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Texas Jeff

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My 11 year old got the first one this weekend and had no side effects other than a sore arm.

Went to Walgreens and gave her birthday as a year earlier. They already had her in the system with her correct birthday and said she's not 12. I just told him the year was 2009, not 2010. He changed it and gave her the shot, no other questions asked.

Hey birthday was in April, so not quite 11.5, but she definitely passes for 12 or 13.

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Just now, HoustonHorn said:

Went to Walgreens and gave her birthday as a year earlier. They already had her in the system with her correct birthday and said she's not 12. I just told him the year was 2009, not 2010. He changed it and gave her the shot, no other questions asked.

obiwan-starwars.gif

 

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Had to drive to Wichita Falls for the Texas Cares test.  I live an hour away, and this was the closest place that does it.

My wife and I went yesterday.  Entire process took 3 to 4 minutes (including taking a piss upon arrival).

Test result:

Me - Pfizer second shot was on 2/28, 606 antibodies, no prior infection, age 42.

Wife - Pfizer second shot was on 2/28, 222 antibodies, no prior infection, age 40. 

Probably going in for 3rd shot next week.  I feel I could go a bit longer to get to the actual 8 month recommendation, but might as well get it done.  My 12 year old got her second shot two weeks ago, but I have a 9 year old as well.  Our town is very anti mask.

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7 minutes ago, Deej said:

How long before they text you your results, on average? 

Had my blood drawn yesterday morning. Nothing yet. 

I got mine drawn yesterday and then registered with the lab's website at lunch today since I hadn't heard anything. Got an email that results were there soon afterwards.

https://cpl.luminatehealth.com/

 

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Got my results today.  Ugh, only 100 for S AB level.  2nd Pfizer shot back in first week of April.  After doing some research it appears that a medication I take, Takhzyro, can fuck with lab results on blood tests, particularly as it relates to clotting and protein levels.   I figure I'm going to get a booster anyway though since the first 2 shots didn't kill me.

For those of you at home, this always makes me feel like Richard Gere after a dose:

Takhzyro is a fully human IgG1 monoclonal antibody made in recombinant Chinese Hamster Ovary cells.

Edited by Judge Roybeanbag
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12 minutes ago, Deej said:

How long before they text you your results, on average? 

Had my blood drawn yesterday morning. Nothing yet. 

Just over 24 hours for me.  Set up an online account with CPL and download the app.  They will show up there first.

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17 minutes ago, The Dog said:

I got mine drawn yesterday and then registered with the lab's website at lunch today since I hadn't heard anything. Got an email that results were there soon afterwards.

https://cpl.luminatehealth.com/

 

 

13 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Just over 24 hours for me.  Set up an online account with CPL and download the app.  They will show up there first.

I set up an account with them immediately after having my blood drawn. 

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Do set your account up with CPL since I did not get the text from CARES 24 hours after draw but got an email from CPL saying my results were ready almost as soon as I created the account.

Where can I get my booster Moderna in Austin?

Second shot 3/13 (Moderna)
Spike: 291
Previous infection: Negative

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6 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

All of us second class Moderna citizens are getting the last laugh!

 

3 minutes ago, Austinvines said:

Do set your account up with CPL since I did not get the text from CARES 24 hours after draw but got an email from CPL saying my results were ready almost as soon as I created the account.

Where can I get my booster Moderna in Austin?

Second shot 3/13 (Moderna)
Spike: 291
Previous infection: Negative

*some of us second class Moderna citizens are getting the last laugh!

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9 hours ago, Heme Doc said:

Mine too.   This is the best data I’ve seen so far regarding effects of community masking.   Here’s the link to study that I forgot to include with first post.

https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/Mask_RCT____Symptomatic_Seropositivity_083121.pdf

1.  Cloth masks are just as worthless as doing nothing.  Not a surprise to me.  

2.  Surgical masks were better, with benefit limited to those age 50 and up

3.  Absolute risk reduction in symptomatic infection (serious problems as to how this is defined) was 1%.  It was about 8% of the control group clusters who got symptoms consistent with COVID and about 7% of intervention group.  So, clearly not a parachute.  All of this risk reduction was seen in people older than 50 and in the surgical mask groups (not cloth masks)

4.  Some confounders that intervention group also got education about distancing, etc. in addition to masks.

If one were to read this study and come away with the conclusion, “SEE, MASKS WORK!”, I would think they’re fairly simple minded without much critical thinking skill or nuance.  
 

I’d say that some mask policies probably help some in certain situations.  But more study is needed.  

Hear me out. If we need to wear a facemask to stop the aerosolized virus coming out of our lungs, shouldn’t we also be wearing an assmask to stop the aerosolized virus in our farts?

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11 minutes ago, XYZ said:

Hear me out. If we need to wear a facemask to stop the aerosolized virus coming out of our lungs, shouldn’t we also be wearing an assmask to stop the aerosolized virus in our farts?

Yes.  They're called pants.  Along with a mask, you should wear them when you go into HEB.

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5 hours ago, dcar00 said:

it has and always has been marginal effect.  the mask does prevent people from talking as much and generally you reflexively keep distance which can help.   for people 15 and older I'm in the it doesn't really do much but OK whatever camp(it should probably be an N95 or nothing though).  the bigger problem in my opinion is doing it to the elementary and middle schoolers especially if teachers are vaccinated.

Completely agree.  Badly need cluster RCT of cloth masking in schools.  I’d eat my house there’s zero benefit

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1 hour ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Got my results today.  Ugh, only 100 for S AB level.  2nd Pfizer shot back in first week of April.  After doing some research it appears that a medication I take, Takhzyro, can fuck with lab results on blood tests, particularly as it relates to clotting and protein levels.   I figure I'm going to get a booster anyway though since the first 2 shots didn't kill me.

For those of you at home, this always makes me feel like Richard Gere after a dose:

Takhzyro is a fully human IgG1 monoclonal antibody made in recombinant Chinese Hamster Ovary cells.

Get a booster.  I’ve never even heard of this weird med you’re on, and I love me some weird drugs.   I had to look it up.  

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1 minute ago, Heme Doc said:

Get a booster.  I’ve never even heard of this weird med you’re on, and I love me some weird drugs.   I had to look it up.  

Non-human plasma monoclonal antibody treatment developed by a small company called Dyax that was bought for $6.5B in 2015.  Became the defacto prophylactic treatment for HAE as soon as it was marketed.

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Moderna trial participant here.  I got an S-protein antibody test outside of the trial 1 month, 6 months and 1 year post vaccination.

Here are my results. (Note: the test done was a Euroimmun ELISA qualitative assay to detect IgG antibodies. >1.09 = Positive)

Oct. 19th, 2020 = 8.99

Mar. 31st, 2021 = 6.88

Aug. 31st, 2021 = 2.52

I also did the Texas Cares study on Monday and my result for that test was 390.

I have my 1 year appt. tomorrow with Moderna, I'll see what they say about a booster. 

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32 minutes ago, Heme Doc said:

Completely agree.  Badly need cluster RCT of cloth masking in schools.  I’d eat my house there’s zero benefit

Cross posted from the School thread.  And obviously, it's anecdotal, but for what it's worth.  TylerISD was the largest school district in the state to remain open (in person) all of this past school year.  Masks were mandatory.  My kids tell me that was pretty much it.  Social distancing wasn't really accomplished.  We went from about 75% in person to 100ish% in person by November 2020.  Masks became optional in May 2021.

For this school year, masks are optional and probably fewer than 10% of students wear them (according to my kids, who do wear them and were vaccinated this summer). 

We are 3--4 weeks in, about 8% of the way through the school year.  To date, reported cases this year account for 60% of the cases from the entirety of previous school year when masks were mandated.   And that's with some of these kids having been vaccinated.  It's a bit of a shit show to say the least.

I'd be happy to read a scientific study about cloth/paper masks.  But until there's something comprehensive that says otherwise, I'm going to stay in the camp that say masks do make a difference in schools and elsewhere. 

Edited by dcbc
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2 hours ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Got my results today.  Ugh, only 100 for S AB level.  2nd Pfizer shot back in first week of April.  After doing some research it appears that a medication I take, Takhzyro, can fuck with lab results on blood tests, particularly as it relates to clotting and protein levels.   I figure I'm going to get a booster anyway though since the first 2 shots didn't kill me.

For those of you at home, this always makes me feel like Richard Gere after a dose:

Takhzyro is a fully human IgG1 monoclonal antibody made in recombinant Chinese Hamster Ovary cells.

image.gif.cb978d81a4dd7176154cc7fc76345f3f.gif

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Cross posted from the School thread.  And obviously, it's anecdotal, but for what it's worth.  TylerISD was the largest school district in the state to remain open (in person) all of this past school year.  Masks were mandatory.  My kids tell me that was pretty much it.  Social distancing wasn't really accomplished.  We went from about 75% in person to 100ish% in person by November 2020.  Masks became optional in May 2021.
For this school year, masks are optional and probably fewer than 10% of students wear them (according to my kids, who do wear them and were vaccinated this summer). 
We are 3--4 weeks in, about 8% of the way through the school year.  To date, reported cases this year account for 60% of the cases from the entirety of previous school year when masks were mandated.   And that's with some of these kids having been vaccinated.  It's a bit of a shit show to say the least.
I'd be happy to read a scientific study about cloth/paper masks.  But until there's something comprehensive that says otherwise, I'm going to stay in the camp that say masks do make a difference in schools and elsewhere. 
I posted one earlier. Masks didn't do shit in schools
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11 minutes ago, midtown said:
55 minutes ago, dcbc said:
Cross posted from the School thread.  And obviously, it's anecdotal, but for what it's worth.  TylerISD was the largest school district in the state to remain open (in person) all of this past school year.  Masks were mandatory.  My kids tell me that was pretty much it.  Social distancing wasn't really accomplished.  We went from about 75% in person to 100ish% in person by November 2020.  Masks became optional in May 2021.
For this school year, masks are optional and probably fewer than 10% of students wear them (according to my kids, who do wear them and were vaccinated this summer). 
We are 3--4 weeks in, about 8% of the way through the school year.  To date, reported cases this year account for 60% of the cases from the entirety of previous school year when masks were mandated.   And that's with some of these kids having been vaccinated.  It's a bit of a shit show to say the least.
I'd be happy to read a scientific study about cloth/paper masks.  But until there's something comprehensive that says otherwise, I'm going to stay in the camp that say masks do make a difference in schools and elsewhere. 

I posted one earlier. Masks didn't do shit in schools

Actual studies disagree.  Here's one that Children's Hospital in Colorado did.

 

https://www.childrenscolorado.org/4a27e7/globalassets/parenting-advice/articles/2021-2022-masking-in-schools-literature-review.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1Z-aAjCdwA1gbAd7LTOqqA07oicOgok-QbDA59DIqnt07rvD-ScSCr210

Edited by Chewbacca
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3 hours ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Got my results today.  Ugh, only 100 for S AB level.  2nd Pfizer shot back in first week of April.  After doing some research it appears that a medication I take, Takhzyro, can fuck with lab results on blood tests, particularly as it relates to clotting and protein levels.   I figure I'm going to get a booster anyway though since the first 2 shots didn't kill me.

For those of you at home, this always makes me feel like Richard Gere after a dose:

Takhzyro is a fully human IgG1 monoclonal antibody made in recombinant Chinese Hamster Ovary cells.

Close to home as it were, since my new employer has me culturing and then killing CHO cells. 

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11 hours ago, Newdoc said:

And aside from this guy, obesity has been lost in the national conversation. It is still a significant comorbidity for Covid complications and we have done an extreme disservice to the country by letting this take a back seat. 

I don't think it's taking a back seat when it comes to Delta.

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11 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

This isn't really a study just a literature review.  I am not aware of any cluster randomized trial, similar to what was done in Bangladesh, a strong design, that has been implemented in an US school setting. 

 

I am inclined to support distancing and mask wearing in schools, and my kids wear theirs everyday at school, but I also recognize that the evidence is not really there. There are also no well conducted cluster randomized trials on the hygienic benefits of wearing underwear, but they do that as well. So here we are. 

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26 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

I'll take a look at it.  Thanks. 

And with that said, what a friggin outlier we must be.  Seriously, 60% of last year in mere weeks this year with vaccinations an option, and the only notable difference is the mask requirement.  I'll admit Tyler can be the friggin' twilight zone.  But can we at least acknowledge how ludicrous those numbers are and what they suggest?

/edit.  I just looked at the key points and it seems to not disagree with the conclusion that masking accomplishes something. What am I missing?

Key Points
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of School Nurses, and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all recommend masking in schools to prevent the
spread of COVID-19. See “Other Resources” for these recommendations.

School-associated COVID-19 transmission is low when risk mitigation measures, including
universal masking, are used. Schools with universal masking policies experience an extremely
low secondary transmission rate (1-4%),2,3,4 as compared to schools without masking (11-
27%).1

If everyone is masked there may be flexibility to institute modified quarantine protocols 4 and
reduced distancing
.3,4,5 Consult with your local public health agency to determine the best
strategy for your community.

Edited by dcbc
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4 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

This isn't really a study just a literature review.  I am not aware of any cluster randomized trial, similar to what was done in Bangladesh, a strong design, that has been implemented in an US school setting. 

 

I am inclined to support distancing and mask wearing in schools, and my kids wear theirs everyday at school, but I also recognize that the evidence is not really there. There are also no well conducted cluster randomized trials on the hygienic benefits of wearing underwear, but they do that as well. So here we are. 

I haven’t read any of the Bangladeshi study, but based on the posts here about it I’m disappointed in the results. 
 

it feels logical that face coverings limit particulate being put into the common air, and that should reduce risk of infection and therefore infections. So when data refutes that, it’s tough to just pivot to follow that data. 

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1 minute ago, dcbc said:

I'll take a look at it.  Thanks. 

And with that said, what a friggin outlier we must be.  Seriously, 60% of last year in mere weeks this year with vaccinations an option, and the only notable difference is the mask requirement.  I'll admit Tyler can be the friggin' twilight zone.  But can we at least acknowledge how ludicrous those numbers are and what they suggest?

Our school district is bigger than Tyler and was in person from day one last year, although we only topped out at about 80% capacity. Tomorrow will be two weeks in, nothing too exciting as far as case numbers. Best I’ve heard from the kids is maybe 25% masked. 

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2 minutes ago, Satoshi said:

Our school district is bigger than Tyler and was in person from day one last year, although we only topped out at about 80% capacity. Tomorrow will be two weeks in, nothing too exciting as far as case numbers. Best I’ve heard from the kids is maybe 25% masked. 

Not sure where you are, but another factor to consider this year is that our vaccination rate here (12+) is about 43%.  So that's not helping matters.

My kids will continue to mask until the 7 day average R(t) here dips well below 1.0 for a reasonable amount of time.  They understand and would rather do simple things rather than have to quarantine in a district where remote learning for quarantined students is an afterthought.

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10 minutes ago, dcbc said:

And with that said, what a friggin outlier we must be.  Seriously, 60% of last year in mere weeks this year with vaccinations an option, and the only notable difference is the mask requirement. 

The change in the virus is a much bigger difference

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8 minutes ago, WBT said:

The change in the virus is a much bigger difference

For sure.  But not so much that I would be inclined to ignore any and all other factors or disengage in simple and inexpensive countermeasures.

Again, all I did was share a data point above.  Outside of my family, I don't make suggestions to others on how I believe they might best protect themselves and others from this.  I ran out of shits to give.  Living in Tyler, Texas has accelerated that feeling.  I'm not going to argue about masks or vaccines or anything else.  You or others don't think it works?  Don't do it.  Best of luck, in all sincerity. 

Edited by dcbc
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Too many are thinking this along the lines of a yes/no question. Almost all of medicine is a continuum. The only thing certain is your eventual death.

No mitigation measure should be validated to a yes/no in a vacuum unless there is a good chance of harm. The study in Bangladesh is an example where they tried to eliminate a lot of variables. And it's a big study and one of the better designed studies but it's not perfect and it hasn't been replicated by other independent research institutions.

That still leaves us with evaluation of other data that does suggest that masks can mitigate spread.  How applicable to kids? IDK as adherence and proper mask use below age 7 is like herding cats.

Regardless that leaves you with a risk/benefit analysis. For masks that risk is pretty low and if it has a chance to keep kids actually in school and does little to no harm then continued mask use should be considered.

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https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2783797

Quote

August 30, 2021

Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response Following Vaccination With BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273

Deborah Steensels, PharmD, PhD1; Noella Pierlet, MSc1; Joris Penders, MD, PhD1; et alDieter Mesotten, MD, PhD1; Line Heylen, MD, PhD1

JAMA. Published online August 30, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.15125

The SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and mRNA-1273 (Moderna) have each shown more than 90% efficacy in preventing COVID-19 illness1,2 but, to our knowledge, humoral immune responses have not been compared directly.

Methods

Health care workers at a tertiary care center (Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Belgium) who were scheduled for vaccination with 2 doses of either mRNA-1273 or BNT162b2 were invited to participate in this prospective cohort. Serologic testing was performed prior to vaccination as well as 6 to 10 weeks after the second dose (between April 27 and May 20, 2021). Total immunoglobulin levels to the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were measured with an anti–SARS-CoV-2 S enzyme immunoassay (Elecsys, Roche Diagnostics International Ltd). After vaccination, antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein were determined. Previous infection was defined as anti-nucleocapsid positivity at any point, anti-spike positivity before vaccination, and/or a history of positive polymerase chain reaction results on nasopharyngeal swab.

Antibody levels were compared after the second dose of each vaccine for the entire cohort; for those previously infected vs uninfected; and by age group (<35, 35-55, and >55 years) among previously uninfected individuals, using the t test after log10 transformation. Correlation between age and log10-transformed antibody levels was assessed with Pearson correlation. To adjust for confounding, a multiple linear regression was fitted with inclusion of age, sex, previous infection, and time between vaccination and serologic testing. All tests were 2-sided with statistical significance set at α = .05. Analyses were performed using RStudio (version 1.2.1335). This study was approved by the local institutional review board; participants provided written informed consent.

Results

Of 2499 health care workers who received 2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines, 1647 participated in this study. A total of 688 were vaccinated with mRNA-1273 (mean age, 43.2 years; 76.7% women; 21.8% previously infected with SARS-CoV-2), and 959 with BNT162b2 (mean age, 44.7 years; 84.9% women; 13.2% previously infected).

Higher antibody titers were observed in participants vaccinated with 2 doses of mRNA-1273 compared with those vaccinated with BNT162b2 (geometric mean titer [GMT], 3836 U/mL [95% CI, 3586-4104] vs 1444 U/mL [95% CI, 1350-1544]; P < .001) (Figure, A).

Previously infected participants had higher antibody titers (GMT, 9461 U/mL [95% CI, 8494-10 539]) compared with previously uninfected participants (GMT, 1613 U/mL [95% CI, 1539-1690]) (P < .001). In both groups, those vaccinated with mRNA-1273 had higher antibody titers compared with those vaccinated with BNT162b2 (previously uninfected: GMT, 2881 U/mL [95% CI, 2721-3051] vs 1108 U/mL [95% CI, 1049-1170]; P < .001; previously infected: GMT, 10 708 U/mL [95% CI, 9311-12 315] vs 8174 U/mL [95% CI, 6923-9649]; P = .01). The difference in antibody levels according to previous infection was higher than the difference between the 2 mRNA vaccines (Figure, B and Table).

Antibody levels negatively correlated with age in previously uninfected participants (correlation coefficient, −0.22; P < .001), being highest among those younger than 35 years. Across all age categories, previously uninfected participants vaccinated with mRNA-1273 had higher antibody titers compared with those vaccinated with BNT162b2 (P < .001 for all comparisons; Figure, C).

The type of mRNA vaccine remained independently associated with the log-transformed antibody titer in a multiple linear regression (P < .001, Table).

Discussion

This study demonstrated a significantly higher humoral immunogenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine (Moderna) compared with the BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech), in infected as well as uninfected participants, and across age categories. The higher mRNA content in mRNA-1273 compared with BNT162b2 and the longer interval between priming and boosting for mRNA-12733 (4 weeks vs 3 weeks for BNT162b2) might explain this difference.

A relationship between neutralization level after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and protection against COVID-19 has been demonstrated by several studies.4 As such, the height of the humoral response after vaccination, which correlates with neutralizing antibody titers,5 might be clinically relevant.

Limitations of this study include the lack of data on cellular immunity and on neutralizing antibodies, as well as the specific focus on health care workers. Whether the observed difference in antibody level translates to a difference in the duration of protection,4 the protection against variants of concern, and the risk of transmission6needs further investigation. Future research should also address the relevance for patients with reduced antibody response after vaccination.

 

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