BROADCASTS.com

Image:   Henry Miller, @HenryIMiller @PacificResearch Institute; HenryMillerMD.org, Pacific Research Institute [HenryMillerMD.org], in re: Virus and vaccine. Israeli vaccinations are moving along quickly and very well; far leads the world in percentage vaccinated. After 12 days the rate of infections began to drop, and that only after the first dose. Caveat: the dominant virus in Israel is the original strain, before the several new variants (UK, Brazil, South Africa).  First shot confers 80% of those vaccinated: resistance to infection; jumps to 95% after the second dose. Herd immunity:  how many needed to protect the whole population?  Maybe 70%.  Could increase.   Bad news: South African study—half those tested show reinfection. Brazil has a horror story: Manaus is overwhelmed by the Brazilian variant, they've run out of oxygen, and people are dying of asphyxiation.   They had 70% vaccinated, but the new variant [has created new problems?]. Number of viruses ambient in the world.  More mutants with every RNA replication.   Now is Northern Hemisphere flu season. People are carefully washing and masking; but chewing gum (nonsugar)?  Stimulates saliva production, and saliva  has antiviral and antibacterial properties. Also can mitigate symptoms of depression, “has consistently positive effects on mood.”  ..  ..  . .  Preliminary studies from South Africa (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-20/south-african-study-into-new-virus-strain-raises-vaccine-fears) , where people who’ve been sick are becoming reinfected (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.18.427166v1.full.pdf) with the new variant bearing the N501Y mutation, indicate that the natural immune response isn’t making sufficient neutralizing antibodies. Vaccines are likely to offer better protection because they’re designed to coax the body to make a wider array of antibodies, tackling spikes at several points and from several angles. But if vaccine efficacy is even slightly lower than expected from testing before the new variants arrived, that’ll raise requirements for herd immunity. ..