WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. added a second COVID-19 vaccine to its arsenal Friday, boosting efforts to beat back an outbreak so dire that the nation is regularly recording more than 3,000 deaths a day.
Oh, for this, women can make their health decisions without congressional and judicial interference.
Thank Trump for all his heroic and unrelenting ongoing efforts in masterfully managing this crisis.
Bless his heart.
There’s a ton of reporting about vaccine hesitancy and how to convince anti-vaxers but the real story may end up being the 200 million or so people who are eager to be vaccinated waiting and worrying–and waiting.
There are a hell of a lot more people who want the vaccine and can’t get it yet then there are people are being offered the vaccine and not taking it. Let’s get everyone vaccinated who wants it ASAP.
Last night, my wife’s best friend called from Michigan to let us know that her daughter was being hospitalized for COVID symptoms (we live in AZ). Her daughter is a 27 year old social worker who has been living in semi-quarantine by living at the facility where she oversees people with severe disabilities and chronic mental illness and never leaving. She made it up until 3 days ago when she came down with COVID, then rapidly worsened. We were in touch through her struggles to have an IV started, then getting a CT scan which showed multiple clots including a pulmonary embolus, being put on high flow oxygen - then, the doctor of the small hospital where she was at telling her they were searching the state for an ICU bed for her. We were still in touch when they found a bed at 2 AM AZ time and began the transfer process.
I remember when John Kerry talked about the last American who was going to die in the war in Vietnam. I know we are all wondering who will be the people who are going to die waiting for a vaccine that is apparently being mishandled and poorly distributed for mysterious reasons.
That’s why I say to the anti-vaxxers and even the anti-maskers: get out of the way. More for me.
Now, does Moderna have its own distribution system for this or are we gonna end up with the same nonsense as we have with Pfizer?
ETA: And one more thing: what is the policy for coverage of these vaccinations with health insurance companies? I’ve seen nothing from the one I’m on (Blue Cross) that says any of this will be covered. Will that be a further deterrent to folks get the vaccine?
I’ve been thinking about John Kerry’s question as well. How many more people will die because of a lie. The pandemic itself would be bad enough without a leader who has calculated that he will gain from mayhem. Sending good thoughts to your friend and her daughter. It’s terrible.
@joriep I have been wondering about the reports of vaccination hesitancy as well, and I agree that we should focus on the people who are willing, even anxious to get the vaccine. It seems to me that being an anti-vaxxer is a luxury that people can have because so many other people have taken the vaccine. There is little chance that they will get most of the diseases that have been largely eradicated, although measles may be making a comeback (and having had it as a child, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone). Until Covid, people could make the vaccination decision with the security of existing herd immunity. Since we won’t have herd immunity until enough of us have been vaccinated or acquired the immunity through the illness, the decision not to take the vaccine may be personally more expensive for these folks. This is a new situation for them.
But they will use their current understanding of anti-vax to make that decision - there won’t be any new information that will break through the bubble, which treats this as the new situation with new information. That’s where the problem comes in.
I can’t comprehend how someone can watch more than 3,000 people die every day from the disease and decide that the vaccine to prevent it is a bad risk. I does not compute.
I do wonder if we will have a situation where the illness is centered in groups that have chosen not to get the vaccine while those who have are largely back to living their normal lives.
I have seen mentioned that cost of vaccine is zero but you may get a charge for administering it. Don’t know if that’s true or not.
These are the same people who regularly buy lottery tickets. They are unable to think rationally.
The costs are are being covered by the government; state and feds. Of course Congress hasn’t been able to agree on the full funding of said money.
Should be free for most people. I have Blue Shield and I’ve never paid for a vaccine (of course, not really free-we pay for the insurance) Also, insurers would much rather pay for a vaccine than for your treatment in a hospital.
A Republican State Senator in Minnesota has died of Covid 19.
The CNN report says he contracted it at the state capital building???
However many doses are available we can count on the Trump administration to fuck up the distribution. I am in phase 2 (after 1a and 1B) and should get it in March but I can’t count on that and won’t know for sure until the Biden administration is in place and has had time to clean up Trump’s mess.
I hope none of the Democrats got it.
“Lottery tickets”
An unfair tax on the mathematically challenged.
My stats prof used to say “this is why statisticians do not go to casinos”.
One explanation given last night on MSNBC for the delay in shipping was that someone in the government who is in charge of shipping was holding some back because of the storm on the East Coast. Well at least this sounds reasonable, or possible, but then who fucking knows anymore.
What has bewildered and baffled me was that Standford Medical declared that the frontline residents treating COVID patients were not going to get the vaccine first. Management is blaming a faulty algorithm, BS. Why didn’t someone in management look at this and say “I think we have a problem”.
Maybe the new excuse will now be the cyber attack is at fault.