Pathology This article suggests that the reason that COVID-19 hits old people so much harder than young people is that old people have more antibodies to important pieces of their own innate immune system, particularly interferons. (In other words, they attack critical pieces of their own immune system.) They found that the proportion of people… Continue reading 2022-02-25 General
Category: General
2022-02-24 General
Vaccines This article reports that Health Canada approved Medicago’s Covifenz, a plant-derived protein subunit vaccine. In trials, Covifenz had 71% effectiveness against Delta infection, and 100% effective against hospitalization. According to their product monograph, it is fridge-stable, but needs to be handled gently. Medicago’s vax is a virus-like particle, what I generally call a “spikey… Continue reading 2022-02-24 General
2022-02-23 General
As I mentioned before, “everybody” seems to be acting like the pandemic is over. It’s not. Really it is not. I suspect people hear numbers like “60 per day in Canada” and think, “oh, well, 60 isn’t many people in a population of 39M”, but I think people just don’t understand just how rare death… Continue reading 2022-02-23 General
2022-02-19/20/21/22 General
This post might look like it has a fair amount of stuff in it, but it’s four days’ worth (because of the Canadian stat holiday yesterday). I have noticed a big drop in the amount of content to pull from. I’m not even seeing a lot of “how do we transition to post-pandemic” articles now.… Continue reading 2022-02-19/20/21/22 General
2022-02-18 General
Vaccines This preprint from Israel says that a fourth dose is helpful, but not that much. The efficacy versus people who had three doses was: 30% for Pfizer; 11% for Moderna. In other words, in cohorts of N people with three doses, N people with three doses plus 1 dose of Pfizer, and N people… Continue reading 2022-02-18 General
2022-02-17 General
It was a really stunningly slow news day today. There are lots of articles navel-gazing about “what does it mean for the pandemic to be over?” but not much real news. Vaccines This article reports that Health Canada (finally) approved Novavax! Novavax had really good results — 90% effective against infection and 100% effective against… Continue reading 2022-02-17 General
2022-02-16 General
Long COVID This preprint and this lay article report on a big US study of mental health effects after COVID-19 which found that people who had had COVID-19 had (compared to controls): 1.35x risk of anxiety disorders; 1.39x risk of depressive disorders; 1.38x risk of stress and adjustment disorders; 1.55x risk of antidepressant use; 1.65x… Continue reading 2022-02-16 General
2022-02-15 General
Mitigation Measures This article reports that border mitigation measures are being softened. Starting on 28 Feb: People can use a RAT instead of PCR test to get back into the country. (I don’t know how they verify the test date.) There will still be random PCR checks at the border, but if you have to… Continue reading 2022-02-15 General
2022-02-12/13/14 General
Vaccines This preprint says that if you are unvaccinated and get Omicron, that protects you against Omicron, but your protection against anything else is pretty crappy. If you get Omicron after getting vaccinated, you get really really good protection against all known variants. Treatments Two articles have come out in the past week which say… Continue reading 2022-02-12/13/14 General
2022-02-11 General
Transmission Buried in this blog post was something I hadn’t ever known: the volume of air a person inhales/exhales per minute is around ten times larger during exercise than at rest. No wonder DrH closed the gyms. Treatments This article reports that the US FDA has approved a new monoclonal antibody — bebtelovimab — for… Continue reading 2022-02-11 General