General COVID-19 Topic

[DaveP043]

20 minutes ago, iacas said:

The woman said 2300 people had signed up, but more were signing up (the printer beside her kept printing out completed forms for people scheduling at that moment), and she estimated they'd get to 3,000 doses or more.

Obviously distribution continues to be spotty.  Fairfax County, where I live, has a population of a little over a million people, and apparently vaccinated a little under 19,000 people all last week.  Erie has about 100,000 people, you're getting a better allocation there, population-wise, than we are here.  Patience is the key, I suppose.

[iacas]

12 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Obviously distribution continues to be spotty.  Fairfax County, where I live, has a population of a little over a million people, and apparently vaccinated a little under 19,000 people all last week.  Erie has about 100,000 people, you're getting a better allocation there, population-wise, than we are here.  Patience is the key, I suppose.

This was in Crawford county, and this may be the only thing they really do of anything close to this scale for the week.

[DaveP043]

9 minutes ago, iacas said:

This was in Crawford county, and this may be the only thing they really do of anything close to this scale for the week.

You certainly could be right.  Still, its good to hear that young folks like you and your family are getting the vaccine.

[iacas]

My father-in-law is 80 and just got his vaccine on February 17.

20 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

You certainly could be right.  Still, its good to hear that young folks like you and your family are getting the vaccine.

Look, I'll be honest as I can here: the form online said "16+ with a pre-existing condition" or something like that. I listed my classification as 1B as I've been assured by everyone in charge (including multiple doctors with whom I work or teach their kids), as a Behrend faculty/staff member (golf coach), and my wife is a teacher… I didn't lie about having no real pre-existing conditions. I checked "no" to every box.

The woman beside me when I checked in had rheumatoid arthritis as her pre-existing condition.

Natalie is 18 and didn't lie at all, either. My neighbor down the street, all three of them got the vaccine: one is overweight, one has very mild asthma, and the daughter (15) has a very mild case of bilateral reflux (urine, back up into the kidneys).

I think that what they're doing is just, especially since it's the Pfizer vaccine and it goes bad if it's not used, is just getting them into as many arms as they can. The 2300 people who were pre-registered were all 16+ with pre-existing conditions, the woman told me, but then they opened it up wider to anyone who could come so as not to lose vaccines.

I have no problems with people getting the vaccines. If a hospital has them and they're going to expire, stick them in whomever is available.

I wasn't going to lie to get the vaccine. That would imply I'm taking it from someone who needs it more than I do (an older person, a person with a pre-existing condition, etc.). But if they're willing to give it, and I can get it honestly, I've always said I'll take it. So I did. (And I'm not saying you're implying or stating I did anything "bad" here - I am just typing this out to shed some light on the situation here from what little I know about it.)

I think we're nearing the tipping point. I think, particularly with J&J being approved (and still pretty damn effective at about 75%), we're going to see the number of vaccinations go up quite a bit in the month of March.

Good luck to everyone else out there.

[Billy Z]

It is an amazing feat of humanity to even have a vaccine at this point in time. Operation Warp Speed, which is touted as a miracle, really was impressive. I believe we will get through this covid problem, and I think it will only get better as time moves forward. With all the people getting vaccinated, and spring time coming, I feel we can be almost normal in the summer time.

[Darkfrog]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

I have no problems with people getting the vaccines. If a hospital has them and they're going to expire, stick them in whomever is available.

The more vaccinations the better, and letting vaccine doses expire is bad public health strategy. I am considered tier 1A by state of California, but it's tedious getting an appointment via the state run system. I was able to get my vaccine last week as part of the city's (the city I work in) zero-waste policy re: vaccines. My work coordinates with the city to get employees who need to work onsite (full time or partial) vaccinated as part of this program.

[DaveP043]

3 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

You certainly could be right.  Still, its good to hear that young folks like you and your family are getting the vaccine.

I hope this didn't come across as sarcastic, I definitely didn't mean it that way.  I'm glad to hear that vaccines are available, and that people are getting them.   Availability is going to vary from place to place, policies are going to vary too.  While I'm hoping that my turn comes up soon, I know that I live and work in a relative low-contact environment, my risks are pretty low.  I'll wait for my turn, with reasonable patience.  

[ChetlovesMer]

3 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

The more vaccinations the better, and letting vaccine doses expire is bad public health strategy. I am considered tier 1A by state of California, but it's tedious getting an appointment via the state run system. I was able to get my vaccine last week as part of the city's (the city I work in) zero-waste policy re: vaccines. My work coordinates with the city to get employees who need to work onsite (full time or partial) vaccinated as part of this program.

Ohio is STILL one of the worst states. I can't believe the other day they were bragging that 79% of the vaccines were getting used. I was like "HEY, DOESN'T THAT MEAN WE ARE WASTING 21%?"

They are so afraid of giving it to somebody who may appear as though they "line jumped" that they are willing to waste more than 1/5 of the vaccines to avoid the bad PR by giving it to a non-mandatory person. 

[Darkfrog]

14 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

They are so afraid of giving it to somebody who may appear as though they "line jumped" that they are willing to waste more than 1/5 of the vaccines to avoid the bad PR by giving it to a non-mandatory person. 

Wow, 21% is shocking, I'm curious what the waste rate of CA is? It's just plain dumb to waste any vaccine doses. I understand the principal and bad optics of allowing some potentially ineligible people to get vaccinated, but if 20%+ of vaccines are being wasted, that's just slowing down a return to normalcy unnecessarily.

[colin007]

On 3/1/2021 at 3:02 PM, CarlSpackler said:

How are you feeling?

Oh man so much better. The headache lasted about 40 hours but I'm glad I got it

[CarlSpackler]

24 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Oh man so much better. The headache lasted about 40 hours but I'm glad I got it

Very cool! I was starting to 😳 when I didn't hear back.

[StuM]

On 3/1/2021 at 8:07 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

Ohio is STILL one of the worst states. I can't believe the other day they were bragging that 79% of the vaccines were getting used. I was like "HEY, DOESN'T THAT MEAN WE ARE WASTING 21%?"

They are so afraid of giving it to somebody who may appear as though they "line jumped" that they are willing to waste more than 1/5 of the vaccines to avoid the bad PR by giving it to a non-mandatory person. 

I do not know details on OH but my 91 year old father (Toledo area) got his 2nd shot @ Feb 5th so at least the system worked for him.

[ChetlovesMer]

1 minute ago, StuM said:

I do not know details on OH but my 91 year old father (Toledo area) got his 2nd shot @ Feb 5th so at least the system worked for him.

Just Monday Ohio moved to only people over 60. A couple weeks before that it was only people over 65. A couple weeks before that it was only people over 75. "Essential" workers have been eligible since the get-go. I take exception to what is considered "essential" but that's a different story all together. 

I want to be clear. I really have no problem what so ever with them prioritizing by age. However, if that's what they are going to do, they should either figure out a way to only thaw out what they need, which in my opinion would be a system like schedule 100 appointments, thaw out 80 vials to account for the people who don't show. Or, when people don't show take walk ins. 

I'm just irritated that we have this miracle of modern medicine and we are pissing away 21% of it. 

[StuM]

2 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Just Monday Ohio moved to only people over 60. A couple weeks before that it was only people over 65. A couple weeks before that it was only people over 75. "Essential" workers have been eligible since the get-go. I take exception to what is considered "essential" but that's a different story all together. 

I want to be clear. I really have no problem what so ever with them prioritizing by age. However, if that's what they are going to do, they should either figure out a way to only thaw out what they need, which in my opinion would be a system like schedule 100 appointments, thaw out 80 vials to account for the people who don't show. Or, when people don't show take walk ins. 

I'm just irritated that we have this miracle of modern medicine and we are pissing away 21% of it. 

I fully agree, 21% waste is unacceptable and I simply do not understand how it could be that bad.  I also understand frustration with "Essential", in Michigan Marijuana dispensaries, liquor stores and lottery sellers were all considered "Essential".  I think it had more to do with tax revenue than looking out for the health and welfare of residents.  

[saevel25]

16 minutes ago, StuM said:

I fully agree, 21% waste is unacceptable and I simply do not understand how it could be that bad.  I also understand frustration with "Essential", in Michigan Marijuana dispensaries, liquor stores and lottery sellers were all considered "Essential".  I think it had more to do with tax revenue than looking out for the health and welfare of residents.  

Poor implementation, especially when you consider those at most risk might be the least mobile people. It would be hard to get the people to the clinics to give them the shots. I wonder how many people refused the shots as well. I also wonder if states just wanted to get as many vaccines as possible. Its not hard to see a number like that. 

[dennyjones]

Grocery workers were considered essential early in the pandemic, more so that educators.    I'm glad educators will be moved to the front of the line but I still believe that grocery workers are essential.  

[Double Mocha Man]

2 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Grocery workers were considered essential early in the pandemic, more so that educators.    I'm glad educators will be moved to the front of the line but I still believe that grocery workers are essential.  

The upside of no grocery workers is that we can go through the line and not have to pay at check out.  Free food!

[iacas]

Aside from very mild tenderness at the injection site I have had no side effects at all to the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.