Coronavirus 2019-2020 thread (no unsubstantiated rumours!)

[supersnoop]

question for you guys. Do you guys know if the rapid Antigen tests are available on Taobao? Tried searching for it using english and Chinese handles and used Chinese and overseas delivery address and none turned up. (Just trying to bypass the price gauging and massive lines for the PCR tests lol)

I think it will be very hard to find reputable sellers online for that. The government severely cracked down on poor quality testing kits, masks, and other covid supplies to protect the nation's reputation. Almost all of this stuff now requires government license to export.

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(From 2020)

Lol scmp must be disappointed. I hope this puts an end to their negative reporting on sinovac.

Meanwhile Bloomberg is mad that hk people are still choosing sinovac over Pfizer despite continual smearing of the former by them.

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Just realized KYli posted this already. My bad.

I don't think SCMP is actively trying to smear Sinovac. IMO, that impression is because the first study released in comparing Pfizer and Sinovac was done in HK (where both are available). As such, SCMP was one of the earliest (and thus most quoted) outlets for the story. However I do think there is a general consensus to push an anti Chinese vaccine narrative.

Here is an additional report they have done that is more positive

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A lot of International media has run with the HK study. NYT, Reuters, Bloomberg etc.

Here is an FT Story:

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“[Omicron] has left the Chinese vaccines even more ineffective against the threat posed by Covid,” said Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong who specialises in Chinese foreign policy and health security in Asia. “The challenge for the Chinese authorities will be [to] re-engage their population’s commitment to another round of vaccines.” The Hong Kong study tested the antibody levels of 25 people who received both doses of the Sinovac vaccine — an inactivated vaccine unlike messenger RNA jabs such as the shots developed by BioNTech/Pfizer — and found that none had sufficient antibodies in their blood serum to neutralise the new variant. In contrast, five people out of a group of 25 who were given two doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine were found to have detectable neutralising antibodies against Omicron, which the researchers said had an “efficiency” of between 20 and 24 per cent against the new variant.

The news is quoting not even a full professor, who specializes in Chinese foreign policy, who is a foreigner, as some kind of authority. I would take it with a grain of salt, but how many people would catch this?
It is also throwing out the idea "at least 20% is better than nothing!" as the alternative, it's ridiculous. How did Pfizer and Moderna sell the world? 90+% efficacy! Now you say "be happy with 20%".

Here we have a less popular alternative study, but WHO has seemed to accept it

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(Chile study, Malaysia article)
So we see that there can still be immunity without antibodies. Someone familiar with virology and medicine might know this, but average people will not. Where is the Reuters story on this?

Some other things to note.
We are seeing the real world test against Omicron right now, it is easily evading 2 shots of the mRNA vaccines as evidenced by rocketing caseloads in western countries.

I don't see the same time and ink dedicated to taking down Covaxin (inactivated vaccine produced in India). I don't see any international outlets with many stories on Covaxin at all (only caveat is that it is not widely exported).

Why is this a danger?

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Next to the government, international media is the main source of information regarding vaccines for some people. So now we are building a case for increased vaccine hesitancy, especially in developing countries where Sinovac and Sinopharm are the most likely to be available.
Look at what happened recently in Trinidad

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This mirrors an earlier attack that happened in Seychelles, when the president went on TV to defend Sinopharm.

Sad, what happened to journalistic integrity?

 

[Overbom]

I think it will be very hard to find reputable sellers online for that. The government severely cracked down on poor quality testing kits, masks, and other covid supplies to protect the nation's reputation. Almost all of this stuff now requires government license to export.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

(From 2020)

I don't think SCMP is actively trying to smear Sinovac. IMO, that impression is because the first study released in comparing Pfizer and Sinovac was done in HK (where both are available). As such, SCMP was one of the earliest (and thus most quoted) outlets for the story. However I do think there is a general consensus to push an anti Chinese vaccine narrative.

Here is an additional report they have done that is more positive

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

A lot of International media has run with the HK study. NYT, Reuters, Bloomberg etc.

Here is an FT Story:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The news is quoting not even a full professor, who specializes in Chinese foreign policy, who is a foreigner, as some kind of authority. I would take it with a grain of salt, but how many people would catch this?
It is also throwing out the idea "at least 20% is better than nothing!" as the alternative, it's ridiculous. How did Pfizer and Moderna sell the world? 90+% efficacy! Now you say "be happy with 20%".

Here we have a less popular alternative study, but WHO has seemed to accept it

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

(Chile study, Malaysia article)
So we see that there can still be immunity without antibodies. Someone familiar with virology and medicine might know this, but average people will not. Where is the Reuters story on this?

Some other things to note.
We are seeing the real world test against Omicron right now, it is easily evading 2 shots of the mRNA vaccines as evidenced by rocketing caseloads in western countries.

I don't see the same time and ink dedicated to taking down Covaxin (inactivated vaccine produced in India). I don't see any international outlets with many stories on Covaxin at all (only caveat is that it is not widely exported).

Why is this a danger?

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Next to the government, international media is the main source of information regarding vaccines for some people. So now we are building a case for increased vaccine hesitancy, especially in developing countries where Sinovac and Sinopharm are the most likely to be available.
Look at what happened recently in Trinidad

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This mirrors an earlier attack that happened in Seychelles, when the president went on TV to defend Sinopharm.

Sad, what happened to journalistic integrity?

People get easily confused so to simplify matters:
Omicron can easily bypass 2-dose vaccines and infect a person
However, any 2-dose vaccine will still offer protection against hospitalisation and death.

You will most likely get a sore threat, some fever and that's it

 

[MortyandRick]

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Say what you want about Xi'an but it appears the omicron variant is not as innocuous as previously thought with children affected.

Also US and Canada are doing a lot of rapid antigen tests and if you are positive, people are recommended to isolate home but the positive test does not go on record since it's not PCR. Hence there is massive under reporting in North America

 

[daifo]

Kinda bad that they don't have procedure to process people with unknown covid status 2 years after the pandemic. You would hope they can do rapid test and have them held in a grey zone or outdoor tented area until a pcr test can be done.

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[vincent]

Kinda bad that they don't have procedure to process people with unknown covid status 2 years after the pandemic. You would hope they can do rapid test and have them held in a grey zone or outdoor tented area until a pcr test can be done.

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A private hospital, profits come first

 

[Bellum_Romanum]

Kinda bad that they don't have procedure to process people with unknown covid status 2 years after the pandemic. You would hope they can do rapid test and have them held in a grey zone or outdoor tented area until a pcr test can be done.

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For goodness sake, there's not even enough rapid antigen test to be given out here in Canada, Toronto to be exact and am talking on a personal level here. I have been down with symptoms that's check all the boxes for Covid-19 virus. Since there's no access to the rapid antigen test, I booked for a pcr test and that was close to a week since it's by appointment only and no calls have come my way. I have made enquiries about my work's internal procedures in terms of what needs to be done in order for myself to come to work whether I must provide a negative PCR test before reporting to work and all I was told was to follow the new quarantine guidelines (copied from American CDC) of 5 days from the initial symptoms.

Now you tell me how is the western system so much better? We can't test for jack s..t, no institutionalized rules and most of the rules are ad hoc and politicians afraid to make a pro-active approach to the virus situation.

While no system is perfect, I would rather choose the Chinese system of being tested when there's a case found, enact strict track and trace procedures, use an inactivated vaccine, I can buy rapid antigen test (which are almost all made in CHINA) than what most of us that are currently working, studying, and living in the west are stuck with.

 

[B.I.B.]

Im now hearing claims that getting a booster shot can increase one's chances of getting omicron.... damm.

 

[OppositeDay]

Livzon announced that a cocktail of its vaccine candidates for beta (V-01-351) and delta (V-01-D) variants induced a high level of neutralizing antibodies against the omicron variant in mice. The level of neutralizing antibodies against omicron is in fact higher than against the wild type, and is much higher than either the beta vaccine or delta vaccine taken individually.



None of the two vaccine candidates are in human trials yet (the conservativeness of Chinese regulators is rather unfortunate). I have no idea how Sinopharm's second generation broad spectrum protein vaccine (NVSI-06-08) works, but it recently got an EUA from UAE and if it's a similar cocktail of vaccines against earlier variants there's hope it can produce very good results against omicron.

 

[getready]

I think it will be very hard to find reputable sellers online for that. The government severely cracked down on poor quality testing kits, masks, and other covid supplies to protect the nation's reputation. Almost all of this stuff now requires government license to export.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

(From 2020)

I don't think SCMP is actively trying to smear Sinovac. IMO, that impression is because the first study released in comparing Pfizer and Sinovac was done in HK (where both are available). As such, SCMP was one of the earliest (and thus most quoted) outlets for the story. However I do think there is a general consensus to push an anti Chinese vaccine narrative.

Here is an additional report they have done that is more positive

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

might be not be actively smearing sinovac but definitely went in hard on negative reports. I remember reading more than one article on how sinovac is ineffective on their front page . But they didn’t have any articles to give any counter arguments. It was only WHO came out to defend it then they back track. It’s typical of scmp to play both sides again and even regurgitation of western media but to do this for sinovac when omicron is rearing ominously is really poor form.

 

[getready]

For goodness sake, there's not even enough rapid antigen test to be given out here in Canada, Toronto to be exact and am talking on a personal level here. I have been down with symptoms that's check all the boxes for Covid-19 virus. Since there's no access to the rapid antigen test, I booked for a pcr test and that was close to a week since it's by appointment only and no calls have come my way. I have made enquiries about my work's internal procedures in terms of what needs to be done in order for myself to come to work whether I must provide a negative PCR test before reporting to work and all I was told was to follow the new quarantine guidelines (copied from American CDC) of 5 days from the initial symptoms.

Now you tell me how is the western system so much better? We can't test for jack s..t, no institutionalized rules and most of the rules are ad hoc and politicians afraid to make a pro-active approach to the virus situation.

While no system is perfect, I would rather choose the Chinese system of being tested when there's a case found, enact strict track and trace procedures, use an inactivated vaccine, I can buy rapid antigen test (which are almost all made in CHINA) than what most of us that are currently working, studying, and living in the west are stuck with.

Seems like Canada is in same bad way as australia, over here our brilliant government have decided to close down some testing sites , changed the definition of a close contact, not provided enough RATs, discouraged hospital visits, and not include results of those tests done privately at home. I suspect to keep official number of cases down.even with these underhanded measures, our cases are still going up at record high.