A friend kept ragging on me about using the trade names for various vaccines. I held firm because it was more correct and accurate. He complained that nobody knew the names, but I pointed out that people got used to Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.
I now give up. Nobody and I mean nobody but me is using the proper names.
I might change my mind again later, but for now, you win, Jeff.
Vaccines
This CDC web page says that “fully vaccinated” means basically any combo of US CDC or World Health Organization approved vaccines. So all of you with AZ+something, you’re able to visit the US, get on US-bound (or US-layover) planes.
This article is about “hybrid immunity”, the fact that people who have had a COVID-19 infection plus a vaccination series have better protection than people who just had a vaccination series. Buried deep within the article is mention of a Quebec study which found that people with a long dose1->dose 2 interval (like most of Canada) had SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels similar to those in people with hybrid immunity.
The US FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) recommended booster shots for both Moderna and J&J. (I only mention this because Canada frequently follows the US’ lead.)
This article says Pfizer has applied to Health Canada for its pediatric vaccine. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam says that we won’t be able to use the existing Pfizer stock on hand for kids because the pediatric dose is lower. There was something about how they couldn’t just draw a smaller amount from the adult vials because it might make the formulation different, which I did not understand. Maybe in one dose of adult version, there is M of X and N of mRNA, while in the pediatric version, there is M of X and N/3 of mRNA. Thus if you just draw 1/3 of the adult amount, you only get M/3 of the X instead of M? But I don’t know what X would be: Comirnaty I mean the Pfizer vaccine doesn’t have that much in it which is interesting. This article explains that it’s got mRNA, lipids, salts, and sucrose. It’s not like the pediatric formulation has more adjuvant (because there is no adjuvant). So I don’t get it.
Mitigation Measures
This article says that the land border from Canada to the US will open to fully vaxxed foreigners on 8 November, no test needed. Everyone will still need a PCR test to return to Canada (or face quarantine).
Treatments
This article says that statins are useful against COVID-19, but this preprint says that the usefulness against COVID-19 is “modest”. This doesn’t make it obvious that doctors should prescribe statins, but it does say that it’s not going to be harmful for patients to continue statin use.
Transmission
This article says that a Richmond youth hockey team which played in the Thanksgiving weekend IceBreaker tournament got an exposure notice. 720 U11 and U13 kids from 40 teams played in the tournament.