Covid Vaccine Distribution

[harllee]

This past week here in NC CVS pharmacy has been going to nursing homes doing Moderna vaccines of residents and staff, not sure how many got done.

 

[ransil]

Oh yes, for us, it was in the gym. Then the same thing happened when I was in boot camp about 15 years later - same type of gun.

the gauntlet
not sure how many shots we got ,line up and get shot in both arms multiple times, couple were needle shots like the penicillin in the butt.

 

[Amethyst]

What for? (or maybe I shouldn't ask)

I mean, it's a treatment, not a vaccine.

needle shots like the penicillin.

 

[JoeWras]

What for? (or maybe I shouldn't ask)

I mean, it's a treatment, not a vaccine.

Probably because that's what they did with the miracle drug. Give it to everyone, no? Takes care of any lingering, brewing disease like TB or clap.

And now we pay with the resistant strains.

 

[gerntz]

Reading Newsome said CA had given 300,000 shots and had 1,800,000 doses delivered. That seems to be the big issue all around.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Hospital pharmacist arrested for knowingly taking vaccine out of refrigeration to deteriorate. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/12/31/500-doses-covid-19-vaccine-thrown-out-hospital-worker-aurora-removed-from-fridge-on-purpose-grafton/4098837001/

 

[Badger]

Yeah, so. I'm in the same group as you in NC.

It takes time for phase 3 trials. It takes time to evaluate them and approve the vaccines. Pfizer and Moderna cannot physically make enough fast enough. It is not possible to build production overnight. Nor can they be safely transported world wide, unless 100 factories suddenly could produce thousands of freezers that can obtain -100C temperatures.

So we have to wait for the other vaccines to come on line, and they are not approved yet. These vaccines at least won't have the transport and store logistics. At that point, distribution will speed up significantly. I expect a lot of yelling, though, when people discover they got the 70% effective shot versus the 95% effective shot.

This is just math. We are going to have to wait in line. Not everyone can be first.

And don't forget, this is a world wide effort. The world is a big place. See other new thread just created about the 7.8 Billion of us.

+1 Practicing delayed gratification is a virtue when it can help those who may be in greater need.



Cheers!

 

[PatrickA5]

My county keeps talking about CVS and Walgreens as if they will be able to handle the masses. According to my calculations, each of the CVS/Walgreens in my county would have to do several hundred vaccinations a day for 6 months in order to get everyone done. Double that for the second shot.

I guess I'll just hang out at home for a year or two.

 

[Amethyst]

Sheesh, and I bet people paid at the time with mysterious "gut issues" b/c their microbiomes were being killed off wholesale! No wonder some don't trust massive vaccine campaigns

Probably because that's what they did with the miracle drug. Give it to everyone, no? Takes care of any lingering, brewing disease like TB or clap.

And now we pay with the resistant strains.

 

[harllee]

Hospital pharmacist arrested for knowingly taking vaccine out of refrigeration to deteriorate. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/12/31/500-doses-covid-19-vaccine-thrown-out-hospital-worker-aurora-removed-from-fridge-on-purpose-grafton/4098837001/

Boy I hope that guy gets a long prison sentence--500 doses had to be thrown away. I read that 57 people got the vaccine that he had let spoil. I guess this people will have to be revaccinated. Wonder why someone would do such an awful thing?

 

[Amethyst]

Malicious; something very wrong upstairs.

Thank goodness, the spoiled vaccine was merely inactivated, not rendered harmful. "Spoilage" can mean many things, including the growth of dangerous bacteria. I wonder what that nut case thought would happen?

Boy I hope that guy gets a long prison sentence--500 doses had to be thrown away. I read that 57 people got the vaccine that he had let spoil. I guess this people will have to be revaccinated. Wonder why someone would do such an awful thing?

 

[Chuckanut]

In addition to health care providers (hospital/ltc employees, ambulance staff, fire, and police), residents of long-term care facilities, residents in prisons are being inoculated. Basically, if the latter get sick their care is on our nickel and they don't have any ability to quarantine. I want to be on the vaccine shortlist but I understand those priorities.

+1

I agree. Vaccination is like education. We benefit most from our own. We also greatly benefit from the education of our family and friends. And we even benefit from the education of others whom we will never meet and don't even know exist.

I think many of the medical experts and elected leaders are overly worried about a small percentage of people who may refuse the vaccine. The real problem is getting it to the vast majority who want it now. Worry about them first and let the anti-vax crowd figure it out while the rest of us get on with life. I think they will see the benefits soon enough.

 

[gerntz]

My county keeps talking about CVS and Walgreens as if they will be able to handle the masses. According to my calculations, each of the CVS/Walgreens in my county would have to do several hundred vaccinations a day for 6 months in order to get everyone done. Double that for the second shot.

I guess I'll just hang out at home for a year or two.

How long does it take? 2 minutes? That's 30/hr and 240/hr/injector. two injectors for 10 hours is over 500/day. Six months is July - about when authorities expected it to be done. Sounds reasonable to me.

 

[gerntz]

+1
I think many of the medical experts and elected leaders are overly worried about a small percentage of people who may refuse the vaccine. The real problem is getting it to the vast majority who want it now. Worry about them first and let the anti-vax crowd figure it out while the rest of us get on with life. I think they will see the benefits soon enough.

Don't know what you think small percentage is, but I'd guess 25% or more. And that doesn't count those of us under 16 not currently eligible.

 

[Ronstar]

I do feel that the vaccine distribution is being mismanaged like Covid testing was. My county got their first delivery from another county that got too much. Then our county got another shipment. They don't know when the next shipment is coming.

They are currently vaccinating health care workers at the local hospital as part of Phase 1a of a phased approach plan. The vaccine is "anticipated" to be sent to 5 county long term health care facilities sometime in January also as part of Phase 1a.

Phase 1b is Adults 75+ and essential front line workers. Where and When "To Be Determined" but expected in February.

Then there are phases 1c, 2,3, and 4. Same thing - where and when "To Be Determined"

I understand that "When" is "To be Determined". But I think that the people in charge should at least know the "where" for vaccines to be supposedly done next month.

The county's answer to "when" and "where" is "Please consult local media sources regularly for updates" There are no provisions for how anyone can sign up to get the vaccine.

 

[Gumby]

How long does it take? 2 minutes? That's 30/hr and 240/hr/injector. two injectors for 10 hours is over 500/day. Six months is July - about when authorities expected it to be done. Sounds reasonable to me.

You have to spend 15 minutes watching them for adverse reactions after the injection and attending to them if they have one. You probably need at least two watchers for every injector, so one can always be watching. I don't think it should be hard to find people to do the watching.

 

[JoeWras]

How long does it take? 2 minutes? That's 30/hr and 240/hr/injector. two injectors for 10 hours is over 500/day. Six months is July - about when authorities expected it to be done. Sounds reasonable to me.

That may be a bit aggressive. DW and I get our flu shots at the CVS and it takes 10 minutes for us to both get out of there. There's paperwork. Then the pharmacist has to check that we have the correct type, so the syringe prep takes time. Then there is the change of gloves.

With COVID, you can be sure the paperwork won't be trivial. Perhaps part of the money from the newly signed relief bill will be used to hire paper pushers to help out. But who is going to want that job?

There's also the 15 minute stand down to wait for reactions. Is there enough room to socially distance the receivers, while they can be monitored? Who monitors?

Finally, there is mental and physical strain. We can't expect people to be machines.

It all seems so simple, but it gets so damn complicated.

 

[USGrant1962]

My county keeps talking about CVS and Walgreens as if they will be able to handle the masses. According to my calculations, each of the CVS/Walgreens in my county would have to do several hundred vaccinations a day for 6 months in order to get everyone done. Double that for the second shot.

I guess I'll just hang out at home for a year or two.

My state plan (MD) lists the following providers:

• local health departments
• hospitals
• school clinics
• urgent care clinics
• pharmacies
• PCP offices

They have a table that estimates how many weeks to reach 80% coverage versus the percent of these providers participating, and assumes it takes 3 months to ramp up to full speed. Even if only half of the potential vaccination sites participate, the controlling variable is vaccine availability - not the number of pharmacies.

It looks like it will take 6 months, but again due to vaccine availability not jab rate.

 

[PatrickA5]

How long does it take? 2 minutes? That's 30/hr and 240/hr/injector. two injectors for 10 hours is over 500/day. Six months is July - about when authorities expected it to be done. Sounds reasonable to me.

Well, I hope they're quicker than my flu shot at Wal Mart! Even if I'm the only one getting a shot, it takes a good 15 minutes. Paperwork, logging the shot in the system, etc.

CVS/Walgreens would need a bunch of people giving shots and doing the required 15 minute follow up watch. If they do appointments, they probably aren't going to do them every 2 minutes. More likely, 15 minute appointment times. And, I'm sure they aren't going to want dozens of people hanging out inside the store waiting their turn.

Hopefully, my county will come up with some kind of mass vaccination plan.

 

[Chuckanut]

The county's answer to "when" and "where" is "Please consult local media sources regularly for updates" There are no provisions for how anyone can sign up to get the vaccine.

+1

I agree. Despite the states behind told a few months ago to have a plan ready, it feels like testing all over again. I hope I am wrong. Our media is filled with public service ads (PSA) telling us how safe the vaccines are and why we should get them. But, info on when and where to get vaccinated is in short supply.

They are trying to slice and dice the order of vaccinations into many small groups based on all sorts of criteria. The result is confusion.

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/al...l-now-get-vaccine/S25Q7W4CQVBSJINIA2I46PSE6A/

There was worry and frustration when initially, only the 40 residents who require skilled nursing were set to be vaccinated this week, KIRO-7 learned.
Another 240 residents in assisted living, memory care, and independent living were not vaccinated.
And then this week’s vaccination clinic was inexplicably canceled altogether.
<snip>
The COVID vaccine will now be offered to all the residents of Heron’s Key next week.

https://komonews.com/news/coronavir...ton-have-received-first-dose-of-covid-vaccine

So far this month, 51% of the Pfizer vaccines ordered by the state have been administered and 7.6% of the Moderna vaccine have been administered. In total, the state has administered 19.4% of the total vaccines.

 

[Midpack]

Well, I hope they're quicker than my flu shot at Wal Mart! Even if I'm the only one getting a shot, it takes a good 15 minutes. Paperwork, logging the shot in the system, etc.

CVS/Walgreens would need a bunch of people giving shots and doing the required 15 minute follow up watch. If they do appointments, they probably aren't going to do them every 2 minutes. More likely, 15 minute appointment times. And, I'm sure they aren't going to want dozens of people hanging out inside the store waiting their turn.

Hopefully, my county will come up with some kind of mass vaccination plan.

15 minutes seems reasonable to me, especially for a vaccine that will in time allow us to resume many activities that were lost in 2020. How long should it take?

Why couldn't CVS, Walgreens/Rite Aid and others accommodate us all more easily than coming up with some government program from scratch (and then closing it down after)? They already have 24,000 locations all over the USA, and people who can administer vaccines. They will add resources to meet demand as well if not better than any government agency I can think of. If it takes a year, that would be 37 vaccinations per store per day - and we know there will be other hospitals and clinics also administering vaccines. And as I understand it, the Fed government has not allocated any funds for states to administer vaccines, so CVS, Walgreens/Rite Aid etc. have a huge advantage over states, counties, etc.

Ramping up to vaccinate 330 million, or whatever 100s of millions choose to get vaccinated, is going to take a big effort. Especially given it won't be ongoing, or at least not like this initial vaccination. Nothing is going to make that easy to administer.

 

[PatrickA5]

My state plan (MD) lists the following providers:

• local health departments
• hospitals
• school clinics
• urgent care clinics
• pharmacies
• PCP offices

They have a table that estimates how many weeks to reach 80% coverage versus the percent of these providers participating, and assumes it takes 3 months to ramp up to full speed. Even if only half of the potential vaccination sites participate, the controlling variable is vaccine availability - not the number of pharmacies.

It looks like it will take 6 months, but again due to vaccine availability not jab rate.

Sounds like they have a plan.

I messaged my PCP asking the process of getting the shot and how do I prove my co-morbidities. Their response was they would not be giving shots at the office and "you know as much as we do". Hopefully, they'll get in the loop soon.

 

[Freedom56]

Personally I wouldn't go to a pharmacy to get a COVID vaccine. These vaccines require mixing as part of the preparation. Given that CVS and other pharmacies are part of the testing debacle, I certainly wouldn't trust them to manage the vaccine storage and mixing. Just visit your doctor or hospital for your shot. My brother got his vaccine this past week and reported no side effects so far.

 

[Sunset]

Personally I wouldn't go to a pharmacy to get a COVID vaccine. These vaccines require mixing as part of the preparation. Given that CVS and other pharmacies are part of the testing debacle, I certainly wouldn't trust them to manage the vaccine storage and mixing. Just visit your doctor or hospital for your shot. My brother got his vaccine this past week and reported no side effects so far.

They way it's shipped for the fizer one, is 570 doses per tray, my doc certainly cannot do that many in a week.
I doubt my doc office wants to dedicate some nurse assistant to giving shots, as they already limit the number of people in the waiting area for regular paying medical appts.

We need a drive though option, just drive up to the window, no paperwork (congress can pass a law) and get it like picking up a coffee, then park for 15 minutes.

 

[CardsFan]

We need a drive though option, just drive up to the window, no paperwork (congress can pass a law) and get it like picking up a coffee, then park for 15 minutes.

Can you say "liability"?