Sticksboi05

Important note on testing at this stage of the pandemic. TLDR: The past year has been overflowing with fixation on PCR tests and stories about how it's the better test / more accurate. However, PCR is not designed to answer the question that we want to know when we get tested: "Am I contagious right now?" It detects viral RNA in your nose, but that does not mean it is infectious virus or that the viral load is high enough to transmit. You can test positive well after recovery. Rapid tests are better for determining if you can transmit SARS COV 2 so take advantage of them. They are available at CVS, Walgreen's though it is shameful how expensive they are when in the UK you can get them for Free 99. If we normalized having to take an immediate rapid test to go to places vs. providing a PCR negative test that was received within the past 48 hours, we'd be so much better off.

There is not enough safety data, no clinical trials have been done, and the data does not suggest that healthy people under 65 are at major risk of severe outcomes at this point.

mRNA vaccines spaced at 3-4 weeks, more so with Pfizer, show waning protection, largely against infection but severe disease and hospitalization preserved. Israel's data is an outlier - other countries show nowhere near the efficacy reduction Israel does. A booster will most likely increase protection vs. infection for a short period of time. For older people or immune compromised a booster makes total sense given Delta. The issue is at the end of the day the vaccines are here to keep people out of the hospital, and prevent symptomatic illness. There is nothing to suggest they don't still do that for the general public. For at risk groups, the story is different. It still protects but at a lesser level. COVID won't ever end if the world isn't vaccinated, and considering vaccine makers missed basically all their stated manufacturing marks - giving rich nations boosters while half the world waits for first doses seems questionable.

Also a reminder, despite what the headlines say to get clicks, Israel is not "mega-vaxxed" and not the end all be all for vaccine effectiveness. They could turn out to be the accurate predictor for others...or not. It is far from consensus. But headlines make it seem like they're at a polio or measles level of vaccination.

This is the epitome of the danger of today's social media reporting era. Everyone just wants to be first without actually doing proper reporting. Could've just called the hospitals to find out the truth.

It's SARS COV 2

Only 53.5% of America is vaccinated.

The vaccines do reduce spread, tons of data backs this up, it just won't matter if only a little over half the country is vaccinated. But you look at Denmark for example at 80 percent- they have stamped Delta out. Vaccinated people have less infectious virus, shed for less time, and get infected less often. But we're just not at the levels needed to see it stamp out Delta. It was stamping out Alpha. I think mandates are the way we get the vaccination levels we need. It's one thing to say I won't take it, until it hits your pocket. More companies are going to do what Delta is, making unvaccinated pay more for health insurance.

It is absolutely irresponsible for non-immune compromised people to be getting boosters. We have no safety data, no RCTs done yet. The vaccines have shown no signs of letting up in protection against severe illness and hospitalization. Israel's data has been obsessively pandered around - we have no idea of their methodology, and they are still an outlier vs. every other country in the world with a relatively high vaccination rate. There's a reason the CDC, FDA and WHO have all said stop promoting boosters for the gen pop. We need accurate data on vaccination rates, now random people are going to get unauthorized boosters. It's a mess. The White House completely screwed the pooch. Also data shows one adenovirus vaccine i.e. AstraZeneca with an mRNA gives more protection than all mRNA.

There won't be a mad scramble because there is no authorization or data to support a massive booster plan. We don't even have safety data. The CDC and FDA have both said the White House's booster plan should not have been announced and is jumping the gun. It looks pretty clear that they won't authorize it - certainly for non-elderly.

On the vaccines vs. eating healthy discussion. Agree we can do both, however, right now eating healthy will not stop the pandemic, vaccines will at a certain threshold. The two things I find annoying are the morons online like "bro, why does the government not talk about obesity and exercise" as if that hasn't been a thing for like basically all of post-WWII. There's the nutritional chart that gets updated every decade, dozens of government websites talking about what to eat and maintaining healthy weight, it trickles down to your school classes, we all got taught the food pyramid (now outdated of course) and there's a reason we had PE. With the advent of the Internet I'm not sure how much more healthy eating content there could conceivably be. You don't even have to have a car, they'll deliver produce to your house - Amazon dirt cheap. And then there's the "the human immune system/sanitation ended these diseases not vaccines" ...really. What did the human immune system learn in the past century that it couldn't figure out for thousands upon thousands of years? Why were there multiple plagues after the infamous Plague in the 14th century? Shouldn't it have learned? And to top it off "my yoga and cleansing will stop the germs" ...get rabies, tetanus etc. and see how that works out without the vaccine.

That's idea of mRNA, just recode the mRNA sequence as the virus changes. Pfizer partner to test COVID vaccine targeting Delta variant this month

Reminder there is no approval or authorization for boosters in the U.S. except for immune compromised people. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is leaning against them right now as the data does not support a desperate need for boosters outside of Israel (where none of their findings/methodology is published at all). We wanted science to be followed before getting vaccinated, it should be followed here as well. There is safety data etc. that needs to be assessed by the FDA and Pfizer is doing a RCT of boosters so we actually know the impact. Real-world data from Israel shows basically no impact on severe illness (because it was already low with two doses).

It needs both CDC and FDA go ahead. The White House's communications were absurd and have now made people think they should be able to just roll up to clinics getting third doses. Public health decisions in the U.S. should go through public health agencies. There's still lots of debate on the need for boosters anyway it's far from conclusive. I don't blame people for wanting them but many virologists and infectious disease experts do not believe they are necessary. Some certainly do. But either way the WH messaging was terrible, it's not their call. Politico: CDC vaccine panel: Let regulators lead on Covid-19 booster shots Members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's independent vaccine advisory panel voiced frustration Monday with the Biden administration's plan to begin doling out Covid-19 boosters next month, arguing the announcement got ahead of federal regulators and could exacerbate vaccine hesitancy. The White House strategy, which it announced earlier this month, is contingent upon FDA deeming boosters safe and effective and CDC recommending their use. Still, some CDC committee members made clear they were irked that the announcement came before federal regulators and scientists formally endorsed booster doses.

Neither the CDC nor FDA have given formal approval of vaccine boosters so not going to get a booster yet and neither should anyone else who isn't immune compromised. It's shocking they aren't even going to do a small RCT for boosters in this country. No signs the vaccine's immunity is waning against severe illness or hospitalization, which is what matters, so I will wait until the proper health bodies (read: NOT the White House) give the go ahead.

Unless you are in the military you are not being forced anything in this country.

This won't be Katrina in that the wind radius for this storm is much more tightly packed, meaning you're not going to see the massive 15-20+ foot surges Katrina brought along such a big chunk of the coastline. But the winds in this storm will be stronger than Katrina near the eyewall.

Important reminder the media reporting on the CDC slides was insanely misleading and incorrect - vaccinated people CAN transmit but do so at significantly lower levels than unvaccinated people.

There'd be way more reduction in community spread getting the unvaccinated their doses vs. adding on top of the 50% of Americans already vaccinated. If we could get to 70-80 percent, that'd be better than 3 dose 50%

Ignoring the rest of the world's desperate need for vaccines will come back to screw us. We get a booster and feel better now for a few months until the next variant from overseas comes that renders your booster useless. And this is just COVID, at some point if we continue to ignore the underdeveloped nations, a worse pandemic will break out than this one, it's almost inevitable. We got lucky to go a century since 1918. I hear you though, as far as first and second doses to unvaccinated Americans, we need to take care of them first. But booster doses to people under 65? Much more debatable.

Agreed. And this is part of the push back on boosters from many health experts. They will have minimal impact on hospitalizations - two doses of mRNA are still extremely protective vs. Delta when it comes to severe illness and hospitalization. This is all about avoiding mild symptoms of COVID-19.

JnJ is also much lower efficacy against symptomatic disease than the mRNA vaccines, which plays into it. I hope you get back to normal quickly. The argument against booster is – there is a finite amount of vaccine supply and that will do more benefit going into the arms of people who are completely unprotected here and abroad. As long as places around the globe have completely unprotected populations where this is replicating, it's only a matter of time until more dangerous variants make their way here. Community spread would also decrease if we got more initial shots into arms vs. boosters.