Page 56 of 174

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 12, 2021, 9:15 pm
by RedRaider
Mark McGowan is managing WA the way he sees fit on the basis of WA health advice. I don't see what else he should do.
I did laugh at this comment though:
Mr McGowan criticised New South Wales for their approach to managing COVID-19.
"There's five states and territories doing one thing, and one state doing something different," he said.

This from the only Premier not to attend the National Cabinet meeting in the ACT in December 2020 because the SA Premier was going to attend. None of the attendees have developed Covid symptoms. McGowan felt he would have to quarantine for 2 weeks if he was in the same room as Steven Marshall. Marshall asked McGowan for the Health advice his decision was based on. I think McGowan realised his decision was not based on medical advice but he is locked in to a strategy which he is unable to bend on prior to the upcoming election. Imo he looked a goose being the only one not to attend, but if it plays well to WA voters then being 'one out' won't hurt him locally.

Dr Z, thank you for your post of 9 January about the UK strain. Outstanding information.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 7:12 am
by Azza
RedRaider wrote: January 12, 2021, 9:15 pm Mark McGowan is managing WA the way he sees fit on the basis of WA health advice. I don't see what else he should do.
Stop being a muppet is what he could do. It's tiresome.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 8:13 am
by gangrenous
Northern Raider wrote:#ASSBEST trending on Twitter.
I miss when Schifty would post stuff like this on Twitter for me. He’d get it trending in AusPol in no time.

The WA premier has come out and said that it’s all just playing semantics, so a good time to get everyone to agree on ASSBEST.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 9:35 am
by Coastalraider
WA Covid plan:

1. be the most isolated capital city on Earth
2. dont let anyone out
3. dont let anyone in, domestic or returning citizen
4. criticise other states about Covid reactions, despite never having to have dealt with it yourself.


Its the political equivalent of hiding under the stairs until its all over.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 12:47 pm
by Dr Zaius
Coastalraider wrote:WA Covid plan:

1. be the most isolated capital city on Earth
2. dont let anyone out
3. dont let anyone in, domestic or returning citizen
4. criticise other states about Covid reactions, despite never having to have dealt with it yourself.


Its the political equivalent of hiding under the stairs until its all over.
Nailed it.

It's like saying that you are the world's best driver because you have never had an accident, but you've also never backed the car out of the garage.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 1:26 pm
by Azza
Amen compadres. McGowan is only interested in winning the next election - the hell with trying to be part of Australia in any way, shape or form. He is worse than Covid-19 expert Nicholas man.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 2:09 pm
by Northern Raider
Azza wrote: January 13, 2021, 1:26 pm Amen compadres. McGowan is only interested in winning the next election - the hell with trying to be part of Australia in any way, shape or form. He is worse than Covid-19 expert Nicholas man.
I wonder if his policies have been influenced by opinion polls like the QLD Government has been.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 3:59 pm
by Azza
Northern Raider wrote: January 13, 2021, 2:09 pm
Azza wrote: January 13, 2021, 1:26 pm Amen compadres. McGowan is only interested in winning the next election - the hell with trying to be part of Australia in any way, shape or form. He is worse than Covid-19 expert Nicholas man.
I wonder if his policies have been influenced by opinion polls like the QLD Government has been.
What are Nickman's policies?

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 4:15 pm
by Northern Raider
Azza wrote: January 13, 2021, 3:59 pm
Northern Raider wrote: January 13, 2021, 2:09 pm
Azza wrote: January 13, 2021, 1:26 pm Amen compadres. McGowan is only interested in winning the next election - the hell with trying to be part of Australia in any way, shape or form. He is worse than Covid-19 expert Nicholas man.
I wonder if his policies have been influenced by opinion polls like the QLD Government has been.
What are Nickman's policies?
Usually based on the last Tweet he read.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 9:02 pm
by Dr Zaius
It's looking like a monumental **** up at the Grand Chancellor Hotel

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 13, 2021, 9:44 pm
by Northern Raider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 13, 2021, 9:02 pm It's looking like a monumental **** up at the Grand Chancellor Hotel
Except they can't work out what's gone wrong

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 4:44 am
by Coastalraider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 13, 2021, 9:02 pm It's looking like a monumental **** up at the Grand Chancellor Hotel
Fill us in Doc, the decision to relocate all current people in Grand Chancellor quarantine to multiple different hotels seems like the complete opposite of containing any potential issue, it’s seems so crazy I must be missing something. If they are forcing all current people to extend for another 14 days, why not leave them in place and evac floor 7, and let any potential seeding event burn itself out in place?

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 7:07 am
by Dr Zaius
They don't know how the second two people in quarantine got infected.

They are concerned that everyone that has quarantined there since the 30th of December have been exposed. 180 of those people are out and about in the community, all around the country.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 8:41 am
by Northern Raider
WA now have mandatory mask wearing at all airports with a $50k fine for non-compliance. That's not a typo. $50,000 (fifty thousand dollars) for not wearing a mask.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 11:11 am
by Northern Raider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 7:07 am They don't know how the second two people in quarantine got infected.

They are concerned that everyone that has quarantined there since the 30th of December have been exposed. 180 of those people are out and about in the community, all around the country.
Premier and Health Minister were dodging questions at their press conference this morning. Whenever questioned about how the breach occurred they said it was a matter being investigated by police and refused to make any other comment. That insinuates laws have been broken and not protocols.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 11:18 am
by The Nickman
The concerning thing here is that in every country I've looked at, the third wave has been BRUTAL compared to the first and second, and that includes in countries such as Germany, South Korea and Japan, all who were trekking on relatively nicely prior to the third wave.

Here's to hoping that Australia can buck the trend if and when our third wave finally arrives

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 12:09 pm
by Dr Zaius
Northern Raider wrote:
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 7:07 am They don't know how the second two people in quarantine got infected.

They are concerned that everyone that has quarantined there since the 30th of December have been exposed. 180 of those people are out and about in the community, all around the country.
Premier and Health Minister were dodging questions at their press conference this morning. Whenever questioned about how the breach occurred they said it was a matter being investigated by police and refused to make any other comment. That insinuates laws have been broken and not protocols.
Maybe. But you would think that they would record the contact details of people that have been quarantined there.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 12:21 pm
by Northern Raider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 12:09 pm
Northern Raider wrote:
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 7:07 am They don't know how the second two people in quarantine got infected.

They are concerned that everyone that has quarantined there since the 30th of December have been exposed. 180 of those people are out and about in the community, all around the country.
Premier and Health Minister were dodging questions at their press conference this morning. Whenever questioned about how the breach occurred they said it was a matter being investigated by police and refused to make any other comment. That insinuates laws have been broken and not protocols.
Maybe. But you would think that they would record the contact details of people that have been quarantined there.
Apparently there was no CCTV footage on the 7th floor where the outbreak has occurred.

It's starting to feel like they're covering up the **** ups to give them time to find a plausible scapegoat.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 2:49 pm
by Dr Zaius
Northern Raider wrote:
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 12:09 pm
Northern Raider wrote:
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 7:07 am They don't know how the second two people in quarantine got infected.

They are concerned that everyone that has quarantined there since the 30th of December have been exposed. 180 of those people are out and about in the community, all around the country.
Premier and Health Minister were dodging questions at their press conference this morning. Whenever questioned about how the breach occurred they said it was a matter being investigated by police and refused to make any other comment. That insinuates laws have been broken and not protocols.
Maybe. But you would think that they would record the contact details of people that have been quarantined there.
Apparently there was no CCTV footage on the 7th floor where the outbreak has occurred.

It's starting to feel like they're covering up the **** ups to give them time to find a plausible scapegoat.
Gladys?

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 3:07 pm
by Coastalraider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 2:49 pm
Northern Raider wrote:
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 12:09 pm
Northern Raider wrote:
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 7:07 am They don't know how the second two people in quarantine got infected.

They are concerned that everyone that has quarantined there since the 30th of December have been exposed. 180 of those people are out and about in the community, all around the country.
Premier and Health Minister were dodging questions at their press conference this morning. Whenever questioned about how the breach occurred they said it was a matter being investigated by police and refused to make any other comment. That insinuates laws have been broken and not protocols.
Maybe. But you would think that they would record the contact details of people that have been quarantined there.
Apparently there was no CCTV footage on the 7th floor where the outbreak has occurred.

It's starting to feel like they're covering up the **** ups to give them time to find a plausible scapegoat.
Gladys?
Don’t blame us mate, we’re gold standard down here....

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 3:08 pm
by Northern Raider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 2:49 pm
Northern Raider wrote:
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 12:09 pm
Northern Raider wrote:
Dr Zaius wrote: January 14, 2021, 7:07 am They don't know how the second two people in quarantine got infected.

They are concerned that everyone that has quarantined there since the 30th of December have been exposed. 180 of those people are out and about in the community, all around the country.
Premier and Health Minister were dodging questions at their press conference this morning. Whenever questioned about how the breach occurred they said it was a matter being investigated by police and refused to make any other comment. That insinuates laws have been broken and not protocols.
Maybe. But you would think that they would record the contact details of people that have been quarantined there.
Apparently there was no CCTV footage on the 7th floor where the outbreak has occurred.

It's starting to feel like they're covering up the **** ups to give them time to find a plausible scapegoat.
Gladys?
I was thinking more Joe the Camera Man

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 4:17 pm
by Azza
Can't bowl can't throw.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 14, 2021, 9:33 pm
by Sterlk
Vaccine question for the good doc:

Of the vaccines we'll be getting, Pfizer will be the effective one at 90%+, though the most effective vaccine will be used entirely on priority recipients. Joe Average will be getting AstraZenica at ~62% effectiveness.

Supposedly we need 100% take-up of a vaccine with 60% effectiveness to achieve herd immunity - which isn't going to happen - but AstraZenica is said to prevent serious cases even if it doesn't hold up well against Pfizer/Moderna in granting immunity to the recipient. Speculation that AstraZenica can be used as a 'stop gap' until we can get our hands on something en masse that's more effective.

So the question - should an individual who is vaccinated with AstraZenica expect that initial course to affect the efficacy (one way or the other) of the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer/Moderna, or should they remain as effective as stated regardless of any prior COVID-19 vaccines the patient has received?

The answer may well be "nobody knows", though I am curious.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 6:42 am
by Dr Zaius
Sterlk wrote:Vaccine question for the good doc:

Of the vaccines we'll be getting, Pfizer will be the effective one at 90%+, though the most effective vaccine will be used entirely on priority recipients. Joe Average will be getting AstraZenica at ~62% effectiveness.

Supposedly we need 100% take-up of a vaccine with 60% effectiveness to achieve herd immunity - which isn't going to happen - but AstraZenica is said to prevent serious cases even if it doesn't hold up well against Pfizer/Moderna in granting immunity to the recipient. Speculation that AstraZenica can be used as a 'stop gap' until we can get our hands on something en masse that's more effective.

So the question - should an individual who is vaccinated with AstraZenica expect that initial course to affect the efficacy (one way or the other) of the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer/Moderna, or should they remain as effective as stated regardless of any prior COVID-19 vaccines the patient has received?

The answer may well be "nobody knows", though I am curious.
I think that the first thing is that we will have much more data to decide on a dosing regimen for the AZ vaccine. There is a suggestion that giving a half dose as the initial dose, or giving the second dose at 12 instead of 4 weeks increases the efficacy to over 90%. This is one of the things that the TGA will be looking at. The benefits of the AZ vaccine are that it is cheap, can be mass produced here, and can be stored in a vaccine fridge that most GPs have.

Mixing the vaccines in theory should be fine, as they all use the spike protein as the target antigen. Those studies are yet to be done though.

We also have a contract with Novovax which is about to release Phase 3 data.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 8:44 am
by Northern Raider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 15, 2021, 6:42 am
Sterlk wrote:Vaccine question for the good doc:

Of the vaccines we'll be getting, Pfizer will be the effective one at 90%+, though the most effective vaccine will be used entirely on priority recipients. Joe Average will be getting AstraZenica at ~62% effectiveness.

Supposedly we need 100% take-up of a vaccine with 60% effectiveness to achieve herd immunity - which isn't going to happen - but AstraZenica is said to prevent serious cases even if it doesn't hold up well against Pfizer/Moderna in granting immunity to the recipient. Speculation that AstraZenica can be used as a 'stop gap' until we can get our hands on something en masse that's more effective.

So the question - should an individual who is vaccinated with AstraZenica expect that initial course to affect the efficacy (one way or the other) of the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer/Moderna, or should they remain as effective as stated regardless of any prior COVID-19 vaccines the patient has received?

The answer may well be "nobody knows", though I am curious.
I think that the first thing is that we will have much more data to decide on a dosing regimen for the AZ vaccine. There is a suggestion that giving a half dose as the initial dose, or giving the second dose at 12 instead of 4 weeks increases the efficacy to over 90%. This is one of the things that the TGA will be looking at. The benefits of the AZ vaccine are that it is cheap, can be mass produced here, and can be stored in a vaccine fridge that most GPs have.

Mixing the vaccines in theory should be fine, as they all use the spike protein as the target antigen. Those studies are yet to be done though.

We also have a contract with Novovax which is about to release Phase 3 data.
So basically the jury is still out on what's the best approach. Must admit I was surprised to hear the head of the AMA in WA say we should shelve the AZ vaccine roll out and focus on the Pfizer vac.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 8:48 am
by The Nickman
You have to keep in mind that Dr Z is in the pocket of Big Pharma here and they're holding back the cure for cancer, so everything he says you have to take with a grain of salt.

We all know it's weed, mate!

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 9:40 am
by Northern Raider
The Nickman wrote: January 15, 2021, 8:48 am You have to keep in mind that Dr Z is in the pocket of Big Pharma here and they're holding back the cure for cancer, so everything he says you have to take with a grain of salt.

We all know it's weed, mate!
Haha, I forgot about his allegiances to the Big Farmer.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 11:32 am
by Coastalraider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 15, 2021, 6:42 am
Sterlk wrote:Vaccine question for the good doc:

Of the vaccines we'll be getting, Pfizer will be the effective one at 90%+, though the most effective vaccine will be used entirely on priority recipients. Joe Average will be getting AstraZenica at ~62% effectiveness.

Supposedly we need 100% take-up of a vaccine with 60% effectiveness to achieve herd immunity - which isn't going to happen - but AstraZenica is said to prevent serious cases even if it doesn't hold up well against Pfizer/Moderna in granting immunity to the recipient. Speculation that AstraZenica can be used as a 'stop gap' until we can get our hands on something en masse that's more effective.

So the question - should an individual who is vaccinated with AstraZenica expect that initial course to affect the efficacy (one way or the other) of the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer/Moderna, or should they remain as effective as stated regardless of any prior COVID-19 vaccines the patient has received?

The answer may well be "nobody knows", though I am curious.
I think that the first thing is that we will have much more data to decide on a dosing regimen for the AZ vaccine. There is a suggestion that giving a half dose as the initial dose, or giving the second dose at 12 instead of 4 weeks increases the efficacy to over 90%. This is one of the things that the TGA will be looking at. The benefits of the AZ vaccine are that it is cheap, can be mass produced here, and can be stored in a vaccine fridge that most GPs have.

Mixing the vaccines in theory should be fine, as they all use the spike protein as the target antigen. Those studies are yet to be done though.

We also have a contract with Novovax which is about to release Phase 3 data.
Yep I’m waiting for more solid data on efficacy before forming on a complete picture. The 60% number has been pushed as gospel, but it’s appears that figure increases to 70% with second dose, so 60% isn’t a valid figure anyway. Also
Following the 1/2 initial dose outcome, that could be the big winner for us meaning phizer essentially becomes redundant due to issues with transportation requirements.

From another view, Australian statistics show that if you bundle all road deaths where the victim was NOT wearing a seatbelt, it’s estimated 60% of those lives would have been saved if they were wearing a seatbelt. Do you think anyone would argue that’s not a high eneough percentage?

I doubt it.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 11:52 am
by Northern Raider
Coastalraider wrote: January 15, 2021, 11:32 am
Dr Zaius wrote: January 15, 2021, 6:42 am
Sterlk wrote:Vaccine question for the good doc:

Of the vaccines we'll be getting, Pfizer will be the effective one at 90%+, though the most effective vaccine will be used entirely on priority recipients. Joe Average will be getting AstraZenica at ~62% effectiveness.

Supposedly we need 100% take-up of a vaccine with 60% effectiveness to achieve herd immunity - which isn't going to happen - but AstraZenica is said to prevent serious cases even if it doesn't hold up well against Pfizer/Moderna in granting immunity to the recipient. Speculation that AstraZenica can be used as a 'stop gap' until we can get our hands on something en masse that's more effective.

So the question - should an individual who is vaccinated with AstraZenica expect that initial course to affect the efficacy (one way or the other) of the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer/Moderna, or should they remain as effective as stated regardless of any prior COVID-19 vaccines the patient has received?

The answer may well be "nobody knows", though I am curious.
I think that the first thing is that we will have much more data to decide on a dosing regimen for the AZ vaccine. There is a suggestion that giving a half dose as the initial dose, or giving the second dose at 12 instead of 4 weeks increases the efficacy to over 90%. This is one of the things that the TGA will be looking at. The benefits of the AZ vaccine are that it is cheap, can be mass produced here, and can be stored in a vaccine fridge that most GPs have.

Mixing the vaccines in theory should be fine, as they all use the spike protein as the target antigen. Those studies are yet to be done though.

We also have a contract with Novovax which is about to release Phase 3 data.
Yep I’m waiting for more solid data on efficacy before forming on a complete picture. The 60% number has been pushed as gospel, but it’s appears that figure increases to 70% with second dose, so 60% isn’t a valid figure anyway. Also
Following the 1/2 initial dose outcome, that could be the big winner for us meaning phizer essentially becomes redundant due to issues with transportation requirements.

From another view, Australian statistics show that if you bundle all road deaths where the victim was NOT wearing a seatbelt, it’s estimated 60% of those lives would have been saved if they were wearing a seatbelt. Do you think anyone would argue that’s not a high eneough percentage?

I doubt it.
The argument is more about why use a vaccine with 60% success rate when there's one with 90%. If 60% was the best available nobody would be complaining. As it now appears that 60% stage 1 and up to 90% stage 2 for a relatively low cost, easily transported and stored is pretty damn good if you ask me.

Particularly if it's works better in preventing severe cases then I believe that's more important than seeking full prevention. If that rendered the virus no more dangerous than a mild flu then you wouldn't really care about containing spread.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 12:02 pm
by Coastalraider
Northern Raider wrote: January 15, 2021, 11:52 am
Coastalraider wrote: January 15, 2021, 11:32 am
Dr Zaius wrote: January 15, 2021, 6:42 am
Sterlk wrote:Vaccine question for the good doc:

Of the vaccines we'll be getting, Pfizer will be the effective one at 90%+, though the most effective vaccine will be used entirely on priority recipients. Joe Average will be getting AstraZenica at ~62% effectiveness.

Supposedly we need 100% take-up of a vaccine with 60% effectiveness to achieve herd immunity - which isn't going to happen - but AstraZenica is said to prevent serious cases even if it doesn't hold up well against Pfizer/Moderna in granting immunity to the recipient. Speculation that AstraZenica can be used as a 'stop gap' until we can get our hands on something en masse that's more effective.

So the question - should an individual who is vaccinated with AstraZenica expect that initial course to affect the efficacy (one way or the other) of the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer/Moderna, or should they remain as effective as stated regardless of any prior COVID-19 vaccines the patient has received?

The answer may well be "nobody knows", though I am curious.
I think that the first thing is that we will have much more data to decide on a dosing regimen for the AZ vaccine. There is a suggestion that giving a half dose as the initial dose, or giving the second dose at 12 instead of 4 weeks increases the efficacy to over 90%. This is one of the things that the TGA will be looking at. The benefits of the AZ vaccine are that it is cheap, can be mass produced here, and can be stored in a vaccine fridge that most GPs have.

Mixing the vaccines in theory should be fine, as they all use the spike protein as the target antigen. Those studies are yet to be done though.

We also have a contract with Novovax which is about to release Phase 3 data.
Yep I’m waiting for more solid data on efficacy before forming on a complete picture. The 60% number has been pushed as gospel, but it’s appears that figure increases to 70% with second dose, so 60% isn’t a valid figure anyway. Also
Following the 1/2 initial dose outcome, that could be the big winner for us meaning phizer essentially becomes redundant due to issues with transportation requirements.

From another view, Australian statistics show that if you bundle all road deaths where the victim was NOT wearing a seatbelt, it’s estimated 60% of those lives would have been saved if they were wearing a seatbelt. Do you think anyone would argue that’s not a high eneough percentage?

I doubt it.
The argument is more about why use a vaccine with 60% success rate when there's one with 90%. If 60% was the best available nobody would be complaining. As it now appears that 60% stage 1 and up to 90% stage 2 for a relatively low cost, easily transported and stored is pretty damn good if you ask me.

Particularly if it's works better in preventing severe cases then I believe that's more important than seeking full prevention. If that rendered the virus no more dangerous than a mild flu then you wouldn't really care about containing spread.
I think even if it does turn out to be 60-70%, it’s still a good deal.

We can have that within weeks and the bulk of population down by Christmas, or we can wait until next year and do nothing waiting for foreign countries to produce a vaccine we can’t do here, and HOPE that we actually get the deliver on schedule and it doesn’t get sent to a different country because they are worse of than us.

That’s the biggest different, 60% now, 90% next year.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 12:50 pm
by Northern Raider
Coastalraider wrote: January 15, 2021, 12:02 pm
Northern Raider wrote: January 15, 2021, 11:52 am
Coastalraider wrote: January 15, 2021, 11:32 am
Dr Zaius wrote: January 15, 2021, 6:42 am
Sterlk wrote:Vaccine question for the good doc:

Of the vaccines we'll be getting, Pfizer will be the effective one at 90%+, though the most effective vaccine will be used entirely on priority recipients. Joe Average will be getting AstraZenica at ~62% effectiveness.

Supposedly we need 100% take-up of a vaccine with 60% effectiveness to achieve herd immunity - which isn't going to happen - but AstraZenica is said to prevent serious cases even if it doesn't hold up well against Pfizer/Moderna in granting immunity to the recipient. Speculation that AstraZenica can be used as a 'stop gap' until we can get our hands on something en masse that's more effective.

So the question - should an individual who is vaccinated with AstraZenica expect that initial course to affect the efficacy (one way or the other) of the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer/Moderna, or should they remain as effective as stated regardless of any prior COVID-19 vaccines the patient has received?

The answer may well be "nobody knows", though I am curious.
I think that the first thing is that we will have much more data to decide on a dosing regimen for the AZ vaccine. There is a suggestion that giving a half dose as the initial dose, or giving the second dose at 12 instead of 4 weeks increases the efficacy to over 90%. This is one of the things that the TGA will be looking at. The benefits of the AZ vaccine are that it is cheap, can be mass produced here, and can be stored in a vaccine fridge that most GPs have.

Mixing the vaccines in theory should be fine, as they all use the spike protein as the target antigen. Those studies are yet to be done though.

We also have a contract with Novovax which is about to release Phase 3 data.
Yep I’m waiting for more solid data on efficacy before forming on a complete picture. The 60% number has been pushed as gospel, but it’s appears that figure increases to 70% with second dose, so 60% isn’t a valid figure anyway. Also
Following the 1/2 initial dose outcome, that could be the big winner for us meaning phizer essentially becomes redundant due to issues with transportation requirements.

From another view, Australian statistics show that if you bundle all road deaths where the victim was NOT wearing a seatbelt, it’s estimated 60% of those lives would have been saved if they were wearing a seatbelt. Do you think anyone would argue that’s not a high eneough percentage?

I doubt it.
The argument is more about why use a vaccine with 60% success rate when there's one with 90%. If 60% was the best available nobody would be complaining. As it now appears that 60% stage 1 and up to 90% stage 2 for a relatively low cost, easily transported and stored is pretty damn good if you ask me.

Particularly if it's works better in preventing severe cases then I believe that's more important than seeking full prevention. If that rendered the virus no more dangerous than a mild flu then you wouldn't really care about containing spread.
I think even if it does turn out to be 60-70%, it’s still a good deal.

We can have that within weeks and the bulk of population down by Christmas, or we can wait until next year and do nothing waiting for foreign countries to produce a vaccine we can’t do here, and HOPE that we actually get the deliver on schedule and it doesn’t get sent to a different country because they are worse of than us.

That’s the biggest different, 60% now, 90% next year.
Agree. That's why I was surprised to hear the head of the WA AMA publicly recommend the latter option.

If we were told back in June that there would be a vaccine with 60% efficacy available in the new year we would have been doing cartwheels.

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 1:28 pm
by Sterlk
Apparently there's some new interim results from AstraZeneca that it is 70% efficacy after one dose, rising to 80% after a second dose 12 weeks later.

So says the ABC:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-15/ ... n/13059734

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 2:05 pm
by Dr Zaius
People need to understand that the AMA is a union for doctors. They are not a specialist group or advisory board. Dr Andrew Miller has been very outspoken throughout the pandemic. He is an anaesthetist and not infectious diseases or immunologist

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 2:46 pm
by Northern Raider
Dr Zaius wrote: January 15, 2021, 2:05 pm People need to understand that the AMA is a union for doctors. They are not a specialist group or advisory board. Dr Andrew Miller has been very outspoken throughout the pandemic. He is an anaesthetist and not infectious diseases or immunologist
Does he also get better xmas gifts from Pfiser?

Re: Coronavirus

Posted: January 15, 2021, 4:09 pm
by Azza
Sterlk wrote: January 15, 2021, 1:28 pm Apparently there's some new interim results from AstraZeneca that it is 70% efficacy after one dose, rising to 80% after a second dose 12 weeks later.

So says the ABC:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-15/ ... n/13059734
Anyone can make up statistics. Forfty per cent of all people know that