Friday, October 22, 2021

CoViD-19: Time To Get Your Booster | FDA Dives Into Pfizer Data On 5-11 Year Olds | CDC Messaging Still Sucks |

 

Kianga and baby Kamaria. Today the calf is 2 months old. (Taken 10.17.21)

I wanna talk again about messaging. 

I've done my best for the past year and a half+ to organize information as it comes out. Local news sometimes gets it right, but they also love to use dramatic language - crisis, chaos, confusion are some favorites. It is literally their job to make things NOT confusing, and instead do man on the street interviews with people who are doing their own research, waiting and seeing, or just flat out not trusting the science/doctors/government. We really don't need to see these dumbfucks on our televisions every night. 

Yet, at the same time, Dr Walensky SUCKS at messaging. Today she presented information about boosters and was asked a few more times to clarify what she was saying because her messaging sucks. There's this category of who should get boosters "those who are 18 or older who live or work in high-risk settings." They keep saying this is health care workers and teachers, for example. But if we look at, say, community outbreak data, restaurants, bars, sporting events, concerts, theatres, retail, grocery stores, factories, basically EVERYWHERE that is indoors with people not in your household is high risk. And with the number of cases that happened within households, if you have kids in school, if you work outside the home, if you go out in public, now you have potential exposures that you can bring home where you're probably not wearing a mask or taking the same precautions you might in public. Add underlying conditions-- more than 42% of Americans are considered obese, 14% are smokers, 47% have hypertension, 10.5% are diabetic, plus dozens of other conditions, and really, EVERY adult should get a booster. 

And don't get me wrong, things feel better than before...cases are largely among the unvaccinated or in congregate settings and such, but if you look at the map below, there is still substantial or high transmission nationwide. For the country to be considered safe, we need to get below 10,000 cases a day. They've been saying this since the beginning. We're still averaging around 75k. For our county to be safe, we should be back around 100 cases a day. We've been around 400-700 a day, depending on lab reporting. If you remember the California tier system where we were trying to push below 7 cases per 100k, just among vaccinated people we're still above 11, and it's closer to 30 per 100k people for unvaccinated. 

We're okay, but we're not great. People should still be wearing masks indoors. Bars and restaurants and music venues and conventions and public meetings should all be requiring proof of vaccine. I felt safer at the Repertory Theatre knowing masks and proof of vaccination were required. There was maybe something comforting that 95% of the audience were senior citizens, brave enough to go out into the world. I don't know how the Board of Supervisors and City Council and School Boards aren't requiring vax or masks at their meetings. Seems like a simple public health measure that would get rid of some of the nutjobs, too. 

All this to say if you think you want a booster for an extra layer of protection, you should get one. I got my Pfizer boost on Tuesday and besides an appreciated solid 11 hour sleep and a sore arm, I had no side effects. 

And this isn't the only thing where messaging sucks. All we're hearing about is supply-chain issues but not one person has said, "for the time being, people should stop buying stupid shit." Instead they show us crazy mom's at Party City spending $200 on decorations to make up for last year's Halloween being canceled. So which is it? Are we all struggling to afford the rising costs at the pump and grocery store or are we all flush with cash because the American Rescue Plan actually worked for the people it was supposed to target?? 

Today was a low key day around the house...I cut Darren's hair, he did laundry, we indulged in a home-cooked lobster dinner (6 tails for about $50 at Costco, still less than what it normally costs for the 3 of us to eat out) and I went to the San Diego Zoo for the last hour it was open to hear the mariachi and because I hadn't left the house all day. Looking forward to a low-key weekend. Nova is going to a friend's house so maybe we'll visit my dad while she's gone, and hopefully get a Safari Park trip in, too, though the rain cannot come soon enough. 

Stay safe out there.   

  • COVID-19:
    • Who Gets A Booster? Pretty Much Everyone. 
      • For those who received an mRNA vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna, people who are eligible for a booster shot six months or more after their primary series: 
        • Those who are 65 and older
        • Those who are 18 and older 
          • Live in long-term care settings
          • Have underlying medical conditions
          • Live or Work in high-risk settings
      • For those who received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine, all people 18 or older who were vaccinated two or more months ago are eligible for a booster shot.
      • Boosters can be mix-and-match, i.e. do not have to be the same as initial series. 
    • Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine appears more than 90% effective in kids 5 to 11 - kpbs/npr (10.22.21)
    • Pfizer And BioNTech Announce Phase 3 Trial Data Showing High Efficacy Of A Booster Dose Of Their COVID-19 Vaccine - Pfizer (10.21.21)
      • First results from any randomized, controlled COVID-19 vaccine booster trial demonstrate a relative vaccine efficacy of 95.6% against disease during a period when Delta was the prevalent strain
      • In trial with more than 10,000 participants 16 years of age and older, COVID-19 booster was found to have a favorable safety profile
      • Companies plan to submit these data to FDA, EMA and other regulatory agencies to further support licensure in the U.S. and other countries




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