Official LRC President Joseph R Biden Thread

Hardloper wrote:

Yes, he's pointing out that the economies in red states are currently better. And for the last 10 years the fastest growing states years have been mostly red states (plus WA and MA). And people have been voting with their feet in droves towards red states. Can't just pretend that isn't happening.

People are voting with their feet says the guy in Seattle ?

People don’t vote with their feet, they vote at the ballot box or by mail in voting.

People are moving out of rural areas to cities and urban areas. Sometimes this turns red states purple or even blue.

Amazing news - Pfizer is now saying one shot per person has almost

The efficacy of two.

If the FDA is brave enough to change the protocol this could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Polack et al. (Dec. 31)1 report a vaccine efficacy of 94.8% against Covid-19 after two doses of the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech). The authors also report a vaccine efficacy of 52.4% from after the first dose to before the second dose, but in their calculation, they included data that were collected during the first 2 weeks after the first dose, when immunity would have still been mounting.1 We used documents submitted to the Food and Drug Administration2 to derive the vaccine efficacy beginning from 2 weeks after the first dose to before the second dose (Table 1). Even before the second dose, BNT162b2 was highly efficacious, with a vaccine efficacy of 92.6%, a finding similar to the first-dose efficacy of 92.1% reported for the mRNA-1273 vaccine (Moderna).3

With such a highly protective first dose, the benefits derived from a scarce supply of vaccine could be maximized by deferring second doses until all priority group members are offered at least one dose.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2036242

korection:

Pfizer isn't saying this, researchers are.

Which will make it much harder for government officials to change the current protocol.

Bad States

AZ

OH

AL

RI

NY

NJ

NC (new)

SC

(TX drops off bad list. Because of storms?)

Good States

HI

ND

ME

AK

NE (new)

VT (new)

vaccinations dropping now, prob because of weather. Down to 1.64m/day

Anyone else think it's weird that Biden just lied on national television about the vaccine not being available until he got into office, meanwhile he received BOTH shots before being sworn in?

agip wrote:

Amazing news - Pfizer is now saying one shot per person has almost

The efficacy of two.

If the FDA is brave enough to change the protocol this could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

aka Pfizer see possible vaccine sales fall by 50%

;)

too soon? wrote:

Anyone else think it's weird that Biden just lied on national television about the vaccine not being available until he got into office, meanwhile he received BOTH shots before being sworn in?

Nah, because I understood the context in which he was speaking. Apparently a lot of others did too.

I'm sure you'll get there eventually.

formerly present wrote:

too soon? wrote:

Anyone else think it's weird that Biden just lied on national television about the vaccine not being available until he got into office, meanwhile he received BOTH shots before being sworn in?

Nah, because I understood the context in which he was speaking. Apparently a lot of others did too.

I'm sure you'll get there eventually.

CNN factcheck explains this is a nothingburger, but Joe was unclear at times.

The vaccine situation

Biden made a series of claims about the Covid-19 vaccine situation upon his January inauguration. He said early at the town hall that when "we came into office, there was only 50 million doses that were available." Moments later, he said, "We got into office and found out the supply -- there was no backlog. I mean, there was nothing in the refrigerator, figuratively and literally speaking, and there were 10 million doses a day that were available." Soon after that, he told Cooper, "But when you and I talked last, we talked about -- it's one thing to have the vaccine, which we didn't have when we came into office, but a vaccinator -- how do you get the vaccine into someone's arm?"

Facts First: Biden got at least one of these statistics wrong -- in a way that made Trump look better, not worse, so Biden's inaccuracy appeared accidental, but we're noting it anyway. A White House official said that Biden's claim about "10 million doses a day" being available when he took office was meant to be a reference to the 10 million doses a week that were being sent to states as of the second week of Biden's term, up from 8.6 million a week when they took over.

The official said Biden's claim about "50 million doses" being available when he took office was a reference to the number of doses that had been distributed to states as of the end of January. That was less than two weeks into his term, but he could have been clearer on the time frame.

Biden's more dramatic claim here, that there was "nothing in the refrigerator" when he took office, has a solid factual basis, though Biden could again have been clearer about what he meant. The official said this was a reference to the fact that, as reported by the Washington Post in the week before Biden's inauguration, there was no federal reserve of second doses available at the time. The Trump administration confirmed to the Post for a January 15 article that the contents of the stockpile had been released to states; then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the doses in the reserve could be shipped out "because we now have a consistent pace of production." (It's worth noting that Biden's own transition team itself called for the release of second doses from the reserve.)

It's also generally true that there were serious problems with vaccine supply just before Biden's inauguration. Some states said that they had not been sent enough doses or that they faced major logistical issues in getting doses to residents.

Some of Biden's Republican critics have focused on his claim that "we didn't have" the vaccine when we came into office -- suggesting that Biden was denying that a Covid-19 vaccine existed at all under President Donald Trump. Given the other comments Biden had just made, we think it's clear in context that this was not his actual meaning.

It’s nice having an adult in charge again.

US trends continue to improve

Cases down 71%

Deaths down 40%

12% have had one shot

Daily jab count falling, to 1.62m from 1.72m before the storms

Israel

Cases down 54%

Deaths down 51%

48% have had one jab

France

Cases down 10%

Deaths down 25%

only 4% have had one jab

France as an example of poor vax strategy continues to have less of a drop in deaths than highly vaxed nations. Are the french people furious?

And with this news that the Pfizer vaccine is highly effective after one shot, one jab is obvi very important. Not sure if Modena and the other one has the same characteristics.

Good States

ND

VT

HI

(lost AK, gained VT)

Bad States

NY

RI

NJ

DE

SC

NC

OH

AL

(Dropped AZ, finally, and OK)

all the worst states are East of the river.

pupil3142 wrote:

agip wrote:

Amazing news - Pfizer is now saying one shot per person has almost

The efficacy of two.

If the FDA is brave enough to change the protocol this could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

aka Pfizer see possible vaccine sales fall by 50%

;)

lol imagine thinking that Pfizer cares about losing out on margin on a vaccine they were already selling basically at cost.

The fact they've pioneered a literal world economic saving vaccine with bleeding edge methodologies will cement their status as the go-to pharmaceutical company for the next 20 years. The will get the best graduates and researchers from the best schools. Every business, pharmacy, and medical science school and organization will be knocking down their door for a chance for partnerships and contracts. That the vaccine now turns out to be even more effective than previously thought pretty much doubles that effect.

agip wrote:

Amazing news - Pfizer is now saying one shot per person has almost

The efficacy of two.

If the FDA is brave enough to change the protocol this could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

As I understand it, the two dose protocol was in place is because that is how the initial trial was structured. It stands to reason that a single dose would be protective, but there was no controlled trial evidence one way or the other as to the efficacy of a single dose. The FDA took the conservative approach of following the trial protocol while some other countries went with a single shot on the speculation that (an unquantified) most of the protection comes from the first dose and they could inoculate twice the population. This is probably where the new trial data is coming from.

I'd expect the FDA will accept this data and the CDC recommendation will probably be to prioritize a single shot protocol. I'd expect also that we'll see a similar announcement for the Moderna vaccine shortly.

you think so?

I doubt the US government would have the courage to change a drug protocol like that. Someone would have to stick their neck out very very far to do that. Bureaucrats don't like to do that.

I'd expect no action from this - that the US will say 'we need more data' and keep the current protocol.

I do understand that the UK is prioritizing first shots tho, and having good success. So that's a positive.

formerly present wrote:

too soon? wrote:

Anyone else think it's weird that Biden just lied on national television about the vaccine not being available until he got into office, meanwhile he received BOTH shots before being sworn in?

Nah, because I understood the context in which he was speaking. Apparently a lot of others did too.

I'm sure you'll get there eventually.

Help me get there. What was the context?

agip wrote:

you think so?

I doubt the US government would have the courage to change a drug protocol like that. Someone would have to stick their neck out very very far to do that. Bureaucrats don't like to do that.

I'd expect no action from this - that the US will say 'we need more data' and keep the current protocol.

I do understand that the UK is prioritizing first shots tho, and having good success. So that's a positive.

No action from a single study (we're talking about something out of Israel) perhaps, but there will be similar data coming out of other countries like the UK that have done mass inoculations with a single dose.

I guess the question is whether the FDA will need a U.S. specific study or not. If so, that would push any change in protocol out until such a study could be completed, which would be on the order of two months at a minimum. We're also necessarily lacking data on the effectiveness of a single dose followed by a second much later, that is, the inoculate everybody with a single dose and follow with a second after the first round.

Moderna is very effective as well. But has less of a T8 cell response (long term effectiveness).

I wonder if the best thing is to get both shots and then actually get covid? So your body has the longest lasting protection.

To be fair, one can't encourage people to get vaccinated by saying "no corners were cut and we following standard trial processes" and then say "actually, anecdotal individual studies suggest a different approach works just as well, but you should still trust us". The move to a single shot would require a significant leap of faith on the part of the recipient, though to be honest, I don't expect most people to care.

exolain it wrote:

formerly present wrote:

Nah, because I understood the context in which he was speaking. Apparently a lot of others did too.

I'm sure you'll get there eventually.

Help me get there. What was the context?

Well, "agip" posted this already, but I'll reproduce it:

The vaccine situation

Biden made a series of claims about the Covid-19 vaccine situation upon his January inauguration. He said early at the town hall that when "we came into office, there was only 50 million doses that were available." Moments later, he said, "We got into office and found out the supply -- there was no backlog. I mean, there was nothing in the refrigerator, figuratively and literally speaking, and there were 10 million doses a day that were available." Soon after that, he told Cooper, "But when you and I talked last, we talked about -- it's one thing to have the vaccine, which we didn't have when we came into office, but a vaccinator -- how do you get the vaccine into someone's arm?"

Facts First: Biden got at least one of these statistics wrong -- in a way that made Trump look better, not worse, so Biden's inaccuracy appeared accidental, but we're noting it anyway. A White House official said that Biden's claim about "10 million doses a day" being available when he took office was meant to be a reference to the 10 million doses a week that were being sent to states as of the second week of Biden's term, up from 8.6 million a week when they took over.

The official said Biden's claim about "50 million doses" being available when he took office was a reference to the number of doses that had been distributed to states as of the end of January. That was less than two weeks into his term, but he could have been clearer on the time frame.

Biden's more dramatic claim here, that there was "nothing in the refrigerator" when he took office, has a solid factual basis, though Biden could again have been clearer about what he meant. The official said this was a reference to the fact that, as reported by the Washington Post in the week before Biden's inauguration, there was no federal reserve of second doses available at the time. The Trump administration confirmed to the Post for a January 15 article that the contents of the stockpile had been released to states; then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the doses in the reserve could be shipped out "because we now have a consistent pace of production." (It's worth noting that Biden's own transition team itself called for the release of second doses from the reserve.)

It's also generally true that there were serious problems with vaccine supply just before Biden's inauguration. Some states said that they had not been sent enough doses or that they faced major logistical issues in getting doses to residents.

Some of Biden's Republican critics have focused on his claim that "we didn't have" the vaccine when we came into office -- suggesting that Biden was denying that a Covid-19 vaccine existed at all under President Donald Trump. Given the other comments Biden had just made, we think it's clear in context that this was not his actual meaning.

In any case, I think most of us who follow the news have a fairly good idea of the reality of the situation. In general I'm not going to rely on Biden (aka The Gaffefather) for an authoritative description of current events or history of past ones. The only break I'll give him is that at times it appears that he *wants* to be accurate, whereas The Former Guy just didn't give af.