Long COVID
This study from the UK found:
- there were subtle differences in T cells which correlated strongly (but not perfectly) with having Long COVID;
- giving histamine receptor antagonists made 72% of them better (!!!);
- something which the histamine receptor antagonists never helped was dysautonomia, which suggests that there is some different mechanism causing that.
Testing
This study from the Netherlands found:
- Kids had higher viral loads (as measured by PCR tests) early in infection than adults did.
- Oropharyngeal swabs (the kind that goes waaaaaay back in your nose and feels like it is damn near tickling your brain) and nasal swabs are more successful at finding RNA early in an infection than oral or fecal tests. Later in an infection, that reverses.
Vaccines
Today, Pfizer asked the US FDA to approve its pediatric vaccine. (I thought they had applied on 28 September 2021, but no. On 28 September, Pfizer shared data with the US FDA, but I guess they didn’t have the full application ready.)
This article said that Pfizer is expected to ask Health Canada for approval in about a week.
How long before kids in Canada can get vaccinated? Well, Pfizer got approved in Canada 19 days and Moderna in 21 days approval after they submitted to the US FDA. The committees might not be in as quite as much of a rush because the risks are slightly higher (from myocarditis) and the benefits lower (because kids don’t die as much). On the other hand, one of the things that vaccine manufacturers need to demonstrate is that their factory can make this vaccine reliably and safely, and they probably won’t have to prove that quite as hard.
Then we need to get vaccine. The article about Health Canada makes it sound like we can’t just use 1/3 dose of the adult vaccine (OF WHICH WE HAVE TEN F MILLION IN FRIDGES), but have to order and wait for the special pediatric formulation.
Worse, the way the adult contract was written, we might not have the legal right to just blow off Pfizer’s moneygrab and use the vax we have. I will be so pissed at Pfizer if they do legal shenanigans to keep our kids from getting vaxxed.
Recommended Reading
This article talks about what it is like in countries which have vaccinated so many people that they have gone back to pretty much pre-pandemic “normal”.