Covid Vaccine Distribution

[audreyh1]

Our church Business Manager was a polio survivor. The entire time I knew her she used a scooter to get around. Her mother asked the doctor about polio and he said it was overblown and she should be allowed to use the public pools if she wanted to.

Wow, that’s just freaky - yet unfortunately oh so familiar!

 

[Telly]

J&J vaccine is from a smaller company called Janssen.

These pharma giants just partner with smaller companies which do the actual research and the big companies do the logistics including organizing trials.

Just a quick fyi, Janssen has been owned and part of J & J for a long time, before a family member worked for J & J in the 1970s.

 

[RetireBy90]

It’s a tough be because it’s true that we don’t know about potential long term effects, so we are taking some unknown risks with the vaccine trading off against known risks of bad outcomes for those of us older. However, on the other hand, as the virus keeps spreading among unvaccinated, it keeps mutating in a worldwide laboratory. Unfortunately, I don’t see how that stops, and I don’t have a feel for how much difference US vaccine naysayers will make in that.

On the mutations, CNBC had Scott Gottlieb on I think Friday morning and he talked about this. He thinks it will reach a new "steady state" and mutations will not be like they are now. He said we don't see evidence of many people that are vaccinated getting the virus or re-infections. So by the summer with more vaccinated and the number of people already with immunity from having had the virus things will look much more normal.

He did say that next fall and winter we could see a return and have to do masks in some places but not nation wide. However, if he had to travel on a plane this fall or winter he would wear a mask.

Interesting to hear him: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/03/...new-covid-variants.html?&qsearchterm=gottlieb

 

[JoeWras]

Thanks for the pointer. Dr. Scott has been a light of calm in a dark sea of panic and misinformation.

In the last 20 seconds he said something that resonated with me. Paraphrased: "The CDC should be working hard on studying vaccine effectiveness on variants, instead of arbitrating 6ft vs 3ft."

The upshot to all of this, including the constant hammering of fear of variants, is to get shots in arms as fast as possible. We need to not take our eye off the ball due to fears of the unknown. We know the vaccine helps for most strains out there. So let's distribute them.

 

[audreyh1]

On the mutations, CNBC had Scott Gottlieb on I think Friday morning and he talked about this. He thinks it will reach a new "steady state" and mutations will not be like they are now. He said we don't see evidence of many people that are vaccinated getting the virus or re-infections. So by the summer with more vaccinated and the number of people already with immunity from having had the virus things will look much more normal.

He did say that next fall and winter we could see a return and have to do masks in some places but not nation wide. However, if he had to travel on a plane this fall or winter he would wear a mask.

Interesting to hear him: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/03/...new-covid-variants.html?&qsearchterm=gottlieb

Thanks for that info and link.

 

[audreyh1]

The upshot to all of this, including the constant hammering of fear of variants, is to get shots in arms as fast as possible. We need to not take our eye off the ball due to fears of the unknown. We know the vaccine helps for most strains out there. So let's distribute them.

Absolutely! Above all the focus needs to be get shots in the arms as fast as possible. We have a lot of vaccine in the US. This will help mute effects from more contagious variants arriving and spreading.

 

[RetireBy90]

I normally browse to cnbc.com and search for Gottlieb once a week to see his interviews. Very enlightening and he leaves politics out of it.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

And, of course, this is why we call this treatment a vaccine, ultimately from the Latin, vacca, meaning "cow."

Quote:
The word vaccine, and vaccination, actually comes from the name for a pox virus—the cowpox virus, vaccinia, to be exact.

https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-origin-of-the-word-vaccine/

I had read that article, too. However, I think it is misleading for them to say the term was named after the name of the virus. Viruses were not even known about for another century. It was named after the disease, not the virus that caused the disease. The disease was called "vaccine disease," that is, the word "vaccine" was an adjective. "Vaccine" meant "of or like a cow," similar to words like "canine," "feline," "phocine," etc. So the disease was called something like "cow's disease," i.e., "vaccine disease" is similar in formation to, say, "canine distemper."

That is why, in my original post, I said it came "ultimately" from vacca.

From the OED:

Etymology: < Latin vaccīnus ( < vacca cow), especially in variolae vaccinae cowpox (Dr. Jenner, 1798). Compare Italian vaccino

 

[Chuckanut]

However, on the other hand, as the virus keeps spreading among unvaccinated, it keeps mutating in a worldwide laboratory. Unfortunately, I don’t see how that stops, and I don’t have a feel for how much difference US vaccine naysayers will make in that.

A bit off topic but here is an article describing characteristics of virus mutations:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-0690-4

Emphasis added.

The pervasive claim that a virus will mutate to become more virulent during an outbreak is particularly illustrative of this phenomenon, even though this spectre of a ‘super killer’ virus is baseless. In reality, the evolution of virulence is a highly complex topic that has inspired extensive research on evolutionary theory and debate6. Mutations can also make a virus either more or less virulent. A common idea is that virulence will only change — either upwards or downwards — if it increases the transmission rate of the virus, which effectively means an increase in the number of virus ‘offspring’. However, high virulence may (although by no means always) reduce transmissibility if the host is too sick to expose others. Without information on the precise evolutionary forces and selection pressures in operation, predicting how virulence might evolve is an extremely difficult and perhaps futile task.This is not to say that mutations and natural selection don’t occur during disease outbreaks, but rather that their epidemiological relevance is often hard to quantify.

More on topic:

FWIW, I fully expect to get a yearly corona virus shot for the next 3-5 years just like I get a flu shot. For some odd reason, I rarely got the flu or a flu shot pre-grandkids. My hope is that distribution will be more like the current flu vaccine and not the necesary but frustrating rush job it has to be today. I'm grateful me and most of my loved ones are vaccinated.

 

[Chuckanut]

Again, to put things into perspective, here's how other countries and areas are doing. Somebody lit a fire under Chile in the later part of February.

 

[explanade]

They may be getting Chinese vaccines.

They may have to re-vaccinate.

 

[Popeye]

Meanwhile the knives are coming out in Europe. This doesn’t sound too good!

EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness told the BBC "everything is on the table" when asked on Sunday if the bloc was seriously considering trying to stop vaccines being exported to Britain. EU citizens are "growing angry and upset at the fact that the vaccine rollout has not happened as rapidly as we had anticipated," she said ahead of the European Council meeting.

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-eu-grow-up-coronavirus-vaccine-export-blockade-threats/

 

[Sue J]

Congratulations! And, it would be great if you could let us know in a day or two how the side effects went for you!

It’s been 3 days since my 2nd shot and I am surprisingly FINE! Never really felt any ill effects although I took Tylenol the first day. Then I forgot about it. My arm is slightly sore if I touch it but otherwise this has been easy.

I hope everyone else has a good experience.

One note to add, my 2nd shot was 35 days after my first shot. That’s just the way they set it up when I got the first one.

 

[Leo1277]

It’s been 3 days since my 2nd shot and I am surprisingly FINE! Never really felt any ill effects although I took Tylenol the first day. Then I forgot about it. My arm is slightly sore if I touch it but otherwise this has been easy.

I hope everyone else has a good experience.

One note to add, my 2nd shot was 35 days after my first shot. That’s just the way they set it up when I got the first one.

Great to hear that! So, very soon you will be all set!

In the meantime I had my first Pfizer shot too, and two days later there isn't much of a noticeable effect, just minor pain in the arm for one day, and slight fatigue. But that will more likely have been due to the driving to get there and back, which was about 8 hours. It took so long because of the beautiful slow "celebration" drive along the beach for 150 miles afterward, in the open convertible in beautiful sunshine (of course with enough sunscreen).

 

[Gearhead Jim]

Our son-in-law got the J&J 1-dose. He spent the next day in bed and took 3 days to feel almost normal.
They call that "a robust immune response", and he's supposed to be happy about it.
I'm sure he will be in a week or two.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

Thanks for the pointer. Dr. Scott has been a light of calm in a dark sea of panic and misinformation.

In the last 20 seconds he said something that resonated with me. Paraphrased: "The CDC should be working hard on studying vaccine effectiveness on variants, instead of arbitrating 6ft vs 3ft."

The upshot to all of this, including the constant hammering of fear of variants, is to get shots in arms as fast as possible. We need to not take our eye off the ball due to fears of the unknown. We know the vaccine helps for most strains out there. So let's distribute them.

Over the last year, my opinion of the CDC and WHO is that they are usually a day late and a dollar short.

 

[USGrant1962]

A couple of thoughts on this:

Thanks for the pointer. Dr. Scott has been a light of calm in a dark sea of panic and misinformation.

In the last 20 seconds he said something that resonated with me. Paraphrased: "The CDC should be working hard on studying vaccine effectiveness on variants, instead of arbitrating 6ft vs 3ft."

I can't imagine any of the science staff studying vaccine effectiveness is arbitrating 6ft vs 3ft (aka 1m) guidelines - that is bureaucrat land. And FWIW, WHO has always defined social distancing as 1m or more. CDC apparently recommended the 6ft guideline on the theory that 6 is better than 3 - but then why not 9, 10, or even 20 feet?

The upshot to all of this, including the constant hammering of fear of variants, is to get shots in arms as fast as possible. We need to not take our eye off the ball due to fears of the unknown. We know the vaccine helps for most strains out there. So let's distribute them.

What, and shut down the whole panic porn industry? Fears of the unknown has been the stock in trade of the press and social media throughout this pandemic. Clicks are money.

 

[Rocket Man]

A couple of thoughts on this:







I can't imagine any of the science staff studying vaccine effectiveness is arbitrating 6ft vs 3ft (aka 1m) guidelines - that is bureaucrat land. And FWIW, WHO has always defined social distancing as 1m or more. CDC apparently recommended the 6ft guideline on the theory that 6 is better than 3 - but then why not 9, 10, or even 20 feet?







What, and shut down the whole panic porn industry? Fears of the unknown has been the stock in trade of the press and social media throughout this pandemic. Clicks are money.

+1

 

[camfused]

I got my Pfizer #1 on Saturday morning at WakeMed in Raleigh, NC. No line, in and out in about 20 mins, and my arm is not even sore.

 

[W2R]

CDC apparently recommended the 6ft guideline on the theory that 6 is better than 3 - but then why not 9, 10, or even 20 feet?

That's a good point! Back in the 1950's-1960's my father (a surgeon, dead since 1980) had a rule for us three kids when one of us was sick in bed from flu or whatever. His rule was that we could talk to the sick sibling from the door of his/her room, but we could not go in. The rooms were quite large so it was at least 15 feet from the door to the bed. The reasons given were that he didn't want the flu/bug/whatever to spread to the rest of us.

I grew up with those rules, so to me, 6 feet sounds kind of weird.

Fears of the unknown has been the stock in trade of the press and social media throughout this pandemic. Clicks are money.

This has become more and more apparent during the past year.

 

[NW-Bound]

I can't imagine any of the science staff studying vaccine effectiveness is arbitrating 6ft vs 3ft (aka 1m) guidelines - that is bureaucrat land. And FWIW, WHO has always defined social distancing as 1m or more. CDC apparently recommended the 6ft guideline on the theory that 6 is better than 3 - but then why not 9, 10, or even 20 feet?

I prefer 100 ft distancing myself.

However, people who set public policy have to consider practical aspects, such as available space in stores, public transportation, etc... Of course, the more feet the better, but we cannot have only 1 person per bus or 20 per Walmart store.

 

[Amethyst]

When I had measles, and sister had strep throat, we were only allowed to talk to each other from the room door too. These were small rooms, no more than 8-10 feet to the bed...However, mom went into the room, and nobody wore masks. So, not sure how much good it really did!

His rule was that we could talk to the sick sibling from the door of his/her room, but we could not go in..

 

[harllee]

I got my Pfizer #1 on Saturday morning at WakeMed in Raleigh, NC. No line, in and out in about 20 mins, and my arm is not even sore.

Cam, glad to hear you got your shot!

 

[mpeirce]

I already mentioned I got my 1st Moderna jab last Tuesday.

Since then I've been contacted by WalMart, Rite Aid, and now Meijer to get me signed up for the vaccine with them. I had left my info with them earlier when I, as a 59yo, was eligible.

Also, as of Friday my little county has 27% of its population vaccinated* compared to 22.6% in the state. (* at least one dose given, not "fully vaccinated").

I'd say the system is humming along like a well oiled machine at this point.

 

[ncbill]

I got my Pfizer #1 on Saturday morning at WakeMed in Raleigh, NC. No line, in and out in about 20 mins, and my arm is not even sore.

Ditto...no side effects from Pfizer #1 last week.

But I'm bummed that I had to schedule my second shot a full month out.

Now the local mass vaccination, drive-thru sites seem to be getting plenty of the J&J vaccine...should I just head over to one of those instead (or before) my last Pfizer shot?