Good news of course with the new 452R variant showing up in Santa Clara County -- seems to be highly contagious and may be vaccine-resistant.
I've long maintained that Covid is going to be with us for the foreseeable future - much like influenza - with a myriad of mutations and forms that will require at least annual vaccinations.
I managed to get a vax appointment at the end of January. Got my fingers crossed it really happens...
I am due to get mine at Kaiser tomorrow. A friend of mine got hers at Kaiser last Monday. She received the Pfizer vaccine and was then given a return appt for injection #2 about 18 days later.
My mom and my parents-in-law all got vaccinated today. My mom's return appointment (Palo Alto Med Center) is four weeks from now. My in-laws are in Salt Lake, and they were able to get vaccinated earlier than their friends (though they are >65) because she volunteers for Meals on Wheels. Why does it feel as though everyone is more organized than California?
My brother is over 65 and volunteers to drive and deliver blood for the Red Cross. He was given a vaccine shot along with health care workers for that reason. I'm getting mine tomorrow based on age (69 years old).
Because Utah has a population about half that of the Bay Area. The logistics are much less complicated. Also, the distribution of doses between states has been haphazard, uncoordinated, and utterly chaotic. The touted "stockpile" did not exist, and this is the last breath of hot air and vaporware from the former administration. Of course, a lot of blame also goes to the state for an apparent inability to deal with anything (EDD, anybody?) that is not steady-state. This is precisely why CA needs to be more than one state.
This NPR article is even more ominous. Even though 76% of Manaus were infected by Oct-2020, instead of achieving herd immunity, it appears people are getting reinfected with a new variant (different from the UK variant) that, like in the UK, is more deadly than the one the vaccines are based on. The new Manaus variant appears to be 50% resistant to the plasma serum treatment. The NPR article also links to a Jan-15-2021 Science article which tracked the initial Manaus infections and notes that the half-life for antibodies was 106 days.
The vaccine confers greater immunity than the disease itself. And the vaccine does seem to manage the two scariest new variants -- the UK and South African one (similar but not the same), The thing is...speed is really important with vaccinating. The longer it takes, the more opportunities for the virus to mutate beyond the scope of the vaccine.
California is not alone in the piss poor organization department. Washington State is right there with you. I expected Governor Inslee to be more on top of it, and he’s been our Guv right along. Oh and good news bad news. The bad news first: I went to the state website and tried to sign up for a vaccine. You answer a bunch of questions on an “honor” basis, though I think they could check when you show for your appointment. In any case, I did not get an appointment for a vaccine, though I am on their waiting list and they’ll contact me when it’s my turn. The good news about this is that I don’t qualify for the vaccine because I’m too young and healthy!! Hey @Replikait! The State of Washington says that I’m officially YOUNG!! Ha, ha!! Go Quakesfans!! I hope everyone of you is healthy, safe, and as happy as can be. Even @JazzyJ. - Mark
I suppose it is possible that the State of Washington sees you as low-priority because it figures that your average blood alcohol level is high enough to destroy any variant COVID-19 can throw at you! Especially on days the Earthquakes are playing.
The Brazil variant already showed up in Germany. Does the USA still have a travel ban against Brazil? Maybe we need one...
There are not truly and have never been any "bans" -- the restrictions have been full of holes, enough to let a tiny virus slip through -- thousands of times. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/from-other-countries.html So, for example, Slovenia and Hungary are on the list; Croatia, which borders both, is not. Brazil is on the list, but none of the dozen or so countries that border it. Too, the only restrictions are on people who don't have a right to be in the United States. I know people who have dual citizenship/multiple passports who are traveling all over the place. Travelers aren't being properly tested. Requiring a negative test has problems, given that the test may have been taken days earlier, when the traveler was infected but with a viral load that was too low to show up on a test. People have died of Covid on airplanes!
When I went to Kaiser on January 22, I was given the Moderna vaccine and a followup appointment for February 19 (4 weeks later rather than the usual 3 week return for a Pfizer vaccine). Allowing about 10 days for the second injection to be fully functional means I'm looking towards March 1 now. The Kaiser nurse said she had no idea what the problem was with the Moderna vaccine in Southern California because Kaiser Santa Clara had not seen any problems. She speculated that the vaccine batch there may have had a problem with storage or delivery rather than with the quality of the vaccine itself.
FYI - my daughter and her boyfriend haven't seen each other in a year now. He is in Toronto, she is here.
NFL is inviting 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers to the SuperBowl along with 14,500 fans, which will fill the stadium to 1/3 capacity. I know everyone wants a get-out-of-jail card, but I think this sends the wrong message. https://www.npr.org/sections/corona...s-7-500-health-care-workers-to-the-super-bowl
What part of this bothers you? That they invited the vaccinated health care workers? Or the 14,500 other fans that probably mostly aren't? Or fans just being there at all?
It's worse for my kids...they've been locked down with me! My three priorities when I finally get the vax behind me: dentist, haircut, and botox. It's not as though we'll actually be able to go anywhere for a while.
1. This Super Bowl invite implies that as soon as you get your vax shots, you can go out and live a normal life. It just feels too early. When’s the Super Bowl? In a couple of weeks? When did vaccinations start? What are the chances the healthcare workers have max immunity by the time of the event? 2. The success of the vaccination program is going to depend on whether or not people continue to practice social distancing and wearing masks. After all, they still don’t know if being vaccinated keeps you from spreading the disease if you get infected. THerefore, it is important for people to keep adhering to the same safety habits until everyone is vaccinated Also, as a side effect, you don’t want to create a have and have-not environment that motivates inequitable distribution. There is already a concierge service in Europe that will fly you to the UAE for vaccinations, and while you are there you go on desert safaris and such. 3. Yes, the 1/3 stadium capacity really worries me. Those 14,500 probably unvaccinated fans will increase cases/deaths in FL as well as across the USA as they travel. Of course healthcare workers deserve the best this country has to offer. I just don’t think a super bowl ticket at this time is an optimal gift. It’s a marketing ploy that could have bad health outcomes for all.