[Cyphon]

Get it done.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Briar King, on 02 June 2021 - 04:53 AM, said:

Should you get vaxxed if you had Corona already? I know this is really coming up a lot and I'm no dr but I think I'd say no right now. Let someone else have it.

My neighbor had it last year and wasn't sick at all. Only knew he had it from blood work that had to be done before his back surgery. Then for some reason he just recently got the shot and he was looking like he was at deaths door.

I think after seeing that if I can't find a blood test at pharmacy I'm going to my GP and asking for it cause I'm still determined I probably had this back in early feb 2020 and was down for the count for about 2 weeks. Ed: before I get a shot.

Are they using the original strain or something newer in them?

Infection with previous strains doesn't seem to provide much protection against the Brazil variant. It's the second most common strain in the US.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Also, most places in the US have a surplus of vaccines now, and they spoil pretty fast, so not getting vaccinated won't leave more for other people... it'll just go to waste.

One other possible side effect of Pfizer (for men ages 16 to 24) seems to have been confirmed:

'The COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to put young men at elevated risk of developing a heart muscle inflammation called myocarditis, researchers in Israel say. [...] between one in 3000 and one in 6000 [...] But most cases were mild and resolved within a few weeks, which is typical for myocarditis. "I can't imagine it's going to be anything that would cause medical people to say we shouldn't vaccinate kids,"'

https://www.sciencem...-19-vaccination

Anti-inflammatory diet should help with that.

https://news.miami.e...eart-month.html

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 02 June 2021 - 05:48 PM

[Mezla PigDog]

My friend who went to Mexico with her moron rule ignoring sister is now my friend who is in Portugal with her moron rule ignoring sister. UK government just altered their Portugal travel rules so not they have to shorten their holiday or quarantine for 10 days on return. I just made the mistake of reading her sisters FB rant and friends comments about how hard done by they all are because they can't go on overseas holidays anywhere any time.

Also doing mental gymnastics to not put my friend into the rule ignoring moron category.

People are just the worst!

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Elderly father developed a mysterious rash that gradually spread over multiple parts of his body. Thinks he's experiencing fatigue from the steroids, but my mother doesn't think that's a common side effect. I wasn't concerned until she mentioned he's lost his sense of smell... and skin rash is a symptom of Covid. He's fully vaccinated, but some fully vaccinated people have still died from Covid. Stopped taking precautions after he was vaccinated. Unfortunately his 'concierge doctor' seems to be an absurdly flattering but negligent con artist who preys on the elderly and forgetful (ain't capitalism grand!).

'characteristic skin rashes [some of the images look like what he had, hard to tell, he never saw a dermatologist] [...] should be considered as key diagnostic signs of the disease, and can occur in the absence of any other symptoms.

[...]

17% of respondents testing positive for coronavirus reported a rash as the first symptom of the disease. And for one in five people (21%) who reported a rash and were confirmed as being infected with coronavirus, the rash was their only symptom.

The rashes associated with COVID-19 fall into three categories'

https://covid.joinzo...skin-rash-covid

Photos:

Spoiler

[Edit: the steroidal anti-inflammatory he's on suppresses immune response more than NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like ibuprofen do.]

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 04 June 2021 - 01:54 AM

[Malankazooie]

Stopped into my favorite taqueria for lunch yesterday for lengua street tacos. Man it feels good, dunnit?

I've ordered to go from them during the restrictions but it felt awesome to enjoy their delicious food in their dining area. Man the feelz - listening to mariachi music, while hearing the chef intermittently singing along in the back and enjoying a scrumptious lengua taco combo plate. I actually got a little emotional. Fuck that felt like normal is finally here.

https://www.youtube....h?v=oq70h9XBj_0

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'For most of last year, the idea that the coronavirus pandemic could have been triggered by a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China, was largely dismissed as a racist conspiracy theory of the alt-right. [...] But in the last week or so, the story has burst into the public discourse. [...] Biden has demanded an investigation by U.S. intelligence. And the mainstream media, in an astonishing about-face, is treating the possibility with deadly seriousness.
[...]

The people responsible for uncovering this evidence are not journalists or spies or scientists. They are a group of amateur sleuths, with few resources except curiosity and a willingness to spend days combing the internet for clues. [...] uncovered obscure documents, pieced together the information, and explained it all in long threads on Twitter—in a kind of open-source, collective brainstorming session that was part forensic science, part citizen journalism, and entirely new. They call themselves DRASTIC, for Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19.'

https://www.newsweek...d-media-1596958

Of course trying to do internet research in an area where you have no expertise and minimal background knowledge can be perilous, even for people who have studied causal inference, experimental design, statistics, epistemology, history / philosophy of science, the history of medical organizations forming official views on the basis of radically inadequate evidence and turning these into marketing crusades which they're extremely slow to abandon in the light of new evidence, the replication crisis, etc. Complex systems can behave in counterintuitive ways---X causes Z because X causes Y which causes Z doesn't always imply that if W causes Y then W will cause Z because W could also cause Q which negates the effects of Y on Z, for example.
Most of all for people who can't tell the difference between (likely) good sources and bad sources or how to evaluate evidence ('covid is a hoax'-ers, anti-vaxxers, etc.).

Personally, if I hadn't done a deep dive into 'internet research' (not all so limited anymore in comparison with being at a physical research library, especially for journal articles, or books available through Google Books and online collections, etc.) on the likely efficacy of P100 masks and evaluated the scientific evidence on masks and the assumption that Covid-19 wasn't 'airborne'---and on that basis chosen to err on the side of caution by wearing my P100 mask---I would have gone without it for a long time before a Google search started turning up explicit confirmation from medical experts (both for using a mask that's effective against aerolized particles and for P100 masks almost certainly being more effective than N95 masks against Covid-19).

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 04 June 2021 - 06:52 PM

[Malankazooie]

I was going through an article from Vanity Fair this morning regarding the same. It's a safe bet that we have our next Chernobyl series from HBO.

The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19's Origins

*link is to www.vanityfair.com

I figured labs that studied infectious pathogens experimented on them to make them more virulent, but now I know the name for the practice: gain-of-function.

[Aptorian]

The viral marketing for Resident Evil 8 has been really extreme.

[Aptorian]

Vaccine reservations just opened up for my age bracket. Got my first stab planned for June 14th with Pfizer.

Primateus check and see if you're eligible.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Her doctor only warned her about her anti-inflammatory drugs potentially suppressing response to the vaccine *after* she was vaccinated... and guess what happened:

'Caught in a "pickle," millions of Americans might not have had an adequate response to the Covid-19 vaccine

[...]

To treat inflamed blood vessels in her lungs, Tatelman, 73, takes a drug that suppresses her immune system. Her doctor had been reading recent medical studies suggesting the vaccine might not work well for some people taking medications like hers.

[...]

She did the test and had no detectable antibodies against Covid-19.

[...] Did her low antibody levels mean the vaccine didn't work? Should she get a third dose of the vaccine? Should she cut back on the drugs that suppress her immune system to give the vaccine a better chance of working? Was there anything else she could try to make a Covid-19 vaccine work for her?

There's very little data to help Tatelman and her physician answer these questions. Millions of other Americans are also taking immunosuppressive drugs that might weaken the effect of the Covid-19 vaccine, and they find themselves in uncharted territory, scared -- with good reason -- that their vaccinations might not have worked.

[...] two types of drugs they were taking -- glucocorticoids and B cell depleting agents -- "substantially" impaired the ability of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to provoke an immune response.

"No one really anticipated the vaccine responses would look so bad," [...]

For now, she and her colleagues tell patients it's not worth checking their antibodies after vaccination, because at this point it's difficult to know exactly what antibody level would confer protection against Covid-19.

Patients getting extra doses on their own

Dr. Robert Montgomery is one of them.

[...]

After a test showed he'd had "virtually no response" to two doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, Montgomery said he felt "profound disappointment" and got a dose of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine.

He says it worked: After receiving the third vaccine dose, his antibodies went up.

Things did not turn out so well for Tatelman, the grandmother in Boston.

Like Montgomery, she received a dose of J&J's vaccine to supplement her two Pfizer doses.

A few days ago, she learned that even with that third dose, she still has no detectable antibodies to Covid-19.'

https://www.cnn.com/...vH3lpNUEgMQrunY

Not clear from the article if she continued taking the drugs before the third vaccine shot, or whether her condition is so bad she can't go without the drugs even temporarily.

Tempted to get a dose of Johnson and Johnson myself. There's some preliminary evidence that combining the mRNA vaccines with a non-mRNA vaccine may be more protective. Then again, my response to the second dose of Moderna seemed like it was probably robust enough... and obsessing about a few percentage points is probably more neurotic than adaptive. OTOH YOLO so don't gamble your one life away unless you want that prize so much you're ready to hazard eternal oblivion for it....

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

By a bizarre coincidence, Philadelphia is lifting indoor mask requirements for fully vaccinated people on the first full day that I'll be fully vaccinated. Probably going to visit 'the art museum' (Philadelphia Museum of Art)... but I'll wear the mask outside and inside even if it's not required there. All the air pollution on the walk down there from my apartment was one of my motivations for getting the P100 mask to begin with.

[Maark Abbott]

Had my first jab. Except the place doing it dropped one.

Whilst Pfizer doesn't have penicillin in it, I am told by my sister who is a vaccinator at a hospital near London that they should have refused me on the grounds of my penicillin allergy and referred me to a high risk clinic instead. They didn't (also didn't go through an informed consent process, it was just a case of 'any allergies?' 'penicillin' 'great here come dat jab') and now I am under watch for anaphylaxis, if this rash gets any worse or my breathing / heart rate changes I'll have to go to A&E and probably stay in hospital overnight.

Lovely.

[Gorefest]

Maark Abbott, on 11 June 2021 - 07:25 AM, said:

Had my first jab. Except the place doing it dropped one.

Whilst Pfizer doesn't have penicillin in it, I am told by my sister who is a vaccinator at a hospital near London that they should have refused me on the grounds of my penicillin allergy and referred me to a high risk clinic instead.

Hrm, not sure if that is true....? I guess local guidance may differ from location to location, but to the best of my knowledge, a penicillin allergy is not grounds for ineligibility to take Pfizer, Moderna or AZ. Only if you would have a history of severe allergic reactions to multiple types of drugs or other unexplained/unidentified substances, that's when you should get a referral. There was a short period of time in December when penicillin allergy was flagged as a potential adverse effect, but that has since been amended and is not considered a contraindication anymore.

[Obdigore]

Azath Vitr (D, on 10 June 2021 - 12:28 AM, said:

By a bizarre coincidence, Philadelphia is lifting indoor mask requirements for fully vaccinated people on the first full day that I'll be fully vaccinated. Probably going to visit 'the art museum' (Philadelphia Museum of Art)... but I'll wear the mask outside and inside even if it's not required there. All the air pollution on the walk down there from my apartment was one of my motivations for getting the P100 mask to begin with.

Our local government removed the mask requirement (for vaccinated individuals, just trust that they are) back before memorial day. I still see more than 50% of people out and about wearing masks. I don't think you'll be in the minority here.

[Gorefest]

I don't understand the rationale behind that anyway. Even if you are vaccinated, you can still be a carrier/spreader, although the likelihood is drastically decreased. The mask wearing was never aimed at protecting yourself, it was always meant as a courtesy to avoid infecting others, and having been fully vaccinated does not negate that civil duty.

[Obdigore]

Gorefest, on 11 June 2021 - 01:28 PM, said:

I don't understand the rationale behind that anyway. Even if you are vaccinated, you can still be a carrier/spreader, although the likelihood is drastically decreased. The mask wearing was never aimed at protecting yourself, it was always meant as a courtesy to avoid infecting others, and having been fully vaccinated does not negate that civil duty.

The 'rationale' was because its the first big summer holiday in the US. My state, at least, was trying to 'open up' and get those fat tourism dollars that they've been missing for a year.

IE - Nothing scientific or medical, but rather economical.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Gorefest, on 11 June 2021 - 12:21 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 11 June 2021 - 07:25 AM, said:

Had my first jab. Except the place doing it dropped one.

Whilst Pfizer doesn't have penicillin in it, I am told by my sister who is a vaccinator at a hospital near London that they should have refused me on the grounds of my penicillin allergy and referred me to a high risk clinic instead.

Hrm, not sure if that is true....? I guess local guidance may differ from location to location, but to the best of my knowledge, a penicillin allergy is not grounds for ineligibility to take Pfizer, Moderna or AZ. Only if you would have a history of severe allergic reactions to multiple types of drugs or other unexplained/unidentified substances, that's when you should get a referral. There was a short period of time in December when penicillin allergy was flagged as a potential adverse effect, but that has since been amended and is not considered a contraindication anymore.

Mr Not A Blacksmith has a nut allergy, and carries an epi-pen. The advice he was given was that because he's never had anaphylaxis he was fine to have the jab (Pfizer in his case). Apparently had he had anaphylaxis in the past he would have needed a referral. They spoke to a head nurse when he went for his appointment to check and kept him under observation for longer afterwards, but he was fine. Hope you didn't have any further bother Maark.

Also had first jab - knocked me out the following day and had a dead arm for three or four (suspect that was the Fibromyalgia getting involved) but fine otherwise.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 18 June 2021 - 07:48 AM

[RACHEL]

Get my first jab tomorrow morning!

[Obdigore]

I went in to anaphylactic shock as kid - they still gave me both jabs.

So long as you aren't allergic to the things in, or like, the vaccines they are going to give it to you.