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by jdavis703 1642 days ago
Yes, because a lot of people falsely believe the risk of the vaccine is greater than the risk of COVID—19. But once you contract COVID you move in to a new higher-risk pool. There have been news stories of unvaccinated people asking for the vaccine once they’re hospitalized, which by then is sadly too late.
2 comments
apendleton 1642 days ago
It's also too late for antiviral drugs, though, FWIW. This drug needs to be taken within three days of symptom onset. By the time most people are hospitalized, the viral phase of illness is pretty much over.
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jdavis703 1642 days ago
I was referring to various antivirals, not just protease inhibitors. Plenty of patients are given monoclonal antibody infusions during hospitalization (see for example the former US president).
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apendleton 1642 days ago
Monoclonal antibodies have to be administered in a clinical setting because they're administered by IV, but they also work best when administered early (diminishing returns after five days[0]), whereas most hospitalizations don't occur until the inflammatory phase of disease, in the second week. Remdesivir is/was the only antiviral being regularly given to patients with severe disease, probably out of a desire to ration it and only use it for people with the worst cases, but that's probably why it didn't really work very well, and is now mostly being abandoned[1].

The drugs that are most effective for hospitalized patients aren't antivirals, they're immune modulators: steroids like dexamethasone, and IL6 inhibitors like tocilizumab (which technically is a humanized monoclonal antibody, but not against COVID, and doesn't have any sort of antiviral mechanism of action).

[0] https://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/home/meetings/id-we... [1] https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20201120/who-...

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bagacrap 1641 days ago
to pick a nit, it's just as effective if taken within 5 days
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lettergram 1642 days ago
> There have been news stories

We call that propaganda and advertisements...

We don’t see the millions in the other category.

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erulabs 1642 days ago
Sorry, what other category? The logical inverse of "unvaccinated folks who caught covid now asking for vaccines" is... "vaccinated folks who didn't get covid who now want to be... unvaccinated?". I guess I don't understand your assertion.
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lettergram 1642 days ago
- Vaccinated who have had serious side effects and wish they didn’t take it

- unvaccinated who get covid and are fine (the vast majority)

- someone vaccinated who still got severely sick and may die

Pretty much any other slant of “news”.

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