General COVID vaccination thread

I was listening to an interesting podcast yesterday with former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. He said we had record flu vaccinations this season: 123 million. He thinks that's probably a good ceiling for what we can expect as far as Covid vaccination, and we'll probably have a demand problem instead of a supply problem by early summer. As bad as the last mile problem is now, he believes we should be thinking about how to stimulate demand because that will be the issue in due course.

He has more on the numbers here:

https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/...09904340500480

I'll be pleasantly surprised if it turns that quickly.

I guess I've been lucky. No vaccinations, and I seldom wear a mask.

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Originally Posted by badrose

I guess I've been lucky. No vaccinations, and I seldom wear a mask.

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For damn sure I wouldn't recommend this. Put on a mask.

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

For damn sure I wouldn't recommend this. Put on a mask.

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I'm home mostly, and my youngest daughter makes me wear one when I take her shopping.

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Originally Posted by badrose

I'm home mostly, and my youngest daughter makes me wear one when I take her shopping.

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Oh, of course. Same. I'm home mostly too, so I guess I don't wear a mask too often right now either. About the only dang thing I've been happy about having Zoom videoconferences from home lol.

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Originally Posted by MickintheHam

Sounds like the on-line system is in overload. I registered on-line, gave basic info, and completed the appointment in about 2 minutes. They texted a confirmation right away. I registered with UAB. No confirmation. Don’t call us. We’ll call you.

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I think you got in timely. I waited too long. This morning there are only 8 counties left taking online appointments, all in May. Most of the ones I saw Friday morning are gone--I had a bunch of choices then. Elmore County is gone, which is where I signed up. Called Bibb County this morning directly, and they said they are not taking appointments now.

My mid-April appointment will have to do, unless a supply comes in for UAB where the "don't call us, we'll call you" system might come into play.

Last minute opportunity arose. Sitting in Auburn, 100 miles from home. Just received Pfizer #1.

Congrats Darrell!

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

Last minute opportunity arose. Sitting in Auburn, 100 miles from home. Just received Pfizer #1.

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Congrats! Time to start planning how to get your second dose unless you want to drive back to Auburn.

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

Last minute opportunity arose. Sitting in Auburn, 100 miles from home. Just received Pfizer #1.

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They just cancelled Thursday here for Kroger/Horse Park so one of my staff is SOL (due to the ice), and they are now saying they will no longer accept 1C there, so not sure if they will honor the appointment and reschedule or not.

She's about emotionally done with this. She has a lot of high risk issues in her family, has been insanely safe, has a real need to get vaccinated, and there is not a single system anywhere that takes any of that into account in any way.

I'm still supposedly scheduled for Saturday, but who knows.

I hate government. I once dismissed anarcho-capitalism, but I'm reconsidering.

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Originally Posted by PedroDaGr8

Congrats! Time to start planning how to get your second dose unless you want to drive back to Auburn.

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I don't mind. Takes about an hour and a half to drive there. I literally walked in and was the next person taken. The only thing that caused a delay is that I am allergic to shellfish, and even though it really shouldn't correlate, they marked me with an orange sticker so I had to sit with the orange folks and wait 30 minutes rather than 15.

The other thing is that my daughter goes to school in Georgia not too far from where I was and with planning, I may be able to have an early dinner or a short visit with her next time. Or they may be in rehearsal for some play where I can sneak in and watch something. Anyway, I don't mind and already have my appointment set for three weeks from today, same time.

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

Last minute opportunity arose. Sitting in Auburn, 100 miles from home. Just received Pfizer #1.

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Congratulations! Shelby County opened up this morning and I have an appointment for next Wednesday morning.

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Originally Posted by MickintheHam

Congratulations! Shelby County opened up this morning and I have an appointment for next Wednesday morning.

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Outstanding! And a whole lot closer.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

They just cancelled Thursday here for Kroger/Horse Park so one of my staff is SOL (due to the ice), and they are now saying they will no longer accept 1C there, so not sure if they will honor the appointment and reschedule or not.

She's about emotionally done with this. She has a lot of high risk issues in her family, has been insanely safe, has a real need to get vaccinated, and there is not a single system anywhere that takes any of that into account in any way.

I'm still supposedly scheduled for Saturday, but who knows.

I hate government. I once dismissed anarcho-capitalism, but I'm reconsidering.

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CDC:
Masks have no impact on the Spread of the Corona Virus
Wearing a mask will not keep you from catching the virus, but it will keep others safe from you.
Everyone needs to wear a mask!
Double mask during Covid. It makes common sense.
Wearing a mask protects the wearer not just other people from catching the corona virus.
Consider wearing 3 masks.

No wonder Trump called it a Chinese virus. I understand more Chinese than anything published by the CDC.

Put your faith in Government!

So dumb question. Once I have my 2nd shot and am "vaccinated", what can I do that is safe? Go out again? That would be nice.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

So dumb question. Once I have my 2nd shot and am "vaccinated", what can I do that is safe? Go out again? That would be nice.

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Not a dumb question.

The second dose takes around 14 days to become fully effective. Once this happens, not only is your risk of having symptoms essentially zero, your risk of catching and spreading the virus is dramatically reduced. From this, I think it is perfectly reasonable to go out again as the risk to yourself and those around you is very low.

Well I didn’t get my Covid shot. I had my annual physical Friday and the doc insisted I get the first shingles vaccine. The zostavax needs a booster also but it can be anywhere from March until August so I guess I’ll squeeze in a couple of Covid shots in there somewhere. I wasn’t really looking forward to driving to Covington anyway.

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Originally Posted by Catfan73

Well I didn’t get my Covid shot. I had my annual physical Friday and the doc insisted I get the first shingles vaccine. The zostavax needs a booster also but it can be anywhere from March until August so I guess I’ll squeeze in a couple of Covid shots in there somewhere. I wasn’t really looking forward to driving to Covington anyway.

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That is unfortunate but understandable. Personally, I would have thought the COVID vaccine would take priority but your doctor knows your situation far better than I do.

Yeah they had the shingles vaccine for a change and said at 59 and fairly healthy I need it more right now. And I can get the Covid vaccine in 4 weeks. My doc is a she and I learned long ago to not argue with them lol.

Seriously though she’s the best MD I’ve ever had.

Shingles shots make your arm hurt too.

As soon as I'm over Covid shingles is on the list.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day for me.

8am get a crown and a filling.

1pm get my second dose of the Moderna vaccine.

Add a root canal and you'll be hitting a trifecta!

Hope the 2nd dose doesn't cause too many side effects for you. Wasn't as bad as daughter/SIL anticipated, but still worse than the first dose.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

As soon as I'm over Covid shingles is on the list.

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I had the Shingrix and was very pleased I would check with your pharmacy now to get on a list if required I had to wait 8 months Supply is better now.

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Originally Posted by MickintheHam

I had the Shingrix and was very pleased I would check with your pharmacy now to get on a list if required I had to wait 8 months Supply is better now.

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Good advice. It's on a list to ask my doctor. I have 3-4 minor things I wanted to address (my B12 is low, etc.) but now that I'm in the process of vaccination was hoping to get my 2nd shot and wait the 10-14 days and then go in. that puts me late march to go try to address things.

But I'll also check with my pharmacy and see what I can do.

Best I could tell from Andy's afternoon Covid presser, there will not be a cancellation for any of this week's vaccinations, even though there is more SNOG right now than there was last week when he kicked the can down the road. Should get our first dose in 2 days.

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Originally Posted by dan_bgblue

Best I could tell from Andy's afternoon Covid presser, there will not be a cancellation for any of this week's vaccinations, even though there is more SNOG right now than there was last week when he kicked the can down the road. Should get our first dose in 2 days.

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One of my staff goes in tomorrow and yes so far he seems to not be afraid of the Snow Miser like last week.

You open as much as you can, with the staff you can get, and get through everyone you can. Reschedule the rest. There's a 90 year old lady who walked 6 miles in the snow to get hers (no joke), I think we can manage.

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There's a 90 year old lady who walked 6 miles in the snow to get hers (no joke), I think we can manage.

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Good grief, if I were in her area and could talk her into taking a job, I would hire her in a heartbeat just to watch my grass grow. She would probably either wear out a path in my yard doing laps or would be doing push ups an hour into her shift.

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

Add a root canal and you'll be hitting a trifecta!

Hope the 2nd dose doesn't cause too many side effects for you. Wasn't as bad as daughter/SIL anticipated, but still worse than the first dose.

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Whelp, they rescheduled my second dose for Friday. Stated they didn't receive any doses for today. We will see if it happens Friday. The 12" of snow we got this weekend is clearly impacting supply some.

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Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

There's a 90 year old lady who walked 6 miles in the snow to get hers (no joke), I think we can manage.

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That was up here in Seattle. Depending on the area, she was walking through anywhere between 8-12" of snow (ignoring the drifts). According to her daughter, she did this VOLUNTARILY! She had some other options for people who could drive her but she chose to hike.

From a good thread on how/why a large % of Americans won't take the vaccine when offered:

Attachment 9957

I'd pretty much walk on my lips through broken glass to get the vaccine right now, but they aren't yet available for my group. But the day is coming where there's going to be more vaccine available than those who want to take it, and there needs to be a strategy to deal with that.

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Originally Posted by KSRBEvans

From a good thread on how/why a large % of Americans won't take the vaccine when offered:

Attachment 9957

I'd pretty much walk on my lips through broken glass to get the vaccine right now, but they aren't yet available for my group. But the day is coming where there's going to be more vaccine available than those who want to take it, and there needs to be a strategy to deal with that.

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This is actually something I have been thinking about a lot since COVID started. In science I am used to dealing in terms of risk and working in a constantly shifting grey zone. How do we communicate these concepts to the public accurately. How do you accurately explain there is a risk with choosing an option and while the severity of the risk could be high, the likelihood is low. I don't have great answers yet but what I do know is being overly optimistic and/or overly cautious is doing more harm than good.



Back on the topic at hand, I forgot to mention that my wife got her first dose (Pfizer) Wednesday night.

Proud Husband Gloating Time:

She's been absolutely incredible since working hard to help others get their vaccines even though she herself was not eligible yet. She has been heavily volunteering with the vaccination efforts in the area. She has been volunteering to help book appointments for elderly and/or eligible Vietnamese who speak limited English. At this point, she has booked dozens and dozens of appointments for some of our most at risk who otherwise had no way to get an appointment. On top of that, she has been volunteering with the Snohomish DOH (one county over from us) trying to help however possible. So far, it has been mostly data entry but she wanted to assists at the mass vaccination sites as well.

Which leads to how she ended up unknowingly making herself eligible. When she was being added to the approved group of volunteers for assisting at mass vaccination sites, they informed her that made her Tier 1a (high risk health-care). In fact, they stated for any position at the mass vaccination sites which would involve interacting with patients she had to be vaccinated to be eligible. So of course, we jumped at the chance. Overall, other than arm soreness and fatigue, no other major adverse reactions.

I saw yesterday

--Kentucky may open Phase 1C registration on or about 1 March;

--In spite of this, Louisville Metro may not open up Phase 1C registration until late March-early April;

--Meanwhile, UK has already started accepting applications for Phase 1C.

Gee, it's hard to understand why everyone's so confused about how to get vaccinated.

(I applied at the UK site even though I don't live in Lexington. I put my address in and it let me. I'm going to apply everywhere I can and hope something breaks my way.)

BEvans, it's completely a joke. Would be funny if this weren't so serious.

I signed up with Kroger and got in at the Horse Park. I signed up with UK weeks before that and still no word, and presume I won't get one for a while.

As I've said many times, these kinds of logistics could have all been addressed and put in place long before the vaccine was ready to be distributed. Right now there's not really even a clear way to know which of these groups one may be in, as "IT Professional" is a pretty wide ranging category just to pick one. Age is clear enough, but the rest are ill defined.

At this point they just need to get a shot for everyone who is willing to take one. As has been discussed in about 2 months or so of doing that we'll be down to trying to talk people into it rather than waiting in line for it, so just get people in a line and get them vaccinated. We could have done it better had we started when it was obvious we'd need this process, but right now there's no fixing it so just get the vaccine out there.

My 1C registration here in BG at Kroger pharmacy went off without a hitch, and wife and I got poked this past Thursday and are preregistered for the 2nd shot on the 11th of March at exactly the same time of day.

If you can get it Kroger is the way to go. They open up the appointments for the day and if you can get one you seem to be in. I checked about midnight, one of my staff got in about 5-6 am, but other times have worked. Not sure there's a rhyme or reason, just have to keep checking for an open appointment.

I've tried the Kroger sign-up twice now and they say I'm not yet eligible. I guess I'll keep trying.

Apparently an Israeli peer-reviewed study shows the Pfizer vaccine has 85% efficacy after one dose.

https://twitter.com/FiringLineShow/s...62193574879232

I am guessing here as I have no way to prove this, but I "think" that 1C class gets in if there are open slots not taken by 1A and 1B. jmho

The Kentucky Covid (Kroger) Vaccination registration webpages clearly state that the registration is for 1A and 1B 0nly, but when filling out the registration form it asks for name, address, sex, requested vaccination site, and age. I put in 67 yrs old which is 1C, and it let me continue and indicated I was registered. My wife then went on to local Kroger site and set up appointments for us and bingo it was done.

When Andy called a weather cancellation Kroger emailed me about that and showed that my appointment for the 11th had been cancelled and reset for the 18th. I got a text the morning or the 18th reminding me of the appointment. All this occurred when the appointment system should have realized I am 1C. When I checked in Thursday afternoon the system automatically made an appointment for me to the 2nd vaccination. Is the computer software not set up to recognize that I am 1C, or does it recognize that but ignores it if there are open spots in their vaccination schedule?

Frankly Scarlet, I don't give a damn as long as it lets me get the shot on time.

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Originally Posted by KSRBEvans

I've tried the Kroger sign-up twice now and they say I'm not yet eligible. I guess I'll keep trying.

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Did you register on the KY website? Vaccine.ky.gov

I signed up there before it would let my wife register me for the Kroger appointment.

I will get my shots when I'm back in Bozeman. It's at least 3 weeks away. I'm in the tier with the old people who have serious medical conditions. So I've been travelling for seven weeks.

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Originally Posted by KSRBEvans

Apparently an Israeli peer-reviewed study shows the Pfizer vaccine has 85% efficacy after one dose.

https://twitter.com/FiringLineShow/s...62193574879232

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Thanks for the link. I understand their point and I will stand down for the 2nd shot if KY says to do that, otherwise I will show up for the 2nd shot.