LONDON (AP) — A retired British shop clerk received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program Tuesday, the start of an unprecedented global immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that has killed 1.5 million.
Make no mistake - I am very happy for her and the others in the UK that are getting the vaccine now.
I’m mad as hell that we in the US are probably months away from V-day because of the incompetence of this administration. I’m mad as hell that we’re leading from behind. I’m mad as hell that, while the numbers are improving, a large percentage of Americans are already on the anti-vax bandwagon. I’m mad as hell that the UK isn’t the only that’s gotten started on this (to wit, my friend in UAE that got her first dose before Thanksgiving).
I’m wondering how it is that no one in authority sees the stupidity of the idea that we are nowhere close to what most of the rest of the world is doing TODAY. I’m wondering how we are so accepting of the idea that not having ANY plan whatsoever for getting this out to Americans is ok.
I guess my issue stems from dear hubby telling me this morning that one of his lab mates went to South Dakota for Thanksgiving and is now in quarantine, having gotten infected while there. She was in the lab on Saturday, meaning all of last week, she was probably communicable. Meaning, not only are all the lab rats probably exposed, but now so are their families (including me).
Merry Christmas - I guess I’ll know in two weeks.
I think and hope you are too pessimistic about the timeline.
Meanwhile, Trump files bogus suits, fleeces the rubes, and plays the victim.
Oh, and an average of 140 new covid-19 cases and one death occurred each minute yesterday, because ‘leadership.’
I think the US vaccine program will move quicker than expected. Don’t forget all the Trumpers / anti-vaxxers who are included in the total vaccination population, but who will decline to be vaccinated for a hoax. They’ll just make the vaccination line move that much faster.
Win Win !
Yep - more for me. What I’m hearing now is, maybe by May or June. Remember, there’re a whole lot of people in line ahead of me. And while one of the distribution points is in southern Wisconsin, we don’t have enough, really, to get past the first wave - not of the Pfizer stuff anyway. The other sources, I’m not hearing enough information to know if they can make up the gap in volume.
Yeah, I was wondering about this. How are other countries getting the vaccine? I thought we were moving at “warp speed!”
They must be going “ludicrous speed”
Dare I suggest that it might be due to the lack of politicization of the virus in those countries, as well as of sane leadership at the top? For starters?
For the record, this article appears to discuss who’s active in the distribution:
Of course, notorious in its absence, is the US.
LONDON (AP) — A retired British shop clerk received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program
How dare this worthless old woman who never held a prestige job get free health care? Thank god we do things differently here in the good old US of A. Wealthy insulated politicians and tycoons will be first, as God intended ,right alongside the doctors and nurses (Optics).
I lived in the UK for a 2 years and have visited often. Seeing their elation today makes me happy and a bit jealous. The thought of moving there one day doesn’t seem far fetched to me. They have one of the better civil service administrations I’ve seen.
They knew warp speed was too slow, so they went to plaid.
Someone above her in the food chain needs to have a long, long, talk with her about personal responsibility and her obligations to her colleagues. You have every right to be livid about this. I hope you and your husband dodge this bullet.
I hate to say that I’ve had a sore throat for most of the day today. Temperature is normal, but if I did get it, it would have been at work last week (Monday through Wednesday). Nothing else yet, but stay tuned.
Dear hubby might be in the crosshairs of that one too - not sure when she returned from SD, so it could be that too. Won’t know.
Candles lit, fingers crossed, and pasta served for dinner tonight…
The sore throat has disappeared, but that’s normal behavior for me with colds (which are viruses). Smell and taste are still there; no fever. So far, so good.
The Lancet has just published their report on the AstraZeneca vaccine trials. Here’s a brief intro to the article, and you can then find and download the full report on the Lancet Site:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32623-4/fulltext
Here’s the nut graf in the report:
The observed differences in efficacy by dose were not consistent with results from previous immunogenicity trials of this vaccine, which were similar for participants
receiving two low doses and two standard doses; no immunogenicity data exist for the mixed-dose regimen.[Ref 6] If immunogenicity is also similar for this regimen, this would be an unusual finding that requires further exploration, including whether this pertains only to milder disease (as there were too few cases to assess efficacy against severe COVID-19). Disparity between immunogenicity and efficacy findings could imply that clear-cut immunological correlates of clinical protection might not exist for COVID-19 vaccines, meaning efficacy cannot be extrapolated to other unevaluated ages or populations. Furthermore, bridging trials, in which new vaccines are tested against such correlates, or immunogenicity equivalence trials, in which new vaccines are tested against licensed vaccines using such immunological surrogates (rather than disease outcomes), that are faster and easier might be infeasible, posing challenges for future vaccine development, evaluation, and regulatory approval.
[Emphasis added.]
It remains to be seen how regulators respond to the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, and whether they take up this position that coronavirus vaccines cannot be assayed on immunoglobulin titers. If they go along with the idea (which has yet to be shown to be the case), the need for a large scale efficacy trial using disease endpoints is going to be a huge barrier to coronavirus vaccine development.
ETA: If this position on the lack of clear correlates between clinical protection and immunological measures holds up, it’s going to create a hell of a mess for trying to determine how frequently people need to receive the vaccine.
At this point, the Astra-Zeneca vaccine does not appear to be as effective (~70%) as the mRNA vaccines (in the mid-90s), which I find slightly surprising.
Thank you! I should have immediately sent this link to you to review. But, I know you would get it. I respect and appreciate your review. 
