Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of May 10

FDA authorizes Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for adolescents 12 to 15 years old

Expert advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scheduled to meet Wednesday to recommend how the vaccine should be used in that age group, and the vaccine can be administered as soon as the CDC director signs off on the recommendation.

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Moderna announced Thursday that an initial analysis of its teen trial found its vaccine was 96 percent effective among participants who received at least one dose. Moderna is in discussions with regulators about the data. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are testing their vaccines in children as young as infants. Johnson & Johnson is planning pediatric trials of its single-shot vaccine.

Last Friday marked two weeks post-vaccination for me and my wife. We went out to eat for the first time in forever Saturday night. We're still being pretty cautious for the moment, we ate outside, but it did feel like a small return to somewhat normalcy.

Got my second dose of the Moderna today, and I am wired as fuck. Like I haven’t felt this wired since my meth days. I’m so wired my family is concerned. I can’t sit down, I’m pacing in circles, I need to do something, but there’s nothing I want to do. I think if I were at home I’d be in the garden.

Also my husband got his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday. That means when I get home, my household will be fully vaccinated. Yay, monarda’s family! Husband and I are going to put our “I am vaccinated” stickers on our masks.

I went and picked up my free donut from Crispy Creme that they give you for showing your vaccination card!

Just 2% of SARS-CoV-2−positive individuals carry 90% of the virus circulating in communities

We analyzed data from saliva-based COVID-19 screening deployed on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Our dataset is unique in that all SARS-CoV-2−positive individuals reported no symptoms at the time of saliva collection, and therefore were infected but asymptomatic or presymptomatic. We found that 1) the distribution of viral loads observed in our asymptomatic college population was indistinguishable from what has been reported in hospitalized populations; 2) regardless of symptomatic status, approximately 50% of individuals who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 seem to be in noninfectious phases of the infection; and 3) just 2% of infected individuals carry 90% of the virions circulating within communities, serving as viral “supercarriers” and likely also superspreaders.

A World Health Organization official said Monday it is reclassifying the highly contagious triple-mutant Covid variant spreading in India as a "variant of concern," indicating that it's become a global health threat.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for Covid-19, said the agency will provide more details in its weekly situation report on the pandemic Tuesday but added that the variant, known as B.1.617, has been found in preliminary studies to spread more easily than the original virus and there is some evidence it may able to evade some of the protections provided by vaccines. The shots, however, are still considered effective.

"And as such we are classifying this as a variant of concern at the global level," she said during a press conference. "Even though there is increased transmissibility demonstrated by some preliminary studies, we need much more information about this virus variant in this lineage in all of the sub lineages, so we need more sequencing, targeted sequencing to be done."

A variant can be labeled as "of concern" if it has been shown to be more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments, according to the WHO.

The group issued a clarification Monday to their earlier remarks, saying that current data shows the existing Covid-19 vaccines "remain effective at preventing disease and death in people infected with this variant."

The international organization has already designated three other variants with the classification: B.1.1.7, which was first detected in the U.K. and is the most prevalent variant currently circulating throughout the U.S.; B.1.351, first detected in South Africa, and the P.1 variant, first detected in Brazil.

I live in an area that isn’t doing particularly well, due to a large population of college students who just don’t care about anyone but themselves and haven’t ever followed the local laws.

My best friends and I are all fully vaccinated now and hung out for the first time in over a year. We’ve all been friends since grade school and two of us have family members that are extremely at-risk so we’ve all been extra careful around each other.

We’ve been hanging out virtually but it was extremely nice to get together and see my friends again.

Get vaccinated in Ohio and get a shot at $1 million, Gov. Mike DeWine announces

"Two weeks from tonight on May 26th, we will announce a winner of a separate drawing for adults who have received at least their first dose of the vaccine. This announcement will occur each Wednesday for five weeks, and the winner each Wednesday will receive one million dollars,"DeWine said in a series of tweets.

Delay in giving second jabs of Pfizer vaccine improves immunity

A study led by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with Public Health England found that antibodies against the virus were three-and-a-half times higher in those who had the second shot after 12 weeks compared with those who had it after a three-week interval.

Most people who have both shots of the vaccine will be well protected regardless of the timing, but the stronger response from the extra delay might prolong protection because antibody levels naturally wane over time.

A rare “black fungus” that invades the brain is being increasingly seen in vulnerable patients in India, including those with Covid-19, as the health system continues to struggle in the midst of the pandemic.

Just booked my 1st vaccination appointment today, getting stabbed on May 21st. My friends also got in early enough to get appointments around that time.

Having a timeline is nice! I am excited to be vaccinated before the summer is all done.

I give myself 50/50 odds on crying in front of the nurse.

From Zeynep Tufekci: Maybe We Need Masks Indoors Just a Bit Longer

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance to say it did not believe that fully vaccinated people needed to wear masks or distance indoors or out, with a few exceptions, like when using public transportation.

The agency could say that the fully vaccinated need not worry about personal risk or transmitting the virus in a private setting. But rules for behavior in public still need to stay in place indoors to protect the unvaccinated and the immunocompromised, because we’re all in this together.

Vaccines are driving down the epidemic. But the government should have considered keeping up protections a little longer because of a process called exponential decay. Essentially, on the way up, even a week or two of delay in enforcing safety precautions can be catastrophic because the process feeds on itself to amplify very, very fast. On the way down, it’s the reverse. The spread will be contained much faster if multiple measures are combined. Then, at a time to be determined by epidemiologists, we can get to the point that those who are not vaccinated, for whatever reason, can be far better protected because there will be far less virus in circulation.