COVID-19 (Aka China Virus)

[TheNewGazmo]

We've been down this road before:

Strong-arm tactics by the DOD, coupled with inadequate oversight and politically driven behavior by CDC and FDA, have resulted in the following problems. The final four points identify needed reforms.

1. The safety and efficacy of the currently used anthrax vaccine have never been established, either for cutaneous or inhalation exposure in humans.

2. FDA standards for use of an IND (experimental) product, which apply equally to civilian and military vaccines, were bypassed because of pressure from the DOD.

3. Anthrax vaccination appears to be one of the causes of Gulf War illnesses.

4. Vaccine manufacture has been substandard. For years, the vaccine manufacturer failed to meet current Good Manufacturing Practices requirements but was allowed to continue production. Over 6 million vaccine doses have been quarantined by the FDA, have failed the army's supplemental testing, or both.

5. Service members have been subjected to a CDC-sanctioned double standard of medical practice in which risk–benefit analysis does not apply.

6. The ability of military physicians to exercise their medical judgment has been suppressed.

7. Ill, recently vaccinated service members, who rely on military medical care and who are barred from filing suit against the government, find themselves reliving the plight of ill Gulf War veterans.

8. Medical professionals, who expect information from the CDC to meet the highest standards, have instead received misrepresentations concerning anthrax vaccine.

9. The CDC is supervising the conduct of safety and efficacy trials of the current vaccine, but its ability to be objective is in question. Furthermore, because the safety issues are unresolved, conducting a large trial of this vaccine in previously unvaccinated individuals is unethical. Retrospective surveillance to assess safety should be performed first on the recent vaccinees, as recommended by the Committee on Government Reform.20

10. Medical defense measures for biological warfare, including the Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program, need independent civilian oversight, so that balanced medical decision making can occur, free of the influence of the chain of command.

11. The same regulatory requirements imposed on civilian vaccine and drug manufacturers must be met for military products.

12. Anthrax vaccine should be used only in the most dire circumstances. When employed for prophylaxis or treatment of inhalation anthrax, it should be under the conditions required for “off-label” use, including active surveillance for adverse reactions and obtaining free informed consent.

[HeloDude]

42 minutes ago, nsplayr said:

Yea he was too optimistic on being able to “beat the virus” for both obvious political reasons and because pre-Omicron it was legit more likely we could collectively push the virus back to very very low levels. That time has passed and I think he knows that.

I think you mean he was straight up wrong…or he knew better and was lying.  Either way, people still believe this nonsense that we can “beat” the virus, and whenever that doesn’t happen, it’s the fault of other people (often blamed on conservatives/Trump supporters) who are stupid, selfish, etc and who aren’t doing their part.  Well, politics is a dirty game, and Biden is taking a big political hit with covid, which is funny I suppose since he used the issue to get elected.  

[M2]

Again, my suspicion is COVID will go the way of the Spanish Flu.  The question is when...

[dream big]

43 minutes ago, M2 said:

Again, my suspicion is COVID will go the way of the Spanish Flu.  The question is when...

2024 at the earliest 

[VMFA187]

14 hours ago, Boomer6 said:

The interview is a little hard to follow based on Bourla’s accent, so I pulled up the transcript. I can’t find the “very limited protection” quote you posted. He remarks that the current three dose vaccine provides “reasonable” protection against “severe disease” and “hospitalization” specifically against the Omicron variant. The transcript is posted below. Is there something missing from the transcript where he says the quote you’re referring to?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/01/10/first-on-cnbc-cnbc-transcript-pfizer-chairman-and-ceo-albert-bourla-speaks-with-cnbcs-squawk-box-today.html

I listened to him say those words in the video interview that I watched yesterday.

[Waingro]

11 hours ago, M2 said:

Again, my suspicion is COVID will go the way of the Spanish Flu.  The question is when...

Hasn't your suspicion been the overwhelming global consensus for at least a year now? 

[Pooter]

5 hours ago, Negatory said:

I agree with you, but I do find it funny. You know the Spanish flu barely killed anyone in the beginning, then killed the vast majority after a major mutation?

The truth is, we don’t know how this will go. For all we know, this could go the way of the bubonic plague and be endemic for decades and have a similar mortality rate throughout. Hope not, though.

Exactly. We have only been at this for two years and in the grand scheme of things know very little about this virus still. Each variant has caught the country with our collective pants down, and spiked the cases, hospitalizations, and deaths each time.  And right before each spike, far right pundits have been busy declaring the pandemic over.  
 

Meanwhile the left is busy turning everyone off to common sense prevention measures because they're in full retard panic mode determined to mandate absolutely everything.

 

I'm afraid we might be stuck in this stupid cycle for a long time.

[brickhistory]

Wll, that's convenient since this Administration has admitted it can't "stop the virus."  Just stop reporting on it.  Sure is nice to have allies...

https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76

NEW YORK (AP) — For two years, coronavirus case counts and hospitalizations have been widely used barometers of the pandemic’s march across the world.

But the omicron wave is making a mess of the usual statistics, forcing news organizations to rethink the way they report such figures.

For that reason, The Associated Press has recently told its editors and reporters to avoid emphasizing case counts in stories about the disease. That means, for example, no more stories focused solely on a particular country or state setting a one-day record for number of cases, because that claim has become unreliable.

[skybert]

[Sua Sponte]

The SCOTUS just blocked federal vaccine mandate for large businesses.

https://apnews.com/article/eb5899ae1fe5b62b6f4d51f54a3cd375
 

SCOTUS Opinion

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a244_hgci.pdf

Edited January 13, 2022 by Sua Sponte

[dream big]

1 hour ago, Sua Sponte said:

The SCOTUS just blocked federal vaccine mandate for large businesses.

https://apnews.com/article/eb5899ae1fe5b62b6f4d51f54a3cd375
 

SCOTUS Opinion

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a244_hgci.pdf

No matter our opinion on the vaccine, this is a huge win for this country and our liberties.  It’s amazing to see checks and balances in work.  America will be okay. 

[HU&W]

11 hours ago, brickhistory said:

Wll, that's convenient since this Administration has admitted it can't "stop the virus."  Just stop reporting on it.  Sure is nice to have allies...

https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76

NEW YORK (AP) — For two years, coronavirus case counts and hospitalizations have been widely used barometers of the pandemic’s march across the world.

But the omicron wave is making a mess of the usual statistics, forcing news organizations to rethink the way they report such figures.

For that reason, The Associated Press has recently told its editors and reporters to avoid emphasizing case counts in stories about the disease. That means, for example, no more stories focused solely on a particular country or state setting a one-day record for number of cases, because that claim has become unreliable.

That reason…and, it’s an election year.  If the Democrats lose both house and senate, I expect this administration will be treated with the same courtesy as the last one. 
 

The AP will do everything necessary to avoid that outcome. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by HU&W

[bfargin]

[bennynova]

Saw a Religious Waiver denied today.  It was for an Lt.    It touted that they saw the beliefs were genuine, but couldn’t get past the readiness issue based on duties and rank.

[ClearedHot]

16 hours ago, dream big said:

No matter our opinion on the vaccine, this is a huge win for this country and our liberties.  It’s amazing to see checks and balances in work.  America will be okay. 

Not so fast...and I would NOT celebrate liberty just yet.

Yes they killed the mandate for companies with more than 100 employees but the issue is FAR from settled.  If you read the opinion was very narrow and it was not about the mandate as much as it was about the power of OSHA and a kick of the can to Congress to pass a vaccine mandate law. 

On the same day SCOTUS ruled against Missouri and upheld the mandate for Healthcare workers. 

There are several cases still working their way up through the lower courts that will likely land on the steps of SCOTUS with the Federal Employee Mandate case being another major decision point.

[M2]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/will-covid-19-plague-us-forever-here-s-what-the-experts-say/ar-AASAC0Z

Of course, it's more "experts!" 

[glockenspiel]

17 hours ago, dream big said:

No matter our opinion on the vaccine, this is a huge win for this country and our liberties.  It’s amazing to see checks and balances in work.  America will be okay. 

Not sure what gives you such confidence, when a few days prior we had one scotus justice say there were 100k children in the hospital from covid and many were on ventilators. Another one said we had 750 million cases (understandabley I think he meant 750k). these people are the last nine of defense for our “checks and balances”…. 
 

And in the same ruling they approved the CMS (voting 5-4) which does not even offer a testing option. While Joe and his OSHA workaround had their hands slapped, the Federal governments grasp on our nation has increased yet again. 

[TheNewGazmo]

Not so fast...and I would NOT celebrate liberty just yet.
Yes they killed the mandate for companies with more than 100 employees but the issue is FAR from settled.  If you read the opinion was very narrow and it was not about the mandate as much as it was about the power of OSHA and a kick of the can to Congress to pass a vaccine mandate law. 
On the same day SCOTUS ruled against Missouri and upheld the mandate for Healthcare workers. 
There are several cases still working their way up through the lower courts that will likely land on the steps of SCOTUS with the Federal Employee Mandate case being another major decision point.

True... this had no effect on the vaccine mandates most of the major airlines imposed on their employees. Does anyone really think the airlines want to deal with 30-40% of their pilots/FA's not being vaccinated when a lot of other countries and destinations they fly to mandate vaccinations? It would be a operetional nightmare. The airlines don't give a s*** about the health of their employees. They want the company to operate. They have a "mission" just like the military.

[Negatory]

https://www.axios.com/cdc-omicron-death-delta-variant-covid-959f1e3a-b09c-4d31-820c-90071f8e7a4f.html
 

Keeping up with the data. Current studies are showing Omicron has a ~90% reduction in mortality, ~75% reduction in ICU admission, and ~50% reduction in hospitalization compared to previous variants. Would be nice if it was 90% across the board, because this will still overrun the hospital systems based on having 5-10x the cases. Oh well.

[ClearedHot]

1 hour ago, Negatory said:

https://www.axios.com/cdc-omicron-death-delta-variant-covid-959f1e3a-b09c-4d31-820c-90071f8e7a4f.html
 

Keeping up with the data. Current studies are showing Omicron has a ~90% reduction in mortality, ~75% reduction in ICU admission, and ~50% reduction in hospitalization compared to previous variants. Would be nice if it was 90% across the board, because this will still overrun the hospital systems based on having 5-10x the cases. Oh well.

This article is maddening and illustrates why there is so much confusion.  Not a dig on you but peel the onion back a bit and watch Facui hijack the result.

I might be an internet epidemiologist but I am certainly NOT an expert.  That being said, from what I've read about other pandemics the "usual" evolution is for the virus to mutate and become more transmissible and less lethal.  That certainly appears to be the case with Omicron as outlined by this study.  "Yes, but: While we are seeing early evidence that Omicron is less severe than Delta, and that those infected are less likely to require hospitalization, it's important to note that Omicron continues to be much more transmissible than Delta," Walensky said.  Ok, the numbers seem to support these statements.

Now the rub - the numbers you show above are great but are not cross-correlated to vaccinated versus unvaccinated, boosted versus non-boosted.  All we have is the comment from our dear leader who says - NIAID director Anthony Fauci added that those who are vaccinated and boosted are much less likely to get severe illness from Omicron.

 

 

 

[Negatory]

28 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

This article is maddening and illustrates why there is so much confusion.  Not a dig on you but peel the onion back a bit and watch Facui hijack the result

.….

Now the rub - the numbers you show above are great but are not cross-correlated to vaccinated versus unvaccinated, boosted versus non-boosted.  All we have is the comment from our dear leader who says - NIAID director Anthony Fauci added that those who are vaccinated and boosted are much less likely to get severe illness from Omicron.

Yes they are, don’t where you’re basing your opinion from. The study is at the top of the article, I’ll assume you didn’t read it. Check it out:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.11.22269045v1.full-text
 

They clearly control and account for vaccination status, previous infection, age, sex, and comorbidities. The data shows BOTH that omicron is likely less severe AND vaccines are effective at reducing hospitalization/death.

Edited January 14, 2022 by Negatory

[ClearedHot]

5 minutes ago, Negatory said:

Yes they are, don’t where you’re basing your opinion from. The study is at the top of the article, I’ll assume you didn’t read it. Check it out:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.11.22269045v1.full-text
 

They clearly control and account for vaccination status, previous infection, age, sex, and comorbidities. The data shows BOTH that omicron is likely less severe AND vaccines are effective at reducing hospitalization/death.

The study does, but the article doesn't, that was the point.  We distill everything into small bytes because people won't take the time to read. 

[Buddy Spike]

2 hours ago, Negatory said:

https://www.axios.com/cdc-omicron-death-delta-variant-covid-959f1e3a-b09c-4d31-820c-90071f8e7a4f.html
 

Keeping up with the data. Current studies are showing Omicron has a ~90% reduction in mortality, ~75% reduction in ICU admission, and ~50% reduction in hospitalization compared to previous variants. Would be nice if it was 90% across the board, because this will still overrun the hospital systems based on having 5-10x the cases. Oh well.

It's a cold.  

[Negatory]

9 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

The study does, but the article doesn't, that was the point.  We distill everything into small bytes because people won't take the time to read. 

Ah. Do you see something in the article that is not corroborated by the study? Or is there something in the study that is intentionally left out of the article.

I guess I don’t see the issue if it generally accurately portrays the main points of the study.

[Negatory]

1 minute ago, Buddy Spike said:

It's a cold.  

Sure. If you can show me that a cold causes 150k concurrent hospitalizations, I’ll agree with you.