It seems like, even after most people being vaccinated, the troublesome nature of Hong Kong's vaccine passport system still pushed most people to outdoor markets and roadside shops, against in door markets or malls

https://www.timesofisrael.com/4th-vacci ... ata-shows/

Israel: For people over 60, 4th dose vaccine reduce infection for 4 weeks, but then its effect drop and almost no difference on the 8th weeks.
However, the extra protection against severe case still maintain on the 6th weeks.

An interesting read on the effectiveness in the current situation for Chinese vaccines:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/health/c ... index.html

“In China, my understanding is, the vaccine rates are sort of inverted somewhat, and the elderly have lower vaccination rates,” he said.

....

“A way out of the surge would be to rapidly vaccinate everyone with more effective vaccines. That’s not what they’re doing,”


That would explain the zero-Covid strategy. The link notes Sinovac and Sinopharm wanes rapidly.

My opinion is we need something new. Perhaps a variant vaccine, perhaps a new style of vaccine is required.

Lightsaber

Lightsaber

lightsaber wrote:

An interesting read on the effectiveness in the current situation for Chinese vaccines:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/health/c ... index.html

“In China, my understanding is, the vaccine rates are sort of inverted somewhat, and the elderly have lower vaccination rates,” he said.

....

“A way out of the surge would be to rapidly vaccinate everyone with more effective vaccines. That’s not what they’re doing,”


That would explain the zero-Covid strategy. The link notes Sinovac and Sinopharm wanes rapidly.

My opinion is we need something new. Perhaps a variant vaccine, perhaps a new style of vaccine is required.

Lightsaber

Lightsaber

The lower vaccination rate among elderly in Mainland China is similar to Hong Kong and to a lesser extent Taiwan.
As I noted in my post about Hong Kong government's elderly vaccination rate, Chinese government media tried to attribute the number of deaths in Hong Kong after getting SinoVac vaccines, to their application to the elderly group and people with chronic diseases, which was not approved in Mainland China as of January 2021. The vaccine was subsequently approved for these population around February or March 2021, but people have strong memory of how Chinese government's excuse on these deaths (which have no clear direct evident of them linked with vaccination btw), and thus vaccine hesitancy remain highest among elderly groups and people with poor health situation. And such idea travel through internet among Chinese speakers across nation boundary.

But despite the lower vaccination rate among elderly, the vaccination rate in Mainland China is still generally high due to strict requirements. ~90% among entire population.

https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E4%B8%AD%E5% ... 04400.html
And even among elderly, while lower than general population, those whose age in 60s are still 86% 2-dose vaccinated. 56% boosted. Those who age 70s are 81% 2-dose vaccinated and 48% boosted. Age 80+ are 50% 2-dose vaccinated and 19% boosted.

And it is not like China only have access to SinoVac and SinoPharm. Or CanSinoBio. As noted around Summer to Autumn 2021, Fuxing group which earned exclusive deal on distribution of Pfizer vaccines in Greater China area have so much vaccines sitting in their warehouses that they were going to be expire and be discarded. Which was part of the reason that Taiwanese government can still acquire them from Fuxing through other private agencies after all despite the political issues. Hong Kong government also stated there were too many Pfizer vaccines that they're going to landfill. At the time the Chinese government haven't approved it. Fuxing group was going to setup a domestic production line of Pfizer vaccine in China but the plan didn't went on because of it. It is now approved, but out of nationalism it was not being widely distributed. According to what I heard from Chinese Mainland people, the government in large cities like Shanghai and Beijing have silently arranged a few batches of small quanity vaccination of Pfizer vaccines among communities settled by government officials. But then the pilot program ended and no more news from them can be heard. Nationalism is likely a factor behind Chinese government's unwillingness to push vaccines of foreign origin to its population despite they have access to it.

https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E9%96%8B%E6% ... 30435.html

Taiwan announced approval for Moderna vaccine to kids age between 6 to 11.
Two dose, both doses are to be half the dosage of adults. With 28 days gap in between.
Then there are some complains from concerned groups and opposition lawmakers, who said "Not even the US have allowed their children to take this 'Great Demon King', it is so scary that Taiwanese government is making approval without professional data backing", and then there is a conspiracy theory make up by opposition lawmakers who claim this can be explained by the government "used up" all the Pfizer/Biontech vaccines donated to Taiwanese government by Taiwanese business/nonprofits that have reaches in Mainland China and acquired Pfizer vaccines from the Chinese "exclusive supplier", and they the government is still trying but failing to buy Pfizer vaccine from elsewhere, so the conspiracy theory claim that the government is pushing less safe option to the people so as to make up for the government's inability/unwillingness to buy Pfizer vaccines from China, despite earlier Taiwanese government claim that there were excess supply of Pfizer/Biontech vaccines that they have to discard some of those that were expiring.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/cdc-pan ... ategy.html
CDC do not currently endorse 4th dose for >50

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapo ... dy-2625511
Singapore: Sinovac 2.4× as likely tp have breakthrough infection, 4.6× as likely to have severe case, against Delta.

c933103 wrote:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid-19-vaccines-sinovac-pfizer-moderna-singapore-study-2625511
Singapore: Sinovac 2.4× as likely tp have breakthrough infection, 4.6× as likely to have severe case, against Delta.

Fascinating read. Sinovac was 10.9x more likely to have a severe case than Moderna!

Has there been any data on a vaccine being better than mRNA?

lightsaber wrote:

c933103 wrote:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid-19-vaccines-sinovac-pfizer-moderna-singapore-study-2625511
Singapore: Sinovac 2.4× as likely tp have breakthrough infection, 4.6× as likely to have severe case, against Delta.

Fascinating read. Sinovac was 10.9x more likely to have a severe case than Moderna!

Has there been any data on a vaccine being better than mRNA?

If I had the Sinovac or Sputnik V, I would want to get a Moderna booster!

flyingclrs727 wrote:

lightsaber wrote:

c933103 wrote:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid-19-vaccines-sinovac-pfizer-moderna-singapore-study-2625511
Singapore: Sinovac 2.4× as likely tp have breakthrough infection, 4.6× as likely to have severe case, against Delta.

Fascinating read. Sinovac was 10.9x more likely to have a severe case than Moderna!

Has there been any data on a vaccine being better than mRNA?

If I had the Sinovac or Sputnik V, I would want to get a Moderna booster!

I had 3x Pfizer and made the same choice.

There is so much surplus vaccine. Denmark tried to donate 1.1 million doses of vaccine and failed to find anyone to accept them. So they will be destroyed.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/wireS ... s-84441932


We need a variant booster, but otherwise it looks like those who would take a vaccine have. Cest la vie. With how fast immunity fades, the portion of immunity provided by vaccines must be fading as so many are ready for a booster just sight reading this chart:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dail ... =~OWID_WRL

That means it is for the individual to protect themselves.

Lightsaber

lightsaber wrote:

flyingclrs727 wrote:

lightsaber wrote:

Fascinating read. Sinovac was 10.9x more likely to have a severe case than Moderna!

Has there been any data on a vaccine being better than mRNA?

If I had the Sinovac or Sputnik V, I would want to get a Moderna booster!

I had 3x Pfizer and made the same choice.

There is so much surplus vaccine. Denmark tried to donate 1.1 million doses of vaccine and failed to find anyone to accept them. So they will be destroyed.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/wireS ... s-84441932


We need a variant booster, but otherwise it looks like those who would take a vaccine have. Cest la vie. With how fast immunity fades, the portion of immunity provided by vaccines must be fading as so many are ready for a booster just sight reading this chart:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dail ... =~OWID_WRL

That means it is for the individual to protect themselves.

Lightsaber

As a participant in the Moderna Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial, I have already gotten 3 doses of Moderna. The first two were full 100 ng doses, and the third was a half-dose 50 ng booster. I go in next week for my 6 month checkup after the booster where they will draw several vials of blood. I probably won't bother with a booster til Moderna is testing or just gets an EUA for a variant booster. Sure the antibody levels wane, but T and B cells are around to protect against infections.

If it wasn't for politics you would think the Chinese government would be hoovering up all the spare Pfizer and Moderna vaccine and giving everyone older than 65 a primary cause if they are unvaccinated or an mRNA booster if they are.

flyingclrs727 wrote:

I probably won't bother with a booster til Moderna is testing or just gets an EUA for a variant booster. Sure the antibody levels wane, but T and B cells are around to protect against infections.

I happen to agree. After 4 jabs (3 Pfizer, 1 Moderna in case my prior post wasn't clear), I see no benefit to further boosters until there is a variant booster. We'll need that variant booster to slow the spread. Oh, my kids will love me...

alanb976 wrote:

If it wasn't for politics you would think the Chinese government would be hoovering up all the spare Pfizer and Moderna vaccine and giving everyone older than 65 a primary cause if they are unvaccinated or an mRNA booster if they are.

I am beyond tired of politics in health. Everyone is trying to do too much politics, creates "vaccine avoidance" and just doesn't help anyone. China needs to boost with a more effective vaccine. Oh, they would be ok enough to boost everyone with SinoPharm. However, it is concerning how fast the antibody levels plummet with that vaccine (yet SinoVac is worse?!?). At least it generates some T-cells (mRNA vaccines have an amazing T cell response, see 2nd link):

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34704105/
https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news- ... 9-vaccines

My layman's summary: You need antibodies to reduce symptoms and reduce spread. You need T-cells to stay out of the hospital (a medical need, not China's quarantine). The lockdown's in China baffle me and just see like something out of a dystopian novel. Boost with effective vaccines and move on. It isn't as if there is a shortage. If China wanted 1.5 billion doses, very quickly China would get those doses.

Lightsaber

lightsaber wrote:

I am beyond tired of politics in health.

I’m more than tired of health in politics, i.e. doctors and virologists whose narrow medical way of thinking have been allowed to dictate health politics since the start of the pandemic. A pandemic is too important to be left to the doctors.

In other news, oh Canada, how lovely you decided to ditch the mask mandate the day I chose to arrive.

fallap wrote:

lightsaber wrote:

I am beyond tired of politics in health.

I’m more than tired of health in politics, i.e. doctors and virologists whose narrow medical way of thinking have been allowed to dictate health politics since the start of the pandemic. A pandemic is too important to be left to the doctors.

In other news, oh Canada, how lovely you decided to ditch the mask mandate the day I chose to arrive.

Huh? Doctors know vaccines work. As you know there were exhausted by the huge workload dumped on them. First by the pandemic, then lack of vaccinated. They are the experts. I'll agree only one part of the decision (cost/benefit), but we almost had our hospital network buckle.

Now health policies need a more comprehensive decision process. But at this time, the excellent vaccines, in particular mRNA at keeping people out of hospitals, not all vaccines are equal:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... ac-pfizer/

I would argue politicians shouldn't be making the decisions. Doctors and virologists must be at the table.

But now people have made their choice, if above age 5. There is a huge surplus of available vaccines.

As someone who had to have two operations to get over long haul symptoms who sees how swamped the doctors are who handle the common long haul symptoms, I'm going to say, hats off to the nurses and doctors.

FDA authorizes first COVID booster for children ages 5 to 11

The Food and Drug Administration Tuesday authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine booster for children ages 5 to 11.

The authorization makes all children in that age group who received their second shot at least five months ago eligible to receive a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The companies requested the authorization based on a small study that the companies and FDA said demonstrated a third shot is safe and can significantly boost antibody levels, countering waning immunity and providing added protection against the virus, including the more contagious omicron variant.

I'm really happy about this news. I hadn't seen any news about boosters for the 5-11 set, so I was worried there wasn't much work being done on this front.

fallap wrote:

A pandemic is too important to be left to the doctors.

Huh?

fallap wrote:

In other news, oh Canada, how lovely you decided to ditch the mask mandate the day I chose to arrive.

Mask mandates (with a few executions such as airports which is Federal Jurisdiction) are up to individual Provinces, pretty much every Province with the exception of Ontario and Quebec dropped mask mandates months ago.

CowAnon wrote:

FDA authorizes first COVID booster for children ages 5 to 11

The Food and Drug Administration Tuesday authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine booster for children ages 5 to 11.

The authorization makes all children in that age group who received their second shot at least five months ago eligible to receive a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The companies requested the authorization based on a small study that the companies and FDA said demonstrated a third shot is safe and can significantly boost antibody levels, countering waning immunity and providing added protection against the virus, including the more contagious omicron variant.

I'm really happy about this news. I hadn't seen any news about boosters for the 5-11 set, so I was worried there wasn't much work being done on this front.

If I had a child in that age group, I would wait til there are reports of a surge of cases locally before getting a booster.

flyingclrs727 wrote:

CowAnon wrote:

FDA authorizes first COVID booster for children ages 5 to 11

The Food and Drug Administration Tuesday authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine booster for children ages 5 to 11.

The authorization makes all children in that age group who received their second shot at least five months ago eligible to receive a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The companies requested the authorization based on a small study that the companies and FDA said demonstrated a third shot is safe and can significantly boost antibody levels, countering waning immunity and providing added protection against the virus, including the more contagious omicron variant.

I'm really happy about this news. I hadn't seen any news about boosters for the 5-11 set, so I was worried there wasn't much work being done on this front.

If I had a child in that age group, I would wait til there are reports of a surge of cases locally before getting a booster.

Good luck predicting the surge two weeks ahead of time.

I have a child in this age range who will get the booster this weekend. So we're obviously looking at this differently. The variant booster will be out in the fall.

What is sad, there is no under age 5 vaccine. I had a friend made sick by his ill children. The vaccinated one recovered much faster.

Lightsaber

Does anyone know how the variant-specific vaccines are coming along in trials? Haven't heard much lately.

How ironic. Minutes after I submitted the last post, my child's school informed me that the LA Country Department of Public Health declared the school an outbreak site. So I ask the child, were any of your schoolmates out sick? Three from math, four from social studies, 2 from an extracurricular activity that had an indoor event yesterday with a grand total of one child with a mask on, one from science... So waiting for an outbreak is too late.

lightsaber wrote:

How ironic. Minutes after I submitted the last post, my child's school informed me that the LA Country Department of Public Health declared the school an outbreak site. So I ask the child, were any of your schoolmates out sick? Three from math, four from social studies, 2 from an extracurricular activity that had an indoor event yesterday with a grand total of one child with a mask on, one from science... So waiting for an outbreak is too late.

Right now the current Covid Replication/Hospitalization rate is acceptable. Will have to see what the next few weeks brings, but I think for now we are in an endemic stage.
The virus is still here in NC, but I haven't heard a lot of panic. Just positive test with cold/flu symptoms mostly. Most are vaccinated/boosted.

The percent positivity is increasing, but i still reckon a lot of this is just a lot more interactions are starting to occur normally.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracke ... l=Hospital

casinterest wrote:

lightsaber wrote:

How ironic. Minutes after I submitted the last post, my child's school informed me that the LA Country Department of Public Health declared the school an outbreak site. So I ask the child, were any of your schoolmates out sick? Three from math, four from social studies, 2 from an extracurricular activity that had an indoor event yesterday with a grand total of one child with a mask on, one from science... So waiting for an outbreak is too late.

Right now the current Covid Replication/Hospitalization rate is acceptable. Will have to see what the next few weeks brings, but I think for now we are in an endemic stage.
The virus is still here in NC, but I haven't heard a lot of panic. Just positive test with cold/flu symptoms mostly. Most are vaccinated/boosted.

The percent positivity is increasing, but i still reckon a lot of this is just a lot more interactions are starting to occur normally.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracke ... l=Hospital

Hospitalizations are ok.
My unvaccinated coworker who had it is moaning about his long haul symptoms. He is miserable even though over the disease.
For well vaccinated, this is like a cold/flu (my last time was more like a flu).

Lightsaber

epidemiology question/observation: I check the US and Washington State statistics plus my county and Seattle on the Washington Post. I think they mostly use John Hopkins data. There seems to be a drop in hospitalization days to about I day in the hospital per 5 new cases reported. Reported cases are increasingly (?) only those who are sick enough to go to a doctor. Deaths, which of course more reflect cases from a month ago, are running about 1 in 300 reported cases .Deaths and hospitalizations are of course lagging statistics, but not as much as they would have been a year ago My doctor, 6 month check up, reports that about all deaths, and almost all hospitalization are among the unvaccinated. Wife and I avoid crowds and most indoor things, which he observes most people being careful are also doing. My county did phenomenally well for the first 18 months, but we are pretty much caught up with Seattle and the US now.

There was some news about a vaccine for kids under 5 yesterday.

If Pfizer's data pans out, when will little kids get the COVID-19 vaccine? (NPR)

The third dose was "well tolerated among 1,678 children under 5 years of age with a safety profile similar to placebo," Pfizer said as it announced the news.

Kids in the trial received the third shot at least two months after their second dose, the company said, adding that at the time of the vaccine trial, omicron had become the predominant COVID-19variant in the U.S.

Initially I was glad to hear about this. And having the 3rd shot two months after the 2nd show isn't too much of a wait. (I was worried it would be 6 months.) But...

Pfizer says 3 COVID shots protect children under 5 (AP)

Pfizer has had a bumpy time figuring out its approach. It aims to give tots an extra low dose — just one-tenth of the amount adults receive — but discovered during its trial that two shots didn’t seem quite strong enough for preschoolers.

Preliminary data suggested the three-dose series is 80% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, the companies said, but they cautioned the calculation is based on just 10 cases diagnosed among study participants by the end of April. The study rules state that at least 21 cases are needed to formally determine effectiveness, and Pfizer promised an update as soon as more data is available.

80% effectiveness based on a whopping 10 cases doesn't inspire much confidence. Why is Pfizer bothering to publicize this? Maybe they get early notice about Moderna's results and scheduling, so they put out early press releases to beat Moderna to the punch?

The AP article also mentioned that Moderna's under-5 y.o. dose was a fourth of its adult dosage. So the Moderna shots are 100 micrograms each for adults, 50 (?) mcg for 5-17 year olds (which aren't approved in the U.S. yet), and 25 mcg for below 5 years old. Pfizer shots have 30 mcg for 12+ y.o., 10 mcg for 5-11 y.o., and 3 mcg for under-5s. I'm not thrilled that the adult Pfizer shots have just a slightly larger dose than the toddler Moderna shots, not to mention the tiny Pfizer dosages that kids and toddlers get compared to the Moderna counterparts.

https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202205300180.aspx

Some in China claim they got acute leukemia after getting SinoVac, with population claim to be affected in the number of thousands.

c933103 wrote:

https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202205300180.aspx

Some in China claim they got acute leukemia after getting SinoVac, with population claim to be affected in the number of thousands.

https://twitter.com/wenjun7011/status/1 ... 2278310912
In response to such question at press conference, Chinese government experts claim, any suspected symptom's relationship with vaccination can only be determined after reporting through proper procedures and have the experts gathering full data.

lightsaber wrote:

casinterest wrote:

lightsaber wrote:

How ironic. Minutes after I submitted the last post, my child's school informed me that the LA Country Department of Public Health declared the school an outbreak site. So I ask the child, were any of your schoolmates out sick? Three from math, four from social studies, 2 from an extracurricular activity that had an indoor event yesterday with a grand total of one child with a mask on, one from science... So waiting for an outbreak is too late.

Right now the current Covid Replication/Hospitalization rate is acceptable. Will have to see what the next few weeks brings, but I think for now we are in an endemic stage.
The virus is still here in NC, but I haven't heard a lot of panic. Just positive test with cold/flu symptoms mostly. Most are vaccinated/boosted.

The percent positivity is increasing, but i still reckon a lot of this is just a lot more interactions are starting to occur normally.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracke ... l=Hospital

Hospitalizations are ok.
My unvaccinated coworker who had it is moaning about his long haul symptoms. He is miserable even though over the disease.
For well vaccinated, this is like a cold/flu (my last time was more like a flu).

Lightsaber

My brother who is in a high risk group due to taking an immune suppressing drug got COVID in January after getting his booster in August. He was mostly over the major symptoms after about 5 days. He did say however, that there was one night when he went to bed he didn't know if he would ever wake up. At its peak the symptoms were as bad as any infection he ever had.

My brother got COVID in January and it was a moderate case. It was two weeks before he had a negative test, a week later before he could return to work. He didn't want to get vaccinated then, but is now. Yesterday he had another positive test, so is quarantined again. This time the illness is not nearly as bad as the first.

TV news: As Hong Kong government extend vaccine mandate to substitute, despite accepting PCR test as substitute, patient groups and disabled people groups say many find it inconvenience and some would rather cancel or defer their regular medical appointment, in order to avoid having to face the risk of vacciation, or the hassle of taking PCR tests every time they need to attend medical institutes, given that many of the affected patients have difficulty to move around.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... clears-the

US CDC approve vaccine for children down to age of 6 months old

c933103 wrote:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/06/18/1105929247/vaccinations-for-children-6-months-to-5-years-old-can-begin-after-cdc-clears-the

US CDC approve vaccine for children down to age of 6 months old

Parents of young children now have a challenge, to decide which vaccine. Locally, Pfizer is tough to find. I talked with parents and none of the local pediatricians want the "politics" of administering the vaccine. My very pro-vaccine pediatrician has decided to be neutral on the 6mo to 5 yr vaccine as the case to administer isn't as strong as with older kids.

More important is a variant vaccine. My best friend is down with Omicron this week. Nothing dramatic, but I lost a "wingman" to go out. Of the Omicron "brain fog cases", I now know one vaccinated person (all the others I personally know with brain fog were unvaccinated). A variant booster is needed. Hello Warpspeed...

Lightsaber

Two variant boosters doing well

Moderna expected to deliver variant booster in August: https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 022-06-22/

Sanofi, although mentions nothing about BA.4 or BA.5 https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart ... 2da79c3bd8

lightsaber wrote:

Two variant boosters doing well
https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 022-06-22/

Sanofi, although mentions nothing about BA.4 or BA.5 https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart ... 2da79c3bd8

It will be interesting to see how well it really works against BA.4 and BA.5

The below excerpt from CNN.

These levels of neutralizing antibodies were about 3-fold lower than previously reported neutralizing levels against BA.1, Moderna said.
Moderna expected to deliver variant booster in August:

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/22/heal ... index.html

lightsaber wrote:

Parents of young children now have a challenge, to decide which vaccine. Locally, Pfizer is tough to find. I talked with parents and none of the local pediatricians want the "politics" of administering the vaccine. My very pro-vaccine pediatrician has decided to be neutral on the 6mo to 5 yr vaccine as the case to administer isn't as strong as with older kids.

1) In my opinion, Moderna has better efficacy data based on a larger number of cases. Additionally, Moderna has only two doses spaced four weeks apart while Pfizer has three doses over a three-month period. The overall vaccine efficacy is low, but the protection against severe disease and MIS-C is expected to be high. I chose Moderna for my son and at that vaccination site, which offered both, all other parents made the same choice.

My son, who had Delta last August, got his first dose on Tuesday 6/21. He has had no side-effects and we are now approaching 48 hours. I recited a shechechyanu (a Jewish prayer for celebrating a special occasion) and choked back tears of joy.

2) I think the argument here is weaker than for adults, but as a pediatrician, former virologist, and parent, why wouldn't I want to protect my son? But where I think this is really important is the high-risk kids. I have a little girl in my patient panel who is on a ventilator at home. COVID-19 put her in the ICU for over two months. Rest assured, her parents are going to get her vaccinated and I will be the one to do it.

DocLightning wrote:

lightsaber wrote:

Parents of young children now have a challenge, to decide which vaccine. Locally, Pfizer is tough to find. I talked with parents and none of the local pediatricians want the "politics" of administering the vaccine. My very pro-vaccine pediatrician has decided to be neutral on the 6mo to 5 yr vaccine as the case to administer isn't as strong as with older kids.

1) In my opinion, Moderna has better efficacy data based on a larger number of cases. Additionally, Moderna has only two doses spaced four weeks apart while Pfizer has three doses over a three-month period. The overall vaccine efficacy is low, but the protection against severe disease and MIS-C is expected to be high. I chose Moderna for my son and at that vaccination site, which offered both, all other parents made the same choice.

My son, who had Delta last August, got his first dose on Tuesday 6/21. He has had no side-effects and we are now approaching 48 hours. I recited a shechechyanu (a Jewish prayer for celebrating a special occasion) and choked back tears of joy.

2) I think the argument here is weaker than for adults, but as a pediatrician, former virologist, and parent, why wouldn't I want to protect my son? But where I think this is really important is the high-risk kids. I have a little girl in my patient panel who is on a ventilator at home. COVID-19 put her in the ICU for over two months. Rest assured, her parents are going to get her vaccinated and I will be the one to do it.

Mozel Tov for your son’s vaccination!

SL1200MK2 wrote:

Mozel Tov for your son’s vaccination!

Thank you. I had to beg, borrow, and steal for it, but we got it done.

DocLightning wrote:

SL1200MK2 wrote:

Mozel Tov for your son’s vaccination!

Thank you. I had to beg, borrow, and steal for it, but we got it done.

Before I was eligible, I tried to beg, borrow and steal mine but decided to just wait. All that said, I finally caught it this Monday for the first time and while certainly not pleasant, it seems the vaccinations and boosters have kept it a bay. It’s just crummy.

lightsaber wrote:

c933103 wrote:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/06/18/1105929247/vaccinations-for-children-6-months-to-5-years-old-can-begin-after-cdc-clears-the

US CDC approve vaccine for children down to age of 6 months old

Parents of young children now have a challenge, to decide which vaccine. Locally, Pfizer is tough to find. I talked with parents and none of the local pediatricians want the "politics" of administering the vaccine. My very pro-vaccine pediatrician has decided to be neutral on the 6mo to 5 yr vaccine as the case to administer isn't as strong as with older kids.

More important is a variant vaccine. My best friend is down with Omicron this week. Nothing dramatic, but I lost a "wingman" to go out. Of the Omicron "brain fog cases", I now know one vaccinated person (all the others I personally know with brain fog were unvaccinated). A variant booster is needed. Hello Warpspeed...

Lightsaber

Although I am in the Moderna phase 3 trial til early September, I will not be vaccinating my 2 year old with Moderna. I would rather he have the 3 dose Pfizer pediatric vaccine. At this point both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are based on a variant that was isolated almost 2.5 years ago. This pretty much guarantees there will need to be a booster rather soon for the pediatric vaccine to account for the newer variants.

Looks like the US may offer the 2nd booster to all adults in the face of rising BA.4/5 hospitalizations.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-n ... -rcna37791

The Biden administration is considering a plan that would allow all adults to get a second Covid booster shot, according to a person with knowledge of the plan.

Covid hospitalizations have been rising modestly across the United States as the subvariants continue to make up a greater proportion of new cases.

BA.4 and BA.5 — considered the most contagious forms of the virus to date — made up about 70% of all new Covid cases in the U.S. for the week ending July 2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

casinterest wrote:

Looks like the US may offer the 2nd booster to all adults in the face of rising BA.4/5 hospitalizations.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-n ... -rcna37791

The Biden administration is considering a plan that would allow all adults to get a second Covid booster shot, according to a person with knowledge of the plan.

Covid hospitalizations have been rising modestly across the United States as the subvariants continue to make up a greater proportion of new cases.

BA.4 and BA.5 — considered the most contagious forms of the virus to date — made up about 70% of all new Covid cases in the U.S. for the week ending July 2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And this is why I've stopped worrying about the headlines and case numbers on these new variants. We've had a surplus of doses in this country all throughout this year, and when I tried to get my second Moderna booster last month I was blocked every time due to the CDC guidelines.

Now the team is doing another 180 by reacting to the current trends, yet they saw what happened in other countries and already know about waning immunity. I'm sure we'll be back to international travel PCR testing by the end of next month...

I am now sitting at home with COVID since Friday, (confirmed by PCR test). I have had two Biontech/Pfizer vaccination + the Moderna Booster 5 month later in Dec-2021.

As I got the full vaccination, including booster, I still have had a bad Saturday and Sunday, I am now already doing pretty well, only really fast exhausted.
No loss of smell or taste, no joint pain, so I hope it was just a respiratory and not a systemic infection.
My Covid infection was just like a cold with (regarding my regular cold infections) little bit slower developing of the symptoms.

I have had planned to wait for the Omikron specific vaccine for the second Booster....
I will have to check the literature, if the omicron specific boosters will still have a benefit after my Omicron infection.

https://www.worldjournal.com/wj/story/121474/6463957
A 98 years old in Shanghai developed serious side effect after being vaccinated in what being described as without consent. Shanghai government reject the idea, claiming that consent was obtained, but the document was sent to the doctor and thus cannot be presented.

There is a difficult public relations problem with this pandemic. The science has not been settled, and is not settled. Whatever the best policy for certain individuals and for a country and for the world differ, and are themselves uncertain. Then add the political complications. Not all people are comfortable living with uncertainty. But that uncertainty is part of the current science. We all need to weight countless risk/benefits and how they may best fit into our lives and those for whom we are responsible.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/16286 ... 52da9c14c2
Japan planning to offer fifth vaccine booster shot this autumn, as ~5-6 months would have passed since high risk groups got fourth dose, and the fifth dose is expected to be based on Omicron-based vaccines.
It is said that Pfizer and Moderna's Omicron vaccine could be approved for use in Japan in autumn, and which vaccine to use will depends on experts opinion

TV: Hong Kong government allow SinoVac vaccination for kid down to 6 months old

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/262b8 ... c32e29d056
Japan to start importing Omicron boosters from Pfizer and Moderna starting from September and then start Omicron booster vaccination campaign from October

https://www.storm.mg/article/4460886
Pfizer vaccine supplier Biontech claim they cannot setup factory in Taiwan due to possible risk of war, which could threaten delivery to foreign customers.

frmrCapCadet wrote:

There is a difficult public relations problem with this pandemic. The science has not been settled, and is not settled. Whatever the best policy for certain individuals and for a country and for the world differ, and are themselves uncertain. Then add the political complications. Not all people are comfortable living with uncertainty. But that uncertainty is part of the current science. We all need to weight countless risk/benefits and how they may best fit into our lives and those for whom we are responsible.

Recall current CDC guidelines allow you to go about life normally, with a mask after exposure if vaccinations are up to date. As my employer does Federal contracting, we must follow CDC guidelines (or stricter). Judging by my team, who has symptoms, severity, and long haul symptoms, the CDC guidelines are spot on in my opinion.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc ... ation.html

We have also found our vendors who follow CDC guidelines are more reliable. This is one more risk (cost) in our vendor decision matrix...

Lightsaber

Japan: In response to some politicians call for downgrading coronavirus infection to Category 5 infectious disease in order to normalize social activities, the government claim that if it is to be reclassified as such and quasi-emergency measures are no longer necessary, then logically speaking the special vaccination program provided to all for free can also end
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/1ab08 ... b3045bf499