Biden To Announce A New Vaccination Campaign As Uptake Rate Declines | Talking Points Memo

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#33

Did anyone else get a choice of which vaccine you wanted before you made your appointment? I went to this site yesterday because my original appointment was cancelled when J&J was paused. When I clicked on J&J, it gave a date of May 6th and three or four choices on the time.

When I made my first appointment last month at a different site, it didn’t give me that option to pick which vaccine I wanted. I just got lucky and was obviously selected for J&J (which I prefer because of the one shot) because my appointment was cancelled when J&J was paused.
Is this something they are just starting?

#34

I’d guess yes for one booster shot. After that, most likely not. I think we’ll be on our own after the first booster. But they are talking of pills, nasal spray, a patch and other forms for a booster later down the road.

Going to be a lot of companies trying to ride the vaccine gravy train. Pfizer’s CEO just claimed their stock was undervalued because they had 3 billion in revenue from vaccine doses in the first quarter alone.
My bet is not to bet on any one winner. The best vaccine might not be a shot and it may not be ready for sale for another year or more. But everyone is going to try get in on the action.

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#35

I had a similar take as the Biden Administration this morning. We’ve vaccinated 147M with at least 1 dose. I used the 67% target that NC has set as a baseline. To get there we’re need to vaccinate another 27M people or so. Biden has set the target a little higher at 70% of adults (about 181M). We’ll need to vaccinate another 34M or so to get there. To do that, we’d could get there by average 1.5 million shots a day for 60 days with 40% of such shots being net new people. If we average 1.7 mil shots per day for 60 days, then we could get there if 35% of shots were for net new vaccinees. If we average 2 mill per day for 60 days, we could get there if 30% are net new vaccinees. So that’s the type of range we have to focus on. It’s doable, but I think it gets a lot easier if we push J&J hard, especially to men.

A reminder that the biggest side effect of COVID vaccines is that you don’t get COVID. If you don’t get it, you’re risking infection, playing variant roulette with the rest of our lives, and free riding off of those who have already been vaccinated. Get vaccinated. It’s the simplest, easiest and safest path.

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#36

Yup. Not for covid. As other vaccines come online over time and get tweaked, it’ll be the market forces running to the cheapest options, which will squeeze Pfizer and Moderna.

If you’re betting on those two, you should be looking more at derivative treatments developed on the mRNA tech that will be the real earners.

#37

Did they give you a choice on which vaccine you wanted?

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#38

was one of the last batch before it went wide open, so no, didn’t have a choice. Ended up with the one I wanted (Pfizer), so happy that worked out.

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#39

I was going to pick either Moderna or Pfizer, but the booster shot needed so soon afterwards concerned me. J&J may also need one, but haven’t read anything about needing a booster with their vaccine or the time frame. I’m hoping one shot every couple of years or longer. Then again, even people who had the rona can catch it again after 6 months or so… But they most likely won’t need hospitalization the second time around. (hopefully anyway)

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#40

I know that there are multiple companies that will give you two days off if you get the vaccine and report in sick. They want their workers to be healthy. Companies are taking a huge productivity hit due to this disease, and that impacts their profitability. Because of this many companies are motivated to get their employees vaccinated.

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#41

As demand drops and supply remains high I suspect we will see greater choice and availability.

My choice was limited to one vaccine…Moderna. I was very happy with that.

#42

The boosters will be universal, if it does turn out to be required, just like flu vaccines. J&J is also in the middle of testing a 2-shot regimen to see if that increases efficacy and protection. Whichever one you get these days is going to end up with your arm being a pin-cushion.

#43

I’m going call the pharmacy to see if I need to quit taking my half aspirin a day before and after I get the shot on Thursday. I’ve been taking either a low dose or half an aspirin daily for about ten years now. I have a high tolerance for aspirin. Don’t need to take them and my heart is fine.
I just take them because if only half the claimed benefits of taking a low dose aspirin are true, I’m gonna live to 105 and maybe still run 5 k until I’m 90. :rofl:
While searching for an answer online, I did find this interesting bit:

But will still call to get an opinion from a pharmacist instead of trusting Google. Just to be on the safe side.

I just got my answer after waiting for a few minutes on hold until someone who knew for sure could be located. I can keep taking the low dose aspirin before and after with no problems.

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#44

Tequila works better.

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#45

A second suggestion on pursuing the CVS or Walmart route. I didn’t need to do so, but that appears to be the solution of choice here in the DC area for people running into roadblocks like your situation. Apparently CVS specifically asks when you go to register if you are in need of a first or second shot, and schedules an appointment accordingly.

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#46

Thank you, CVS is one of the ones I registered with, kept running into availability problems anywhere near me, will keep trying!

My comments weren’t meant to be whining about my challenges getting it, it was to illustrate the hurdles which may make others who can’t spare the time not get it.

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#47

All the places I was checking listed which one they were giving, including the pharmacies and the state-run sites. Different locations had different ones. It was still difficult to get an appointment 2 weeks ago so I was just refreshing everything for a couple days and grabbed what I could get as soon as I could. (though J+J was paused at that point so it was all fine to me.)

Things are much easier now even just 2 weeks later. My mom told me the Costco near her is giving out all three vaccines on a walk-in basis. (though I admit I’m skeptical they have all three on hand at all times, despite what they said on their sign.) And the state sites have lots of available appointments. Those are still listing which brand of vaccine they have and it’s definitely site-specific.

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#48

That’s how I understood your comment, so no worries there. Good luck getting your second dose.

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#49

Some of it is going to be that, some of it is going to be difficulty registering, some of it is just going to be life intervening. There’s a small but visible percentage of no-shows on the first vaccination (because people get sick or busy or otherwise just miss their appointments), and I’d expect at least that for the second round. And if you miss, rescheduling is a bear.

In VT they make your second appointment as you leave from the 15-minute wait after the first.

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#50

Yes, they do (I live in VT.) My second appointment is May 14 (I’m assuming it will happen as scheduled.) I had the most difficulty getting the first appointment (4 different dates before it actually happened.)

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#51

Fingers crossed. Everything went well for us, and now my spouse is warming up her site-refresh skills to get ready for the 12-year-old. (16-y.o. has 2nd appointment May 16th, which is good because he has an in-person summer activity that requires vaccination…)

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#52

Use an automatic form filler.

On the 7% no-shows on 2nd appointments, I’ll bet a good chunk of that is people who found a different, more convenient location for the 2nd dose, and never got around to canceling the original appointment. I mean, if getting the original appointments was a miserable time-consuming experience due to utterly retarded website design, you’re not very motivated to see how well they work for canceling an appointment.

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