New York Times article: Reaching herd immunity in the USA against Covid-19 unlikely to happen

[thewayne]

I was feeling this in my bones with the rate of vaccination declining and the growing opposition against vaccination, not to mention the rising number of variations.

Personally, I have no problem with getting an annual Covid vaccination, I can accept that. I really hate the possibility of always having a mask around my neck and pulling it up every time I go on the floor and into the stacks. Plus, one of my student workers won't get vaccinated, she "has convictions". I wonder if she has convictions against polio and tetanus, or if she's in favor of them. At least she'll complete her education at some point and leave.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/health/covid-herd-immunity-vaccine.html

https://science.slashdot.org/story/21/05/03/167239/reaching-herd-immunity-is-unlikely-in-the-us-experts-now-believe

Comments

[rain_gryphon]

And in the end, of course, having been vaccinated may not make any difference anyway. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56992121

[thewayne]

If there's one absolute statement to be made, there's some scary shit out there!  Having said that, the article said they're using the Chinese vaccine and I remembered that one having poor efficiency, like a 56% effectiveness, but according to the Wikipedia page, it's testing out at 79-86%, so it's pretty effective.  Looks like Covid vaccine producers have a lifetime of work ahead of them playing whack-a-mole.

[rain_gryphon]

Chinese vaccine has been all over the place in terms of efficacy - it's apparently random from one test to the next. I personally wonder if they're diluting the stuff to make more doses. Sadly, the article doesn't break down cases by what vaccine they received. 79-86% was, IIRC, two of the best trial results, in China itself, and the Emirates, which they'd like diplomatic inroads to, and may in conequence have supplied with their very best product.

[thewayne]

Brazil recently rejected the Russian Sputnik vaccine, said their scientists weren't allowed into the production facility to inspect their site, and further claimed that the adenovirus wasn't inactivated.  So there's some interesting games afoot.  It's a good argument for using the chimpanzee adenovirus rather than a human one.  I'm just glad I got one of the mRNA vaccines. 

[rain_gryphon]

I'm well-pleased to live in America, where we have access to high quality, avante-garde vaccines. Of course, if Biden gets his way, and the vaccine companies' intellectual property becomes public domain, then it's debateable who, if anyone, will put forth such an effort when the next pandemic comes along.