Put this Covid vaccine up your nose
August 13, 2021 9:54 PM Subscribe
According to an article published in Science magazine in July, almost 100 SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are currently in clinical trials in various places around the world, but only seven are are delivered intranasally. Intranasal vaccines have a potential to do more to protect areas of infection in the nasal passages and upper airways. There may be issues effectiveness for people who have prior exposure to viruses the vaccines are based on.
I read an article the other day which claimed that this was a big part of why the current mRNA vaccines do not do a very good job of protecting against infection, regardless of their effects on hospitalization. Supposedly, and I encourage anyone who knows more to correct me, the immune response originates elsewhere in the body because of the method of initial exposure with the injected vaccines, and so the virus is able to gain a foothold in the lungs. As long as infection remains a concern, new strains that evade the vaccine will develop.
Studies have been coming out showing that it causes brain damage in the infected, even for those who are asymptomatic. It may be permanently incapacitating those who are unlucky enough to be blighted with it. We are now discovering that it is a greater health danger for all ages. Who gives a shit about the high survival rate if it has a fair chance of shaving your intellect down, or crippling your organs? I have some second-degree acquaintances, all in their 20's or very early 30's, who are still bogged down, a year later.
This particularly worries me because all the vaccinated drones out there think that Covid is officially over, protection is unnecessary, and that they can go back to partying and toiling under unethical labour conditions without question. In the case of the latter, this is being heavily pushed by both big business and the government in my area. "Covid's over peons, return to work as if nothing happened so that we can continue to collect revenue, for ever-diminishing wages in remuneration!" I'm disappointed that workers, white and blue collar, aren't using this moment as a staging ground for a general strike, to cripple the owning class. Everyone is eager to surrender to the 9-5 again and return to consuming [as if] without consequence. Particularly the latter, to my chagrin.
Already, a friend has gotten a breakthrough infection by going to multiple concerts unmasked. Raves are starting back up, our parks are full of 20-and-30-somethings who now feel invulnerable. I've skipped a couple invitations to parties, and several more to hang out in high density public settings out of paranoia. On social media, all my peers are posting nonsense about how the virus and its propagation are suddenly only the fault of the unvaccinated, while they themselves indiscriminately return to an orgiastic hedonism that promotes transmission. It's only a matter of time before we get a fourth wave that unravels most of the progress we've made.
posted by constantinescharity at 11:26 AM on August 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
Studies have been coming out showing that it causes brain damage in the infected, even for those who are asymptomatic. It may be permanently incapacitating those who are unlucky enough to be blighted with it. We are now discovering that it is a greater health danger for all ages. Who gives a shit about the high survival rate if it has a fair chance of shaving your intellect down, or crippling your organs? I have some second-degree acquaintances, all in their 20's or very early 30's, who are still bogged down, a year later.
This particularly worries me because all the vaccinated drones out there think that Covid is officially over, protection is unnecessary, and that they can go back to partying and toiling under unethical labour conditions without question. In the case of the latter, this is being heavily pushed by both big business and the government in my area. "Covid's over peons, return to work as if nothing happened so that we can continue to collect revenue, for ever-diminishing wages in remuneration!" I'm disappointed that workers, white and blue collar, aren't using this moment as a staging ground for a general strike, to cripple the owning class. Everyone is eager to surrender to the 9-5 again and return to consuming [as if] without consequence. Particularly the latter, to my chagrin.
Already, a friend has gotten a breakthrough infection by going to multiple concerts unmasked. Raves are starting back up, our parks are full of 20-and-30-somethings who now feel invulnerable. I've skipped a couple invitations to parties, and several more to hang out in high density public settings out of paranoia. On social media, all my peers are posting nonsense about how the virus and its propagation are suddenly only the fault of the unvaccinated, while they themselves indiscriminately return to an orgiastic hedonism that promotes transmission. It's only a matter of time before we get a fourth wave that unravels most of the progress we've made.
posted by constantinescharity at 11:26 AM on August 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
if nasal vaccines are more effective than injected ones at lowering transmission rates, great! but i fear that for some people, nothing will ever lower their fear back to 2019 "normality" and they will continue to shame those who, taking all the precautions mandated by their local governments, wish to resume normal life. even now, with the first gen vaccines, covid is no more dangerous to a vaccinated, non-immunosuppressed person than flu. (and yes, there is data that viral infections like flu might also cause long term problems like chronic fatigue, yet we don't put our lives on hold for that.)
i hope that medical advances going forward save the lives of the obstinate maniacs who act like covid doesnt exist. but i ALSO hope that such advances convince those of us who have been driven to panic over the last 18 months that it is possible to return to a normal life.
posted by wibari at 5:48 PM on August 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
i hope that medical advances going forward save the lives of the obstinate maniacs who act like covid doesnt exist. but i ALSO hope that such advances convince those of us who have been driven to panic over the last 18 months that it is possible to return to a normal life.
posted by wibari at 5:48 PM on August 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
The flu doesn't rob you of your intelligence. Covid is not the flu.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(21)00324-2/fulltext
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.11.21258690v1.full.pdf
The Lancet is not a quack journal, either. This isn't tinfoil hat shit. Normal life shouldn't come back, and we should resist our supposed benefactors who run the economy and their stooges in government who insist we need to go back to earning them their passive rent on its growth.
posted by constantinescharity at 9:06 PM on August 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(21)00324-2/fulltext
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.11.21258690v1.full.pdf
The Lancet is not a quack journal, either. This isn't tinfoil hat shit. Normal life shouldn't come back, and we should resist our supposed benefactors who run the economy and their stooges in government who insist we need to go back to earning them their passive rent on its growth.
posted by constantinescharity at 9:06 PM on August 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
The science is really interesting in this, including the discussion of why we don't normally deliver vaccines nasally, and why it might be better as a booster shot for adults. It sounds like a tough sell to the public, with risks of live infection, possibilities of triggering preexisting lung conditions, and a lot of variation in effectiveness for the influenza based ones.
Because I understand covid has long-term neurological side effects (which my dad is struggling with right now btw), for me the benefits of being vaccinated at the site of infection could outweigh the risks of side effects even for something like this but I hope they can figure some of this out...soon. Thank you for posting this.
posted by subdee at 9:45 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
Because I understand covid has long-term neurological side effects (which my dad is struggling with right now btw), for me the benefits of being vaccinated at the site of infection could outweigh the risks of side effects even for something like this but I hope they can figure some of this out...soon. Thank you for posting this.
posted by subdee at 9:45 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by officer_fred at 10:01 AM on August 14, 2021