We are not seeing thousands of people becoming ill from the new variants who had been vaccinated. Just a few have been reported worldwide.
If you are immunocompromised and over 65, you particularly need to wear a mask around people outside your pod who have not been vaccinated, as well as stay out of crowded inside places just like the CDC advises.
Just don’t go to places you know don’t require masks and socially distancing or go around people who refuse to take any precautions. They don’t care if you die. The pandemic continues to drag on because they won’t. You still have to look out for yourself.
Stay safe out there, people. Don’t let down your guard. Interact only with people who are responsible.
We DO have to learn why. There are theories - but very little data collection so much is guesswork.
It is troubling that there seems to be zero antibody production with Rituximab, but not terribly surprising. The thing is, we do have another preventative treatment that provides short-term protection, and that is monoclonal antibodies like Regeneron. There is a least one mAB that was designed specifically to be widely effective, safe for humans, easily stored, injectable, and inexpensive enough to be used as a short-term proactive as well as a first-line treatment for early infections, even in the third world. I believe it’s in trials and should be available this summer. Honestly, giving blood cancer patients a booster injection a few times a year is a pretty small problem in the scope of things - assuming it works, and all indications are that it does.
