Unstoppabler Covid

Covid variant BA.5 is the most transmissible yet and is leading to an onslaught of Covid cases around the globe. People are advised to stop breathing - nothing else seems like it will do much to prevent infection, though vaccines still look like they're saving lives.  

Chinese citizens may want to brace for a lengthy lockdown as their government is still showing no signs of accepting anything but Covid Zero, which we agree is way better than Diet Covid. 

Meanwhile, three months after it was authorized for adults 50+, the FDA still doesn't want people ages 18-49 to get a second booster. Presumably because likelihood of death is virtually nil for someone in that age range who has three doses. 

Pfizer, BioNTech & Moderna are all working on Omicron-focused vaccines for the fall. Good news is clinical trials will not take very long since everyone is about to get them some BA.5 in the next few weeks.

Worth the Wait

President Biden was awakened from a deep slumber at 7:00 pm on Monday and, you guessed it, six more weeks of summer. No, actually they (probably) woke him to present the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The others from the first batch were released Tuesday morning. They’re a wondrous taste of what's to come. Quality difference between it and the Hubble is like comparing a TV signal acquired over-the-air with a 4K video. You can pretty much see actual wrinkles in time.

China’s Population

Yi Fuxian tracks China’s population using proxy measures and has concluded that the Chinese government is grossly overstating recent birth rates. He uses various methods to come to this conclusion, such as showing a steep drop in Baidu searches for baby-related products. But a more interesting proxy data piece to us is infant vaccinations.

A TB vaccine is federally required in China, and back in 2009-2010 there were roughly 1.2 births for every dose of vaccine administered. So back then some people were clearly not getting their babies vaccinated, which is no shocker in such a vast country. However, the number of TB vaccine doses given each year has been dropping precipitously. If the Chinese government’s birth rates are to be believed, there are now 2.24 children being born for each vaccine dose given. In a heavily-controlled authoritarian society, it's simply not believable that so many millions of parents suddenly decided to ignore a government mandate.

OTC Birth Control

For a half century, hormonal birth control has been the go-to for millions of women in America. Could it finally be made available over the counter? We’ll find out in a bit as HRA Pharma has applied to sell their product direct to consumers. Hormonal treatments can have some pretty bad side effects for certain patients, so permitting the general public to self-screen is probably not something the FDA is ready to consider. But who the hell knows anymore.

Melon Swellin'

If you were wondering if the calorie burn rate was worth the effort, Vivifi Pharma is happy to let you know that banging your head against a wall burns 150 calories per hour. Feel free to enjoy the rest of the "Health Care Trivia" they published on their homepage.