Vaccines This article says that data from Israel shows that the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against infection (not against severe disease!) might be waning. Take that with a big grain of salt, however. There are a number of reasons why this should not be scary to you, even if you got the Pfizer vax.… Continue reading 2021-07-23 General
Category: Vaccines
2021-07-22 General
Variants This article suggests that one reason why Quebec is seeing so few Delta cases compared to other provinces is because they’ve got more of something else: A.2.5, first seen in Central America. It’s not a VOC yet, but they are keeping their eye on it. Vaccines This study of Pfizer found that neutralizing antibodies… Continue reading 2021-07-22 General
2021-07-21 General
Mitigation Measures This article reports that the land borders to the US will stay closed to non-essential travel until at least 21 August. American tourists will be able to come here, but Canadian tourists won’t be able to go there by land. (Canadians can still fly to the US with a negative test. The US… Continue reading 2021-07-21 General
2021-07-20 General
Vaccines This article had this stunning graphic of the difference in mortality in the UK due to vaccines: This article reports that vaccines might re-activate dormant chickenpox, leading to shingles. If you are over 50, get a shingles shot! Mitigation Measures This article says that some restrictions in long-term care homes have been lifted. Visits… Continue reading 2021-07-20 General
2021-07-17/18 General
Vaccines Canada has passed the USA in percentage of population that is fully vaxxed. This is bittersweet. I mean, yay us, but also it is so sad that hesitancy is so high in the US. Transmission This study found that hospitalized patients caught COVID-19 from infected roommates 39% of the time. However, they also found… Continue reading 2021-07-17/18 General
2021-07-16 General
Vaccines This preprint found that antibody levels wane over time, moreso for AZ than Pfizer, and less so in women. (BNT162b2 is Pfizer; ChAdOx1 is AZ.) Reminder: antibodies are only one element of protection, and the body should be able make more if the B-cells are well-trained. This article says that vaccines for kids 6… Continue reading 2021-07-16 General
2021-07-14 General
Vaccines This study shows that Pfizer gives really good protection to pregnant women (66%/97% against symptomatic infection with one/two doses). This small study (129 participants) from Hannover, Germany and this other even smaller study (59 participants) from Kiel Germany, showed that in test tubes, AZ+Pfizer is better than AZ+AZ (especially against Beta), and has basically… Continue reading 2021-07-14 General
2021-07-13 General
Vaccination Half of eligible Canadians have gotten their second dose, woohoo! Transmission This study looked at viral loads over time and found three interesting things: The total infectiousness (load integrated over time) was very different between different people. The viral load went up in saliva before it went up in nasal mucous. They suggest that… Continue reading 2021-07-13 General
2021-07-12 General
Vaccines This article reports COVID-19 patients who got a flu shot had significantly fewer complications than patients who did not. COVAX is getting 100M doses immediately from Sinopharm and Sinovac. This is great news. It’s not enough, of course, but double what COVAX has distributed already. (There’s another 390M coming later, which is also great… Continue reading 2021-07-12 General
2021-07-10 General
Vaccines This article says that the Sputnik V vaccine is turning out to be a good one, with effectiveness in the 90% range — and not just with Russian data, either. (I still wouldn’t get one because of the quality control problems which Brazil uncovered.)