Coronavirus

Should You Get Another Covid Booster Now, or Wait Until the Fall? – The New York Times

Should You Get Another Covid Booster Now, or Wait Until the Fall? – The New York Times

The majority of the coronavirus strains infecting people right now are either descended from, or related to, XBB.1.5, so the decision to target that variant with the vaccine “was about as good as you could imagine for the moment,” said Trevor Bedford, a professor in the vaccine and infectious disease division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The vaccine will most likely also provide some protection against EG.5, which recently became the dominant variant in the United States, accounting for about 17 percent of current cases. EG.5 is descended from another XBB variant and has a few additional mutations, so antibodies produced by the updated vaccine may not be quite as effective against it. But the new booster is still a better fit for EG.5 than last year’s booster, which targeted both the original Covid strain and the BA.5 Omicron variant — neither of which appear to be circulating anymore.

Dr. David Boulware, a professor of medicine specializing in infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School, added that because the new vaccine is a better match for the current variants, he is “somewhat optimistic” that it will help prevent not only severe disease but also infection.

Learning from the ‘Covid dodgers’ – POLITICO

Learning from the ‘Covid dodgers’ – POLITICO

Is ‘Novid’ a thing? Have some people really gone through three-and-a-half years of Covid and still never gotten the disease through some combination of caution and luck?

And if a slice of the public really has avoided the virus — even amid the current Covid uptick that has led to slight rise in hospitalizations — can scientists learn from them?

The answer is yes and yes — with the usual Covid caveats is that a lot is still unknown. There probably are a relatively small number of people who really haven’t gotten it — although many if not most of those who think they were untouched probably had very mild or asymptomatic cases. Maybe we should call them LowVids.

study : NPR

Republicans’ excess death rate spiked after COVID-19 vaccines arrived: study : NPR

Researchers analyzed data related to 538,159 people who died between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2021, at ages 25 and over, compiling their political party affiliations based on records from 2017. Sponsor Message You know those folks who had COVID but no symptoms? A new study offers an explanation Goats and Soda You know those folks who had COVID but no symptoms? A new study offers an explanation

The study collected weekly death counts, breaking down the deceased's party ties along with their county and age cohort. It used May 1, 2021, as a key dividing line because the date marks a month after all U.S. adults became eligible to receive shots of the COVID-19 vaccines.

It could be in their genes : Goats and Soda : NPR

Why some folks never got sick from COVID: It could be in their genes : Goats and Soda : NPR

cientists estimate that over 20% of people who get infected with COVID never have any symptoms – and a portion of them never even know they were infected. Now a new study published in Nature on July 19 says their genetics might be why the virus didn't make them sick.

Some people have a version of a gene in their immune system called HLA-B that protects them from feeling the effects of the virus. The study found that people with this special HLA-B variant are 2 to 8 1/2 times more likely to be asymptomatic than those without the variant.