November COVID-19 Column
A- The COVID-19 vaccine mandate has met protestations from the parents in the school in California. They are not against the vaccine but they are against the fact that their children get forced to become vaccinated. Many parents kept their kids out of the schools to show their opposition to the mandate.
B- The United States still leads the world in COVID-19 cases. A study performed in the United Kingdom found that people who actually catch COVID-19 has a greater chance in developing neurological complications like Gillian -Barre Syndrome. It was reported also in Nature Medicine that you have higher chances in having neurological complications if you catch the disease. The risk is greater than if associated with the vaccination itself.
C- People over 50 were found especially prone to develop the complication and generally, Gillian Barre Syndrome will appear few days after a cold or a stomach virus or the flu. Surgery or vaccination can trigger the mechanism m as well. Reflex loss, weakness numbness or tingling in different parts of the body. 38 cases were found to be associated to the Oxford-Zeneca vaccine while 60 other cases were showing brain hemorrhage and stroke symptoms over to million people receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
D- Among people who tested positive for COVID, 145 cases of Gillian Barre Syndrome and 125 cases of myasthenia-like syndrome per 10 million people. Encephalitis meningitis and Myelitis were also included.
E- State workers continue to be fined or resigned for not accepting the vaccine mandate imposed by the administration Biden. 3% of employee have already left their position. Soon, vaccine requirements will reach K-12 schools and childcare. High vaccination rate continues to increase and employee union are giving people more time to consider their options while they chose to take unpaid leave.
F- The pandemic is settling down while a winter season is approaching and perhaps bring new infections in the northern states. The Delta variant was feared but after a pick in September, cases are decreasing. On a daily basis, the nation averages 73,000 cases from 173,000 and hospitalizations are down as well especially in states like Florida. Some states are still showing high numbers especially in the mid-west mountainous states like Arizona, New Mexico. Poorly vaccinated population in Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Utah is also at risk for the rampant infection especially when people have a tendency in staying indoors because of the cold season approaching. Respiratory virus tends to spread during the winter season.
G- People who do not get vaccinated against COVID-19should expect to be re-infected with the virus after a period of 15 months as announced by the Lancet Microbe. Researchers at Yale and North Carolina have studied the ire-infection rate with 6 viruses included MERS and SARS as well as COVID-19 and have concluded that Re-Infection. They found out that re-infection can happen in two or three months (28-128 days) while in COVID-19 the re-infection occurs between 3 months and 5 years after the peak of the antibodies with an average of 16 months. So, there is a 5% risk of COVID-19 at three months jumping to 50% at 17 months. Re-infection could become increasingly common.
H- People have different levels of immunity against viruses and react differently which can provide shorter or longer duration through the individual immune system based on age, underlying conditions, environmental exposition. Preventive measures and global distribution of vaccines will be critical in minimizing re-infections and death from COVID-19. The lower the rate of vaccination the more people in the area need to remain protected and practice social distancing, wearing masks and used proper indoor vaccination. The disease is likely to be circulating over the long term and we need to count over this immunity.
I- The COVID pandemic hit Louisiana hard and shut down the carnival festivities. The Krewes were unable to have their usual activities in 2021. If testing and masking were proven to stop the spread of the virus, you will find signs of people protesting from recent vaccine mandate and during the Halloween weekend, people dressed in Fauci’s costumes were standing in corners to take a survey against the mandate imposed by the federal employees. Since it has been reported that 11% of the population have taken the vaccine.
J- There are more than 46 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States with more than 736,000 deaths. There are near 243 million cases and more than 4-95 million deaths worldwide.
K- Pfizer will vaccinate everybody above 12-year-old in the city of Toledo in Brazil. They will work with the local health authorities after Brazil which has vaccinated 45,000 people with the Sinovac vaccine and has recently seen 610,000 deaths. They are second to the United States.
L- Recent polls showed that 2/3 of parents of children aged 5 to 11 have changed their plans and want also to get vaccinated. It looks like the mandate vaccine imposed by the government to help in hanging the mind of many parents in accepting to take the vaccination.
M- The Thanksgiving season brings changes in the White House to improve safety in the United States with the Thanksgiving season. The country is now open to international travel and starting 8th of November, travelers will need to show proof of vaccination (vaccination record) unless they have exemption and a negative COVID-19 test prior to boarding the flight. This needs to be an authorized vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson). There are exemptions.
N- Ten (10) states are suing over the healthcare worker vaccine mandate. Another lawsuit has been filed against the Biden administration over the vaccine mandates. It is mainly concerning the rules by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that almost all healthcare workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19. This mandate could create a disaster in the healthcare industry in threating millions of healthcare worker with loss jobs while they are already risking their lives with the pandemic to care for strangers and friends in their hospitals. There will be an alarming shortage of healthcare workers losing their jobs.” Jan 4th 2022” is the date set for employees to be fully vaccinated. 76.000 providers and 17 million other healthcare employees are at risk for losing their jobs. The attorney generals of the state of Missouri. Nebraska, Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Kansas, New Hampshire.
Maxime Coles MD
November 2021