台湾不再坚持清零, 转向与病毒共存

choi

Amy Qin, Amy Chang Chien and Isabelle Qian, 台湾不再坚持清零：避免中国式封锁，重点转向减少灾害. 纽约时报, May 9, 2022
https://cn.nytimes.com/asia-pacific/20220509/taiwan-china-covid/

, which is translated from

Amy Qin, Amy Chang Chien and Isabelle Qian, Eyes on Its Economy, Taiwan Shifts to Coexisting with Covid; An easing by Taipei is both political and financial, even as Beijing maintains its strict protections. New York Times, May 10, 2022, at page A4.
("On Monday [May 9], Taiwan’s health authorities reported 40,263 locally transmitted [new] cases and 12 deaths, bringing the death toll since the start of the outbreak in April [this year, not since 2020] to 78. The authorities have warned that daily infections could surpass 100,000 this week")

figure in the window of print: "99.7%  Portion of new Covid infections in Taiwan that officials say have been mild or asymptomatic.

Note:
(a) Taiwan Reports 50,828 New COVID-19 Cases, 12 Deaths. Central News Agency (CNA), May 10, 2022
https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202205100010
("Taiwan's single-day COVID-19 cases exceeded 50,000 for the first time on Tuesday [May 10] * * * The new cases comprised 50,780 domestically transmitted infections and 48 contracted abroad [who then traveled to Taiwan]")
(b) COVID-19疫苗統計資料. Center for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan 衛生福利部疾病管制署
https://www.cdc.gov.tw/Category/Page/9jFXNbCe-sFK9EImRRi2Og

, whose "1110509 COVID-19疫苗接種統計資料.pdf: says:  

"111/5/9 COVID-19 疫苗接種統計資料 [which is title; 民國111年 is 2022; 111/5/9 = May 9, 2022] * * * 截至目前為止，累計接種 53,210,223 人次，包含 AstraZeneca 接種 15,278,474 人次，Moderna 接種 19,611,116 人次，高端接種 2,645,407 人次，BioNTech 接種 15,675,226人次。COVID-19 疫苗接種人口涵蓋率第 1 劑 85.37%、第 2 劑 80.54%、基礎加強劑 [additional dose for people with compromised immunity such as cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or transplantation patients receiving immunosuppressive treatment for life] 接種率 0.84%、追加劑 [booster, whose dose is same as 第 1 劑, 第 2 劑 and 基礎加強劑] 接種率 61.92%（若以符合追加劑接種間隔人數統計約 86.42%）。"

(c) 高端接種 refers to vaccination of 高端疫苗, made by
Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (MVC) 高端疫苗生物製劑股份有限公司 (2012- ; based in City of Taipei; parent: Medigen Biotechnology Corp (MBC) 基亞生物科技股份有限公司 (1999- ) ).
(i) MVC is a Taiwanese company, whose vaccine is similar to AstraZeneca's -- with protein antigen of "spike" on the surface of "Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2)" (the virus causing Covid-19). However, the former , 高端疫苗, went through the first two phases of the three-phase clinical trial (the first two phases aim to see if a treatment (vaccine, drug etc) is safe and assesses side effects or complications. Only phase 3 is to evaluate a new treatment's efficacy. So, there is no data whatsoever to show how effective 高端疫苗 in preventing or allievating Covid-19. But 高端疫苗 started inoculation on Taiwanese on Aug 23, 2021 when Taiwan could not get Covid-19 vaccines from US or Europe AND rejected China;s offer of 復星疫苗.
(ii) Like AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, the vaccine from 高端 is S protein with TWO proline (amino acid) substitutions to make S protein stands (not bent). BUT somehow patients receiving this kind of vaccines -- I do not know about 復星疫苗, whether it contains proline substitution(s) -- suffered or died. See
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Limits Use of Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine to Certain Individuals. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), May 5, 2022 (news release)
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/ ... certain-individuals
("Today, the US Food and Drug Administration has limited the authorized use of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine to individuals 18 years of age and older for whom other authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccines are not accessible or clinically appropriate, and to individuals 18 years of age and older who elect to receive the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine because they would otherwise not receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Key Points: After conducting an updated analysis, evaluation and investigation of reported cases, the FDA has determined that the risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), a syndrome of rare and potentially life-threatening blood clots in combination with low levels of blood platelets with onset of symptoms approximately one to two weeks following administration of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine, warrants limiting the authorized use of the vaccine. * * * In an updated analysis of TTS cases following administration of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine that were reported to VAERS [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, co-managed by CDC and FDA] through March 18, 2022, the FDA and CDC have identified 60 confirmed cases [of TTS], including nine fatal cases. The FDA has determined that the reporting rate of TTS is 3.23 per million doses of vaccine administered and the reporting rate of TTS deaths is 0.48 per million doses of vaccine administered")
  
Kristie EN Clarke et al, Seroprevalence of Infection-Induced SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies — United States, September 2021–February 2022. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) 71: 606 (Apr 29, 2022)/
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e3.htm

Quote:

"This report uses data from CDC's national commercial laboratory seroprevalence study and the 2018 American Community Survey * * *

The samples are from "50 US states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico that has infection-induced antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Sera are tested for anti-nucleocapsid (anti-N) antibodies, which are produced in response to infection but are not produced in response to COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized for emergency use or approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.

"During September 2021–February 2022, a convenience sample of blood specimens submitted for clinical testing was analyzed * * * for anti-N antibodies * * * Specimens for which SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing was ordered by the clinician were excluded to reduce selection bias.

"During December 2021–February 2022, overall US seroprevalence increased from 33.5% (95% CI = 33.1–34.0) to 57.7% (95% CI = 57.1–58.3). Over the same period, seroprevalence increased from 44.2% (95% CI = 42.8–45.8) to 75.2% (95% CI = 73.6–76.8) among children aged 0–11 years and from 45.6% (95% CI = 44.4–46.9) to 74.2% (95% CI = 72.8–75.5) among persons aged 12–17 years * * *

(i) convenience sampling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_sampling

Read only introduction and section 1 Definition. In other words, the sampling is not representative of the group one is interested in. You see, for a sampling to be representative of the group (whose number is too numerous to survey), the sample must be carefully selected. Take a phone polling as an example: a pollster can not ask the entire electorate how they will vote, so he selects a sample whose characteristics (such as age, sex, party affiliation, education etc) may represent the electorate. Sampling errors result in inaccurate results.
(ii) The coronavirus is made up of nucleocapsid surrounded by a membrane of a lipid bilayer. Spike proteins are on the surface of the membrane. Vaccines against Covid-causing virus are against S protein only, regardless of the vaccine being a RNA or a protein. In other words, no coronavirus vaccine contains nucleocapsid, so infected people produce antibody against nucleocapsid, but not people receiving vaccines. Capsid means capsule.
(iii) CI = confidence interval
The 95% confidence interval means two standard deviations on each side of the mean.