How, When and Where will Crewmembers be Vaccinated in time for June cruises?

[RichYak]

10 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

Actually, it's been suggested by numerous posters here concerning how the cruise lines can manage to vaccinate their crew.

I just re-read through this entire thread. I couldn't find anyone that mentioned a cruise line purchasing vaccines besides you.

[Arizona Wildcat]

5 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

I know but that's not what I asked.  In our state the HHS Secretary has stated many times they weren't allowed to restrict residents of other states from coming to ours as the vaccine is being provided by the federal government.  To me that would make it for US residents (taxpayers) only.   That is my opinion, I was asking if it would even be legal to use US supply to vaccinate crew.

No idea but we are vaccinating undocumented immigrants who have an Arizona ID card.  To get an ID card you need a photo ID to show it as you and something like a utility bill or a rental agreement.  Even a motel room receipt and pay a few $$.  US citizen - not required.  Legal resident - illegal to even ask.  Have Canadian winter visitors who were vaccinated recently and they do not own property.

[Ken the cruiser]

Since this is a Celebrity thread, I would think the OP's question should be targeted at the Millennium which will be the first Celebrity ship to have a fully vaccinated crew for their scheduled June cruises. Since the Millennium is currently in route from San Diego to St Maarten, I would think the question would be how and where is its crew going to get vaccinated if (1) they don't first get vaccinated where each crew member currently resides, whether it's on the ship or in a distant land and (2) the Millennium doesn't first stop at a US port before arriving at it's new home port. 

 

I personally have no idea, but it will be interesting to watch which route the Millennium takes as its getting ready to go through the Panama Canal as I'm typing this.

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Celebrity-Millennium-622

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[LGW59]

10 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I just re-read through this entire thread. I couldn't find anyone that mentioned a cruise line purchasing vaccines besides you.

This is NOT political.  The previous administration did a great job with operation warp speed, the current administration has, IMO, done a great job of following on that, both deserve credit.  Vaccines are now VERY widely available for most all in US.  A few glitches here and there but by all accounts very good success.  I just cannot understand why anyone would think only a specific group should get the vaccine right now.  Isn't it in all of our best interests, cruises not withstanding, that we vaccinate as many people as we can.  Many states are open to 16 and up, some a bit more conservative, but regardless, we have the inventory or will in the very very near future.  If anyone here in the US, for whatever reason, snowbird, undocumented, possible cruise ship employee, wants the vaccine, just do it already.  In the long run it benefits us ALL, R or D, red or blue...doesn't matter, we are one

[CroozFanatic]

My answer to the OP question is: I don't know.

 

I asked the exact same question on the Virgin Voyages forum after the CEO went on Good Morning America and said VV would have fully vaccinated passengers and crew only.

 

Almost every sovereign state now has some vaccine. Might the governments of India, the Philippines, and Indonesia prioritize their own overseas workers?

 

Regardless of the fairness or truth....some ambitious reporter is going to write this up if crew members get vaccine from the US stockpile. Think of all the clicks he/she will get?

 

Perhaps by July vaccines will be everywhere and the story won't get much attention.

 

 

 

[cruisestitch]

Florida’s governor threatened a lawsuit against the US government in order to re-open Cruising. He’ll probably find a way to get crew vaccinated if he cares so much about getting cruise ships going again.

[paulh84]

Oddly enough, Capt Kate also shared her own vaccine experience yesterday. 

 

https://instagram.com/stories/captainkatemccue/2539054380994145116?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=1b7dcdeadbm

[TeeRick]

13 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Maryland is vaccinating out of state residents so those in PA should drive on down and get vaccinated.   The U.S., under the last president, procured more than enough vaccines for the entire population of the U.S.   Biden has also procured even more vaccines so we have more than enough for everyone.   According to the New York Times, there will be a surplus of vaccines in the U.S. by May.   I hope we will share them rather than letting them expire.   They all have a shelf life.

Ok thanks for the info much appreciated for those of us in PA,  but why does that actually matter to this thread's question about the crew?

[TeeRick]

16 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

TeeRick,

I see that PA has administered over 5.6 million doses, but still is only in stage 1a.   When will it shift to the next stage?    71.8% of people over 65 nationwide have at least one dose.

 

My Son lives in Philly and I will be visiting him in May.

In the NY Times today, there is an article on whether states will meet the May 1 date (or sooner) to start vaccinating all adults.  PA is on that list for May 1.  They will change the date but still lack the vaccine (or organization) for it to make much difference.  But let's get back to the question I raised on the crew members.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-19-vaccine-eligibility.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210328&instance_id=28577&nl=the-morning&regi_id=121450033&segment_id=54361&te=1&user_id=8259b050a84d722b46d85f64ae857bb0

[TeeRick]

14 hours ago, jelayne said:

Your don’t need to be a US taxpayer in order to get the vaccine in the US. As @Fouremco pointed out Canadian Snowbirds are getting vaccinated in the US as are many other  non-citizens. 

I thought they stopped this early on and then made the policy that you had to be a resident or own property in the state.  So maybe if crew members from another country own property in FL they can be eligible to get the vaccine.

[TeeRick]

14 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Ahhhh, OK, very easy 4 second Google search: 

 

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/02/01/dhs-statement-equal-access-covid-19-vaccines-and-vaccine-distribution-sites

This link addresses undocumented immigrants.  Not crewmembers coming in on cruise ships.

[TeeRick]

11 hours ago, lyndarra said:

Is this thread overlooking the fact that India is the biggest producer of vaccines in the world? As many crew come from Asia, could the cruise lines have done a deal with Indian producers to supply vaccines for crew, at a cost?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-19/inside-covid-19-vaccine-development-in-india/12980614

Yes one solution.  India is making the AZ vaccine for their population only at this point. And they have their own vaccine they developed called Covaxin which uses whole inactivated COVID virus.  Not a method approved outside of India.  About 95% of India's 1.3 billion people have had at least 1 dose of one of these vaccines.  But COVID is currently surging there.  So will a lot of younger cruise ship crew members be vaccinated in the next month in India?  IMO not likely.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/covid-19-soaring-again-india-can-vaccines-stop-it

[Goodtime Cruizin]

15 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

This link addresses undocumented immigrants.  Not crewmembers coming in on cruise ships.

 

 

"Give me your tired or rested, your poor or your worker bee, unvaccinated arms."

[TeeRick]

11 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Florida’s governor desperately wants to open up Cruising, or at least that’s what he claims. He can probably figure out a way to get crewmembers vaccinated if that’s what it would take.

Speculation but something that might happen if the announced cruises were not going around Florida's cruise ports and re-establishing their home ports elsewhere.  So you think that the governor would take away vaccine from his citizen's and donate (or sell) it to a cruise ship going out of St Maarten by June? 

 

This is the actual point I keep trying to get too.  A lot of us are American cruisers here seem to be focused on American states or government providing a mechanism to foreign flagged ships sailing from non-American ports to vaccinate non-American crewmembers to allow wealthy American tourists to travel to another country and cruise.  While a lot of America still remains unvaccinated and most of the world remains unvaccinated. 

 

We are lending vaccine to Canada and Mexico.  Not to St Maarten, the Bahamas, Bermuda, or Greece where these ships will be sailing from.

[sanger727]

11 hours ago, LGW59 said:

I can assure you that transiting crew through the US do not qualify.  OK fair enough, please enlighten as to how you can "assure" beyond your personal thoughts.  Have Nancy, Mitch, Chuck, Rand, Lyndsey, contacted you to discuss?  If they have, please please share the assurances they gave you

Let it go. The article YOU posted specifically refers to ‘residents’ and ‘immigrants’ to the US. Not someone who resides in another country stopping in Miami on their way to the caribbean. You are correct that non-US citizens and illegal immigrants who reside in the US can get the vaccine. But that doesn’t mean it’s opened up to anyone in the word specifically flying to the US just to get the vaccine.

[TeeRick]

10 hours ago, DaCruiseBug said:

There's already several states that allow anyone over the age of 16 to register and get an appointment for a vaccine and in the next 2-3 weeks even more states will join the list. I'm in my 30s and going in next week for my vaccine.

 

So far about 1/3 of the adult population in the US has received at least 1 dose of the vaccine. About 2.5-3 million people per day are being vaccinated.

So you are of the mindset that because US states are starting to vaccinate more broadly in the next month that they will be finished so quickly that they will just turn over vaccine to foreign crew members?

[TeeRick]

10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

With several one-shot vaccines available, wouldn't the cruise lines be smarter to vaccinate crew in their home countries before flying them to the ship?

I honestly believe that is their only option.  These early cruises are not even going out of the US.  I continue to be confused as to why some here think that the US states should give up vaccine to them.

[TeeRick]

10 hours ago, LGW59 said:

as much as you wish to be correct, you are wrong

LGW59 - I am struggling to understand what you are proposing with your comments.  That the HHS statement covering vaccines to illegal immigrants applies to crew members who are not even in the USA either legally or illegally?  They are on ships in St. Maarten, Bermuda, Greece, the Bahamas, Singapore.  None in the US.  Help me understand as the back and forth that you are having on my post with harkinmr is getting a bit heated.

[DaCruiseBug]

9 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

So you are of the mindset that because US states are starting to vaccinate more broadly in the next month that they will be finished so quickly that they will just turn over vaccine to foreign crew members?

 

No, i'm not suggesting the US turn over vaccines to foreign crew members. But by the summer the cruise lines should be able to purchase their own vaccine and pay for all the costs to administer it to their employees. Taxpayer dollars should not go towards vaccinating non-US residents.

[TeeRick]

10 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Since this is a Celebrity thread, I would think the OP's question should be targeted at the Millennium which will be the first Celebrity ship to have a fully vaccinated crew for their scheduled June cruises. Since the Millennium is currently in route from San Diego to St Maarten, I would think the question would be how and where is its crew going to get vaccinated if (1) they don't first get vaccinated where each crew member currently resides, whether it's on the ship or in a distant land and (2) the Millennium doesn't first stop at a US port before arriving at it's new home port. 

 

I personally have no idea, but it will be interesting to watch which route the Millennium takes as its getting ready to go through the Panama Canal as I'm typing this.

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Celebrity-Millennium-622

 

Thank you Ken.  That is my question.  How can this get done by June on Millennium and what is the actual information (not speculation) from Celebrity or its crew members on the process.  Again not sure how this has devolved into nastiness.  Just a simple question looking for information.  Post #1.  We will likely be in danger of getting the thread closed soon with the direction some have taken. 

Edited March 28, 2021 by TeeRick

[wrk2cruise]

It probably should be closed as Celebrity is not going to come on here and tell you the answer if they even have one.  I don't think any of us in the cruising public have the answer.

Edited March 28, 2021 by wrk2cruise

[TeeRick]

6 hours ago, CroozFanatic said:

My answer to the OP question is: I don't know.

 

I asked the exact same question on the Virgin Voyages forum after the CEO went on Good Morning America and said VV would have fully vaccinated passengers and crew only.

 

Almost every sovereign state now has some vaccine. Might the governments of India, the Philippines, and Indonesia prioritize their own overseas workers?

 

Regardless of the fairness or truth....some ambitious reporter is going to write this up if crew members get vaccine from the US stockpile. Think of all the clicks he/she will get?

 

Perhaps by July vaccines will be everywhere and the story won't get much attention.

 

 

 

Thank you for getting us back to my question in Post #1.

[TeeRick]

54 minutes ago, paulh84 said:

Oddly enough, Capt Kate also shared her own vaccine experience yesterday. 

 

https://instagram.com/stories/captainkatemccue/2539054380994145116?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=1b7dcdeadbm

paulh84 thank you for being a source of actual information pertinent to my question.  But I do not follow Instagram.  Can you paraphrase what she said about crew vaccines if anything?

[TeeRick]

36 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Yes one solution.  India is making the AZ vaccine for their population only at this point. And they have their own vaccine they developed called Covaxin which uses whole inactivated COVID virus.  Not a method approved outside of India.  About 95% of India's 1.3 billion people have had at least 1 dose of one of these vaccines.  But COVID is currently surging there.  So will a lot of younger cruise ship crew members be vaccinated in the next month in India?  IMO not likely.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/covid-19-soaring-again-india-can-vaccines-stop-it

Sorry this is a typo.  I meant to say only 5% of India's 1.3 billion people. 

[CroozFanatic]

There might be a big hullabaloo if crew members obtained vaccine from the US stockpile; however, what if RCCL, CCL obtain vaccine from another country? You would want to keep this quiet (non-disclosure agreement) with the foreign entity. Think domiciled country where the corporations are based.

 

Like I mentioned, either the WHO, China, or the US, is getting some vaccine to most sovereign states... mostly for the political leaders and their families.  Okay, that was my opinion, but it's out there on the market for purchase....maybe you'd have to use Bitcoin to get it! I make myself laugh.

Edited March 28, 2021 by CroozFanatic