COVID-19 - Wuhan Coronavirus (a non-political thread, see pg. 36 #1778)

[QuikSand]

…and if the H5N1 avian flu does, somehow, transmit to humans more easily… then the covid body count could, indirectly, explode. Because if our political division around covid causes half of Americans to skip getting a vaccine, taking precautions, and following treatment guidance… we could have an enormous wave of otherwise avoidable casualties. (Losing over a million Americans has already been awful… but that’s with a disease that has a <1% fatality rate).

[Edward64]

I dunno.

50% fatality rate (if holds true from the small sample size) will get people on board. There'll still be some crazies but a vaccine won't get here fast enough for 95% of the population.

[Edward64]

This sounds like a no brainer to me.

Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration voted 16-1 on Thursday in support of full approval of Paxlovid, stating that the benefits outweigh any risks of the drug for treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in adults who are at high risk for severe disease, including hospitalization and death.

You'd think they have plenty of data by now.

Over 8 million people in the US have received Paxlovid, a combination of the drugs nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, since it became available under emergency use authorization in December 2021.

“I’d say besides oxygen, Paxlovid has probably been the single most important tool in this epidemic, and it continues to be,”

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I dunno.

50% fatality rate (if holds true from the small sample size) will get people on board. There'll still be some crazies but a vaccine won't get here fast enough for 95% of the population.

Good proactive move.

https://www.reuters.com/business/hea...es-2023-03-20/

Executives at three vaccine manufacturers – GSK Plc (GSK.L) Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) and CSL Seqirus, owned by CSL Ltd (CSL.AX) - told Reuters they are already developing or about to test sample human vaccines that better match the circulating subtype, as a precautionary measure against a future pandemic.

And the same old dilemma as with the Covid vaccines

Less reassuring, however, is that most of the potential human doses are earmarked for wealthy countries in long-standing preparedness contracts, global health experts and the companies said.

Many countries' pandemic plans say flu shots should go first to the most vulnerable while supply is limited. But during COVID-19, many vaccine-rich countries inoculated large proportions of their populations before considering sharing doses.

[Edward64]

Nice move Joe. It's evident there is significant disagreement on how it started so don't expect any smoking gun info. But the FBI seems to have a higher confidence and it'll be interesting to read their rationale.

Biden will release Covid-19 origin intelligence - POLITICO

President Joe Biden signed into law Monday a bill to declassify intelligence on the origins of Covid-19, offering the public a chance to review information that government agencies say is inconclusive.

The legislation, called the Covid-19 Origin Act of 2023, which passed the Senate and House with unanimous support earlier this month, orders the Director of National Intelligence to declassify within 90 days of enactment all information relating to potential links between China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology and Covid-19.

Some scientists and government agencies have theorized that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology inadvertently spread Covid-19 to people in the city where the virus first emerged, while others have insisted that an animal more likely transmitted it to people.

The U.S. intelligence community is split about the origin of the pandemic.

The Department of Energy and the FBI have recently said they lean toward the lab leak hypothesis. DOE said it had low confidence in its assessment, while the FBI said its confidence level was moderate. Other agencies support the natural origin theory.

I was wondering if the CIA had an assessment (not mentioned in article link). You'd think the CIA with spies /assets in China would have a better idea. In a different article ...

Four agencies and a national intelligence panel said they believe the pandemic likely started with natural transmission from animal to human.

The remaining two agencies, which include the CIA, are still undecided.

... now if they would really release all the info about Aliens and how they are spying and/or living amongst us.