CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 5/13/2022

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND.

FROM BECKERS :

The 25 most common passwords

FYI

The healthiest county in each US state | 2022

Texas

Collin County

The unhealthiest county in each US state | 2022

Texas

Brooks County

FROM JAMA:

1. Assessment of Neutralizing Antibody Response Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants After 2 to 3 Doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

”…Question Are neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 sufficiently induced after 2 to 3 doses of the BNT162b2 messenger RNA vaccine in recipients of different ages?

Findings In this cohort study of 82 Japanese participants, 28% and 6% had neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant at 2 and 7 months, respectively, after 2 doses of the vaccine; both titer values were low in all age groups. After receiving a booster vaccination, all participants acquired much higher levels of neutralizing antibodies irrespective of age….Meaning This study suggests that booster vaccination was associated with induction of higher levels of neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant, irrespective of the recipient’s age.

2. Two mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Stimulate Different Immune Responses

”…Subtle variations in immune responses to the mRNA-1273 (Moderna) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) COVID-19 vaccines suggest that each may confer somewhat different protection, according to a study in Science Translational Medicine. This could mean that a mix-and-match booster strategy might increase protection against future variants and could have implications for future therapy development…”

3. THE PATHOS OF MODERN DAY MEDICAL TRAINING: “WE ARE DROWNING”

(J. Harris: And about 50% of these heros are heroines.)

SUGGESTED BY HOPKINS

1.The ‘five pandemics’ driving 1 million U.S. Covid deaths (FROM STAT)

(J. Harris: Wonderful, graphic, readable, sensible, helpful article.)

2. LONGCOVID ARTICLE: From The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, a study of nearly 1,200 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, followed up at 6 months, 12 months, and 2 years post-discharge to determine the persistent health effects of COVID-19. While physical and mental health improved over time, 68% of participants reported experiencing at least 1 original COVID-1 symptom at 6 months, and 55% reported at least 1 original symptom 2 years later. Around half of participants had symptoms of long COVID such as fatigue and sleep difficulties at 2 years, and those participants reported poorer quality of life, reduced ability to exercise, more mental health problems, and increased use of healthcare services than those without long COVID symptoms. Additionally, recovered patients tended to be in poorer health 2 years after discharge compared with the general population.

FROM THE NYT:

1. Moderna’s vaccine provoked a strong immune response in children aged 6 to 11, researchers report.

”… based on small numbers of infections with the Delta variant among the participants, the researchers estimated that the vaccine had an efficacy of 88 percent against infection.”

2. North Korea says 6 are dead as Covid-19 spreads ‘explosively.’

”…They were infected with the BA.2 subvariant of the virus, it said….The country declared a “maximum emergency” and ordered all cities and counties in the nation of 25 million to lock down, and told them to isolate “each working unit, production unit and residential unit from each other.”…The danger posed by the Covid outbreak is greater in North Korea than in most other nations because most of its people are unvaccinated. …North Koreans are chronically malnourished and unvaccinated, there are barely any medicines left in the country, and the health infrastructure is incapable to deal with this pandemic,…Hours after admitting to the outbreak on Thursday, North Korea launched three ballistic missiles from near Pyongyang toward the sea off its east coast…”

(J. Harris: N. Korea and probably China will continue to have a widespread dangerous Covid vulnerablity.)

FROM THE LANCET:

Zero COVID in China: what next?

”…Many people in Shanghai have written on social media about the collateral damage of confinement rules, including many patients with chronic and non-COVID-19-related diseases losing their access to medical care….. “COVID-19 has become a highly politicised disease in China, and any voice advocating for the deviation from the current zero-COVID path will be punished”, one official said…lack of protection in the groups most susceptible to severe disease makes it difficult for China to change its policy safely. “It’s mind boggling that for the most part of the last 2 years, China has had very few cases but has failed to fully vaccinate the elderly, who are at the most risk of getting infected and developing severe symptoms from the virus”…“Experience in Singapore demonstrates that a safe exit from zero COVID is possible if vaccine coverage in older adults can reach a very high level”……vaccine hesitancy has been fostered by the lack of urgency to get vaccinated in China. China’s control of COVID-19 gives citizens fewer reasons to get vaccinated, especially when there was widespread misinformation on the side-effects of vaccines such as frequent heart attacks and severe allergies. The [FAULTY] logic goes: there is no need to get vaccinated when there is no virus in the first place….”

”With the influenza season due to begin soon after the party Congress, the timeline for China’s reopening is murky at the best. “The earliest possible time for China to drop the current measures is early next year, and even that has no guarantee whatsoever…’Stepping up vaccination among older people while strengthening the health-care sector is an absolute “prerequisite”, …Informing the public about the changing nature of infection—the decreased severity of the B.1.1.529 (omicron) variant and the reduced risks following vaccination—will also be needed. One argument frequently used by the Government and those who stand by the zero-COVID strategy is that …[IF AND WHEN] the policy is relaxed, the health-care system will soon be overloaded and there will be an unmanageable increase in deaths. To tackle this issue, experts have proposed solutions that are aligned with international practice. Chen said that the Government should start drafting regulations or guidelines on the treatment of patients with varying degrees of severity, with the aim of not admitting everyone infected with the virus to hospital (as previously required) by asking for home quarantine, and leaving hospital and intensive care unit beds for those who need them most. “If you can prohibit millions of people from stepping out of home during a lockdown, then there really is no merit to the argument that you can’t ask people with mild symptoms to not visit hospitals…”

AND LASTLY:

”If you find yourself feeling useless, remember it took 20 years, trillions of dollars, and four presidents to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.”