Deadly Wuhan Coronavirus

nivek

As Above So Below

Vaccine makers move quickly against new omicron Covid variant, testing already under way


(Excerpt)

Pfizer - BioNTech said they are investigating omicron, first labeled B.1.1.529, and can adapt their vaccine quickly if needed. “We understand the concern of experts and have immediately initiated investigations on variant B.1.1.529,” the companies said.

Pfizer and BioNTech said they expect more data from lab tests in two weeks at the latest. “These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally,” the companies said. Pfizer and BioNTech said they can adapt their mRNA vaccine within six weeks and start shipping batches within 100 days if an escape variant is identified.

Johnson & Johnson on Friday said they were already testing their vaccine against omicron. “We are closely monitoring newly emerging COVID-19 virus strains with variations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and are already testing the effectiveness of our vaccine against the new and rapidly spreading variant first detected in southern Africa,” J&J said.

AstraZeneca said it is also investigating the variant. Its vaccine platform developed with Oxford University enables a quick response to new mutations as they emerge, the company said. “AstraZeneca is also already conducting research in locations where the variant has been identified, namely in Botswana and Eswatini,” the company said.

Moderna, in a statement Friday, said the combination of mutations in the variant “represents a significant potential risk to accelerate the waning of natural and vaccine-induced immunity. A booster dose of an authorized vaccine represents the only currently available strategy for boosting waning immunity,” the company said.

Moderna said it will test three booster candidates against omicron, including at a higher dosage level. The company will also develop a booster dose specific to the variant. “From the beginning, we have said that as we seek to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we are proactive as the virus evolves,” said Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel in a statement. “The mutations in the Omicron variant are concerning and for several days, we have been moving as fast as possible to execute our strategy to address this variant.”

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Even though 81 percent of finnish people have taken both vaccine shots, we still have 1200+ new infections here per day. About 340 people are constantly recycled in hospitals, some 45 of them in intensive care unit, which is about one sixth of our total capacity for intensive care. About 10 percent of those in intensive care will not survive. And this is just the delta. What would happen when that thing gets in here, if it isn't already.... dear God.

Also heard that Omicron could be 500 percent more infectious than Delta. Which pretty much could mean that within a month it could be all over the world. Delta is already testing us even with high vaccine ratios, If Omicron is this bad and has a way to go around the vaccines too, this will destroy our healthcare here. I can see curfews going to effect. Best way would be to ban travels from southern Africa immidiately and test every person coming from there on the border, but im afraid it will not go until too late.
 
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nivek

As Above So Below
Why is the Omicron variant so scary? Super strain has evolved to have ALL of the worst mutations of Alpha, Beta and Delta combined plus new ones that could make it the most infectious and jab-resistant variant ever



Scientists believe that its extensive mutations mean it must have originated in a severely immunocompromised patient, possibly an undiagnosed person with AIDS. It has more than 30 mutations, giving it all the transmissibility of the currently-dominant Delta strain and the same ability to escape vaccines as the old South African variant Beta. Experts fear the new variant - called B.1.1.529 - will make the vaccines at least 40 per cent less effective, because it is so well equipped to dodge the protection they provide. Britons have been put on alert that there could be a Christmas lockdown, with one of No10's vaccine advisers warning 'we all need to be ready' for restrictions to be reimposed.

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nivek

As Above So Below
Best way would be to ban travels from southern Africa immidiately and test every person coming from there on the border, but im afraid it will not go until too late.

Its probably already too late if it's as contagious as claimed, it's probably all over in many countries and those people simply haven't been tested yet...Here in the US it's a holiday weekend and many people may not get tested promptly and many people are traveling as well...

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AD1184

Celestial
Biden is doing something right for a change, earlier today that idiot Fauci was saying we shouldn't have a travel ban until we know more about the variant...Yeah might be too late by then, Fauci needs to be fired...

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US WILL ban travel from EIGHT African countries in bid to stop spread of new COVID variant Omicron: Fauci overruled within hours over ‘most infectious, vaccine resistant’ mutant
Fauci never seems to have had a particularly firm grasp of the science of epidemiology. Some people worship him like a deity, but he only astounds me by his mediocrity. He is even older than Biden, and has been in his position since the Reagan administration. I think it's time for him to retire.
 

AD1184

Celestial
Even though 81 percent of finnish people have taken both vaccine shots, we still have 1200+ new infections here per day. About 340 people are constantly recycled in hospitals, some 45 of them in intensive care unit, which is about one sixth of our total capacity for intensive care. About 10 percent of those in intensive care will not survive. And this is just the delta. What would happen when that thing gets in here, if it isn't already.... dear God.

Also heard that Omicron could be 500 percent more infectious than Delta. Which pretty much could mean that within a month it could be all over the world. Delta is already testing us even with high vaccine ratios, If Omicron is this bad and has a way to go around the vaccines too, this will destroy our healthcare here. I can see curfews going to effect. Best way would be to ban travels from southern Africa immidiately and test every person coming from there on the border, but im afraid it will not go until too late.
If Omicron is 500 percent more infectious than Delta, then that would make it the most infectious human disease there is, I think. Measles is usually said to be the most infectious, with an R-nought of up to 18. Delta is said to have an R-nought between five and six. So if Omicron was 500 percent more infectious, that would mean that it had an R-nought of 30-36. If that was so, it would likely break through any quarantine.

We don't know much about it yet. Despite its supposed prevalence in South Africa, it has apparently not been detected in hospitalized Covid patients. So it may be more infectious and less pathogenic, which could be a positive development. We really need a Covid variant that can out-compete Delta, but which is much less likely to make people seriously ill. We do need to get more information about it before allowing it to take over the globe, though (not allow it to do that first, and then decide afterwards whether it was a good idea, which is the Fauci approach).
 

nivek

As Above So Below
If its highly contagious then its probably almost everywhere at this point...

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Has Omicron spread worldwide already? At least 61 passengers out of 600 who landed in Holland from South Africa yesterday 'have Covid', Germany and Australia have suspected cases - Belgian super-variant carrier had NEVER been to southern Africa



Around 600 passengers arrived on two planes in Schipol Airport, near Amsterdam, from Johannesburg - the epicentre for the new strain which experts fear is 40 per cent more vaccine evasive than Delta - hours after travel bans were put in place. The passengers in the Netherlands have been placed in quarantine hotels while the authorities investigate whether they have been infected with the variant. Some complained at being left on the plane for hours with no snacks or water. Authorities in the country have just announced the early closure of bars, restaurants and some shops due to the record-breaking surge of Covid sweeping through the country.

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nivek

As Above So Below
FU Fauci, and I thought Biden was doing some good but allowing flights to continue until Monday from Africa is asinine...

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Facui says 'he wouldn't be surprised' if Omicron was already in the US as Biden is slammed for waiting till Monday to ban flights from South Africa: One-in-ten passengers who landed in Holland from Johannesburg had COVID

President Joe Biden is being slammed for still allowing flights from South Africa to land in the US as his top health expert said he 'wouldn't be surprised' if the new super mutant variant Omicron strain was already in US after one-in-ten passengers who landed in Holland from Johannesburg had Covid. The Dutch health ministry said Saturday that at least 61 new cases of Covid entered the Netherlands from South Africa, leading Dr Anthony Fauci to sound the alarm about the dangers Omicron poses to Covid-weary US residents. 'It has a large number of mutations, particularly in that area of the virus that relates to its ability to bind to the cells in your nasal pharynx and in your lung,' Fauci told the Today Show Saturday morning. 'You have to be careful and assume that that's the case,' he added, noting that Omicron could possibly 'evade' vaccinations. Fauci's concerns about 'transmissibility' come as Biden has imposed a ban on travelers from from eight African countries - Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi - which won't go into effect until Monday. US citizens and green card holders from other regions of South Africa will still be allowed to travel to the US. The CDC has yet to identify any cases of the new Covid strain in the US but the UK has said there two people have been diagnosed with the Omicron variant.

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nivek

As Above So Below
I think its inevitable that at some point we all will get sick with Covid to some degree, I just don't want to be hospitalized with covid...So if this new variant seems to be more deadly I will consider getting a Johnson & Johnson booster shot...I will never do an mRNA vaccine nor booster but I will consider another J&J shot...

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Again they learn the lesson. Too slow. Coronavirus doesn't care about your countries goddamn bureaucracy, where ever you may be. I just hope the vaccines still offer at least 80 percent shield for the worst cases, though we probably will need to get the new boosters and asap. Problem here is it takes about 3 months or longer for them to get the modified ones out there. This thing can ruin Christmas and the New Year long before that.

So soon it is back to this again huh

 
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nivek

As Above So Below
South African doctor says omicron variant symptoms ‘unusual but mild’

The South African doctor who first alerted authorities to the presence of the COVID-19 omicron variant reported that it presents "unusual but mild" symptoms. Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a board member of the South African Medical Association, first noticed otherwise healthy patients demonstrating unusual symptoms on Nov. 18.

"Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before," Coetzee told The Telegraph.

"It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well," Coetzee explained. "So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home."

Coetzee reported around two dozen of her patients that tested positive for the coronavirus and displayed these new symptoms. She alerted officials to the possibility of a new variant, which the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday designated the omicron variant. Most of the patients were men who reported "feeling so tired," and half of them were unvaccinated. The patients comprised a range of ages and ethnicities.

Coetzee started briefing other African medical associations on Saturday, discussing the variety of symptoms, such as "one very interesting case" of a six-year-old child with a fever and "very high pulse rate."

"What we have to worry about now is that when older, unvaccinated people are infected with the new variant, and if they are not vaccinated, we are going to see many people with a severe [form of the] disease," Coetzee said. So far, the hospitals are not yet overburdened. Coetzee’s advisement follows a report by Tulio de Oliveira, the director of South Africa’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation.

Oliveira told reporters the virus has a "very unusual constellation of mutations," most notably 10 variants on a key protein that helps the virus infect humans compared to the delta variant’s two mutations and the beta variant’s three mutations.

He criticized several countries – including the U.S., U.K., South Korea and various countries in Europe – for enacting travel restrictions on South Africa and several other African nations.

"The world should provide support to South Africa and Africa and not discriminate or isolate it!" Oliveira tweeted. "By protecting and supporting it, we will protect the world!"


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AD1184

Celestial
South African doctor says omicron variant symptoms ‘unusual but mild’

The South African doctor who first alerted authorities to the presence of the COVID-19 omicron variant reported that it presents "unusual but mild" symptoms. Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a board member of the South African Medical Association, first noticed otherwise healthy patients demonstrating unusual symptoms on Nov. 18.

"Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before," Coetzee told The Telegraph.

"It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well," Coetzee explained. "So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home."

Coetzee reported around two dozen of her patients that tested positive for the coronavirus and displayed these new symptoms. She alerted officials to the possibility of a new variant, which the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday designated the omicron variant. Most of the patients were men who reported "feeling so tired," and half of them were unvaccinated. The patients comprised a range of ages and ethnicities.

Coetzee started briefing other African medical associations on Saturday, discussing the variety of symptoms, such as "one very interesting case" of a six-year-old child with a fever and "very high pulse rate."

"What we have to worry about now is that when older, unvaccinated people are infected with the new variant, and if they are not vaccinated, we are going to see many people with a severe [form of the] disease," Coetzee said. So far, the hospitals are not yet overburdened. Coetzee’s advisement follows a report by Tulio de Oliveira, the director of South Africa’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation.

Oliveira told reporters the virus has a "very unusual constellation of mutations," most notably 10 variants on a key protein that helps the virus infect humans compared to the delta variant’s two mutations and the beta variant’s three mutations.

He criticized several countries – including the U.S., U.K., South Korea and various countries in Europe – for enacting travel restrictions on South Africa and several other African nations.

"The world should provide support to South Africa and Africa and not discriminate or isolate it!" Oliveira tweeted. "By protecting and supporting it, we will protect the world!"


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If these observations prove true in an objective study, then this could be a very beneficial development. As I said the other day, a very mild form of SARS-CoV-2 that would out-compete the very infectious Delta variant could bring an end to the pandemic.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
If these observations prove true in an objective study, then this could be a very beneficial development. As I said the other day, a very mild form of SARS-CoV-2 that would out-compete the very infectious Delta variant could bring an end to the pandemic.

I hope this is the good variant we need as you said...I'm not getting any booster shot for this one if it does turn out to be mild with little to no symptoms...Its inevitable covid is going to sicken most people at some point, better a milder version...

 
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