wth
This is a great answer. Thank you.
Looks like another nothingburger to me. He says:
- we do not fund gain-of-function at that lab.
- they are doing gain-of-function research
- we are concerned that COVID could be made worse by the gain-of-function research
According to the GAO - It also turns out that the NIH did fund virus research in that lab (or at least in Wuhan U), and they did not effectively monitor it. Note - its a big lab and likely had other work going on.
I feel for Fauci - there was conflicting research about whether the mutations were natural (supported by some scientists) vs artificial (supported by other scientists), and he was being forced to make a call. As the leaked doc states, he was trying to bring together more scientists to find a more definitive answer.
The evidence is pretty clear that the vaccine significantly reduced the incidence, and the severity, hospitalisation and death of the illness.
So first - obviously if the incidence of the virus drops, then transmission will drop (you don’t get it you can’t spread it).
One study in England in 2021 found that a single dose of a vaccine reduced the likelihood of household transmission by 40-50%. Link. Another study which was undertaken during Delta’s reign showed minimal impact (link)
There haven’t been a great deal of study on the Omicron variant yet.
Bottom line - the vaccine is hugely worth it. Some variants are better at transmission even when you are vaccinated.
Yeah. I didn’t realise initially, and wrote a response to a post on there, with multiple links to research (real research, by real scientists). Response was banning for misinformation. Kinda proud to be banned from that cesspool.
Closed. Otherwise dog sneaks in, climbs up on the bed and falls asleep. The he slowly but surely takes over the whole bed.
Its getting there, and there is some entertaining content on here (comments and posts). But I think we are still missing the super high end responses. No matter what the topic, one or two people would jump on and have deep specialised knowledge of the field - be it naming an insect from a blurry image or commenting on a geopolitical situation. I still see lots of posts that generate nothing more than “huh” or “wow” type comments.
When that starts appearing more broadly, I think the quality here is going to take another leap.
I gotta take my hat off to the GOP here. While both parties have gerrymandered, the GOP have taken it to the extreme. They will lock in their ruling majority (despite losing at the polls) in every state where they control the Supreme Court and legislature. They will become unassailable in those states.
They know they have to do this - they are (or will be) in the minority.
The Supreme Court did the USA a disservice because they could have tempered the worst excesses of the various states. But they have declared themselves hands off - let the states decide.
Sigh.
