MA shut down well into June???.....Wife’s work says so.

[MaverickNH]

It’s called a flu shot not a flu vaccine...I don’t know why this is being questioned???

I see you’re point - calling it a “Flu Shot” reminds people it’s not a one-and-done thing. But it is an “immunization” that works by amping up your immune system to target the seasonal strain variant(s) that are constantly changing. The “H” and “N” variations make the virus bind to different cells (upper, mid, lower respiratory) More of less efficiently and be able to multiply and flood out of cells to infect new cells more or less efficiently. As there are gazillions of viruses and billions of hosts (birds, pigs, humans) to bounce around in, the HN variants evolve constantly. So the composition of the shot has to be changed constantly. It’s a lot like weather forecasting but way far in advance, so the accuracy isn’t so great. Some viruses don’t vary in ways that can evade our immune system, so those vaccines last as long as our body remembers to make antibodies.

So yeah, we say something works when we’re sick “like a shot in the arm” as a quick but short-term fix. Like the Flue Shot.

 

[Vermonster]

It’s called a flu shot not a flu vaccine...I don’t know why this is being questioned???..I know there are other methods of targeting a specific seasonal flu strains like Tamiflu but I laugh at people holding there breath for a vaccine, ain’t happening and of course this thing is going to mutate if not already. Hopefully this Remvisidir shows long term promise for the really sick. Now, for the unhealthy ppl out there who chose a life of bad choices, it’s time to get healthy!!!!!! When this respiratory illness grabs a hold of him it’s not even Covid19 that’s killing them it’s the blood clots in all the other organs. A lot off doctors not on mainstream media (including fox) are not talking about this. Covid 19 could be a blood clot issue more than a respiratory one.

Your characterization of a vaccine is completely wrong.
A vaccine is a drug that trains the immune system to recognize and destroy harmful substances. Historically these are biological preparations that provide active, acquired immunity to one or more infectious diseases. Over time we have developed therapeutic vaccines that train the immune system to fight against non-infectious abnormal cells, like cancer. It does not matter whether the vaccine is given in a "shot" (by injection either just under the skin or into the muscle) or by some other route like oral or in the nose. Both injectable (example, "Fluzone Quadrivalent (Influenza Vaccine) Suspension for Intramuscular Injection") and intranasal (example, "Fluzone Quadrivalent (Influenza Vaccine) Suspension for Intramuscular Injection") flu vaccines are in wide use today.
Since we already have vaccines for other coronaviruses in veterinary medicine (yes, admittedly enteric not respiratory), I put the likelihood of an approved vaccine at greater than 0. I've spent the last 3 weeks working for a client trying to predict future therapeutic success. Most experts believe there is a greater chance of a pre/post exposure prophylaxis (like for AIDS) or vaccine product than there is for something to work for the "really sick". Multiple initial trials of Remdesivir have reported no mortality benefit in the severely ill. Maybe later trials in less severely ill will show some benefit; but in when all is said and done I am betting most experts find it performs much like Tamiflu (very modest benefit and only if started early in the course of disease).

And it is the virus (SARS-CoV-2) that's killing people. Certainly blood clots may play a role in some, but the majority of hospitalized deaths have a viral pneumonia with diffuse alveolar damage fairly consistent with acute respiratory distress syndrome. The rate of blood clots does appear elevated (perhaps 2x over other ICU patients), but is still <50%.

 

[wahsben]

Might there be financial interest in labeling deaths as Covid?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHREpsETpTM

 

[SgtHal75]

Your characterization of a vaccine is completely wrong.
A vaccine is a drug that trains the immune system to recognize and destroy harmful substances. Historically these are biological preparations that provide active, acquired immunity to one or more infectious diseases. Over time we have developed therapeutic vaccines that train the immune system to fight against non-infectious abnormal cells, like cancer. It does not matter whether the vaccine is given in a "shot" (by injection either just under the skin or into the muscle) or by some other route like oral or in the nose. Both injectable (example, "Fluzone Quadrivalent (Influenza Vaccine) Suspension for Intramuscular Injection") and intranasal (example, "Fluzone Quadrivalent (Influenza Vaccine) Suspension for Intramuscular Injection") flu vaccines are in wide use today.
Since we already have vaccines for other coronaviruses in veterinary medicine (yes, admittedly enteric not respiratory), I put the likelihood of an approved vaccine at greater than 0. I've spent the last 3 weeks working for a client trying to predict future therapeutic success. Most experts believe there is a greater chance of a pre/post exposure prophylaxis (like for AIDS) or vaccine product than there is for something to work for the "really sick". Multiple initial trials of Remdesivir have reported no mortality benefit in the severely ill. Maybe later trials in less severely ill will show some benefit; but in when all is said and done I am betting most experts find it performs much like Tamiflu (very modest benefit and only if started early in the course of disease).

And it is the virus (SARS-CoV-2) that's killing people. Certainly blood clots may play a role in some, but the majority of hospitalized deaths have a viral pneumonia with diffuse alveolar damage fairly consistent with acute respiratory distress syndrome. The rate of blood clots does appear elevated (perhaps 2x over other ICU patients), but is still <50%.

Ok, so it’s perfectly fine to say the seasonal flu shot is a vaccine?????????????

 

[kevin9]

Ok, so it’s perfectly fine to say the seasonal flu shot is a vaccine?????????????

Yep. It's just not a permanent vaccine, which is the real point WRT COVID-19.

 

[SgtHal75]

Yep. It's just not a permanent vaccine, which is the real point WRT COVID-19.

Tracking! To this very simple crayon eater a vaccine used to be permanent, lol!!!!!!!!

 

[JNewell]

Except the data is incorrect and makes assumptions. Total infected cannot be quantified without testing 100% of the population for infection or antibodies. Additionally if only 10K die as projected, that is a VERY low percentage of the population of 6.9M. Which, I will point out, they even have the population #'s wrong....

I believe it's fair to say that the data are so bad, and so geographically uneven from state to state and even city to city, that it's really hard to feel like any predictions about the course or impact of this thing are very reliable.

 

[JNewell]

Yep. It's just not a permanent vaccine, which is the real point WRT COVID-19.

Tracking! To this very simple crayon eater a vaccine used to be permanent, lol!!!!!!!!

Here's an interesting bit of speculation from the newspaper we most love to hate. Bold added for emphasis. And a for SgtHal because the author uses the phrase "flu shots."

Researchers are racing to develop a vaccine, but a scientist in one of the leading teams said its protection may not last long, and it may have to be readministered every year the way flu shots are.

Sir John Bell, the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, said on the NBC program “Meet the Press” that while the coronavirus “doesn’t mutate at the pace of flu as far as we can see, it’s also quite a tricky virus in terms of generating longstanding immune responses to it.”

 

[SgtHal75]

Here's an interesting bit of speculation from the newspaper we most love to hate. Bold added for emphasis. And a for SgtHal because the author uses the phrase "flu shots."

So all the tin foil hat wearing ppl who never get flu shots are right! This is just another tracking scheme! Lol!

 

[Climbnsink]

Anti-vaxxers have valid concerns with traditional vaccines. What they are scheming to do with wuhanflu is way worse. I'm not worried about it, enough of us are onto to it so we won't be forced to do anything. The rest of you get to choose for yourselves. And they are going to try and make you beg for it.

 

[garandman]

EXACTLY!
////Also known as reading between the lines.....

Also known as "Anecdotal." Not math.

 

[garandman]

Going to get an antibody test tomorrow. Have to pay for it.

So all the tin foil hat wearing ppl who never get flu shots are right! This is just another tracking scheme! Lol!

 

[Buck F]

Ok, so it’s perfectly fine to say the seasonal flu shot is a vaccine?????????????

Yup, that’s exactly what it is.

 

[Mass-diver]

@Mass-diver since I've been riding my vitamin D hobbyhorse pretty hard: is anyone surveilling for D deficiency in patients?

I’m a big vitamin d guy and have been taking high dose for a while. I once asked my pcp to check my levels and she said every person she had ever tested in New England came back low. Lol

I don’t know if they are looking at in COVID patients, but there’s a whole theory with vitamin D and influenza.

 

[Laura]

When is the Mass Gov page to be updated to clarify if everyone is going back to work on the 18th or if it's being delayed till the end of June?

 

[n1oty]

I’m a big vitamin d guy and have been taking high dose for a while. I once asked my pcp to check my levels and she said every person she had ever tested in New England came back low. Lol

I don’t know if they are looking at in COVID patients, but there’s a whole theory with vitamin D and influenza.

Back in 2014, my Oncologist at Dana Farber put me on over-the-counter D3 supplements once a day. She said something about medical research showing longer life expectancy for colon cancer survivors. I have noticed that it seems to have boosted my immune system across the board and I very rarely get sick. Coincidence?? Good luck?? I don't know, but I keep following her advice.

 

[JNewell]

I’m a big vitamin d guy and have been taking high dose for a while. I once asked my pcp to check my levels and she said every person she had ever tested in New England came back low. Lol

I don’t know if they are looking at in COVID patients, but there’s a whole theory with vitamin D and influenza.

How high? I take 5000 IUs but have had the general impression that that's sort of the max?

 

[Mass-diver]

How high? I take 5000 IUs but have had the general impression that that's sort of the max?

I don’t recommend this, but during the winter I take 50k IUs 3 times a week.

 

[napoleon1815]

I don’t recommend this, but during the winter I take 50k IUs 3 times a week.

Wow! Impressive amount.

 

[Emacs]

I don’t recommend this, but during the winter I take 50k IUs 3 times a week.

Honest question... why? I'm on 2000 IUs based on my doctor's suggestion. What's the reasoning behind the megadose?

 

[Individualist]

How high? I take 5000 IUs but have had the general impression that that's sort of the max?

Studies I recall said there was no difference in effectiveness from a moderate 1000-2000 iu dose vs anything higher. What was important was the build up over time (1-2 months). Meaning don’t expect a benefit mega dosing when you get sick.

 

[Mass-diver]

Wow! Impressive amount.

A lot of docs will write people for that amount JD they come back low. I’ve only had 5 kidney stones so that’s good (j/k). Been doing it for years, YMMV. (They sell 10k pills)

 

[Mass-diver]

Studies I recall said there was no difference in effectiveness from a moderate 1000-2000 iu dose vs anything higher. What was important was the build up over time (1-2 months). Meaning don’t expect a benefit mega dosing when you get sick.

LARGE, SINGLE-DOSE, ORAL VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTATION IN ADULT POPULATIONS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Daily vitamin D supplementation is often inadequate in treating vitamin D deficiency due to poor compliance. A single, large dose of vitamin D given at timed intervals may be an alternative strategy.We conducted a systematic literature review to investigate ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[JRLB]

I’m a big vitamin d guy and have been taking high dose for a while. I once asked my pcp to check my levels and she said every person she had ever tested in New England came back low. Lol

I don’t know if they are looking at in COVID patients, but there’s a whole theory with vitamin D and influenza.

I had routine bloodwork done a few years ago. My PCP called me a day later and was like your Vitamin D is too low. He put me on 50000 IU a day for a week and then 2000 IU a day for a month.

 

[boilermaker]

I don’t recommend this, but during the winter I take 50k IUs 3 times a week.

What does your blood work look like in regards to vitamin D, I recall my Dr. saying a reading of over 50 could generate side effects and issues.

 

[Mass-diver]

Had it checked once and it was in the low 30s.

I will say some of the older pro-vit d stuff is being called into a question, certainly there is a latitude effect for most cancers (way less people get colon, breast and prostate cancers as you get closer to the equator). But now some folks think high vitamin d is just a marker (not the reason) for whatever is really going on. *shrug* no one knows

 

[Coyote33]

Valsartan and Amlodipine. Haven't touched either in weeks. Also asthma, allergies, and Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. So I'm definitely High Risk.
I still will not stand idly by and watch these idiots destroy the country.

Why haven't you "touched either in weeks"? Is your blood pressure improved? I also take Allegra, usually a half a day.

You don’t get a vaccine every year from the flu, you get a flu shot which is a treatment. Why would you get a vaccine every year doesn’t make any sense?..If there was a vaccine for the flu no one would get sick ever.

Yep. It's just not a permanent vaccine, which is the real point WRT COVID-19.

So is it or isn't it a vaccine?

Why wouldn't this approach work for the corona virus?

So all the tin foil hat wearing ppl who never get flu shots are right! This is just another tracking scheme! Lol!

Tracking what?

I don’t recommend this, but during the winter I take 50k IUs 3 times a week.

I have vitamin D3, 50mcg per pill. I'll take one of these every day or every other day if I forget (often). Not sure what these numbers mean.

 

[drgrant]

I’m a big vitamin d guy and have been taking high dose for a while. I once asked my pcp to check my levels and she said every person she had ever tested in New England came back low. Lol

I don’t know if they are looking at in COVID patients, but there’s a whole theory with vitamin D and influenza.

Does it have anything to do with the fact that the weather is absolute shit in this state (hell, most of new england) like 250 out of 365 days a year? lmao... even in the summer there is usually garbage in the sky blocking the effing sun.

-Mike

 

[Broc]

Does it have anything to do with the fact that the weather is absolute shit in this state (hell, most of new england) like 250 out of 365 days a year? lmao... even in the summer there is usually garbage in the sky blocking the effing sun.

-Mike

Yes. People up north tend to have low vitamin D due to staying indoors half the year and if you are outside your entire body is covered. Could be worse we could be in Canada or MN and be cold for like 9 months.

I take vitamin D every day during winter. Vitamin D is good all around. The pills usually come in packs of like 500-700 pills, so one small box can last you a couple of years for like $12.

 

[kevin9]

So is it or isn't it a vaccine?

Why wouldn't this approach work for the corona virus?

As I understand it, the flu shot is technically considered a vaccine, but not a permanent vaccine. It only confers immunity for a limited period of time.
I suspect given corona virus's similarity to the flu and common cold it's more likely any vaccine for COVID-19 will resemble the flu vaccine than polio, or smallpox, or any of the more permanent vaccines.