Aren’t some vaccines actually live though?
Some, but none of the COVID ones are live virus ones IIRC.
In theory, if you were to jab someone full of a live virus it could possibly mutate but usually they use deactivated or weakened forms of the virus for vaccines, not sure that it could survive.
Sinovac is inactivated virus, and that’s the only one I know of that has even that much of the virus intact.
But for @lol_lmao, mutations arise during replication, with some exceptions (there are always exceptions in biology. In the case of RNA viruses, something like adenine to inosine editing could constitute a non-replication mutation event). A virus just hanging out in a vial somewhere can’t mutate. If it starts replicating in a host, then it can. None of the vaccines out there have any way to result in viral replication, though.
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Non-scientists can’t science. Shocking.
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So. Problem.
Old man rugby is in the Philippines for my wedding.
Hes 83. Vaccinated early last year as most recent (2 orig plus 2 boosters total)
He tested positive last night.
So far symptoms seem mild. Runny nose. Slight cough. Mild sores throat. Mild headache.
We tested early because my brother has covid and he was exposed.
We are currently in the ER of a hospital in Manila. Trying to get antivirals. They are in the middle of blood tests and a chest x ray.
Doctor seemed to imply that he should be admitted, and that they would put him on 3 days of IV remdesivir
There was also another mention of an oral antiviral. I assume maybe ritonavir /nirmatrelvir maybe? (From google)
So. Questions.
is ritonavir the same as nirmatrelvir?
Doctor implied that oral was less effective than IV? Is that right? Google suggests otherwise
Based on mild symptoms. He wouldnt need to be admitted. A hotel seems better if we can. Is there any reason to prefer being admitted?
Any recommendations on what antivirals I should be trying to get him on?
Finally. He is supposed to be flying to Australia tomorrow night. I’m assuming that we just need to completely exclude that as an option. While there are upsides to him being treated in aus. An overnight flight with covid seems a terrible idea, even ignoring the risks to other passengers.
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To add. The hospital is one of the best in Philippines. Where the rich people and foreigners go. Standard of care should be good.
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isn’t paxlovid far superior to remsvidir?
I dont know.
So paxlovid is a combination of two. And is oral?
It seems to be the recommended medicine based on UK gov guidelines. But I dont know if that’s because you can give oral medicine to more people than something requiring an IV.
Apparently paxlovid not available in Philippines right now. What the fuck.
You are supposed to start it in the first couple of days. Here’s hoping that he has the vax and it’s mild so far that he will be fine. I guess I don’t know about remdesivir with the current strains, I’d suspect it can’t hurt. ???
Update. Paxlovid not available. Choice is between admission and remdesivir or not admission and oral molnupiravir
ER doctors changed over. New doc strongly recommended admission, for a few reasons.
- crackle on the lung could mean pneumonia.
- better drugs
- high risk factors
So. We are admitting him.
This is shit for all sorts of reasons. As well as the obvious, this means I’ll be delaying my flight home to deal with this. As well as missing a weekend of playing/watching rugby (the sport)
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Pulling for a good and quick outcome. My worst nightmare with international travel is getting it and being stuck for a week plus.
Looks like you got the drug definitions cleared up. I think you made the right call on your dad, as much as it sucks. Hopefully he comes through so well that you feel like you overreacted, even if I don’t think you did.
GL @Rugby dad.
I guess situation in Manila must be much improve if they even have a hospital bed available for him. I still remember your posts from when that wasn’t the case.
Ugh. So. More shit to deal with.
Covid ward is an isolation ward.
This means I can go in and support him, but then I have to stay for the entire time until hes out. That seems bizarre.
So I have a choice between sleeping on a chair in an n95 mask with a covid positive patient for 3 days vs leaving him on his own. As you know from other threads his memory is failing, so hes going to really struggle with that.
Shit either way. Hard decision to make at midnight 14 hours without eating
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In a press briefing Tuesday, WHO advisors called the benefit of boosting those at low or even medium risk “actually quite marginal” and suggested that countries could roll back offering primary COVID-19 vaccination series to low-risk healthy children and teens based on country-specific conditions and resources.
Are the newer/current variants of the virus inherently less dangerous than the OG variants were? If not, I have questions.
Update.
Discharged from hospital in Manila on monday morning. This was after 72 hours of both of us in the isolation ward. Me sleeping on the couch. That was a spectacularly shit experience.
He’d been symptom free and no fever for 2 days, so took the gamble and flew him back to AUS. N95 mask on the whole way.
Hes now home. Seems to be doing well and has basically shrugged off covid with minimal symptoms after the first day or so.
Will be keeping a closer eye on him for the next week, but feeling pretty hopeful that weve navigated this all successfully.
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“inherently” is kind of a fuzzy thing here. The variant your immune system isn’t familiar with is the more dangerous one, if that makes sense.
True but a variant your immune system isn’t familiar with could act more like Omicron or more like Delta.
Are they going to be releasing seasonal COVID vaccines the way they release flu vaccines? Last one I got was mid-October and I have no idea if/when changes were made to the vaccine since then.