My daughter had chest pains. She rang the help line and was told to go immediately to hospital. There was a two hour wait. She waited exactly two hours then came home without being seen. She says the pain is less and she seems in good spirits. She's intending to have the second dose. I'll just have to put my worries about the future to the back of my mind.
This is the daughter we almost lost in 2012. Through various drugs over the years, the autoimmune disease has been wrestled into an uneasy truce. It's finally stable. I recall her doctor once said, "If something is working, do not change a thing". We never had a vaccine with this technology before. I was concerned about upsetting the balance. I suggested my daughter ask her doctor's advice. She dismissed the idea, said he'd be OK with it.
Things are happening very fast and risk/benefit changes. It's not just waning efficacy of vaccines but AZ boss himself saying herd immunity is now impossible with Delta. Haematologist Dr Vinay Prasad is concerned about antibody titers in solid organ transplant patients or those who are immune suppressed. If there are lower antibody titers from the vaccine, would people like my daughter be at greater or lesser risk of ADE if it turns out to be not a theoretical concern?
I'd appreciate reassurance on this.
The following question was asked by KateM on a blog. It relates to something Dr Fauci said at a press conference about covid vaccines. Does the poster have a point? Can any experts answer it?
"In Derek’s blog article he states, “animal studies (both rodents and primates) are specifically designed to look for such effects, and if ADE is seen, well, it’s back to the drawing board.” Was the Pfizer animal study design adequate enough to look for these effects? Can someone please explain how Pfizer can rule out ADE involvement when the same amino acid sequence was used in the test product as well as the repeat-dose product"
I wasn't speaking against vaccines. The point I was making was that all of the risk/benefit analysis I spent months on (looking at all the pros and cons) was a total waste of time because in truth there is no choice. It's one size fits all.
This began in Israel with the coercion of the population through the introduction of the Green Pass. "Fully vaccinated" was two doses but now it's three. What happens to those who refuse a third dose? Will they be considered anti-vaxxers? There are demonstrations against the PassSanitaire in France and covid vaccine mandates in the US.
Harvard professor of medicine and epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff says that, in his view, the introduction of vaccine mandates has done more damage to confidence in vaccines than anti-vaxxers have done in two decades.
Dr Christina Parks gives evidence against Covid vaccine mandates (YT link below.) She says you cannot mandate a vaccine that does not, and was never designed to, prevent transmission. She cites the CDC's own study in a Mass Covid outbreak.
There will also be health care workers who cared for patients with Covid throughout the pandemic, caught it and recovered. Under a vaccine mandate they'll be functionally no different to an unvaccinated worker. Prof Kulldorff says it's unscientific to deny natural immunity and there are studies specifically on covid (Cleveland, Israeli) that support this.
We know from Sars1 and MERS that people who recovered had long lasting broad immunity shown by CD4 and CD8 levels. Where are the large studies on these levels post vaccination? I could only find a couple of small ones.
I don't know how many, but I've listened to doctors nurses saying they'll quit if they're forced to undergo a medical procedure against their will. That means that if ADE turns out to be not a theoretical phenomenon, there could be full ICUs and staff shortages this autumn/winter.
(20min delay)