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

[Jonfw2]

I think this may not be the right forum for a debate on masks.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Here in Ohio, eligibility is opening up to more groups starting Thursday...including those who are 60+, pregnant women, childcare workers, etc. Surprising to me since we had so much trouble getting appointments for my in-laws who are in the 65+ group, but we are also due to get our largest shipment of vaccines coming up. I just looked on Walgreens and saw lots of availability, more on CVS.com, etc.

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021...or-coronavirus-vaccine-starting-thursday.html

My two sisters and I are all between 60-64. I live in Kentucky, and I got my first shot yesterday, the first day it was opened for those between 60-69. My two sisters live in Ohio. One is getting the shot tomorrow, and the other is getting it on Thursday.

I think our younger brother (under 60) is a little jealous.

 

[godisney14]

They are also not a magic shield. The right masks do help but they also have to be paired with the proper technique.

It doesn't take a genius to tell that there is still significant spread of COVID even with masking at 100%. Stop blaming it on people not masking as in most places that just isn't the case.

I agree that masks are not a magic shield. That’s exactly what I was saying with the differences in mask and wearing technique.

 

[LadyBeBop]

I think a lot of the problems with the vaccine roll out are failures of messaging. Public health infrastructure just isn't set up for good public relations or community outreach, and it shows. I think the idea of focusing on underserved populations is a good one in principle, but not if the implementation is just a restriction on who can make appointments without any awareness campaign to ensure those in the targeted zip codes know about the program and a realistic means of sign up. The latter is a big issue with the age-based implementation too. My mom's county is, fortunately, making appointments by phone as well as internet, but so many organizations are relying on social media to announce new clinics and available slots and conducting sign-ups solely or primarily online without thinking about the computer habits of the populations they're trying to reach (right now, 65+ and certain essential workers). Unless they have children or grandchildren helping them with the process, many of them are missing out because the message is being sent on a channel they just don't use.

I know Ohio produced a few PSA commercials urging us to help our parents and grandparents get vaccination appointments. Here in the Cincinnati area, they showed the commercial during halftime of the Super Bowl.

 

[godisney14]

"

All three vaccines were 100% effective at preventing severe disease six weeks after the first dose (for Moderna) or seven weeks after the first dose (for Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, the latter of which requires only one dose). Zero vaccinated people in any of the trials were hospitalized or died of COVID-19 after the vaccines had fully taken effect. "
https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-explained.html

Not disagreeing on the benefits of a vaccine.

But, what’s the real world effect on severe diseases and hospitalizations? Again, the clinical trials were conducted at a different time of the pandemic. Showing me clinical trial data is just like someone downplaying J&J because the numbers are not up to that of the Pfizer/Moderna studies.

Two recent studies to show real world effect of Pfizer vaccine.

https://khub.net/documents/13593956...c-b255-8e88-c2dc-88979fc2cc1b?t=1614617945615


https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2101765?articleTools=true

 

[Donaldswife]

Here in Indiana they have opened up vaccine appointments for those 55 and older now as of today.

 

[aggiedog]

Not shocking at all. We have a hundred years of evidence that viruses aren’t stopped by masks. That didn’t stop being true a year ago. Regardless of how our leaders have tried to lay the blame for a highly contagious airborne respiratory virus at our feet.

The more you know, and all that...

That's the whole swiss cheese concept, that masks, plus hand washing, plus social distancing, etc, can be very effective. I do think it's irresponsible to flat out say that masks don't stop viruses. They do, in fact, limit the spread of respiratory droplets that carry viruses, which for many people would significantly decrease the chance of them becoming infected. Case in point, the fitness instructors who were "pre-symptomatic" at 2 different gyms that did not require masking, which ultimately led to 55 cases out of 81 people who took classes in Chicago and 21 infections in Hawaii linked to one instructor, including 10 out of 11 participants from one class. Lots of things would have helped prevent this, including masking.

CDC Traces Covid-19 Outbreaks in Gyms, Urging Stricter Precautions - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Updates from my area:

My state (KS) is expected to get 23,400 J&J vaccines this week though they do not know yet how they will distribute those out to the counties. The news advised they do not expect any additional doses of J&J until March 23rd due to production.

Additionally this was in the COVID briefing: "Even with a persistent glitch in date reporting, the state is sitting at between a 70% and 80% vaccination rate."

A total of 10 UK variant cases have been found in the state but 2 of them were unrelated out of the state travel, 8 of them are from the same multi-generational family. 9 of the 10 cases are in 1 county.

One of the main hospital systems in my metro has 49 COVID patients which is a good thing. 34 of them are recovering 15 of them have active infections with 4 of those in the ICU and 1 is on a vent.

Back on just my side of the state line: "hospitalizations, case numbers and deaths statewide continue to trend downward"

-----------------------
MO advised they may start administering J&J as soon as tomorrow.

 

[godisney14]

Additionally this was in the COVID briefing: "Even with a persistent glitch in date reporting, the state is sitting at between a 70% and 80% vaccination rate."

70-80% have gotten a vaccine already? Sounds suspect.

 

[Katiebird]

70-80% have gotten a vaccine already? Sounds suspect.

maybe 70- 80% of the eligible groups?

 

[TLSnell1981]

Not disagreeing on the benefits of a vaccine.

But, what’s the real world effect on severe diseases and hospitalizations? Again, the clinical trials were conducted at a different time of the pandemic. Showing me clinical trial data is just like someone downplaying J&J because the numbers are not up to that of the Pfizer/Moderna studies.

Two recent studies to show real world effect of Pfizer vaccine.

https://khub.net/documents/135939561/430986542/Early effectiveness of COVID vaccines.pdf/ffd7161c-b255-8e88-c2dc-88979fc2cc1b?t=1614617945615


https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2101765?articleTools=true

There are always likely to be an outlier. These trials are still a darn good snapshot of what to expect. I'm still very hopeful that they will also prevent transmission of the virus too. We are also in a much better position than when the trials were conducted. So definitely another positive. IMO

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

70-80% have gotten a vaccine already? Sounds suspect.

maybe 70- 80% of the eligible groups?

They are talking about the percentage of doses administered in comparison to doses received from the Federal government. So of the doses they've received they've administered 70%-80% (depending on the week) of that.

 

[godisney14]

There are always likely to be an outlier. These trials are still a darn good snapshot of what to expect. I'm still very hopeful that they will also prevent transmission of the virus too. We are also in a much better position than when the trials were conducted. So definitely another positive. IMO

Again, not disagreeing that the vaccines are effective. But, to say that the study results from the linked articles in the real world (following >10x population) in my previous post are outliers is patently incorrect. That’s not what an outlier means.

 

[danissmart]

That's the whole swiss cheese concept, that masks, plus hand washing, plus social distancing, etc, can be very effective. I do think it's irresponsible to flat out say that masks don't stop viruses. They do, in fact, limit the spread of respiratory droplets that carry viruses, which for many people would significantly decrease the chance of them becoming infected. Case in point, the fitness instructors who were "pre-symptomatic" at 2 different gyms that did not require masking, which ultimately led to 55 cases out of 81 people who took classes in Chicago and 21 infections in Hawaii linked to one instructor, including 10 out of 11 participants from one class. Lots of things would have helped prevent this, including masking.

CDC Traces Covid-19 Outbreaks in Gyms, Urging Stricter Precautions - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Sure!

 

[danissmart]

So, it’s okay for a dentist or surgical team to not wear any mouth coverings? Maybe all those masks made by 3M is a hoax, playing on people’s fears. Obviously, since they don’t do much, right?


Not all masks are created equally or worn properly.

Your surgeon doesn’t wear a mask to stop viruses. Up until April 2020 that was common knowledge. They wore them so they don’t spit into your open mouth or wounds. It’s ok you didn’t know that.

 

[Colleen27]

Not disagreeing on the benefits of a vaccine.

But, what’s the real world effect on severe diseases and hospitalizations? Again, the clinical trials were conducted at a different time of the pandemic. Showing me clinical trial data is just like someone downplaying J&J because the numbers are not up to that of the Pfizer/Moderna studies.

Not a study, just a data point but one that I think is very telling. Nursing/senior home covid cases in my state are down 95% since the week of Dec. 28, when the vaccination program began in earnest, compared to a 54% reduction in statewide cases over the same time period. Since nursing homes are required to report their cases to the state, that's a pretty big sample size showing the effectiveness of the vaccines at stopping symptomatic infection.

And in other news, Michigan has been told to expect 500,000 doses this week. That's enough for fully 7% of the entire adult population of the entire state to get one dose, in just one week. This is where we're going to see if the planning for mass administration of vaccines holds up to the rapid increases in supply.

 

[RamblingMad]

AZ expanded the vaccinations to 55+ now.

 

[Jonfw2]

Well, Texas has thrown down the gauntlet- mask mandate and all capacity limits gone.

 

[Jonfw2]

BREAKING: the White House just announced that there will be enough vaccine in the US to vaccinate every adult in the country by the end of May.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

BREAKING: the White House just announced that there will be enough vaccine in the US to vaccinate every adult in the country by the end of May.

I was just coming to share his tweet!
This makes me excited. Hopefully this translate well to actual shots in arms in the same timeline!