We can all help each other out by getting vaccinated and wearing masks. What's so difficult about that concept?
Well, I'm planning on getting the vaccine soon. I heard Moderna is more effective than PFizer vs the delta. What you guys thinking for this? If you could go back or if you had to pick one, Moderna or Pfizer? Also last year around April time I actually got super sick and horrible fatigue and lost 7 pounds, I truly think it was covid back then. I wonder if its a good idea to check if I have any antibodies or maybe after a year OR would it be useless to do this now since a year has passed and maybe undetected at this point.
If you curious to watch a slightly technical video explaining how vaccinated people created more dangerous strains is not happening and why we know that then there it is. He speaks on the subject for roughly 16 minutes.
I wanted to say thanks for all the messages guys. This has been a surreal time in my life. It's a lot of different emotions. It all just happened so fast. This is the first time in my life that I've truly understood why people want to live in a state of denial and not face reality. Nothing seems real with how fast things changed and how fast my dad passed. There's a lot going thru my head, but I'm just too emotionally exhausted to type it. I'd say to the vaccine resistant and to the elderly that are vaccinated that it's probably a good idea to keep drugs on hand just in case of an infection. Whatever steroids that are appropriate, a z pack prescription of antibiotics, taking large doses of vitamin D in pill form 8k IU daily and having a large vit D IV lined up just in case, Maybe even making sure you can get oxygen just in case you need it. This isn't a minor flu and there is by far enough data to show that. If you are over 30 and over 200 lbs and think that then you are simply living in denial like I wish I could be. It's not the plague either. It largely depends on age and sex and then other comorbidities and then other unknown genetic factors. Seeking out "natural immunity" without some protection is just irresponsible. We generally know the risks and it would be like trying to ride out a hurricane without any supplies and then expecting people to bail you out. If you decide to not get vaccinated then consult your doctor and get your prescriptions on hand.
Really sorry about your dad. But thanks for sharing this message with the board, and really so many of your posts in this mammoth thread. Take care.
The number of people my family or I personally know that have passed away from COVID is up to 19. A cousin of my Dad's was put on a ventilator yesterday (he's 58) and may be the 20th soon. 6 of the people I know that have died, passed away AFTER they were vaccine eligible and could have easily been vaccinated. All 6 begged the doctors for vaccine when they were in the hospital, but it was too late. My Dad's cousin will be the 7th. He was crying and begging and apologizing to his wife and kids before they put him on a ventilator about how dumb he was. He refused the ventilator until his wife got the vaccine in front of him. I personally know several fully vaccinated people who have contracted COVID at this point, but none of them have been hospitalized, and all have recovered pretty quickly. Two were over 80 so the Doctors did an Antibody treatment to be safe. In contrast, I've been alive for 41 years and never personally known anyone that died from the flu.
One problem I have noticed with covid is no one really knows how to treat it. I know serval people that have had it and they all been treated differently by doctors. From do nothing and let it run its course. To take this or take that. To me it seems like its been long enough for everyone to get on the same page with some form of treatments.
damn that’s hard to hear and even harder to endure and watch I’d think. I’ve read that it really is much tougher or some families than others. Thanks for sharing that.
When 4 of us got sick at work recently (not Covid) - we all went to the doctor, nobody received an official diagnosis or confirmation of what the illness was (we just knew what it wasn't) - and each of us received different suggested treatment. Nobody really knows anything about anything and maybe they never will. Exaggerating, yes, a bit. But... kinda serious. Since Covid affects people differently, and each person has different pre-existing conditions, and the virus is always changing, it seems hard to have a strategy to treat the symptoms. I cant believe we even have a vaccine already.
Thanks, but after careful consideration, I'm sticking to FFB's slurred ramblings with his doctor friends over puddles of spilled Fireball on the bar.
Yep. My next door neighbor is a doctor at a hospital. When 3 of the 4 members of my immediate family (me included) got Covid in June 2020, we all noted how different our symptoms were. He said, "that's what makes this thing so difficult to treat. If we weren't living during a pandemic and all 3 of you went to a different doctor, you'd all come back with a different diagnosis and treatment plan."
There's one study (that hasn't been peer reviewed) by the Mayo Clinic that stated that the Pfizer vaccine has reduced efficacy over time compared to Moderna. As a result, the study demonstrated that Moderna had a higher level of effectiveness against Delta compared to Pfizer. Really its just more evidence that everyone needs a booster at some point.
I had posted it about 10 days ago or so, but after seeing the 6 month safety and efficacy data from Pfizer I'm just leery of the company. They used what seemed to be a much healthier than normal group and they only highlighted the good side of their study on what amounted to their press release with it. Yes it did seem to provide benefit against alpha covid, but there were potential red flags with the major drop off in efficacy and the efficacy against variants down in Argentina and Brazil. There was also the issue of more severe events from vaccination (which they didn't get into great detail on) than there were severe covid cases prevented from the vaccine. It did reduce severe covid and transmission though. The entire study did not document hospitalizations or track asyptomatic infection. There was also effectively no change in deaths from the control group to the vaccinated group either. The vaccine does work well initially, but their own study was frustrating to say the least.
The big difference was that Pfizer never took any money as part of Operation Warp Speed. Every other vaccine provider received grants to fund R&D as part of Operation Warp Speed. Accepting those grants meant that every other vaccine provider had to agree to direct oversight and input on phase 3 trials by the NIH and Anthony Fauci in particular was given direct oversight of NIH's role in phase 3 trials. So every trial (except Pfizer's) basically had to get Fauci (and his team) to sign off on the design of the trials. That's why the study design and data for the other trials look similar. There was a single team of scientists at the NIH that was responsible for overseeing trials. Pfizer wasn't bound by that rule and chose not to participate which is why their trial data ended up looking different. Ultimately, Pfizer is fine and at this point, we can feel confident that it works but we're getting focused on percentages in a way that has never been applied to other vaccines. Plenty of other vaccines have differences in efficacy by manufacturer but we generally don't care or focus on it. The bottom line is that all vaccines will need a booster. The Mayo study showed that Moderna's efficacy goes down over time too (it just goes down slower).
What's really better? For someone with a normal immune system. A booster, or just getting Covid (post-double vax).
My Dad was in the construction business for many years, so we have a big network. A few were old friends of my dad, so they were definitely in the age range you'd suspect (over 70), but quite a few middle aged folks. Tragically, two recent one were direct coworkers of mine that live in India and were very young. Both had it last year and recovered, both got Delta, and both died. One was 28 and one was 30. I cannot speak for the quality of medical care, but they didn't die in the street or anything, they were fairly well-to-do and died in hospitals.
If you just look at raw numbers, you are still much more likely to have a bad outcome with an actual COVID infection (even if vaccinated) rather than a reaction to the vaccine itself. 4.72 BILLION doses of COVID vaccines have been administered world wide. You can bet your bottom dollar if there were tons of adverse deaths or anything, it would be headlines all over the place.
Why wont people just get the vaccine? I get it, you may not need it but it helps stop the spread and will tamp it out eventually. Its just hard knowing this will likely never end.
