Hi Notes.

Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
I have no idea if the inhalers would do that, but if I were to consider trying an inhaler, I'd investigate the side effects first.

I think exactly the same way. That's why I love the internet. It's very easy to find the information. I also (a) make sure that the sites I go to are reputable and (b) look for confirmation on three or four other reputable websites.


Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
In another week I'll have a 95% chance of being immune. I'll still follow all the CDC and WHO guidelines because I think the contagious disease scientists know more than politicians, pundits, preachers, propagandists, and people with other fields of knowledge.

I've been doing some work on "Efficacy" versus "Effectiveness" of vaccines. Non-medical journalists use the two terms loosely and interchangeably. The words are not synonyms, though.

An efficacy of 95% does not mean that 95% of people are immune after taking the vaccine. All the current vaccines offer pretty much 100% protection in one form or another. For example...

  • all vaccines seem to reduce severity of COVID if one catches it
  • all vaccines significantly reduce the likelihood of death from COVID
  • it's also possible that all vaccines increase the likelihood of being asymptomatic if one catches the virus (since efficacy is determined by only looking at symptomatic cases unless otherwise noted)

In Phase 3 testing of vaccines, two groups of approximately the same size are created. One group gets the vaccine (vaccinated group, Group A) and the other group gets a placebo (unvaccinated group, Group B).

Efficacy is then determined by comparing who developed symptoms in the two groups. Here's an example of how the calculation is done...

  • if 6 people in Group A develop symptoms and 56 people in Group B develop symptoms, then

    ◦ Percentage = (6/56) x 100 = 10.7%
    ◦ Efficacy = 100.0 – 10.7 = 89.3%
  • Thus Efficacy indicates the number of people in Group A, the vaccinated group, who developed symptoms is 89.3% less than the number of people in Group B who developed symptoms.

When COVID-19 burst into the world it was brand new and nobody knew what was going to happen. During this time, learning about COVID was primarily through trial and error; that is, "hope we don't make a mistake but if we do then let's learn from it." It's really good to see that scientists are now getting on top of this so quickly.

I watch a lot of series on Netflix from around the world. In all 2020/21 dramas from the countries I watch, I now often hear English terms such as "social distancing", "flatten the curve", "lockdown", "PPE", "curfew", etc. It's eye-opening.

Regards,
Noel

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