Want to do something positive: let's start with a pretty pic
NextStrain published a nice radial pic of virus phylogenetics: organized by family. Delta is aqua, Omicron is orangey-red.
Where are we with vaccines now?
Moderna reported this week that a half-dose booster of its mRNA vaccine raised antibody levels against omicron 37-fold, while a full dose raised antibody levels 83-fold compared to just the two initial doses. That echoes a report from
Pfizer that a third dose of its vaccine made it
just as effective against omicron as the initial doses were against the original virus.
So that looks OK.
How about O-AZ?
Dec 21 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc
(AZN.L) said on Tuesday it is working with Oxford University to produce a vaccine for the Omicron coronavirus variant, joining other vaccine-makers who are looking to develop the variant-specific vaccine.
So I'm fine with getting the mRNA booster instead. By the time they get this off the ground, we probably will be onto the next variant.
And their antibody?
Dec 16 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca
(AZN.L) said on Thursday a lab-study of its COVID-19 antibody cocktail, Evusheld, found that the
treatment retained neutralising activity against the Omicron coronavirus variant, showing promise for wider use of the therapy.
So although Pfizer's Regeneron won't work well, they still have something to use in the First World where it is breaking away. ( I'm not there )
What's South Africa doing?
In South Africa, we’ve seen a delinking of cases from hospital admissions. With the delta variant, the hospitalization rate links closely to the case rate. When we look at the omicron surge, we have more cases compared to hospital admissions. In South Africa, there are fewer hospital admissions, fewer deaths, and ICUs are under control.
~JHU.
We have had sufficient time to see the 2 week impact, and it is not that bad. Overall, it might be better for an individual to catch the new one. Especially if fully 3X vaccinated.
Denmark just published figures on myocarditis rates from mRNA vaccines:
About two people per 100,000 who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine experienced myocarditis or myopericarditis afterward, according to a new study from Denmark.
Researchers found these rare cardiac conditions occurred more frequently after Moderna vaccines than Pfizer-BioNTech and most cases were mild.
It's unclear whether this is meaningfully any more than the myocarditis rates in the unvaccinated genpop. As people simply live, some get myocarditis. So these are pretty
good numbers, especially as they mostly happened in young men, who tend to survive better.
Most cases of myocarditis were mild. Researchers also found people infected with SARS-CoV-2 had a 14-fold higher risk of cardiac arrest or death compared to people who were not infected.
BMJ reference:
https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj-2021-068665
We got a young guy in the ER a week ago, vaccinated 2 weeks prior, who had a chest pain, and found some ECG abnormalities. He had no biochem markers for myocarditis.
The Cardiologist identified the problem as WPW syndrome, a whole other thing, not caused by vaccines. Sent him to the Electrophysiologist to do ablation, full recovery expected.
