Vaccine provocation

WAIT!!

You mean we are NOT in the dark ages now??!!

kris

 

Have a friend who I visited with this week. ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Told me of sending a vial of his blood to Atlanta for genetic re-engineering. Helping.

Not within my lifetime but I hope yours, they will do this for an increasing number of diseases. And we will live longer and better lives.

 

Wow, what a difference a week makes. And even this updated image is almost two weeks old ...

 

i saw that chart, 'superfly', and the wrong vaccine. but it is still much better than no vaccine

 

Blood for genetic re-engineering in response to ALS. This is an amazing thing I do not understand well.

The most numerous cells in blood are erythrocytes = red blood cells with about 5 million per cubic millimeter of blood. Tiny! they of course are oxygen haulers. Second are platelets that are cell fragments, with about quarter million per cubic millimeter. Neither of these contain nuclei which means they do not have the gene (or genes) that cause ALS. They are uninformative (even while being downright handy..)

Thus the only genomic information in blood is in leukocytes = white blood cells. Main function is in immune system obviously, but here they would seem to be used for DNA 'readout' a new and novel function. Every nucleate cell in body contains one's complete genome, and I guess these are simplest to extract.

==
A different aspect of white blood cells has seemed odd to me. Largest are 2 to 3 times larger than red blood cells. One's smallest capillaries are so small that red blood cells go through 'single file'. So, what do white blood cells do? As a guess, they deform.

Squoosh through.

 

Searching quickly online, apparently they do change shape, elongate as needed.

They can also slip through the vessel walls to migrate to the sites of injuries and infections, in a process called diapedesis or leukocyte extravasation. Wikipedia has a much longer description than I want to read tonight.

 

Got to get back into the habit of using hand sanitizers when out and about.

 

Noticing an increase in mask wearing.

 

Same.

 

The ones I see are masked outdoors or driving their cars. I was in a St Vincent thrift shop yesterday that is a small store and it was packed. No one had a mask including me. I think I got Covid last time from the same situation. Fully vaccinated, thank God, at the time I got Covid.

 

The masks do help with the low temps. Just hope the walking sick are also using them.

 

Yup -- in Japan & East Asia, been customary to wear masks when sick for generations (tho compliance for different reasons than the West and esp us in US can be arsed to)... but can't deny utility warding off the cold's a good motivator, when its minus Centigrade outside.

 

went to the docs today, only me and my doc had masks. mrs b said she has seen a few when shopping.

daughter went to family new years eve party with the sniffles. so far, 3 out of 10 have upper respiratory infections

 

HHS engaged in a bit of provocation of its own by un-mandating several pediatric vaccines (see any new media, probably). This was based on a study apparently not posted on HHS website (I looked). It might be summarized in a figure posted here:

Viewpoint: The myth of an over-vaccinated America: The US DOES follow global consensus | CIDRAP

Which brings us to CIDRAP and a few external views on their work

HHS announces unprecedented overhaul of US childhood vaccine schedule | CIDRAP

Scientists Release Data Backing Hepatitis B Vaccines for Newborns Ahead of Crucial Vaccine Panel Vote | Scientific American

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03625-0

Not Sure Where to Turn for Trusted Vaccine Guidance? | MedPage Today

 

3 child flu deaths in massachusetts already this season. i can't even imagine the pain:
child-flu-death-massachusetts

 

That's an article I wish I could like more: it seems to be describing a simple bar chart in a couple ways that wouldn't be how I'd have described it, and I'm not sure they even needed to.

If I'm looking at the same chart, I'm thinking "United States the upper bound" would do; Israel, France, and Germany appear to be between the lower and upper bounds.

Um, maybe there could be some way they justify that, maybe by giving the statistical parameters of what they're calling "the distribution", and why it would make sense to choose them that way. Without some kind of argument or note like that, I don't see how this bullet point could be called a "key takeaway"; it isn't what I would immediately take away from glancing at a chart where the US seems at least as far above the median as Denmark seems below it.

This frustrates me; it seems like they could probably advance the basic arguments they're making (like "be guided by outcomes" and "recognize differences in social structure"), without having to say things that make me go while looking at the chart.

 

@fuzzy1 , if you like CIDRAP, they do accept charitable donations:
Support CIDRAP | CIDRAP

--
It is apparently accurate that Denmark requires fewer pediatric vaccinations than (previous) US policy. I suggest that the more useful metric is overall vaccination uptake rates in all countries. With focus on stronger economies. I have every reason to suppose that all the 'questioned' vaccines are available in Denmark. With National healthcare, they may be inexpensive or free.

Disease prevalence is jointly driven by vaccination uptake rates, efficacy of particular vaccines, and other public health factors including proper mask wearing.