bird flu

To piggyback off this:

Not to be that guy, but I have an immediate family member who got their booster and (I don't remember what the technical term was, apologies) their immune system started attacking their nerves, which caused them to lose most control over their hands, arms, feet, and legs, and at the worst point, become bedridden and at risk of dying, had they not received the care they did (I've been told the docs said 'a few more days and it would have been too late'). They are recovering, still, almost 3y later; daily care, wheelchair, walker, weekly therapy. It's been a very slow process, and they only got the help they needed because another family member is in the medical field and was able to correctly diagnose their situation, when their main (prior, now) gp shrugged it off as the flu (???) twice, even as their condition was worsening and painfully obviously not just "the flu". I have heard of friends of friends who seem to have had this phenomenon occur, but were not as lucky to receive (the correct) treatment in time.

Two other family members who got the booster at the same time had no issues. I got mine a couple months after, with no issues. They are usually safe... but not always. Practicing medicine, studying science; never absolutes. Healthy dose of skepticism is okay. But weigh the risks logically, not just "this can happen so I'm never going to do X", as sometimes X can save you from Y. My mom in particular was freaking out when I got my booster - understandable, but it's one risk over another.

E: autocorrect shenanigans

Better hope he doesn’t add bleach to vaccine

My life has improved so much since I embraced a so called 'evil,' and 'destructive' brain worm. Libs preach unity, but can't understand the power of many minds united into one. Sad!

Huh, that's a fun thought. If the bird flu turns into a pandemic (there's a prediction market that gives 16% for it, which is pants-shittingly terrifyingly high), we'll get to see how the Trump administration deals with one. And that... can go various ways.

On one hand, there's tons of anti-vaxxers in the Trump voting base and presumably this will affect the government, which is concerning. But on the other hand, one of the biggest problems in the COVID handling was when FDA stopped people from using already-created vaccines for idiotic bureaucracy considerations while people were literally dying by the million. That's the sort of thing that could go a lot better with just one presidential decision speeding it up, and there's a bunch of new people with power in the government now, like Elon Musk. Muskrat is a horrible person and kind of insane in some ways, but not stupid and I think he'd notice and act upon an opportunity like that. So I'm not totally pessimistic about how a new pandemic would go, either.

I was told I'd be dead in 5 years because of the covid Vax. So like... Nice talking to you all. This is my year.

I am hella pro vaccine and after my third COVID vaccine I got horribly sick with COVID and I’m not getting any more. Do I think I would have even way more sick if I didn’t get vaccinated? I fully believe I would have been more sick if I wasn’t. But I’m done.

You don't get it. They are part of the conspiracy. Same as all the flight personnel with chemtrails. Everything is a big conspiracy, except that Facebook post made by some anonymous account, that's real.

Or remind people of the horrible specter that polio was, and the shadow it cast over society at the time. People lived in constant dread of catching something that could leave them physically ruined, and even wheelchair bound for the rest of their lives back then.

Covid, in its early strains, had the potential to leave you hospitalized and drowning in your own lungs for weeks as it ran its course. Granted, that's not polio levels of bad... But that's still weeks of hell, and several more years of hospital billing hell that I would like to avoid.

Weighing those outcomes, I opted for early access to the vaccine. Even though it was more to minimize the risk of an expensive hospital stay.

I love a clinical trial. Sign me the eff up. That being said, as you mention, there are some issues with the speed of trials. And in particular, the demographic spread that volunteers for clinical trials in the US is a problem because it’s typically a monolith: white women, college educated, generally healthy, ages 18-35 IIRC. Proportional representation is hard to find, and distrust in public health is (for good historical reasons) low in minority populations. Pulling in a wider swath of people isn’t possible, and researchers are missing massive chunks of data from which trust could be built.

Not to be that guy but 50,000 people is still a lot. Percentages are great because if they’re very low we tend to like that but it doesn’t change the absolute number.

The real comparison isn’t how safe the vaccine is, its how safe the vaccine is compared to getting the disease it’s preventing. Every medical product is not about zero harm or low harm, it’s about harm reduction. If medical therapies didn’t cause harm, we wouldn’t have chemo treatments and we would be much worse at treating cancers.

I've had people tell me and my friends similar things to this. Some people just aren't good with numbers and can't put them into perspective with other numbers and arrive at scary conclusions with no further context. Canada has 40+ million people and side effects can include trivial things such as feeling tired or having a sore arm. On a similar note, 2 of the COVID vaccines were mRNA based and some people were scaremongering about how the vaccines must somehow alter your DNA because both "mRNA" and "DNA" sound vaguely similar.

i do all of that and still get my vaccines. in a few years my immune system will be so powerful that nothing will be able to kill me

calm down drag

The president once said decreed "Inject bleach in your veins"

RFK Jr. will declare bleach the new vaccine

We've been making flu vaccines for a long time now, and the flu has always been a virus that comes in various strains so you need to renew the vaccine frequently (usually once a year, as opposed to other vaccines that can last you a decade), and the medical industry needs to know which strains to make vaccines for.

Part of the thing with covid was that it was novel, and the vaccines were as well, because they needed to be not just developed fast, but deployed fast.

This isn't the first time H5N1 is making the rounds, and there have been vaccines for it for over a decade. Depending on where you live, your country may have a stockpile of vaccines or just ordered one.

The problems humanity will face with the virus is one of uneven distribution of vaccines due to uneven distribution of wealth, poor health care policies, and science denialism / vaccine conspiracy nightmares.

Those people often have children who's only failure is to be born in such a family. Saying that the problem is going to solve itself is rather unempathic and will do quite some harm the said children of such people. (Just saying)

Seems to mostly be called "Screaming Seagull" or "Inhaling Seagull"

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/inhaling-seagull

"Birb wanna H5N1 inoculation"

sadfasfsadfd

There's one.

Public well funded education.

Uh... yeah? Where I live you can buy vaccines for your livestock at the general store. Treating livestock with antibiotics on the other hand is stupid and big ag really needs to stop doing it.

Yes....? We've been vaccinating livestock for relevant diseases since 1879, starting with Chicken Cholera.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/antibody-initiative/veterinary

Isn’t that how these diseases are generated in the first place?

No, livestock diseases were a problem long before vaccination. In fact it's been hypothesized that the reason Europeans killed off Native Americans with disease instead of the other way around is that European livestock spread so much disease that it meant Europeans carried and were immune to a wide variety of diseases.

As for why livestock diseases are so common, it's probably due to the obvious - the cramped conditions, often in close contact with other animals. Think of the classic Chinese wet market with animals from many different places stacked in cages on top of each other with fluids flying all over. That's the real bio weapons lab.

Given how much antibiotics they pump into livestock it wouldn't be that weird.

But yeah, less intensive animal farming would likely also reduce spread & impact.

Suit yourself. The gene pool can only benefit.

Well then at least have the decency to stay in your home, rather than subject us immunocompromised to another round of dodging a minefield of disease incubators.

Instead of a single, get multiple!