TheNewGazmo
-
Posts
235 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Blogs
Downloads
Wiki
Posts posted by TheNewGazmo
-
-
Here's a new research paper with data fresh out of Tel Aviv, it's a massive study comparing natural to vaccine-induced immunity:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1.full.pdf
This is the largest real-world observational study comparing natural immunity, gained through previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, to vaccine-induced immunity, afforded by the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. Our large cohort, enabled by Israel’s rapid rollout of the mass-vaccination campaign, allowed us to investigate the risk for additional infection – either a breakthrough infection in vaccinated individuals or reinfection in previously infected ones – over a longer period than thus far described.
Our analysis demonstrates that SARS-CoV-2-naïve vaccinees had a 13.06-fold increased risk for breakthrough infection with the Delta variant compared to those previously infected, when the first event (infection or vaccination) occurred during January and February of 2021. The increased risk was significant for a symptomatic disease as well.
Broadening the research question to examine the extent of the phenomenon, we allowed the infection to occur at any time between March 2020 to February 2021 (when different variants were dominant in Israel), compared to vaccination only in January and February 2021. Although the results could suggest waning natural immunity against the Delta variant, those vaccinated are still at a 5.96-fold increased risk for breakthrough infection and at a 7.13-fold increased risk for symptomatic disease compared to those previously infected. SARS-CoV-2-naïve vaccinees were also at a greater risk for COVID-19-related-hospitalization compared to those who were previously infected.
Individuals who were previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 seem to gain additional protection from a subsequent single-dose vaccine regimen. Though this finding corresponds to previous reports24,25, we could not demonstrate significance in our cohort.
The advantageous protection afforded by natural immunity that this analysis demonstrates could be explained by the more extensive immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 proteins than that generated by the anti-spike protein immune activation conferred by the vaccine26,27. However, as a correlate of protection is yet to be proven1,28, including the role of B-Cell29 and T-cell immunity30,31, this remains a hypothesis.
Our study has several limitations. First, as the Delta variant was the dominant strain in Israel during the outcome period, the decreased long-term protection of the vaccine compared to that afforded by previous infection cannot be ascertained against other strains. Second, our analysis addressed protection afforded solely by the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine, and therefore does not address other vaccines or long-term protection following a third dose, of which the deployment is underway in Israel. Additionally, as this is an observational real-world study, where PCR screening was not performed by protocol, we might be underestimating asymptomatic infections, as these individuals often do not get tested.
Lastly, although we controlled for age, sex, and region of residence, our results might be affected by differences between the groups in terms of health behaviors (such as social distancing and mask wearing), a possible confounder that was not assessed. As individuals with chronic illness were primarily vaccinated between December and February, confounding by indication needs to be considered; however, adjusting for obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer and immunosuppression had only a small impact on the estimate of effect as compared to the unadjusted OR. Therefore, residual confounding by unmeasured factors is unlikely.
This analysis demonstrated that natural immunity affords longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization due to the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 two-dose vaccine-induced immunity. Notably, individuals who were previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and given a single dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine gained additional protection against the Delta variant. The long-term protection provided by a third dose, recently administered in Israel, is still unknown.
This explains the huge spike and then huge drop in cases in India this past May. India, at the time, had barely anyone vaccinated. They suffered huge amounts of infections and death, but their case numbers are almost down to nothing. Herd inmunity? -
7 hours ago, DirkDiggler said:
Nah.
About 18 months ago I volunteered for a DoD pilot project to test body internal biometric dog tags/body location trackers. They surgically implanted 2 chips in me (primary and a backup). One of the nice things about the chips is they have an IBU function that deadens/CNXs other outside signals during uplink/downlink. I have no proof that that’s helping with the conflicting signals from the COVID vaccinations but that’s what I’m going with as a working hypothesis for now.Do you at least get credit for a prostate exam with all that?
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, slc said:
Curious to where they’re putting refugees at the Deid. I mean, its August and can’t recall facilities that would be able to accommodate thousands
They're in the BBC. They put tanker crews back in the trailers. I keed... I keed... 😁
-
7 minutes ago, brabus said:
In an alternate reality:
1. Pull all Americans, and truly loyal-to-US Afghans (terps and their families, etc.), to Bagram/Kandahar/maybe Kabul
2. Evac all of those people in an organized fashion
3. Maintain offensive/defensive ops during step 1-2
4. Pull out ground troops except for those required for defensive ops of air bases (namely BAF and KAF)
5. Keep air for a while longer to destroy as much critical materiel left behind as possible, with a measurable amount destroyed end state, NTE 90 days post step 4. Kill Taliban targets of opportunity when able.
6. Pull out remaining personnel involved with step 5.
I mean, it’s not that ing hard. Copy lots of details in the background, but pretty sensible big pic plan, probably executed over a course of 4-6 months.
Instead we got step 1: pull military out, step 2: Ummm, the thing, you know… step 3: Panic, send 5k back to AFG, step 4: we’ll get you out, maybe…if you made it to Kabul, if not, good luck!
ing ludicrous…I’m pissed, and every sensible person on the planet should be as well.
When's the last time the Bone's did some show of force passes over Kabul? We wouldn't even have to drop ordinance on them. Just a few round-robins to get these dudes back in their momma's basements.
-
50 minutes ago, dogfish78 said:
May God be with him.
We did not make them. Our establishment government, bureaucrats, and globalists did. It sucks big time, but don't think for a second that any of us actual service-members (not you patsy Generals) wished to see this outcome. When we get out, we have to collectively get involved in our communities and governments. No apathy, no sitting on our asses watching sportsball, we have to take back control of this government that is hellbent on destroying our people and others.
I'm sorry you misunderstood me. When I said "we", I did not mean us service members. Maybe I should have said, "they". We, the service members, spent 20 years polishing a turd better than anyone else on the planet could have and made many, many sacrifices doing it, but I can't help but admit that as time went on, our (the service member's) view of the situation became quite cavalier knowing that there was no end in site.
-
24 minutes ago, FLEA said:
I have a friend/former pilot trapped in country now. Taliban have raided his home several times. He is hiding in a friend's basement with his family. He said they already executed his cousin.
Unfortunately none of the state department programs for evacuation covers former Afghan government officers or former Afghan military personnel. They are on their own right now.
Christ.... what a disaster.
Whether you agree with the reasons why we went into that country two decades ago or not, every 1st-world nation on this planet has failed Afghanistan. Watching Muslims hand their children over a wall to American service members for a better life is eye opening and sickening to watch. It makes me re-evaluate all of the times I bitched about the mold in the trailers or doing the walk of shame through customs at the Died for a month or two.... or heck, complaining that someone is making me wear a mask. Life could could definitely be worse.
If you look at pics of some of these Taliban fighters, I bet you most of them were either not born prior to 9/11 or born shortly there after. They're 18-25 years old, which means, we killed their father, their brother.. We made them. For every bad guy we took out, we probably made 2-3 more. These are not old dudes set in their ways not wanting to see Afghanistan change. Most of them are younger than you and I.
-
1
-
-
6 hours ago, uhhello said:
Airstrikes on who? The people who are providing the first layer of security for the only foothold you have left to get thousands of people out of the country? I'm guessing that number you're looking for is going to be zero.
We could easily have a carrier sitting in the Arabian right now, but the tankers are going to have to come from somewhere far, far away........................again. I remember those days of flying 11 hour sorties to offload less than 45k.
-
Another case study from Singapore which concluded that "The mRNA vaccines are highly effective at preventing symptomatic and severe COVID-19 associated with B.1.617.2 infection. Vaccination is associated with faster decline in viral RNA load and a robust serological response. Vaccination remains a key strategy for control of COVID-19 pandemic.".
I like finding studies out of other countries because it (at least I think) takes the politicism out of the equation:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.28.21261295v1
-
1
-
-
Update after getting my first Pfizer shot a week ago, I woke up yesterday with moderate pain in my right arm pit and sort of a pinched nerve (tingly) feeling in my arm all day (arm I got the shot in). I could barely touch the area. Wound up identifying it as a swollen lymph node, which is apparently normal and means the vaccine is "working". In over 2+ pages of vaccination record, I've never gotten that side effect from any other vaccine I've received over the last 19+ years. Pain relievers helped. Today, the pain and tingling is pretty much gone. I love being a science experiment! Hopefully it's worth it.
-
Because none of those PAX could have had cell phones on them, right? I don't buy that it was necessarily a crew member.I obviously wasn’t there, but there are only a few people that should have been able to take that video… and they are all crew members. Somehow that video subsequently ended up on the internet. The crew did an absolutely amazing job in a terrible situation… and then one of them acted like an idiot and shared a video with their buddies/the internet. If I were in their leadership chain I would want to kick their stupid ass as well.-
2
-
-
"Hey dude. Where does the line to use the lav start?"
-
Another case study about "breakthrough" infections of healthcare workers in Israel:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2109072?query=recirc_mostViewed_railB_article
Lots of medical jargon, but you'll get the idea if you scroll down to the "Discussion".
Sorry, I edited this a few times....
I'll admit, I am not a huge fan of the idea of getting a piece of metal shoved in my arm and having some "mystery" substance injected into my body. I've never been a fan of shots since I was a kid. I am not sure there are many people who actually enjoy the process. I was fishing with my kid earlier the day of my COVID shot and hooked myself right in the thumb. It was pretty deep... blood everywhere/lots of cursing involved. Pulled it out, applied pressure and kept fishing.... I honestly didn't even feel the COVID shot.
I dodged the anthrax shot for as long as I could and managed to get into the AOR without it a few times (they did get me on the last rodeo, however), but I'm intelligent enough to recognize that the data is the data (which we didn't have and probably will never have for the anthrax series btw so I'm still skeptical on that one...)
I know that vaccinations are essential for a healthy planet. No matter what your religious belief are, you should be able to recognize that medical research is one of the most invaluable things we have. There are actually people out there that live and breath this stuff in order to better the health of human-kind and probably have no interest in injecting some sort of locator chip into your body. Are there side effects to vaccines? Yes. There will always be. There are side effects to Advil and Tylenol (ulcers and liver failure... still want to take them for your headache?). Are the side effects rare? Yes. I'm on Day 2 since my first poke. Last night my arm felt about as sore as it would from a Tdap jab and I felt a little more tired than usual, but this morning I feel "normal". Was this vaccine made quickly? Under the circumstances, it was, but can we recognize that maybe vaccine technology has advanced to the point where it is possible to make a vaccine in less than a decade? Isn't that something we ultimately want to combat things like COVID? When will the next COVID be? This stuff seems to happen every 10-15 years. Why must the rate at which we create a vaccine turn into a government conspiracy?
The propensity for anti-vax'ing isn't just associated with COVID. If you look at the flu vaccine maps, the same states that are low on COVID vaccines are notoriously low for the flu vaccine as well. I'd imagine it's the case with all vaccines. Why? Can anyone explain that one?
-
3
-
-
Here's a study done in Israel: "Initial report of decreased SARS-CoV-2 viral load after inoculation with the BNT162b2 vaccine" - The results show that infections occurring 12 d or longer after vaccination have significantly reduced viral loads at the time of testing, potentially affecting viral shedding and contagiousness as well as the severity of the disease13
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01316-7
If the vaccine does indeed reduce onward transmission 40-60%, that is significant and it's obviously a good assumption that as more people get vaccinated, the less cases we'll eventually see.
-
3
-
-
I wonder if his Christianity prevents him from going into MOPP4 as well.It's funny how much you can get from reading between the lines of a single memo. Reminds me of some characters I've met at various points in my career.
I would bet this dude is a perpetual problem in the squadron and his leadership is very happy he handed them a way to oust him on a velvet pillow by choosing to die on the stupidest hill possible. -
What would make her look more credible on social media would be to site specifics as to what makes it an "unlawful order". If the DoD can't mandate a vaccine for Active Duty service members that has been approved by the FDA and recommended by the CDC for emergency usage, I question our ability to enforce anything in crisis much more severe than this one.Brother, if you’re attempting to justify your position that she’s an idiot, consider that what you just wrote about “proof” and “cool people” doesn’t exactly lend itself to a legitimate counter-argument. They definitely exist, but you can’t seem to find them. See Prozacs post.-
1
-
-
The simple fact that she is Tweeting this stuff prooves my theory, but I guess that's what all the cool people are doing these days, so....Whoa. Slow down. You read one tweet you disagree with and dismissed her as an idiot. I put a link to her bio in the earlier post. Consider reading it then asking yourself if you’re trying to disparage her because she has a different viewpoint, or because she is legitimately uneducated.
Once, I had an UPT check pilot in my Stan/Eval office that debriefed a student that he was going to put an aircraft in the ground and kill everyone onboard because he didn’t know how to apply a cold weather altimeter correction. -
29 minutes ago, torqued said:
I don't know her, but she sounds like an idiot. It's going to be a tough one for Commanders to explain when even a small percentage of their troops are lying in a hospital bed on a ventilator when they could be performing their jobs.
-
1
-
1
-
-
I got my first jab yesterday at my local Pharmacy. I wanted the Pfizer flavor so I shopped around for one who stocked that one. 16 hours later, I haven't grown an extra testicle yet, so I suppose it's "so-far-so-good". Slightly sore arm... no other side-effects thus far, but I hear it's the 2nd one that gets you.
I found a good explanation about the COVID vaccines (cut and paste from an article):
Del Rio noted that the vaccines were specifically designed to protect against severe disease and death, and that's what those big vaccine trials looked for. "Infection was never an end-point in these studies," he said. That the vaccines were later found to prevent infection, he said "was a little bit ... like the cherry on the cake."The phrasing also bothers immunologist and virologist Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose lab played a key role in the development of the Moderna vaccine.Graham described it in a way that really made me visualize the vaccine's effect on your body."The vaccines were always designed to focus against disease in the lower airways [the lungs] -- not in the upper airways [the nose and upper throat]," he explained.Think about that. According to Graham, a person becomes severely ill when the virus enters the lungs, and that is exactly where the vaccines offer up their most protective barrier. You see, the vaccines trigger the creation of immunoglobulins, which are proteins that function as antibodies. The main one generated by the vaccines is immunoglobulin G (IgG) which easily moves from the blood into the lower airways (the lungs) where it can block the virus. The level of IgG in blood needed to penetrate the tissues of the upper airways (the nose and throat) is much higher and that is why it is more difficult to block the virus from growing in the nose."That's why we see such consistency in the efficacy against severe disease. It wasn't designed to protect the upper airways as much," he explained.It is also why Graham said scientists weren't expecting the vaccines to prevent infection as much. "We got very lucky that it did to some extent, against earlier strains," he added.And, while the Delta variant is more transmissible, meaning more infections will certainly occur overall in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated, there will be a bigger difference between the two groups when it comes to protection against severe disease compared to protection against mild or asymptomatic illness, Graham explained. That's clear from data that show the overwhelming majority of hospitalizations and deaths happen in the unvaccinated, not the vaccinated.-
2
-
-
Stop reading the news and Google medical research articles and case studies. These are written by people getting paid trying to better the world with their medical research vs getting paid to invoke some sort of reaction out of certain groups or support certain political parties.
-
3
-
-
3 hours ago, FLEA said:
Yes but there is nuance to everything and what a lot of legal analyst are prepping for is to argue that there is no national security implication which by law the President needs. This will be a significant hurdle for the military as to date, the pandemic has not substantially slowed or halted operations and there is no place in the world requiring a COVID vaccine that does not also accept a test or have a military exemption. The irony here is the military almost shoots itself in the foot. Remember when the Roosevelt happened? That would have been a great platform for a national security implication but instead the DoD fired the commander and turned the ship back to fleet quickly. It's been in our interest to put for the image that the pandemic hasn't slowed us down or altered operations but now that very narrative will be challenged.
The other thing courts will likely pay attention to is the fact that the military demographic isn't at risk for death from COVID or even severe symptoms.
Like I said, this is going to be litigated for a while. Some branches only have a 50% acceptance rate for the vaccine, and there are dozens of civil rights lawyers chomping at the bit for a pro Bono case to make their name on with this.
The below articles argue that military courts will likely uphold any mandatory vaccination but federal courts will Have far more scrutiny, particularly if the President isn't able to establish the national security emergency.
https://www.justsecurity.org/75729/should-the-covid-19-vaccine-be-required-for-the-military/
There's also the second and third order effects of this. What is mandating the vaccine going to do for trust in leadership, retention, recruitment, etc....
Given how close FDA approval is I believe waiting on FDA approval is the best COA.
They've done it before.... they'll do it again, although this time, I find myself being able to swallow (STS) taking a COVID shot over the anthrax shot. At least the COVID threat is somewhat real and has documented results. Depending on what you read, using the anthrax vaccine for protection from pulmonary anthrax is still considered "off-label" usage of the shot since no real human tested was ever done to support its efficacy (and the original formula had mysteriously changed since the FDA approved the original vaccine in 1970).
-
9 hours ago, Pooter said:
That's a really good video. So correct me if I'm wrong but he's basically saying vaccines don't stop spread, they just reduce symptoms. Hence that outbreak in the summer in Massachusetts among vaccinated people. I'd be interested in more context for this board meeting but it sounds like his point is that mandating vaccines won't reduce case numbers and if that's your goal you are very mistaken.
So my follow up question is: does that make the vaccine not worth getting? Because we have a lot of data showing vaccinated people have much less severe reactions in the event they do have a breakthrough case. If it spreads the same but the symptoms are way reduced, isn't that still a win?
caveat: not arguing for mandates at all. I'm just interested in the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
But it does NOT spread the same 71% of the time. Again, read the article below:
-
1
-
-
I had read something before that they were only going to make it mandatory for Active Duty or ARC who are "Federally Mobilized". Are there any more details on that or will it be 100% for all?
-
11 minutes ago, Alpharatz said:
Your discussion highlites the scariest part of this nastly little bug. It may be (is?) impossible to get the vaccination rate high enough..fast enough to prevent some really nasty mutation that will render the present vaccine a moot point...i.e. it will stop working...then it may be that ya got the DNA to save yourself or ya don't....Survival of the fittest has always been the rule. If humans have the technology to save themselves and decide that a big pi@@ing contest is more fun...well .....let's see...an aviation example...the worst (and last) nose gear first touch down ya ever made.......
Well, the good news is that pharmaceutical companies are already working on a Delta booster and mRNA vaccines don't take very long to make and trial. Also remember that we're still talking about a virus that 98+% of people live through. Vaccinated people may still get it, but they're spreading it less (even though they may feel asymptomatic), which means less people around them get it, which means it's R-value drops dramatically. Between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated with natural anti-bodies from actually getting it, the hope is that it dies.
More data:
https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/covid-19-vaccine-breakthrough-cases-data-from-the-states/
-
2
-
2
-
-
1 hour ago, torqued said:
Here's an interesting piece from NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/09/965703047/vaccines-could-drive-the-evolution-of-more-covid-19-mutants
Things we know: Viruses can and do mutate in vaccinated individuals. The current COVID vaccine does not eliminate the COVID virus. It may inhibit their replication enough to reduce symptoms of the variant they are designed to be effective against, and may, to a lesser extent, lesson the symptoms of individuals infected with an adjacent variant. However, according to the scientists referenced here by NPR, the prevention of symptoms may have no correlation with the ability to spread.
There is a possibility that you, as a vaccinated individual, may be gleefully skipping through your workplace, feeling no symptoms whatsoever, and spreading mutated virus aerosols under the illusion that you're not the one contributing to the pandemic. Perhaps someone in your workplace is unvaccinated with the latest variant booster, and is infected by your mutant variant. They begin to feel ill, pay attention to his/her body, and do the responsible thing by going home to isolate while allowing their body to function in the way it is designed. They might require the help of some supplements or long existing medications. Then they come back to work with a natural immunity that is superior in efficacy and duration. (https://www.merck.com/news/merck-discontinues-development-of-sars-cov-2-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-continues-development-of-two-investigational-therapeutic-candidates/)
The pandemic continues as the virus mutates in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated, thus periodically requiring a new vaccine, or "booster" according to this NPR newscast. Of course, that will need to be strictly enforced. I have no doubt that you, personally, want to save lives and end the pandemic. You've just been misled about the way it needs to happen, by people who do not care about those things.
https://www.newsweek.com/lambda-covid-variant-1000-cases-us-shows-vaccine-resistance-1615668
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/21/business/covid-vaccine-billionaires/index.html
This should not be of any surprise. How is this any different than the flu other than COVID having a death rate of about 3.5x more? The flu vaccine is only 40-60% effective. 40-60% is still better than 0%. The flu mutates more often than COVID does. It still reduces the amount of flu-related hospital visits by an order of almost 4,000,000 people per year. Yes, viruses mutate. Most of the time when they do, they get weaker. Is that happening with COVID? It has mutated four times and while the Delta variant may be more transmissible, the jury is still out on whether it's more lethal.
Fauci claims the vaccine will do just the opposite; reduce mutation. The Delta variant has been linked to India, where over 32M people have gotten COVID. Most, if none of which were vaccinated at the time. The vaccine itself doesn't cause the mutations. It's more about the rate of your vaccination schedule. Mutations occur less when people get vaccinated quickly instead of spreading it out over a 6-12 month period, which allows the virus to jump from the unvaccinated to the vaccinated back to the unvaccinated. The probability of mutation goes up each time it jumps to a new person. So take your pick. What makes the virus mutate more? We've had at least four mutations amongst an unvaccinated globe (Delta was around last December before the vaccine was even out). Only time will tell if we see more.
Some more good research:
Finally done in Afghanistan?
in General Discussion
Posted
I assume this wasn't the Taliban. Not really their style. I suggest they make friends with us real quick and weed out ISIS-K/Al Qaeda as best as they can before we decide to show up for a 20 year anniversary party.