I’m wondering how much of patent stuff is an actual issue. Production seems to be the issue mainly right now.
That being said patent will likely be an issue down the road. Highly doubt that any big pharma will truly be hurt by this because, well, they’re big pharma
Do you think we will ever get to that level? It seems like a lot of people think there are enough anti-vaxxers that we might not.
If not, are you planning to wear a mask forever? More importantly, would you support mandated masks?
This is one of the few informed takes I’ve seen on the patent front.
https://twitter.com/PatentScholar/status/1390062882004471809?s=19
Maddow has a segment on it tonight that was just errors and misunderstandings, one after another.
I’m not going to write an essay, and the Ouellette piece does a decent job, but I’ll just note that there are likely hundreds of patents that relate in one way or another to the mRNA vaccine and related manufacturing processes, many of which are embodied in equipment and novel reagents sold by a single source (so the patent is more reflected in monopolistic pricing than any sort of legal process). Also, many/most of the patents are probably US/EU only so wouldn’t even be potentially enforceable in, eg, India or China.
The problem is that it’s mainly new technology and it would takes years to ramp up industrial scale mRNA vaccine production in most developing nations, if at all, because of supply chain, logistics, and know-how issues, even with zero patent rights.
The best thing the US could do is produce a bunch of vaccine and send them around the world for cheap. The whole patent thing is largely just a distraction.
We really need to have a discussion on how to use a mask in a restaurant?
Don’t worry about it you all do what you want. Enjoy your restaurants. I honestly don’t care.
So only five million out of every hundred million people who are vaccinated will get really sick with Covid and/or die.
That’s not what the paper says. That 5% is for one specific variant and you don’t have to die to be in that group
I wear masks when mandatory and don’t when they’re not. Pretty simple.
So if you were in a state like Florida right now you’d be yolo’ing it up everywhere?
I’m fully vaccinated. So mostly yes. Would feel uncomfortable in really crowded areas but then again I make a conscious effort to avoid them pandemic or otherwise.
Right, I don’t disobey mandatory mask rules. I guess my real question when I say “when do you plan to stop?” is “when would you want it to stop being mandated?”
I don’t know enough to answer that question.
The timeline is so hard to say. Could be early next year. Could be 2025.
I keep pretty close tabs locally on case count, deaths and hospitalizations. They seem pretty steady, but not as low as I would hope. I think its fair to say that when the curve is flat and the numbers are very low we can shed our masks all day every day. For now, it is a pick and choose situation.
What do you think the compliance on mandatory masks would be in 2024? You can count me out by that point, that’s for sure.
I’m leaning towards when children have been authorized for the vaccine and their parents have had a reasonable chance at getting their kids vaxxed. At that point, you might be close to as good as it gets and it’s time to o figure out what the new normal for sickness and death looks like.
I would also be open to the idea of requiring masks longer in essential businesses or have places like groceries be required to have 1-2 days per week that require masks while ramping down the mandates instead of quitting cold turkey.
Depends. The circumstances where mask mandates are still in place to then probably involve problematic mutations.
Plus obviously many places already dumping mandates. So would be in place mostly in places that have social acceptance and for things like flying and transit where we really should be in zero hurry to change mandates
If there are variants hanging around until 2025 we’ve just lost. We absolutely should be in a “hurry” to change mandates everywhere. These are extraordinary measures for extraordinary times, not shit you try to force people to do for 5 (!) years or until everyone feels safe.
The vaccine is going to be available in the US to ~everyone who actually needs it by the end of this year. At that point it is time to ditch the mandates (not the mask if you personally want to wear it, but government mandates) no matter what the case numbers look like.
I think that is a bad approach to public health, but probably close to what we will do.
COVID likely won’t be the organizing principle of society anymore in 2025, but IMO we will still be dealing with it as more than an ordinary illness.
Also note I’m not talking shutting schools to 2025 or something. I’m talking about wearing a small piece of cloth when you go indoors. We can do that for an extended time if needed
Disagree to be honest. They are annoying enough in a lot of indoor situations that I would vote against anyone who tried to extend them much past the end of this year. The max I would be willing to accept is that they be mandatory in certain essential places i.e. grocery stores.
Also I think it’s super unlikely that mask rules remain without de facto capacity limits in the form of 6 foot rules. Those rules prevent you from actually filling restaurants or stadiums for example.