Vaccines appear weak at blocking Omicron infection | Reuters

Vaccines appear weak at blocking Omicron infection | Reuters: Billy Gardner and Marm Kilpatrick from the University of California, Santa Cruz developed computer models incorporating data on COVID-19 vaccines' efficacy against earlier variants and initial data on the Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech vaccine against Omicron. Their models suggest that early after two doses of an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna (MRNA.O), efficacy against symptomatic infection from Omicron is only about 30%, down from about 87% versus Delta, they reported on Sunday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. Protection against symptomatic infection is "essentially eliminated" for individuals vaccinated more than four months earlier. Boosters restore protection to about 48%, "which is similar to the protection of individuals with waned immunity against the Delta variant (43%)," Kilpatrick said.

I wish I knew something about epidemiology computer modeling.

Omicron’s Explosive Growth Is a Warning Sign

YIKES

Protection against infection after two doses is not looking very good. “Omicron was a huge jump in evolution,” says Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle. In what seems to be just a few months, the virus has changed as much as Bloom says he and many researchers expected it to change “over the span of four or five years.” In a slew of recent lab studies, the potency of antibodies that can neutralize the virus dropped anywhere from five- to sevenfold against “pseudoviruses” that have been engineered to carry Omicron’s spike mutations to 41-fold in a study with live Omicron viruses, which is the gold standard. (In the Beta and Delta variants, we saw drops of about six- and threefold compared with the original virus, respectively.) A 41-fold drop in neutralizing antibody activity after two doses does not mean a 41-fold drop in vaccine effectiveness. The real-world impact is hard to predict, but the effect is big enough that protection against infection might be quite low, says Florian Krammer, a virologist at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. “I think you’re dealing with a variant that has no problem infecting vaccinated individuals,” he says.

Covid-19 patients at this hospital are dying 'at a rate we've never seen die before' -- and it's taking a toll on health care workers

Covid-19 patients at this hospital are dying 'at a rate we've never seen die before' -- and it's taking a toll on health care workers: "I was really hoping that we'd (all) get vaccinated and things would be back to normal," said Sefton, an assistant manager at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan. But this week Michigan had more patients hospitalized for Covid-19 than ever before. Covid-19 hospitalizations jumped 88% in the past month, according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. "We have more patients than we've ever had at any point, and we're seeing more people die at a rate we've never seen die before," said Jim Dover, president and CEO of Sparrow Health System. "Since January, we've had about 289 deaths; 75% are unvaccinated people," Dover said. "And the very few (vaccinated people) who passed away all were more than 6 months out from their shot. So we've not had a single person who has had a booster shot die from Covid." Among the new Covid-19 victims, Sefton said she's noticed a disturbing trend. "We're seeing a lot of younger people. And I think that is a bit challenging," said Sefton, a 20-year nursing veteran.

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If 300 people suddenly died in a public accident it would be in the news for months.  

Testing sewage for omicron helps communities get ahead of the variant : Shots - Health News : NPR

Testing sewage for omicron helps communities get ahead of the variant : Shots - Health News : NPR

Three cheers for wastewater surveillance.  But is surveillance the right word to be using?  It's not like the poop is keeping an eye out for sneaky poop spies.

Coronavirus live updates: Omicron variant could require fourth vaccine dose - The Washington Post

Coronavirus live updates: Omicron variant could require fourth vaccine dose - The Washington Post: The new omicron variant could increase the likelihood that people will need a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose earlier than expected, executives at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Wednesday.

THIS JUST IN: PEOPLE WHO SELL BREAKFAST CEREAL CALL BREAKFAST THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY

Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta in Japan Study - Bloomberg

Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta in Japan Study - Bloomberg

“The vaccination rate was less than 30% and many people were probably naturally infected,” Nishiura said. “We need to pay close attention to future trends to see if the same thing will happen in countries where mRNA vaccines are used at a high rate.”  

Delta%20Variants%20%u2014%20More%20Science%2C%20Less%20Fiction%20%7C%20Dispatch%20%2319%20%7C%20by%20Jordan%20L.%20Shlain%20MD%20%7C%20Tincture

Delta%20Variants%20%u2014%20More%20Science%2C%20Less%20Fiction%20%7C%20Dispatch%20%2319%20%7C%20by%20Jordan%20L.%20Shlain%20MD%20%7C%20Tincture: All this to say, here we are. This pandemic is not going away and more to the Delta point, we are all likely going to get this virus. All the data shows that those that are vaccinated fare much, much better than those that are not vaccinated. The unvaccinated are gambling with their lives, even the younger ones.

I've heard a lot of people saying we're all going to get it.  I have two family members who I suspect had mild, pre-vaccine cases.  Although my son told me he had trouble breathing but didn't tell us because he didn't want to worry us, and was coughing for a week.