Covid Vaccine Distribution

[sengsational]

I don't watch TV either, never heard of Scott Gottlieb, but searched just now and see he is literally on the payroll of big pharma, so naturally his perspective will not be purely in the interest of public health. Not saying anything about what he is saying, since I don't know what that is, but no matter who you listen to "consider the source" is probably relevant advice. In other words, there's a risk that things that can't produce revenue, but might be a low risk way to reduce the impact of Covid, don't even get a mention.

 

[pb4uski]

Scott Gottlieb is one of the more straight forward medical talking heads on TV. He has more credibility than most.

+1. Very credible and sensible IMO.

 

[pb4uski]

I don't watch TV either, never heard of Scott Gottlieb, but searched just now and see he is literally on the payroll of big pharma, so naturally his perspective will not be purely in the interest of public health. Not saying anything about what he is saying, since I don't know what that is, but no matter who you listen to "consider the source" is probably relevant advice. In other words, there's a risk that things that can't produce revenue, but might be a low risk way to reduce the impact of Covid, don't even get a mention.

Pretty cynical. You say you don't watch TV, which is fine, but how do you then find the information needed to have an informed opinion?

I think it highly unlikely that a simple, low risk way to deal with covid would be suppressed.

 

[MichaelB]

Pretty cynical. You say you don't watch TV, which is fine, but how do you then find the information needed to have an informed opinion?

I think it highly unlikely that a simple, low risk way to deal with covid would be suppressed.

Let’s lighten up a bit, eh? Any source can be talking it’s book, so it’s not cynical to keep that in mind. Personally I think Dr Gottlieb has been a shining example of someone advocating for the public interest, but there are other legitimate and well informed sources.

As for those other sources, I see TV as a source of entertainment but not serious analysis or useful, timely and unbiased information. For that I much prefer print and internet, and I assumed you did as well.

 

[Freedom56]

According to the CDC/Reuters, 4,629,928 shots were administered on Friday April 12th.

" The United States had administered 183,467,709 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed 237,791,735 doses as of Saturday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Those figures are up from the 178,837,781 doses the CDC said had been administered by April 9, out of 233,591,955 doses delivered. "

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...s-of-covid-19-vaccines-cdc-says-idUSKBN2BY026

The good news is the pace of vaccinations continue to accelerate and capacity to vaccinate exceeds demand in many urban locations. The problem is many are refusing to take the vaccine and the roll-out in other countries are not outpacing infections. Some of the vaccines being used in other countries have questionable efficacy. In the end, you can't BS this virus with snake-oil. My brother works at a large hospital and he stated that they are admitting more younger people into the ICU due to COVID-19. They are seeing strokes and blood clots among younger people who contracted COVID-19. The only seniors they see now are those that did not vaccinate. We may return to some form of normal in many states over the next few months, but we will be putting out fires as the virus spreads and mutates in other countries and among those that did not vaccinate in this country.

 

[explanade]

One report came out said almost 40% of Marines declined vaccination.

Vets often say that they were ordered to get vaccinated back in the day.

 

[braumeister]

One report came out said almost 40% of Marines declined vaccination.

Vets often say that they were ordered to get vaccinated back in the day.

The current COVID vaccines have not been formally approved yet; they have an emergency authorization. That's why the military is making it optional at this point.

 

[explanade]

Well they're close to injecting almost 200 million Americans.

Full FDA approval is inevitable.

 

[Ready]

I talk to a lot of people on the pickleball courts who tell me they have no interest in getting the vaccine. It’s primarily the younger generation, but some people in the 50-60 range tell me they feel the same way. They either don’t trust it or don’t think it’s necessary nor effective.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

^^^
Charles Darwin would be pleased.

 

[Sunset]

Our first Phizer shot was possibly the best injection I ever got. Painless.

The second one, done by a pharmacist hurt a bit like a dull needle, and then the next day I got fever, and chills and headache , all like a very mild flu. It lasted about 1.5 days and then was gone. DW just felt tired the 2nd day.

Now we are both fine and happy we got it.

 

[harllee]

I talk to a lot of people on the pickleball courts who tell me they have no interest in getting the vaccine. It’s primarily the younger generation, but some people in the 50-60 range tell me they feel the same way. They either don’t trust it or don’t think it’s necessary nor effective.

If you have not done so look at Alan's thread about his young healthy son's terrible experience with Covid--he is hospitalized and has been on a ventilator. Then you can tell your friends about his experience to encourage them to get vaccinated.

 

[audreyh1]

I talk to a lot of people on the pickleball courts who tell me they have no interest in getting the vaccine. It’s primarily the younger generation, but some people in the 50-60 range tell me they feel the same way. They either don’t trust it or don’t think it’s necessary nor effective.

It’s really unfortunate that they aren’t getting the message that the vaccines are highly effective.

Of course throughout this pandemic many have not gotten the message that their health is at risk from the virus or that they could spread it to someone else and cause them to be hospitalized or worse.

 

[JoeWras]

Regarding the one-shot: I kind of wish I had it.

I'm now 28 days past my Moderna #1 and have no appt. for #2.

So by day 21 I would have said stuff it. I don't think you have any obligation to wait and should just look around elsewhere. What are they gonna do? nothing. You have to take things in your own hands.

Yeah, you are free to go somewhere else. CVS allows 2nd dose scheduling, I’m sure some others do too.

I just got back from shot #2 at the local pharmacy.

I was just a victim of "falling through the cracks." Probably because I got my shot #1 unexpectedly through a left-over, I didn't get properly entered into their notification system. A simple call to DW's nurse friend got us the information needed for the second shot.

I kind of get why they can't broadcast this. They are small and can't get overwhelmed. The effort is literally 95% volunteer only (just 1 paid staff, part time), so it is likely a volunteer left us off the notification system. It is pretty impressive even if small. They had 4 volunteer nurses giving shots today. It is this kind of behind the scenes grass roots effort that takes pressure off the system. I just got a bit unlucky.

Now I wait to see what if any side effects hit me tonight (Moderna).

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I saw this earlier and thought it's kinda funny. We had a family dinner last week and that was a topic of discussion.

 

[lucky penny]

Well they're close to injecting almost 200 million Americans.

Full FDA approval is inevitable.

As of yesterday, according to the CDC, 120.8 million have had at least one dose; this includes 74.1 million who are fully vaccinated.

 

[CaptTom]

As of yesterday, according to the CDC, 120.8 million have had at least one dose...

We all heard that the vaccines were 90%-97% effective.

By my count that means hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people got the vaccine but could still get Covid.

Likewise, side effects are experienced by a very small percentage. But of course, even a very small percentage of 120.8 million is still a non-zero number.

So why do I keep seeing headlines like "vaccinated person gets Covid" or "person gets side effects from vaccine"?

I mean, it's not news. It's expected. Rare things happen every day. People die in car crashes, yet we all still drive. And most crashes never make the national news.

People just don't understand statistics. Least of all journalism majors.

 

[Amethyst]

My undergraduate degree was in journalism. I question the percentage of "journalists" of whom that is true today.

My professors did address Statistics, and the ways in which not to misuse them.

W

People just don't understand statistics. Least of all journalism majors.

 

[MichaelB]

Understanding statistics can help, but I think there’s something bigger here. No vaccine development has ever been under such scrutiny, nor has its use been monitored in such detail. The internet makes everyone feel highly knowledgeable.

Taken together, we expect immediate, unqualified, expert analysis, with all questions answered with expert precision. What we actually have is a combination of qualified expert analysis and unfiltered information. We are overloaded with information. It gets mixed up and causes confusion, and lots of people with good and not-so-good intentions disseminate facts and fiction.

I think the prescription calls for more patience and some caution. Patience, while we let the health care industry and public health professionals do their job. Caution, as we get back to living our lives as fully as possible, without taking undo risk.

 

[disneysteve]

We all heard that the vaccines were 90%-97% effective.

By my count that means hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people got the vaccine but could still get Covid.

Likewise, side effects are experienced by a very small percentage. But of course, even a very small percentage of 120.8 million is still a non-zero number.

So why do I keep seeing headlines like "vaccinated person gets Covid" or "person gets side effects from vaccine"?

This! It's so true. If even 1% of vaccinated people still get COVID and you vaccinate 200 million people, that's 2 million people. And the actual percentage is probably more like 5%.


Ratings. That's the ticket.

 

[Chuckanut]

95% (or whatever the ultimate number is) means a vaccinated person is 95% less likely to get Covid than an unvaccinated person.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/me...does-95-25-efficacy-actually-mean/ar-BB1dBs6G

One common misunderstanding is that 95% efficacy means that in the Pfizer clinical trial, 5% of vaccinated people got COVID. But that's not true; the actual percentage of vaccinated people in the Pfizer (and Moderna) trials who got COVID-19 was about a hundred times less than that: 0.04%.
What the 95% actually means is that vaccinated people had a 95% lower risk of getting COVID-19 compared with the control group participants, who weren't vaccinated. In other words, vaccinated people in the Pfizer clinical trial were 20 times less likely than the control group to get COVID-19.

Also, the vaccines were 100% effective in preventing hospitalization and death after full immunization takes effect. A fact that is often tactfully omitted by the news media.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

There was a front page article in the Chicago Tribune today about how some of the zip codes in the city with the highest (though still well below herd immunity) vaccination rates, are also zip codes with the highest incidence of new cases. People are getting careless.

But more noticeable was the number of fully vaccinated people who have contracted Covid two weeks after their final shot, and the number who have died. In absolute terms, not a big number. But very big for those who died.
IIRC, both the Pfizer and Moderna trials had virtually nobody die starting two weeks after vaccination. Real life is not so nice.

 

[lucky penny]

There was a front page article in the Chicago Tribune today about how some of the zip codes in the city with the highest (though still well below herd immunity) vaccination rates, are also zip codes with the highest incidence of new cases. People are getting careless.

But more noticeable was the number of fully vaccinated people who have contracted Covid two weeks after their final shot, and the number who have died. In absolute terms, not a big number. But very big for those who died.
IIRC, both the Pfizer and Moderna trials had virtually nobody die starting two weeks after vaccination. Real life is not so nice.

Just looked online for this article & couldn't find it. Can you post a link?

 

[Ready]

It’s really unfortunate that they aren’t getting the message that the vaccines are highly effective.

Of course throughout this pandemic many have not gotten the message that their health is at risk from the virus or that they could spread it to someone else and cause them to be hospitalized or worse.

The biggest objection I hear about is related to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines being “new technology” and therefore relatively untested over the long term. The J&J vaccine is more traditional so I don’t hear objections to J&J, but we don’t have much access to J&J in our community right now.

We also have a number of people who have already had COVID and have decided they don’t need the vaccine. They insist that their doctors are telling them not to get it. I think that is counter to what CDC has been saying but I’m not in a position to argue with them.

 

[audreyh1]

There was a front page article in the Chicago Tribune today about how some of the zip codes in the city with the highest (though still well below herd immunity) vaccination rates, are also zip codes with the highest incidence of new cases. People are getting careless.

But more noticeable was the number of fully vaccinated people who have contracted Covid two weeks after their final shot, and the number who have died. In absolute terms, not a big number. But very big for those who died.
IIRC, both the Pfizer and Moderna trials had virtually nobody die starting two weeks after vaccination. Real life is not so nice.

Just looked online for this article & couldn't find it. Can you post a link?

I found a couple of recent Illinois stories of breakthrough infections. It’s still a very small percentage and mostly asymptomatic. But as long as community spread is high, there are going to be breakthrough infections if people drop precautions around unvaccinated people and crowds.

More than 580 Illinoisans have tested positive for COVID-19 after getting fully vaccinated.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported of the about 2.5 million people in Illinois who have been fully vaccinated as of data compiled last Wednesday, 581 tested positive for COVID-19 after getting their final vaccine dose.

https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/...tive-covid-19-after-full-vaccination-illinois

That’s 0.02% which matches what I’ve seen from a couple of other states reporting.

Remember, the vaccine protects against mostly against serious disease and death. It doesn’t mean infection isn’t possible, just much less likely. But obviously as a huge number are vaccinated, you are going to get some breakthrough infections, and inevitably as numbers grow very large, a few with serious disease and even death. We can simply hope for those numbers to be much much smaller, and for transmission to be drastically reduced.

It also seems to significantly reduce transmission which will definitely help bring down spread. But as long as community presence of COVID is high and too many unvaccinated you’re going to get some of this.

I think overall this is a reminder for even vaccinated folks to continue to take precautions while more people get vaccinated which will take at least a few more months as case numbers remain high.

A slightly earlier report.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Six million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given in Illinois, but a small group of people have still contracted COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated. They are called breakthrough cases.

Illinois is reporting roughly 400 of the breakthrough cases, which is less than .02% of those fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

CBS 2 has learned six Illinoisans have died from COVID-19 after getting the full vaccination. But for some perspective, 238 Illinoisans once died from COVID-19 in one day.

“We’ve had fewer than 100 cases, but we have had cases here in Chicago of people who have been fully vaccinated,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. “Nobody has needed to be hospitalized. Nobody has died.”

Arwady said most of those people were asymptomatic and got tracked because the city does “routine testing in high risk settings.”

The stats for Illinois, a much larger sample size, look a little different. From the very first Illinois COVID vaccination on Dec. 15 until March 31, the state says 2.2 million Illinoisans received their final shots. Of those, 399 still tested positive for the virus and of those, 17 were hospitalized from COVID-19. Six died.

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/04/02/covid-19-vaccination-breakthrough-cases/