Corona virus vaccine and the vaccine for seniors..... - Page 2

willdob3 · ‎11-01-2010

@chiclet wrote:
I just saw a Doctor on CNN say something I had not thought of. The trials attract mostly healthy younger people. Not too many seniors sign up for them for obvious reasons. So when the vaccine comes out how safe will it be for seniors. I guess if enough seniors take the vaccine and live to tell about it we will know if it is safe.

@chiclet

Trials like this generally only accept younger people in good health. You can’t just sign up; you have to qualify.

I don’t recall where I read this but experts say any vaccine will be less effective on the elderly. The flu vaccine is also less effective on the elderly than younger people. They are less likely to help the ones who actually have compromised immune systems.

Kind of makes me wonder if they actaully work at all.

But I won’t be taking part in the great experiment so I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it. Vaccines will just be used in addition to social distancing, hand washing, and wearing masks. I’m doing those things now.

Marp · ‎03-09-2010

Excerpt from: bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2020/04/20/covid-19-vaccine-trial-at-emory-expanded-to.html

Investigators are now expanding Phase of the trial to enroll a total of 60 additional participants over age 55: 30 aged 56 to 70 and 30 ages 71 and older. The NIAID Vaccine Research Center clinic at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., is the third trial site.

All three sites will enroll adults ages 56 and older in the coming weeks. Emory is expected to add about 20 of the 60 total additional participants, a spokeswoman said. Participants will receive two shots of the experimental vaccine approximately one month apart and will be followed for about one year.

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.

pitdakota · ‎03-16-2010

@Jaspersmom wrote:
I had a similar discussion with some friends the other day. Most are ready to get the vaccine when it comes out. Even a few younger people I know want the vaccine.

We actually got to talking about the polio vaccine back in the 1950's and 1960's and we remarked that although we were quite young at the time, we never heard of people not taking it. Today everything seems to be so controversial and groups of people have become anti-vaccine. When you think of the diseases we've eradicated because of vaccines, you know the end result is better than what could happen if those diseases went unchecked. So, yeah, I'll take the vaccine.

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@Jaspersmom I agree with you about the progress we made in the past to decreasing many communicable diseases because we were vaccinated at a higher rate back in the day along with laws now that require childhood vaccinations for children in school.

However, I have to point out that there is only one disease in the history of mankind that has been eradicated. And that is smallpox.

Eradicated means to reduce the incidence to zero globally as a result of deliberative efforts with no possiblity of future transmission.

I think you probably mean eliminated which means reduce to cases in a particular region to zero, but still occurs in other regions.

We are well on the way towards eradication of polio. It is eliminated in the US, but still occurs in other under developed countries. Work to vaccinate those individuals is under way so it is hopeful that we might be able to add polio to the eradicated list.

Measles is considered eliminated in the US. We do have enough children in this country vaccinated for measles to provide herd immunity, but we still experience local outbreaks in the country at times. Thankfully, the vast majority of individuals are vaccinated so the outbreak remains just that and does not threaten to become an epidemic. A very important public health principle. Certainly glad that we have the number of children vaccinated in this country so that most of the population is protected from an epidemic.

And I am with you on the covid-19 vaccine. When it is available I will be reviewing the studies and if they look to be ok, I will be there when it is available for me.

* Freedom has a taste the protected will never know *

Marp · ‎03-09-2010

@pitdakota, I have an off-topic question related to polio.

I had an uncle that was infected with polio as a child resulting in him being partially paralyzed on his left side. As a senior adult, early to mid 70s, he developed post-polio syndrome resulting in him requiring a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

At the time he was diagnosed it seems there was no real treatment for post-polio syndrome. Is there now a treatment?

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.

pitdakota · ‎03-16-2010

@Marp wrote:
@pitdakota, I have an off-topic question related to polio.

I had an uncle that was infected with polio as a child resulting in him being partially paralyzed on his left side. As a senior adult, early to mid 70s, he developed post-polio syndrome resulting in him requiring a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

At the time he was diagnosed it seems there was no real treatment for post-polio syndrome. Is there now a treatment?

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Hi @Marp! Boy, this one is really out of my wheelhouse. Right off the top of my head I haven't heard of any new treatments. It isn't something I follow closely. But I think it is still like it used to be with using treatment modalities that address the symptoms such PT, pain relievers if necessary, etc. Although all of the standard areas: PT, speech therapy, pain relief, etc. are all areas that have vastly improved over the last several years. So they may offer more effective relief.

I am so sorry to hear about your uncle. How unfortunate for this to happen to him.

This highlights some of the really frustrating aspects of some viral diseases. You can survive the inital virus but also encounter a post viral problem specific to that virus later on down the road.

* Freedom has a taste the protected will never know *

Marp · ‎03-09-2010

@pitdakota, thank you.

In spite of the post-polio syndrome my uncle was one of the lucky ones. First, he was one of only two children in the neighborhood that survived. Second, although he was partially paralyzed he led a full, unfettered life for the most part for many years. He was much worse off with round two.

He did have PT and pain management but neither was particularly helpful.

When he was struck by post-polio syndrome it made me acutely aware of the long term, effectively surprise consequences, of viral infection.

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Jaspersmom wrote:
I had a similar discussion with some friends the other day. Most are ready to get the vaccine when it comes out. Even a few younger people I know want the vaccine.

We actually got to talking about the polio vaccine back in the 1950's and 1960's and we remarked that although we were quite young at the time, we never heard of people not taking it. Today everything seems to be so controversial and groups of people have become anti-vaccine. When you think of the diseases we've eradicated because of vaccines, you know the end result is better than what could happen if those diseases went unchecked. So, yeah, I'll take the vaccine.

I caught part of a documentary not too long ago on the polio vaccine, and if I remember correctly, there was a problem with the first round, and some deaths, and the vaccine had to be changed.

I don't remember the particulars, but I'm sure Google can supply all the information and numbers.

But I think anyone choosing to sit the vaccine out initially is not to be criticized. There are always 'bugs' to be worked out of things, and especially as fast as this is being done, and the intense pressure to make it happen, the possibility for issues is even higher in my opinion.

Icegoddess · ‎03-19-2010

My husband had Polio as a child. Had to be on an Iron Lung. Apparently recovered completely and so far at 73 has not had any lingering effects.

There were 2 different polio vaccines. The first one was administerd on a sugar cube. That's the one I got and was a live virus. I remember everybody going to the schoolhouse to get it. I didn't know it had changed, but I have a friend who is a bit younger than me and she wasn't familiar at all with the sugar cube method. Watever method she got used a dead virus. Her husband has Multiple Myeloma and had to have a stem cell transplant. After that, he had to go through all the "baby" shots except he cannot have any vaccine that uses live virus. Apparently, this is a process that is expected to be repeated several times as there is no cure, only maintenance. They are being super careful

The previous version of the Shingles vaccine also used a live virus whereas the Shingrix uses a dead one. I don't think I would've taken the old one when it became time since I was never sure if I had chicken pox or not. I did get the Shingrix.

sunala · ‎03-09-2010

@Icegoddess wrote:
My husband had Polio as a child. Had to be on an Iron Lung. Apparently recovered completely and so far at 73 has not had any lingering effects.

There were 2 different polio vaccines. The first one was administerd on a sugar cube. That's the one I got and was a live virus. I remember everybody going to the schoolhouse to get it. I didn't know it had changed, but I have a friend who is a bit younger than me and she wasn't familiar at all with the sugar cube method. Watever method she got used a dead virus. Her husband has Multiple Myeloma and had to have a stem cell transplant. After that, he had to go through all the "baby" shots except he cannot have any vaccine that uses live virus. Apparently, this is a process that is expected to be repeated several times as there is no cure, only maintenance. They are being super careful

The previous version of the Shingles vaccine also used a live virus whereas the Shingrix uses a dead one. I don't think I would've taken the old one when it became time since I was never sure if I had chicken pox or not. I did get the Shingrix.

@Icegoddess - I'm almost positive that the Jonas Salk shot we had was a shot with a needle that was about a foot long. Okay I exaggerate but it was a biiiiiiig needle, and that was the first vaccine. I believe there was a second shot (a booster) that was given maybe the next year.

The second one, the Sabin Vaccine, was on a sugar cube, and that worked very well.

**I just checked and this was the response: Jonas Salk (1914–1995) became a national hero when he allayed the fear of the dreaded disease with his polio vaccine, approved in 1955. Although it was the first polio vaccine, it was not to be the last; Albert Bruce Sabin (1906–1993) introduced an oral vaccine in the United States in the 1960s that replaced Salk's.

"That's a great first pancake."
Lady Gaga, to Tony Bennett

stuyvesant · ‎05-15-2010

There's also the issue that vaccines and medications are not generally trialed on women. You are never going to get something that's been tailored for you or your age or your particular concerns.

I am a cautious woman. I am confident in my ability to wear a mask, socially distance, and wash my hands frequently. While it's startling to me that I have to do this, I do it. It's not a crazy offensive thing to me. I'm also grateful I'm in an area where everybody else feels the same way.

I don't have the mindset that I'll wear or not wear a mask depending on whether a store I'm shopping at says I need to do that. I make those decisions.

The vaccine won't come for months. I'll wait to see who recommends it after November, and then I will decide.