CalMatters
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By Lynn La, CalMatters
But NB.1.8.1 is more infectious: The strain has been spreading throughout Asia and Europe, and is responsible for the latest surge of infections in China. In addition to California, it has been reported in international visitors traveling through airports in Washington, New York and Virginia. Separate from airport travelers, the variant has also been reported in Ohio, Rhode Island and Hawaii.
Amid news of this latest strain, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it will limit COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to people ages 65 and older, and people who are at high risk for severe infections. In an article published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine, FDA officials said that “the benefit of repeat dosing — particularly among low-risk persons … is uncertain.”
Historically the vaccine has been available to almost all people ages 6 months and older, and the new policy means that the FDA is no longer recommending the vaccine to healthy children and pregnant women. The FDA is led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has had a history of spreading widely debunked anti-vaccination views.
The FDA’s rule change comes two months after the California Department of Public Health said that President Donald Trump’s administration terminated more than $700 million in public health grants related to COVID-19 response.
Though there is no longer a pandemic, infections do tend to spike during the summer, with California seeing some of its highest surges last summer. More than 101,000 Californians have died from COVID-19 and more than 1 million Americans have died — exceeding by a wide margin American service member casualties in every war combined.
MAHA: Make America Hellish Again.
Guess what, COVID variants will be around forever, just as any other Coronavirus virus – ie, cause of most common colds. Looks like the FDA has pulled way back on their vaccination recommendations – thankfully they learned something after their massive over-vaccination “strategy” the last time around.
So Doc, are you saying vaccinations for pregnant women are not a good thing? How about for adults? Kids?
This is a perfect example of people trying to carry out Trmp’s plans and being completely stupid about it. Without FDA recommendation, many health insurers will not pay for it, and that will make it unavailable to families without the means to pay for it. (And if you think your health insurance will cost less as a result you are delusional) So healthy children in those families will not get vaccinated, but many of those families include older people or people who are not healthy and at much higher risk. Too bad, says FDA.
We as a country gain absolutely nothing from this change; the ONLY effect will be more cases of COVID. We can thank the “massive over-vaccination strategy” for the amount of population immunity we do have, but will it be enough? No, not for some people who are put at higher risk immediately, nor will it protect against the roughly 10% of the population -and so far we have no idea who will that be- that will develop long covid symptoms, or more serious neurological, cardiovascular, or respiratory problems. And for what gain? “Owning libs”? I have two words for that but my comment would be deleted if I used them.
KIRK – great demonstration of the importance of critical thinking and understanding issues. That’s something that people like BASIC here lack. The selfish and myopic policies like this have consequences for us all.
As with so many of Trumps damaging policies, why? He’s not making America “great,” he’s making us sicker, poorer, more discriminatory and less safe and secure. All just to “own the libs.”
Now, I’ll take that back if anyone can explain how Americans are better off with a policy like this.
Corona viruses do not cause most common colds. Just another example of armchair Dok.
Refresher course for armchair Doks:
https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/facts-about-the-common-cold
I can admit when I’ve been schooled!
“HCoVs” = human corona viruses”
Epidemiology
HCoVs are estimated to cause between 15–30% of common colds in adults.1,2 HCoVs are usually spread via respiratory droplets and contact routes.10 They are typically associated with upper respiratory tract infections but can also cause lower respiratory tract infections and pneumonia.1,3 HCoVs infect all ages and generally peak in the winter months in temperate climates.1,2 It is estimated that HCoVs cause epidemics every 2 to 3 years.1
The most common HCoV strain is HCoV-229E, which was discovered in 1966. It is found globally, peaks in winter months, and can infect all ages.1,2 HCoV-OC43 also peaks in the winter and is found globally.1 HCoVNL63 was first discovered in 2004 and HCoV-HKU1 in 2005; both are found across the world.1,5 HCoV-NL63 is responsible for about 5% of common colds. It primarily infects children less than five years old but can infect all ages.1 Most infections occur in the summer and fall rather than the winter.1 Likewise, HCoV-HKU1 typically occurs in children under five years, though it can also infect adults.3 HCoV-HKU1’s seasonality is less studied but has been found to be most prevalent in hospitalized patients in the spring and summer months.5
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8356622/#:~:text=HCoVs%20are%20estimated%20to%20cause,of%20common%20colds%20in%20adults.&text=HCoVs%20are%20usually%20spread%20via%20respiratory%20droplets%20and%20contact%20routes.&text=They%20are%20typically%20associated%20with,respiratory%20tract%20infections%20and%20pneumonia.
Rhinovirus, the cause of the common cold, is not a corona virus. I just looked it up to verify.
Although I just found this. Sorry. I also posted before I saw others had jumped on your assertion.
“There are a number of viruses that can potentially cause the common cold, including rhinoviruses, enteroviruses, coronaviruses, and human metapneumovirus.”
Rhinoviruses *are* the most common cause of the common cold.
There is so much wrong here, one error being minor (but typical) and the rest major (and also typical), with one small nugget of truth … that being that there are (4 strains of) coronaviruses that cause common colds. The minor error is the claim that the chief prevaricator and troll here reached in and plucked from his nether orifice — that they cause *most* common colds; as others noted, that’s not true (oh what a surprise).
But here is the huge major error that those folks missed, and that is sneakily only implicit in a retired radiologist’s tossed off comment: *not all coronaviruses are alike*. Specifically, Sars-CoV-2 viruses–the ones that cause COVID-19, a much more serious disease than the common cold–are quite unlike the ones that cause the common cold, and the difference is why they caused a deadly pandemic that killed 7 million people worldwide and continue to kill 300 per week in the U.S. The major difference, the mutation that caused a pandemic, is the *furin cleavage site* (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7457603/). Ignoring this difference and casually implying that COVID variants are just like those that cause common colds is … despicable (what Hannah Arendt referred to as “the banality of evil”).
Of course the other major errors are contained in this ridiculous nonsense: “thankfully [the FDA] learned something after their massive over-vaccination “strategy” the last time around” — it’s as if the prevaricator were completely unaware of the existence of RFK Jr. and that he was not running the FDA “the last time around”. The change in policy of course has nothing to do with anything the FDA learned, and everything to do with fact that RFK Jr. is now running it. And was there a “massive over-vaccination”? No, of course not–that is pure anti-vaxxer bollocks. And does this rule change limiting the eligibility of people to get the vaccine have anything to do with “massive over-vaccination”? No, of course not … with no mandates, no screenings, no pandemic, very little social coercion, the rate of voluntary vaccination among those under 65 is already pretty low–but now will be virtually zero, forbidden by those who proclaim themselves the champions of freedom (freedom to be a bigot, a grifter, a felon, a liar, a destroyer of institutions and livelihoods and science …)
The evildoers may be banal, but the consequences are not.