WHO sees 'incredibly low' COVID, flu vaccination rates as cases surge

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

January 12, 2024

 

"LONDON/CHICAGO Jan 12 (Reuters) - Low vaccination rates against the latest versions of COVID-19 and influenza are putting pressure on healthcare systems this winter, leading public health officials told Reuters.  In the United States, several European countries, and other parts of the world, there have been reports of rising hospitalizations linked to respiratory infections in recent weeks. Death rates have also ticked up among older adults in some regions, but far below the COVID pandemic peak.

...

 

Governments have struggled to communicate the risks still posed by COVID and the benefits of vaccination since a global public health emergency was declared over in May 2023, infectious disease experts and health officials said.

 

Only 19.4% of U.S. adults have received this season’s COVID vaccine based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention’s National Immunization Survey, despite a recommendation that all adults get an updated shot to protect against serious illness. That compares roughly with 17% of adults who got the bivalent booster in the 2022-2023 season, based on actual vaccine data reported to the CDC by states."

 

(more)

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-sees-incredibly-low-covid-flu-vaccination-rates-cases-surge-2024-01-12/

 

[rabas]

Goodness, what's going on in Singapore?

 

Is this because of limited reporting (noted at top of graph) or because of something in Singapore. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, rabas said:

Goodness, what's going on in Singapore?

 

Seasonal COVID spike plus the impacts of the JN.1 variant?

 

COVID-19 cases rise in Singapore, clinics face higher than usual patient loads

The doctors are seeing cases stabilise, down by around 20% from December, according to a Channel News Asia report on Friday.

 

Jan 6, 2024

 

"Doctors in Singapore believe the latest COVID-19 wave has peaked in the country, even as some clinics still face higher than usual patient loads, and doctors are watching out for possible surges in the coming months."

 

https://www.cnbctv18.com/world/covid-19-cases-rise-in-singapore-clinics-face-higher-patient-loads-18733051.htm

 

Previously from Dec. 22:

 

"The number of new COVID-19 hospitalisations in Singapore jumped to 965 in the past week, up from 763 the previous week, with those admitted to intensive care units (ICU) going up from 23 to 32 in the same period.

 

These were the highest numbers of new weekly hospitalisations and ICU admissions for COVID-19 patients in 2023."

...

MOH's figures on Thursday also show that the average daily hospitalised cases recorded are also the highest for the year. The 560 cases are up from 350 cases the previous week and 225 the week before that.

 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid19-surge-possible-peaked-mask-mandate-one-ye-kung-moh-4007141

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Last night, I was reading several pre-print studies that show the new monovalent COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna rolled out in the West this past fall -- but apparently not yet available in Thailand -- are very effective against the new, prevailing JN.1 variant.

 

However, one of those studies also looked at the effectiveness of last year's prior bivalent COVID vaccines against JN.1 and another recent variant, and concluded that past era vaccinations at this point are providing little protection against the latest variants like JN.1.

 

A recent post by Johns Hopkins echoed that same point:

What to Know About JN.1, the Latest Omicron Variant

"The older vaccines were based on SARS-CoV-2 variants that are very different from variants circulating now. That, combined with the fact that your immunity from vaccination or infection tends to drop off over time, means that you won’t get a lot of protection from COVID-19 if you are relying on the vaccines you received nearly a year ago.

...

You really need the newest COVID-19 vaccine formulation to be protected from severe illness from JN.1 and other recent variants."

 

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/jn1-the-dominant-variant-in-the-covid-surge

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/12/2024 at 9:37 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Only 19.4% of U.S. adults have received this season’s COVID vaccine based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention’s National Immunization Survey, despite a recommendation that all adults get an updated shot to protect against serious illness. That compares roughly with 17% of adults who got the bivalent booster in the 2022-2023 season, based on actual vaccine data reported to the CDC by states."

 

(more)

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-sees-incredibly-low-covid-flu-vaccination-rates-cases-surge-2024-01-12/

 

Vax rates in the U.S. for the newer, monovalent COVID vaccines are inching upward, as per the latest survey data from the CDC:

 

"The percent of the population reporting receipt of the updated 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine is

--11.0% (95% confidence interval: 10.1-11.8) for children and

--21.5% (20.8-22.1) for adults 18+,

--including 40.9% (39.2-42.7) among adults age 65+.

 

Reported on Friday, January 19th, 2024"

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data-research/dashboard/vaccination-trends-adults.html

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Still no sign / word of the newer monovalent COVID vaccines approved last fall becoming available in Thailand.

 

Lately, the Thai government, with new COVID hospitalizations at their highest levels in about six months, have been promoting use of the older Pfizer bivalent vaccine which, for example, is no longer authorized for use in the U.S., per the U.S. FDA:

 

"September 11, 2023

 

As part of today’s actions, the bivalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use in the United States."

 

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-action-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently-circulating

 

 

[thaicurious]

There's a 7th grade picture circulating on internetz including me looking damned good haha so I've been contacted recently by a variety of old grade school friends from anti-vaxxer MAGA Republicans (who I purposely, as politely as I could, distanced myself from ever since orange escalator descent) to health-conscious Democrats (who I've remained in at least intermittent contact during this political period and thru all these many decades).

 

One thing strikes me similar in both: either a lack of good information or an over-abundance of disinformation. But the problem goes beyond this because even those I know properly informed --if just by me as I peruse medical journals for fun and regularly share that info in casual conversation--even many who vax to stay out of hospital or morgue have dropped all or most masking & social distancing safety measures.

 

I was not at all surprised that an anti-vaxxer who called still shows signs of the dementia I first noticed in him a few months or a year back (time flies when you're avoiding pandemic) which began during covid, about which earlier on he'd brought up in conversation himself but would admit only to having had "that flu" that he allowed into his body at least a few times and as to vaccines insists "I'm not putting that into my body." Again, will put virus but not vaccine in body, which is beyond bizarro to me.

 

But even a different guy who called who I always considered to have common sense, not the brightest guy but I've never heard him say anything I absolutely disagreed with, he had no idea that covid can get into the brain. Even though he knew of brain fog, he hadn't connected in his mind that with dementia which is of particular concern now in our aging. So I sent him some of the journal info and he was definitely surprised, thinking that he had been keeping himself safe enough with vaccines alone.

 

So on top of the disinformation and a lack of information (journal news is rarely mainstream headlined), there is also a fatigue in this new to us experience. School kids once got air-raid drills, fire drills, today, so sadly, they get mass shooter drills, but no one gets pandemic drill and "experience is a hard teacher".

 

Hopefully by the end of 2024 the US will have a mucosal vaccine (possibly Coviliv by Codagenix). My understanding is that China is already distributing some other intranasal (or otherwise breathed in) vaccine. I haven't seen efficacy numbers yet. My hope is that these new vaccines will further reduce risk of covid spike proteins infecting the skull meninges brain axis and then maybe I'll start to risk less masking, more socializing again with those who now risk daily long covid and voluntary dementias. What a long strange trip it's been.

 

https://molecularneurodegeneration.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13024-022-00529-9

 

"...these three studies support the notion that SARS-CoV-2 (or its shed spike protein) does not utilize the olfactory nerve to reach the brain, but rather uses a shortcut: neurons of the nervus terminalis (the little-known cranial nerve “0” [12]) which innervates the nasal cavity, and within the olfactory epithelium specifically the ACE2-expressing (and virus-accumulating) cells in Bowman glands [7] (Fig. 1). The nervus terminalis neurons have central processes that project directly to targets in the brain including the hypothalamus, bypassing the olfactory bulb. Once the hypothalamus is reached, SARS-CoV-2 can penetrate the blood-brain-barrier and can reach various neural circuits connected to the hypothalamus, including brainstem nuclei that are involved in respiration."

 

[dhupverg]

WHO, a bunch of grifters, appointed by those who like to splash around a lot of money in "global health"...

 

Asking everyone for 5% of their health budget to give these unelected appointed grifters ... is maybe not the smartest play here.

 

[ozimoron]

The updated COVID-19 vaccines administered this fall and winter were found to be 54 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infections among adults, according to an early analysis released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with researchers finding that the shot was protective against the dominant JN.1 subvariant.

 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4442819-updated-covid-19-vaccines-54-percent-effective-against-symptomatic-cases-cdc/

[dhupverg]

12 hours ago, ozimoron said:

The updated COVID-19 vaccines administered this fall and winter were found to be 54 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infections among adults, according to an early analysis released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with researchers finding that the shot was protective against the dominant JN.1 subvariant.

 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4442819-updated-covid-19-vaccines-54-percent-effective-against-symptomatic-cases-cdc/

Interestingly enough, my immune system has been 100% effective for the last 4 years against symptomatic infection.