CDC Notifies States, Large Cities To Prepare For Vaccine Distribution As Soon As Late October

[snappy]

I haven’t kept up with all the posts on this thread, but I find it alarming that thousands of vials are being wasted according to a AP story in my local paper today. I have been told the federal government is keeping a close eye on those vials to prevent this happening, and that every vial had to be accounted for. I noticed the problem is happening in various states, including mine. I am at a loss why the governors aren’t opening things up faster. I understand some that are eligible haven’t been able to get an appointment. I spent hours over days getting ours. It isn’t a cake walk, but if you are truly motivated, and you have access to a smart phone or a computer, or have a friend or family member who does, persistence is needed. I truly hope all who want a vaccine gets an opportunity to make the appointment sooner rather than later.

 

[Colleen27]

There is a difference in locked down and wide open. UFC isn’t going to go under if they have to wait 2-3 more months to do a 100% capacity event, nor if they had to do one now at 50%.

UFC probably won't. But I'd imagine the thousands of people involved in putting an event like that on will be happy to be working after more than a year of not being able to.

Not quite the same because it is an outdoor venue and no one is talking about 100% capacity, but the Tigers organization has reportedly started talking with (lobbying) the governor to allow fans in attendance. The current rules are almost Californian - they can have up to 1000 fans in a stadium that seats 42K for baseball/50K for concerts. And there are a lot of outraged people in the comments on every news article about it, screaming about how it is too soon and we should just wait one more season to let everyone get vaccinated before opening up. Inevitably, it is framed as "The Tigers organization (or the Illitch family, who owns Little Cesears Pizza as well as the team) won't go under if they can't have fans this year". No one seems to be thinking of the thousands of jobs the stadium supports, both directly in everything from parking attendants to food service and beer vendors and indirectly in increased foot traffic to other downtown businesses. The Tigers will survive. But keeping the stadium closed another year means thousands of people in one of America's poorest cities will remain out of work.

 

[DLgal]

I hate this thinking, and you are intelligent to know thats not what they meant. If someone says“Hmm, maybe we shouldn’t have huge parties and mass events for a few more weeks to allow for more people to be vaccinated“ it turns into “Well do expect us to lock ourselves in the house forever?” That’s not what they said. That’s turning what they said unto an extreme...kind of like the click bait headlines that are railed against here.

It's the type of petulant response you'd expect to get from a child or sulky teenager.

"You can't go out and play until you finish your homework."

"FINE, I guess I'll just be stuck in the house FOREVER!"

 

[disneypharm]

The vaccinated can contract the new variants as well. Not just unvaccinated.

I said the same thing. Please read all my posts.

 

[erin1715]

Sorry wasn't really asking/pondering who is thinking about it for their children. Just passing along information about child vaccine studies

Pfizer and J&J also have theirs going but the news article was focusing on Moderna

I realize that and I gave my opinion whether or not you were asking.

 

[mefordis]

Ummm, no... I have a biology degree so I understand viruses & basic biology. It is alarming how the media has made people think they understand everything.

Didn't you know? You can become a scientist just by staying glued to CNN and repeating a bunch of buzzwords.

 

[jrmasm]

In our area the Pfizer vaccine is the most prominent one. Our state has almost no J&J and Moderna isn't as widely available either. I'm sure it varies by state, but it seems most supply at this time is Pfizer, so it shouldn't be too difficult. The pharmacies (via the Federal Retail Pharmacy partnership program) scheduling systems show you which vaccine is available at each location.

In my state (PA) scheduling is still challenging so you can’t really pick which you get. And it’s anecdotal but everyone that i know that has been vaccinated has received Moderna.

Things are changing quickly so hopefully when we open up to all, doses will be more available.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I realize that and I gave my opinion whether or not you were asking.

Okay..

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

A biology degree doesn't make you an expert virologist. I prefer to listen to what those people have to say about mutations and vaccines. I don't get my information from "the media." I follow and listen to actual scientists and read journal articles and published studies.

The current worrisome mutations have changes that affect how easily the virus attaches to cells, and the SA strain, specifically, has a mutation that makes it less susceptible to the normal immune response. Neither of those mutations makes the virus a different one, nor do they mean the current vaccines are as effective.

DLgal, that poster has posted links to known anti-vax sites here in the past citing them as good references for vaccination knowledge. So, grain of salt.

 

[erin1715]

I really love this thread. It has been a positive highlight in a negative world. I really hope it doesn’t get locked.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I haven’t kept up with all the posts on this thread, but I find it alarming that thousands of vials are being wasted according to a AP story in my local paper today.

A news story like 1 1/2 weeks ago I think covered mine and the state next to me and it sounded really bad from the headline but the actual amount at that time listed from between Dec. 21 and March 2, there have been 352 doses deemed to have been wasted due to reasons such as shortages in the vials, expiration, or broken vials and syringes. The state next to me I don't have their full data.

That said the county next to me just had an oops with J&J where ~570 doses (which DOES actually suck since it meant 570 people) had to be tossed because of a user error where the vials had been thawed already and a person put them back in the freezer. The state did say they will replace the doses though. They said "The confusion arose because most doses are shipped frozen, but the health department received its Wednesday batch in a refrigerated state. The hospital reached out to Johnson & Johnson for guidance and was instructed that the doses would have to be discarded." Def. not good but not an intentional act either.

 

[disneypharm]

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I can see some sort of vaccine app being used at private venues, though I imagine that will come with a whole host of privacy/data concerns.

I hope they don’t try to pass some sort of legislation around a “vaccine passport” for domestic air travel. Though, if they do, I guess we won’t actually have to worry about for at least another decade lol. The legislation for Real ID passed in 2005 and we still haven’t implemented it yet (I betting it gets pushed back from the upcoming fall 2021 due to closures this past year) so I think any such domestic endeavor is going to be too little too late.

 

[godisney14]

The bolded shows an alarming misunderstanding of both viral mutations and vaccine science understanding. Wow.

Ummm, no... I have a biology degree so I understand viruses & basic biology. It is alarming how the media has made people think they understand everything.

That was alarming.

 

[OKbyme]

I haven’t kept up with all the posts on this thread, but I find it alarming that thousands of vials are being wasted according to a AP story in my local paper today. I have been told the federal government is keeping a close eye on those vials to prevent this happening, and that every vial had to be accounted for. I noticed the problem is happening in various states, including mine. I am at a loss why the governors aren’t opening things up faster. I understand some that are eligible haven’t been able to get an appointment. I spent hours over days getting ours. It isn’t a cake walk, but if you are truly motivated, and you have access to a smart phone or a computer, or have a friend or family member who does, persistence is needed. I truly hope all who want a vaccine gets an opportunity to make the appointment sooner rather than later.

Pennsylvania has been truly horrific. On some threads, there is mention of getting on "lists." Many places I called or logged onto online were just stating "there are no appointments available at this time." Very, very, very frustrating. I spent days hunting down a vaccine for my high risk son. Couldn't even get him on a list, then eureka! got him on a waiting list. He did get one finally through work. And that was out of the blue, he works for the DoD.

I don't know if the blame goes to our federal government, or lays at the feet of the governor/Dept of Health, but someone is to blame when this has not occurred in other states.

My FIL, 86 and medical issues, finally got a vaccine last week at the VA. My friend also got an appointment last week for her 78 yr old mother, and she was spending a great deal of time, getting up in the middle of the night, etc, just to get that. So looks like things are improving, but I would still like to know why many areas of the country people have had both shots, have no problem getting them, and are opening them up to all their residents, when PA is still on phase 1A?

 

[amylevan]

Pennsylvania has been truly horrific. On some threads, there is mention of getting on "lists." Many places I called or logged onto online were just stating "there are no appointments available at this time." Very, very, very frustrating. I spent days hunting down a vaccine for my high risk son. Couldn't even get him on a list, then eureka! got him on a waiting list. He did get one finally through work. And that was out of the blue, he works for the DoD.

I don't know if the blame goes to our federal government, or lays at the feet of the governor/Dept of Health, but someone is to blame when this has not occurred in other states.

My FIL, 86 and medical issues, finally got a vaccine last week at the VA. My friend also got an appointment last week for her 78 yr old mother, and she was spending a great deal of time, getting up in the middle of the night, etc, just to get that. So looks like things are improving, but I would still like to know why many areas of the country people have had both shots, have no problem getting them, and are opening them up to all their residents, when PA is still on phase 1A?

I am in no way defending our state, but phase 1A in pa includes 16+ with a long list of high risk including a BMI of over 30. That BMI number encompasses a huge part of the population. For other states that have moved out of their first phase they are now basically including the same pre-existing conditions that our 1A has.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Obviously off topic for this thread but this was one of the things I grew up watching (no judging lol) but as a kid I did not realize all the stuff that goes into making it look the way it does. My dad didn't care about us watching WWE or Jerry Springer

UFC and MMA (in general) are totally different though. That stuff can be nuts!

No judgement! My brother-in-law loves WWE....he always says you either get it or you don't. My husband never got into it....and so I didn't have to either .

 

[dvcgirl67]

Look at cases in South Africa, the media hypes the hell out of that variant but cases there have basically disappeared with no vaccinations.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/south-africa/

I just saw this article yesterday in the WSJ about cases dropping in South Africa. A country of 40 million people, they peaked at 22,000 cases a day, and it has come down to 1,000 cases a day. WSJ has a hard paywall, but I'll link it. The synopsis is basically.....they don't know why cases have dropped so much. A similar event occurred in India and Pakistan, and again, they don't know why. Cases in India are going up again though....last that I read about it.

South Africa did just recently come out of a pretty hard lockdown, just opening bars with limits...etc. The simplest explanation according to some experts there is that their cases were likely much higher due to a limit on how much testing they could do. Only 2.5% of the country has tested positive to date. However, SA has recored an excess of 145,000 deaths in 2020 over 2019. Medical experts there believe that 85-95% of those deaths are due to Covid. On the low end that's 123,000 deaths from Covid....if you do the math on what that same scenario would look like here in the U.S.....you're looking at almost one million Covid deaths to date. Also keep in mind that SA is a much younger country than here in the U.S.....with only 6% of their residents over age 65. Here it's over 16%.

So....cases may be going down so quickly in South Africa because it's "burned through" the population for the most part. It's certainly not due to their vaccine program because that's essentially non-existent for them so far. And keep in mind, their lockdowns, when in place, were hard core compared to anything we ever had in place here.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-...ons-11615734003?mod=searchresults_pos1&page=1

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

UFC probably won't. But I'd imagine the thousands of people involved in putting an event like that on will be happy to be working after more than a year of not being able to.

Not quite the same because it is an outdoor venue and no one is talking about 100% capacity, but the Tigers organization has reportedly started talking with (lobbying) the governor to allow fans in attendance. The current rules are almost Californian - they can have up to 1000 fans in a stadium that seats 42K for baseball/50K for concerts. And there are a lot of outraged people in the comments on every news article about it, screaming about how it is too soon and we should just wait one more season to let everyone get vaccinated before opening up. Inevitably, it is framed as "The Tigers organization (or the Illitch family, who owns Little Cesears Pizza as well as the team) won't go under if they can't have fans this year". No one seems to be thinking of the thousands of jobs the stadium supports, both directly in everything from parking attendants to food service and beer vendors and indirectly in increased foot traffic to other downtown businesses. The Tigers will survive. But keeping the stadium closed another year means thousands of people in one of America's poorest cities will remain out of work.

I get what you're saying, but that isn't what I said. I said give it a few more months to get their target audience vaccinated. Not that they shouldn't have it at all. My personal preference is not meant as anything more - I'm not lobbying to keep things closed completely; just trying to answer the question as honestly as possible. We have mitigation tools available to us. I don't see why people are so against using them.

And it's really isn't the same as a baseball game. We're talking about indoor at full capacity vs outdoor at limited. There is no reason to not allow fans at games (and probably at more than they're currently allowing). And in what I said about the UFC event - those people would still benefit from it, just a few months down the road. And have a better chance of not getting sick, which could also harm them/their income.

 

[tink2424]

Didn't you know? You can become a scientist just by staying glued to CNN and repeating a bunch of buzzwords.

Yes, and every virologist does not agree on these things. Neither do all doctor's agree. Science isn't nearly as black & white as everyone wants to make it out to be. The media just inflames everyone with doom & gloom to get higher ratings as well as to keep people controlled.

The fact is that the vaccines target multiple locations on the virus and as such are likely to have an issue with the variants. Again if the spike protein mutates so far away from what it is now then it isn't the same virus anymore and that isn't how mutations usually work.

Also, the rest of the world is not vaccinating in nearly the same time frame as we are. Should we shut down even when are cases are super low just because we could get another variant from another country? It's absurd. We will have to live with COVID forever now and we should take precautions but not change our lives. But it is hard to tell people who are very afraid to think logically instead of emotionally..