Coronamonomania Lives Forever, Part 62

More on the myocarditis and vaccines and young men front, this time in a study from Hong Kong.  As have other studies, this one finds an above-background rate of myocarditis following vaccination in male children.  The rate was much higher after the second dose than the first one and the risk was concentrated in older children, those over 15.  All of the cases were mild, but it is still concerning that this is occurring, when the benefit to vaccinating these children is miniscule.  (CID Article) 

Here is a study from the CDC that actually looks a little more reasonable.  It came from a large northwestern health plan and found that those who were unvaccinated were only twice as likely to be seen in an ER or hospitalized with CV-19, compared to the fully vaxed.  This is a much lower relative risk reduction than is claimed by the CDC generally or by most “experts”, including those in our beloved Minnesota DOH.  However, the study completely fails to adjust for age or other factors affecting the rates reported, which might make vaccines seem more or less effective.   (CDC Study)

Moderna and Pfizer were compared in this large study in the VA.  Moderna generally performed better across all outcomes.  It does not appear that there were substantial differences in regard to either Alpha or Delta.  (NEJM Article)

This study comes from the NBA, so a very biased sample, and a small one.  But it looked at viral load across a couple of variants and vaxed and unvaccinated subjects.  The testing was longitudinal and prospective so theoretically picked up most infections, but who knows, since we have had players with fake vax cards.  Anyway, viral loads were said to be similar between vaxed and unvaxed testees, but the vaccinated persons had faster clearance.  The difference in the proportion of high viral loads did not seem significantly different between Alpha and Delta.  (NEJM Article)

Based on a very small sample this research claims that Delta viral loads in saliva are much higher than those of other strains.  No controls on sampling at all, so simply not a credible indicator of reality.  (Medrxiv Paper)

This study from the UK looked at risk factors for hospitalization and death.  Over the course of the epidemic, case rates for both these outcomes have fallen recently, likely due to vaccination and better treatment protocols.  Severe mental illness was the most notable risk factor for hospitalization and death, along with obesity and other serious comorbidities.  (Medrxiv Paper)

The latest UK  report on epidemic trends shows no real change from recent ones. Perhaps cases there are leveling off.  The UK has some of the same issues with excessive testing that the US does.  Reinfections are low, but now probably influenced by vaccination among those who were previously infected.  Hospitalizations and deaths have remained lower than in earlier waves as well.    (UK Report)

The UK vaccine surveillance report has also been updated.  No real directional changes.  Boosters appear to be having some modest effect on case reduction.  (UK Report)