OK, so at the risk of being too “inside baseball” with this one, I love Ars Technica’s analysis articles, and this one does a particularly good job of looking at a recent paper that has been causing some consternation:
The take-home being this:
But it’s technically possible that, despite the differences in total antibodies, both vaccines generated similar levels of neutralizing antibodies—something else an additional study could sort out. This would be consistent with the vaccines’ generally similar levels of protection, as protection seems to correlate with neutralizing antibody levels.
While we wait for data to help sort this out, it’s worth considering whether we might be placing a little too much emphasis on antibody levels in our decision-making. Right now, arguments about the need for boosters are based in part on the fact that antibody levels drop over time, even though that’s a normal consequences of the shift away from a response to an active infection and toward a functional immune memory of that infection. And the efficacy of a booster is being based in part on the fact that it restores high levels of antibody—even though that’s exactly what should happen when the immune memory cells are activated by re-exposure to the spike protein
Just a reminder that science is complicated, and hard to understand, and takes time. And that’s normal.
on funeral directors being asked to omit covid, this makes total sense to me
who the heck would want to admit they got their spouse, parent, or child killed by encouraging them not to get vaccinated?
and then there are the “true believers” who think everyone is in on it, and covid is all made up
not to be too morbid, but im pretty sure if one of my unvaccinated relatives gets hospitalized, id never know. if they die, there will be an invitation to some cramped indoor maskless service, and the cause will never be mentioned…
if it’s mild though, you can be sure i’ll get a call.
But I got my shots at the same place, four weeks apart (which was the recommendation where I am), and since the same people were on-shift at the times of my appointments, the handwriting on my card is the same too. (I got my vax at a small in-store Rite-Aid clinic, so they don’t have a ton of staff.)
I’m not defending her-- it is so easy to get a safe, free shot. But some of the criticisms of her card match the cards those of us who actually did what’s right, too…
Me, too. My shots were through a private pharmacy, with only two pharmacists. I know the owner (Pharmacist) by his first name. They also know me when I call for refills.
Even before Reddit’s announcement today, some users were trying to take the situation into their own hands — /r/Ivermectin has been spammed with shitposts, calls for trans rights, and furry porn involving horses. (The link is a reasonably SFW explanation.) The latter got the sub marked as NSFW, and the flurry of posts has made it difficult to hold conversations on the now-quarantined community.
“Something weird is happening in the State of Rio, but we still don’t know exactly what it is”. As the pandemic worsens in Rio de Janeiro, scientists says it serves as a warning for all of Brazil.
The Delta variant is present throughout the country, but the case of Rio is different. The number of infected people only increases, as well as the large number of hospitalized ones due to respiratory infections, especially the elderly.
What was it that Mark Twain definitely said? “I’ve never thunk any malicious thoughts that would violate community standards if given voice to, but I have hammered refresh on the Dead Celebrities thread more than a time or two.”
A vaccine eligible 73 year old refusing to get vaccinated; unimaginable stupidity.
Any baseball fan knows Bob Boone, he and two sons played in the majors, he was a manager, and his son Aaron is the Yankees manager now.
