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originally posted by: joejack1949
a reply to: ketsuko
Yes, thank you for the clarification.
To further clarify, ADE occurs when antibodies enhance the entry of the virus into cells. With antibodies also come monocytes, macrophages, granulocytic cells, T-cells and other cells associated with immune response, which can get directly infected by the virus.
The fall season came right after the success of the mass vaccination campaign, so that tells us the vaccine made the disease worse.
originally posted by: AaarghZombies
a reply to: InachMarbank
The fall season came right after the success of the mass vaccination campaign, so that tells us the vaccine made the disease worse.
That sounds great on paper, until you start looking at this from an epidemiological perspective.
For example, if what you were saying was true you would expect to see the worst effects being in the areas with the highest vaccination rates, and among the demographics with the highest levels of vaccination. Instead what we see is that rates are worst in areas with lower levels of vaccination and among demographics that aren't getting the booster.
If what you were saying was true we'd expect to see catastrophic levels among middle class white people over 65 in the suburbs. Not under 40s in areas of moderate population density, and inner city areas with African American populations.
You're also not taking into account Omicron, which is more infectious than the variants that were endemic last fall, or the fact that fewer people are taking precautions like social distancing or wearing masks.
Things such as colleges doing more in person classes, more sporting events being open, and entertainment venues using a higher percentage of their total capacity also need to be taken into account.
Modelling this pandemic is extremely complicated, you can't just look at the raw numbers in isolation.
What you're doing is essentially saying that automobiles are designed to kill people as a form of population control, based on more people dying on the roads now than in the 1950s. Without taking into account that there are more vehicles on the roads, and that the population is higher.
originally posted by: InachMarbank
a reply to: AaarghZombies
You don't know if there are more viruses circulating this year than last year.
You don't know if there is any significant difference between Omicron, Delta, and Alpha "variants."
The population of the most vulnerable has declined, due to death.
What we are seeing is most people aren't dying from coronavirus and the vaccine. But a fringe are.
It is irrelevant for you to compare statistics between vaccinated and unvaccinated. That is a placebo effect.
The numbers of cases, hospitalisations, and deaths, are the best statistical measure.
Another good personal measure is how you feel after taking the vaccine. I know that crap feels like death and I cannot ever take it again. For me, there is no longer any choice on that matter.
originally posted by: nerd1978
a reply to: v1rtu0s0
The continued war against vaccination has me annoyed.
The lockdowns were BS, and once we realized that they were not necessary - maybe a month or few into this - we should have stopped. Instead, they were weaponized by politicians. At least in the US.
Masks can help reduce the dose of covid you get, but with the latest strain, they're far less effective. N 95s work. hey work very well. I use them when I work with Covid patients.
Vaccination mandates are stupid - on a federal level - for a significant reason. This is a country founded on the principle of "you dont' get to tell me what to do". People see in consistency with their leaders, they see them lie - and then they don't trust anything they say.
However, the vaccines are very effective. Against the original strain, they were fantastically effective. Against Delta, they were less so, but still great - out of the ~50 covid-caused deaths* at my hospital, only one was fully vaccinated. They were very old and had lots of illnesses.
against Omicron, it seems to provide good protection against infection, but it is nowhere near as good as it was with the other variant. For the most part, many vaccinated people are getting it - but they are on average far less sick, and much less likely to be hospitalized. Against omicron, the current vaccines primarily reduce your symptoms - and do seem to provide some reduced protection against infection.
Our hospital has been full of covid again - and it's almost all unvaccinated - again - who are in the ICU.
YEah, the politicians are lying and trying to manipulate the masses, fauci is loving his ability to control, and tell people what to do - they don't seek these positions unless they love the power. But as a health care worker, who has seen all of this go down - the vaccines are objectively effective at preventing serious symptoms and hospitalizations.
I wish people would separate and compartmentalize their opposition!
We have viruses we can stop by keeping your penis away from people who have the infection - and we haven't been able to stop them for thousands of years. There's not a chance in the nine hells were "Stopping" covid, and making it go away. It's going to be incorporated into humanity like the cold, and the flu. It might take time before the strain becomes less dangerous, but it will evolve to stay with us -- dead hosts are dead ends.
In the mean time, you can either risk natural selection, which is currently killing about 1.4% of the people it infects. A "98% chance of survival" doesn't sound bad. However, that means out of 1000 people, about 14 will die. Hundreds will get very sick and wish they hadn't. Many of them require hospitalizations. And many of those survivors will have long-term side effects. I have people who cannot work 15 months after getting a mild case of covid. Others have cardiovascular problems. It's much worse than the 90-99% survival rate lets on.
Or you can get vaccinated, and significantly reduce the chances of serious illness. Ignore the feds, ignore Fauci, ignore the bull# you hear, and ignore Biden's campaign promises - he doesn't even remember what he said. Find local hospital data and judge for yourself.
*actual deaths caused BY covid. Not just with it on board. Small hospitals have some more accountability in this area.
originally posted by: AaarghZombies
a reply to: v1rtu0s0
In this case, yes, it's clearly fake and I explained why.
What the author has done is to take snippets from a study that found that the immune response generated by the vax declines with time, and has tried to claim that this decline applies to the entire immune system. Not just covid immunity.
When you have a study like the one that the author claims they have you generally look for corroboration in external sources, because such a dramatic effect wouldn't exist in isolation.
In this case, you would look for other studies that show immune effects, and you would then attempt to find correlation between the participants and the vax. Which would then give you a high probability of causality.
For example, there are hundreds of studies of AIDS patients spread over 100 countries. They are mentored and analysed independently by different groups. If there was a sider problem the people in these studies would be able to see active trends in the studies participants.
The fact that no such trend is evident means that the author's findings can be directly disputed.
It's also clear that the study is fake because it's so incredibly basic. The math is what you'd expect to see on the nightly news, not the kind that you'd use to convince professionals. The text seems cut and paste, and it's all over the place, like the author is taking excerpts form different sources and trying to tie them together, and they haven't even attempted to cite past cases to strengthen their arguments.
It's clearly not been written by an expert, but it includes just enough jargon to scare liberal doom porn addicts like you who are used to listening to CNN, not attending epidemiology symposiums.
originally posted by: InachMarbank
a reply to: nerd1978
Way to push death. Anybody who takes your advice is choosing death.
I'd like to think, for most people, a choice between life or death really isn't a choice.
But there I go with my wishful thinking again...