#1st cohort

[sweetsdereese]

“How did you stop hurting?” “I didn’t”

[star-mannnn]

This ship probably makes no sense, but I love Mike Kahale x Dakota

I have yet to see anyone ship it

[opens-up-4-nobody]

Guy whose fave character is jiraiya: Jiraiya is the father figure iruka never was

Me, giving aggressive thumbs down: HOW???? WHAT???? WHAT THE FUCK R U TALKING ABOUT?????? JIRAIYA IS THE FUCKING WORST!!!!

Him: Cite your evidence!

Me: WHERE THE FUCK DO I BEGIN???

[calqlate]

just finished watching all 3 seasons of the kaguya-sama series plus the 4-episode film and now all i hv to say is: i will not settle for less!!

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Year - 2023 Edition

Welcome to our special edition newsletter recapping the best news from the past year. I've picked one highlight from each month to give you a snapshot of 2023. No frills, just straightforward news that mattered. Let's relive the good stuff that made our year shine.

January - London: Girl with incurable cancer recovers after pioneering treatment

A girl’s incurable cancer has been cleared from her body after what scientists have described as the most sophisticated cell engineering to date.

2. February - Utah legislature unanimously passes ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy

The Utah State Legislature has unanimously approved a bill that enshrines into law a ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy.

3. March - First vaccine for honeybees could save billions

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the world’s first-ever vaccine intended to address the global decline of honeybees. It will help protect honeybees from American foulbrood, a contagious bacterial disease which can destroy entire colonies.

4. April - Fungi discovered that can eat plastic in just 140 days

Australian scientists have successfully used backyard mould to break down one of the world's most stubborn plastics — a discovery they hope could ease the burden of the global recycling crisis within years. 

5. May - Ocean Cleanup removes 200,000th kilogram of plastic from the Pacific Ocean

The Dutch offshore restoration project, Ocean Cleanup, says it has reached a milestone. The organization's plastic catching efforts have now fished more than 200,000 kilograms of plastic out of the Pacific Ocean, Ocean Cleanup said on Twitter.

6. June - U.S. judge blocks Florida ban on care for trans minors in narrow ruling, says ‘gender identity is real’

A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.

7. July - World’s largest Phosphate deposit discovered in Norway

A massive underground deposit of high-grade phosphate rock in Norway, pitched as the world’s largest, is big enough to satisfy world demand for fertilisers, solar panels and electric car batteries over the next 50 years, according to the company exploiting the resource.

8. August - Successful room temperature ambient-pressure magnetic levitation of LK-99

If the claim by Sukbae Lee and Ji-Hoon Kim of South Korea’s Quantum Energy Research Centre holds up, the material could usher in all sorts of technological marvels, such as levitating vehicles and perfectly efficient electrical grids.

9. September - World’s 1st drug to regrow teeth enters clinical trials

The ability to regrow your own teeth could be just around the corner. A team of scientists, led by a Japanese pharmaceutical startup, are getting set to start human trials on a new drug that has successfully grown new teeth in animal test subjects.

10. October - Nobel Prize goes to scientists behind mRNA Covid vaccines

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to a pair of scientists who developed the technology that led to the mRNA Covid vaccines. Professors Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman will share the prize.

11. November - No cases of cancer caused by HPV in Norwegian 25-year olds, the first cohort to be mass vaccinated for HPV.

Last year there were zero cases of cervical cancer in the group that was vaccinated in 2009 against the HPV virus, which can cause the cancer in women.

12. December - President Biden announces he’s pardoning all convictions of federal marijuana possession

President Joe Biden announced Friday he's issuing a federal pardon to every American who has used marijuana in the past, including those who were never arrested or prosecuted.

------

And there you have it – a year's worth of uplifting news! I hope these positive stories brought a bit of joy to your inbox. As I wrap up this special edition, I want to thank all my supporters!

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[thetimetraveler24]

Sometimes I think about how people rank Jason as their least favorite because he’s “such a bland character with no personality”, but was he even allowed to have one in the first place?

He’s two years old when Lupa guides him to Camp Jupiter. He’s brought up to be the perfect soldier, the perfect Roman, the perfect hero. He doesn’t know life outside the legion. He’s the son of Jupiter, he has to be great. If he’s not, he’s a failure and a disgrace. If he is then he’s still not the best because there so many other heroes who did it better than him so he has to keep trying harder and harder even though no matter what he’s never going to be good enough because the moment he slips up he’s no longer the perfect hero.

The few times he actually tries to do something he wants, he’s only cut down. Changing the 12th legion to the 1st legion? No, you can’t do that. It’s tradition. You’re wrong. That’s stupid. Joining the 5th cohort? Why would you join those losers? You’re only hurting yourself. You could be great if you join the 1st cohort instead like a good Roman boy.

So why would he try to do anything that cultivates his identity? Why would he try to do anything that brings him joy if everyone around him is just going to suck it right out?

He has no best friends at Camp Jupiter. He has acquaintances. He has people he’s friendly with. Say what you want but Reyna was a coworker. Dakota was cool, Gwen was nice. But none of them make Jason want to stay at Camp Jupiter instead of Camp Half-Blood. He thinks of Reyna but only in terms of he doesn’t want to saddle her with the responsibility of picking a new praetor. He thinks about duty. When he is picking between the camps he’s weighing his options between doing his duty as he’s done his whole life or picking himself for the very first time ever and he picks himself.

And it’s honestly so fucking depressing that the first time Jason picks himself and is actually supported in his decision happens when he is sixteen years old. And most of the people supporting him have only known him for a month.

But then he saddles himself with duty and responsibilities because that’s all he’s ever known and Percy is dying and Jason is a good Roman and a good hero and his job is to sacrifice his life for everyone else because of course it is. So he takes on Pontifex Maximus to build shrines and temples to minor gods and goddesses (not that they shouldn’t be honored but… once again he’s sacrificing his identity for the good of everyone around him).

And then, just as he’s finally discovering an identity for himself—he likes physics, he’s learning about the mortal world and living in it, he’s becoming more than just Jupiters son and Juno’s perfect hero—he’s killed.

Jason never got to be Jason. He only got to be Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Praetor of the 12th Legion, slayer of Krios, one of the Seven, Juno’s Champion, Pontifex Maximus. He always belonged to someone else and never himself.

All this to say, Jason is my favorite of the Seven and although he’s not the eldest nor a daughter, as an eldest daughter I relate so hard and feel very seen in him.

[starlightshadowsworld]

Concept: Sally meeting Jason would’ve been nice for many reasons.

Jason doesn’t have a parent and arguably never has. It would’ve been sweet to see him gain some semblance of that.

But there’s also just how much the two of them are alike.

Sally is a kind, caring woman but she was not raised in a loving environment. She lost her parents young and lived with her uncle.

But essentially raised herself and put her dreams on hold to be his caretaker.

And then put them on hold again to raise Percy with a man who treated her and him with nothing but cruelty.

I think she’d see parts of herself in Jason who was also forced to grow up alone. To harden his heart when by nature he’s soft and kind soul.

Jason who has always put the needs of others above his own. He sacrificed a better life in the 1st cohort to uplift and fight for the 5th.

And all that good will was never enough for anyone to care about finding him.

Sally in many ways is seen as perfection.

She is the woman Poseidon wanted to make his queen. She is super mum, kind and endlessly compassionate and patient to others. Opening her door to her son’s friends, helping them in anyway she can.

And Jason is also seen by others as being perfect. Often in a “he’s too perfect” sense where people see him as unreachable. He’s blonde superman, the perfect son of Jupiter that always knows what’s to say and do.

Neither of them are perfect but that’s how they’re perceived. They carry hardships but do so in a way no one ever quite sees.

I can just see Jason using a line to how he feels and Sally knowing immediately he’s not. Because she’s used that exact same line.

Sally who can’t approach Jason the same as how she does the rest of Percy’s friends. This one, is almost like talking to herself.

A younger version, one who’s lead a life she can only hope to truly comprehend one day. And yet, still so similar to the girl she once was.

She wonders if he had a dream like she did that she put up on a shelf to play her role. A dream she has only recently been able to realise.

Maybe it hits her how young he actually is. Maybe it hits her how young she was.

Maybe she whispers to Percy to keep an eye on that boy who may not be her.

But he has her eyes.

[theriverbeyond]

Okay please help me I'm not good at the media literacy; did we ever find out who tried to smother Harrow at the beginning of HtN? With all the gaslighting (and gatekeeping and girlbossing) going on I genuinely have no idea what was happening there. Like,, I doubt it was Ianthe for some reason. Pls advice, i am lost

HIII sorry i was going to reply to this a few days ago and forgot whoops

so, in text, we never get specific confirmation of who tried to smother Harrow. What specifically happens there is also obscured by Harrow's own perception/ exaustion/ grief etc, because she doesn't investigate anything that we might want her to -- like figuring out WHOSE blood is on the nails embedded in the wall or doing any psycometry on the crates moved to cover it all, etc.

Anyway -> John logically makes sense, because he both has access to her and also later sics G1deon on her repeatably trying to get her to "activate" in the Lyctoral sense -- however I actually don't think it's so clear cut for the same reason: John doesn't do his own dirty work, generally, unless totally cornered, and attempting to kill her *himself* to trigger a fight/flight Lyctoral reaction is a BAD idea -- what if it works, and now she is a full Lyctor who knows the Emperor just tried to kill her? Also, at this point in the book it's only been a few days since Harrow ascended, and the lobotomy is fresh -- the 1st murder attempt is *before* Ianthe delivers the letters "upon coherence" -- so I'm not sure he'd be yet motivated to attempt murder vs waiting a couple more days and attempting some amateur trauma therapy.

I agree that Ianthe seems unlikely, because she wouldn't have approached Harrow in her murder mode. Also she wants Harrow to be in debt to her, and she wants Harrow to be alive. So she has no motivation. AND she's missing one arm & rejects the new one they graft onto her, so. Not really a pillow smotherer, IMO. Augustine and G1deon don't show up until the Mithraeum so they're out as suspects, and I am pretty sure Mercymorn WOULD attempt a mercy-killing but I don't think she'd use a pillow, and also I don't think she showed up until after Harrow achives coherence.

Like I think John is the most logical possibility of the avalible named cast, but TO ME it's not clear cut. I mean I guess John could have ordered a random cohort grunt to attempt murder but idk. If anyone else has opinions/thoughts pls lmk!!

[demoted-but-not-forgotten]

"I keep TRYING!" Marcellus shoots his arms up in the air dramatically before realizing he's talking to a centurion. "But trying isn't enough."

The kid sighs, scratching behind his ear a little before he stands up. You don't sit around a centurion, right?

"I- I'm sorry."

OPEN STARTER: DEMOTED.

Ah, Camp Jupiter. Such a peaceful place where Roman and (as of recently) Greek demigods get to live their lives, serve in the 12th Legion Fulminata, go to university, retire and generally be at peace. Except today, there's a commotion.

Around ten minutes into a training activity, everything is stopped as a centurion marches towards a child, they can't be older than 13. Taking off their helmet, the centurion looks utterly furious. If anyone knows their way around the camp, they'd recognize the demigod as the centurion of the 2nd cohort.

"MARCELLUS!" They scream at the kid, who seems to have wolf ears and a tail. Their ears pin down when they get yelled at. There's a bunch of weapons laying around the general area they're standing, and a couple knocked over demigods. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"I- I didn't mean to, I swear-" The kid tries to defend themself and puts their hands up in surrender. Looks like they know they're in trouble. They're not even wearing any armor, which is strange to see during drills. "I was just-"

"Enough, I don't want to hear your excuses. I can't have you in my cohort- we've tried to right you for YEARS. With zero effects. That's it. I'm done." The centurion turns towards Reyna, the praetor. "I kindly ask that Marcellus be demoted, at least two cohorts down, and have him excluded from activities for today. I feel like everyone around here agrees with me-" And they do, people start nodding and murmuring quiet agreements.

Reyna nods, and with that, the kid is shoo'd away.

Taglist (ask to be added or deleted!!!): @the-great-emperor-commodus @vinny-trespassing-detector @reyno-solis-real

[that-one-golden-boi]

Turns out I'm no longer dead!

Name: Jason Grace(aka blond superman)

Age: 15-16

Birthday: July 1st

Cabin at chb: Cabin 1. (at camp juister I'm in the 5th cohort)

Godly parent: Zeus

Pronouns: He/him

Sexuality: Not straight? (i think)

Status: Single

People I know:

Nico di angelo: @emo-mcdonalds-lover Hes like a little brother to me<3

Will solace: @sunshine-boy-official I'm 70 percent sure him and nico are dating

Clarrise la rue: @swirly-lord Dont know her too well

Hazel levesque: @the-gems-keep-popping-up Shes awesome, was 5th cohort like me

Lou Ellen Blackstone: @da-great-lou-ellen Cool vibes

Leo Valdez: @repairr-boy people keep asking me if we are dating, he's my best freind, pretty

Piper mclean: @beauty-queen-of-greece shes awesome, girl liker

[sweetsdereese]

The day has just started and Percy is already done with Octavian.

[saintsenara]

In Marauder era (or 1st Wizarding World era) fics, all the characters that we know from the actual books/movies (i.e., The Marauders + Lily, the Malfoys, Bellatrix, etc.), or just characters that are more known, are all put in Hogwarts together at the same time, and it confuses me.

They couldn’t have all been at school together, could they? And even if they were, most of them would have to be years ahead, no? It especially confuses me when Bellatrix is the one in school with them, but her and Narcissa are the only ones that are ever mentioned. Andromeda is literally not that much younger than Bella and older than Narcissa, so you would think that she would appear, yet she doesn’t. Why exactly are they always all bunched together? And what are their actual ages?

this is a bit of worldbuilding which i'm not fond of either, anon.

i get why it happens - hogwarts is a school and, therefore, requires a large cast of characters as fellow students, and since marauders-era writers don't have the advantage that lightning gen writers do of being able to lift these characters directly from the text, the few names we do know from canon of people who lived and died during the first war get used to fill in the gaps.

there are also - obviously - some inconsistencies in the text itself caused by jkr's functional innumeracy. if we take the date of birth given for bellatrix on the black family tree she drew in 2006 - 1951 - then she would graduate hogwarts in either 1969 or 1970, depending on when in the year her birthday is. but sirius says in goblet of fire that she was friends with snape at school.

i ignore sirius and go with the given date of birth because it works better for my worldbuilding - and i have andromeda born in 1953 [leaving hogwarts in 1971 or 1972] and narcissa born in 1955, as per the family tree, but in the autumn [therefore leaving hogwarts in 1974 - and married in 1975, allowing narcissa's wedding to be the last time sirius sees bellatrix, since, as he tells us in order of the phoenix, this took place when he was fifteen] - but i think authors can shift the sisters' birthdays later if they do want to have them overlap more with the marauders generation without it being too much of a problem.

lucius malfoy's date of birth can be worked out fairly easily from canon. in the autumn of 1995, he's forty-one - as we're told in order of the phoenix - which means he was born in 1954 [or - if he has a winter birthday - late 1953] and was at hogwarts between either 1965-1972 or 1966-1973 depending on when in the year his exact birthday is - if it's october 1953-august 1954, he's in the former cohort; if it's september 1954 [which is when the article in which his age is mentioned is published] then he's in the latter. we know he overlaps with the marauders cohort very briefly - since he's shown meeting snape in the prince's tale - but, since he's either a sixth- or seventh-year at the time, i find it unlikely that he paid james and sirius much attention, or that they paid him much attention in turn.

[lucius must - let's be real - go rather under the radar, since he's clearly able to recruit death eaters while at school - and immediately after leaving it - without being noticed.]

what i'm much less inclined to be flexible on is the fanon which has characters like dorcas meadowes, marlene mckinnon, emmeline vance, and so on all be at hogwarts with the marauders - which doesn't work for me for the very basic reason that the order of the phoenix is not an army of child soldiers.

the implication of canon is definitely that the four marauders and lily are an exception to the make-up of the rest of the order - likely for the sensible tactical reason that dumbledore had all the ministry infiltrators he needed, but didn't have people who would be able to provide information about voldemort's recruitment of younger death eaters, which the marauders were clearly able to do by virtue of having been at school with them all [and - in sirius' case - being related to two of them].

it's also clear in the text that dorcas meadowes [who is the only person in the first war other than james and lily we know was killed by voldemort himself] must have been an important political figure - otherwise the dark lord would have left her for one of his minions - and that james and lily don't know marlene mckinnon well enough for her to have been a school friend.

[if she was - as is the common fanon - sirius' teenage girlfriend, i would like to hope that lily's letter to him mentioning her death would devote a little more space to the event than it canonically does...]

what i love to see is the rest of the order - hardened aurors and civil servants who've been locked into the war with voldemort since the marauders started school - being a combination of faintly amused and supremely irritated by the group of cocky young bastards who've just turned up at their meetings, and who seem to think the whole "being a paramilitary" thing is a big laugh.

[especially because it's then so much easier to explain why everyone involved could believe that sirius was guilty...]

[whencyclopedia]

The Year of the Four Emperors & the Demise of Four Roman Legions

During the Year of the Four Emperors (69 CE), the fight between Vitellius and Vespasian would ultimately bring about the demise of four legions, the XV Primigenia, I Germanica, IIII Macedonica, and XVI Gallia. All four of these legions had previously served the Roman Empire with distinction under such leaders as Pompey and Octavian but made what turned out to be the wrong choice in 69 CE. While there remains a question concerning the loyalty of XV Primigenia, three of the legions made the mistake of supporting Vitellius.

Roman Expansion

Originally, the Roman army consisted of a citizen-based militia recruited from the propertied citizens. However, the consulship of Gaius Marius (l. 157-86 BCE) brought a number of changes. Property ownership not being a requirement anymore, the Marian Reforms allowed the Roman army to reinvent itself as a professional fighting force. Another significant change came in the reorganization of the legion. The new legion was broken into centuries and cohorts. A centurion, commanded a century of 80 men (not 100) – six of these centuries equaled a cohort of 480 men. With the rebirth of the legion, the legionary became a well-trained and disciplined foot soldier, fighting as part of a well-organized unit.

With Gnaeus Pompey’s (106-48 BCE) venture into Spain and Caesar’s assault on Gaul, the number of legions increased dramatically. As the empire expanded, more legions were necessary to keep the frontier borders secure. Before the time of the first Roman emperor Augustus (Octavian) (27 BCE - 14 CE), the Roman army was constantly on the march, relying on temporary camps more than permanent fortresses. As the borders of the empire expanded, permanent fortresses began to replace the marching camps. This move helped to stabilize the frontier.

After his successful return to Rome, Augustus wanted to be assured that his legionaries were loyal to him and not a usurper. Each soldier had to take an oath of allegiance to the Roman emperor, the ius iurandum: an oath renewed every year, on 3 January. Next, Augustus reduced the number of legions from 60 to 28. These 28 legions became 25 after the Roman commander Publius Quinctilius Varus (46 BCE - 9 CE) lost three legions - XVII, XVIII, and XIX - in the disastrous Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Most of the 25 legions were stationed in the troubled provinces and along the borders - only nine cohorts were assigned to Italy with three of these in Rome. In the end, Rome had a standing army of 150,000 legionaries and 180,000 auxiliary infantry and cavalry.

The empire’s expansion brought them into contact with a population of different customs, languages, and religions. To deal with this disparity and maintain the peace, the Pax Romana, the Romans relied on the army. According to historian Stephen Dando-Collins in his book Legions of Rome, the 1st and early 2nd century CE was the golden age of the legion when they "swept all before them." He considered the Roman legion of the imperial era to be "a triumph of organization.” He added, "… each component from heavy infantry to cavalry, artillery to supporting auxiliary light infantry, fitting neatly together to form a solid, self-contained military machine." (10)

Continue reading...

[barbucomedie]

Sandstone Altar to Jupiter from Castlesteads, England dated to 241 CE on display at the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle, England

This altar to Jupiter and the Divinities of the Emperor was set up by a group of Tungrian soldiers in the 3rd century as part of their annual diedication. It honours both the Roman Emperor Gordian and the god Jupiter as well. One translation of the remaining text reads:

"To Jupiter, Best and Greatest, and to the Divinities of our Emperor the Second Cohort of Tungrians styled Gordiana, part-mounted, publicly praised, under the command of Tiberius Claudius Claudianus, the prefect, (set this up) under the direction of Publius Aelius Martinus, princeps, on the 1st of January in the consulship of our Lord and Emperor Gordian, for the second time, and Pompeianus."

The Tungrians came from modern day Belgium and were stationed at Castlesteads Roman Fort on Hadrian's Wall. There is a thunderbolt on one side of the altar and the wheel of Nemesis on the other.

Photographs taken by myself 2023

[aroaceleovaldez]

hey! so i'm also creating a list of demigods (and legacies) in the greek and roman camps! just finished names and vague backstories for the kids in camp half-blood and am starting for the kids in the legion (as well as families and such for existing kids). where i'm going with this is that while doing this, i remembered that you'd mentioned somewhere that you're counting healers (and i think priests?) as separate from the legion, and i wanted to ask how you're categorizing new rome's army/legion?

and the government, if you have any ideas on that (no pressure for either question but especially this one. i'm studying ancient rome for my electives and using my growing knowledge to learn to attempt to build a comprehensive local gov. for them, which i'm having a lot of fun doing)

Yes! So the way I'm currently arranging the cohorts with the messengers and healers is that there's one per cohort (so 5 healers and 5 messengers total). So they're technically part of a cohort, but they're also kind of their own groups apart from the cohorts themselves. I'm also counting the augur as it's own thing, though given Octavian is pretty solidly affiliated with/counted as being part of 1st cohort we can pretty safely assume they still "count" as being part of a specific cohort possibly before they become augur. Pontifex Maximus is presumably similar. If they have the Vestals as well then the Pontifex is probably grouped in with them as their own sort of group.

As for New Rome's government, right now the set-up I have is that New Rome and the legion technically operate separately for the most part - the praetors and legion's senate handle all the stuff on the legion side of things and the consul(s) (what i am making essentially New Rome's elected mayoral position - haven't decided if there's one or two) and New Rome's senate handle stuff on New Rome's side. The books have the praetors as one of the highest ranks (besides pontifex maximus) so I imagine they rank above the consul though so they'll work with the consul and will oversee certain things for New Rome, but in general it's usually left to the consul cause the praetors are usually like. Two 16 year olds. Versus the consul usually being a whole adult (and probably most often a former praetor). If they wanted, the praetors could make decisions over New Rome stuff and overrule the consul, but in practice I imagine this doesn't happen often. Except for when it does and the poor consul has to do damage control.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

By Stephanie Soucheray, MA

Two new large studies, one based on outcomes among US children and teens and the other on adults in Japan, show COVID-19 vaccines are protective against long COVID. Both studies were conducted when the Omicron strain of the virus was dominant, with the first also assessing the Delta variant.

In the first study, published in eClinicalMedicine, researchers measured the real-world efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) vaccine against long COVID in children and adolescents using data from 20 US health systems collected in as part of the RECOVER PCORnet electronic health record (EHR) Program.

Three cohorts were constructed: (1) adolescents 12 to 20 years old during the Delta phase (July 1 to November 30, 2021), (2) children 5 to 11 years and (3) adolescents 12 to 20 during the Omicron phase (January 1 to November 30, 2022). Outcomes were compared among those who received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine to those with no receipt of COVID-19 vaccines.

In total, 112,590 adolescents (88,811 vaccinated) were included in the cohort for the analysis against the Delta variant, and 188,894 children (101,277 vaccinated), and 84,735 adolescents (37,724 vaccinated) were included for the analysis against the Omicron variant.

Preventing long COVID by averting infections For adolescents during the Delta period, the estimated effectiveness of the BNT162b2 vaccine against long COVID was 95.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 90.9% to 97.7%). During Omicron, the estimated effectiveness against long COVID among children was 60.2% (95% CI, 40.3% to 73.5%), and it was 75.1% (95% CI, 50.4% to 87.5%) among adolescents.

The risk reduction in developing long COVID was largely linked to reducing the risk of COVID infection in the first place.

The effects through protecting againt SARS-CoV-2 infections were estimated as 0.04 (95% CI, 0.03 to 0.05) among adolescents during Delta phase, and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.23 to 0.42) among children and 0.21 (95% CI, 0.16 to 0.27) among adolescents during the Omicron period.

"The higher effectiveness of the BNT162b2 vaccine during the Delta phase, relative to the Omicron period, can be attributed both to its protection against Delta infections and to the fact that the primary benefit of the vaccine on long COVID stems from its capacity to prevent infections," the authors concluded. "With the genetic evolution of Omicron strains that generally are more highly transmissible with much lower severity of symptoms, infection rates are higher and vaccine effectiveness has been lower."

Three or more doses tied to less long COVID in women In the second study, a population-based analysis from Japan, researchers found the vaccine effectiveness of three or more doses of COVID vaccine against Omicron-related long COVID to be 30%, and against neurologic symptoms of long COVID it was 39%.

The protection, however, was found only in women. The study was published yesterday in Clinical Microbiology and Infection.

A total of 7,936 participants aged 20 to 69 years, who were infected from July 1 to August 31, 2022, were included in the study. Of those, 940 (11.8%) had at least one post-COVID, or long-COVID, symptom, according to a self-administered questionnaire.

Participants who had three or more COVID-19 vaccine doses had a 30% lower probability of long-COVID symptoms, with the odds ratio (OR) of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.53 to 0.90), although there was no association with one or two doses.

Furthermore, the risk reduction was seen in women with three or more COVID vaccine doses but not in men.

There was no significant association for respiratory symptoms, but those with three or more COVID vaccine doses reported fewer neurologic symptoms compared to unvaccinated participants (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.45 to 0.83).

Study Links: 1st - www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(24)00541-8/fulltext 2nd - www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(24)00588-3/abstract (PAYWALLED)