This week’s news is that the FDA advisory committee voted overwhelmingly to update the vaccine for Omicron, after a delay of only six months, which means they’ll get to deciding which way it should be updated Real Soon Now and then they can tell the pharma companies what requirements they want to place on that. There’s some chance the update will happen at a time that isn’t never, and even a tiny chance the update might not be hopelessly behind the virus when it happens. You never know.
Long time reader - thanks again for all your work on these updates!
Had a pretty specific question, appreciate your thoughts. Thinking about going to the WSOP in vegas, but there is an ongoing massive spike in cases in Vegas + anecdotally ~50% of people I know there contracted COVID (regardless of vaccine status / previous infections etc.). I've been having a hard time dimensioning the safety of attending the WSOP given I am personally: vaxx+boost+already got Delta varient last fall, and would expect to wear some level of mask protection.
I want to push back a little on this part: "This is public health. This is what very serious people actually believe. It is also flat out anti-vax. This is the face of the enemy."
I think we want to be a bit careful with the anti-vax language around the COVID vaccines. While the FDA is making very strange decisions on the assumption that the COVID vaccines work and have more benefits than costs, there is are a lot of reasons to believe that these vaccines do not pass this test. Being anti-this-particular-vaccine is very different than anti-vaccines in general, but even still, anti-vax probably shouldn't be demonized.
I get that you were largely making a rhetorical point, speaking to the anti-anti-vax crowd to point out how their beloved FDA is acting against their stated goals. I just don't quite think anti-vax is the enemy here. Especially considering the data coming out of Europe about adverse effects, birth rates, etc.
“Hospitals should be exempt from all local building codes.” -- hard disagree. Building code is tricky, bitchy and often pisses me off, but it’s written in the interest of actual safety. Most of it is about structural integrity and not causing fires, and the lessons that led to writing it were penned in blood and soot. If by the quote you and original author mean _zoning_ ordinances which are all about character and access and pleasant views, yes 100%, hospitals provide a good and don’t need to comply when they’re setting up triage tents out front in a global pandemic.
Some if you may have noticed from my other comments that I’m an angry libertarian (full stop that’s actually how I describe my politics, but especially about overweening regulation), but I can’t condone skipping fire code and building code as a general rule, especially where you have hundreds of people going in and out, many of whom may have no ability to consent to this building or that one for their care.
Long time reader - thanks again for all your work on these updates!
Had a pretty specific question, appreciate your thoughts. Thinking about going to the WSOP in vegas, but there is an ongoing massive spike in cases in Vegas + anecdotally ~50% of people I know there contracted COVID (regardless of vaccine status / previous infections etc.). I've been having a hard time dimensioning the safety of attending the WSOP given I am personally: vaxx+boost+already got Delta varient last fall, and would expect to wear some level of mask protection.
Thanks again for the updates.
I want to push back a little on this part: "This is public health. This is what very serious people actually believe. It is also flat out anti-vax. This is the face of the enemy."
I think we want to be a bit careful with the anti-vax language around the COVID vaccines. While the FDA is making very strange decisions on the assumption that the COVID vaccines work and have more benefits than costs, there is are a lot of reasons to believe that these vaccines do not pass this test. Being anti-this-particular-vaccine is very different than anti-vaccines in general, but even still, anti-vax probably shouldn't be demonized.
I get that you were largely making a rhetorical point, speaking to the anti-anti-vax crowd to point out how their beloved FDA is acting against their stated goals. I just don't quite think anti-vax is the enemy here. Especially considering the data coming out of Europe about adverse effects, birth rates, etc.
"The Numbers" section seems incomplete. The last sentence just cuts off.
Aaaaaaah – we're living in an Ayn Rand novel!
("Atlas Shrugged")
(It's a collaborative work tho, so it's not _purely_ her unique work :))
Also – thanks for these posts!
Sorry, I feel like I'm out of the loop here... can someone explain this?
"It’s especially unacceptable given that if it wasn’t for Topol we likely could have done better than 10 months for the initial vaccine"
“Hospitals should be exempt from all local building codes.” -- hard disagree. Building code is tricky, bitchy and often pisses me off, but it’s written in the interest of actual safety. Most of it is about structural integrity and not causing fires, and the lessons that led to writing it were penned in blood and soot. If by the quote you and original author mean _zoning_ ordinances which are all about character and access and pleasant views, yes 100%, hospitals provide a good and don’t need to comply when they’re setting up triage tents out front in a global pandemic.
Some if you may have noticed from my other comments that I’m an angry libertarian (full stop that’s actually how I describe my politics, but especially about overweening regulation), but I can’t condone skipping fire code and building code as a general rule, especially where you have hundreds of people going in and out, many of whom may have no ability to consent to this building or that one for their care.