(01-17-2022, 05:37 PM)jeffster Wrote:

(01-17-2022, 03:34 PM)ac3r Wrote: Health Canada approves Pfizer's COVID-19 therapeutic: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/health-canada-pfizer-therapeutic-1.6317505

That's terrific news. As the article said "It's a game changer." It certainly is, and it might end up being our way out of this pandemic.

(01-17-2022, 02:19 PM)plam Wrote: I don't think people swimming across the Channel are making a huge difference in the number of COVID cases.

(01-17-2022, 06:31 PM)jeffster Wrote: 4 doses of the vaccine is not enough:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-17/israel-trial-suggests-4th-dose-not-warding-off-omicron-infection

(01-17-2022, 06:34 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Multiple defences to combat this: distancing, masking, vaccines, drugs. No one thing will be enough on its own.

(01-17-2022, 10:16 PM)ac3r Wrote:

(01-17-2022, 06:31 PM)jeffster Wrote: 4 doses of the vaccine is not enough:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-17/israel-trial-suggests-4th-dose-not-warding-off-omicron-infection

I can't access this article due to the paywall but I'm a bit confused what "warding off" even implies, especially when the vaccine does not nor has ever really been considered to prevent infection itself. It is primarily taken to minimize the impacts of the disease and potential death.

Public health in Ontario has more or less concluded that, if you have any symptoms, assume you have it and chill at home for 5-10 days (I forget what the specifics are...I think 5 days if you are vaccinated? But correct me if I'm wrong). Doesn't that mean that your vaccinated or even unvaccinated immune system can already ward this off and you should get better fairly quickly? Most scientific bodies around the world has concluded that this variant is fairly "mild". One of the main reasons the hospitals are getting hit hard right now is due to the fact this particular variant spreads so fast, and statistically, that means that more and more people will get hospitalized. But really...

How many more doses of this are we supposed to get? Lol. Either this vaccine works or we need to rethink things.

(01-18-2022, 12:18 AM)JoeKW Wrote: Apparently most vaccines don't prevent infection (who knew?).  They mostly prevent disease.

(01-18-2022, 12:39 AM)jeffster Wrote:

(01-17-2022, 06:34 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Multiple defences to combat this: distancing, masking, vaccines, drugs. No one thing will be enough on its own.

The drugs could end up be the game changer.

Or so I hope.

(01-18-2022, 10:00 AM)tomh009 Wrote:

(01-18-2022, 12:39 AM)jeffster Wrote: The drugs could end up be the game changer.

Or so I hope.

Paxlovid was reported as reducing the probability of hospitalization or death by 89%, which is an impressive number, even allowing for confidence intervals. But that's for high-risk adults, who are more likely to be hospitalized; for the general population the number may be less impressive.

The other question, if you want to consider this the new normal, is how would people get Paxlovid. At the moment it's prescription only, so you would need to go to the doctor's office as soon as you have symptoms and the rapid test is positive, get a prescription, and then go to a pharmacy to get it filled. Depending on how common COVID-19 is in the future, that could turn the family doctors into a bottleneck.

So, I see this as more of another arrow in the quiver rather than a solution to COVID-19 in itself.

(01-18-2022, 04:58 PM)jeffster Wrote:

(01-18-2022, 10:00 AM)tomh009 Wrote: Paxlovid was reported as reducing the probability of hospitalization or death by 89%, which is an impressive number, even allowing for confidence intervals. But that's for high-risk adults, who are more likely to be hospitalized; for the general population the number may be less impressive.

The other question, if you want to consider this the new normal, is how would people get Paxlovid. At the moment it's prescription only, so you would need to go to the doctor's office as soon as you have symptoms and the rapid test is positive, get a prescription, and then go to a pharmacy to get it filled. Depending on how common COVID-19 is in the future, that could turn the family doctors into a bottleneck.

So, I see this as more of another arrow in the quiver rather than a solution to COVID-19 in itself.

Yeah, they may want to figure something out to make it easier if one requires that medication. Though I am certain a positive test result would be a requirement, unless it eventually becomes OTS.

(01-18-2022, 05:01 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I wonder how many anti-vax nutters will demand this treatment...which benefits Pfizer...at the same time as decrying the vaccine as "big Pharma".

Of course, maybe it'll be counter-indicated with ivermectin.