Coronavirus: Vaccines

[AndyinPA]

Good article. Thanks.

[p0rtia]

I have a friend who is a dingbat anti-vaxxer (she's not obvious about it; doesn't bring up her positions unless you really push, which I don't).

Anyway.

She plans to go to her grave un-COVID-vaxxed.

However.

She is a rich white lady who is into genealogy. She goes to Europe every summer for at least a month, having a ball meeting third and fourth cousins and visiting graveyards.

Irresistible force. Meet unmovable object.

[Lani]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... o-mayorkas

The Biden administration is taking “a very close look” at the possibility of vaccine passports for travel into and out of the United States, the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said on Friday.

Like so many other public health measures meant to mitigate Covid-19’s spread, vaccine passports have drawn support and ire.

Some welcome the fast pass to normalcy, sick of extended quarantines and tedious testing requirements. Others harbor unsubstantiated concerns that the certificates could chip away at their privacy. Still others worry about vaccine inequality, with the life-saving shots going disproportionately to residents of the world’s wealthiest nations.

People are yelling about HIPAA, which is dumb. HIPAA-covered entities include health plans, clearinghouses, and certain health care providers. If someone wants a vaccine passport, get it. The information isn't being given to a HIPAA-covered entity. If some people don't want the passport, please stop whining and just go away.

I'm taking a photo of my card and uploading it to Safe Travel. DOH will confirm that the data is accurate, and then no quarantine for me traveling within Hawaii. People traveling to/from Hawaii can also use the system.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/i ... mic%20test

The country’s declining covid-19 case rates present an unrealistically optimistic perspective for half of the nation — the half that is still not vaccinated.

As more people receive vaccines, covid-19 cases are occurring mostly in the increasingly narrow slice of the unprotected population. So The Washington Post adjusted its case, death and hospitalization rates to account for that — and found that in some places, the virus continues to rage among those who haven’t received a shot.

The rosy national figures showing declining case numbers led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to loosen mask recommendations two weeks ago and President Biden to advise people to take off their masks and smile.

But adjustments for vaccinations show the rate among susceptible, unvaccinated people is 73 percent higher than the standard figures being publicized. With that adjustment, the national death rate is roughly the same as it was two months ago and is barely inching down. The adjusted hospitalization rate is as high as it was three months ago. The case rate is still declining after the adjustment.

In the United States, the current case rate for unvaccinated residents is similar to the case rate for all residents on December 31.

[AndyinPA]

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/corona ... 3b3e29d210

Twelve states have now reached the Biden administration’s goal to vaccinate 70% of adults with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4, according to data published Tuesday by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

California and Maryland join Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont in reaching that benchmark.

Overall, 296,404,240 total doses of Covid-19 have been reported administered, about 81% of the 366,317,045 total doses delivered.

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-08/ ... /100171488

COVID devastated the Blackfeet nation in Montana, but now they're vaccinating their neighbours with spare shots

extract...
The Tribal Business Council decided to impose a series of strict lockdowns, including stay-at-home orders for non-essential workers and mask mandates.

"Our government did what we had to do," Mr Davis said.

"And we just continue to be want to be safe, rather than sorry."

Now the community has turned things around.

These days, it's not uncommon for there to be zero active cases and no hospitalisations or deaths.

The majority of adults are now vaccinated and the tribe has launched a special pop-up clinic at the Canadian border to offer their spare shots to their northern neighbours who are facing longer waits for inoculation.

[Kendra]

Seattle is the first major city in the U.S. with 70% of residents ages 12 and older fully vaccinated against COVID.

Side note, the boss just offered everyone who has been vaccinated a $300 payment. I am waiting to see if the few dumb-ass holdouts in the company will do it. I might add that the dumb-ass hold outs keep letting their masks slip even when helping customers = leaving them vulnerable to catching it.

[filly]

I have, sadly, come to the conclusion that the idiots who refuse to get vaccinated will just need to die. Darwin lives.

Buckle up for more hospitalizations and deaths. The NYT reported that there are two rural counties in TN whose recent COVID cases are up over 700%, with less than 20% of the population vaccinated. The Delta variant (India) is highly transmissible and more deadly.

My son tells me that 50% of his patients in Dallas 65+ are vaccine refuseniks. They will own the libs!!!

[Lani]

I've been looking at the % of vaccinations in various states via NYT. Their stats have Vermont & Hawaii at well over 70%, but state stats don't support it unless you only look at 60+ only. In Hawaii we've only reached over 60% for 12+. Maybe the NYT is about for at least one shot? There's still away to go. I hope enough people are vaccinated to protect us from the variants.

[Lani]

Also, apparently I'm in two drawings for being vaccinated. The state has prizes for people who have at least one shot (before some date I forgot). Drawings for prizes - especially air travel, which we rely on so much here. AND Kaiser has prizes for members who have been vaccinated before early July, whether or not from Kaiser! YAY! Maybe I'll see you on the mainland!!

[Foggy]

They will own the libs!!!

Yeah, and I'm gonna miss 'em.

[tencats]

Interesting question. I have not seen any numbers about vaccinated people getting reinfected. I only know that vaccination is highly effective against getting infected in the first place, and I have read that the illness progresses mild if vaccinated.

On the other hand just in the last days I have seen a news item from the UK that mentioned that the first jab itself was insufficient to protect from the new Indian variant (is it "Delta" under WHO new naming system?), implying the two jab kind of protection, and wondering how the single jab protection works.

Delta variant causes more than 90% of new Covid cases in UK
Variant first discovered in India is thought to spread more easily and be more resistant to vaccines
Fri 11 Jun 2021 | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ases-in-uk

Also known as B.1.617.2, the Delta variant has been linked to a rise in Covid cases in the UK in the past weeks. It is believed to spread more easily than the Alpha variant, B.1.1.7, that was first detected in Kent, and is somewhat more resistant to Covid vaccines, particularly after just one dose. It may be also associated with a greater risk of hospitalisation.

Now, Public Health England (PHE) has said that more than 90% of new Covid cases in the UK involve the Delta variant. Indeed the most recent data suggests the figure could be as high as 96% of new cases in England.

The PHE report further revealed that cases of the virus are doubling between every 4.5 and 11.5 days, depending on the region of England, and that it has about a 60% increased risk of household transmission compared with the Alpha variant. Confirmed cases in the UK to date have risen by 29,892 to
A third of all confirmed Delta variant patients who needed emergency care had received at least one vaccine dose

Unvaccinated 825
Vaccinated 393
Cases with an A&E visit (1,234)
Within 3 weeks of first dose 90
Cases where A&E visit led
to overnight admission (383)
More than 3 weeks after first dose 220
More than 2 weeks after second dose 83
Vaccination status unknown 16
Unvaccinated 251
Vaccinated 128
Deaths (42)
Unvaccinated 23
Vaccinated 19


https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader ... SXM7q6aVS/

[keith]

I don't think it right that after a year of blaming South Africa, the UK, and India for the variants, and just as Australia is stepping up with their own variant, they are now trying to dump it all on the Greeks.

No fair.

'Aussie Variant' sounds so much more evocative than 'Kappa Variant', don't you think?

And what did the Greeks do to deserve it? They already own mathematics after all.

Why couldn't we use the Russian alphabet? Then we could blame the whole thing on some guy named Cyril. Maybe even the Pope.

[raison de arizona]

thread

[RTH10260]

Shit happens. Even when there would have been known contraindication for the J&J jab it would not have helped as the parents did not know that their kid had a heart issue. The kid could have collapsed at any time when exercising. etc etc. While a connection between the jab and the death may be possible it has not been proven. THere is no need to highlight this case all over the internet. And nobody ever has guaranteed that nobody will ever expierience some side effects.

[RTH10260]

Millions of J&J COVID-19 shots expire soon. States are struggling to use them
2021/6/19 14:11 (EDT)
©The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — More than 800,000 Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware could go to waste this summer, as states across the country grapple with millions of time-sensitive doses of the less-popular vaccine.

Thanks to an FDA determination last week that extended the vaccine’s shelf life, states now have until early August to use doses that would have expired in late June, a date by which most of the vials in this region would almost certainly have gone unused.

But some states are still struggling to find enough takers for the vaccine, a task that falls to them in the absence of a federal plan to collect and redistribute extra doses.

Vaccine providers continue facing low domestic demand for J&J, which has been unpopular since the FDA halted its use for 11 days in April to investigate potential side effects that turned out to be exceedingly rare. The one-dose vaccine has accounted for only 5% of immunizations in Pennsylvania since May 1.

And providers can’t simply donate the doses to be used by countries who need the vaccine; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told states they can’t be distributed internationally. Montgomery County, for instance, tried to give doses to a provider who could have sent them abroad, but had to scuttle the plan after the CDC told Pennsylvania officials it wasn’t permissible, county and state spokespeople said.



https://nordot.app/779046209398226944

[raison de arizona]

Shit happens. Even when there would have been known contraindication for the J&J jad it would not have helped as the parents did not know that their kid had a heart issue. The kid could have collapsed at any time when exercising. etc etc. While a connection between the jab and the death may be possible it has not been proven. THere is no need to highlight this case all over the internet. And nobody ever has guaranteed that nobody will ever expierience some side effects.

One of the comments was talking about how they were pro-vaxx, but that their kids wouldn't be getting the vaxx because the death rate for under 20 for Covid was "statistically zero". What do they think the death rate is for the vaxx? By their logic I guess it is under zero, because it is still safer than chancing Covid.

[raison de arizona]

And providers can’t simply donate the doses to be used by countries who need the vaccine; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told states they can’t be distributed internationally. Montgomery County, for instance, tried to give doses to a provider who could have sent them abroad, but had to scuttle the plan after the CDC told Pennsylvania officials it wasn’t permissible, county and state spokespeople said.

Why not? Is there an actual reason those millions of doses are better off being thrown away than being used in another country? 'Cause I've got nothin' on that one.

[RTH10260]

And providers can’t simply donate the doses to be used by countries who need the vaccine; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told states they can’t be distributed internationally. Montgomery County, for instance, tried to give doses to a provider who could have sent them abroad, but had to scuttle the plan after the CDC told Pennsylvania officials it wasn’t permissible, county and state spokespeople said.

Why not? Is there an actual reason those millions of doses are better off being thrown away than being used in another country? 'Cause I've got nothin' on that one.

The most common grounds is that the vaccine has not (yet) been approved by a potential recipient country. Even when approved, approval may be tied to a specific production facility which may be more local and not in the US. Countries may restrict imports to only direct deliveries from the factories. This may be to counter black markets. The lots available from US health care providers may have already been broken down from the factory production lots. Then there may be the real issue that expiring lots will never get to the foreign recipients in time to use, the nations would be dumping grounds for the medical garbage.

[Lani]

Shit happens. Even when there would have been known contraindication for the J&J jab it would not have helped as the parents did not know that their kid had a heart issue. The kid could have collapsed at any time when exercising. etc etc. While a connection between the jab and the death may be possible it has not been proven. THere is no need to highlight this case all over the internet. And nobody ever has guaranteed that nobody will ever expierience some side effects.

It's real.

CDC delays meeting on kids’ COVID vaccine heart risk
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/06/18/ ... eart-risk/

The abrupt postponement did not sit well with medical experts who have raised alarm over the rate of heart inflammation seen in adolescents, teens and young adults — mostly males and typically after the second of the two shots of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna.

Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, said Friday on Twitter that he thought the rescheduling was “a joke,” given the seriousness of the risk. He argues kids should not get the second shot until the heart risk is better understood.

The CDC has acknowledged “rare” but increased reports of myocarditis and pericarditis mostly in adolescent boys and young men age 16 or older after they received the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. The inflammation of the heart muscle or lining typically arises within a week, more often after the second of the two shots, with chest pain, shortness of breath and a fast-beating, fluttering or pounding heartbeat.

For now, the CDC continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone age 12 years and older, “given the risk of COVID-19 illness and related, possibly severe complications, such as long-term health problems, hospitalization, and even death.”

But many health experts like Makary have disagreed with that risk calculation, several of whom cited concerns at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting on the matter last week. Though no one is known to have died of heart inflammation after the COVID-19 vaccines, CDC data at that meeting indicated there were more reported cases than expected. The reported incidents of heart inflammation were much higher than the rare blood clots that had led to a 10-day suspension of Johnson and Johnson’s one-shot vaccine and a warning of the risk.

“The issue for me is at what stage are we going to say we know enough to justify widespread use of the vaccine in adolescents and children,” said Dr. Cody Meissner, a pediatrics professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. “The first mandate is to do no harm. We don’t know if we’re doing no harm.”

[tek]

One of the comments was talking about how they were pro-vaxx, but that their kids wouldn't be getting the vaxx because the death rate for under 20 for Covid was "statistically zero". What do they think the death rate is for the vaxx? By their logic I guess it is under zero, because it is still safer than chancing Covid.

We'll just discount reports of long-term brain damage from Covid

[RTH10260]

► Show Spoiler

Shit happens. Even when there would have been known contraindication for the J&J jab it would not have helped as the parents did not know that their kid had a heart issue. The kid could have collapsed at any time when exercising. etc etc. While a connection between the jab and the death may be possible it has not been proven. THere is no need to highlight this case all over the internet. And nobody ever has guaranteed that nobody will ever expierience some side effects.

It's real.

CDC delays meeting on kids’ COVID vaccine heart risk
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/06/18/ ... eart-risk/

► Show Spoiler

The abrupt postponement did not sit well with medical experts who have raised alarm over the rate of heart inflammation seen in adolescents, teens and young adults — mostly males and typically after the second of the two shots of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna.

Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, said Friday on Twitter that he thought the rescheduling was “a joke,” given the seriousness of the risk. He argues kids should not get the second shot until the heart risk is better understood.

The CDC has acknowledged “rare” but increased reports of myocarditis and pericarditis mostly in adolescent boys and young men age 16 or older after they received the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. The inflammation of the heart muscle or lining typically arises within a week, more often after the second of the two shots, with chest pain, shortness of breath and a fast-beating, fluttering or pounding heartbeat.

For now, the CDC continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone age 12 years and older, “given the risk of COVID-19 illness and related, possibly severe complications, such as long-term health problems, hospitalization, and even death.”

But many health experts like Makary have disagreed with that risk calculation, several of whom cited concerns at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting on the matter last week. Though no one is known to have died of heart inflammation after the COVID-19 vaccines, CDC data at that meeting indicated there were more reported cases than expected. The reported incidents of heart inflammation were much higher than the rare blood clots that had led to a 10-day suspension of Johnson and Johnson’s one-shot vaccine and a warning of the risk.

“The issue for me is at what stage are we going to say we know enough to justify widespread use of the vaccine in adolescents and children,” said Dr. Cody Meissner, a pediatrics professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. “The first mandate is to do no harm. We don’t know if we’re doing no harm.”

H/T

[Patagoniagirl]

Getting the vaccines out in "el campo" Panama.

[sugar magnolia]

My daughter landed in Atlanta (coming from Brazil) at 7:30 Wed morning. By 9:30 she had found the closest Kroger and gotten her first dose of Pfizer. She is beyond excited, but still wearing her mask because she isn't an idiot and knows she is coming from one of the highest infection rate countries in the world. She's going today to get tested. We're so excited to have her home! It's been over 3 years since she was last in the country, but she's staying for a month.

[Phoenix520]

Enjoy, Sugar!!