Why are there endless strings of letters and numbers for all the different Omicron strains? When are we going back to the Greek letters? I personally am looking forward to the tasty Pi variant.
Honestly, most of the naming is completely arbitrary, and I would argue most of this is tied to researchers wanted to lay claim to a name and have their work attached to something. It's generally why research into new mutations tends to end with some comment like "this is why this new strain with these mutations should be labeled a new variant of concern". Generally something like that so they can go, "see, look! I'm attached to that variant!"
Well to be fair this is for people who are immunocompromised. The intent of this article is to at least alert those who are immunocompromised that they may have to look out to what happens in the coming months.
My stance on monoclonals appears to differ from a few people on Substack as I don't consider them to be this nefarious drug that others may make them out to be. The monoclonals used are sourced from people with prior infections. They're not foreign abstractions, but they're the antibodies we are most likely producing ourselves.
First off, I'm sorry about the cancer situation and I hope you are doing better.
My comment was in response to your comment stating "just leave your immune system ALONE". That comment would assume that the drugs and therapy in question we are referring to have some association with the immune system insofar as that they may affect the immune system's response in some way.
It's a response applicable to vaccines, but in the case of the monoclonals there's a lot of nuance.
Monoclonals are derived from the B cells taken from people with prior immunity. Many monclonal antibodies have effector function due to the Fc stalk. This is an issue with convalescent plasma where the antibodies taken from one individual still has effector function and may be immunogenic in a recipient.
For monoclonal antibody therapeutic it depends on whether the Fc stalk has been modified to not make it immunogenic.
In the case of Evusheld, it's been modified to have an extended half life that allows to keep it circulating for months. The intent of Evusheld is to be given to those who are either immunocompromised or lack any immune system.
So when making my comment I was addressing that point specifically, stating that Evusheld is being used in people who don't have immune systems, so we can't make an argument that they shouldn't be given it because of their immune system. It's their lack of having an immune system which is why I wrote the post to raise awareness because I have received comments from people who know of someone who was immunocompromised and was unsure what they could do.
So that's just some more clarity for my comment. We have to be mindful of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater when looking at pharmaceuticals. Even if they all have serious flaws or issues we should figure out what each individual flaw is there rather than implicate everything under a broad umbrella.
Sorry for the long-winded response. I just waned to provide more of my perspective just to clear things up.
I try to include them in posts like these. It makes it so much easier to visualize when you can sort of see what's actually going on. It's far different than the typical comments of "antibody stick to antigen" and just leaves it at that.
To play devil's advocate, they appear to at least update many of the drugs, but I think that's because many of them may just require easier testing methods. The studies mentioned here were in vitro serial passage studies.
Although that doesn't excuse the vaccines and how they lack so much information. It is pretty alarming how the vaccine labels don't fully flesh out what cellular mechanisms are occurring, or maybe they haven't fully fleshed it out themselves.
It's something that I hope people become aware of. A few people have commented about knowing people who are immunocompromised so I hope they see this information and can present it to their friends/family and discuss alternatives. This is always about having informed patients so providing information they can use should be helpful.
And yes I always enjoy seeing what exactly happens. As I've stated before I'm more interested in what mechanisms are occurring rather than the superficial "X is happening".
Thanks for pointing this out. Monoclonals really worked well for some people.
I personally would need to be in dire straits to take any new pharmaceutical product now. But this is really good to know for people who already had a good experience with monoclonals, or know someone who did.
Evusheld in particular is used for those who are immunocompromised as a prophylactic, so this is important for people who are looking for something but don't want to wait until they get sick, at which point they may go downhill quickly. So this was intended to serve as a reference or a PSA I guess to let people know.
Why are there endless strings of letters and numbers for all the different Omicron strains? When are we going back to the Greek letters? I personally am looking forward to the tasty Pi variant.
Honestly, most of the naming is completely arbitrary, and I would argue most of this is tied to researchers wanted to lay claim to a name and have their work attached to something. It's generally why research into new mutations tends to end with some comment like "this is why this new strain with these mutations should be labeled a new variant of concern". Generally something like that so they can go, "see, look! I'm attached to that variant!"
I was reading this and thinking: Just leave your immune system ALONE...especially when the company name on the box is AstraZeneca.
Well to be fair this is for people who are immunocompromised. The intent of this article is to at least alert those who are immunocompromised that they may have to look out to what happens in the coming months.
My stance on monoclonals appears to differ from a few people on Substack as I don't consider them to be this nefarious drug that others may make them out to be. The monoclonals used are sourced from people with prior infections. They're not foreign abstractions, but they're the antibodies we are most likely producing ourselves.
With due respect, I disagree. After what I’ve learned about the “Pharma Cartel” and having cancer removed in August, I wouldn’t get NEAR this.
It’s just another 💰”cure”.
First off, I'm sorry about the cancer situation and I hope you are doing better.
My comment was in response to your comment stating "just leave your immune system ALONE". That comment would assume that the drugs and therapy in question we are referring to have some association with the immune system insofar as that they may affect the immune system's response in some way.
It's a response applicable to vaccines, but in the case of the monoclonals there's a lot of nuance.
Monoclonals are derived from the B cells taken from people with prior immunity. Many monclonal antibodies have effector function due to the Fc stalk. This is an issue with convalescent plasma where the antibodies taken from one individual still has effector function and may be immunogenic in a recipient.
For monoclonal antibody therapeutic it depends on whether the Fc stalk has been modified to not make it immunogenic.
In the case of Evusheld, it's been modified to have an extended half life that allows to keep it circulating for months. The intent of Evusheld is to be given to those who are either immunocompromised or lack any immune system.
So when making my comment I was addressing that point specifically, stating that Evusheld is being used in people who don't have immune systems, so we can't make an argument that they shouldn't be given it because of their immune system. It's their lack of having an immune system which is why I wrote the post to raise awareness because I have received comments from people who know of someone who was immunocompromised and was unsure what they could do.
So that's just some more clarity for my comment. We have to be mindful of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater when looking at pharmaceuticals. Even if they all have serious flaws or issues we should figure out what each individual flaw is there rather than implicate everything under a broad umbrella.
Sorry for the long-winded response. I just waned to provide more of my perspective just to clear things up.
Really cool spike-antibody computer images!
I try to include them in posts like these. It makes it so much easier to visualize when you can sort of see what's actually going on. It's far different than the typical comments of "antibody stick to antigen" and just leaves it at that.
Gee, the FDA is releasing information w/o a court order!
To play devil's advocate, they appear to at least update many of the drugs, but I think that's because many of them may just require easier testing methods. The studies mentioned here were in vitro serial passage studies.
Although that doesn't excuse the vaccines and how they lack so much information. It is pretty alarming how the vaccine labels don't fully flesh out what cellular mechanisms are occurring, or maybe they haven't fully fleshed it out themselves.
Thank you for this presentation. Sadly, depending on a physician to actually advise there clients regarding the possible flaws is optimistic.
I enjoyed the discussion regarding mutations and confirmational changes. I love this stuff.
It's something that I hope people become aware of. A few people have commented about knowing people who are immunocompromised so I hope they see this information and can present it to their friends/family and discuss alternatives. This is always about having informed patients so providing information they can use should be helpful.
And yes I always enjoy seeing what exactly happens. As I've stated before I'm more interested in what mechanisms are occurring rather than the superficial "X is happening".
Thanks for pointing this out. Monoclonals really worked well for some people.
I personally would need to be in dire straits to take any new pharmaceutical product now. But this is really good to know for people who already had a good experience with monoclonals, or know someone who did.
Evusheld in particular is used for those who are immunocompromised as a prophylactic, so this is important for people who are looking for something but don't want to wait until they get sick, at which point they may go downhill quickly. So this was intended to serve as a reference or a PSA I guess to let people know.