How has the coronavirus affected your personal life?

[RD.]

So a new drug with early good results and early good in low or no side effects. Add a low cost to that mix and it ought to be worth some level of emergency use.

You might want to read your article again, that trial only involved 30 people. The next phase, yet completed, is supposed to involve 155 participants.
So stating that the results might be "good", is one thing, but low or no side effects is a long ways away, especially with the checks & balances in place here in North America.

That it will take a long time to approve of clinical treatments does not follow after the emergency use of the covid injections. The pandemic was crisis enough to allow for emergency use of a few shots (mRNA vaccines)

mRNA vaccine trials involved 10's of thousands of participants, of various ages, gender, race and ethnicity . As one example, Pfizer had a total of 43,000+ participants in their trials.

Pfizer and BioNTech Conclude Phase 3 Study of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate, Meeting All Primary Efficacy Endpoints | pfpfizeruscom


Wednesday, November 18, 2020 - 06:59am

• Primary efficacy analysis demonstrates BNT162b2 to be 95% effective against COVID-19 beginning 28 days after the first dose;170 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were evaluated, with 162 observed in the placebo group versus 8 in the vaccine group
• Efficacy was consistent across age, gender, race and ethnicity demographics; observed efficacy in adults over 65 years of age was over 94%
• Safety data milestone required by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) has been achieved
• Data demonstrate vaccine was well tolerated across all populations with over 43,000 participants enrolled; no serious safety concerns observed; the only Grade 3 adverse event greater than 2% in frequency was fatigue at 3.8% and headache at 2.0%
• Companies plan to submit within days to the FDA for EUA and share data with other regulatory agencies around the globe
• The companies expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021
• Pfizer is confident in its vast experience, expertise and existing cold-chain infrastructure to distribute the vaccine around the world

While it is good to see more trials, and the potential for new drugs and/or treatments, those drugs, and treatments will require some close scrutiny, along with further studies to determine their safety across the masses, before they are approved by anyone in the USA, or Canada.

 

[RD.]

BTW - medical preprints (lacking any peer reviewed scrutiny) such as the link posted above by S skjl47 have become quite common during this pandemic.

Unfortunately, some folks read those little medical snippets, and assume that the information in them is rock solid, as though peer reviewed journals no longer exist. Some of those trials may break the ground for future discoveries and treatments, others will prove to be no more effective than the snake oil that used to be sold out of the back of travelling salesman's wagons.

 

[Rocksor]

And if many remember the whole hydroxychloroquine bit last year, it was proven under real world use that it was actually not effective at COVID recovery with the earlier variants (across different countries). In fact, certain local hospitals started to stock up on it, and deny lupus patients their medication because the hospital might need it (or probably using it) for COVID patients. It was only after the FDA finally said, don't use it for COVID, that the same hospitals started to allow lupus patients to fill the medication (after a few months of the FDA statement).

 

[RD.]

And if many remember the whole hydroxychloroquine bit last year,

Apparently some still do, funny (sorta) story from work last week. A delivery driver (50ish) dropping off supplies here at the shipping dock, while I met him at the doors of our health care facility, with a mask on (he was maskless) was quick to inform me that, as he pronounced it, "hydrochlorkin" has already been medically proved by science to work, and the whole mask & vaccine thing is a bunch of BS based on (you guessed it - the thing thing we can't discuss here on MFK)

It seems clear to me that many folks are basing their opinion on emotions, and the bitterness of what they feel is a local, or country wide, mishandling of this pandemic. Instead of actually following the REAL science, that has thus far actually stood up to peer reviewed trials and studies, and being grateful that as a society we had the science that allowed us to fight this virus. It seems to be a very illogical approach to all of this, at least to me. That delivery driver just reminded me of how totally ignorant many folks are regarding this pandemic, and what's been happening not far from their own backyard.

 

[skjl47]

COVID: 90% of patients treated with new Israeli drug discharged in 5 days - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)

Hello; This is a new article to me. I do not know about the source so diss it if such suits. It seems a drug that helps calm the immune response which causes serious distress (cytokene (sp) storm). Apparently this is a report of a second trial.
Could be good news to have a clinical medication that helps the body recover. At least it seems that way to my ignorant way of thinking. In addition to those too young to take the injections there are those who cannot take them due to medical conditions. On top of these two groups are some fully "vaccinated" who also get a serious case of the virus.

I figure this is the sort of thing that will good if true.

COVID: 90% of patients treated with new Israeli drug discharged in 5 days - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)

Quotes from the article:
“The Phase II trial confirmed the results of Phase I, which was conducted in Israel last winter and saw 29 out of 30 patients in moderate to serious condition recover within days.”

“The main goal of this study was to verify that the drug is safe,” Prof. Nadir Arber said. “To this day we have not registered any significant side effect in any patient from both groups.””

Hello; (my comments) While 30 patients may not be a lot, it was actually infected patients. 29 out of 30 recover impressed me. It was a phase II trial.

“Arber and his team, including Dr. Shiran Shapira, developed the drug based on a molecule that the professor has been studying for 25 years called CD24, which is naturally present in the body.”

Hello; (my comments): In a discussion I had it was pointed out to me how the mRNA technology had been worked with for over ten years. I had questioned the newness of the vaccine as being only months old. So if the ten years of study does count for the mRNA technology, might the 25 years of study also count for the CD24 molecule?

“19 out of 20 COVID-19 patients do not need any therapy,” Arber said. “After a window of five to 12 days, some 5% of the patients start to deteriorate.””

“known as a cytokine storm. In case of COVID-19 patients, the system starts attacking healthy cells in the lungs.”

““This is exactly the problem that our drug targets,” he said.”

Hello; (my comments) In the reading and following of the pandemic it has been stated many times this cytokine storm is a bad problem for those who have a serious case of the covid19 virus. That once this storm starts the patient is in serious trouble. So much trouble that I have read once put on a ventilator you are close to being done for. That sounds critical enough to my ignorant way of thinking that I would welcome an emergency use of most anything were I at that point. A what have I got to lose sort of risk. I guess emergency use must mean something different to me.

“Steroids for example shut down the entire immune system,” he further explained. “We are balancing the part responsible for the cytokine storms using the endogenous mechanism of the body, meaning tools offered by the body itself.””

“As promising as the findings of the first phases of a treatment can be, no one can be sure of anything until results are compared to the ones of patients who receive a placebo,” he said.”

“If the results are confirmed, he vowed that the treatment can be made available relatively quickly and at a low cost.”

Hello; (my comments) I underlined parts of quotes from the article. Does not sound like a snake oil salesman to me. There will be additional trials to try to make sure of the treatment’s value. I get in normal times there usually is a long process to make sure a new treatment is shown to work and have acceptable side effects. But I and millions of others have already had injections of emergency use medications. Medications with reduced liability for those who make and administer them. (I do recall there is a federal program we can make claims to as was posted earlier.)

I am picturing having a doctor getting ready to put vaccinated me on a ventilator and me asking for a chance to take CD24. You know, because I will be in an emergency situation. I probably would not be too worried if it even actually was expensive at that point.

 

[RD.]

Seeing as we are now quoting ourselves, you might want to re-read the following comment. lol

BTW - medical preprints (lacking any peer reviewed scrutiny) such as the link posted above by @skjl47 have become quite common during this pandemic.

Unfortunately, some folks read those little medical snippets, and assume that the information in them is rock solid, as though peer reviewed journals no longer exist. Some of those trials may break the ground for future discoveries and treatments, others will prove to be no more effective than the snake oil that used to be sold out of the back of travelling salesman's wagons.

I read the article that you posted, carefully. I'm also certainly not against new trials, new drugs, or new methods of treatment. Never said that I was, so not sure what your point was/is???

 

[pacu mom]

Things continue to deteriorate in my small redneck community. Our neighbor summarized the prevailing attitude around here, " I ain't skeert of covid". Very few masks in sight. 312 new cases in the last 14 days. 20 covid patients in our 53 bed hospital with 6 ICU beds .

The county fair just ended. From the few pictures I saw on Facebook, there were a lot of people enjoying all the events. I didn't see one mask in the pics that were posted.

I don't expect there will be any mask mandates here. Things are completely crazy.

 

[celebrist]

Things are completely crazy.

This is a seemingly universal truth

 

[jjohnwm]

As Covid cases rise and fall across Canada, things up here at the work camp I inhabit continue to grow...interesting.

The corporation which owns the project has one set of rules for all employees on site, whether they are directly employed by that corporation or by one of the several sub-contractors actually constructing the project. Each of these sub-c's can and does have its own rules and protocols which can be...and often are...more stringent than the overall rules.

I am employed by the largest sub-c on site, which mandates masks at all times when indoors...but the owner corporation allows fully vaccinated individuals to go mask-free. Add to this the fact that in the residence camp, as opposed to the work-site, masks are required by all. Confusing, difficult to monitor and enforce, and the source of considerable tension.

Strict rules are in place regarding the number of people allowed in a given lunch room, or an individual bus, or individual vehicles...and these rules tend to be upheld when it is convenient to do so. They are largely ignored if and when they become a hindrance to the company itself. Only X people allowed in this lunchroom...but there are only 3 lunchrooms, and the number of people working at one time is 4 times or 5 times that magic number X, so...people cram themselves in above the "legal" limit and nothing is said. Social distancing of 6ft or 2 meters is demanded...but at the start of shift large numbers of people are jammed elbow to elbow in locker rooms donning their work gear.

All this is, unfortunately, to be expected, based upon other work sites at which I have been employed. The rules are in place to make it easier to stomp on "troublemakers" with both feet; they apparently do not apply to those in charge...i.e. the people making the rules. And, in truth, I am less concerned about these transgressions than one might think. Every individual here arrived on a charter flight, and was required to be tested for Covid and then to remain at the testing facility, in isolation, for a period of usually 8 hours until all test results come back negative before boarding the plane. All of us are tested at least 3 times per month. Generally speaking, I feel much safer from Covid up here than I do back home.

Within the population of workers, one encounters every type of attitude regarding Covid, just as exists back in the regular world. There are the "you-can't-tell-me-what-to-do" types (although, in truth, we are controlled 24/7 in every facet of our lives while up here...); there are those who desperately latch onto whatever fanciful "evidence" they can find to support the ideas that seem to make them happy if not logical; and there are the terrified paranoids who latch onto any new rule or regulation as though it has been blasted by lightning onto the earth, straight from the hand of God (Please...more rules...tell me what to do!).

But most folks realize and acknowledge that Covid is a threat...not the end of mankind, not a harmless fantasy, but a threat...and simply go on with their lives. We all work 10 or 12 hour days, with one or perhaps 2 days off per month. Very, very few of us spare much of our meager time off hunting down and digesting convoluted and contradictory reports of "new findings", whether they come from the CDC (don't trust them completely...), the NWO (don't trust them at all...) or anybody in between. To those of you who do...and who are not either fully retired or employed in health-care...kudos! Keep the pot stirred.

 

[Ulu]

And here all Americans thought you Canadians had a simpler way of life…