COVID-19 treatment and vaccine update thread

[FishPants]

I feel Canada's been rather slow in rolling it out. Part of that is out of our control due to delayed shipments from the EU, and that's one thing, but I feel Ontario has really messed up. Ford had announced last week that phase two would be occuring province-wide, but what he neglected to mention was that there are some districts with health units like mine not using the province-wide booking system and still in phase 1, and when that announcement was made, it caused a lot of confusion and frustration for those thinking the number and website was valid for us, when in fact it was not. For the last several weeks, it's been rather rough.

Now, Ontario is a fairly large province, and I feel there are many times those of us like me in the North of the Province aren't seen and heard, and often ignored. At around the same time of that announcement, Ford pretty much came right out and said he would rather prioritize Southern Ontario. He didn't even try to hide it. . Meanwhile, we're in a grey zone, with outbreaks left and right, in schools, our hospital, in nursing/retirement homes, and with less access to readily available vaccine, and somehow we're not any worse off than any other regions according to him. Yet in a time where we're all experiencing hardship, in the entire province, and when everyone knows vaccination anywhere is going to help the province as a whole, he prefers to prioritize. It's a sickening display of negligence.

Fortunately, that was more than a week ago, and we've now moved on to phase 2 with the rest of the Province, and My Dad has managed to get his two appointments, one of them being in less than a week.

Dude that is an understatement, and I'm in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph for a public health unit (and we are supposedly further along than most of the province). It's so fucking frustrating to see how slow this is moving, but the reality is we just don't have supply. You can blame Doug for his shit ass prioritization, but 90% of the blame lies at Justin's feet for trying to rely on China (of all fucking countries) to supply us vaccine initially -- he even stood by that story for months, when he knew within days of the first announcement that China pulled out of the deal with Cansino.

I'm very jealous of the countries like the US/UK that are able to see light at the end of the tunnel, meanwhile we have a third wave of variants tearing through our province like wildfire - another lock down must be imminent and I've just about had enough of this bullshit; no vaccines, no leadership, no hope this is going away anytime soon. Brutal.

[Rumpy]

Dude that is an understatement, and I'm in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph for a public health unit (and we are supposedly further along than most of the province). It's so fucking frustrating to see how slow this is moving, but the reality is we just don't have supply. You can blame Doug for his shit ass prioritization, but 90% of the blame lies at Justin's feet for trying to rely on China (of all fucking countries) to supply us vaccine initially -- he even stood by that story for months, when he knew within days of the first announcement that China pulled out of the deal with Cansino.

I'm very jealous of the countries like the US/UK that are able to see light at the end of the tunnel, meanwhile we have a third wave of variants tearing through our province like wildfire - another lock down must be imminent and I've just about had enough of this bullshit; no vaccines, no leadership, no hope this is going away anytime soon. Brutal.

Yeah, all I can do is sigh with a heavy dose of frustration at how slowly we've been moving. We really should be doing better at this. I have a friend in Europe that has already received their two doses, one as early as November. And then I see friends of mine Stateside who are also much further along. At this rate, I've told myself I don't expect to see myself vaccinated with a first dose before September. My area was one of the first to enter the 3rd wave. Remember that lockdown the day after Christmas? We were into that until the end of February. And while my district was out of it for maybe 2 weeks, we went back into a lockdown and currently still are. There's only so much one can do while the government keeps telling people to remain vigilant.

[FishPants]

Dude that is an understatement, and I'm in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph for a public health unit (and we are supposedly further along than most of the province). It's so fucking frustrating to see how slow this is moving, but the reality is we just don't have supply. You can blame Doug for his shit ass prioritization, but 90% of the blame lies at Justin's feet for trying to rely on China (of all fucking countries) to supply us vaccine initially -- he even stood by that story for months, when he knew within days of the first announcement that China pulled out of the deal with Cansino.

I'm very jealous of the countries like the US/UK that are able to see light at the end of the tunnel, meanwhile we have a third wave of variants tearing through our province like wildfire - another lock down must be imminent and I've just about had enough of this bullshit; no vaccines, no leadership, no hope this is going away anytime soon. Brutal.

Yeah, all I can do is sigh with a heavy dose of frustration at how slowly we've been moving. We really should be doing better at this. I have a friend in Europe that has already received their two doses, one as early as November. And then I see friends of mine Stateside who are also much further along. At this rate, I've told myself I don't expect to see myself vaccinated with a first dose before September. My area was one of the first to enter the 3rd wave. Remember that lockdown the day after Christmas? We were into that until the end of February. And while my district was out of it for maybe 2 weeks, we went back into a lockdown and currently still are. There's only so much one can do while the government keeps telling people to remain vigilant.

Yep it's getting to the point that people will just completely ignore the government and roll the dice (currently at least around here people more or less are compliant) -- but frustrations are getting really high (and compound it with anything remotely entertaining is a total bitch to schedule/do/buy) it's not going to last until September. I hope Canadians across the board whenever this election is called, not to make this R&P because I don't know of any party that would have done better to be honest.

I guess with NY dropping the age requirement, perhaps there's hope that I can just drive over soon with my family and pay for it in Buffalo -- I'll get a fucking receipt and submit it to OHIP too; they can pay for it.

[Max Peck]

Canada has never been planning to depend on China for vaccines. One of partnerships that was explored early on was between the NRC and a Chinese company (CanSino) but it collapsed, probably due to the ongoing diplomatic issues stemming from the Meng Wanzhou affair. If the collaboration hadn't fallen apart, and the resulting vaccine was successful, the plan was to produce it at an NRC facility in Montreal.

However, that was only one of several options that was pursued, since the federal government strategy was to fund vaccines from a number of different sources, given that there was no way of being sure at that time which lines of research would prove to be successful. There has never been a point where the federal government put all it's eggs in any one basket. The key problem seems to be that all the vaccines approved so far are produced in countries where governments are limiting/forbidding exports (EU, India, USA) so the supply chain has been, and continues to be, less than reliable. That probably won't change before the end of the year. Assuming the Novavax vaccine is approved, there is an agreement in place to manufacture it in Canada at the NRC facility in Montreal. If anything dramatically changes the status quo before then, it would likely be if/when the USA decides it has enough vaccine for domestic requirements and allows companies producing vaccines in the USA to export their products.

[Max Peck]

Just what we need, another plot twist in the AstraZeneca saga...

Suspend AstraZeneca use for people under 55, vaccine committee recommends

Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is recommending provinces pause the use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine on those under the age of 55 because of safety concerns — guidance most provinces said today that they would follow.

The change comes following reports out of Europe of very rare instances of blood clots in some immunized patients — notably among younger women.

But 300,000 of these shots have been administered in Canada already, with no reports of blood clots here, officials said. The blood clotting problem also has not been reported in people who have received mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer and Moderna products.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Dr. Shelley Deeks, the vice-chair of NACI, said that with "substantial uncertainty" around cases of vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia (VIPIT) in people with low platelets, the committee is recommending the suspension of shots in all people under 55 as a "precautionary measure."

Based on early research out of Europe, VIPIT seems to be rare, occurring in anywhere from 1 in every 125,000 to 1 in 1 million people.

The European Union's drug watchdog, the European Medicines Agency, has said it could not definitively rule out a link between the vaccine and rare types of blood clots associated with thrombocytopenia.

Specifically, it pointed to 18 cases of an extremely rare type of blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a condition that is much more common in women than men. Most of the cases occurred within 14 days of receiving the AstraZeneca shot, and the majority were in women under the age of 55.

[Rumpy]

The key problem seems to be that all the vaccines approved so far are produced in countries where governments are limiting/forbidding exports (EU, India, USA) so the supply chain has been, and continues to be, less than reliable.

Yep, that is the crux of the issue. At first, when Canada had announced it had bought the most doses of the Pfizer vaccine, I thought we'd be ahead of the curve, but then there were the problems at the production facility, then the EU had suddenly decided to prioritize those in the EU and halved what we would get, and it feels like we've been having to constantly deal with supply chain issues from the beginning. If it's not one thing, it's always another. It's been very frustrating watching it unfold.

[Exodor]

Got an email this morning that I was eligible to sign up at a drive-through vaccination clinic happening this weekend. Turns out the sign-up page doesn't hold your slot as you fill out the required web form - twice my slot was claimed by someone else while I was filling out the form. After trying to fill out the form twice and losing my spot the page refreshed and there were no more slots available.

[Kurth]

My wife and I got our first shot of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday (really easy process; just made an appointment at a nearby Walgreens). She’s feeling nothing, but 12 hours post shot, I started feeling like a truck ran over me. Heavy flu-like symptoms. 36 hours later, still feeling like shit. Sleeping all day, achy and cold with a headache. Sucks.

I think the difference our reactions may have something to do with the fact that I had a symptomatic case of COVID back in the fall, so maybe my first shot is really more like my second.

Ready for this to pass.

I'm glad to hear your wife isn't getting beaten up by the vaccine. Hope you're better soon.

Update: Side effects were shitty but only really lasted 48 hours. Got the shot at 1:00 PM on Friday. Felt bad by midnight that night and couldn't sleep. Felt really lousy all day Saturday but managed to sleep that night and woke up Sunday feeling much better.

Hoping that doesn't happen again with the second shot, that's for sure.

[Kurth]

Got an email this morning that I was eligible to sign up at a drive-through vaccination clinic happening this weekend. Turns out the sign-up page doesn't hold your slot as you fill out the required web form - twice my slot was claimed by someone else while I was filling out the form. After trying to fill out the form twice and losing my spot the page refreshed and there were no more slots available.

I think I got that same email for that same clinic. Doesn't lead to a lot of confidence in the system, though, since as posted above, I already got my first shot on Friday, and I promptly unsubscribed from the OR vaccine notification system. A smoothly running machine it is not!

[Harkonis]

Got my first shot of Moderna Sat and couldn't stay out of bed more than a couple hours today. the Mrs was teasing me every time I headed back to bed but I just could not keep my eyes open. So fatigued

[jztemple2]

Got an email this morning that I was eligible to sign up at a drive-through vaccination clinic happening this weekend. Turns out the sign-up page doesn't hold your slot as you fill out the required web form - twice my slot was claimed by someone else while I was filling out the form. After trying to fill out the form twice and losing my spot the page refreshed and there were no more slots available.

This happened to me several times while trying to sign up on the Publix page . It took five times for me and three for my wife, plus we ended up going to another county, but perseverance paid off. Why they don't have you fill out all the info first and then let you play slot roulette is beyond me

[jztemple2]

[Kraken]

Got an email this morning that I was eligible to sign up at a drive-through vaccination clinic happening this weekend. Turns out the sign-up page doesn't hold your slot as you fill out the required web form - twice my slot was claimed by someone else while I was filling out the form. After trying to fill out the form twice and losing my spot the page refreshed and there were no more slots available.

This happened to me several times while trying to sign up on the Publix page . It took five times for me and three for my wife, plus we ended up going to another county, but perseverance paid off. Why they don't have you fill out all the info first and then let you play slot roulette is beyond me

Wife spent quite a few hours battling the same frustrations, but ultimately prevailed. The most maddening was the site that jettisoned my appointment because the password wasn't secure enough. By the time she satisfied it, the slots were gone.

[FishPants]

Canada has never been planning to depend on China for vaccines. One of partnerships that was explored early on was between the NRC and a Chinese company (CanSino) but it collapsed, probably due to the ongoing diplomatic issues stemming from the Meng Wanzhou affair. If the collaboration hadn't fallen apart, and the resulting vaccine was successful, the plan was to produce it at an NRC facility in Montreal.

However, that was only one of several options that was pursued, since the federal government strategy was to fund vaccines from a number of different sources, given that there was no way of being sure at that time which lines of research would prove to be successful. There has never been a point where the federal government put all it's eggs in any one basket. The key problem seems to be that all the vaccines approved so far are produced in countries where governments are limiting/forbidding exports (EU, India, USA) so the supply chain has been, and continues to be, less than reliable. That probably won't change before the end of the year. Assuming the Novavax vaccine is approved, there is an agreement in place to manufacture it in Canada at the NRC facility in Montreal. If anything dramatically changes the status quo before then, it would likely be if/when the USA decides it has enough vaccine for domestic requirements and allows companies producing vaccines in the USA to export their products.

Sorry that's false, Trudeau announced the deal with CanSino and stood by it for months even though days after the announcement they were told China was prohibiting shipments (retaliation for the Huawei scandal). Only after that point did he start approaching Pfizer and Moderna et al. The federal and provincial levels have 100% shit the bed on vaccinations; while other things were handled well all things considered (CERB payments, schools haven't seemed to turn into a hotbed of viral load like I expected etc) - the vaccine program is pathetic.

Granted there is certainly vaccine nationalism happening to some degree (and again that falls on the shoulders of all governments since the days of Mulroney) - it was the complete lack of preparedness and the naivety of the feds to trust that China was going to do anything to help; we seem to keep learning that lesson over and over again.

I unfortunately don't buy into nationalism as the reason why we don't have it either, when countries like Slovenia, Romania and Greece are far outpacing our inoculation rate.

It doesn't paste well but Our World in Data tells the story that perhaps my words aren't doing an effective job at. Don't take my opinions as a bipartisan issue - I think most politicians are trash, I just think that Justin is king of the current shit pile of incompetence.

[Max Peck]

Fair enough, my memory of the time line for the CanSino deal was faulty. However, since the agreements with Pfizer and Moderna were signed in early August, it seems to be a bit of a stretch to imply that no other options were explored until it was too late.

Ottawa announced agreements with Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech on Aug. 5, 2020; with Novavax and Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, on Aug. 31; with Sanofi/GSK on Sept. 22; with AstraZeneca, which is manufacturing a vaccine developed at the University of Oxford, on Sept. 25; and with Medicago on Oct. 23.

[FishPants]

Fair enough, my memory of the time line for the CanSino deal was faulty. However, since the agreements with Pfizer and Moderna were signed in early August, it seems to be a bit of a stretch to imply that no other options were explored until it was too late.

Ottawa announced agreements with Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech on Aug. 5, 2020; with Novavax and Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, on Aug. 31; with Sanofi/GSK on Sept. 22; with AstraZeneca, which is manufacturing a vaccine developed at the University of Oxford, on Sept. 25; and with Medicago on Oct. 23.

Are you suggesting the negotiations were done at the right time, and that the vaccination is progressing reasonably well? <-- not being a dick, actually asking if you think this is being properly handled. (I don't think I leave any ambiguity out there on how I feel lol).

Dr Peter Juni in Ontario declared that the pandemic is 'out of control' (we now have 20% more people in hospital now with Covid than we did when we locked down last time). Frustrating. Limited vaccines, no leadership, no plans that work.

[Max Peck]

I don't know whether, for example, the Pfizer et al contracts could or would have been signed sooner if the CanSino deal had never been pursued or had been completely abandoned sooner, but the deals were in place long before any of the vaccines were proven. We do know that the initial shortfall in supply for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was because Pfizer waited until they were already in production before deciding to scale back production in their EU facility in order to increase production capacity. The failure to foresee that they would need to do that and get it done before going into production obviously lies with Pfizer, not the Canadian government. As I vaguely recall, there have also been delivery shortfalls from Moderna, but I don't recall the reason for them and don't see how the government is responsible for the company not delivering the contracted doses on schedule. At the end of the day, as you yourself have noted, the federal government has procurement contracts in place for enough of any one of several vaccines to inoculate every Canadian (assuming a population of roughly 38 million), but the government has no control (that I can see) over when the various companies actually deliver the doses.



In terms of actually putting the vaccines into people's arms, as I understand it the federal government's role is restricted to being a conduit for getting vaccines to the provincial governments as well as to First Nations (I believe). The infrastructure for actually getting people vaccinated is in the provincial domain, so any shortcomings there fall on the shoulders of the likes of Doug Ford or Scott Moe, not Justin Trudeau, and are more directly related to government action/inaction than vaccine supplies, which seem to be more related to the ability of pharmaceutical corporations' ability to deliver product on schedule. For example, Justin Trudeau didn't force Doug Ford to wait until a couple of months after vaccinations had started to devolve responsibility for vaccination planning to the local public health units.

TL;DR: Things could undoubtedly be going better, but I'm unconvinced that Justin Trudeau is the root cause of all the problems. However I don't hate any politicians let alone all of them, so the lack of hate might be clouding my perception.

[Zaxxon]

I don't hate any politicians

Hmm.

[FishPants]

but the government has no control (that I can see) over when the various companies actually deliver the doses.

Of course they do, they could have negotiated sooner and paid in advance for vaccines. That's exactly what Israel did. Hindsight is 20/20, but to put all of our eggs in the Chinese basket was a very poor choice, actually it was fucking stupid.

In terms of actually putting the vaccines into people's arms, as I understand it the federal government's role is restricted to being a conduit for getting vaccines to the provincial governments as well as to First Nations (I believe).

Agreed, but without that supply what the heck are the provincial and territory governments going to do? The supply is a trickle, it's pretty hard to expect the provinces to ramp up when supply has been start/stop/start/stop/change/stop/start every day (let alone with the National Advisory Committee on Immunization changing their guidance on the AZ vaccine frequently).

TL;DR: Things could undoubtedly be going better, but I'm unconvinced that Justin Trudeau is the root cause of all the problems. However I don't hate any politicians let alone all of them, so the lack of hate might be clouding my perception.

Justin is 100% the root cause, without vaccines the country can't move forward and that's at his feet. Dragging this shit out for another year isn't going to fly, so how many more people get aced by this virus on account of his lack of response/urgency around vaccine procurement? He couldn't even be bothered to call the executive office of Pfizer when the delays were mounting and our supplies cut -- at least not until the media pressure forced him to.

Our politicians live in a bubble and have become so disconnected from reality - I just don't think they get what the average person is dealing with at the best of times, let alone during the pandemic. Hating politicians might be too strong a word, but I certainly don't have much respect for them - they are in it for themselves, the people are not a priority they are a pinata/piggy bank.

[Max Peck]

I don't hate any politicians

Hmm.

Canadian politicians. I don't hate any current Canadian politicians. If we had our own Trump or Bolsonaro, I might sing a different tune.

I did kind of despise Harper for putting his personal ideology above the best interests of the country as a whole when it came to his policy decisions, but I wouldn't say that I went so far as hating him. I would just never vote for a candidate running on his behalf, and I'm still giving the post-Harper Conservative party the side-eye -- for example, they are still clinging to climate change denial.

[FishPants]

Ok well maybe Justin isn't a total d-bag if this comes to pass. That certainly helps offset the fact that people are going to refuse the AZ vaccine (I'm becoming that person, I'm not sure how they screwed the pooch so hard on their trials but its a shit show).

[Z-Corn]

Just got our second Pfizer shots. Woo hoo!

Got to the convention center a half hour early and were ushered right in. Everything went as smooth as last time. Volunteers were professional and upbeat and very helpful. The hardest part was negotiating the parking ramp.

This location set a State of MI record yesterday with 12,000 vaccinations and is on track to do the same today.

[Rumpy]

Sorry that's false, Trudeau announced the deal with CanSino and stood by it for months even though days after the announcement they were told China was prohibiting shipments (retaliation for the Huawei scandal). Only after that point did he start approaching Pfizer and Moderna et al. The federal and provincial levels have 100% shit the bed on vaccinations; while other things were handled well all things considered (CERB payments, schools haven't seemed to turn into a hotbed of viral load like I expected etc) - the vaccine program is pathetic.

Whether it happened or not I think is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things when you consider that it took us back to square one anyway. They were an early exploration for sources that ended up not happening. One can only help but shrug at that.

Honestly, the whole supply issue feels like Canada's been constantly told to get to the back of the line, and it feels like that's the reason for the slow traction on getting shipments, leading to the slow rollout. That's my take on it anyway. First with Pfizer's getting delayed due to production issues, then Moderna's shipment being cut in two this week, it's been rather rough going for us.

[Holman]

Got my first vaccine appointment coming up this Sunday.

They don't specify which make I'm getting, but the second appointment is four weeks later, so I assume it's Moderna. (Pfizer uses three weeks.)

[Exodor]

Finally scheduled my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine - not until April 11 but at least it's scheduled.

[hitbyambulance]

i'm holdin' out for Novavax, myself

[Max Peck]

If the Novavax vaccine pans out, that'll probably be my 2022 vaccine (given that it will be produced in Canada by then). I'm expecting to settle for AstraZeneca in 2021, but I wouldn't turn my nose up at Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna or whatever else is approved for use by then.

The Novavax press-release data looks good, but where have I heard that before <glares at AstraZeneca>...

Novavax’s Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine Has 96% Efficacy Rate, Drugmaker Says

Maryland-based drugmaker Novavax announced Thursday that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine appears to be highly effective in combating the coronavirus, raising hopes that a fourth vaccine could be available in the U.S. in the coming months.

Citing results of a phase 3 clinical trial conducted in the United Kingdom, Novavax said its vaccine had been found to be more than 96% effective against “mild, moderate and severe disease caused by the original COVID-19 strain” and 86% effective against the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in the U.K. and has sickened at least 3,7000 people in the U.S. to date.

Novavax said the vaccine was found to be 100% effective in preventing severe disease, no matter the variant — an efficacy rate comparable to that of Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines, which are both in use in the United States.

The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which was approved last month by the Food and Drug Administration, has a reported efficacy rate of 86% against severe disease.

When referring to the efficacy of any particular vaccine, is it correct to say that is how effective the vaccine is at preventing symptomatic disease, but that we still don't know how just how effective they are at preventing asymptomatic infection or transmission?

[wonderpug]

When referring to the efficacy of any particular vaccine, is it correct to say that is how effective the vaccine is at preventing symptomatic disease, but that we still don't know how just how effective they are at preventing asymptomatic infection or transmission?

I just skimmed through the info on the Moderna trials, and if I read it right it specifically said they looked for symptomatic covid infections.

[Lassr]

Round 1 of Pfizer is done! No side effects yet, although I expect a sore arm tomorrow from everyone else's feedback.

[Kraken]

Got my first vaccine appointment coming up this Sunday.

They don't specify which make I'm getting, but the second appointment is four weeks later, so I assume it's Moderna. (Pfizer uses three weeks.)

My booster is 28 days later, so I reckon that means Moderna. Makes sense, since they're a Boston company.

[Alefroth]

Washington is basically going on the honor system starting tomorrow. The phase finder tool is being eliminated and providers are being instructed not to inquire about eligibility. Our eligibility tiers are still in effect and they are counting on people doing the right thing and waiting their turn. I really don't feel like being the person who does the right thing once again.

[hitbyambulance]

Washington is basically going on the honor system starting tomorrow. The phase finder tool is being eliminated and providers are being instructed not to inquire about eligibility. Our eligibility tiers are still in effect and they are counting on people doing the right thing and waiting their turn. I really don't feel like being the person who does the right thing once again.

we're going to be _awash_ in vaccine doses by mid-late May. sooooon

[pr0ner]

Round 1 of Pfizer is done! No side effects yet, although I expect a sore arm tomorrow from everyone else's feedback.

I barely had any soreness, unless I touched near the injection site.

[LordMortis]

People don't seem to be eager to sign up for vaccination on Easter!!!! I'm in at a CVS about 20 miles away for Pfizer this Sunday!!!! There were maybe 15 slots available.

[Lassr]

Round 1 of Pfizer is done! No side effects yet, although I expect a sore arm tomorrow from everyone else's feedback.

I barely had any soreness, unless I touched near the injection site.

It's sore today, especially when I lift my arm, but it's not bad. I barely notice it, so no pain meds needed.

[Carpet_pissr]

Washington is basically going on the honor system starting tomorrow. The phase finder tool is being eliminated and providers are being instructed not to inquire about eligibility. Our eligibility tiers are still in effect and they are counting on people doing the right thing and waiting their turn. I really don't feel like being the person who does the right thing once again.

I think there is a disconnect between the official order from Governors’ offices and the reality on the ground (especially at the large vaccination sites run by hospitals, not talking about publix, CVS, et al)

I’m sure there are state by state differences, but I’ve read about this happening in more than just my area.

While we are technically still following phases here, informally these larger sites are begging people...ANYbody to come and get vaccinated.

My 16 YO got hers last week bc there was a slew of ppl talking on Instagram about ‘anybody who wants to get vaccinated should go to x location now’.

I personally was not asked about my ‘qualification’ at all, in person. Was only warned when I signed up online that I would need to show some kind of proof that I was eligible.

Bottom line is that “total number of shots in arms” is the primary metric, and as more supply has obviously opened up, the restrictions and phases have loosened (if only informally).

[Blackhawk]

As of this morning, 16 year olds became eligible in Indiana. I was able to get my youngest (17) an appointment for the 21st. It's a school day, but I got an early appointment and, well, priorities.

As of today, none of the four of us have shots. Three weeks from today we'll have all had them. Breathing room is in sight!

[Zaxxon]

People don't seem to be eager to sign up for vaccination on Easter!!!! I'm in at a CVS about 20 miles away for Pfizer this Sunday!!!! There were maybe 15 slots available.

As of this morning, 16 year olds became eligible in Indiana. I was able to get my youngest (17) an appointment for the 21st. It's a school day, but I got an early appointment and, well, priorities.

As of today, none of the four of us have shots. Three weeks from today we'll have all had them. Breathing room is in sight!

Congrats to you both. I'm sure that is a mental load off, even if a small one


In other news, Pfizer is out today with their initial 12-15 yo results, and at least in press release form they are awesome. They are targeting approval in time for that age group to get vaccinated prior to next school year if the data holds up to scrutiny.

[Zaxxon]

And Link.

[Blackhawk]

Congrats to you both. I'm sure that is a mental load off, even if a small one

Not yet. In five weeks when we're all at first shot + 2 weeks and have protection it'll be a small load off. Until then I'm going to be even more nervous/cautious. In nine weeks when we're all at two shots + 2 weeks it'll be a big mental load off.