:

South Africa to pay 2.5 times more than EU for COVID vaccine
Oxford-AstraZeneca quotes Pretoria $5.25 for each jab, while EU nations pay $2.16 for the same vaccine.

“The National Department of Health confirms that the price $5.25 is what was quoted to us,” deputy director-general of health Anban Pillay said via text message, without explaining the price difference.
European Union (EU) members will pay only 1.78 euros ($2.16) for AstraZeneca’s shots, according to information leaked by a Belgian minister on Twitter last month.
Bilateral deals between wealthier governments and coronavirus vaccine manufacturers have raised concern over price rise and lack of supply for low- and middle-income countries.
The World Health Organization last year warned against “vaccine nationalism” and “price gouging” once a successful shot was found.
AstraZeneca France told AFP in November that its shots would be capped at 2.5 euros (about $3) per dose “to provide vaccines to the widest population, with as fair access as possible”.
The pharmaceutical giant did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the health ministry’s price quote.
South Africa’s AstraZeneca vaccine order is part of 20 million secured doses to be delivered in the first half of 2021.​
 
From that article:

South Africa will buy doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a price 2.5 times higher than most European countries, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The continent’s worst virus-hit country has ordered at least 1.5 million shots of the vaccine from the Serum Institute of India, expected in January and February.

Last time I checked, India was not in Oxford.

Questions I'd ask is whether the price is just per dose or whether the
dose comes prepared in an injection syringe etc and/or in cool boxes.
 
Nature bioRxiv


Particles of SARS-CoV-2 (green) lurk in a study participant’s intestinal cells 92 days after the onset of symptoms. Nothing to do with the news, but fluorescent microscopy makes beautiful images.

I hope China means to elevate those of us who are immune to Covid19/Sophons, after the rest are over and done with.
 
COVID vaccines might lose potency against new viral variants

Newly emerging, fast-spreading variants of the coronavirus might reduce the protective effects of two leading vaccines.
Michel Nussenzweig at the Rockefeller University in New York City and his colleagues analysed blood from 20 volunteers who received two doses of either the vaccine developed by Moderna or that developed by Pfizer–BioNTech (Z. Wang et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/frdn; 2021). Both vaccines carry RNA instructions that prompt human cells to make the spike protein that the virus uses to infect cells. This causes the body to generate immune molecules called antibodies that recognize the spike protein.
Three to 14 weeks after the second jab, the study participants developed several types of antibody, including some that can block SARS-CoV-2 from infecting cells. Some of these neutralizing antibodies were as effective against viruses carrying certain mutations in the spike protein as they were against widespread forms of the virus. But some were only one-third as effective at blocking the mutated variants.
Some of the mutations that the team tested have been seen in coronavirus variants that were first identified in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa; at least one of these variants is more easily transmitted than other forms of the virus now in wide circulation.
The findings suggest that vaccine-resistant variants might emerge, meaning that COVID-19 vaccines could need an update. They have not yet been peer reviewed.
Nature bioRxiv

Put mandatory quarantines on every border already! What are governments waiting for, an eve more disastrous variant to spread, and then claim "we couldn't know?"
 
I'll become sober then. Not an option.
For the motherland!

Also, since I'm not vaccinated, I'll take your daily allowance of vodka. It's for the cold.
 
I just wondered why the Chinese and Russian vaccines are not approved in Europe (but in various other countries like Serbia).
I pinged a friend at the Dutch GMO authority, who need to do environmental impact assessments for the vector vaccines, and she says that the Russian one is nowhere to be seen.
So... did they not bother brining it on the market here, did nobody buy it here, or what's the reason :think:?
Serbia is in Europe but not in the EU, so it's vulnerable to Chinese loansharking.
I posted a few weeks ago how Argentina's government's decision not to complain about China having a military base and also to throw in a purchase of medical equipment has meant China has decided not to collect (for now) on some ~8.5 billion (short scale) USian dollars.
It's what happens when you want to be edgy and do business with people outside ‘the evil West’™ and instead do worse deals with worse countries simply because it's totally rad.
 
COVID vaccines might lose potency against new viral variants

Newly emerging, fast-spreading variants of the coronavirus might reduce the protective effects of two leading vaccines.
Michel Nussenzweig at the Rockefeller University in New York City and his colleagues analysed blood from 20 volunteers who received two doses of either the vaccine developed by Moderna or that developed by Pfizer–BioNTech (Z. Wang et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/frdn; 2021). Both vaccines carry RNA instructions that prompt human cells to make the spike protein that the virus uses to infect cells. This causes the body to generate immune molecules called antibodies that recognize the spike protein.
Three to 14 weeks after the second jab, the study participants developed several types of antibody, including some that can block SARS-CoV-2 from infecting cells. Some of these neutralizing antibodies were as effective against viruses carrying certain mutations in the spike protein as they were against widespread forms of the virus. But some were only one-third as effective at blocking the mutated variants.
Some of the mutations that the team tested have been seen in coronavirus variants that were first identified in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa; at least one of these variants is more easily transmitted than other forms of the virus now in wide circulation.
The findings suggest that vaccine-resistant variants might emerge, meaning that COVID-19 vaccines could need an update. They have not yet been peer reviewed.
Nature bioRxiv


Particles of SARS-CoV-2 (green) lurk in a study participant’s intestinal cells 92 days after the onset of symptoms. Nothing to do with the news, but fluorescent microscopy makes beautiful images.

And we thought 2020 would end and 2021 would be a brand new year.
 
C'mon, you know that this year is ‘2020 won’ and the next is ‘2020 too’.
 
There's nothing to worry about! As long as some scientists keep their funding. :)

The death rate for Nipah virus is up to 75% and it has no vaccine. While the world focuses on Covid-19, scientists are working hard to ensure it doesn't cause the next pandemic.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210106-nipah-virus-how-bats-could-cause-the-next-pandemic

Interesting news. I don't see the article saying the Nipah virus is highly infectious, only highly lethal. It reminds me of Ebola.
 
Interesting news. I don't see the article saying the Nipah virus is highly infectious, only highly lethal. It reminds me of Ebola.
Well, that's where the possibility of mutations are a worry? Don't blink when a crucial one happens.
 
Well, according to the BBC, which may well be biased:

_116632372_vaccine_doses_per100_countries_most_vax22jan-nc.png

the UK is proceeding well with its vaccination program.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55771223
 
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