Pushing Pause

Viral Musings:  As you probably heard, yesterday the FDA and CDC pushed the pause button on the J & J COVID vaccine to get a better handle on why out of 7 million J & J recipients, 6 women between the ages of 18 and 48 experienced cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) blood clots in combination with low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia) within a 6 to 13 days of getting their “one shot wonder.” Though its important not to overstate the risk especially since the incidence of blood clots in the general population and among women who are on birth control pills is much, much higher, the very, very rare, blood clots experienced by the 6 women were unusual and are more difficult to treat given the platelet complication, than other types of clots. It may not be a coincidence that the clots that led to the pause are similar to the very rare ones that have complicated the delivery and rollout of the Astra Zeneca vaccine used elsewhere but not yet approved for use in the US as both vaccines rely on adenovirus technology as opposed to the mRNA technology used by Pfizer/Bio N Tech and Moderna.  Expectations are that the J & J pause will be lifted within a few days with additional guidance to the medical community on how to identify and treat the clotting complication and who, to the extent they can figure it out, should be steered to an alternative  vaccine option. In response to the pause, the vaccine peanut gallery went full on nuts against the FDA and CDC for doing their job, saying that they were jeopardizing lives by taking the shot out of circulation for what is likely to be no more than a week adding that they were killing public confidence in the whole vaccine program.  Not surprisingly, one of the loudest nut cases was none other than the Former Guy, you know the one who believes he’s a science savant because of his MIT professor uncle and who tried to wish the coronavirus pandemic away thinking that we wouldn’t notice the 500 thousand bodies piling up around him. The bottom line, while its certainly a bummer that J & J is on hold, the FDA and CDC are doing what they are supposed to do.  At least here in the US there’s plenty of mRNA vaccines available to cover the pause and, as a result of unrelated manufacturing delays, J & J supplies were expected to run dry over the next few weeks anyway.

Out of Breath:  What I know about guns, tasers and the differences between the two would fit in a thimble, leaving lots of room for Tom Thumb and his entire family.  That said, what’s with experienced police people who “accidentally” pull the wrong weapon and then shoot and kill someone who just happens to be Black during a traffic stop with a gun when they meant “only” to use their taser? Doing so just miles away from an emotionally charged trial of another police officer who “only” used his knees to take down a $20 scofflaw! The Brooklyn Center, Minnesota killing of Daunte Wright, whose name now goes down on the way too long and growing list of Black victims of inexplicable police overreach, forever associated with the “mistaken” shoot by long term police officer Kim Potter is another tragedy, one not helped by the violence and destruction that sadly accompanied the nights of understandable protest that followed.  As to the nearby trial of Derek Chauvin, yesterday the defense presented its witnesses, in an effort  to advance their case that Chauvin was only doing his job and that George Floyd was either an uncontrollable perp who needed to be subdued or so drugged out that he died not from the pressure on his neck but from those cardiac and respiration suppressing drugs that he ingested.  That argument doesn’t have to be rational, it just has to plant doubt in the mind of one juror, and if that works, the Brooklyn Center demonstrations will look mild in comparison to what will likely happen.  And because police can be victims too, yesterday the Capitol memorialized another one of its own, Billy Evans, the officer killed last week by another hate filled lunatic. It’s good that we have a president who oozes genuine compassion, but it would be much better if we didn’t have to see it on display so often. 

International Relations:  President Biden had a chat with the Former Guy’s one time buddy Vlad Putin yesterday where among other things, like Russian aggression against Ukraine, cyber intrusion and election interference, and the new START nuclear treaty, they discussed plans for a formal meet up. This time we got the dope on the discussion not from one of Vlad’s guys but from a White House prepared read out, a quaint return to normal even if the subjects being discussed remain as concerning as ever. In other news, Biden is expected to announce plans today to get all troops except those needed to protect the US embassy out of Afghanistan by September 11, a little later than the Formal Guy planned when he wasn’t being undone  by his generals but relatively soon.  Those plans are expected to be met with protests by those in the Senate who want us to remain in Afghanistan forever and celebrated by those who want to end our longest war. Twenty three hundred US soldiers killed and 20,000 wounded and sadly Afghanistan remains the problem that no country, including the UK and Russia, has ever been able to solve.

563,446

192,282,782 shots in arms