Bang for the buck

~ susie ~ 1 Comment
Photo by AronPW on Unsplash

Some good news, if you can handle it! This vaccine is more effective with an initial half-dose — which means they can innoculate more people. Via The Guardian:

Oxford University and AstraZeneca have announced their jab is effective in preventing many people getting ill and it has been shown to work in different age groups, including the elderly. There are early indications it might also help stop the spread of the disease. … Oxford University said interim analysis from its phase 3 vaccine trial showed that the efficacy of their vaccine is 70%. But that came from combining the results of two different dosing regimes, one of which was 90% and the other was 62%. The 90% regime involved a half-dose first and then a full dose of the vaccine later. The interim analysis was based on 131 infections among participants who received the vaccine and those in a control group who were given an established meningitis shot. In a statement, Prof Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial, said: “These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives. Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective and if this dosing regime is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply.

The Astar Zeneca vaccine is refrigerator-stable, so it can be easily transported anywhere in the world. It is also substantially cheaper, at about £3 ($4) a dose instead of more than £20 ($27) for the others.

Minority rule: Koch-funded ALEC planned since February to claim the election was stolen from Trump

~ susie

Which adds a whole other layer of irony to Charles Koch’s recent apology tour. Council for National Policy is another one of his pet projects, too. Via Documented and Huffington Post:

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) CEO Lisa Nelson told a room full of conservative activists that ALEC had been working with three GOP attorneys on “action items that legislators can take to question the validity of an election.” The comments were made during a strategy session about elections at the Council for National Policy in February 2020. 

“Obviously we all want President Trump to win,” said Lisa Nelson, chair of the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council, which was responsible for getting the at-times-lethal “Stand your ground” laws enacted in several states.

“They can write a letter to the secretary of state questioning the validity of an election and saying what did happen that night,” Nelson said. “So we are drafting a lot of those things. If you have ideas in that area, let us know and we’ll get those to the state legislators and they can start to kind of exercise their political muscle in that area.”

So let’s be clear. The election was months away, and the right wing extremists were already planning how to muscle their way into the courts and claim it as a victory, no matter what.

ALEC writes the corporate-friendly legislation, and their members sponsor the bill. It’s been clear that ALEC (and right-wing groups like it) have been writing Trump’s agenda — with help from lobbyists like Ginni Thomas (aka Mrs. Clarence Thomas).

So this wasn’t a spur of the moment reaction. This was planned out in advance to maintain minority rule: Heads I win, tales you lose.

Don’t think about her when you’re trying to drive

~ susie

A heart in your condition
Shouldn’t be out on that road tonight
Bad clutch and your load keeps shifting
Hold on, buddy, you’ll be alright
You’ll wake tomorrow morning
Probably be in Memphis or somewhere
They won’t know one thing about her
Those lips, those eyes, that hair.

This is one of my favorite songs because it involves two classic song topics — a broken heart, and driving: