Omicron variant

Paul White9 said:Look, I’m not asking you directly to give me an answer. I am posing a hypothetical question.

"The idea that this is a milder variant is pure speculation"

"The notion that this variant is milder is nothing more than guesswork. There’s no reason to assume that's the case," noted Michael Worobey, who heads the evolutionary biology department at the University of Arizona.

Beyond that, there simply hasn't been enough time to confirm whether Omicron results in mostly mild cases. It takes anywhere from a couple of days to two weeks for symptoms to show up after exposure to the coronavirus. We haven't had sufficient time to determine how likely it is that Omicron causes severe illness, points out Dr. William Schaffner, medical director at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.

"There is a gap between hope and reality. It's fine to be hopeful, but it's too early to conclude that Omicron only leads to mild infections. We just don't have those numbers yet," Schaffner told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/news/article/...news_top

Paul White9 said:Look, I’m not asking you directly to give me an answer. I am posing a hypothetical question.

And here comes Paul White9 again.

The reality remains that current vaccines aren't nearly as effective at preventing infection or transmission as they are marketed to be—even against the existing strains, let alone Omicron.

While there are assumptions that Omicron is a milder variant, we are still waiting on the actual data.

High-quality masks should have been mandatory from the very start of this pandemic—rather than making light of vaccination or mocking our experts just because they carry a blue ID card.

That is precisely why the emphasis has shifted back to masks—they are proven to reduce the spread.

As for how harmless Omicron truly is, we shall see—though I certainly hope it turns out to be as benign as it appears.

frozenraven22 said:Exactly. We aren't any different. Pandemics have a massive seasonal component, and right now they are in the middle of summer over there—even if I can't wrap my head around how that works since the Earth is clearly a flat plane, but whatever...

But you’re missing the point—back in the day, even before COVID-19, we always had a huge surge of people coming down with respiratory viruses for about four months during the winter. Nowadays, everyone expects us to be either perfectly healthy or, if you so much as sneeze or cough, it's automatically labeled as COVID. Instead of acknowledging that all those other bugs are still circulating alongside COVID, everything just gets lumped together.

Translation: It is completely normal for a ton of people to get sick during the winter. You're going to see people sneezing and coughing around you, and only a small fraction of them actually have COVID.

Walter Anderson43 said:And here comes Paul White9 again.

The reality remains that current vaccines aren't nearly as effective at preventing infection or transmission as they are marketed to be—even against the existing strains, let alone Omicron.

While there are assumptions that Omicron is a milder variant, we are still waiting on the actual data.

High-quality masks should have been mandatory from the very start of this pandemic—rather than making light of vaccination or mocking our experts just because they carry a blue ID card.

That is precisely why the emphasis has shifted back to masks—they are proven to reduce the spread.

As for how harmless Omicron truly is, we shall see—though I certainly hope it turns out to be as benign as it appears.

It’s honestly exhausting trying to stay active in these threads. You end up dealing with these entrenched cliques that have basically claimed ownership of the discussion, and they immediately dogpile on anyone who dares to think differently or post a different perspective. Instead of actually allowing for a debate, they just launch an attack. It doesn't matter if it's me, you, or some random third party—they just come for you. That’s why I find it better to just lurk, scroll through a few threads on this sub, see what the new residents are talking about, and just move on rather than even bothering to contribute.

The Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, is out here claiming that Pfizer is totally confident their oral antiviral, Paxlovid, is going to hold its own against Omicron and pretty much any other variant that decides to show up. The whole idea is that this pill shuts down the protease enzyme, which is basically the engine the virus needs to replicate itself.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/07/pfiz...mutations.html

So, you’re looking at $700 per course of treatment just to stay ahead of the curve. The catch? You have to start taking it the second you feel even a hint of a symptom if you want to prevent complications. But here’s the kicker: you have no way of knowing if you’re going to breeze through this virus like most people, or if you’re the unlucky one who ends up in the ICU. Since you can't predict the future, you end up flushing $700 down the drain just to be safe. And it’s not just you—it’s everyone. It’s a brilliant little racket they've set up 😁

December 7 (Associated Press) - The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced on Tuesday that its antibody-based COVID-19 therapy, developed alongside its American partner Moderna, is holding its own against every single mutation found in the new Omicron variant, according to some fresh data from early-stage studies.

This info hasn't even hit a peer-reviewed medical journal yet, but Pfizer is out here claiming that sotrovimab is actually effective against all 37 mutations identified in the spike protein so far, per their official statement.

Just last week, more preclinical data suggested the drug could handle those key Omicron mutations. See, sotrovimab is basically engineered to latch onto that spike protein on the coronavirus surface, but everyone was freaking out because Omicron showed an insane number of mutations right on that specific protein.

https://www.reuters.com/business/hea...ns-2021-12-07/

Paul White9 said:So, you’re looking at $700 per course of treatment just to stay ahead of the curve. The catch? You have to start taking it the second you feel even a hint of a symptom if you want to prevent complications. But here’s the kicker: you have no way of knowing if you’re going to breeze through this virus like most people, or if you’re the unlucky one who ends up in the ICU. Since you can't predict the future, you end up flushing $700 down the drain just to be safe. And it’s not just you—it’s everyone. It’s a brilliant little racket they've set up 😁

And what's a little 700 bucks to escape that damn vaccine, you absolute nutjob! 😁

Actually, it isn't even 700; you were probably thinking of Merck's Lagevrio. This Pfizer one is "nearly 25% lower at roughly $530 per course"

Plus,

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced on Tuesday a deal to make its potential COVID-19 antiviral pill available to the poorest countries in the world.

Pfizer is going to sub-license the production of its promising Paxlovid tablet to generic drug manufacturers to supply 95 low- and middle-income countries, covering about 53 percent of the global population.
Under an agreement made with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Pfizer—which also produces one of the most widespread COVID-19 vaccines alongside the German lab Moderna
—won't be collecting royalties from generic manufacturers, which should drive the cost down. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.

The Pfizer drug has to be taken alongside the HIV medication ritonavir.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas...r-world-s-poor

Paul White9 said:So, you’re looking at $700 per course of treatment just to stay ahead of the curve. The catch? You have to start taking it the second you feel even a hint of a symptom if you want to prevent complications. But here’s the kicker: you have no way of knowing if you’re going to breeze through this virus like most people, or if you’re the unlucky one who ends up in the ICU. Since you can't predict the future, you end up flushing $700 down the drain just to be safe. And it’s not just you—it’s everyone. It’s a brilliant little racket they've set up 😁

Pfizer really nailed the business model here. A pill for COVID, Xanax, and Viagra. The holy trinity. At this rate, they won't even have to lift a finger—they've got us hooked.

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mellowskipper said:Pfizer really nailed the business model here. A pill for COVID, Xanax, and Viagra. The holy trinity. At this rate, they won't even have to lift a finger—they've got us hooked.

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And let's not forget Zoloft, arguably the most useful antidepressant out there...

Keith Martin7 said:And what's a little 700 bucks to escape that damn vaccine, you absolute nutjob! 😁

Actually, it isn't even 700; you were probably thinking of Merck's Lagevrio. This Pfizer one is "nearly 25% lower at roughly $530 per course"

Plus,

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced on Tuesday a deal to make its potential COVID-19 antiviral pill available to the poorest countries in the world.

Pfizer is going to sub-license the production of its promising Paxlovid tablet to generic drug manufacturers to supply 95 low- and middle-income countries, covering about 53 percent of the global population.
Under an agreement made with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Pfizer—which also produces one of the most widespread COVID-19 vaccines alongside the German lab Moderna
—won't be collecting royalties from generic manufacturers, which should drive the cost down. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.

The Pfizer drug has to be taken alongside the HIV medication ritonavir.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas...r-world-s-poor

So, you think $700 is worth it? If you believe the next step on the menu is being hooked up to a ventilator and facing a 50% chance of death, then sure—go ahead and hand over the cash. Be my guest.

This medication is designed so that you have to take it the second those COVID-19 symptoms pop up—sort of "preventatively"—before you even know how bad the illness is actually going to hit you. So, you get some initial symptoms, test positive on a PCR, and suddenly you're dropping $700 just to swallow five little pills. For the vast majority of people, it wouldn't even be necessary. It’s just a massive cash grab.
It’s high time we started offering lower price points—say, around $100—to developing nations. Honestly, they’d still turn a decent profit at that rate. Just look at the math: if you factor in 7 billion people catching COVID-19 once or even twice a year, those numbers add up fast. It's a win-win.

It’s just like that recent leak over in the UK regarding Pfizer—apparently, it only costs them about 76 cents to manufacture a dose, yet they’re slapping a price tag of $20 to $22 on every single one. Pfizer’s big excuse? They claim they have to recoup all those massive R&D costs and cover the heavy lifting of distribution. Sure, I get it—that makes sense in theory. But here’s the kicker: once you’ve actually accounted for those development costs, why on earth are you still charging $20 or $22 a pop? You should be dropping that price down to maybe $4 or $5 per dose. Heh... give me a break.

Linda Lee4 said:And let's not forget Zoloft, arguably the most useful antidepressant out there...

Just throw in some blood pressure meds and voilà.

Why even bother fixing the actual problem? Just pop a happy pill and drag yourself back to the office.
High blood pressure? Take a pill and go right back to crushing burgers, drinking Bud Light, and rotting in front of the TV.

Paul White9 said:Just throw in some blood pressure meds and voilà.

Why even bother fixing the actual problem? Just pop a happy pill and drag yourself back to the office.
High blood pressure? Take a pill and go right back to crushing burgers, drinking Bud Light, and rotting in front of the TV.

I don't have any beef with Prozac; I've been on it for nine months now, and it honestly pulled me out of the anxiety and panic attacks caused by this whole era of global madness.

Benzos like Valium or similar stuff are also a total godsend for someone mid-panic attack or dealing with heavy anxiety, but staying on them long-term is a fast track to addiction hell.

Obviously, none of these medications actually solve the root cause, but they buy you enough peace and quiet to actually deal with the source of the neurosis, whether you do that yourself or sit down with a therapist.

Viagra? Sure, if someone wants it and can't perform without it, why not... 😁

All I'm saying is that certain drugs make sense regardless of whether they come from Johnson & Johnson or not.

Keith Martin7 said:The Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, is out here claiming that Pfizer is totally confident their oral antiviral, Paxlovid, is going to hold its own against Omicron and pretty much any other variant that decides to show up. The whole idea is that this pill shuts down the protease enzyme, which is basically the engine the virus needs to replicate itself.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/07/pfiz...mutations.html

The truly ironic part—if you can call it that—is that this supposed breakthrough drug operates on a mechanism nearly identical to Ivermectin.
Except, if one looks at the various studies out there, Ivermectin appears to be significantly more effective...

I came across a rather thorough analysis comparing this new Pfizer drug against both Ivermectin and Remdesivir:



Everything becomes quite clear once you watch, as the gentleman explaining it does a fine job of backing his points with actual research...
It seems to me that Pfizer’s new offering is little more than a pale imitation of Ivermectin—the primary distinction being that Pfizer can actually patent their version and turn a massive profit, whereas generic Ivermectin can be produced by anyone...

A Christmas party in Seattle turned into the biggest hotspot for this new coronavirus variant in all of Europe—it’s actually the largest Omicron cluster outside of South Africa.

But instead of freaking out, health officials over there are saying this might actually be a sign that the pandemic is finally winding down.

mellowskipper said:Pfizer really nailed the business model here. A pill for COVID, Xanax, and Viagra. The holy trinity. At this rate, they won't even have to lift a finger—they've got us hooked.

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Just wait until they try to explain why none of this shows up in the stock price.

Jesse Hughes6 said:Just wait until they try to explain why none of this shows up in the stock price.

Instead of the government seizing these patents because it's clearly in the national interest—which they actually have the power to do—they just sit on their hands. Why? That’s the question.🙂

Thomas Cook said:A Christmas party in Seattle turned into the biggest hotspot for this new coronavirus variant in all of Europe—it’s actually the largest Omicron cluster outside of South Africa.

But instead of freaking out, health officials over there are saying this might actually be a sign that the pandemic is finally winding down.

A Christmas party? I mean, what is wrong with people? December barely even started.

Paul White9 said:But you’re missing the point—back in the day, even before COVID-19, we always had a huge surge of people coming down with respiratory viruses for about four months during the winter. Nowadays, everyone expects us to be either perfectly healthy or, if you so much as sneeze or cough, it's automatically labeled as COVID. Instead of acknowledging that all those other bugs are still circulating alongside COVID, everything just gets lumped together.

Translation: It is completely normal for a ton of people to get sick during the winter. You're going to see people sneezing and coughing around you, and only a small fraction of them actually have COVID.

Everything you said holds water, but I don't see how that connects to our inability to accurately gauge the danger and behavior of the Omicron variant, especially when we can't just take a direct translation of data straight from New York City.

Thomas Cook said:A Christmas party in Seattle turned into the biggest hotspot for this new coronavirus variant in all of Europe—it’s actually the largest Omicron cluster outside of South Africa.

But instead of freaking out, health officials over there are saying this might actually be a sign that the pandemic is finally winding down.

That article is super confusing, honestly. It looks like it was rushed together, and the Daily Telegraph link is stuck behind a paywall.

Anyway, I can't quite wrap my head around what the article is actually saying regarding how many people were at that club where 120 got infected, or if everyone there was vaccinated versus just having a negative test.

I guess if there were only 120 people total and EVERYONE was vaccinated and EVERYONE got sick, that would be pretty scary. Delta wasn't even close to being this contagious, it didn't bypass vaccines this much, and it mostly just caused mild symptoms in vaccinated folks.
But then again, maybe it's just bad reporting? I mean, I don't think any respiratory virus is quite infectious enough to hit 100% of everyone exposed.

So far, Omicron seems to show milder symptoms in people being hospitalized, but the wave is just starting and it's summer. They're also seeing a huge spike in reinfections among people who already had it.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world...tl-ldn-vpx.cnn

The only thing we know for sure about Omicron right now is that it basically ignores vaccines and pretty much bypasses natural immunity when it comes to catching it.
The big question, I suppose, is how much it bypasses immunity regarding actual sickness, and whether those milder symptoms come from the vaccine/previous infection or the virus itself.

The real test for Omicron will be during the winter in places with low vaccination rates, like Canada or Bulgaria. If we don't see massive hospitalizations there, then maybe we're in good shape.