Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.

Discussion in 'Whatever' started by Roger, Mar 2, 2020.

  1. Anti Social Andy

    Anti Social Andy Die-Cast

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
    To each their own.

    If that's what some people need to get through the day, and as long as they don't force it down my throat . . . who am I to argue.

    Personally, not my bag!
     
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  2. hellointerloper

    hellointerloper S7 Royalty

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    Hmm, I got the Moderna booster and vaccines. I wonder if that’s why I had no side effects for the booster?
     
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  3. Roger

    Roger Vintage

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    Everyone is different. I had zero side effects from my first Moderna shot, but four days after my second shot I had intense flu-like symptoms for six hours. After my Moderna booster, I felt low-level rotten for two days but that was it.
     
  4. liquidsky

    liquidsky Vintage

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    Past twelve months:
    2 flu shots
    2 covid shots
    2 shingles shots
     
  5. The Moog

    The Moog Die-Cast

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    Just had my booster (moderna) by walking in without an appointment. It wasn't much of a wait. Way easier than trying to book online at the moment ... I thought I was going to have to wait till the new year, the way it was going ...
     
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  6. Mr. Humphreys

    Mr. Humphreys Mini Boss

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
    I have an appointment to get a booster (Johnson & Johnson-some studies say this version lasts longer) next week, and I'm on the fence about it, but will most likely go ahead. I had the two Phizer initial series and had no issues. Heard good and some scary things about the booster. Mainly some cardiac issues. If you don't mind sharing your experience or thoughts on yea and nay, I'd be very appreciative of your thoughts. Normally I'd do it, but I feel a bit reluctant since these are vacs that have gone through emergency approval. Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2021
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  7. nico000

    nico000 Toy Prince

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
    CDC (currently) recommend Pfizer and Moderna over J and J. I would get one of those.
    I had 3 shots of Pfizer, the third shot was easier for me than the second one. My parents, medical doctors both of them, in their 70s, had 3 shots of Pfizer too (and contracted covid back in March 2020) and are totally fine.
    On the yea/nay question, I’m ‘blindly’ following the recommendations of the medical body (following both European and US recommendations).
    Personally, I think it’s better for our head to either be on Joe Rogan side (it’s all a conspiracy whatever) or trust the people in charge of our health at national and international level. Anything in between would drive me mad.
    Take care!
     
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  8. Roger

    Roger Vintage

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    @Mr. Humphreys There's more data on the heart inflammation issue now, it's very rare and the Moderna has a higher incidence than the Pfizer one. This article discusses a recent study from Denmark that sheds light on the issue: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...more-heart-risk-than-pfizer-s-in-danish-study

    The important takeaway is that you are at a much higher risk for the same cardiac issues if you get the virus than if you get the vaccines. Add to that the risks of other potential long-term effects from covid, major and minor. I have a friend who got sick in March 2020 and still gets the sensation of someone spraying Windex in his eyes once or twice a week. Sometimes it happens while he's driving and he has to pull over. I have another friend who got sick this September, she was vaccinated so it wasn't severe, but she lost her sense of smell and taste and it still hasn't fully come back.

    If you think you are at risk for an adverse affect due to a medical condition or a medication you're taking, though, you should probably run it by your doctor.
     
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  9. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    It is a fair question, and I agree with Roger, any concerns/pre-existing conditions should definitely be discussed in detail with your doctor (and someone else, if it happens that they do not know either). But really there is no reason to not get both/all three immunization shots at this point, the accessibility and options are well available, so please do just make use of them. It's just common sense at this point, and especially prudent with this new wave we are seeing globally.
     
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  10. eleggua

    eleggua Toy Prince

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
    Excellent book written prior to pandemic by several years and in the works pre-2016 election, it autopsies the self-delusionary state/s of America.
    https://www.kurtandersen.com/fantasyland
     
  11. eleggua

    eleggua Toy Prince

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
    My sense of omicron variant, based on early data out of South Africa, it's way more virulent than prior variants and will push them aside. Data in the US supports that, too. While far more contagious, it causes milder illness and is far less fatal by pct than the prior variants.
    If that early data holds up, omicron could well end the pandemic by supplanting variants that cause more illness, and become another 'cold' coronavirus.

    Forget about returning to normal, though. Matter of short time before the next emergent zoonotic pathogen becomes pandemic. Data-supported, not doom wishing.

    Humans are increasing our encroachment into the 'wild', vis a vis deforestation, chasing "game" as the local populations of wildlife decrease, silly sport aka "adventure", and other ignorant nonsense. The deeper we ignorantly encroach, the more trouble we bring back. Plus the ever-increasing potential for The Thing, a bacteria form that comes out of the thawing permafrost. Few years ago, scientists resurrected a 30,000-year dormant bacteria from permafrost.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26387276

    Permafrost doesn't re-freeze, btw, so that Pandora's box isn't going to close even if we do manage to reverse the out-of-balance equilibrium of co2 amplification into the atmosphere in some near enough future.

    Another recommended book.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spillover_(book)
     
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  12. eleggua

    eleggua Toy Prince

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
  13. eleggua

    eleggua Toy Prince

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    Significant side-effects following shots one and two; surprising to me, given the severity of the first two experiences, hardly anything after the booster. ModeRNA here, all three shots.
    Prefer the side-effects to the potential whoa/woe of sars-cov-2 infection. Friend suffers post-covid hallucination syndrome. Some folks, Mark Mothersbaugh out Devo a well-known example, suffer the hallucinations during infection, some during and after.

    Oddest side effect, post-shot #1:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barodontalgia
    No change in altitude. Experienced it before, always at high elevations, though.
     
  14. Biff

    Biff S7 Royalty

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    Already happened
     
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  15. Philpenn

    Philpenn Toy Prince

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
    Had the most side effects from the booster, and even that was just one night of feeling moderate aches. Timed my booster perfectly. Got the jab 7pm Thursday, so it all started after I got off work. Took Tylenol, and layed on the couch under a blanket sipping Capri Suns. Pretty sweet Friday night.
     
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  16. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
  17. KaosHead

    KaosHead Addicted

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
    I'd be curious how others see viruses, so here's what I think I know:
    1. Viruses are not alive, not a life form. They do not DO anything, things are done to them. Bunch of of protein sequences, folded in a particular way, but disintegrate rather fast when not in contact of a living host.
    2. Viral infection path involves a host cell actively 'ingesting' viral proteins, then reproducing its structure to make new viruses. {this is the most mysterious bit to me.. y?}
    3. During viral reproduction BY a host cell, {estimated 1 billion to 100 billion virions during peak infection}, the only factors that limit the number is the host's resources and/or immune state/response. Omicron's reported 70x infectivity is from in-vitro studies in lab. In-vivo viral nbrs are not yet established.
    4. A virus is not 'evading' or 'dodging' the immune system or any such thing, See point #1. The immune system recognizable part of a variant might have changed due to reproduction errors, a. k. a. mutations, introduced by a host cell's cellular reproductive machinery.
    5. The process of copying 1 virus to make x nbr is still the same, takes the same amount of time. There's nothing in the mutated RNA structure of the Omicron variant of SARS COV 2 that can speed that up.
    6. To summarize points 3-5:
      1. to be 'more contagious' could refer to having a higher viral load at peak infectiousness, due to a delayed immune system response, regardless if a person was vaccinated, infected before, or both; how & why this could be is not clear still.
      2. a 'more transmissible' virus may mean that groups of ppl with high Omicron viral load may interact and spread it unknowingly; again, not a property of a virus as such;
    7. Vaccine booster shots serve kind of like a reminder to the immune system as more permanent record of hostile agents takes a longer time, months even years.
    So, all this means that while Omicron may not be dangerous yet, but who knows what else it means.
     
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  18. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    I am not sure what kind of response (or answers?) you are looking for here, from a basic biology/physician, virologist, epidemiologist, or whose standpoint? I mean, especially now, most of all the aspects and mechanisms of viral action, infectivity, and transmission can be available with a simple web search (or even wiki dive). It's all out there, which is great; but ideally people also need to read and understand it.

    But really, I don't think any of that even matters to the average person; though I would argue the more understanding the better. The simple fact is, like the flu, this is not something we are ever going to 'kill' or eradicate completely - the best we can aim for is to immunize the population to limit its impact(s).
     
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  19. The Moog

    The Moog Die-Cast

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    Leaflet they gave me ... 'Moderna is mRNA encoding the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. The mRNA is embedded in SM-102 lipid nanoparticles'

    Nice to know. I'm quite particular about my encoding.

    I've had minimal side effects from the three jabs so far. First Astra Zeneca I had a very sore arm for a couple of days but no noticeable side effects. The second Zeneca, not even a sore arm, mainly because the Chinese woman that gave me the jab was very gentle and took her time. The third moderna, the guy practically stabbed me with the syringe (probably because I was a walk-in and they were in a hurry) but my arm didn't hurt any worse than the first jab. I did notice a very slight temperature the next day, but nothing that noticeable, and i was back to normal the next day.
     
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  20. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    Encoding means the mRNA (which is the 'payload' if you will that is translated inside of a cell) carries the specific sequence that causes the cell to produce the particular/a protein that has been selected as a key identifier of the Covid-19 virus, i.e. that which enables our body to then recognise it and develop an immune response capable of dealing with the full Covid-19 virus, if/when we encounter it.

    In simple terms, all of the main three vaccination products in the UK operate on a similar principle of giving cells genetic information to produce a part of the Covid-19 virus, to 'train' us to be able to fight it.

    Beyond that it comes down to unique sequences and delivery mechanisms, which I won't go into here (but again, largely these have been disclosed and are available to the public). [the lipid nanoparticles you mentioned, for example, are one such vehicle that allows the mRNA to enter a cell]

    And no, no one's genome is being altered.
     
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  21. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    There are obviously a veritable ton of infographics, of varying degrees of completeness/explanation, available right now, but from a very high level this pretty much captures it (the immune prep step) for the mRNA:



    AAV-based is similar, albeit with some modified steps. I think these are fairly accessible to the average person, but I probably am coming from a position that makes it more difficult to always judge, too.
     
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  22. eleggua

    eleggua Toy Prince

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    Official Skullbrain Coronavirus COVID-19 thread.
  23. eleggua

    eleggua Toy Prince

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    ^Evil twin, seperated at birth from Bill McKibben.
     
  24. eleggua

    eleggua Toy Prince

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    The gravity of flat earth belief.
     
  25. Roger

    Roger Vintage

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    I was listening to a recent interview with Nicholas Christakis and he was saying the simple question to put to anti-vaccine or vaccine hesitant folks is, "What would it take for you to change your mind about the vaccines?" If they don't have an answer, their beliefs are deeply rooted in something ideological or religious and you should just give up.
     
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