View allAll Photos Tagged omicron
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/12/the-omicron-wave-may-be-m...
The Best News About Omicron May Not Be About Severity
The new news about the severity of Omicron is good news. But it may not be the most important news. That is about the size and speed of the wave, which seems potentially now shorter and faster to pass than feared just a week or two ago.
As with all data about the new variant, massive caveats apply — among the astonishing things about this wave of the pandemic is the speed at which we are all studying it, even faster and more transparently than transpired in the winter of 2020, such that now epidemiologists and the public are learning about Omicron’s distinctive features in real time as the very first clinical cases travel their course. But the news about Omicron’s relative pathogenicity is now coming from many countries outside South Africa, and though it is partial and preliminary, it also appears quite unanimous: Whether from inherent reductions in severity, population-level immunity, or some other factor, the new variant is causing less severe illness wherever it is popping up. The estimates fall along a range — hospitalizations reduced by 80 percent in South Africa, for instance, by 60 percent in Scotland, but only 40 percent in England. That the range is so large indicates both a lot of remaining uncertainty and the possibility that the wave may look quite different from country to country given local immune protection and other factors. But altogether they suggest that — at least in those countries with Omicron well underway — we should expect the waves to be significantly less brutal, per case, than earlier ones. But before we celebrate: How much does a reduction of, say, 50 percent matter?
The question may seem ridiculous on its face — of course, severity matters, and if the most generous estimates bear out, it could mean as much as 80 percent less severe illness given the same number of cases. But that “given” of similar caseloads is not at all a given — at least a week or so ago, it was the working assumption of most studying the early stages of the new wave that it would produce far more cases than we had seen at any earlier stage of the pandemic. In fact, almost all early projections of Omicron’s spread, even the conservative ones, suggest such massive waves that a reduction in severity of that size — a halving — would still mean a much bigger toll than in previous waves. That is because, as John Burn Murdoch put it, “a small percentage of a large number can still be a large number.” It is why so many epidemiologists have been warning that even in a “best-case” outcome for Omicron’s severity, the ultimate toll could be very large indeed. Which means that, though it has been suggested again and again in the early stages of Omicron that the big unresolved question is about the relative severity of the new variant, the size of the wave is probably the more important variable.
This may sound abstract, but using even hypothetical numbers drives the point home very clearly. Take a strain that is half as severe but reproduces twice as fast — the effect doesn’t even cancel itself out because, over the course of weeks or months, the wave doesn’t just double but grows many times the size (this is what epidemiologists and VCs both mean when they say the public doesn’t understand exponential growth). When I spoke to Trevor Bedford of Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Center for Research last week, he told me a crude model of Omicron spread suggested that it could reach 90 percent of the population. The trajectory in South Africa, he told me, indicated the variant wouldn’t be quite that prolific, but “I can easily expect a 50 percent attack rate,” he said. A 50 percent attack rate implies 160 million American cases. Cut severity in half from our experience with Delta, and if we truly get 160 million cases, it could mean almost a million deaths just from Omicron. If Omicron continues to spread preferentially in the vaccinated and already-protected, that figure could be much lower — but still harrowingly high. And Bedford recently told Helen Branswell that it wasn’t just the U.S. that could see a 50 percent attack rate but the whole world — 4 billion cases, which implies an enormous, even unprecedented, amount of global illness and death, even given reduced severity.
That is why the size of the wave is probably more important than the severity of the strain. And why the most important thing to sort out right now about the ongoing wave is why South Africa turned so quickly and so sharply. And why it may be very good news that in many places the Omicron curves appear to be already turning or perhaps about to: in Norway, for instance, total case numbers appear in decline, while elsewhere in Europe and the U.K. case growth is slowing or even plateauing. Summarizing the recent data on Twitter, Bedford wrote, “Omicron wave will be fast and intense across geographies, but is expected to burn through quickly,” though he also warned that, “even if individual potential of severe outcomes are lower for Omicron, regions with already strained hospital capacity are particularly at risk.”
Of course, none of these waves are yet over — even in South Africa, the country appears barely past its peak with a long way to go until zero. Some of the data may be noisy, and the peaks may prove more elusive — or even relatively far. Even those that appear to be cresting may stall into long plateaus, as the U.S. and U.K. did with Delta, or even peak again — there is still so much we don’t understand about the dynamics of pandemic spread it is hard to say anything for sure. And the bundle of countries whose data is taking an encouraging turn is not necessarily globally representative, since they are either well-vaccinated or, in the case of South Africa, well-protected by previous exposure — though if Omicron does prove to be primarily a “reinfection variant,” that may make these countries outliers in the global experience, not because they are unusually protected, but because they are the natural sites of breakthrough spread.
There are additional caveats and complications, too. In terms of daily cases, many local areas (like New York City) and even some countries (like France and the U.K.) are already reporting higher numbers than they have seen at any previous point in the pandemic — these are, indeed, massive caseloads. And we are still observing those cases progress — through the natural clinical course, for individual cases, and through the population as a whole, for the wave as a whole — which means that our picture of the ultimate impact of the wave is still evolving, too. The hospitalization data in New York, for instance, is encouraging, for instance, while the data from the U.K., a bit farther along in their wave, gives a more mixed picture, and while in total it appears deaths in South Africa won’t even approach the height of the Delta wave, even there it appears that among those already hospitalized with Omicron the severity of the disease may be no lower than in previous waves. This is especially concerning because South Africa’s dramatically reduced initial hospitalization rate with Omicron, a cause for relief and celebration the world over, marked a reduction from a terrifyingly high rate of over 19 percent in the last wave; for comparison, the U.K. hospitalization rate with Delta was barely 2 percent, about where South Africa’s Omicron rate appears to be, which suggests that some of the gains observed in South Africa from additional immunity and casually attributed to reduced Omicron severity may have already been gained in European countries through vaccination before previous waves. Case totals may no longer reliably reflect the rate of spread, given the total number of cases, meaning that test positivity may now be a better guide — and that picture isn’t necessarily as encouraging. Especially in South Africa, testing may also be missing a large share of asymptomatic or mild cases. But the data we do have there shows an Omicron peak no higher than previous waves and notably more compressed as well — sketching a curve, if it continues its descent, too shallow to allow half the country’s population to be infected.
Even in those countries and regions where cases are still growing, it seems that the astronomical rate of initial spread — where cases were doubling every couple of days and estimates of the “reproduction number,” or Rt, suggested that each new infection was producing as many as six more — was short-lived. If the U.S follows those curves, it may see an Omicron peak as soon as mid-January, perhaps sooner — so fast that the 500 million free rapid tests the Biden administration mobilized in response to Omicron won’t even be available to order yet. We can’t take any of this to the bank, but we should probably be keeping as close an eye on case growth abroad and in the U.S. as we are on evolving estimates of severity.
What could explain rapid turns like that already taken by South Africa? And how confident should we be in projecting that it is replicated in the U.K. and the U.S., for instance, or countries with much different immunological profiles? It’s not entirely clear, but for once in the pandemic, the mysterious, animal spirits of disease spread may be working in our favor — in some cases seeming to reduce that initial reproduction number as much as four-fold within a week or two and without anything like the heavy-handed shifts in public policy or panicked disruptions to social behavior that have, in the past, tended to produce smaller reductions in rate of growth.
And a few particular hypothetical possibilities hover on the horizon, probably none a total explanation, and perhaps some not contributing any effect at all — only time and much deeper analysis will tell. If it turns out that Omicron has a much shorter generation time (meaning not that each case infects more additional people but that the infection turnover happens more quickly), that might mean that the initial reproduction number was not as high as originally thought — and can help explain rapid turns for the better as well. If it proves to be the case that Omicron continues to spread most dramatically among the vaccinated and already infected, with little or no advantage among the unvaccinated, it could mean both that the population susceptible to rapid growth was at least somewhat limited — and that testing may be missing a higher percentage of cases than in previous waves because prior immunity reduces severity and symptomatic disease, even if it isn’t very effective at reducing spread. It is also possible that the fast peak in South Africa, faster than those we may be seeing now across Europe, could imply a meaningful difference in susceptibility to infection between the vaccinated and the previously sick, since most of South Africa’s “immune wall” was built in previous waves, whereas most of Europe’s was built through vaccination — though seasonal effects could well be playing a significant role there as well (South Africa is in summer right now).
And while we should all be rooting for a fast crest and decline, there is also the possibility that Omicron is not overwhelming the global pandemic so much as unfolding beside it in parallel — offering perhaps little additional immune protection against other variants, including future ones, and possibly leaving an ongoing Delta wave almost intact once, or if, Omicron subsides.
The next few weeks may well show a divergence between the U.S. and Europe, on the one hand, and South Africa and Botswana, on the other — cases may continue to grow rapidly across this country even as they continue to fall in Gauteng. And the memory of the Delta wave — far more brutal in the U.S. than in Europe — should remind us that even if Omicron does crash soon, it may have a much heavier footfall in America. But if Omicron does take a quick turn here, and the U.S. records something in the range of 10 million cases of the new variant, rather than something in the range of 160 or even 300 million, that is much, much better news than even a large reduction in severity. As Ed Yong wrote recently, it has been perhaps the country’s biggest moral political failing in the pandemic that it has chosen again and again to see the challenge in terms of individual risk rather than social or collective burden. It may be a sign of the same failing that we are still so focused on questions of severity and much less focused on the matter of spread.
Omicron sucks, it's the stealth COVID, you can get it and show very little for symptoms. I test proactively and was able to despite not having any fever find out I had COVID19 and quickly started contacting doctors and had my primary get Paxlovid sent to the pharmacy.
The medicine is extremely helpful to shorten the illness duration. I'm on day 4 of Paxlovid and I've already regained my sense of smell, my sore throat is dissipating as well. There is no way I would be at this stage of healing without this medication.
You can learn more about it here
www.yalemedicine.org/news/13-things-to-know-paxlovid-covi...
and here www.paxlovid.com
Not all patients are candidates for Paxlovid, your physician is your first line of defense against further illness. Even if you are a low risk patient if you test positive for COVID19 the first phone call you should make is to your family physician, if you don't have one, get one now! Don't be left without a physician when trouble strikes. Your physician can direct you to an appropriate oral treatment, if you have had symptoms for over 5 days but not 7 then you may need to take an intravenous treatment called Monoclonal Antibody Therapy or (MCAT)
Stay safe out there, and remember, CALL YOUR DOCTOR AS SOON AS YOU TEST POSITIVE.
Test early, and test often! Tests are cheap, treatment is not!
Koni-Omega Microfilm Camera HK-35
Manufactured by Konishiroku Photo Industries (distributed by Berkey Photo) fitted with Omicron 70mm f/5.6
© Dirk HR Spennemann 2012, All Rights Reserved
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi posed for portraits at TCU's Frog Fountain prior to attending a Victory event on September 26, 2014.. (I don't have the first clue what this event was, but I'm assuming it was a formal dance of some sort.) You can learn more about the chapter at the following sites:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
Title: Omicron Delta Kappa
Creator: Valdosta State University
Date: March 1981
Description: Alex McFadden; Gabard; ODK induction.
Source: Spectator Negatives, 1980-1985. Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections.
Subject: College students -- Georgia -- Valdosta; Faculty advisors -- Georgia -- Valdosta; Greek letter societies -- Georgia -- Valdosta;
Identifier:
Format: image/jpeg
Nurses hold national day of action Jan. 13 to demand employers, Biden administration protect RNs, health care workers
Registered nurse members of National Nurses United (NNU), the nation’s largest union of RNs, hold actions across the country on Thursday, Jan. 13 — including a candlelight vigil in Washington, D.C. for nurses who lost their lives to Covid-19, and a national virtual press conference — to demand the hospital industry invest in safe staffing, and to demand that President Biden follow through on his campaign promise to protect nurses and prioritize public health.
NNU nurses emphasize that in recent weeks, the Biden administration has ripped away critical protections from health care workers and the public, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) weakening Covid isolation guidelines and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announcing that it intends to withdraw critical Covid protections for health care workers—right when the Omicron variant is exploding across the country and hospitalizations are skyrocketing. Nurses emphasize that being left unprotected by the government and by their profit-driven hospital employers which have failed to invest in safe staffing and provide critical health and safety protections, has created such unsafe working conditions that nurses are being driven away from the profession.
#ProtectNurses
The Shant is the Delta Kappa Epsilon's Omicron chapter traditional headquarters at the University of Michigan. It also serves as the National headquarters. It is located in downtown Ann Arbor Michigan, 09-12-09. Five president's have been members of this fraternity. One, Gerald Ford is a U of M alumni and played on the Wolverines' football team. The other four are George H.W. Bush, George W Bush, Theodore Roosevelt, and Rutherford B. Hayes.
Thanks to Phil Dokas for the information.
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi posed for portraits at TCU's Frog Fountain prior to attending a Victory event on September 26, 2014.. (I don't have the first clue what this event was, but I'm assuming it was a formal dance of some sort.) You can learn more about the chapter at the following sites:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The ladies of Alpha Omicron Pi are enjoying a great spring semester!
We had a great turnout from CSULB's Panhellenic Recruitment and welcomed nearly 30 new members!
We hosted our signature philanthropy event, "Strike Out Arthritis," when fraternity members joined to help raise funds for Arthritis Research by battling it out on the soccer field.
We also hosted our annual BRINNER event - Breakfast for Dinner pancake dinner!
We're pleased to announce that we took 3rd place in Greek Sing as part of Team 4/Team Green Lantern, and 1st place in ZBT Kicks for Kids.
We're looking forward to initiation, sisterhood retreat and our annual Rose Ball.
For more information about AOII sorority at CSULB, please see our website at www.alphaomicronpicsulb.org
nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/how-worried-should-we-be-...
How Worried Should We Be About the BA.2 Omicron Subvariant?
A subvariant of Omicron known as BA.2 has taken over as the dominant COVID strain in several countries, including the Netherlands and South Africa, and is expected to pass Omicron classic, known as BA.1, in the coming weeks in India and the Philippines. While the rise of another strain has some Americans stressed over the prospect of yet another wave of cases, it may not be time to panic just yet. Below is a conversation with Dr. Dan Barouch, a Harvard Medical School professor and the leading author on a preprint study on immune-system response to the BA.1 and BA.2 strains. Barouch, who led design efforts in the development of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, says that while it’s “very likely” that BA.2 will gain momentum in the U.S., there’s no guarantee of a massive surge in cases like with its close cousin.
Simply put, how concerned should we be about the spread of BA.2 in the United States?
I guess it’s worth asking whether one of these Omicron subvariants is likely going to grow and become more common in the United States. I think that is very likely, that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 will continue to gain ground and possibly even replace the current virus population, though that remains to be determined.
It also remains to be seen whether this variant is fundamentally different in terms of what matters to patients, which is: Is it more transmissible, is it more severe, and does it escape vaccines?
Let’s look at those three, then.
For transmissibility, it does appear to be gaining ground in a population in which there’s a lot of Omicron virus circulating. So it does appear to be more transmissible. Does it result in a more severe illness? I think the jury’s out on that. I’m not aware of any clinical data that shows it’s more severe. Where it’s taken over as the dominant variant, like in South Africa, it doesn’t appear to be causing the same sort of hospitalization and death rate that Delta caused a number of months ago. So I would say that it’s not clear that it’s more severe and so far it looks like it’s clinically, relatively similar, but there’s very little information.
There was a preprint that came out this week in Japan suggesting that BA.2 could be more severe, but it was done in hamsters.
When I say clinical data I’m specifically referring to humans. Population studies of humans. I’m aware of the preprint from Japan and the laboratory model and animal models have some limitations to them. For example, Omicron BA.1 is actually very mild in hamsters. But I would argue that human clinical data is probably the most relevant here.
Fair enough. But how effective does BA.2 appear to be at escaping vaccines?
In our preprint, which is under review at a major journal, we looked at Pfizer-vaccinated individuals as well as a cohort of Omicron-infected individuals. Similar to with BA.1, there was very little neutralization prior to a third boost of Pfizer. But after a third boost, neutralizing antibody titers [a test that measures the level of antibodies in a blood sample] came up strongly to both BA.1 and BA.2, still at substantially lower levels than the vaccine-matched strain. The neutralization titers between BA.1 and BA.2 were relatively similar. In our hands, there’s a slight trend toward lowering antibody titers against BA.2 about 1.3-to-1.4-fold.
That’s a relatively minor difference; overall, we found that antibody responses to BA.2 were roughly comparable, trending slightly lower, but roughly comparable to BA.1. That was true in vaccinated individuals and in people who were infected with Omicron BA.1. Those two data sets suggest that Omicron BA.2 does evade vaccines but to a similar extent, not a greater extent as Omicron BA.1. Also it shows that people who are vaccinated and then infected with BA.1 have high neutralizing antibody titers against BA.2, suggesting there would be a substantial degree of cross-reactive natural immunity as well.
Could you explain what makes BA.2 more transmissible?
I can’t because I don’t know. There are a lot of mutations that are similar between BA.1 and BA.2, but each one has a lot of separate mutations and the biology of each one of those mutations is not yet fully known. So I don’t believe we know exactly why BA.2 appears to be more transmissible than BA.1. It does make sense that there’s so many mutations on BA.1 that it may not be optimized for human transmission. It makes sense that when something fundamentally different arrives, there might be further iterations that make it more adaptive to human populations. So I’m not surprised that there’s variants and subvariants of Omicron that are slightly or somewhat better in different regards. This one, according to our data, appears to have relatively similar immunological properties to BA.1.
So does that assuage any fears of another massive wave like with Omicron 1.0?
I can’t predict whether it will be a new surge or not, but it’s probably going to be driven more by increased transmissibility. It has similar, not fundamentally greater, ability to evade vaccines. The ability of BA.2 to become more dominant than BA.1 in certain populations appears to be more due to its increased transmissibility rather than some sort of brand-new immune escape from vaccines.
What do you think about the decision to drop mask mandates in New York and California just as BA.2 appears to be making inroads?
Overall, the Omicron surge is coming down. We’ll have to monitor very closely whether one of these subvariants will lead to an uptick in infections. I do agree that what’s most important is hospitalizations and deaths; the case numbers are not as important as the numbers of severally ill people. But I think that people are weary, people have pandemic fatigue, it’s definitely going in a better direction now than it was a couple months ago. But we have to be vigilant with testing and making sure that as we start to roll back pandemic restrictions, we don’t see a new surge in cases, particularly not severe cases.
It’s the next chapter of the pandemic. It’s probably not a completely different chapter; it’s probably a subsection of the Omicron chapter.
www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/1-in-2-vaccinated-americ...
1 in 2 Vaccinated Americans Are Favorable to Pfizer and Moderna, Strong Initial Support for Novavax
It’s been more than one year since the U.S. began its rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Although one of the most contentious issues of the century, the CDC reports that more than 80% of American adults have received at least one shot of the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines at time of writing. Three-quarters of people are considered to be fully vaccinated with two shots and more than 40% have received booster doses, while vaccinations continue to be administered daily.
The Omicron wave is now in a welcomed retreat, but the future is still anyone’s guess, provoking a litany of questions. How likely are people to continue to vaccinate in the event of new variants? Which vaccine manufacturers are the most trusted? Does the new Novavax vaccine appeal to the vaccine-hesitant?
To help answer some of these questions, CivicScience gathered high-level intel on public perception of COVID-19 vaccines through a series of surveys.
Polling more than 3,400 U.S. adults finds that the majority of Americans – 65% – feel positively about the overall efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. Over one-third of respondents believe that the vaccines have been highly effective at preventing the spread of the disease, while more than one-quarter feel they have been somewhat effective. On the other hand, one-in-three adults feel the vaccines have not been effective.
Current results are less positive than results from a November 2020 survey prior to the vaccine rollout, when 75% of the Gen Pop was hopeful that the Pfizer vaccine specifically would be effective in stopping the spread and just 10% were doubtful.
Yet despite the disruption caused by Delta and Omicron variants, general outlook on vaccination in the U.S. remains relatively strong. In fact, when asked what strategies should be taken at the current moment to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the majority of respondents – 64% – list vaccination as the number one most important measure. That’s followed by masking, social distancing, and lastly, testing.
Vaccine Manufacturer Favorability
Gauging favorability towards the two manufacturers of Covid vaccines currently available in the U.S., results indicate public opinion of both Pfizer and Moderna is overwhelmingly positive. More than 75% of adults feel favorable or neutral toward the companies. In fact, more people feel favorable than neutral, with nearly one-quarter feeling “very favorable.” In contrast, less than one-quarter feels at all unfavorable to either company.
Pfizer vs. Moderna
A simplified view shows that people are slightly more favorable to Pfizer, as well as slightly more unfavorable. Even though far more Americans have received Pfizer than Moderna vaccines (as tracked by the CDC), favorability results are strikingly similar between the two pharma companies.
Favorability by COVID-19 Infection
Does having a current or past Covid infection impact someone’s public perception of the vaccine manufacturers? Data show that people within the last year who have experienced a Covid infection either themselves or in their household, or who have known someone outside of their household with Covid, are overall more favorable towards Pfizer and Moderna.
However, it’s likely that a stronger association with Covid infections does impact outlook. Over one-third of people who have experienced both an infection in their household and know others who have become infected feel unfavorable towards Pfizer.
Favorability by Covid Vaccination Status
As anticipated, vaccine status undoubtedly plays a role in perception. Vaccinated individuals are over seven times more likely to feel favorable about Pfizer and roughly nine times more likely to feel favorable about Moderna compared to unvaccinated individuals.
Small pockets of vaccinated individuals are unfavorable to either company. On the other hand, feelings of dislike run disproportionately high among people who are unvaccinated – more than half are unfavorable to either company – suggesting vaccine hesitancy is tied to negative views or distrust of the manufacturers.
Vaccine to Watch: Novavax
That said, could the new Novavax vaccine change the vaccine landscape – and possibly sway people who are unvaccinated and unfavorable to Pfizer or Moderna to get the shot? Now gaining authorization for use in countries around the world, the Novavax vaccine uses protein-based technology similar to that used in the flu or shingles vaccines, different from Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines.
If approved for use in the U.S., 42% of adults express interest in receiving the Novavax vaccine.
Among those familiar with Novavax, 19% of unvaccinated and 67% of vaccinated individuals express interest in receiving the vaccine if it becomes available in the United States. Initial results suggest that while the majority of unvaccinated people are unlikely to line up for the new vaccine, it could provide a viable option for boosters and future shots among vaccine supporters.
Overall, public feelings on COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S. appear to rest on the positive end of the spectrum, for the time being. One year post-rollout, sentiment towards leading vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna is mostly favorable or neutral, with some exceptions seen among people who have experienced and witnessed a greater number of infections. At the same time, findings suggest the new Novavax vaccine may be well-received in the U.S. going forward.
Koni-Omega Microfilm Camera HK-35
Manufactured by Konishiroku Photo Industries (distributed by Berkey Photo) fitted with Omicron 70mm f/5.6
© Dirk HR Spennemann 2012, All Rights Reserved
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell (purple) infected with the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (green), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the event this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
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Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
Koni-Omega Microfilm Camera HK-35
Manufactured by Konishiroku Photo Industries (distributed by Berkey Photo) fitted with Omicron 70mm f/5.6
© Dirk HR Spennemann 2012, All Rights Reserved
Simmon Omega 120 range finder camera (third model, 1954)
with 90mm f=3.5 Omicron lens in a Wollensak Rapax shutter
This is the first civilian production of the Combat camera made by the Simmon Brothers (known for their range of enlargers). Has a ratchet rapid film advance. The camera was later further developed by Konica to create the Koni-Omega Rapid.
© Dirk HR Spennemann 2011, All Right Reserved
Title: Omicron Delta Kappa
Creator: Valdosta State University
Date: March 1981
Description: Alex McFadden; Gabard; ODK induction.
Source: Spectator Negatives, 1980-1985. Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections.
Subject: College students -- Georgia -- Valdosta; Faculty advisors -- Georgia -- Valdosta; Greek letter societies -- Georgia -- Valdosta;
Identifier:
Format: image/jpeg
www.yahoo.com/news/chinas-xi-told-eu-less-211215110.html
China's Xi told EU less lethal Omicron opens way for fewer COVID restrictions
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping blamed mass protests in Chinese cities on youth frustrated by years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but said the now dominant Omicron variant of the virus paved the way for fewer restrictions, European Union officials said.
The senior EU officials, who asked not to be named, recounted the main points of a visit to Beijing by European Council President Charles Michel, who met Xi along with other senior EU officials on Thursday.
The handling of the COVID pandemic and the protests against pandemic restrictions in recent days across more than 20 Chinese cities were among the topics raised by the EU.
"The response we got from the president was an explanation why there were protests -- explaining that after three years of COVID he had an issue, because people were frustrated, it was mainly students or teenagers," one senior EU official said.
"I think that as a way out ... President Xi said that now COVID in China was mainly Omicron. The Delta variant before was much more lethal and Omicron was less lethal, which opened the way for more openness with the restrictions - what we have already seen in some regions," the EU official said.
EU officials said Michel told Xi that in Europe the focus of the first phase of the pandemic was very much on isolation, quarantine and testing, but it later shifted to vaccination.
"My sense was that this was something that was informative and I had a feeling that China on its side would be increasingly looking to encourage its citizens to be vaccinated, to follow a tiny bit the European experience," a second EU official said.
He added that Xi told the EU delegation that vaccination rates in China were high except for among the elderly, which was a challenge that caused the COVID restrictions.
www.yahoo.com/news/factbox-many-people-might-die-04460470...
Factbox-How many people might die, and why, if China loosens COVID restrictions
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has started taking steps to ease its zero-COVID policy, fuelling a mix of relief and worry as the public waits to see the health consequences, and impact on the medical system, of a full-blown exit.
Researchers have analysed how many deaths the country could see if it pivots to a full reopening, with most pointing to the country's relatively low vaccination rates and lack of herd immunity as some of its most vulnerable spots.
As of Friday, China reported 5,233 COVID-related deaths and 331,952 cases with symptoms.
Here are some of the estimates:
MORE THAN 2 MILLION
Zhou Jiatong, head of the Center for Disease Control in southwestern Guangxi region, said last month in a paper published by the Shanghai Journal of Preventive Medicine that mainland China faces more than 2 million deaths if it loosened COVID curbs in the same way Hong Kong did this year.
Infections could rise to more than 233 million, his forecast showed.
1.55 MILLION
In May, scientists in China and the United States estimated that China risks just over 1.5 million COVID deaths if it drops its tough zero-COVID policy without any safeguards such as ramping up vaccination and access to treatments, according to research published in Nature Medicine.
They forecasted that peak demand on intensive care would be more than 15 times capacity, causing roughly 1.5 million deaths, based on worldwide data gathered about the variant's severity.
However, the researchers, the lead authors among whom were from Fudan University in China, said the death toll could be reduced sharply if there was a focus on vaccination.
UP TO 2.1 MILLION
China could see 1.3 million to 2.1 million people die if it lifts its zero-COVID policy due to low vaccination and booster rates as well as a lack of hybrid immunity, British scientific information and analytics company Airfinity said on Monday.
The company said it modelled its data on Hong Kong's BA.1 wave in February, which occurred after the city eased restrictions after two years.
www.cnbc.com/2022/12/03/beijing-shenzhen-loosen-more-covi...
Beijing, Shenzhen loosen more Covid curbs as China easing gathers pace
▫️ Although daily cases hover near all-time highs, some cities are taking steps to loosen Covid-19 testing requirements and quarantine rules amid an economic slowdown and public frustration that has boiled over into unrest.
▫️ Beijing residents cheered the removal of Covid-19 testing booths while Shenzhen followed other cities in announcing it would no longer require commuters to present their test results to travel.
▫️ China began tweaking its approach last month, urging localities to become more targeted. Initial reactions, however, were marked with confusion and even tighter lockdowns as cities scrambled to keep a lid on rising cases.
Beijing residents cheered the removal of Covid-19 testing booths while Shenzhen followed other cities in announcing it would no longer require commuters to present their test results to travel, as an easing of China's virus curbs gathered pace.
Although daily cases hover near all-time highs, some cities are taking steps to loosen Covid-19 testing requirements and quarantine rules as China looks to make its zero-Covid policy more targeted amid an economic slowdown and public frustration that has boiled over into unrest.
Three years into the pandemic, China has been a global outlier with its zero-tolerance approach towards Covid that has seen it enforce lockdowns and frequent virus testing. It says the measures are needed to save lives and avoid overwhelming its healthcare system.
China began tweaking its approach last month, urging localities to become more targeted. Initial reactions, however, were marked with confusion and even tighter lockdowns as cities scrambled to keep a lid on rising cases.
Then a deadly apartment fire last month in the far western city of Urumqi sparked dozens of protests against Covid curbs in a wave unprecedented in mainland China since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012. Cities including Guangzhou and Beijing have since taken the lead in making changes.
Less testing
On Saturday, the southern city of Shenzhen announced it would no longer require people to show a negative Covid test result to use public transport or enter parks, following similar moves by Chengdu and Tianjin, among China's biggest cities.
Many testing booths in the Chinese capital of Beijing have also been shut, as the city stops demanding negative test results as a condition to enter places such as supermarkets and prepares to do so for subways from Monday, though many other venues including offices still have the requirement.
A video showing workers in Beijing removing a testing booth by crane on to a truck went viral on Chinese social media on Friday.
"This should have been taken away earlier!," said one commentator. "Banished to history," said another.
Reuters was not able verify the authenticity of the footage. At some of the remaining booths, however, residents grumbled about hour-long queues for the tests due to the closures.
Further reductions coming
China is set to further announce a nationwide reduction in testing requirements as well as allowing positive cases and close contacts to isolate at home under certain conditions, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this week.
Xi, during a meeting with European Union officials in Beijing on Thursday, blamed the mass protests on youth frustrated by years of the Covid-19 pandemic, but said the now-dominant Omicron variant of the virus paved the way for fewer restrictions, EU officials said.
Officials have only recently begun to downplay the dangers of Omicron, a significant change in messaging in a country where fear of Covid has run deep.
On Friday, some Beijing neighbourhoods posted guidelines on social media on how positive cases can be quarantined at home, a landmark move that marks a break from official guidance to send such people to central quarantine.
Still, the relief has also been accompanied by concerns, especially from groups such as the elderly who feel more exposed to a disease authorities had consistently described as deadly until this week, highlighting the difficulties Xi and Chinese leaders face in loosening.
China reported 32,827 new local Covid-19 infections for Dec. 2, down from 34,772 a day earlier.
www.globaltimes.cn/page/202212/1281026.shtml
Multiple cities ease requirements for COVID-19 testing, as residents start to stockpile self-test kits
At least 10 major Chinese cities have announced the ending of requirements for the checking of 48-hour valid COVID-19 test results for riding public transport. Some cities have also ended testing requirements for entering public venues as many localities continued to optimize their epidemic responses over the weekend.
Cities adjusting policies include Chengdu, Tianjin, Dalian, Shijiazhuang and Shenzhen.
The megacity Guangzhou has also lifted a number of restrictions, including ending test result requirements for pharmacies.
As of 3 pm on Saturday, there were 1,392 newly reported local COVID-19 cases in Beijing, a decrease of about 20 percent compared with the 1,738 cases in the same time period on Friday.
The easing epidemic control measures are also driving up demand for certain drugs as people take more responsibility for their health. The Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Administration stated on Saturday that residents will no longer need to go through identification check when purchasing medicines for fever, cough, infection, and dry and sore throat.
We got ourselves an early Christmas present: heterologous booster shots (Moderna boosters after Pfizer vaccination). Hopefully this will hold us until an Omicron-specific booster is available. 💉💉
700c, 32h, clear anodized oxide finish, with some minor storage wear. These things date back to '88 and are neat because they introduced double camber eyelets to relieve spoke stress. I'm keeping the uglier pair, the other is for sale. As you can see they've just been collecting dust in my closet. SOLD.
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell (pink) infected with the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (teal), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID
Simmon Omega 120 range finder camera (third model, 1954)
with 90mm f=3.5 Omicron lens in a Wollensak Rapax shutter
This is the first civilian production of the Combat camera made by the Simmon Brothers (known for their range of enlargers). Has a ratchet rapid film advance. The camera was later further developed by Konica to create the Koni-Omega Rapid.
© Dirk HR Spennemann 2011, All Right Reserved
2-14-14 | SUN-e Picture of the Day; On Feb. 9, the Shenandoah University Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Circle inducted 19 students and one faculty member into its ranks. Congratulations to all of the new members of ODK! Front row pictured from left to right: Veronica Mendez, Debora L. Humphrey, Krystie M. Ocasio Santiago, Elizabeth Anne Bereit, Kathryn A. Motsko, Eric S. Hobby, Brittany Guepe, Kayla Green, Emily Renee Cobb, Shannon Lane Allin. Back row: Amy L. Lewis, Kristina Maria Troxel, Charles R. Trippet, Nicholas Ruxton, Zachary Steffan Duell, Holly Nichole Chittenden, Samantha Sisson. Student inductees not pictured: Jenna K. Kline and Jordan W. Tanner. Faculty inductee not pictured: Shenandoah Conservatory Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Professor of Voice Aimé Sposato, D.M.A. (PHOTO: Amanda Grantham)
abc7news.com/ba5-covid-immunity-omicron-ba4-reinfections-...
OMICRON BA.5 STRAIN MAY SHORTEN COVID IMMUNITY FROM 3 MONTHS TO 28 DAYS, RESEARCH SHOWS
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- New research shows the latest highly-transmissible COVID subvariants may be shortening the window of immunity post-infection.
"I think this is a wake-up call," said UCSF's Dr. George Rutherford. "For all of us."
The warning comes from Australian health officials who say the BA.4 and BA.5 strains are so strong at evading antibodies -- they're seeing COVID reinfections happen faster and more frequently compared to other variants.
"This means your period of immunologic protection following infection is probably shorter," Rutherford said. "We previously thought it was around three to four months. It's probably less."
How much less? A committee of Australian doctors are changing recommendations to reduce the definition of immunity from 90 days to 28 days.
"Do you think we should do the same?" ABC7's Stephanie Sierra asked.
"It's something up for discussion," said Rutherford, who specializes in infectious diseases. "If you were infected at the beginning of the summer, there's nothing saying you can't be infected again today with one of these newer variants."
The omicron subvariant BA.5 is now the most dominant strain in the U.S. accounting for roughly 65% of new cases, according to ABC's analysis of federal data. BA.4 accounts for 16%. The two combined are dominating the latest surge - making up more than 80% of new cases nationwide. And the reality is, those figures are likely much higher.
"We're probably seeing just a drop in the bucket in terms of official cases," said UCSF Infectious Disease Physician, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong.
As most of the Bay Area braces for another surge, Solano County is already in one.
"It's already here," said Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County's Health Officer. "We've seen it. We've seen a bump in our cases, 10 to 15%, about 30 per day more over the past week than we did prior."
Every Bay Area county is reporting an increase in hospitalizations, but the uptick is not currently overwhelming hospital systems. The areas reporting a steady increase in new hospital admissions over the past week include: Marin, Napa, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, and Solano counties. But thankfully, these counties aren't seeing any major impacts to ICU admissions.
www.cnbc.com/2022/07/13/fda-authorizes-novavax-covid-vacc...
FDA authorizes Novavax Covid vaccine for adults as the first new shots in U.S. in more than a year
KEY POINTS
▫️ FDA authorization of Novavax’s vaccine was delayed for weeks as the agency reviewed changes to the company’s manufacturing process.
▫️ The Novavax shot is based on more conventional protein technology used for decades in hepatitis B and HPV vaccines, while Pfizer and Moderna are the first FDA approved vaccines to use mRNA.
▫️ Novavax was one of the original participants in the U.S. government’s race to develop a ▫️ Covid vaccine in 2020, receiving $1.8 billion in taxpayer funding from Operation Warp Speed.
The Food and Drug Administration has authorized Novavax’s two-dose vaccine for adults ages 18 and over, the fourth Covid shot to get emergency approval in the U.S. since the pandemic began.
The FDA decision comes weeks after its committee of independent vaccine experts voted overwhelming in favor of Novavax’s shot in early June, after an all-day public meeting in which they weighed data on the vaccine’s safety and its effectiveness at preventing illness from Covid.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still needs to sign off on Novavax’s vaccine before pharmacies and other health-care providers can start administering shots. FDA authorization of Novavax’s vaccine was delayed for weeks as the agency reviewed changes to the company’s manufacturing process.
Novavax was one of the original participants in the U.S. government’s race to develop a Covid vaccine in 2020, receiving $1.8 billion in taxpayer funding from Operation Warp Speed. However, the small Maryland biotech company struggled to quickly get manufacturing in place and its clinical trial data read out much later than Pfizer or Moderna.
Novavax’s shots have received FDA authorization at a time when nearly 77% of adults ages 18 and over are already fully vaccinated. However, 27 million adults still have not gotten a single shot yet. Dr. Peter Marks, a senior FDA official, said Novavax’s vaccine would potentially appeal to unvaccinated people who would prefer a shot that is not based on the messenger RNA technology used by Pfizer and Moderna.
How Novavax is different
The Novavax shot is based on more conventional protein technology used for decades in hepatitis B and HPV vaccines, while Pfizer and Moderna are the first FDA approved vaccines to use mRNA.
Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines use mRNA, a molecule encoded with genetic instructions, to tell human cells to produce copies of a virus particle called the spike protein. The immune system responds to these copies of the spike, which prepares the human body to attack the actual virus.
Novavax makes copies of the virus spike outside human cells. The genetic code for the spike is put into an insect virus that infects moth cells, which produce copies that are then purified and extracted during the manufacturing process. The finished spike copies are injected into the human body, inducing an immune response against Covid.
The Novavax vaccine also uses an additional ingredient called an adjuvant, which is extracted and purified from the bark of a tree in South America, to induce a broader immune response. The shots consist of 5 micrograms of the spike copy and 50 micrograms of the adjuvant.
Effectiveness and safety
Two doses of the Novavax vaccine were 90% effective at preventing illness from Covid across the board and 100% effective at preventing severe illness, according to clinical trial data from the U.S. and Mexico. However, the trial was conducted from December 2020 through September 2021, months before the omicron variant became dominant.
Novavax did not present any on data on the shot’s effectiveness against the variant at the FDA committee meeting in June. However, the vaccine will likely have lower effectiveness against omicron as is the case with Pfizer and Moderna’s shots. Omicron is so distinct from the original strain of Covid that the antibodies produced by the vaccines have trouble recognizing and attacking the variant.
Novavax published data in December showing that a third shot boosted the immune response to levels comparable to the first two doses which had 90% effectiveness against illness. The company plans to ask the FDA to authorize a third dose of its vaccine.
FDA authorization of Novavax’s vaccines comes as the U.S. is preparing to updated Covid shots to target the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants to increase protection against the virus. Novavax’s vaccine, like all the other shots, is based on the original version of the virus that first emerged in Wuhan, China. The effectiveness of Covid vaccines against mild illness has slipped substantially as the virus as evolved, though they still generally protect against severe disease.
Novavax presented data at an FDA committee meeting in late June demonstrating that a third dose of its vaccine produced a strong immune response against omicron and its subvariants. Committee members were impressed by the company’s data on omicron.
The Novavax vaccine also appears to carry a risk of heart inflammation for younger men, known as myocarditis and pericarditis, similar to Pfizer and Moderna’s shots. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart.
FDA officials flagged four cases of myocarditis and pericarditis from Novavax’s clinical trial in young men ages 16 to 28. People who develop heart inflammation as a side effect of Covid vaccines are usually hospitalized for several days as a precaution but then recover.
The FDA has issued a fact sheet for health-care providers warning that clinical trial data indicates there is an increased risk of myocarditis with the Novavax vaccine. People who experience chest pain, shortness of breath and feelings of a fluttering or pounding heart should immediately seek medical attention, according to the FDA.
In the case of the mRNA shots, the CDC has found that the risk of myocarditis is higher from Covid infection than vaccination. Myocarditis is usually caused by viral infections.
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the event this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
A permanent installation directed by Romain Tardy & Thomas Vaquié
Hala Stulecia, Wroclaw, Poland.
More details: www.antivj.com/O/
Left to right: Raphael, Kyuuya, St. James, Lex (Volks Cristal boy, Hyper Omicron, Feeple65 Roke, Volks Tony)
This is a Florida College or University fraternity or club. Found with other early photos from Florida.
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
This is a Florida College or University fraternity or club. Found with other early photos from Florida.
www.cbsnews.com/news/should-you-get-omicron-covid-booster...
Should you get one of the new COVID boosters that targets Omicron?
John Wherry will wait until later in the fall to consider getting an updated COVID-19 booster. The University of Pennsylvania immunologist knows it's too soon after his shot late this summer, especially since he's not at high risk from the virus.
It's the kind of calculation many Americans will face as booster shots that target currently circulating Omicron strains become available to a population with widely varying risks and levels of immunity.
How are the new boosters different?
They're combination or "bivalent" shots that contain half the original vaccine that's been used since December 2020 and half protection against today's dominant Omicron versions, BA.4 and BA.5. It's the first update to COVID-19 vaccines cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.
Who is eligible?
Updated shots made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech are authorized for anyone 12 and older, and rival Moderna's version is for adults 18 and up. They're to be used as a booster for anyone who's already had their primary vaccination series — using shots from any U.S.-cleared company — and regardless of how many boosters they've already gotten.
If I just got one of the original boosters, should I get the new kind right away?
No. The FDA set the minimum wait time at two months. But advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's better to wait longer. Some advise at least three months; another said someone who's not at high risk might wait as long as six months.
"If you wait a little more time, you get a better immunologic response," said CDC adviser Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University.
That's because someone who recently got a booster already has more virus-fighting antibodies in their bloodstream. Antibodies gradually wane over time, and another shot too soon won't offer much extra benefit, explained Wherry, who wasn't involved with the government's decision-making.
What if I recently recovered from COVID-19?
It's still important to get vaccinated even if you've already been infected — but timing matters here, too.
The CDC has long told people to defer vaccination until they've recovered but also that people may consider waiting for three months after recovering to get a vaccination. And several CDC advisers say waiting the three months is important, both for potentially more benefit from the shot and to reduce chances of a rare side effect, heart inflammation, that sometimes affects teen boys and young men.
How much benefit will the new boosters offer?
That's not clear, because tests of this exact recipe have only just begun in people.
The FDA cleared the new boosters based in large part on human studies of a similarly tweaked vaccine that's just been recommended by regulators in Europe. Those tweaked shots target an earlier Omicron strain, BA.1, that circulated last winter, and studies found they revved up people's virus-fighting antibodies.
With that earlier Omicron version now replaced by BA.4 and BA.5, the FDA ordered an additional tweak to the shots — and tests in mice showed they spark an equally good immune response.
There's no way to know if antibodies produced by an Omicron-matched booster might last longer than a few months. But a booster also is supposed to strengthen immune system memory, adding to protection against serious illness from the ever-mutating virus.
How do we know they're safe?
The basic ingredients used in both Omicron-targeting updated vaccines are the same. Testing by Pfizer and Moderna of their BA.1-targeted versions proved safe in human studies and CDC's advisers concluded the additional small recipe change should be no different.
Flu vaccines are updated every year without human trials.
Can I get a new COVID-19 booster and a flu shot at the same time?
Yes, one in each arm.
What if I want to wait?
People at high risk from COVID-19 are encouraged to get the new booster when they're due. After all, BA.5 still is spreading widely and hospitalization rates in older adults have increased since spring.
Most Americans eligible for an updated booster have gone at least six months since their last shot, according to the CDC — plenty of time that another shot should trigger a good immune response.
But the original formula still offers good protection against severe illness and death, especially after that all-important first booster. So it's not uncommon for younger and healthier people to time boosters to take advantage of a shot's temporary jump in protection against even a mild infection, like Wherry did.
A healthy 51-year-old, Wherry said he postponed the second booster recommended for his age for seven months, until late summer — just before an international trip that he knew would increase his risk from unmasked crowds.
With the updated boosters now rolling out, he plans to evaluate in four or five months — when presumably his antibody level starts waning and he's planning holiday gatherings, whether he'd benefit from another shot.