COVID-19 / Coronavirus Pandemic

[ible]

Still believe in the governments dudes ?

generally preferable to anarchy

the US government gave us GPS and the internet:

while of course not perfect, investing in this sort of research is something only governments can do.

 

[JDTAY]

Aw man, I can't sleep, even though jury deliberation for the Chauvin trial has already been suspended for the day, and won't start again until like 9 AM central.

At least in a couple of hours, I can see if India has passed 300,000 COVID-19 cases in a day yet. I certainly don't expect it to be lower than yesterday.

 

[JDTAY]

Man, it actually was a little lower than yesterday. Like 250,000 today, compared to over 270,000 yesterday.

I did see one Indian article express concern that the US won't export raw materials used to make vaccines to India. The White House got asked twice yesterday if they plan to start sharing those raw materials anytime soon, and dodged the question both times.

 

[JDTAY]

It actually makes me wonder too at what cost the US is winning the battle against COVID-19. Even though we were the hardest hit country by it, we've got to look a little selfish right now with how we're hoarding vaccines and vaccine materials.

 

[pyrat]

The USA can't look any more selfish since many years ago, don't worry about it. If anything it looks a little less dangerously selfish since it has lost economic and military preponderance (not that that lost power has gone to hands any more lovely).
The cultural drift is anyway to see selfism more and more as a positive thing somehow, so that look may not even be bad for the USA.
The problem is SARS-CoV-.2 doesn't care who's selfish or not. It only cares that as long as it can flourish somewhere it has more chances of breaking through obstacles in other places (like vaccines). If part of the world doesn't have vaccines
because Pfizer and Moderna want their profits and someone is setting up a campaign against cheap vaccines, that part of the world may suffer more or sooner, but the rest will end up suffering COVID-19 longer. But Pfizer and Moderna will keep
selling updated vaccines at the prices they choose, so it's OK because the economic system we all end up accepting is about the rich getting richer, not about the poor surviving.
The countries who where serious about stopping COVID-19 used lockdows and travel restrictions and tests afterwards. The rest just pretended to be above pandemics and stay open.
Sales are more important there than survival, and when vaccines come, then it's vaccines sales what's important.

I suppose the EMA will say today that J&J is safe. I know because the EU bought 100 more millions doses of Pfizer yesterday for 2021 and with the 50 millions last week and ruling out J&J and AZ for 2022 also last week, and no EMA opinion yet on Sputnik or others it should be enough for now. I guess the EU is happy that the USA is selfish with exports. This way they can point fingers instead of talking about COVID-0 policies or compulsory patent licenses.

 

[λ the β-Redex Reducer]

Oh man, Bill Maher says obesity is the number one reason America can't handle COVID-19, and he says the media isn't doing enough to highlight the fact that obesity is preventable.

Obesity has always been dangerous. Nothing changed in that regard.

I would love for the MSM to promote good health practices, but it is not going to happen. The MSM is for their own profit and not to promote health. So expect it to do what is profitable to them regardless of what would benefit the people.

 

[pyrat]

I suppose the EMA will say today that J&J is safe. I know because the EU bought 100 more millions doses of Pfizer yesterday for 2021 and with the 50 millions last week and ruling out J&J and AZ for 2022 also last week, and no EMA opinion yet on Sputnik or others it should be enough for now. I guess the EU is happy that the USA is selfish with exports. This way they can point fingers instead of talking about COVID-0 policies or compulsory patent licenses.

Jackpot.
Now live

 

[Phlyra]

“Coronavirus live news: blood clot warning should be added to Johnson & Johnson vaccine label, says EMA” - https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...fety-india-records-nearly-16m-cases-in-a-week

 

[pyrat]

NY Times asks: If you say Pfizer had 25 cases of thrombosis + low patelets counts, and J&J had 8 (from different populations) are you adding the warning to pfizer too?
Answer: (implied no) taking into account the population receiving each vaccine, AZ and J&J rates are higher than expected form general population and Moderna and Pfizer are lower.

 

[FBnil]

Stanford enrolls children as young as 2 in Pfizer vaccine trials

Stanford Medicine on Wednesday began enrolling children between ages 2 and 5 in a trial...

www.sfchronicle.com

Search VAERS Database

VAERS_ID=1074247

 

[pyrat]

So children get 1% of deaths, but they're going to give them vaccines because they could pass the virus along. But the vaccine is good at preventing death, not at preventing contagion. Or am I wrong here ? Are there better results on contagion now ?
I'm not used to have children get yearly vaccines. They do get a few different vaccines at several ages, some more than once in life, but I think it's 2 or 3 doses tops. I think in some places they vaccinate children for flu, not where I am, but it sounds strange.
I mean a vaccine that protects for a lifetime, is reasonable to give at the earliest age that is safe, because that maximises protection, but a vaccine that protects for one year or we don't yet know ?
Wouldn't it be more useful to give vaccines to other countries so they go to adults that the virus can more easily attack ?
I hope they at least delay the campaign in children until they've had 2 or 3 years of clinical trials...
Edit: I hadn't seen FBNil's picture, only read the sfchronicle, when I wrote this. So they're just in Phase 2 and there's already a dead 2-years old little girl ?

Disclaimer​

VAERS accepts reports of adverse events and reactions that occur following vaccination. Healthcare providers, vaccine manufacturers, and the public can submit reports to the system. While very important in monitoring vaccine safety, VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. The reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. In large part, reports to VAERS are voluntary, which means they are subject to biases. This creates specific limitations on how the data can be used scientifically. Data from VAERS reports should always be interpreted with these limitations in mind.

I do hope the information is inaccurate.

 

[Phlyra]

So children get 1% of deaths, but they're going to give them vaccines because they could pass the virus along. But the vaccine is good at preventing death, not at preventing contagion. Or am I wrong here ? Are there better results on contagion now ?
I'm not used to have children get yearly vaccines. They do get a few different vaccines at several ages, some more than once in life, but I think it's 2 or 3 doses tops. I think in some places they vaccinate children for flu, not where I am, but it sounds strange.
I mean a vaccine that protects for a lifetime, is reasonable to give at the earliest age that is safe, because that maximises protection, but a vaccine that protects for one year or we don't yet know ?
Wouldn't it be more useful to give vaccines to other countries so they go to adults that the virus can more easily attack ?
I hope they at least delay the campaign in children until they've had 2 or 3 years of clinical trials...

I did see on the news yesterday reports of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine leading to high % reduction in transmission but I can’t remember which source and haven’t yet looked into it further

 

[FBnil]

So they're just in Phase 2 and there's already a dead 2-years old little girl ?

It's a volunteering program for test-subjects. The vaccine has not been (emergency)approved for use for children yet.
Parents probably needed the money. Seeing the amount of hospitalization days, I guess they did not run a profit.

 

[JDTAY]

Well, the jury got the right verdict in the Chauvin trial, but what I saw on the news didn't really relieve my fear that this will be a COVID-19 super-spreader event.

 

[JDTAY]

India's daily COVID-19 case count is 295,000 today. Also, oil prices are reportedly falling due to an anticipation of decreased demand from India.

Low oil prices was always the weirdest complaint of the Trump presidency for me, because I lived through Bush being attacked for the exact opposite thing.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

generally preferable to anarchy

the US government gave us GPS and the internet:

while of course not perfect, investing in this sort of research is something only governments can do.

Them: We need you to die for the wealthy to stay wealthy.
Me: You can go f*ck yourselves.

 

[FBnil]

Low oil prices was always the weirdest complaint of the Trump presidency for me, because I lived through Bush being attacked for the exact opposite thing.

At face value I would say they are spreading FUD, however, Texas has oilfields and sells that oil, so low prices is less money for Texas, whereas Bush and friends became owners of forneign oil, so lower prices weakened the countries and forced these countries to sell the oil production facilities cheaper than the real market value. After you are the owner, you then pump up the price of crude and derivates (plastic, gasoline, kerosine) and make a nice profit.

 

[pyrat]

More details in the press about the contracts between the European Comission and Pfizer. If I read it correctly, In late 2020 they bought 200 million doses for average 15.50€+VAT (is there VAT for that?) in 2021 they bought 200 or 300 million more and they're negotiating a 3rd contract for 1,800 million doses at 19.50 €/dose for 2022 and 2023. EU population (after Brexit) is 447 million people, I believe. So that's about 5 doses per citizen in three years and one or two weeks, plus any storage time, not counting any other brands. (are they counting on wasting or donating 20% of doses ? wasn't it supposed to be 2 doses the first year and one each next year?)
Previous leaks placed Pfizer at 12€/dose and Moderna at 18€/dose, thought the most expensive, but the FUD about J&J and AZ seems to have boosted Pfizer price and sales (don't know whether Moderna too). Pfizer does of course not accept any responsability for non listed side effects, beyond manufacturing troubles, and the Comission is responsible for any mishaps.
Trying to look at the bright side, I hope that at least satiates the corporation and leaves the cheap vaccines for the poor countries, if they don't let themselves be fooled.

 

[λ the β-Redex Reducer]

generally preferable to anarchy

the US government gave us GPS and the internet:

while of course not perfect, investing in this sort of research is something only governments can do.

I doubt that. The governments did not do the work, the people did the work. The government paid the people but using money that was made valuable by the people. After all, the people produce the things that we buy with money, how valuable wpould money be if it could not even buy you food?

So the only thing that the govenrment did was suck out resources from everyone and organise the people to use the remaining resources for these kinds of projects. Sucking out resources only hindered development, and organising is something that people can do when left to themselves as well. There are plenty of private organisations and even hobbyist communities that prove this.

As for anarchism, I think that anarchism would be the best. I would love to live in a free society without violence. But I do not think that it can be done. Humanity right now just is not capable of living in peace.

 

[ouzle]

So the only thing that the govenrment did was suck out resources from everyone and organise the people to use the remaining resources for these kinds of projects. Sucking out resources only hindered development, and organising is something that people can do when left to themselves as well. There are plenty of private organisations and even hobbyist communities that prove this.

The free-market is brutely efficient at getting people what they want and organising people to do that work. However. we need government and standards to limit the free-market to keep it sustainable.

An unchecked free-market:

• does not respond to the limitations of exponential growth, for example it regularly leads to stock market collapses and cyclic economics.
• ignores the boundaries imposed by nature until the damage is irreparable, for example positive feedbacks in nitrogen and carbon cycles, collapsing fish stocks, ad nauseum.
• re-enforces Pareto distributions wherever they arise - "winner takes all", "money begets money" - and so we need government to impose fair competition laws and to break up cartels or monopolies.

The government is also needed to coordinate the free-market on scales larger than corporations, for example the government might recognise that the economy needs more energy. The government then has to coordinate house building companies and transport companies to get the infrastructure in place before the power supply company can start building a power station.

EDIT: When you vote, do you vote for a government who is likely to provide these essential services or who will undermine them?