COVID-19 treatment and vaccine update thread

[Blackhawk]

If anyone gets word that they're available, kindly make a post.

/edit - the new test kits.

[Daehawk]

Still no car so dont see ,me getting a booster or anything

[LordMortis]

Got my vaccine today. Got the Flu shot at the same time. Predictably, I was the only one and it was a big inconvenience to them to get me poked, even as I had an appointment.

Not so predictably, they don't do vaccination cards anymore and I have no idea what vaccine they gave me. There was no information before hand and with vaccine card, no information at time of injection. They told me I'll get an email with ????

I have no idea what I'm in for, mixing cocktails, so I gots me some Tylenol by the bed and I'm ready to go down at a moment's notice.

[Zaxxon]

Odd that you didn't even get a receipt with the vaccine info. Congrats on being the first pOOked OOer.

We're still scheduled for the 7th. Our local Walgreens for some reason has nothing before 9/6.

[gilraen]

You should be able to login to your state's immunization registry to see what vaccine information they sent.

[Smoove_B]

Mine is scheduled for tomorrow and like you, there was never an opportunity to select a vaccine manufacturer - which I thought was weird. In the CVS confirmation email there was a link provided - something like "about your vaccine" and clicking on it takes you to PDF information sheet. Mine was linked to the Pfizer shot, so I guess that's what I'm getting. I've been team Moderna this whole time so hopefully the Pfizer shot doesn't kill me.

[LordMortis]

I got an email. I'm Team Pfizer, which I have been all but once so far.

[stessier]

I'll be Team SpikeVax on Friday.

[Max Peck]

There still isn't any news that I can find about when the new vaccines will be approved and available here in Canada.

[Smoove_B]

If you could guarantee relocation for me and my immediate family, I could focus my attention on tracking vaccine information in Canada, not here in the United States.

Thunder Bay area would be preferable, but I'm open!

[ImLawBoy]

Family is all set for Saturday.

[LordMortis]

I'm guessing going a full year without vaccine had really given my immunity a chance to wane. I didn't take Tylenol as a prophylactic and at about 0200 my headache came on like a ton of bricks, even as I took the rest of the day easy. My arm also did the building pain in my sleep thing. This morning sucks. I'm trying to get my steps in and my walking pace is about 1/3 its normal morning pace. There will be none of my exercises and chores today unless this makes a sharp turn for the better soon. Also Internet outage except for my crappy phone day 2. Perfect timing.


Edit: 34 hours after the injection and the arm pain and headache persist. Hopefully I sleep OK, don't roll over on my left arm too much and wake up better. This is the second strongest reaction I've had after the initial one which destroyed an entire weekend.

Edit 2: 50 hours after the fact, my headache is gone but the soreness in the injection arm remains elevated enough that I can't lay on it and it affects my ability to get my exercise in. I'm really thinking this a function of going to the annual booster, rather than the semi annual booster; which would really suggest my ability to fight the virus was way down. I may make a plea to get the semi annual booster in February. I have no idea what the approval process for that would be. My being immunosuppressed wasn't something they questioned back in 2021 but when federal guidelines in early 2023 became "you do you", everything changed.

[stessier]

I'll be Team SpikeVax on Friday.

Shot received! It is 0.5ml - same as a flu shot. I'm a big baby for shots but It was completely painless... So much so that I checked under the band aid to be sure she stuck me. Which days a lot about the pain as well as what I think of my fellow human beings in this area.

[LordMortis]

I'll be Team SpikeVax on Friday.

Shot received! It is 0.5ml - same as a flu shot. I'm a big baby for shots but It was completely painless... So much so that I checked under the band aid to be sure she stuck me. Which days a lot about the pain as well as what I think of my fellow human beings in this area.

I hope you are GTG. It took about 16 hours, in the middle of the night, before it (Pfizer) totally kicked my ass.

[Smoove_B]

I'm 26+ hours after my first Pfizer and no issues, other than arm pain. The pharmacist that gave me the shot was...not great. I don't have a needle issue but if I did I'm sure I would have slugged him. He was very nervous and his hands were shaking like a car on bad gas. I think he put the needle in up to the plunger before injecting me and it hurt like hell. Not a fan.

[Max Peck]

Finally, some definitive news on the Canadian front... /s

The Omicron branch of the viral family tree was discovered in late 2021 and started spreading rapidly around the world. The latest strains of Omicron circulating in Canada and the U.S. have names that start with KP.

Vaccine makers and regulators like Health Canada are now gearing up to get the latest protection into arms.

"Health Canada is reviewing submissions from Pfizer and Moderna for COVID-19 vaccines that target the KP.2 strain," a spokesperson said on Tuesday. "We are also reviewing a submission from Novavax for a COVID-19 vaccine targeting the [earlier] JN.1 strain."

The regulator said it plans to "complete the review process by early autumn," with doses arriving days after.

[hitbyambulance]

Novavax just got approved:

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 024-08-30/

[Jeff V]

My kids are asking when they can get the booster and the flu shot. I think I raised them right in that it's a concern of theirs, although they really want the prize they get for bravely taking the shots. (hey, it works!)

[LordMortis]

Arm is good enough to sleep on but still hurts and is warm a few days later but I'm essentially through it. If I were working, I would have held off until Friday afternoon to get my shot and I'd be thankful for it, because work is always the most important part of life to account for.

[RunningMn9]

5G updates installed this morning. All sorts of jabs going on. TDAP a few weeks ago, COVID today, and Flu shot in a few weeks.

[ImLawBoy]

I remain pure blood Moderna. I woke up overnight (around 5 am) with chills and bad headache. Took some Advil and went back to sleep for a while.

[Isgrimnur]

Bicycle babies

200 children [are] being studied as a 'lockdown baby'.

The Bicycle (Born in Covid Year, Core Lockdown Effects) study, which launched in July, is looking at whether the lockdowns had an impact on children's talking and thinking skills.

Based at London's City University, it also involves five other English universities.
...
Reduced interactions with family members and the loss of access to services such as health visitors has had a serious impact on the speech and language of some of these children, initial research by the University of Leeds found at the end of 2023.
...
One third of pre-schoolers (34%) at Elizabeth Selby had speech and language needs during the last school year - up from a quarter (25%) in 2020, according to the school.
...
“If I could, I'd have a speech and language teacher in five days a week - and I would still have a waiting list," says Shahi Ahmed, head teacher at Elizabeth Selby.

"But I have to think about the budget and how that impacts the school."

Mr Ahmed says there is a "massive increase" in the number of children needing help with toilet training, which takes teachers away from teaching. The school is now bringing in outside agencies to help support parents.

And among all of this, attendance is falling, which Mr Ahmed says is important as it sets "routine and expectations".

[LordMortis]

I don't understand. If you were born during "lockdown", I'd think you'd have more attention from your parents, unless they were locked in to work even longer while at home and learned to totally ignore their COVID baby. I don't understand why toilet training would suffer, unless parents were on overload or grandparents took a bigger role in early development. I'm missing a chunk of the puzzle, but then I didn't read the article.

[Isgrimnur]

Their two-year child development check was delayed, they weren't able to attend any baby classes and their first year involved very little interaction with the outside world.

Fahmeda believes all these factors have had a lasting effect, and experts agree.

"Children need opportunities to go out into the world and have new experiences and with those new experiences come new words - but that is happening less during the cost-of-living crisis and it happened less during the pandemic," says Jane Harris, head of children's charity Speech and Language UK.
...
Prof Catherine Davies, from the University of Leeds, who is also involved in the study, says many of the safety nets for families like Fahmeda's were taken away during the pandemic.

“The education systems weren't there, health and medical support was not there, their interaction with their wider social networks wasn't there," she said.

[Smoove_B]

At the risk of spiraling into R&P, this idea (that the problems children are experiencing now can all be tied back to the 2020 "lockdown") is one that's been floated and promoted by anti-vaccination lunatics for the last 4+ years. Similar to "immunity debt", I'm not sure there's traction, but I guess we'll see where it goes.

[$iljanus]

At the risk of spiraling into R&P, this idea (that the problems children are experiencing now can all be tied back to the 2020 "lockdown") is one that's been floated and promoted by anti-vaccination lunatics for the last 4+ years. Similar to "immunity debt", I'm not sure there's traction, but I guess we'll see where it goes.

It may have been an article I read which went into a lot of detail about how the lack of socialization has led to more acting out and kids falling behind in various metrics measuring learning skills, social skills, problem solving, etc. But the educators interviewed also said that with effort these children are able to catch up and turn out okay. The thing is that there needs to be effort put in and well funded schools or schools that did well before the pandemic are able to address these issues more effectively than school systems in poorer districts.

So yeah, the pandemic did adversely affect childhood development. And here’s where a healthy society learns to do better for the next time vs being against all public health measures because someday there’s going to be a pathogen that will need to be dealt with through quarantine and lockdowns. But who am I kidding. It’s the fault of the government. Going to suck when parents rebel against the next time a lockdown is needed and instead of a child that needs help in sharing or motor skills once the crisis has passed the child is on life support or dead.

[Smoove_B]

The only studies I've seen were done in other countries (like this pending one). I'm not aware of a large scale study in the United States, probably because we didn't actually have any "lockdowns" (the phrase that pays). Instead, what I've seen is that the initial wave (March - June) was bad because the American education system turned into a remote school pretty much overnight. All things considered, it went well, however for marginalized communities - those suffering education gaps before March 2020 - this just made them worse.

The second "wave" where schools were closed (at different levels) from September 2020 through ~June of 2021 was better (in terms of deliver), but yet again the marginalized students still suffered greater negative outcomes (not surprisingly).

I think these types of things rustle my jimmys because the antivaccination lunatics are quick to blame public health and "lockdowns" for the problem when instead it's really a situation where kids already at risk had things made worse. In short, they're taking the wrong lessons and amplifying them. Instead of focusing on how students are taught and what type of community/parental support is offered (especially for K-6 students), they're implying we must keep schools open at all costs or kids won't be able to read or math.

By way of example, I have local...officials that are currently suggesting our property tax increase of ~$10 a month related to a school budget is happening (in part) because my town offers limited PreK (limited based on number of staff, not demand) options for parents. In short, these folks don't place any value on PreK availability and what it means - especially in helping to close the gaps.

[LordMortis]

This wasn't about schooling it was about babies. Toilet training. Early developmental motor and language skills. It's about what is believed schooling needs now because babies didn't get what they needed developing in to toddlers. (Unless all y'all recognized that and collectively moved on and I am a COVID baby in my understanding, in which case, carrion)

[gilraen]

This wasn't about schooling it was about babies. Toilet training. Early developmental motor and language skills. It's about what is believed schooling needs now because babies didn't get what they needed developing in to toddlers. (Unless all y'all recognized that and collectively moved on and I am a COVID baby in my understanding, in which case, carrion)

Except babies don't get early language skills or toilet training in school. They get it at home from their caregivers. What you got is parents putting off toilet training because it was too much hassle and the kid is at home, not going to preschool or daycare, so just leave them in diapers for an extra year.

[LordMortis]

This wasn't about schooling it was about babies. Toilet training. Early developmental motor and language skills. It's about what is believed schooling needs now because babies didn't get what they needed developing in to toddlers. (Unless all y'all recognized that and collectively moved on and I am a COVID baby in my understanding, in which case, carrion)

Except babies don't get early language skills or toilet training in school. They get it at home from their caregivers. What you got is parents putting off toilet training because it was too much hassle and the kid is at home, not going to preschool or daycare, so just leave them in diapers for an extra year.

That was my curiosity at the early article and how it was was suggesting it was lack of socialization thing and then we were off and running.

[Isgrimnur]

Psychological, sociological, developmental, all are going to be impacted. The trick is to tease out the actual root causes.

[Zarathud]

I am surprised that conservatives are saying public schools are important and need to be open. Or agreeing that parents weren’t able to homeschool.

[Max Peck]

I am surprised that conservatives are saying public schools are important and need to be open. Or agreeing that parents weren’t able to homeschool.

I suspect that what they actually mean is that places to send children so that their parents can go to work (onsite) are important and need to be open. Any education that may or may not happen at the child storage facility is beside the point.

[Punisher]

This wasn't about schooling it was about babies. Toilet training. Early developmental motor and language skills. It's about what is believed schooling needs now because babies didn't get what they needed developing in to toddlers. (Unless all y'all recognized that and collectively moved on and I am a COVID baby in my understanding, in which case, carrion)

Except babies don't get early language skills or toilet training in school. They get it at home from their caregivers. What you got is parents putting off toilet training because it was too much hassle and the kid is at home, not going to preschool or daycare, so just leave them in diapers for an extra year.

My wife works in a private school/daycare. They take infants and school them up to kindergarten. (They MIGHT have a kindergarten class actually but I'm not positive)
They do teach kids things so it's not just a daycare.
They also help teach potty training.
She has had MANY parents not following up on that training. Example. The kid should be out of diapers and while in school they actively work on this. However when the kid is at home the parents leave the diapers on full-time.
Tjis sends mixed signals to the kid and even causes some of them to fight toilet training in school because mommy or daddy let's me wear diapers at home. Even after multiple discussions with the parents or continues.
So yeah, I'm highly doubtful that any lock downs are the cause of this.

[Blackhawk]

As the parent of a special needs child diagnosed at about 2, I agree that a lack of screenings and in-home support could actually cause major issues. We regularly had occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech therapists in the house working with him, as well as case managers and other support people who monitored his progress from a professional perspective. If COVID had hit when he was 1 1/2, it could have been a very different story, with a very different outcome.

What I question is whether that, by itself, is enough to account for the size of the spike.

Now, the lack of socialization and novel experiences (ie - exploring the world) are also real, legitimate concerns with documented effects. But again, I don't think it's enough by itself.

Another factor - the last decade has been an incredibly stressful time. Politics, finances, cost of living, businesses, COVID, lockdowns, wars, society. Parents are exhausted, less patient, and more stressed. This would also have an effect on the early development of a child, but once more - not at scale.

But with all such things, the mistake people always make is to try to find The Cause, the thing that is to blame. The truth is that reality isn't that simple and straightforward. Most things that go sideways in statistics aren't caused by a single factor causing a 9% change, they're caused by a bunch of 1%-2% changes stacked up.

All of this assuming, of course, that the studies and interpretations are honest, which has been called into question.

[Smoove_B]

Not great news:

A new study from researchers at the Mayo Clinic suggests that being vaccinated against COVID-19 does little to prevent long COVID.

The findings contradict what has become conventional wisdom in the last 3 years—that vaccines offer a chance to significantly reduce the risk of long COVID, or new or persistent symptoms 3 months or more after infection, most likely by reducing the severity of infection.

...

The study was based on the electronic records of 41,652 people aged 5 years or older with SARS-CoV-2–positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests between February 2021 and December 2022 and a diagnosis of long COVID 30 days to 6 months following infection.

The average age of patients was 41 years, 55.2% were female, and 90.7% were White. At the time of initial infection, 9,744 (23.4 %) were vaccinated with two doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, and 7,658 (18.4 %) had received more than two mRNA doses.

A total of 8.2% of patients required hospitalization for COVID-19, and most infections occurred during the Delta and Omicron eras (39.8% and 47.1%, respectively).

In total, 6.9% of patients were diagnosed as having long COVID, with no observed difference between unvaccinated patients, those vaccinated with two doses of an mRNA vaccine, and those with more than two doses.

More observations:

Long COVID was associated with older age, female sex, and hospitalization for the initial infection. It was inversely associated with infection during the Omicron period, the authors wrote.

Again, this is using data from a population exposed to variants a few generations ago. Doesn't mean that the current vaccinations aren't better at protecting against Long Covid, but it also doesn't suggest they are. That said:

Clifford Rosen, MD, a senior scientist at the MaineHealth Institute for Research, has reviewed studies on long COVID and vaccines. He said the current study may be skewed because of its sample size.

"It’s a small cohort that is relatively homogeneous and likely has different healthcare behavior than other EHR [electronic health record] studies," Rosen said. Instead, he said long COVID studies done based on Veterans Affairs (VA) data offer a more heterogenous cohort.

...

He just published a review of evidence showing that vaccination reduces the risk of long COVID. While the effect size varies by 15% to 70%, there is an estimated average reduction of 40% to 50%, almost universally.

He said he found Swift’s study surprising and said it likely suffers from one main confounding factor: The type of patient who seeks out a long-COVID diagnosis likely uses healthcare and is vaccinated.

I don't know if I'd classify this is a "small study" but maybe my metrics are different as a consumer of study results, not someone designing/conducting studies.

In short - we're still guessing.

[Max Peck]

Meanwhile, in Canada...

Provinces told to pull existing COVID-19 vaccines ahead of arrival of updated shots

Health Canada has told the provinces to pull existing supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine that targets the XBB form of Omicron, a spokesperson for Ontario's health minister says.

"Health Canada has directed all provinces to follow practices and processes for the withdrawal and destruction of all remaining supplies of XBB vaccines, starting Sept. 1, 2024," the spokesperson said.

In a notice to health professionals, the federal government said that after Aug. 21, "there will no longer be XBB.1.5 COVID-19 vaccines available for use in Canada. Updated COVID-19 vaccines to target the JN.1 or KP.2 strains are anticipated to be authorized by Health Canada in the coming weeks."

Ontario and Saskatchewan said vaccines will be available once received from Health Canada, after the updated formulation is approved.

"It is estimated Ontario, and other provinces, will receive supply from Health Canada in October," a spokesperson said.

But in British Columbia, the existing COVID-19 vaccine will remain available until a new product is approved.

It appears that in the future we won't need to be so stressed about whether or not the available vaccines match the prevalent strains unless we go out of our way to find out.

A letter from Ontario's chief medical officer of health to vaccinators said, as part of Health Canada's authorization of the new formulation for the fall, Health Canada will remove the strain identifier, such as XBB, from the vaccine's naming convention. Instead, a single drug identification number, or DIN, will be used.

Springing all this on the public with no advance notice has real consequences on the ground.

Marie-Andree Lajoie, 64, of Ottawa, is planning a trip overseas and had a booster appointment for this Friday at a local pharmacy. But that was cancelled on Wednesday.

"My option now is to go to New York state and get the updated vaccine," Lajoie said. She was quoted $190 US. "Another option is to do without a booster."

[Zaxxon]

My fam got our jabs yesterday. Well, we got 7 of the 8–flu for all, COVID for all but my 10 yo. I learned that through some new feat of incompetence, the pediatric dose is still unavailable anywhere. I would say it’s unbelievable, but I can’t be surprised anymore.

All of our jabbed arms hurt a lot, but we’re otherwise not feeling too bad this time around.

[ImLawBoy]

We were able to get pediatric doses for my 10 year olds. It was only available at a handful of CVSs and we had to travel a bit to get to the closest one, but it was there as of last week. Willing to travel to the Chicago area for a shot?

[Zaxxon]

We were able to get pediatric doses for my 10 year olds. It was only available at a handful of CVSs and we had to travel a bit to get to the closest one, but it was there as of last week. Willing to travel to the Chicago area for a shot?

That's interesting, as our CVS (in Target) doesn't have it and Walgreens tells us it's not available, period. Something's not right...