Covid-19 #21 - The Darkness Before the Dawn

[Zorral]

From Heather Cox's round-up of events of significance --

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....Republicans appear to be trying to cripple the Biden administration more broadly. The country has been thrilled by the arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine that promises an end to the scourge under which we’re suffering. Just tonight, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a second vaccine, produced by Moderna, for emergency authorization use. This vaccine does not require ultracold temperatures for shipping the way the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine does. Two vaccines for the coronavirus are extraordinarily good news.

But this week, as the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were being given, states learned that the doses the federal government had promised were not going to arrive, and no one is quite sure why. The government blamed Pfizer, which promptly blasted the government, saying it had plenty of vaccines in warehouses but had received no information about where to send them. Then the White House said there was confusion over scheduling. Josh Kovensky at Talking Points Memo has been following this story, and concluded a day or so ago that the administration had made no plans for vaccine distribution beyond February 1, when the problem would be Biden’s. Kovensky also noted that it appears the administration promised vaccine distribution on an impossible timeline, deliberately raising hopes for vaccine availability that Biden couldn’t possibly fulfill. Today Kovensky noted that there are apparently doses missing and unaccounted for, but no one seems to know where they might be.....

 

[rotting sea cow]

33 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Actually, just search health workers who don’t want the vaccine. There’s an NPR story out of a Houston hospital where the head says almost half the nurses don’t want the vaccine. Almost all of it is political, they don’t trust Trump and the speed with which the vaccine was approved. And for others it’s because they are black and know the history of black people being used as guinea pigs.

That nurse fainting after taking the vaccine on camera certainly didn't help.

ETA: Whoever in this forum takes the vaccine first or knows someone close should post his/her experiences here. My mother was told she might have a slot in February or early March. She has (comparatively light) autoimmune disorders, so she in anxious.

[Fragile Bird]

There are 6 million seniors in Canada, some of whom will have vaccine fears, so I’m hoping I may get it by March.

However, we do have a Canadian doctor on board, in Newfoundland, who will likely get a vaccine with weeks.

@Aemon Stark we are all curious! Keep us updated!

[maarsen]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Actually, just search health workers who don’t want the vaccine. There’s an NPR story out of a Houston hospital where the head says almost half the nurses don’t want the vaccine. Almost all of it is political, they don’t trust Trump and the speed with which the vaccine was approved. And for others it’s because they are black and know the history of black people being used as guinea pigs.

This is not surprising. At my former hospital workplace, during the annual flu vaccination campaigns, if half of the staff were vaccinated, that was considered doing well.

[A wilding]

I know of at least half a dozen 80+ year old relatives and their friends who have now had the first jab. No side effects yet other than sore arms.

[Raja]

Maybe it's because my third world ass has had every vaccine known to man, but yeah, I'm getting it asap.

[Raja]

Our hospital has a more than 90 percent uptake of the flu vaccine, for what it is worth.

[rotting sea cow]

1 hour ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

@Fury Resurrected has been part of the vaccine trials, as has my father. Both are certain they did not get the placebo.

My father (age 74) said that he had the “usual post vaccine reaction” of muscle soreness and chills, and also felt ill for a day or two after, but nothing horrible.

Thanks for the report!

 

1 hour ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

If you’re going to wait for someone not in a trial, you’ll probably be waiting until June or July, when all of us mostly-healthy, mostly-under age 65 people can get it. Unless Canada has its geese in a row, and @Fragile Bird can get one in the next couple months.

I'm aware of that, but sometimes for different reasons people might get earlier than expected. My mother for example got the slot (not 100% sure) thanks to old contacts. It will be the Pfizer vaccine, so she is wary with all of these reports of allergic reactions.

A cousin is telling me that his company is trying to do the impossible to get hold in vaccines for his employers, ahead of the government plans for at least 6 months. In their case it will be Moderna or Oxford. It is an American mining company with deep pockets and they had a bad outbreak in the Southern winter that forced them to shut down operations, so they want to vaccinate their workers by May. Let's see...

 

[Fury Resurrected]

2 hours ago, rotting sea cow said:

That nurse fainting after taking the vaccine on camera certainly didn't help.

ETA: Whoever in this forum takes the vaccine first or knows someone close should post his/her experiences here. My mother was told she might have a slot in February or early March. She has (comparatively light) autoimmune disorders, so she in anxious.

I’ve posted about my experience in either this thread or the last one. I have lupus also. I had fever, chills, skin hypersensitivity and a headache. Everything but the headache lasted about 5 hours (Tylenol helps) and after that I essentially slept for a day and was fine

 

edit to add-

Im also a tattoo artist so I see people pass out over needles all the time. Unless it is accompanied by something else passing out doesn’t mean shit. I’ve had people pass out from getting the stencil put on before that tattoo which is essentially touching someone with a piece of paper.

[Which Tyler]

49 minutes ago, Fury Resurrected said:

edit to add-

Im also a tattoo artist so I see people pass out over needles all the time. Unless it is accompanied by something else passing out doesn’t mean shit. I’ve had people pass out from getting the stencil put on before that tattoo which is essentially touching someone with a piece of paper.

I'm properly phobic of needles, it's a phobia, it's not rational. I tried to expose myself to my phobia by learning medical acupuncture - that was... not exactly fun.

I never acclimatised to it, and would get an adrenal response each and every time I stabbed anyone. My last straw was feinting whilst treating myself. I always try and make my wife take the dogs to the vets.

I'm not volunteering to administer vaccines!

[Tywin et al.]

51 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

My son can’t even see a needle or he freaks out. He can’t watch me give the cat his allergy shots and can’t watch me give myself my allergy shots.

He gets the flu shot but studiously looks the other way at all times.

One of my aunts is a RN and she told me at a young age to just look away, relax, count to 10, and by 5 it would already be over. Never had a shot bother me in my life, other then when one makes your arm sore for awhile. 

I doubt that would work for most tattoos though, but I'll probably never know as I can't think of anything I'd want and I have my own personal considerations. 

[Zorral]

So Fargo, North Dakota celebrates having only 17 new deaths from covid-19 by reopening the movie theaters.

Imagine how ND is going to look in January after all its Christmas celebrations f2f.

 

 

[Tywin et al.]

7 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

I would LOVE to have a temporary tattoo that looked legit. I could be all badass for a week or something, until it wore off. I don’t know if that’s a thing that even exists, but it would be so cool if it did.

It totally exists, you noob. You can easily get "tattoos" that last for a few weeks or months. When I was 10 or 11, I got a dragon wrapped around my forearm with a sword through it and blood all over at it lasted for weeks. My school made me wear long sleeve shirts after it was noticed. It cost like $50 on Venice Beach. I think my dad also got me some fake earrings. 

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I’d do a sleeve with mermaids and my cats and birds. A cerulean warbler (my profile pic here) and a magnolia flower. I’m also

probably the only person on the planet who thinks this sounds badass

I want to say do you, but....

[Maltaran]

59 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

I would LOVE to have a temporary tattoo that looked legit. I could be all badass for a week or something, until it wore off. I don’t know if that’s a thing that even exists, but it would be so cool if it did.

I’d do a sleeve with mermaids and my cats and birds. A cerulean warbler (my profile pic here) and a magnolia flower. 

I’m also probably the only person on the planet who thinks this sounds badass

 

Isn’t this what henna is for?

[Clueless Northman]

3 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Wow - at the hospital where my dad worked, it was mandatory. You would get fired if you didn’t get the flu shot.

If I were in charge, that's exactly what would happen.

 

I hate needles and blood samples are a nightmare. But I don't have a problem with vaccine shots, they're basically harmless by comparison. Probably because I'm squeamish about blood, so the thought of my blood being sucked out by this needle is hard to fathom - specially when it gurgles down the syringe. Well, I'm mostly squeamish when other people bleed a bit or when I imagine things, if I'm bleeding "normally", I don't tend to faint.

As for shots' reaction, that's always been limited to sore arms up to 48h, a little bit of fever and light-headedness as if it's a 2-days long cold / light flu. Sometimes, I barely notice any side-effect actually. I fully expect this one not to be worse than what I had these last 10 years.

I indeed told my boss last week that we might get the vaccine earlier than mid-2021, since a lot of idiots just won't get it, and many others play a waiting game, assuming the thing is totally unsafe and would be worse than any of their current meds. Still, I assume early May for 1st shot, and to be at long last pretty much immune before mid-June - if I got them earlier, it'll be good.

[Aemon Stark]

4 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

There are 6 million seniors in Canada, some of whom will have vaccine fears, so I’m hoping I may get it by March.

However, we do have a Canadian doctor on board, in Newfoundland, who will likely get a vaccine with weeks.

@Aemon Stark we are all curious! Keep us updated!

So I know a number of people who have already gotten their first vaccine dose as of this week. It won't be arriving at my hospital until January 4 (delay mainly due to storage/distribution logistics - currently we don't have the right kind of freezer locally). A form has been circulated to opt-in, so the ICU nurses and I all filled ours out yesterday. There hasn't been a lot of advanced notification of the process, but the updates have been regular and it was almost surprisingly transparent. And only 6 more work days left in 2020 for me!

[maarsen]

5 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Wow - at the hospital where my dad worked, it was mandatory. You would get fired if you didn’t get the flu shot.

Making the flu shot mandatory was tried here in Ontario but the nurse's Union grieved it and a a labour arbitration board ruled that it was illegal to ask for mandatory vaccinations. 

[Fury Resurrected]

3 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

I would LOVE to have a temporary tattoo that looked legit. I could be all badass for a week or something, until it wore off. I don’t know if that’s a thing that even exists, but it would be so cool if it did.

I’d do a sleeve with mermaids and my cats and birds. A cerulean warbler (my profile pic here) and a magnolia flower. 

I’m also probably the only person on the planet who thinks this sounds badass

 

No I totally think it does too!

[rotting sea cow]

8 hours ago, maarsen said:

Making the flu shot mandatory was tried here in Ontario but the nurse's Union grieved it and a a labour arbitration board ruled that it was illegal to ask for mandatory vaccinations. 

My workplace do not forces us (we're not health workers in the end) but management strongly incentives it, with multiple reminding emails and even getting the vaccine office-to-office with one of the bosses on track (I reported my last winter experience elsewhere).  This year they have been ominously silent, well, we are mostly working from home, so they might consider it unnecessary. Neither has been any statement so far regarding covid19 vaccines or periodic testing.

BTW: I remember reading that the Robert Koch Institute was reporting that the flu vaccine of last year was about 20% effective, which would explain my experience. I'll try to find the link later.

 

[A True Kaniggit]

Wow. My brother went and got tested again and it still came back positive. He let his work know and they asked, “but are you showing symptoms?” Trying to get him to come back in.