CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@emilyvanartist Hello, lovely Emily. I think it helps to remember that when people offer helpful prescriptive suggestions about vaxing or eating more yams or whatever, they don't know it's already the third time this week you've heard this, but more importantly, it's not really much about you at all. Some self-protecting instinct has moved them to unconsciously calculate that their particular bias against or affinity for yams or vaxing will protect them from what happened to you.We humans have a whole history of metaphorical theories blaming or shunning others for their illnesses, ie anger causes cancer and before that - not loving life enough causes TB.But we're learning ....

News-packed update on nextgen Covid vaccines this month at my @PLOS blog:- Phase 2 results for a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine from Japan with a phase 3 trial recently closed off- Preclinical results for an intranasal "universal" vaccine that provided some protection from coronaviruses, H1N1 flu, some bacterial infections, and an asthma allergen- Opportunities to participate in intranasal vaccine trials in Finland and the USAnd much more:https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/03/01/progress-for-universal-vaccine-more-nextgen-covid-vax-news-update-no-38/#Vaccines #Covid #Covid19

@giflian @datum I think 3/4 of the people who I knew who got Paxlovid quickly were elderly; I'm not sure how the fourth got it.

From this week's Pandemics in BC blog posts:General: https://covidbc.webfoot.com/2026/02/28/2026-02-28-general/BC: https://covidbc.webfoot.com/2026/02/28/2026-02-28-bc/#covid19bc #covid19 #covid #measles #influenza #vaccines

Dutch lawyer Arno van Kessel has been released after 260 days in pretrial detention. He was arrested on June 11, 2025, the same day he filed a lawsuit against Bill Gates, Ursula von der Leyen, Albert Bourla, and Klaus Schwab concerning COVID-19 vaccine policies. Special forces conducted an eight-hour raid on his home, holding his family at gunpoint. He was held in a maximum-security facility without trial until February 26, 2026. Authorities have not explained his release. The case highlights debates about pretrial detention and legal challenges to powerful figures.https://newsgroup.site/%d1%83-%d0%bd%d1%96%d0%b4%d0%b5%d1%80%d0%bb%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b4%d0%b0%d1%85-%d0%b7%d0%b2%d1%96%d0%bb%d1%8c%d0%bd%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%be-%d0%b0%d0%b4%d0%b2%d0%be%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b0-%d1%8f%d0%ba%d0%b8/#Netherlands #RuleOfLaw #COVID19

How to invite worse #COVID19 surges, more Long COVID illness, and increase the risk of a dangerous mutation:As of February 14, 2026, just 17.6% reported receiving the 2025─26 COVID-19 vaccine.For children, among the currently reporting jurisdictions, COVID-19 vaccination coverage ranged from 0.1% to 11.9%.Having the tools doesn't mean anything if we don't actually use the tools! https://www.cdc.gov/covidvaxview/weekly-dashboard/index.html

@augieray Not to mention weird heart problems and increased chances of dementia. Get over the flu and get on with life. Get over COVID and life afterwards is a crapshoot.

Chise did a wonderful thread over on Bluesky about the vaccine that is starting clinical trials in Australia, GPB511. This vaccine candidate is aiming for broad protection against multiple #COVID #COVID19 strains and related coronaviruses. Something I learned in Chise’s thread: some of the underlying technology comes from research done here in Seattle at the UW.https://bsky.app/profile/sailorrooscout.bsky.social/post/3mfrobocvmc2e