Covid Vaccination Argentina

[gracielle]

Everyone needs to take their own decision, but personally I think I'll wait: as Gracielle posted on the previous page, these vaccines are the original ones developed for COVID, not the bivalent ones starting to be used in Europe now. ...

I agree...each of us must arrive at our own conclusions. The following 2 articles offer dissimilar views.
3 October 2022 by Stephani Desmond

Why and When to Get a Bivalent Covid-19 Booster | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Combining proteins from two SARS-CoV-2 variants, bivalent booster shots protect against the currently circulating BA.5 subvariant—and may afford longer-lasting immunity.

publichealth.jhu.edu

In this Q&A, adapted from the October 3 episode of Public Health On Call, Stephanie Desmon speaks with virologist Andy Pekosz, PhD, a professor in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, about what makes bivalent boosters different—and more effective. Pekosz discusses who should get the bivalent shot and when, whether it’s safe to get it at the same time as the flu shot, and more....

This article is protected by a paywall. I am posting 90% of it which, in my opinion, is relevant to this topic.
25 October 2022 by Robert Langreth

BNN Bloomberg – Canada Business News, TSX Today & Interest Rates

Get the latest Canadian business news, TSX updates, interest rates and Bank of Canada coverage. Explore stock market investing and get expert financial insights on investment portfolio strategies.

www.bnnbloomberg.ca

Bivalent booster shots from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. failed to raise levels of protective proteins called neutralizing antibodies against the dominant omicron strains any more than four doses of the original Covid vaccine, according to an early independent study on a small group of people. Researchers at Columbia University and the University of Michigan compared levels of neutralizing antibodies in blood samples from 21 people who got a fourth shot of the Moderna anf Pfizer bivalent boosters against antibody levels in 19 people who got four shots of the original vaccines.

Three to five weeks after a fourth shot, those people who received the new boosters aimed at BA.4 and BA.5 variants “had similar neutralizing antibody titers as those receiving a fourth monovalent mRNA vaccine,” the authors conclude in a manuscript posted on the preprint server bioRxiv.org. This held true for antibodies that protect against BA.4, BA.5 and older variants such as the original omicron strain, according to the study....The results don’t mean that getting a bivalent shot has no benefit, and it will need to be confirmed in much larger studies. However, they raise the question of whether the switch to a new version of the vaccine was necessary....

....In early October, Moderna researchers published data from the clinical trial of a different bivalent booster that is tailored to the original omicron strain. That study, in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that a fourth shot of that bivalent vaccine produced higher levels of antibodies compared to four shots of Moderna’s original vaccine. Moderna’s bivalent vaccine against the original omicron strain, called mRNA-1273.214, is not authorized in the U.S., but has been cleared for use in numerous countries including the UK and Canada. Nonetheless, scientists have harbored doubts about the benefit of switching up the shots’ composition. Before the US began rolling out updated boosters in September, John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College said the new vaccines would be “little or no better” than earlier formulations.

 

[gracielle]

The article Gracielle quoted indicated the bivalent ones might arrive here in summer.

I am definitely not waiting for the ARG national Ministry of Health to order, pay and receive the Moderna or Pfizer bivalent vaccines!
As I posted on Oct. 14th....The combination of vaccines has worked well to keep me Covid-free. I have been inoculated with 2 doses of AstraZeneca, 1 with J&J/Janssen, the first booster with Pfizer and the 2nd booster with Moderna (in May 2022). I will be in the US in April, 2023.
If by then the studies show that the bivalent boosters are an improvement over the original ones, I will get inoculated there.

 

[gracielle]

Update: Yesterday (Sat) at 8:00am I called #147 to confirm that those over the age of 50 who qualify to receive the 5th shot (if the 4th shot was applied more than 120 days ago) may arrive at the vaccination centers w/o an appt as stated in the article.

Per the operator: "at this call center we have yet to be informed of that directive". He suggested I use the City website to schedule the appt online as many "turnos" are available for the week of Nov. 14-18 at the authorized vaccination centers which are open Mon-Fri from 8:00am-4:00pm.
https://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/coronavirus/vacunacion-covid-19
The system will accept as ID: DNI Ext (Foreign), Pasaporte (Foreign), Residencia Precaria (con foto)

I scheduled my "turno" for Monday, Nov 14. I received the confirmation email exactly 24 hrs later. If you decide to re-schedule, you must first cancel the original "turno" prior to the appointed date before the system allows you to schedule a new one.

I arrived this morning at Club San Lorenzo at 10:30am for the "turno" I had selected on Sat via the City website. This vaccination center was
well organized, the staff was very friendly and efficient. I was in and out in 25 minutes. This included the 15-min waiting period after the inoculation with Moderna.

This is what I was told when I inquired. "We don't know where Clarin, TN and Radio Mitre got the idea that people can show up without a "turno". Nevertheless we are not turning anybody away. The persons with a "turno" will have priority. The ones without will be inoculated as well but may experience a waiting time of about 15-20 extra minutes. For those, the best time to show up is before 10:30am".

 

[gracielle]

16 Nov 2022 by Pablo Sigal

Tras el Covid, hay alerta por la suba de otros virus y lanzan un pedido desesperado

"¡Por favor, usemos las vacunas!", dijo este miércoles la directora de la OPS. Con otros expertos alertó por la baja en los niveles de vacunación contra otras infecciones.

www.clarin.com

...."Please, let's use the vaccines! The request was made this Tuesday by the Director General of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa Etienne, when she gave an overview of the health situation in the region to journalists from all over the continent. Etienne said that the region is facing a triple threat: Covid, influenza and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus)....This virus, which causes bronchiolitis, cannot be prevented as there is no vaccine for it today. In several countries of the northern hemisphere it is causing full hospital capacities. The expert also recommended that the governments of the different countries should once again advise their populations to wear masks in the face of the appearance of new respiratory transmission infections. She said that the experience of the pandemic should be utilized to make use of this resource whenever needed....

....Jairo Méndez Rico, PAHO regional advisor for emerging viral diseases, referred specifically to the Covid situation and stressed that "there are no new variants", but rather lineages and sub-lineages of Omicron. In particular, he mentioned the BQ.1 sub lineage of the BA.5 subvariant, which has gained prominence especially in the USA and is gradually gaining influence in South America. He assured that there is no evidence that it is more aggressive. He added: "They are all Omicron". Finally, he assured that although the arrival of a new generation of vaccines adapted for Omicron will be welcome in view of the boosters that the populations will have to receive, the existing vaccines against Covid have never ceased to be effective against serious disease and death.

 

[gracielle]

Automatic Google Translation of entire article:
14 November 2022 by Romina Cansler

Vacuna vegetal contra el COVID: en qué situación quedó el ensayo que reclutó a más de 7000 argentinos

Mientras que la mitad habían recibido la inmunización, el resto obtuvo el placebo. De estos, unos 500 se quedaron a la espera de sus dosis y evitaron inmunizarse con las brindadas por el Gobierno nacional. Infobae habló con Gonzalo Pérez Marc, el investigador principal en el Hospital Militar

www-infobae-com.translate.goog

Vegetable vaccine against COVID: what is the situation of the trial that recruited more than 7,000 Argentines. Infobae spoke with Gonzalo Pérez Marc, the principal investigator at the Military Hospital....Today, more than a year after the first immunizations within the study, what happened to this project and why....

 

[gracielle]

18 November 2022 by Thomas Mulier/Bloomberg

Pfizer creó un refuerzo contra el Covid que supera al original

Pfizer Inc. publicó más pruebas de que su nueva vacuna para el Covid refuerza más los anticuerpos protectores contra las variantes Ómicron dominantes que el refuerzo original.

www.perfil.com

Pfizer Inc. released more evidence that its new Covid vaccine boosts protective antibodies against dominant Omicron variants more than the original booster. Pfizer and its German vaccine partner BioNTech SE said Friday that the bivalent booster may provide better protection against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages. The results were similar to those of a study in people aged 55 years and older published earlier this month. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of the bivalent booster for people over 5 years of age, and the European Commission authorized it for marketing in the European Union.

 

[gracielle]

Automatic Google Translation of entire article:
22 November 2022 by Madison Muller and Robert Langreth/Bloomberg

Covid-19: los refuerzos de las vacunas sólo ofrecen protección a corto plazo

Las vacunas de refuerzo contra el Covid-19 de Moderna y Pfizer, que combaten las últimas variantes de ómicron, brindan cierta protección a corto plazo contra las infecciones leves, pero aún no está claro si las vacunas actualizadas son mejores para prevenir la hospitalización y la enfermedad grave.

www-perfil-com.translate.goog

Covid-19: Vaccine boosters only offer short-term protection against omicron. Covid-19 booster shots from Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership that fight the latest omicron variants provide some short-term protection against mild infections, but experts say it 's not yet clear whether the updated vaccines are better than previous versions in preventing hospitalization and serious illness....Among adults younger than 49 years, boosters were 43% effective in preventing minor illnesses compared to getting no vaccine at all. In people between the ages of 50 and 64, the comparative protection against symptomatic Covid was 28%, while the booster only provided 22% protection in adults 65 and older, according to the study....

 

[gracielle]

27 October 2022

Chinese cities tighten curbs on growing COVID outbreaks

China reported a third straight day of more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases nationwide on Thursday.

www.aljazeera.com

25 November 2022

Beijing reports 424 symptomatic, 1,436 asymptomatic COVID cases for Nov 24

China's capital Beijing reported 424 symptomatic new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and 1,436 asymptomatic cases for Nov. 24, local government authorities said on Friday.

www.reuters.com

 

[gracielle]

Automatic Google Translation of entire article:
27 November 2022

Continúan subiendo los casos de coronavirus en Argentina: hubo 3.323 en los últimos 7 días

Así lo informó este domingo el Ministerio de Salud de la Nación. Además, murieron 8 personas por covid. La Ciudad de Buenos Aires, con casi la mitad de los contagios nuevos.

www-clarin-com.translate.goog

Coronavirus cases continue to rise in ARG: there were 3,323 in the last 7 days. It was reported this Sunday by the Ministry of Health of the Nation. In addition, 8 people died from Covid. The City of BA, with almost half of the new infections....The 3,323 cases reported is the highest number in two months. On September 25, 4,482 weekly infections had been confirmed.

....The City of BA was the district with the most cases this week: 1,639. Further behind was the Prov of BA, with 1,205. Covid cases in the City grew 91% in seven days and there are two other worrying data. The last report of Covid in CABA, which was made known in the last hours with a few days of delay, reported that the number of positives in City was 759 compared to the 397 of the previous week.

That is the reality that the statistics indicate, although it can also be felt on a day-to-day basis. Many begin to find out, again, that a friend or family member has Covid. The unknown is how prepared society is today from the immune point of view to face an eventual new wave. Although the data on the rise in cases is worrying, it is not the only one. There are two others that turn on an alert. The average daily positivity went from one week to the next from 8.8% to 21.6%. This means that the proportion of tests that came back positive for Covid in the City almost tripled.

 

[gracielle]

Automatic Google Translation of entire article:
1 December 2022

El Ministerio de Salud alertó sobre la circulación de una cadena de WhatsApp con información falsa

En la aplicación circuló un mensaje que advierte sobre las consecuencias de la variante más nueva de Covid-19: ómicron XBB; la cartera nacional le pidió a la sociedad “desestimar” ese tipo de mensajes y solo informarse a través de “canales oficiales”

www-lanacion-com-ar.translate.goog

The Ministry of Health alerted about the circulation of a WhatsApp chain with false information. A message circulated in the app warning about the consequences of the newest variant of Covid-19: omicron XBB. Carla Vizzoti asked society to "disregard" this type of messages and only be informed through "official channels"....