#new covid vaccines in india

[reasonsforhope]

India was able to save more than 3.4 million lives by undertaking a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign at an unprecedented scale, according to a Stanford University report.

The campaign also yielded a positive economic impact by preventing a loss of $18.3 billion, the working paper by Stanford University and Institute for Competitiveness titled 'Healing the Economy: Estimating the Economic Impact on India's Vaccination and Related Issues' released by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday suggested.

According to the Stanford report, the direct and total impact of vaccination varied from about $ 1.03 billion to $ 2.58 billion if minimum wages are considered within the age distribution category.

“The same, however, varied from about $3.49 billion to $ 8.7 billion if GDP per person employed (constant) is considered. The cumulative lifetime earnings of the lives saved through vaccination (in the working age group) rolled up to $ 21.5 billion. Moreover, since vaccination also saved the lives of the elderly, this indirectly helped prevent the health infrastructure from getting overwhelmed and thereby allowing for a more judicious use of the existing health infrastructure,” the report suggested.

Mandaviya said much before Covid-19 was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in January 2020, processes and structures to focus dedicatedly on various facets of the pandemic management were put in place...

The Stanford working paper refers to a Lancet modelling study which estimated that in India around 3.4 million deaths were prevented by vaccination in the year 2021, an estimate based on officially reported deaths in India.

The paper also highlighted the impact of the lockdown and referred to the health ministry’s statistical analysis that the Covid-19 tally could have reached about two lakh (0.2 million) without lockdown by April 11, 2020.

Due to lockdown measures, the actual cases only went up to about 7,500 by April 11, 2020, making a case for the lockdown stronger."

-via Times of India, 2/25/23

[dpimarketreports]

“Global Influenza Vaccines Market and Forecasts 2024 – 2032” presents an in-depth assessment of the global influenza vaccines market dynamics, opportunities, future road map, competitive landscape and discusses major trends. The report offers the most up-to-date industry data on the actual market situation and future outlook in the global influenza vaccines market. The report also provides up-to-date historical market size data for the period 2018 – 2023 and an illustrative forecast to 2032 covering key market aspects like market value, volume analysis, and trends for influenza vaccines globally.

[memyself024]

More Than Half of People in the United States Do Not Want the New Covid Vaccine: According to a Survey

[suryaprabha001]

Vaccination In Kothrud | Suryaprabha Nursing Home

If you're looking for a proper immunisation and vaccination in Kothrud, go to Suryaprabha Nursing Home.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Nasal COVID-19 vaccine halts transmission - Published July 31, 2024

Study in hamsters indicates vaccines targeting nose, mouth may be key to controlling spread of respiratory infections

A nasal COVID-19 vaccine blocks transmission of the virus, according to an animal study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings suggest that vaccines delivered directly to the nose or mouth could play a critical role in containing the spread of respiratory infections.

The lightning-fast development of COVID-19 vaccines just months after the virus appeared was a triumph of modern science and saved millions of lives. But for all the good they did in reducing illnesses and deaths, the shots were unable to end the pandemic because of one notable weakness: They couldn’t stop the spread of the virus.

A new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that next-generation vaccines that target the virus’s points of entry — the nose and mouth — may be able to do what traditional shots cannot: contain the spread of respiratory infections and prevent transmission. Using a nasal COVID-19 vaccine based on Washington University technology, approved for use in India and licensed to Ocugen for further development in the U.S., the researchers showed that vaccinated hamsters that developed infections did not pass the virus on to others, breaking the cycle of transmission. In contrast, an approved COVID-19 vaccine that is injected failed to prevent the spread of the virus.

The findings, published July 31 in Science Advances, provide further evidence that so-called mucosal vaccines sprayed into the nose or dropped into the mouth may be the key to controlling respiratory infections such as influenza and COVID-19 that continue to circulate and cause significant illness and death.

“To prevent transmission, you need to keep the amount of virus in the upper airways low,” said senior author Jacco Boon, PhD, a professor of medicine, of molecular microbiology and of pathology & immunology. “The less virus that is there to begin with, the less likely you are to infect someone else if you cough or sneeze or even just breathe on them. This study shows that mucosal vaccines are superior to injected vaccines in terms of limiting viral replication in the upper airways and preventing spread to the next individual. In an epidemic or pandemic situation, this is the kind of vaccine you’re going to want.”

Developing vaccines that can control virus levels in the nose has proven challenging. Viruses such as influenza virus, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) multiply rapidly in the nose and spread from person to person within a few days of initial exposure. Traditional injectable vaccines generate immune responses that can take a week to build to full strength and are much less potent in the nose than in the bloodstream, leaving the nose relatively unprotected against a fast-multiplying, fast-spreading virus.

In principle, a vaccine sprayed or dropped directly into the nose or mouth could limit viral reproduction and thereby reduce transmission by eliciting an immune response right where it’s needed most. But gathering evidence that mucosal vaccines actually do reduce transmission has proven tricky. Animal models of transmission are not well-established, and tracking person-to-person transmission is fiendishly complicated, given the number and variety of encounters a typical person has on any given day.

For this study, Boon and colleagues developed and validated a model for community transmission using hamsters and then used it to assess the effect of mucosal vaccination on the spread of SARS-CoV-2. (Unlike mice, hamsters are naturally susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2, making them the ideal laboratory animals for a transmission study.)

The researchers immunized groups of hamsters with laboratory versions of approved COVID-19 vaccines: the nasal iNCOVACC used in India or the injected Pfizer vaccine. For comparison, some hamsters were not immunized. After giving the vaccinated hamsters a few weeks for their immune responses to fully mature, the researchers infected other hamsters with SARS-CoV-2 and then placed the immunized hamsters with the infected hamsters for eight hours. This first step of the experiment mimics the experience of vaccinated people who are exposed to a person with COVID-19.

After spending eight hours rubbing shoulders with infected hamsters, most of the vaccinated animals became infected. Virus was found in the noses and lungs of 12 of 14 (86%) hamsters that had received the nasal vaccine, and 15 of 16 (94%) hamsters that had received the injected vaccine. Importantly, while most animals in both groups were infected, they weren’t infected to the same degree. Hamsters that had been nasally immunized had virus levels in the airways 100 to 100,000 times lower than those that had received the shot or had not been vaccinated. The study did not assess the animals’ health, but previous studies have shown that both vaccines reduce the likelihood of severe illness and death from COVID-19.

The second step of the experiment yielded even more striking results. The researchers took vaccinated hamsters that subsequently developed infections and placed them with healthy vaccinated and unvaccinated hamsters for eight hours to model transmission of virus from a vaccinated person to others.

None of the hamsters that were exposed to nasally vaccinated hamsters became infected, regardless of whether the recipient hamster had been vaccinated or not. In contrast, roughly half of the hamsters that were exposed to hamsters vaccinated by injection became infected — again, regardless of the recipient’s immunization status. In other words, vaccination through the nose — but not by injection — broke the cycle of transmission.

These data, Boon said, could be important as the world prepares for the possibility that avian influenza, currently causing an outbreak in dairy cows, might adapt to humans and trigger a flu epidemic. An injectable vaccine for avian influenza already exists, and a team of researchers at Washington University is working toward a nasal vaccine for avian influenza. That team includes Boon and co-author Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine and one of the inventors of the nasal vaccine technology used in this paper.

“Mucosal vaccines are the future of vaccines for respiratory infections,” Boon said. “Historically, developing such vaccines has been challenging. There’s still so much we don’t know about the kind of immune response we need and how to elicit it. I think we’re going to see a lot of very exciting research in the next few years that could lead to big improvements in vaccines for respiratory infections.”

Study linked in the first link!

[mariacallous]

In Liu Cixin’s science fiction novel The Dark Forest—part of the popular Three-Body Problem series recently serialized by Netflix—humanity is faced with the prospect of an alien invasion. The extraterrestrials are on their way to conquer Earth but are still light years away; humanity has hundreds of years to prepare for their hostile arrival.

Amid a need to bolster defense spending globally and, crucially, to foster innovation across the entire world, representatives of the global south make a proposal at the United Nations. Developing countries demand a universal waiver of intellectual property protections on inventions relevant to defense to enable them to develop their own technologies and contribute to planetary fortification. In Liu’s story, the global south’s call meets staunch opposition from wealthier states, which veto the proposal. Although set in an imagined future, Liu’s point resonates clearly in our own time.

The most recent parallel is the global vaccine hoarding that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the height of the emergency, rich countries bought up and hoarded COVID-19 vaccine supplies, which left many developing countries unable to obtain sufficient vaccines during 2021-22. Even when they arrived, donations of leftover doses from high-income countries were often too close to their expiration dates for developing countries to actually use them.

Global south states sought to build up their own secure vaccine production capacity but were stymied. Critically, vaccine manufacturers, such as Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, refused to share IP-protected technology with World Health Organization (WHO) initiatives, such as C-TAP and the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, that were attempting to create a network of distributed vaccine production. It is estimated that such hoarding cost more than 1 million lives in developing states.

Remarkably, the global south saw this coming. Even before a single COVID-19 vaccine had been administered, developing countries accurately anticipated that they would be left at the back of the line for supplies. Burned by the experience of HIV/AIDS medicine shortages in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the global south predicted similar inequities occurring during the COVID-19 crisis—and they tried to act to prevent this.

In October 2020, this foresight motivated developing countries, led by South Africa and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO), to propose an international waiver of IP protections—known as a TRIPS waiver—on COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and other health technologies. Much as in Liu’s story, the global north firmly rejected the proposal, leading to a delayed and watered-down WTO decision in June 2022 that I, and other academic experts, argued was too little, too late.

Crucially, we can observe the same pattern emerging yet again in the current negotiations over the WHO Pandemic Accord. Just like Liu’s vision of humanity preparing for an inevitable alien invasion but unwilling to share technologies globally, the world remains stuck in a doom loop. Another pandemic is foreseeable. A new treaty could provide a way for the international community to learn the lessons of COVID-19 and boost pandemic preparedness. Yet the world is making the same mistakes all over again.

Given the failures of the WTO process, experienced commentators such as Ellen ‘t Hoen anticipated that shifting the debate to WHO could help ensure that similar inequalities do not arise during the next pandemic. Many hoped that WHO, with its overriding focus on global health, would be a more receptive forum to the global south’s equity concerns than the WTO, which prioritizes IP via TRIPS, one of its foundational 1995 agreements.

However, thus far, the negotiations have been hampered by the same issue that blighted the WTO TRIPS waiver process: Rich states are unwilling to agree to any potential pandemic-related limitation of international IP rights or to expand IP flexibilities to include nonvoluntary options such as a mechanism for the compulsory licensing of trade secrets on pharmaceutical manufacturing processes needed for scaling up production of pandemic products.

Broadly speaking, developing countries want terms that would mandate technology transfer of key health technologies, such as vaccines, to the global south. Rich countries decry this suggestion, claiming it could undermine IP rights.

Hence, wealthy nations are balking at the use of progressive language on the compulsory use of IP in Article 11 of the draft accord. Instead, the U.S. government emphasizes supporting voluntary agreements—without acknowledging that the voluntary systems, including COVAX, failed to provide for the needs of citizens in many global south countries during the COVID-19 era.

In these negotiations, several key parties, such as the European Union and the United Kingdom, argue that a WHO treaty cannot deal with IP issues because that would equate to trespassing on rules that the WTO created. This back-and-forth between the WTO and WHO reflects an asymmetric power game that the global south is not well placed to win.

With no movement on IP, developing countries seem less willing to agree on a rare point of leverage, namely, the terms of Article 12, which addresses pathogen access and benefit-sharing. Put simply, developing countries are concerned that if they agree to terms on restriction-free sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential, without reciprocal guarantees of technology-sharing and health product distribution, they will be left at the back of the line again in the next pandemic.

Wealthy countries may be succeeding at reducing this leverage; recent news reports suggest that detailed provisions on pathogen-sharing may be shifted to a separate instrument.

It seems that for rich states, property is sacrosanct; global health is not. Yet, rather than property, it is worth recalling that patents were originally considered to be a form of state-granted privilege. In the 19th century, industrial states viewed IP not as an instrument of free trade but rather as a form of trade protectionism.

This idea of IP as protectionist privilege remains a more accurate description of what global IP law is intended to achieve. Much as in Liu’s novel, the stark reality is that there is no circumstance—not a new pandemic, not even an alien invasion—in which the global north would be willing to give up its protectionist privileges by sharing its technology with the global south.

With the WTO in decline and the WHO multilateral process in trouble, the global south may have to examine alternative options for building up pandemic preparedness. Intriguingly, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem envisages this. Unlike in the book, on TV the U.N. resolution for open technology-sharing is never even proposed.

Instead, a Mexican national who happens to be the chief scientific officer of a cutting-edge nanotech company becomes frustrated by Western corporate-military obstructionism and decides to upload all her London-based employer’s source code and trade secrets to open-source platforms with the aim of assisting developing countries to produce the technology. She even includes a downloadable guide on how to copy the functionality of the technology while avoiding IP infringement.

This fictional feint away from the multilateral forum and toward individual decision-making parallels real-world moves toward open-source biotech. This approach has been pioneered by Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi of Baylor University, who created the patent-free COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax. They successfully transferred the vaccine technology openly to producers in Botswana and India. Meanwhile, the WHO mRNA hub at Afrigen in South Africa led by Petro Terblanche is encouraging open south-south collaboration on new vaccine technologies.

If the Pandemic Accord negotiations falter before the World Health Assembly begins on May 27 or they fail to produce a just treaty, efforts such as these will take on even greater importance. An inequitable Pandemic Accord will signal that Liu was right: The global north will continue to hoard technologies even in the face of looming Armageddon, and south-south collaboration on producing health technologies may be the only way forward for enhancing global pandemic preparedness.

[darkmaga-retard]

In a recent interview with CNBC Bill Gates discussed how to handle “vaccine hesitancy” using real-time censorship imposed by artificial intelligence (AI).

The billionaire Microsoft co-founder and former jeffrey Epstein pal, said those who encourage people to avoid vaccines are “inciting violence” and are therefore a threat to public health.

He has suggested a totalitarian approach which calls for speech “boundaries” that can weed out “vaccine misinformation” in real time.

Natural News reports: Gates’ “philanthropic” organizations are heavily invested in vaccines, from the traditional antigen-based biologics to the experimental mRNA jabs, which are linked to excess mortality worldwide. He recently announced plans to turn all vaccines into mRNA and expand the realm of vaccination to include hundreds more diseases and potentially thousands more boosters. Gates’ resume includes the mass injury of teenage girls via HPV vaccine programs in India and the spread of vaccine-derived polio strains through polio vaccine campaigns in third world countries.

During the covid-19 scandal, Gates frequently appeared on the mainstream media networks, urging every person in the world to stay home, lock down and get vaccinated. He has proposed that individuals submit to his climate change proposals, too, which include: blocking out the sun using chemtrails, controlling global farming and ridding the world of cow farts, forcibly releasing millions of genetically modified mosquitoes, and getting populations to eat bugs and switch to fake meat.

[ricisidro]

CNA Explains: The FLiRT family of COVID-19 variants and what we know about the KP.2 strain - CNA

The new COVID-19 FLIRT variant KP.2 classified by WHO as Variant Under Monitoring was first detected in India in early January and accounts for 28% of infectious in the US and 67% in Singapore. It has also spread to other countries, including China, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and the UK (CNA).

[school56df]

Monkeypox Vaccine How Global Health Systems Are Responding

 Introduction

Monkeypox Vaccine , a viral zoonotic sickness that ordinarily impact animals but may be transmitted to humans has garnered international interest because of its recent outbreaks. In India, the nation of Haryana has confronted its own demanding situations related to this sickness. This articles delves into the emergence of monkeypox in Haryana, the kingdom responses to the outbreak and the results of public health and safety.

Overview of Monkeypox

It is caused by the Monkeypox Symptoms  virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus, which additionally consists of smallpox. The disease became first recognized in laboratory monkey in 1958, and the first human case became pronounced inside the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970. It is characterised by signs and symptoms similar to smallpox, although generally milder. These signs and symptoms include fever, headache, muscles aches, Backaches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion. A hallmark of the disorder is the development of a rash that progresses via extraordinary levels, subsequently forming scrabs.

The ailment is generally Monkeypox treatment transmitted to people through contact with inflamed animals, which include rodent or primates, or via direct touch with physical fluids or infected materials. Human to human transmission can occur via breathing droplets or touch with pores and skin lesions. 

Monkeypox in India and Haryana

Monkeypox virus vaccine in current years there had been sporadic instances of monkeypox said worldwide, including in diverse areas of India. Haryana, a state in northern India, has now not been proof against this worldwide fitness difficulty. The first big cases in Haryana were reported in mid-2023, marking a high-quality development in the country’s public fitness panorama.

The initial cases in Haryana raised alarms among fitness authorities due to the potential for fast spread and the results for public fitness. As monkeypox is not as well-known or as widely understood as different illnesses like COVID-19, its emergence supplied unique challenges for both healthcare vendors and the general public.

Initial Response and Measures

Upon the identification of monkeypox cases in Haryana, the state authorities, in conjunction with countrywide health agencies, carried out a sequence of measures to manipulate the spread of the sickness. 

Surveillance and Monitoring

Health authorities multiplied surveillance efforts to track the unfold of monkeypox. This involved monitoring folks who had come into touch with confirmed cases and carrying out follow-up assessments to pick out any new infections.

Public Awareness Campaigns

Recognizing the importance of public recognition, the government launched instructional campaigns to tell residents about monkeypox signs, transmission strategies, and preventive measures. This protected disseminating information thru numerous media channels 

Healthcare Preparedness:

Hospitals and healthcare centers had been ready with the important assets to address monkeypox instances. This included training healthcare workers on a way to recognize, diagnose, and deal with monkeypox, in addition to ensuring that appropriate isolation and infection manage measures have been in vicinity.

Travel and Movement Restrictions

In areas where monkeypox instances have been concentrated, localized journey and movement restrictions had been imposed to prevent in addition unfold. This was in particular relevant in densely populated urban regions in which the hazard of transmission changed into higher.

Coordination with National and International Agencies

Haryana's reaction was coordinated with national health authorities, along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and global businesses just like the World Health Organization (WHO). This ensured that the country’s moves had been aligned with broader public fitness techniques and first-rate practices.

Challenges Faced

Limited Awareness and Stigma

It  became no longer well known among the overall public, main to confusion and misinformation. Additionally, the stigma related to infectious diseases now and again impeded open discussion and well timed reporting of symptoms.

Healthcare System Strain

Managing an epidemic requires significant assets and may strain the healthcare machine. Hospitals and clinics had to balance their ordinary responsibilities with the improved demands of coping with monkeypox cases.

Public Compliance

 Ensuring public compliance with fitness advisories and restrictions become another project. Some people can also were reluctant to stick to guidelines or may had been skeptical approximately the severity of the ailment.

Data Management

Accurate information collection and management are important for powerful disease control. The want for actual-time information on case numbers, contacts, and geographic unfold offered logistical challenges.

Impact on Public Health

Increased Health Awareness

The outbreak highlighted the significance of being vigilant approximately emerging infectious illnesses. It spurred discussions on enhancing public fitness infrastructure and disorder preparedness.

Strengthened Health Policies

The experience brought about a reassessment and strengthening of health regulations and protocols associated with infectious ailment management, specifically zoonotic diseases.

Enhanced Surveillance Systems

The outbreak underscored the want for strong surveillance structures to come across and respond to comparable outbreaks within the destiny.

Community Engagement

The response efforts emphasised the position of network engagement in handling fitness crises. Educating the general public and concerning network leaders were essential additives of the reaction approach.

Preventive Measures and Future Outlook

Ongoing Education

Continuous public schooling on monkeypox and different rising illnesses is critical. Awareness campaigns ought to cope with signs, preventive practices, and the importance of looking for scientific interest.

Strengthened Surveillance

Maintaining and improving surveillance systems enables in early detection and speedy reaction to ability outbreaks.

Research and Development

 Investing in studies to higher apprehend  and expand powerful vaccines and remedies is critical for lengthy-time period prevention and manipulate.

International Collaboration

 Monkeypox prevention global collaboration is critical for coping with sicknesses that cross borders. Sharing information, sources, and information can help in efficaciously addressing outbreaks.

[broadlyepi]

MMWR Booster #7: Progress Toward Measles and Rubella Elimination — India, 2005–2021

Top 5 Takeaways

Increased Vaccine Coverage: From 2005 to 2021, coverage with the first dose of a measles-containing vaccine (MCV) increased from 68% to 89%, and the second dose from 27% to 82%.

Decline in Disease Incidence: Measles and rubella incidence decreased by 62% and 48% respectively during 2017–2021.

Implementation of National Strategies: This includes the introduction of the rubella-containing vaccine (RCV) in 2017 and large-scale supplementary immunization activities (SIAs).

Challenges During COVID-19: The pandemic led to a decrease in routine vaccination coverage and challenges in surveillance sensitivity.

Future Goals: The “Roadmap to Measles and Rubella Elimination in India by 2023” aims to intensify efforts towards eliminating these diseases with a focus on district-level implementation.

link to full summary: BroadlyEpi.com

Enjoying these summaries? Check back every day at 8am and 4pm Pacific Time (UTC - 8) for a new MMWR Booster. A reblog would also be greatly appreciated, and thanks to everyone who already has! BroadlyEpi hopes to make Epidemiology and Public Health more approachable to anyone who's interested.

[mediamonarchy]

https://mediamonarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/20240228_MorningMonarchy.mp3 Download MP3 Food costs, covert gardening and deep fried toothpicks + this day in history w/cyber lettuce and our song of the day by The Lethargics on your #MorningMonarchy for February 28, 2024. Notes/Links: Apple Kills Its Electric Car Project; The car, which Apple spent billions of dollars researching, had been intended as a rival to Tesla’s E.V.s, which include autonomous driving features. https://archive.is/7UaAG Bill Gates Partner GAVI Vaccine Alliance Targets Online Memes https://reclaimthenet.org/bill-gates-partner-gavi-vaccine-alliance-targets-online-memes How memes became health disinformation super-spreaders https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/how-memes-transformed-pics-cute-cats-health-disinformation-super-spreaders “Memes Save Lives”: Stigma and the Production of Antivaccination Memes During the COVID-19 Pandemic https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20563051231224729 Image: The guy who discovered milk trying to explain what he was doing https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/601835364159586344/1211245925352341564/image.png?ex=65ed7fac&is=65db0aac&hm=50f6ab7342ee84e85d97077cb2e0b1a1223063e1832a509998038bb2a59efcc8& Image: Bill Gates Partner GAVI Vaccine Alliance Targets Online Memes – Graffiti Version https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/601835364159586344/1211117025137524817/bill-gates-targets-memes.jpg?ex=65ed07a0&is=65da92a0&hm=9488fdf585ce8fe0fc2d67a0ea78b06f309aa5da7e85f759becaa0d037e3670b& New York Times writer says he was chided during staff orientation for liking Chick-Fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich 🤣 https://vxtwitter.com/Not_the_Bee/status/1762165629652766910 // https://notthebee.com/article/just-in-case-you-were-wondering-how-insane-the-new-york-times-is Image: @Hybrid’s Cover Art – The Spicy Scoop’s ‘Red Hot Regret’ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/983208466481029191/1212263370842050600/20240228_MorningMonarchy.jpg?ex=65f1333e&is=65debe3e&hm=f30fb9f29fb6c3326bf0950f05ad0528c7a78b48495751b4b4dd1a604203ff70& Wendy’s planning Uber-style ‘surge pricing’ where burger prices fluctuate based on demand https://nypost.com/2024/02/26/business/wendys-planning-surge-prices-based-on-fluctuating-demand/ Biden makes unexpected trip to Walter Reed for ‘physical’ as mental fitness speculation mounts https://nypost.com/2024/02/28/us-news/biden-heads-to-annual-physical-as-hunter-arrives-for-impeachment-deposition/ Farm Income Expected to Continue Steep Decline in 2024 https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/ag-business/farm-income-expected-to-continue-steep-decline-in-2024/article_bab62d90-cf5c-11ee-b20d-ab0e4a64a9c1.html Video: Farm Journal – AgDay Minute: Food costs hit 30-yr high (Audio) https://youtu.be/mvGxTT2eqlg X admits to taking down India farmers’ protest posts https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68366859 Amish farmer Amos miller update: upcoming hearing Feb 29th Lancaster co., pa https://x.com/freewill_farmer/status/1760999470387372490 #MounseyMinute: The first segment of the “Mounsey Minute” series on Media Monarchy aired recently! https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/the-first-segment-of-the-mounsey #MounseyMinute/#MorningMonarchy: January 24, 2024 – First installment of the Mounsey Minute @ 40:48 https://mediamonarchy.com/20240124morningmonarchy/ MP3: #MounseyMinute – Covert Food Gardening In the Age of Front Lawn Fanaticism (Audio) https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/597898944584089623/1212243255668768808/20240228_MounseyMinute.mp3?ex=65f12082&is=65deab82&hm=290efc2dc4904cc5cf2629ae3e58b1d45e99bcc15b002a6b8083fbb6886be7d9& #MounseyMinute: Covert Food Gardening In The Era Of The Lawn Nazis https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/covert-food-gardening-in-the-era #MounseyMinute: The Future of Food (Is Ours to Decide) https://corbettreport.com/the-future-of-food-is-ours-to-decide/ #MounseyMinute: Buy Gavin’s Book ‘Recipes For Reciprocity’ https://recipesforreciprocity.com/ Why is the ONS suddenly changing the “excess deaths” numbers? https...

[bpod-bpod]

Local Action

Vaccines are typically injected into an arm muscle, including those recently developed against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Yet coronaviruses first infect the mucous membranes in our respiratory tract, in the nose, mouth, throat and lungs. Administering vaccines intranasally, to target those frontline areas, could allow us to respond to infection faster. Nasal vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have already been developed in India and China, but researchers are now testing a new intranasal live-attenuated vaccine, containing a modified virus. Tests in hamsters found it highly effective: very few SARS-CoV-2 particles (in brown) penetrated their nasal mucous membranes after double vaccination with the intranasal vaccine (top left) or even a combination of one intranasal dose with an existing mRNA vaccine (bottom left), compared to poor results after intramuscular vaccination only (right-hand panels). Following up these encouraging results with safety and efficacy trials in humans could provide new options for future vaccination.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Image adapted from work by Geraldine Nouailles and Julia M. Adler, and colleagues

Department of Infectious Diseases, Respiratory Medicine and Critical Care, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Immunology, April 2023

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[heliosphoenix]

State of the Planet: 2023 Edition

Here we are once again. Hours to go until the new year is upon us. Even though when you read this you may very well be in the future, it's time once again to use the few hours we have left in 2023 to take a look at the state of the planet. And...what a state it is. I said last year that 2022 may have very well been the inflection point for this decade, the moment that the 2020's truly began to come into their own. I think that's held true for this year, even though it still feels like folks are trying to find their feet in some aspects. But even in all this confusion and uncertainty, there is still progress to be had. So let's take a look back at some of the good things that happened this year:

The European Parliment commited to ending the sale of petrol and diesel fueled vehicles in the EU by 2035 in an effort to push the adoption of electric vehicles.

The High Seas Treaty was signed by the member states of the UN, this treaty commits to the conservation of 30% of the world's oceans by 2030.

The ozone hole continues to shrink, projections have it on track to recover to 1980's levels by 2050.

Finland became the 31st member of NATO.

The World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 and Monkeypox are no longer a global health emergencies.

The first synthetic human embryo was created from the use of stem cells.

The African Union became the 21st permanent member of the G20 (wouldn't it be G21 now?).

Katalin Karikó & Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine for their contributions towards the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

The FDA approved of a treatment for sickle cell disease involving the use of the gene-editing technique Crispr.

Scientists announced the ability to use AI to decode people's thoughts from brain scans.

King Charles III ascended to the throne in the UK.

Pope Francis decreed that Roman Catholic priests would be allowed to bless same-sex marraiges.

Mexico decriminalized abortion at the federal level.

Despite projections of a recession, the United States economy experienced it's biggest growth since before the pandemic, adding 2.5 million jobs and inflation decreasing to 3.1%.

Spain won the Women's World Cup for the first time in a 1-0 victory over England.

SpaceX's fully stacked Starship flew twice this year, the largest rocket to ever fly (now if only they can get it to stop exploding).

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) was launched by the European Space Agency, it's expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2031.

The European Ariane 5 rocket flew its 117th and final mission.

India's Chandrayaan-3 landed at the Moon's south pole, the first spacecraft to do so.

Oppenheimer and Barbie released the same day in theaters and the internet had a lot of fun with that.

Michigan went 13-0 agian and won their third straight Big Ten championship (BEAT BAMA!)

The Pistons actually won a game before the end of the year.

Remember all that? It's okay if you didn't. But once again, this is where I'm at right now.

You are in the future. Every single word on this post is already confined to the history books. How you remember this year is ultimately up to you, but keep in mind that the reason I make these posts is a counterpoint to the many forces out there who have a lot to gain if everyone is under the impression that everything is always terrible all the time.

And that leads me to my word of the year. It's a bit unusual but I think it fits:

The word of the year is: Perception.

At our core, all of us are truth seekers. Whether it's objective truth or personal truth, we all want to find it. One of the benefits of the internet age that, in my opinion, gets taken for granted is that we now have more information available to us than at any time in human history. Our ancestors had to deal with incomplete and contradictory information, but now we can find out pretty much anything in a matter of seconds.

But with that information comes a host of issues. We unfortunately live in an age where a commitment to objective truth is being overshadowed by a desire for personal truth. We're putting less emphasis on what is true and more on what we want to be true. Unfortunately, as Carl Sagan once said, our preferences do not determine what is true.

And there are those who seek to exploit this. There are people in this world that are willing to alter your own perception on how things are. But not to benefit you, but to benefit them. They wish to take advantage of your desire for your own beliefs to be validated for time evermore and turn that against you, so that they can create a better world for themselves even at your own expense.

But you can stop them. All you have to do is be aware that perception doesn't always equal reality.

2024 will be a consequential year. For one thing, it's an election year in the United States which means the stakes are high enough as is. There will be a lot of consequential events over the next 366 days (yay for leap years!), and a lot of people that you've never met will be trying to tell you how to think and what to believe.

Remember that at the end of the day, the most important values are the ones you hold dear. Just because something gets a lot of engagement on your socials doesn't mean it's the best way to contextualize something. Don't allow your beliefs and values to be compromised for the sake of fitting in with trends or trying to cash in on some vague notion of importance; especially when there's people trying to exploit that at your expense.

The first step to healthy civic engagement is a body politic that is informed and questioning. It will do you no harm to read up on whatever topic is trending on the socials. It will only make you informed and then you will be able to decide if a position or a policy is truly the right one for you, based on what you hold to be important.

Knowledge can be scary at times. It may cause us to reevaluate our position, as well as come to realize that something we felt or believed or even wished to be true now has to be totally re-examined in a new light. But all that is what helps us grow, that's what helps us evolve and become stronger.

They used to tell us that "knowledge is power." I can tell you that knowledge only makes you better.

Remember these words as you head into the new year. Rather than wishing for your perception to be reality, base your perception on reality. And then those who thrive on the exploitation of ignorance will have no power over you.

Have a great New Year's Eve, friends. And I'll see you all in 2024.

Helios.

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not much new has changed since the last time i posted my covid charts (3wks ago?), weekly deaths in the US remain slightly elevated (closer to 4k instead of the past few months' steadily below 3k) but there is one thing i can't particularly find an explanation for

there has been a HUGE bump in doses administered globally the past couple weeks. suddenly like 300m doses were given. this isn't really attributable to any one country, the bump shows up in most of europe and east asia (and not in the US). explanation is probably rather dull, maybe just because 300m doses were produced and delivered. i haven't tried very hard to dig into vaccine production and delivery, because i know from trying to find the same info for pox vaccines, that information is often hard to find and comes down to whether producers publish a press release about it

there has also been a spike in deaths globally, predating the spike in vaccinations by a week or two (possibly related...!)

this IS attributable largely to one country... china, letting go of zero covid policy

you should all know by now i don't tolerate US imperial-conspiratorial thinking here, because 80% of americans have been conditioned to abject brainrot on the subject. i'm willing to accept this as largely factual data -- sure it's possible this includes a number of recently identified past deaths or something (US numbers have had a tendency to do the opposite, where previously identified deaths are later retracted, as was the case with about 4k deaths in massachusetts in 2020 or 2021, iirc), but given that we did hear about this in the news while it was happening, and no one in the sewer of corporate-owned US news bothered to dredge up that hypothesis, it's likelier that these are simply accurate weekly numbers. i view any covid deaths as preventable tragedies, but the suddenness and scale of deaths in china is difficult to conceptualize

this does outnumber likely number of lives saved based on WHO excess deaths report, placing china at plausibly 0.01% population loss. (chart showing totals truncated at 2m, india may have 4-7m total deaths including excess. modi's government delayed the excess deaths report by several months for this reason, if you recall. US likely approaching 2.1m)

these charts can be difficult to read even if you're familiar with excess deaths (which, again, include not just plausible undiagnosed deaths from covid, but also indirectly related deaths, i.e. from delayed healthcare during a surge). i couldn't figure out a better way to structure the charts, but think of the darker gray as a possible range (or an error bar), while excess deaths were almost certainly as high as the lighter gray sections, presuming you accept the conclusions of the report

peru continues to lead by a wide margin as percentage of population (percentage chart excludes populations smaller than 10m, otherwise very small island nations like san marino and st vincent rather dubiously show up, with high uncertainty in excess). you can see why in the totals chart (which is, for contrast, untruncated) -- peru ranks 7th in number of deaths (~500k) while ranking 44th by population

there is some additional dubiousness to my methodology here, as i only have excess death data from the 2020-2021 report. i have not tried to model 2022-2023 deaths for every country, the way i have done for the US. here are those (this is what i meant hadn't changed much). they have some additional dubiousness of their own, since i am modeling excess deaths after 2021 as my own estimate, as well as only taking one possible value, somewhere in the middle, for excess deaths

biobot now showing over 50% omicron XBB in wastewater in the US

gisaid still showing slightly less XBB (22f) and more BQ1 (22e) in genetic sequencing in the US, also a new strain (23a), each about 30%

anyway i should have been asleep hours ago bye

[theculturedmarxist]

[...]

Cases aren't the only thing dropping either — so is surveillance of the virus. We're doing less testing and less sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 genetics.

Given all this, the question begs to be asked: Are we letting our guard down while waving the Mission Accomplished flag?

When asked if there is adequate surveillance for new variants happening, Dr. Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), flatly said no.

"Current trends in reported COVID-19 cases are underestimates of the true number of global infections and reinfections as shown by prevalence surveys," Harris told Salon in an email. "This is partly due to the reduction in testing and delays in reporting in many countries. Reduction in testing means a reduction in genetic sequencing, as you need to find the virus first in order to sequence it."

"We continually call on member states to maintain strong testing and sequencing in order to identify new variants but also to understand the level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission going on in their populations," Harris continued. "This virus remains unstable — it has not settled into a predictable pattern, which means surveillance systems need to be sensitive to pick up the early signs of another surge."

XBB.1.5, nicknamed by some as "Kraken," is thus far the dominant variant for most of 2023, with estimated cases of Kraken exceeding 70 percent since the week of Feb 11. It has far eclipsed the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants. Meanwhile BA.2 and BA.5, the two variants that dominated case counts for most of 2022, have all but disappeared.

According to the latest CDC variant tracking data, the only other variants really circulating in the U.S. are XBB.1.5's offspring: XBB.1.9 and XBB.1.5.1. Meanwhile, XBB.1.16 is spreading rapidly in India and could eventually make its way to North America. Notably, XBB was first detected in Singapore before its offspring made the jump across the Pacific, though XBB.1.5 was first detected in the U.S. and likely originated in the Northeast.

All these names may sound like gobbledygook to most non-experts — and there is a reason it's so confusing. When variants of the virus mutated and evolved into new strains with significant advantages over old lineages, the WHO began giving these "variants of concern" names from the Greek alphabet. Hence, variants like delta and gamma made headlines when they emerged and began to spread — but the WHO has yet to assign any variants a new Greek name since omicron surged in late 2021. Instead, we have this alphabet soup of named variants, all of which are technically different sub-strains of omicron.

Even a minor variation in a virus' genetics can equate to a huge difference in how well immunity from vaccines and previous infections can stop them. If the virus evolves some kind of advantage — as viruses are prone to do and just as SARS-CoV-2 has done many times throughout the pandemic — another surge is not out of the question.

In mid-March, the WHO updated their definition of what makes COVID variants threatening and currently classifies XBB.1.5 as a "variant of interest," which means it is seen as less threatening than previous variants of concern.

Nonetheless, some virologists have argued that XBB and its close relatives are so genetically different from the very first strain of SARS-CoV-2 that it should technically be renamed a new virus, SARS-CoV-3.

"XBB.1.5 does show a growth advantage and a higher immune escape capacity, but evidence from multiple countries does not suggest that XBB and XBB.1.5 are associated with increased severity or mortality," Harris said. "In countries where the variant has driven an increase in cases, the waves are significantly smaller in scale compared to previous waves."

That's good news, but as the virus bounces between hemispheres, it may gain new mutations that allow it to infect more effectively or evade immunity. Some of our treatments, but not all, have stopped working against XBB strains. Monoclonal antibodies don't stop it, but antiviral drugs like Paxlovid and bivalent booster vaccines are still very effective.

But the combined lack of public interest in the pandemic, exemplified in victory marches from political leadership, has led to a shrinking pool of data on COVID as there is less funding afforded to tracking and research. As we've seen in previous surges, the situation can change without warning. The situation is made worse by wild animals that harbor COVID, a viral reservoir that could spill back to humanity if given the opportunity.

"The level of genomic surveillance has been dropping off, and there are also indications that funding for wastewater monitoring will be ending in some places," Dr. T. Ryan Gregory, an evolutionary and genome biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada, told Salon in an email. "We have far less information than we used to, which hampers the ability to detect and track new variants. It's also worth noting that India and China include about one-third of the world's population, and we have very little information on variants there."

While overall trends are down, many people would be especially vulnerable to a COVID infection right now, according to Dr. Rajendram Rajnarayanan, an assistant dean of research and associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology campus in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

"Very few of us have had the bivalent booster, so in terms of protection, we are kind of vulnerable," Rajnarayanan told Salon. He noted that COVID is still a serious, life-threatening disease for immunocompromised people and those over 70. Most people who got bivalent booster shots — if they did so at all — received the jab in the fall. By now, that immunity has likely waned and there hasn't been much communication about when or if a new booster will come out later this year. According to NPR, the Food and Drug Administration has said it will allow some people over the age of 65 to get a second bivalent booster, but it hasn't been officially announced yet.

So while infections are trending downward, immunity is as well. In the past, major gaps in immunity have been followed by major surges, such as with delta and omicron.

"When there is a big pause, and some new variant comes, we are not really protected. But when there are repeated waves, the previous wave usually protects the next wave." Rajnarayanan said. "Every time the variant goes down, something goes up later on. Just the gap between the two peaks has changed."

Despite the unpredictability of SARS-CoV-2, the strategy for fighting it hasn't changed. Masking in public, improving indoor ventilation, testing when appropriate, staying home when sick and keeping up with vaccines when possible are good strategies for keeping the virus at bay. But overall, it's not enough to say the emergency is over. We need to be strategic and keep a close eye on the evolution of COVID as well.

"People have changed, our approaches have changed, and we don't need any modern approaches to defeat this virus," Rajnarayanan said. "We know how to do this . . .  we have to do it collectively. That's all there is to it."