Covid-19

[caller]

It appears that they only count people admitted to a hospital.

They change what they report all the time and have suppressed the truth from the outset, so why would they change now? They have got their precious tourists back and will defend that to the death.

[Roger]

Maybe worth the long read :-

"It’s past time to move beyond chasing variants and put real resources into developing vaccines that offer longer-term protection, or can transform the disease into a something that most of us don’t even realize we have and are much less likely to transmit.

Developing next-generation vaccines won’t be easy. Even if they show promise in the lab, proving that they work in humans presents an immense challenge now that much of the world has moved on from Covid. Funding for big trials has dried up and running those studies has become increasingly difficult. The population now has a mix of immunity from vaccines and infections, and the bar is high — showing a shot is more durable or leads to less transmission is harder to measure than showing it keeps people out of the hospital.

That doesn’t mean newer vaccines aren’t worth the effort. Better shots might motivate more people to take them — so far, only 16% of Americans have gotten the latest bivalent booster. And anything learned in their pursuit will help us not only in the fight against Covid, but in dealing with whatever pathogen comes next.

During last week’s FDA advisory meeting, frustration was palpable that we continue to employ a strategy that relies on chasing variants with updated boosters, ones that we know provide only a modest improvement over earlier shots, and offer a limited window of protection at that.

Taking a flu-like model with the current variant-targeted Covid shots is “essentially a Band-Aid strategy,” says John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College. “The only real long-term solution is better vaccines.” " . . .

. . . "One thing that could help: a more sophisticated understanding of our immune response to both vaccines and infection. So far, the world has largely focused on levels of neutralizing antibodies generated against the virus, a measurement that clinical studies have allowed us to correlate to protection against severe disease.

But researchers have been clamoring for more attention to be paid to other types of immune cells, such as T-cells and other components that might be important for specific types of protection. It could become easier to run vaccine studies if we knew how to correlate those other immune components to, say, asymptomatic disease versus severe disease." . . .

. . . ""We might get to this critical understanding faster for all kinds of Covid vaccines if the FDA would encourage — or better yet, require — companies to gather more robust information on immunity so that everyone could learn from it.

Congress has made clear that it’s not coughing up Operation Warp Speed-level money for this or any other Covid-related project. Given the state of the pandemic, that’s not surprising. But to let these next-generation vaccines die on the vine would be short-sighted. Last week, over 3,700 people in the US died from Covid — deaths that in part could have been prevented if people were more willing to get vaccinated, or if we could lower transmission in our communities with better shots. Aspiring for a future with a dramatically lower Covid death rate seems like a worthy investment."

Me - I don't suppose anyone missed that sentence I've bolded !

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-01-29/jeff-zients-and-lael-brainard-are-the-technocrats-biden-needs

[Eagle 3]

From Asean Now

Covid Count Reaches Around 2,800-3,889 A Day In Thailand

[Coolkorat]

I wonder if it's high in the UK as well - Queen Camilla has got it.

[Roger]

CK - a few days ago I saw that Covid in the UK WAS still active with about 1 in 63 persons being affected. Sorry I cant recall where so can't link it. And thanks Eagle.

[Roger]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/most-vulnerable-to-be-offered-spring-covid-19-booster

I will be in the UK soon and I'm over 75 but I won't be taking up the NHS on this offer.

I noticed recently - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11775169/Death-rates-NOT-higher-Covid-vaccinated-Brits.html and https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/unvaccinated-more-likely-to-have-heart-attack-stroke-after-covid-study-finds/

However my simple view remains that the current vaccines being offered are poorly targeted at current variants and I am not quite reassured on the issue of possible vaccine damage - (I had unpleasant symptoms after my 4th - 50% Moderna aspirated).

My 'faith' is placed now in natural immunity after being infected in 2020 and 2022 and 5000iu of Vitamin D3 daily. And trying to stay fit generally. Anyway, that's until a much improved vaccine becomes available, when I may think again.

MMmmmmm

[Roger]

Apparently cases are up to 1:17 - 1:25 in the NW of England, though this should be noted, "There are higher levels of uncertainty in the ONS' latest estimates 'because of lower numbers of samples received', the statistics agency said."

However, "The ONS data, based on the random swabbing of around 100,000 Brits, suggests one in 40 people in England — some 1.49million (2.66 per cent) — were infected with Covid last week. This was a rise on the 1.32million recorded in the previous week, up to March 7."

I wonder what is happening in Thailand   

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11898503/Covid-cases-jump-13-week-officials-warn-one-SEVENTEEN-people-infected.html