The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 282 (782)

Covid has at last hit close to home. Son #2 emailed last night to say he and his partner would not be coming Saturday for a Mother's Day eve dinner as she contracted covid either at work or at a jiu jitsu tournament she attended. He's so far testing negative, but they're taking no chances, which I greatly appreciate. They're both vaccinated and as boostered as 30-somethings can be, so fingers crossed her case is asymptomatic or otherwise mild. It had to happen sooner or later. 

The FDA is putting limits on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Only people ages 18 or older and otherwise unable to get vaccinated will be allowed to get it. "Otherwise unable to get vaccinated" includes things such as being allergic to some component of the two mRNA vaccines. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine raises the risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, a dangerous clotting condition, after getting vaccinated. 

An article in Nature reports that infection with Omicron BA.1 gives unvaccinated people narrow immunity to future BA.1 infections. For vaccinated people, it provides cross-immunity to Delta and other variants. I'm assuming that the researchers did whatever was needed to rule out that the vaccinated people already had the cross-immunity so as to ensure that it was coming from the infection. At least if it's been published in Nature, they should have.

Also just out is a piece in the Lancet on the phase coming after covid-19, advising that it would be a "grave mistake" to forget about certain characteristics of this pandemic. First, the situation is by no means the same everywhere. Different factors influence the coronavirus in different places and at different times. Second, the global vaccination strategy is far from on track. Vaccine inequity is real. Over 40 countries have fewer than 20 percent of residents completely vaccinated. This vaccine inequity has been mirrored by treatment inequity, specifically the availability of Paxlovid. This inequity is meaningful given that Paxlovid reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent. Finally, besides continuing to prepare for future pandemics, we also need to catch up on regular care such as childhood vaccines that may have been put off so far. 

Just an FYI, the 14-day changes in the US as of yesterday: Cases are up 59 percent; hospitalizations are up 20 percent; and deaths are down three percent. Hospitalizations include those for covid and those found to have covid while being admitted for another reason.

Finally, some philosophical advice from Chinese president XI Jinping on the zero-covid policy in China: "Persistence is victory. This is far from the time to rest and take a breath ... Resolutely fight against all words and deeds that distort, doubt, and deny the country's pandemic policies." In other words, you have been warned.