131: Vaccine Side Effects

I recently read this article in Wired about the side effects of the new vaccines (thx to Sidey)

It talks about how most of the clinical trials have PR teams feeding us all the positive information and hiding the negative. The spin is covering up that there are "mild side effects" that are anything but mild.

In the Moderna trial, 1 in 5 people in the trial ended up unable to complete their activities of daily living by having a "grade 3 systemic" reaction. If you search for grade 3 systemic in FDA's guidelines here (page 4 and 5) it means: Prevents daily activity and requires medical intervention.

As Sidey wrote said,

In case it's not clear, "prevents daily activity" means disabled. It's a pretty high bar of messed up. 1 out of 5 people being unable to work/go-to-school would be a real problem. Also these were previously entirely healthy people with no pre-existing conditions of any sort.

A friend who is on permanent disability and is deeply knowledgeable of the FDA technical definitions described it this way "Grade 3 systemic is more like suddenly you have multiple sclerosis (all over body issues, multiple organs, "unexplained" and they don't really know why or what to do to fix them other than to wait)"

I can’t wait for the vaccine. I think about it every day.

I’m being led to believe the vaccine is just around the corner but it seems like these companies have some serious roadblocks ahead of them. I hope they find a way through them.

Other

Only 100 years apart but looking so similar…

Vivian Salama @vmsalama

The Dr. Fauci Of The 1918 Spanish Flu —- More than a century ago, epidemiologist Dr. Thomas Tuttle prescribed face masks and social distancing to slow the influenza pandemic. He made a lot of enemies—but it worked. @Forbes

forbes.comThe Dr. Fauci Of The 1918 Spanish FluMore than a century ago, epidemiologist Dr. Thomas Tuttle prescribed face masks and social distancing to slow the influenza pandemic. He made a lot of enemies—but it worked.

Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports

What kind of fucking Doritos do they have in Japan.

Elad Gil @eladgil

Reminder

Rex Chapman🏇🏼 @RexChapman

The force is absolutely adorable with this little one...

I could have used this dog when I was a kid:

Rex Chapman🏇🏼 @RexChapman

Check out this good boy rebounding for his hooman. Dogs, bruh...

Saving donuts is pretty a great service

Ava DuVernay @ava

I’ve watched this about nine times since I first saw it yesterday. Her last line takes me out and lifts me up. Trying to be like her today. 🍩

Corona

The number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. shot up by over 20% per week for the past month. Things are slowing down as this week, it rose by a more modest 7%. We’re leveling off, but we’re still at a super high rate of infection.

The COVID Tracking Project @COVID19Tracking

OK, well, now our daily update is published. States reported more than 70k cases for the 4th time ever. Hospitalizations are near their all-time high (with the previously noted caveats). More than 1,000 deaths were reported for the third day in a row, after 55 days sub-1,000.

That being said, the hot spots aren’t so hot and things are no longer on the rise. Texas rose 3% this week in Texas, 9% in California. Florida's was flat and Arizona saw its second straight week of improvement.

All that being said, we (the U.S.) went over 4 million cases yesterday. That’s 4 million out of 15 million in the whole world (27%).

So, let’s chill out for a while longer and bring the cases down so we can get back to some kind of normal.

It’s Friday

Folks, last day before the weekend. Leave it on the field. Sprint through the finish line

Only 64 more days to go