Deadly Wuhan Coronavirus

nivek

As Above So Below
Chinese doctor calls the nation's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine 'the most unsafe in the world with SEVENTY-THREE side effects'

A Chinese doctor has caused controversy after calling the country's COVID-19 vaccine 'the most unsafe in the world'. Dr Tao Lina, a vaccine expert from Shanghai, pointed out to his 4.8million social media followers on Tuesday that the jab developed by Beijing's state-run drugmaker Sinopharm had 73 side effects.

After his remarks were widely reported outside mainland China, the medical worker today denied having criticised the vaccine and denounced foreign media outlets for 'twisting' and 'exploiting' his words. Dr Tao claimed his controversial post, which has disappeared, had been written in an 'extremely sarcastic' tone.

He insisted that the Chinese treatment was 'very safe' and apologised to his fellow countrymen for his 'imprudent' choice of words. On New Year's Eve, Beijing's health authorities granted 'conditional' approval to Sinopharm's vaccine, which is reported to have an efficacy rate of 79.34 per cent.

The country is aiming to inoculate millions of people, mostly front-line workers and working-age population, before the upcoming Lunar New Year travel rush in mid-February. The vaccine outrage came to light earlier this week when Dr Tao published a blog titled 'Sinopharm's inactivated COVID-19 vaccine feared to be the most unsafe vaccine in the world'.

The article was uploaded to Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, but is no longer visible on Dr Tao's account for unknown reasons as of writing. A screenshot of the post shows the medic's controversial comments about the anti-coronavirus product.

He wrote that the jab had 'as many as 73 side effects, catapulting it to be the most unsafe vaccine in the world'.

Some of the listed side effects were pain around the injection area, headache, high blood pressure, the loss of vision and taste, and urinary incontinence. The expert stated that none of the vaccines in the world 'has more side effects' than the two-dose COVID-19 regimen from Sinopharm and described the drug's potential adverse impact as 'unprecedented'.

Dr Tao's assertions were quickly noticed and picked up by various news websites based outside mainland China, including Apple Daily, Voice of America and Taiwan News.

China.com, a website supervised by the Chinese Communist Party, also reported on Dr Tao's post, but the article appeared to be inaccessible on Thursday. In a Weibo post on Thursday, Dr Tao refuted allegations that he had blasted Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine.

He argued that his previous blog was an 'extremely sarcastic' column aimed at pointing out the errors in the manual of the Sinopharm vaccine. He claimed he had suspected that many of the side effects had been listed by mistake. Therefore, he decided to write a blog to mock the flawed handbook to call for the drugmaker's attention.

To ensure his followers the safety of the medicine, Dr Tao claimed he had received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine and would get his second dose on Saturday. 'Hereby, I extend my apologies to numerous web users and citizens across the nation, and express my despisal against the evil actions of overseas media,' Dr Tao wrote.

The news came as China National Biotec Group (CNBG) said on Thursday that it had administered more than 4million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of January 4 via China's emergency use programme.

Two vaccines respectively from two institutes owned by CNBG, a unit of Sinopharm, are included in China's emergency vaccination scheme, which was officially launched in July targeting specific groups of people facing a high infection risk.

'No serious adverse reaction was reported in large-scale emergency use of Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccines,' CNBG said on Chinese social media WeChat.

While the United Kingdom and other Western countries prioritise the immunisation of senior citizens and essential workers to reach herd immunity, China is racing to vaccinate those aged between 18 and 59 who work for the government and public services or have plans to travel overseas.

The country is putting nine 'key groups' of people ahead of the queue in its inoculation campaign.

They include customs inspection and quarantine officers for imported frozen food, international and domestic transport workers, and employees of government organisations, police, fire brigades and local communities.

Staff in the logistics and public utility sectors are also included. So are those who plan to study or work overseas.

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pepe

Celestial
Indeed - but you're right, How can they be dancing in the streets in Wuhan? WTF?

I don't want to be right but yes something is afoot, don't tell them that though, it'll be on the menu.

Communism has its advantages during a time like this. Only just today for the first time during this wave have I sensed a seriousness in the streets, it could have been my locality but it was much quieter.

Very different story out there I would imagine, while they praise their leader and obey the commands our lot will search for ways round them and protest in the name of liberty. Yesterday and the nearest you'll get to seeing a revolution is a prime example of how different we/they are.

I will visit China one day, if just for the soups.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
 

nivek

As Above So Below
U.S. ‘flying blindly’ and guessing when it comes to new Covid variant, says doctor

Dr. Ashish Jha, the Dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, warned that the United States is "flying blindly" and "guessing" when it comes to a highly transmissible new coronavirus variant in the country.

"We don't know because we're not doing genomic sequencing of the virus in the way that the U.K. and other countries are," Jha said. "We have a ton of capacity to do sequencing, it's not like we can't do it. We just haven't and we've got to get our act together and start doing this so we can know if there's another variant circulating in our country."

The CDC issued a statement saying it has not seen the emergence of a highly contagious new U.S. variant of the coronavirus, unlike variants in the U.K. and South Africa. It noted, however, that there are probably many variants emerging across the globe.

Jha's statements come on the heels of reports from the White House coronavirus task force. It said there could be a new Covid variant that evolved within the U.S., is 50% more transmissible, and is propelling the spread, according to a document obtained by NBC News.

The U.S. recorded 4,085 deaths Wednesday, the first time the country topped 4,000 according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins data. Jha told host Shepard Smith that it's "stunning" as to why the U.S. has not done large-scale genomic sequencing of people infected with Covid, but noted that he was not "surprised" based on leadership from the White House.

"A White House that is disengaged, uninterested, and not helpful really, really does hamper the national response," Jha said in a Friday evening interview. "Some states are starting to pick up the slack, but it turns out in a pandemic, having the federal government is really useful."

President-elect Joe Biden announced a major shift in the country's fight against Covid in a new call to release nearly all of the vaccine supply once he takes office.

In a statement to NBC News, a spokesman for President-elect Biden's transition wrote that, "The President-elect believes we must accelerate distribution of the vaccine...and believes the government should stop holding back vaccine supply so we can get more shots in Americans' arms now."

It's a reversal of strategy. Under the Trump administration, the federal government has been stockpiling doses to ensure that people are able to receive a second shot. The Pfizer vaccine requires two shots 21 days apart and the Moderna vaccine requires two shots 28 days apart.

So far, states have received more than 22 million doses, but about 70% of those doses are sitting on shelves, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jha said that he "fully supports the move of the Biden team" to release the Covid vaccine doses.

"We are in the middle of a terrible crisis," Jha said. "We've got to get people vaccinated, and getting that first shot out into people's arms is critical, and then making sure that the second shot follows relatively soon thereafter I think is doable."

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AD1184

Celestial
U.S. ‘flying blindly’ and guessing when it comes to new Covid variant, says doctor

Dr. Ashish Jha, the Dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, warned that the United States is "flying blindly" and "guessing" when it comes to a highly transmissible new coronavirus variant in the country.

"We don't know because we're not doing genomic sequencing of the virus in the way that the U.K. and other countries are," Jha said. "We have a ton of capacity to do sequencing, it's not like we can't do it. We just haven't and we've got to get our act together and start doing this so we can know if there's another variant circulating in our country."
I had read a statistic from a couple of weeks ago, when news of the mutation in Brtiain was emerging, that Britain had to that date collected 45% of all the world's genomic sequences for Covid-19 strains. Only Denmark had a higher per-capita rate of genomic sequencing but, as it is a very small country, that did not amount to a large number in absolute terms.

This ought to be a wake-up call that intensive genomic surveillance ought to be occurring in all advanced economies, and that there ought to be some expenditure of resources in trying to offer such facilities to less-well-off nations with significant Covid transmission.
 
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nivek

As Above So Below
 

nivek

As Above So Below
This ought to be a wake-up call that intensive genomic surveillance ought to be occurring in all advanced economies, and that there ought to be some expenditure of resources in trying to offer such facilities to less-well-off nations with significant Covid transmission.

I don't know for sure when Britian began their surveillance but given the larger population of the US, we should have been on top of this since February or March last year...Then too given the denialist attitudes of our outgoing President and his administration it's a miracle we have the vaccine being distributed, even though that process is also dragging behind...Its going to get worse before it gets better, if I'm not mistaken, the Spanish flu pandemic took on a more deadly stage in its second year, millions more died than the first year...Its starting to appear we are heading down a similar path, even as we try to pinch it off with our various vaccines...How fast can they make the drug, how fast can we get everyone inoculated, and will it be enough to put the brakes on this runaway train and save millions of lives?...

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nivek

As Above So Below
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America's deadliest week: 21,752 die in the first days of 2021 with almost 700 Californians dying DAILY as refrigerated trucks are stationed around hospitals to store bodies

The United States broke a new record for weekly COVID-19 deaths in the first week of 2021, reporting 21,752 fatalities, as the death toll grows in every single region across the country. It hit a new record of 21,752 bringing the national death toll to 372,428 (pictured top right). There were 3,500 deaths reported Saturday, 695 of which were in California where the outbreak is now said to be in a 'dire state' (pictured bottom right). Refrigerated trucks are now stationed around California hospitals to store bodies as morgues are overwhelmed (pictured left). Los Angeles County is the worst hit with 40% of the deaths despite having only 25% of the state's population. It experienced 1,000 COVID-19 deaths in the past four days alone.

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nivek

As Above So Below
The race to vaccinate the UK out of lockdown: Everything you need to know as the first 'super-vax' centres - capable of inoculating up to 3,000 a day - prepare to open their doors

The UK's first 'super-vax' centres, capable of inoculating up to 3,000 people a day, will open their doors to the public tomorrow marking the start of a fightback to suppress Covid-19. Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured left) has set the target of offering vaccination to the UK's 15 million most vulnerable people by February 15. So far, almost 1.5million have received the vaccine over 30 days, or 48,933 daily. The PM has vowed that this will rise to more than 200,000 a day by Friday. But to hit his 15 million target, the daily rate needs to be almost 347,000.

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