Are vaccines the light at the end of the tunnel?

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, K.T.B. said:

 

I just want to focus on the part I bolded.

 

I understand the frustration, but there's only so many medical professionals available to give the shots.  I know there was a call for retired nurses, doctors, etc., to assist in Illinois in order to alleviate the demand.  IMO, they need to pull out some medical students, those who are capable and can safely give shots of course, in order to help.

 

This is a state-level failure which compounds the federal-level failure.  Right now, my wife and I are looking at the end of March, it we're lucky, before we can think about getting our shots.  We're both in phase 1C.  Early on the guess, according to state officials, was February. At this rate, I'm thinking end of April.  Fingers crossed.

OTOH in my state, we usually go to a pharmacy to get our flu shots. Right now there are no pharmacies in our state allowed to administer the vaccine. However, that may change relatively shortly if the CDC recommends today that all folks over 65 should be allowed to get the vaccine. 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

OTOH in my state, we usually go to a pharmacy to get our flu shots. Right now there are no pharmacies in our state allowed to administer the vaccine. However, that may change relatively shortly if the CDC recommends today that all folks over 65 should be allowed to get the vaccine. 

Ken this is coming from the current administration and HHS.  Not from CDC.  Let's see how CDC reacts and how states react as they are all still in total control.  And most states will resist or ignore anything from the current administration at this point I think. The upcoming new administration might have a greater ability to influence all of this.  Let's hope so!

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Ken this is coming from the current administration and HHS.  Not from CDC.  Let's see how CDC reacts and how states react as they are all still in total control.  And most states will resist or ignore anything from the current administration at this point I think. The upcoming new administration might have a greater ability to influence all of this.  Let's hope so!

I know. This is just exciting news for us folks over 65. Hopefully CDC goes along with these new guidelines. As I mentioned in post #2251, I'll feel a lot better once the pharmacies are unleashed and allowed to start giving vaccines.

[zitsky]

Wake me when they get to 50+.  That will be months from now.

 

We still don't know how well the current vaccines do against the covid mutations.  Too many.

[Homosassa]

To respond to many different points made in various posts from a Florida viewpoint:

 

1. What difference does it make if tourists follow social distancing guidelines and wear masks?  In Florida, there is a state mandate that undercuts any attempt by locales or businesses that try to enforce any restrictions beyond the very lax state standards.  That means many come here to enjoy the warmer temperatures and not worry about such things as masks or social distancing. Personally, my husband and I are volunteers at a very popular state park.  We and most of the volunteers have not been volunteering since March 2020. While Florida State Parks require staff and volunteers to wear masks and follow distancing rules, visitors are not required to do the same. Because of the boardwalk and narrow paths through the park area, an unmasked visitor is a threat to the health of any who are trying to work at the park.

 

2. Fights over vaccines in Florida: This is true.  Availability of the vaccines are on a first come, first served basis at many locations and has lead to overnight stake outs of spots in line for the vaccine or five hour or longer waits the day of the vaccine. In my county (Citrus), there were two thousand vaccines available on the first come, first serve basis. One thousand of the doses were given out at the secret soft opening of the site to specially invited groups (not all over the age of 65) and any local residents that wandered by. The day of the official vaccine day, cars were lined up for miles and waits were over five hours. Compounding the insanity was that the site was in a geographically isolated very small park where access is only a two lane road.

 

While some other counties do have appointments, there is not enough vaccine available on the local level.  Local new stories that are citing epidemiologists and public health people (not state employees)  give the blame for disorganization at the state level that has no clear cut procedures in place for distribution of the stockpiled vaccines or any procedures in place to help people know where and if vaccines are available. People are on their own to find out information on the vaccine.

 

Another problem is the competition for the vaccine with non-residents of the state.

 

3. Type of people trying to get the vaccine. Florida is full of supporters of the "It's a Hoax" theory, let the disease spread for herd immunity,  masks are an infringement of personal liberty, and the vaccines are dangerous because (pick your favorite crackpot statement). And yes, from the stampede to get the vaccine, it is easy to see  that they are happy to run their unmasked mouths but want the vaccine first.

[Homosassa]

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Wake me when they get to 50+.  That will be months from now.

 

We still don't know how well the current vaccines do against the covid mutations.  Too many.

Many of your statements and questions are easily answered by a simple google search or have been answered (several times) by people on the thread. 

[D C]

4 hours ago, K.T.B. said:

 

I just want to focus on the part I bolded.

 

I understand the frustration, but there's only so many medical professionals available to give the shots.  I know there was a call for retired nurses, doctors, etc., to assist in Illinois in order to alleviate the demand.  IMO, they need to pull out some medical students, those who are capable and can safely give shots of course, in order to help.

 

This is a state-level failure which compounds the federal-level failure.  Right now, my wife and I are looking at the end of March, it we're lucky, before we can think about getting our shots.  We're both in phase 1C.  Early on the guess, according to state officials, was February. At this rate, I'm thinking end of April.  Fingers crossed.

 

Edit to add:

 

I can't quote your comment concerning the vaccine rollout (comment above this one), but this is good news! That means my wife can get her shot.  Fingers are still crossed!

 

If you factor in how many influenza vaccines are administered in a given period of time every year, it far outpaces the rate at which covid vaccines have been administered.   It's not a lack of capable hands, it's the logistics of getting it to those people in order to have them administer the vaccine.  

[dreaminofcruisin]

Just heard an update from my state (MN) Department of Health.

They have put up a new dashboard to try and help the public understand where the vaccine doses are at. 1/3 of the doses allocated and shipped to our state had to be set aside for Long Term Care which is being administered by CVS /Walgreens. They are under the Federal Government contract, so our Dept of Health has no control over their slow start. (They have administered 20 % of them.) They apparently had issues with staff shortages to the point our Board of Pharmacology had to allow Pharmacists from other states administer them (border cities, my guess).  These partners also have 72 hours to update the data that the immunization has occurred as opposed to our hospitals which have 24 hours, which adds a level of confusion to the reporting.

 

The doses are marked as allocated to our state long before we ever receive them.

 

They heard about the changes being 65 and up at the same time as the general population, so until they see something in writing from the CDC, no changes will occur. Also, they don't have an extra 560,000 doses for that extra population as we still haven't gotten through all of 1A yet. They are excited about not having doses held back for the 2nd doses, but until they come 'in the door', they don't know for sure that will happen. This will also require them to do additional planning (which they are happy to do) in order to have the 2nd doses available when needed.

 

It does seem like there is still a shortage of doses regardless of dashboard reporting everywhere appearing as though doses are just sitting on shelves.

 

On the good news.....DD (an NP in a Long Term Care Covid facility) got her 2nd Dose of Phizer today!!!!  I am always happy whenever I hear about anyone getting doses....even though it isn't me and I will be waiting a long time at the unenviable age of 64.... 🙃...will miss it by "that" much....

[Ken the cruiser]

31 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

Just heard an update from my state (MN) Department of Health.

They have put up a new dashboard to try and help the public understand where the vaccine doses are at. 1/3 of the doses allocated and shipped to our state had to be set aside for Long Term Care which is being administered by CVS /Walgreens. They are under the Federal Government contract, so our Dept of Health has no control over their slow start. (They have administered 20 % of them.) They apparently had issues with staff shortages to the point our Board of Pharmacology had to allow Pharmacists from other states administer them (border cities, my guess).  These partners also have 72 hours to update the data that the immunization has occurred as opposed to our hospitals which have 24 hours, which adds a level of confusion to the reporting.

 

The doses are marked as allocated to our state long before we ever receive them.

 

They heard about the changes being 65 and up at the same time as the general population, so until they see something in writing from the CDC, no changes will occur. Also, they don't have an extra 560,000 doses for that extra population as we still haven't gotten through all of 1A yet. They are excited about not having doses held back for the 2nd doses, but until they come 'in the door', they don't know for sure that will happen. This will also require them to do additional planning (which they are happy to do) in order to have the 2nd doses available when needed.

 

It does seem like there is still a shortage of doses regardless of dashboard reporting everywhere appearing as though doses are just sitting on shelves.

 

On the good news.....DD (an NP in a Long Term Care Covid facility) got her 2nd Dose of Phizer today!!!!  I am always happy whenever I hear about anyone getting doses....even though it isn't me and I will be waiting a long time at the unenviable age of 64.... 🙃...will miss it by "that" much....

Thanks for sharing that update! It helped me to possibly understand why my state has appeared to be so slow statistically speaking (last when I looked this morning) to the draw when it comes to administering the vaccine here.

Edited January 12, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[NantahalaCruiser]

Here in North Carolina there is also too much red tape.

 

In order to apply for the vaccine we are required to call our county Health Department and give them our names and email addresses.  They then have to send this information to the state.  The state then is supposed to email us an application.  We then have to complete the application (I believe on a State sponsored website.)  Then we have to call our county Health Department back and request an appointment for the injection.  It appears the entire process can take over a week to merely obtain an appointment for a vaccination!

[Caymus88]

1 hour ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

Here in North Carolina there is also too much red tape.

 

In order to apply for the vaccine we are required to call our county Health Department and give them our names and email addresses.  They then have to send this information to the state.  The state then is supposed to email us an application.  We then have to complete the application (I believe on a State sponsored website.)  Then we have to call our county Health Department back and request an appointment for the injection.  It appears the entire process can take over a week to merely obtain an appointment for a vaccination!

In Fl they post online when to go online and make an appt. pretty easy.

Not so good when they post first come, first served at various locations.

[wrk2cruise]

In Central NC the major hospital systems, Duke, UNC, WakeMed are all taking appointments via phone and their MyChart/Epic systems.   Many neighbors who qualify have received appointments and have got their first dose.

 

I did just hear on the news that only 25% of the doses received by the state have been administered.

 

[Wine-O]

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

In Central NC the major hospital systems, Duke, UNC, WakeMed are all taking appointments via phone and their MyChart/Epic systems.   Many neighbors who qualify have received appointments and have got their first dose.

 

I did just hear on the news that only 25% of the doses received by the state have been administered.

 

SC just opened up to 70 and above beginning tomorrow.  🍷

[hcat]

Getting appts in Fla not very easy.. demand exceeds supply , booking  systems are  overwhelmed.  Each local county  is different .

 

After many attempts and online disappointment, we finally have an appt for tom for a first shot. Hope it works out. Nervous but we  want to get it over with.

 

 Seems like things are starting to  improve but may take awhile. 

[hcat]

1 minute ago, hcat said:

Getting appts in Fla not very easy.. demand exceeds supply , booking  systems are  overwhelmed.  Each local county  is different .

 

After many attempts and online disappointment, we finally have an appt for tom for a first shot. Hope it works out. Nervous but we  want to get it over with.

 

 Seems like things are starting to  improve but may take awhile. 

 

Hope we do not have to go through this annually.!

Edited January 13, 2021 by hcat

[BigAl94]

8 hours ago, hcat said:

 

Hope we do not have to go through this annually.!

This is not yet known.

[sr4mjc]

17 hours ago, D C said:

 

If you factor in how many influenza vaccines are administered in a given period of time every year, it far outpaces the rate at which covid vaccines have been administered.   It's not a lack of capable hands, it's the logistics of getting it to those people in order to have them administer the vaccine.  

 

The cold storage is very different between the flu and the covid vaccines as well. 

[ipeeinthepool]

17 hours ago, D C said:

 

If you factor in how many influenza vaccines are administered in a given period of time every year, it far outpaces the rate at which covid vaccines have been administered.   It's not a lack of capable hands, it's the logistics of getting it to those people in order to have them administer the vaccine.  

 

Here's an idea  ...  If you can't move the vaccine, let's move the people that can administer the vaccine.  Let's assign the people with the skills to administer the vaccine to large vaccination centers.  Perhaps every high school gym could be a vaccination center,  just like was done with the polio vaccine.

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Here's an idea  ...  If you can't move the vaccine, let's move the people that can administer the vaccine.  Let's assign the people with the skills to administer the vaccine to large vaccination centers.  Perhaps every high school gym could be a vaccination center,  just like was done with the polio vaccine.

I believe that will eventually happen when there are enough doses to make it practical.. Second half of 2021 perhaps.

[D C]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Here's an idea  ...  If you can't move the vaccine, let's move the people that can administer the vaccine.  Let's assign the people with the skills to administer the vaccine to large vaccination centers.  Perhaps every high school gym could be a vaccination center,  just like was done with the polio vaccine.

They're doing that in some places, thankfully.  or at least talking about it.

CVS is hitting the long term care facilities and knocking them out pretty quick.  Or at least it goes quickly once they're at a given place. No clue if they have enough teams and are going from facility to facility fast enough. 

[upwarduk]

Some news today from UK, we will NOT BE ISSUED WITH A VACCINE PASSPORT.

One of the reasons given was that we could pass the virus on to other people, but be asymptotic ourself.

 

https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/coronavirus-vaccine-passport-immunity-lockdown-normal-life-threat-to-freedom

Edited January 13, 2021 by upwarduk

[phoenix_dream]

34 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Some news today from UK, we will NOT BE ISSUED WITH A VACCINE PASSPORT.

One of the reasons given was that we could pass the virus on to other people, but be asymptotic ourself.

 

https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/coronavirus-vaccine-passport-immunity-lockdown-normal-life-threat-to-freedom

That's too bad, as it is likely that vaccinations will be required before sailing, at least for some period of time.

[Ken the cruiser]

Just curious, but other than giving folks in nursing homes the vaccines, does anyone know why/when the pharmacies will be allowed to start participating in the vaccine distribution process? Obviously in Florida the Publix pharmacies don't seem to have an issue as they are currently taking appointments to give the shot.

 

Does their participation have to be requested first by the applicable state government health agency or is it because most of them don't have the means to locally store the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines? If that's the case, I'm really rooting more than ever for the J&J and AZ vaccines to get their FDA EUA approval in February.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[D C]

1 hour ago, upwarduk said:

Some news today from UK, we will NOT BE ISSUED WITH A VACCINE PASSPORT.

One of the reasons given was that we could pass the virus on to other people, but be asymptotic ourself.

 

https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/coronavirus-vaccine-passport-immunity-lockdown-normal-life-threat-to-freedom

 

Bizarre reasoning to an extent.  Surely there is proof of vaccination short of a 'passport'?

 

While a foreign gov't doesn't want people spreading the disease, there's still the possibility that it does reduce transmission.  If that's proven, some documentation should be sufficient.

From a business perspective, a cruise company doesn't care about spread, per se.  They care that everyone has the vaccine so that nobody falls ill. 

 

[D C]

31 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just curious, but other than giving folks in nursing homes the vaccines, does anyone know why/when the pharmacies will be allowed to start participating in the vaccine distribution process? Obviously in Florida the Publix pharmacies don't seem to have an issue as they are currently taking appointments to give the shot.

 

Does their participation have to be requested first by the applicable state government health agency or is it because most of them don't have the means to locally store the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines? If that's the case, I'm really rooting more than ever for the J&J and AZ vaccines to get their FDA EUA approval in February.

The CVS website essentially says "It's coming, check back here for info".  Not entirely helpful.