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Mask mandates may have been a flash point in school districts across the nation as students went back to school late this summer, but studies keep showing the policies are helping prevent students from catching COVID-19.

Two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies released Friday found outbreaks and pediatric cases were more common when schools didn't mandate masks.

One study of about 1,000 schools in two Arizona counties says schools without mask mandates were 3.5 times more likely to have outbreaks than schools that started the year with a mask mandate. Another study of hundreds of U.S. counties found an increased rate of pediatric cases in areas where schools didn't have mask mandates.

Authors cautioned that a number of variables could affect the analysis, but the findings fall in line with what experts have long said: Masks provide instantaneous — although imperfect — protection from infection.

"School mask requirements, in combination with other prevention strategies, including COVID-19 vaccination, are critical to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in schools," authors wrote in the second study.

Outbreaks have resulted in nearly 2,000 school closures this year, a third study found.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/hea ... 848277001/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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Out this morning to do some shopping, temp was 68F with crisp Fall air, perfect weather. Stopped at Wally World to pick up somethings and wrapped up as their pharmacy opened. They had signs out that they were giving COVID shots, new since they were the only pharmacy in town that didn't give them initially. Inquired if they carried Pfizer which they did, so I got my booster/3rd dose. I was the first of the day for the booster, others were lined up behind me.

My arm is already getting a little sore at the injection site, normal for me for any vaccine.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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Moderna submitted an application and data for a booster, but as featureless noted studies showed its efficacy after two doses didn't degrade like Pfizer.
It was a constant refrain from federal health officials after the coronavirus vaccines were authorized: These shots are all equally effective.

That has turned out not to be true.

Roughly 221 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been dispensed thus far in the United States, compared with about 150 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine. In a half-dozen studies published over the past few weeks, Moderna’s vaccine appeared to be more protective than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the months after immunization.

The latest such study, published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, evaluated the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines at preventing symptomatic illness in about 5,000 health care workers in 25 states. The study found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had an effectiveness of 88.8 percent, compared with Moderna’s 96.3 percent.

Research published on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against hospitalization fell from 91 percent to 77 percent after a four-month period following the second shot. The Moderna vaccine showed no decline over the same period.
The two vaccines have diverged more sharply in their efficacy against infection. Protection from both waned over time, particularly after the arrival of the Delta variant, but the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s values fell lower. In two of the recent studies, the Moderna vaccine did better at preventing illness by more than 30 percentage points.

A few studies found that the levels of antibodies produced by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were one-third to one-half those produced by the Moderna vaccine. Yet that decrease is trivial, Dr. Moore said: For comparison, there is a more than 100-fold difference in the antibody levels among healthy individuals.

Still, other experts said that the corpus of evidence pointed to a disparity that would be worth exploring, at least in people who respond weakly to vaccines, including older adults and immunocompromised people.
“At the end of the day, I do think there are subtle but real differences between Moderna and Pfizer,” Dr. Jeffrey Wilson, an immunologist and physician at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville who was a co-author of one such study, published in JAMA Network Open this month. “In high-risk populations, it might be relevant. It’d be good if people took a close look.”

“Pfizer is a big hammer,” Dr. Wilson added, but “Moderna is a sledgehammer.”

Several factors might underlie the divergence. The vaccines differ in their dosing and in the time between the first and second doses. Vaccine manufacturers would typically have enough time to test a range of doses before choosing one — and they have done such testing for their trials of the coronavirus vaccine in children. But in the midst of a pandemic last year, the companies had to guess at the optimal dose. Pfizer went with 30 micrograms, Moderna with 100.

Moderna’s vaccine relies on a lipid nanoparticle that can deliver the larger dose. And the first and second shots of that vaccine are staggered by four weeks, compared with three for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The extra week may give immune cells more time to proliferate before the second dose, said Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer. “We need to keep studying this and to do more research, but I think it’s plausible.”

Moderna’s team recently showed that a half dose of the vaccine still sent antibody levels soaring. Based on those data, the company asked the F.D.A. this month to authorize 50 micrograms, the half dose, as a booster shot.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/heal ... cines.html

Those of us who were vaccinated early last year had no choice of vaccine, we took what was offered to us.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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My wife and I lucked out with Moderna (no choice and we were happy with any of the three). We're both in the twilight of the 40s and the second shot fucked us both up pretty well for a day. Our newly adult daughter got Pfizer. Fortunately she's got youth on her side. Any protection is better than no protection. I am very glad the booster has been approved for those that need it. Here's hoping we get the 5 to 11 year olds on the list very soon.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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featureless wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 12:14 pm My wife and I lucked out with Moderna (no choice and we were happy with any of the three). We're both in the twilight of the 40s and the second shot fucked us both up pretty well for a day. Our newly adult daughter got Pfizer. Fortunately she's got youth on her side. Any protection is better than no protection. I am very glad the booster has been approved for those that need it. Here's hoping we get the 5 to 11 year olds on the list very soon.

Pfizer has completed their studies and applied to FDA for EUA to vaccinate 5-11 year olds. Getting all 5 year olds vaccinated before they start school could dramatically decrease the number of school closures due to COVID. COVID would be just another vaccine that is required for children to start school, no different than MMR, TDaP, polio etc.


For those who received Pfizer, the FDA and CDC authorizations are very broad.
...people aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021 ... ions-.html

That's health and dental care workers but could also be grocery clerks, retail workers, teachers and school staff, correctional employees, prison inmates, homeless shelters or people in other occupational or school settings...
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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featureless wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 2:30 pm Our daughter is in food service, so we'll be encouraging her to get the booster. Now that she's an adult, she'll need to coordinate it. :)
IMHO definitely an occupational need for a booster for your daughter. The FDA and CDC approvals are for 6 months after the 2nd dose of Pfizer and she should bring her CDC Vaccination Card, because they'll add the booster onto it. It also verifies 2nd dose though they do check the state vaccination registry. It'll be easy for her to book an appmt. at a pharmacy or through the state website to work around her schedule.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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highdesert wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 3:22 pm
featureless wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 2:30 pm Our daughter is in food service, so we'll be encouraging her to get the booster. Now that she's an adult, she'll need to coordinate it. :)
IMHO definitely an occupational need for a booster for your daughter. The FDA and CDC approvals are for 6 months after the 2nd dose of Pfizer and she should bring her CDC Vaccination Card, because they'll add the booster onto it. It also verifies 2nd dose though they do check the state vaccination registry. It'll be easy for her to book an appmt. at a pharmacy or through the state website to work around her schedule.
Yes. But I want her to do it. She's got a bit more time under the parental wing living at home this semester (and maybe next, pandemic dependent), but she'll be on her own before much longer. I went with her to open her first solo checking account last week and made her do the talking. :)

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lurker wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 4:28 pm
featureless wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 4:17 pm made her do the talking. :)
you're a good dad. soon, you'll be having trouble getting a word in edgewise.
We're just lucky she still likes us! Had a rough couple of years with her mental health in high school. Like really fucking rough. In many ways, Covid was a blessing from that perspective. Got her out of the high school drama and gave us all more time together to work on what's really important in life. She's doing so much better now.

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Biden got his Pfizer booster yesterday before the cameras.


Image
President Biden received a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, a booster shot, on Monday. The White House hopes that the publicly broadcasted event will help assure Americans of the vaccine's safety and effectiveness amid continued hesitancy among many Americans.

"Like I did in my first and second COVID-19 vaccination shot, I'm about to get my booster shot and do it publicly," he said.

"That's because the Food and Drug Administration — the FDA — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the CDC — looked at all the data, completed their review and determined that boosters for the Pfizer vaccine, others will come later, maybe, I assume, but the Pfizer vaccine, are safe and effective."
Biden received his first dose on camera on Dec. 21, when he was president-elect, a time when a series of political leaders were doing so to demonstrate the safety of the vaccine. He received his second shot on Jan. 11.

Biden said he had not experienced any negative side effects from either dose of the vaccine and that first lady Jill Biden, who is 70, would also be getting a booster shot.

"Please, please do the right thing. Please get the shot," Biden said on Monday. "It can save your life. It can save the lives of those around you. And it's easy, accessible, and it's free," he said, calling the current phase of the pandemic, "a pandemic of the unvaccinated."
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/27/10408984 ... er-vaccine
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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featureless wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 12:14 pm My wife and I lucked out with Moderna (no choice and we were happy with any of the three). We're both in the twilight of the 40s and the second shot fucked us both up pretty well for a day. Our newly adult daughter got Pfizer. Fortunately she's got youth on her side. Any protection is better than no protection. I am very glad the booster has been approved for those that need it. Here's hoping we get the 5 to 11 year olds on the list very soon.
Got Covid, then Moderna. That first shot was brutal. Got nearly every symptom worse than the initial infection, if only for a day. Kept my sense of smell, at least what's left of it. Second shot was better, but not by a lot. Still recommend it to anyone who can get it.

Hoping for these pan-coronavirus vaccines I keep reading are around the corner.

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wings wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 7:15 pm
featureless wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 12:14 pm My wife and I lucked out with Moderna (no choice and we were happy with any of the three). We're both in the twilight of the 40s and the second shot fucked us both up pretty well for a day. Our newly adult daughter got Pfizer. Fortunately she's got youth on her side. Any protection is better than no protection. I am very glad the booster has been approved for those that need it. Here's hoping we get the 5 to 11 year olds on the list very soon.
Got Covid, then Moderna. That first shot was brutal. Got nearly every symptom worse than the initial infection, if only for a day. Kept my sense of smell, at least what's left of it. Second shot was better, but not by a lot. Still recommend it to anyone who can get it.

Hoping for these pan-coronavirus vaccines I keep reading are around the corner.
A study will examine whether vitamin A can help people to regain their sense of smell after having contracted Covid-19.

The 12-week Apollo trial will use nasal drops containing the vitamin to treat people who have encountered smell loss or an altered sense of smell because of viral infections.

The University of East Anglia (UEA) said that research in Germany had shown the potential benefit of the vitamin, and that its team would “explore how this treatment works to help repair tissues in the nose damaged by viruses”.

The researchers believe that the Apollo trial could eventually improve the lives of millions of people who have lost their sense of smell.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/expe ... -zhwffqbpp
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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I hope that people just don’t go out and start taking large doses of vitamin A. It is a fat soluble vitamin and can cause severe liver damage in large doses even leading to death.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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TrueTexan wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 11:28 am I hope that people just don’t go out and start taking large doses of vitamin A. It is a fat soluble vitamin and can cause severe liver damage in large doses even leading to death.

Yes fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K are dangerous in large doses. This is a controlled study at the University of East Anglia's medical school using nasal drops not OTC capsules.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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YouTube is cracking down on the spread of misinformation by banning misleading and inaccurate content about vaccines.

The platform announced the change in a blog post Wednesday, explaining that its current community guidelines, which already prohibit the sharing of medical misinformation, have been extended to cover "currently administered" vaccines that have been proven safe by the World Health Organization and other health officials.

The site had previously banned content containing false claims about COVID-19 vaccines under its COVID-19 misinformation policy. The change extends that policy to a far wider number of vaccines.

"We've steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we're now at a point where it's more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines," the company said.

YouTube said it now bans videos that claim vaccines aren't safe or effective or cause other health issues such as cancer and infertility. In its announcement, the company pointed specifically to videos that inaccurately describe what ingredients are used in vaccines as well as allegations that vaccines contain properties that can be used to "track" those who receive them.

There are some exceptions: Users are still allowed to share content related to their personal experiences with the vaccine, but only if those videos adhere to the site's community guidelines and the channel in question doesn't routinely encourage "vaccine hesitancy."

The new mandate goes into effect immediately, and YouTube has already removed pages known for sharing anti-vaccination sentiments such as those belonging to prominent vaccine opponents Joseph Mercola, Erin Elizabeth, Sherri Tenpenny and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Children's Health Defense organization, CNBC reported.

But the company, which is owned by Google, warned the more widespread removal of videos may take some time as it works to enforce the policy.

As big tech companies such as YouTube and Facebook have tightened their restrictions regarding vaccine misinformation over the last year, many conspiracy theorists began migrating to other less-regulated platforms. Rumble, another video-sharing site, has become a popular choice for far-right groups and others who are vaccine-resistant, Slate reported in March.

But many conservative pages that spread vaccine misinformation are still active on YouTube, and their videos continue to attract millions of views.
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/10414935 ... mation-ban
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is leaning toward authorizing half-dose booster shots of the Moderna Inc. coronavirus vaccine, satisfied that it’s effective in shoring up protection, people familiar with the matter said.

The authorization would set the stage to further widen the U.S. booster campaign after earlier authorization of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shot. About 170 million fully vaccinated people in the U.S. received the Moderna or Pfizer shots, or 92% of the total inoculated so far.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity, before a potential announcement. It’s not clear when an announcement will come. Any authorization would also introduce different dosage levels for boosters. Moderna’s initial inoculations contained 100-microgram doses, and the company’s submission to regulators amounted to a push to authorize a half-dose booster.

Pfizer’s shot, for comparison, has 30-microgram initial doses and a 30-microgram booster. Boosters are so far being given with, or planned for, the same vaccine that a person received initially, though studies are ongoing about whether to mix vaccines.

Proceeding with a 50-microgram dose could reduce the risk of side effects from a booster, and would also allow Moderna to produce more doses globally in the near-term. That would ease supply constraints and potentially blunt criticisms of rich countries beginning sprawling booster campaigns before many nations have given widespread first shots.

Moderna declined to comment on Tuesday night. The White House and the FDA declined to comment.

The U.S. is rolling out boosters to head off what President Joe Biden’s health advisers warn are a pair of concerning trends: Hints that vaccine efficacy wanes over months, and that the two-dose regimens are weaker generally against the delta variant than against other iterations of the virus.

The U.S. has dealt with a summer and fall wave of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, driven by spread among unvaccinated people but increasing the exposure risk for the vaccinated.
Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said he believes Pfizer and Moderna will eventually be considered three-dose vaccines.

As the vaccination campaign widens, sites that administer them will have to juggle different versions. In addition to Moderna potentially adding a half-dose booster, Pfizer is seeking authorization of a vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, with a 10-microgram dose -- one-third the strength given to those 12 and up.

Fauci has indicated that there’ll be progress soon on booster shots for Moderna as well as Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine. “I believe it will be weeks and not months,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this month.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -half-dose
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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