Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Allergy that you need to report before you get the Pfizer vaccine

  As I have had severe food-related allergic reactions twice several years apart) which was diagnosed as 'anaphylaxis', this warning is very timely, although I am certain to be asked about my allergies. The reaction is nasty as it creates an obstruction to breathing and swallowing. You feel as if you have swallowed a box of stabler pins.

Severe reaction to Pfizer's vaccine was first reported in the UK. 

So far, 2 cases in Britain and one in Alaska, USA have been reported. In all these cases there was a severe anaphylaxis reaction that needed hospitalization. 

The following site may be accessed to report any such reaction:

https://coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

The British regulatory agency has issued the following:

"....

Any person with a history of anaphylaxis to a vaccine, medicine, or food should not receive the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine. A second dose should not be given to anyone who has experienced anaphylaxis following the administration of the first dose of this vaccine.

“Anaphylaxis is a known, although very rare, side effect with any vaccine. Most people will not get anaphylaxis and the benefits in protecting people against COVID-19 outweigh the risks...."

The above is copied from the following:

"https://www.gov.uk/government/news/confirmation-of-guidance-to-vaccination-centres-on-managing-allergic-reactions-following-covid-19-vaccination-with-the-pfizer-biontech-vaccine"

A healthcare worker was hospitalized after experiencing a serious allergic reaction to the Pfizer vaccine in Alaska. The person is still in the hospital. It appears her allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) is believed to be similar to that suffered by the two in Britain. The patients in Britain carried with them EpiPen-like devices to counteract the allergic reaction. 

In the USA, federal regulators authorized the following warning,

"Health care providers were warned not to give the vaccine to anyone with a “known history of a severe allergic reaction” to any component of the vaccine, which they said was a standard warning for vaccines".

More here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/health-care-worker-had-serious-allergic-reaction-after-pfizer-s-covid-vaccine/ar-BB1bYU3e?ocid=msedgntp

Anaphylaxis:

Anaphylaxis: First aid - Mayo Clinic

Sunday, December 13, 2020

India's COVID-19 vaccine needs

  India needs 1.6 billion doses to cover 800 million people and achieve 'herd immunity' according to this article.

India has purchased so far,

  • 500 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine
  • 1 billion of US's NOVAVAX
  • 100 million doses of Sputnik V from Russia's Gamaleya Laboratory

This above is as of November 30 according to data gathered by Duke University Global Health Innovation Center.

According to Aljazeera news there are three priority groups in India:

10 million healthcare workers

20 million front-line workers (police, military, Firefighters etc.)

270 million other vulnerable people (Age>50, etc.)

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Did you get your corona virus related stimulus check?

  You might have already gotten yours. If not, when you try to access 'Get My Payment' page you may see this.

And following the links you may get to this page. 

It looks like you can claim this in your 2020 Tax return. However, since the process is slow you may still get a check by December 31, 2020.

Good luck!

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Rapid COVID-19 test from Israel

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Although a number of vaccines have shown extremely high success rates in the range of 70-95%, it is important that similar advances are needed in testing. This is all the more important in view of the huge rates of infection world wide.

There are basically two types of tests that you can see listed at CDC.

  • A viral test for current infection
  • An antibody test to see if you had, had a past infection. 

Due to the long period of incubation testing becomes more complicated.

Well, if you test positive you should take all precautions to stay out and stay out so that you do not spread it. If you test negative, you were not infected when the sample was collected meaning you were not infected at that time of testing.

   


TODOS Medical of Israel
 reported its preliminary, proof-of-concept data for tis rapid, COVID-19 test. The company claims 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity in PCR-confirmed, positive and negative COVID-19 samples from patients. The test is based on its lab-based rapid SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease diagnostic test. TODOS Medical is seeking emergency authorization from the US FDA.

More here from TODOS Medical Ltd (OTCQB:TOMDF:

https://tinyurl.com/y645tk8g

Promotional video;





Thursday, November 19, 2020

Chinese repel Indian soldiers with microwave weapons

  Indian soldiers in the Himalayan heights were literally 'microwave cooked' making them leave their positions. According to a professor in Beijing (Prof. Jin Canrong of Renmin University), the microwave weapon used by the Chinese burned the soldiers and made it so uncomfortable that they abandoned their positions. After repelling the Indian soldiers these positions were later occupied by the Chinese. It appears the microwave radiation induced extensive pain and skin irritation in the Indian soldiers. Apparently, using this weapon, they could still claim that no bullets were fired.

It is further suspected that the same weapon was used against US Diplomats in Guangzhou in 2018.

The Poly WB-1 (https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/wb-1.htm) displayed in an airshow in 2014 was used.  This appears to be the first time use of an electromagnetic weapon in a battle ground. Since, Chinese may want to use this weapon in safeguarding their new artificial islands (https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/chinas-artificial-islands-news-rumors/), it is plausible that they have upgraded the system between 2014 and 2020.

References:

https://www.globalvillagespace.com/did-china-really-use-microwave-weapons-on-indian-soldiers/

https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/18/china-cooked-indian-soldiers-alive-with-secret-microwave-weapon-13614480/

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-turns-ladakh-battleground-with-india-into-a-microwave-oven-6tlwtrtzz?wgu=270525_54264_16058407892591_8518b2a6db&wgexpiry=1613616789&utm_source=planit&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_content=22278

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Treat monkeys humanely if you want to use them

  Yes. It does matter a lot. Monkeys are being cruelly treated by using them (without paying minimum wage) in pulling down coconuts from trees in Thailand ($400 million coconut trade) 

Of course, they are chained and kept in cages perpetrating various abuses. Thais should really worry where they are going with regard to their natural resources, animals. Elephants were used in the logging industry and tourism not without treating them with cruelty. Now it is the turn of monkeys. How can they be inhuman to these beautiful creatures?

"PETA’s investigation found the monkeys used by the coconut industry were kept in deplorable conditions, tied or chained to blocks or old tires or kept in small cages, displayed signs of extreme mental anguish and had their teeth removed if they fought back against their handlers"

The above from the following source:  https://tinyurl.com/y3jtw6t2

Here is a video from PETA.org



More animal cruelty info here:

https://www.peta.org


Wegmans has pulled out Chaokoh coconut milk and Costco is also pulling them out.


Good Bye Chakoh! good riddance.


Monday, November 2, 2020

Is China looking forward to Biden's win?

 The Hill makes a compelling argument why China is looking forward to Biden winning the election.


The key is they want a China friendly US President and Taiwan is in its sight.


Read this article by Joseph Bosco in The Hill.

Also an in-depth article

https://www.andrewerickson.com/2020/11/the-elements-of-the-china-challenge/

Sunday, October 25, 2020

COVID-19 Update: Light at the end of the tunnel for India

 Both Indian news media and John's Hopkins' data seem to indicate that the Corona Virus situation is getting better.

 



Fortunately, the number of deaths though appearing big compared to the population has been low so far.

With the coming holiday and festival season coming this situation is likely to go the other way. Another environmental factor that my get the situation southwards is the increasing pollution and dust. I hope Bengaluru and various other municipalities made use of the restrictions to better plan their traffic situation in controlling air pollution.

 Happy Navratri for all our friends, family and Indian citizens.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/navaratri-2020-kalash-sthapna-date-puja-vidhi-muhurat-timings-6724917/

Another factor in favor of India is that the world's largest manufacturer of vaccine is in India. If an effective vaccine is found it can be produced in large quantities to vaccinate the billion and more in India.

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

India's CSIR laboratories lands the first in a paper test for Corona Virus COVID-19

  India has been battered by the Covid-19 virus which got out of China and attacked the world. It has left on its trail millions of people jobless; thousands and thousands of dead, and still raging unabated. For the poor in India and Brazil where health care facilities are not available for many, it has been very cruel. Many, many businesses may not survive its onslaught. 

On the bright side many vaccines (100's and counting) are being developed but whether it can come in time for the poor and downtrodden is questionable. Probably many more casualties will follow.

Testing to find whether one is being infected or not has been one of the biggest problems even before talking about an effective vaccine. These tests are neither easy, nor inexpensive. There is also an element of time involved for the test results to be available. Even after that, there is the question of whether it is reliable or not remains. The incubation period of the virus is another parameter which impedes the tracking and mitigation efforts.

Most of all, people are not ready to adopt a more responsible and proactive effort to stop its spread, either because prolonged quarantine deals a heavy blow to the economics, or that people are not ready to forego personal liberties.

Testing has a crucial role to play. India's new paper Civid-19 test could be the light we have been waiting for in India. 

"A team of scientists in India has developed an inexpensive paper-based test for coronavirus that could give fast results similar to a pregnancy test. The BBC's Soutik Biswas and Krutika Pathi unpack how it works." - BBC


A CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) based kit called Feluda made by the Tata's group (Known for its philanthropy) will be the first paper-based test available in India. Feluda was developed by CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB). 

Some highlights:

  • It has been tested on samples from 2,000 patients that includes those who were tested to be positive.
  • It takes about 45 minutes for the results of the test.
  • It uses simpler apparatus compared to other tests.
  • The new test has a sensitivity of 96% ensuring low false negatives and a specificity of 98% reducing false positives.


The CSIR team that developed the Feluda test


The CISR institute is working on a point-of-care-test.

The above post is based on the link below.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54338864

More references here:

India's drug authority approved paper-strip Covid-19 test that could return results within hour

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/indias-drug-authority-approved-paper-strip-covid-19-test-that-could-return-results-within-hour/ar-BB19Jcw2?ocid=uxbndlbing

New rapid COVID-19 test could be an ‘affordable’ breakthrough

https://nypost.com/2020/10/05/new-affordable-rapid-covid-19-paper-test-could-be-breakthrough/

India’s Feluda Covid-19 test cheaper, faster alternative to RT-PCR, say scientists

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-s-feluda-covid-19-test-cheaper-faster-alternative-to-rt-pcr-say-scientists/story-j1NF1WY5hMu9AZbAWqvMyN.html