Coronavirus COVID-19

[kalm]

A Black Market in COVID-19 Vaccination Cards Was Inevitable

…..A recent Associated Press investigation found bogus vaccination certificates for sale across social media and on dark web sites for as little as $25. The main customers to-date appear to be college students satisfying school requirements before registering for classes, but more mandates from employers and governments can only mean increased demand.

Of course, the flimsy CDC-issued COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards aren't exactly high-tech documents designed with security in mind. They require nothing more than a scanner/printer, some card stock, and a few minutes to duplicate for those who care to do the job themselves. That's why governments and businesses are turning to digital vaccine passports that are supposed to be both durable and resistant to fraud. But early efforts haven't been entirely successful.

"I forged it in 11 minutes," Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, warned in April about New York's much-ballyhooed Excelsior Pass. "Not only do the security promises of New York's Excelsior Pass fail to hold up to scrutiny, but the tracking tech raises an alarming array of public health, equity, and civil rights questions that remain unanswered."

More recently, NBC News's Cyrus Farivar got the NYC Covid Safe App to accept a menu from a barbecue restaurant as proof of vaccination. While it's true that a rack of ribs will cure most ills, that's not much of an endorsement for the app's reliability.

"Some of the apps we've seen are made by companies for whom creating secure health passes isn't a sole focus," point out the Washington Post's Chris Velazco and Geoffrey A. Fowler in a review of competitors in the field. "Others might try to get you to pay after you start using the app. Apps that are poorly or unscrupulously written could be used to violate your privacy."

The digital documents can also be complicated to use, so authorities generally accept paper alternatives—which brings us back to those flimsy CDC cards….

https://reason.com/2021/08/11/a-black-m ... table/?amp

More selfish idiocy.

[Winterborn]

https://reason.com/2021/08/11/a-black-m ... table/?amp

More selfish idiocy.

Just the free market at work.

What do you have against capitalism?

[kalm]

More selfish idiocy.

Just the free market at work.

What do you have against capitalism?

So you’re saying capitalism is essentially based in fraud?

Interesting.

[Ibanez]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Winterborn]

Just the free market at work.

What do you have against capitalism?

So you’re saying capitalism is essentially based in fraud?

Interesting.

Supply and demand.

[CID1990]

Hey JSO

You never replied to my comment about evidence vs probability in the COVID origins debate

I took that as a tapout

But what do you think about the virologist Wilson Edwards’ claims about the origin debate, re: the WHO report and the politics of the origin debate?

His arguments remind me a lot of your own


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tick tock tick tock


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[UNI88]

Just the free market at work.

What do you have against capitalism?

So you’re saying capitalism is essentially based in fraud?

Interesting.

It's kind of like government in that regard ...

[Ivytalk]

I thought I’d be smart and have my card laminated, so it wouldn’t get worn out.

Then they started talking about requiring a booster.

Fvck.

[clenz]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... r-1211252/

2012 Rand Paul Pushed to Make Illegal What 2020 Rand Paul Did
The Stock Act requires members of Congress to disclose stock purchases within 45 days, but the senator didn’t reveal his wife’s investment in an anti-viral thought to treat Covid-19 for 16 months

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) disclosed this week that in February 2020, his wife purchased stock in a company that makes an anti-viral once thought to be a treatment for Covid-19. The disclosure comes sixteen months later than is required under the Stock Act, a 2012 law banning insider trading by members of Congress and other government employees that Paul voted for in the Senate nine years ago.

Paul spokesperson Kelsey Cooper told the Washington Post, which first reported the story, that the senator filled out a form to report the investment in 2020 but said the form had not been properly transmitted, something she said Paul didn’t realize until he was completing an annual disclosure. He contacted the Senate Ethics Committee for guidance and submitted a supplemental report, which said that the investment was between $1,000 and $15,000. Under the Stock Act, members must disclose investments within 45 days, and annual disclosures must be made in May. Paul’s remdesivir disclosure came 16 months late, and his annual disclosure was submitted three months late.

But Paul once advocated for the bill that set these requirements he now appears to flout. During a 2012 floor speech in support of the Stock Act, Paul said, “People should not profit off of their involvement in government. They shouldn’t profit off of special relationships. They shouldn’t profit off of special knowledge they gain in the function of serving the people.”

He continued, “People in government are abusing their roles in government to make more money at the expense of the taxpayer. And I think it should end.”

It’s possible that in February 2020 Paul had access to information about remdesivir that was not yet available to the public. He sits on the health committee in the Senate, and Trump officials had briefed the committee on the emerging threat posed by the virus in January. Paul’s wife made the stock purchase just two days ahead of a WHO assistant director general saying publicly that remdesivir was the “only” drug that “may have real efficacy” against Covid-19, which led to an increase in Gilead’s stock value.

As Columbia University securities law expert Joshua Mitts told the Post, “Not everything about the product was necessarily clear from existing announcements. There could have been information about interest that certain individuals within the administration may have had in the product, or that hospitals here in the U.S. were already loading up.”

Although remdesivir was initially believed to have promise against Covid-19, further studies have found the drug is not as effective against the coronavirus as originally thought, and in November 2020 the WHO recommended against its use in patients with the virus. Paul’s spokesperson said the senator’s wife lost money on the investment.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Paul has been a super spreader of Covid-19 misinformation, which is especially confusing because he has a medical degree. He is an avid anti-masker and was the first senator known to have tested positive for the coronavirus back in March of 2020.

But even after he suspected he might have contracted the virus and got tested — at a time when tests were hard to come by — Paul continued going about his daily activities and exposed others. After he announced a positive test, numerous lawmakers announced they would quarantine because they had come in contact with him. Paul was also the only senator to vote against free Covid-19 testing for all Americans. And he has frequently downplayed the pandemic. In May 2020, he said, “Outside of New England, we’ve had a relatively benign course for this virus nationwide.” And he claimed it would be a “huge mistake” not to send kids to school in person that fall.

[BDKJMU]

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine just 42% effective against infection amid delta spread, preprint suggests

Early findings posted ahead of rigorous peer review suggested the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine declined to 42% effectiveness against infection amid sweeping spread of the delta variant, with the Moderna vaccine declining to 76%.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Cambridge-based biotech company nference posted the retrospective study in medrxiv this week, drawing from tens of thousands PCR tests conducted at the Mayo Clinic and affiliated hospitals across nearly half a dozen states.

The study period analyzed samples from January to July, when either the alpha or delta variant was a highly prevalent strain; "the Delta variant prevalence in Minnesota increased from 0.7% in May to over 70% in July whereas the Alpha variant prevalence decreased from 85% to 13% over the same time period," the preprint reads.

While results indicated the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were highly effective against COVID-19 infection (76%, 86%, respectively) and hospitalization (85%, 91.6%) the effectiveness against infection dropped by July to 42% and 76%, respectively.

Further findings indicated that people vaccinated with Moderna’s shot were half as likely to develop a breakthrough infection, compared to recipients of the Pfizer vaccine. What’s more, researchers found that Florida residents fully vaccinated with Moderna’s shot faced a 60% lower risk of infection when compared to Pfizer recipients. Also, across all states, the Moderna vaccine cut COVID-related hospitalizations by about half the rate compared to the Pfizer vaccine. Researchers noted "no significant difference" between the groups relating to ICU admission for COVID-19.

In a statement sent to Fox News, Pfizer reiterated confidence in the protection and safety of its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, and noted an ongoing "robust booster research program to ensure" the vaccine offers the greatest level of protection as possible. Pfizer intends to share the compiled data with regulators around the world in the coming weeks.

"The vaccine continues to be highly efficacious in preventing COVID-19, including variants and to date, no variant, including Delta, appears to have escaped the protection of the vaccine," the statement reads. Fox News has also requested comment from Moderna.

Study authors suggested several factors behind the differences observed among the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, including the dosing, meaning "each mRNA-1273 [Moderna] dose provides three times more mRNA copies of the Spike protein than BNT162b2 [Pfizer], which could result in more effective priming of the immune response."

The study had its limitations; the sample size wasn’t representative of the U.S. population, and authors said other factors could've impacted the findings regarding reduced vaccine effectiveness (like "waning immunity over time, the dynamic landscape of SARS-CoV-2 variants, or other factors that were not considered here.")

"Our observational study suggests that while both mRNA COVID-19 vaccines strongly protect against infection and severe disease, there are differences in their real-world effectiveness relative to each other and relative to prior months of the pandemic," study authors concluded.

Researchers called for larger studies with more diverse participants to guide public health decisions, including timing of booster doses….

https://www.foxnews.com/health/pfizer-c ... a-preprint

[BDKJMU]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

[AZGrizFan]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

Interesting they didn't include the J&J stick. That's the one I got.

[Winterborn]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

Too late. I am a Pfizer for life unless they allow people to get booster shots from different companies.

[Winterborn]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

Interesting they didn't include the J&J stick. That's the one I got.

That one just makes you drink more beer.

[Ivytalk]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

Too late. I am a Pfizer for life unless they allow people to get booster shots from different companies.

[kalm]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... r-1211252/

2012 Rand Paul Pushed to Make Illegal What 2020 Rand Paul Did
The Stock Act requires members of Congress to disclose stock purchases within 45 days, but the senator didn’t reveal his wife’s investment in an anti-viral thought to treat Covid-19 for 16 months

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) disclosed this week that in February 2020, his wife purchased stock in a company that makes an anti-viral once thought to be a treatment for Covid-19. The disclosure comes sixteen months later than is required under the Stock Act, a 2012 law banning insider trading by members of Congress and other government employees that Paul voted for in the Senate nine years ago.

Paul spokesperson Kelsey Cooper told the Washington Post, which first reported the story, that the senator filled out a form to report the investment in 2020 but said the form had not been properly transmitted, something she said Paul didn’t realize until he was completing an annual disclosure. He contacted the Senate Ethics Committee for guidance and submitted a supplemental report, which said that the investment was between $1,000 and $15,000. Under the Stock Act, members must disclose investments within 45 days, and annual disclosures must be made in May. Paul’s remdesivir disclosure came 16 months late, and his annual disclosure was submitted three months late.

But Paul once advocated for the bill that set these requirements he now appears to flout. During a 2012 floor speech in support of the Stock Act, Paul said, “People should not profit off of their involvement in government. They shouldn’t profit off of special relationships. They shouldn’t profit off of special knowledge they gain in the function of serving the people.”

He continued, “People in government are abusing their roles in government to make more money at the expense of the taxpayer. And I think it should end.”

It’s possible that in February 2020 Paul had access to information about remdesivir that was not yet available to the public. He sits on the health committee in the Senate, and Trump officials had briefed the committee on the emerging threat posed by the virus in January. Paul’s wife made the stock purchase just two days ahead of a WHO assistant director general saying publicly that remdesivir was the “only” drug that “may have real efficacy” against Covid-19, which led to an increase in Gilead’s stock value.

As Columbia University securities law expert Joshua Mitts told the Post, “Not everything about the product was necessarily clear from existing announcements. There could have been information about interest that certain individuals within the administration may have had in the product, or that hospitals here in the U.S. were already loading up.”

Although remdesivir was initially believed to have promise against Covid-19, further studies have found the drug is not as effective against the coronavirus as originally thought, and in November 2020 the WHO recommended against its use in patients with the virus. Paul’s spokesperson said the senator’s wife lost money on the investment.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Paul has been a super spreader of Covid-19 misinformation, which is especially confusing because he has a medical degree. He is an avid anti-masker and was the first senator known to have tested positive for the coronavirus back in March of 2020.

But even after he suspected he might have contracted the virus and got tested — at a time when tests were hard to come by — Paul continued going about his daily activities and exposed others. After he announced a positive test, numerous lawmakers announced they would quarantine because they had come in contact with him. Paul was also the only senator to vote against free Covid-19 testing for all Americans. And he has frequently downplayed the pandemic. In May 2020, he said, “Outside of New England, we’ve had a relatively benign course for this virus nationwide.” And he claimed it would be a “huge mistake” not to send kids to school in person that fall.

WaPo ran a similar piece. Shocker!

[Winterborn]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... r-1211252/

2012 Rand Paul Pushed to Make Illegal What 2020 Rand Paul Did
The Stock Act requires members of Congress to disclose stock purchases within 45 days, but the senator didn’t reveal his wife’s investment in an anti-viral thought to treat Covid-19 for 16 months

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) disclosed this week that in February 2020, his wife purchased stock in a company that makes an anti-viral once thought to be a treatment for Covid-19. The disclosure comes sixteen months later than is required under the Stock Act, a 2012 law banning insider trading by members of Congress and other government employees that Paul voted for in the Senate nine years ago.

Paul spokesperson Kelsey Cooper told the Washington Post, which first reported the story, that the senator filled out a form to report the investment in 2020 but said the form had not been properly transmitted, something she said Paul didn’t realize until he was completing an annual disclosure. He contacted the Senate Ethics Committee for guidance and submitted a supplemental report, which said that the investment was between $1,000 and $15,000. Under the Stock Act, members must disclose investments within 45 days, and annual disclosures must be made in May. Paul’s remdesivir disclosure came 16 months late, and his annual disclosure was submitted three months late.

But Paul once advocated for the bill that set these requirements he now appears to flout. During a 2012 floor speech in support of the Stock Act, Paul said, “People should not profit off of their involvement in government. They shouldn’t profit off of special relationships. They shouldn’t profit off of special knowledge they gain in the function of serving the people.”

He continued, “People in government are abusing their roles in government to make more money at the expense of the taxpayer. And I think it should end.”

It’s possible that in February 2020 Paul had access to information about remdesivir that was not yet available to the public. He sits on the health committee in the Senate, and Trump officials had briefed the committee on the emerging threat posed by the virus in January. Paul’s wife made the stock purchase just two days ahead of a WHO assistant director general saying publicly that remdesivir was the “only” drug that “may have real efficacy” against Covid-19, which led to an increase in Gilead’s stock value.

As Columbia University securities law expert Joshua Mitts told the Post, “Not everything about the product was necessarily clear from existing announcements. There could have been information about interest that certain individuals within the administration may have had in the product, or that hospitals here in the U.S. were already loading up.”

Although remdesivir was initially believed to have promise against Covid-19, further studies have found the drug is not as effective against the coronavirus as originally thought, and in November 2020 the WHO recommended against its use in patients with the virus. Paul’s spokesperson said the senator’s wife lost money on the investment.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Paul has been a super spreader of Covid-19 misinformation, which is especially confusing because he has a medical degree. He is an avid anti-masker and was the first senator known to have tested positive for the coronavirus back in March of 2020.

But even after he suspected he might have contracted the virus and got tested — at a time when tests were hard to come by — Paul continued going about his daily activities and exposed others. After he announced a positive test, numerous lawmakers announced they would quarantine because they had come in contact with him. Paul was also the only senator to vote against free Covid-19 testing for all Americans. And he has frequently downplayed the pandemic. In May 2020, he said, “Outside of New England, we’ve had a relatively benign course for this virus nationwide.” And he claimed it would be a “huge mistake” not to send kids to school in person that fall.

WaPo ran a similar piece. Shocker!

It is why one should never put their trust in a politician. They are all crooked.

[Gil Dobie]

I thought I’d be smart and have my card laminated, so it wouldn’t get worn out.

Then they started talking about requiring a booster.

Fvck.

I use a cardsaver I, available at any baseball card store the sells supplies.

[Gil Dobie]

So you’re saying capitalism is essentially based in fraud?

Interesting.

Supply and demand.

So you will have to go to Chinatown, go thru the back door of a store, up a dark stairway, and pull one out of a black garbage bag?

[AZGrizFan]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... r-1211252/

2012 Rand Paul Pushed to Make Illegal What 2020 Rand Paul Did
The Stock Act requires members of Congress to disclose stock purchases within 45 days, but the senator didn’t reveal his wife’s investment in an anti-viral thought to treat Covid-19 for 16 months

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) disclosed this week that in February 2020, his wife purchased stock in a company that makes an anti-viral once thought to be a treatment for Covid-19. The disclosure comes sixteen months later than is required under the Stock Act, a 2012 law banning insider trading by members of Congress and other government employees that Paul voted for in the Senate nine years ago.

Paul spokesperson Kelsey Cooper told the Washington Post, which first reported the story, that the senator filled out a form to report the investment in 2020 but said the form had not been properly transmitted, something she said Paul didn’t realize until he was completing an annual disclosure. He contacted the Senate Ethics Committee for guidance and submitted a supplemental report, which said that the investment was between $1,000 and $15,000. Under the Stock Act, members must disclose investments within 45 days, and annual disclosures must be made in May. Paul’s remdesivir disclosure came 16 months late, and his annual disclosure was submitted three months late.

But Paul once advocated for the bill that set these requirements he now appears to flout. During a 2012 floor speech in support of the Stock Act, Paul said, “People should not profit off of their involvement in government. They shouldn’t profit off of special relationships. They shouldn’t profit off of special knowledge they gain in the function of serving the people.”

He continued, “People in government are abusing their roles in government to make more money at the expense of the taxpayer. And I think it should end.”

It’s possible that in February 2020 Paul had access to information about remdesivir that was not yet available to the public. He sits on the health committee in the Senate, and Trump officials had briefed the committee on the emerging threat posed by the virus in January. Paul’s wife made the stock purchase just two days ahead of a WHO assistant director general saying publicly that remdesivir was the “only” drug that “may have real efficacy” against Covid-19, which led to an increase in Gilead’s stock value.

As Columbia University securities law expert Joshua Mitts told the Post, “Not everything about the product was necessarily clear from existing announcements. There could have been information about interest that certain individuals within the administration may have had in the product, or that hospitals here in the U.S. were already loading up.”

Although remdesivir was initially believed to have promise against Covid-19, further studies have found the drug is not as effective against the coronavirus as originally thought, and in November 2020 the WHO recommended against its use in patients with the virus. Paul’s spokesperson said the senator’s wife lost money on the investment.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Paul has been a super spreader of Covid-19 misinformation, which is especially confusing because he has a medical degree. He is an avid anti-masker and was the first senator known to have tested positive for the coronavirus back in March of 2020.

But even after he suspected he might have contracted the virus and got tested — at a time when tests were hard to come by — Paul continued going about his daily activities and exposed others. After he announced a positive test, numerous lawmakers announced they would quarantine because they had come in contact with him. Paul was also the only senator to vote against free Covid-19 testing for all Americans. And he has frequently downplayed the pandemic. In May 2020, he said, “Outside of New England, we’ve had a relatively benign course for this virus nationwide.” And he claimed it would be a “huge mistake” not to send kids to school in person that fall.

WaPo ran a similar piece. Shocker!

I wonder if they wrote a similar piece on the insider trading Pelosi's husband did? Or is this a political thing?

[Ibanez]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

I mean...that's hindsight and a 1st Gen vaccine. Anyone thinking they were going to get Jedi Force level protections until the end of time is putting pretty high and unnecessary expectations on the drugs.

[Ibanez]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

Too late. I am a Pfizer for life unless they allow people to get booster shots from different companies.

Mixing COVID-19 vaccines is emerging as a good way to get people the protection they need when faced with safety concerns and unpredictable supplies. Most vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 must be given in two doses, but multiple studies now back up the idea that mixing the Oxford–AstraZeneca jab and the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine triggers an immune response similar to — or even stronger than — two doses of either vaccine.

Results announced on Monday 1 by a UK group suggest that the comb

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01805-2

[∞∞∞]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

Too late. I am a Pfizer for life unless they allow people to get booster shots from different companies.

Not really. It's mostly not done cause it's just easier for people to stick to one routine, but mixing vaccines isn't entirely uncommon either. NPR actually had a segment about it a few weeks ago:



Just consult your doctor.

Edit: Ibanez beat me to it.

[kalm]

So looks like if you got stuck you were better off getting the Moderna instead of Pfizer..

I mean...that's hindsight and a 1st Gen vaccine. Anyone thinking they were going to get Jedi Force level protections until the end of time is putting pretty high and unnecessary expectations on the drugs.

BDK is not the droid you’re looking for.

[kalm]

No...Mondo straight!

You punch a horse and I'm outta here.

Dont know. Kalm is just pawn in game of life.