Will Celebrity really start back in August?

[TeeRick]

21 hours ago, Fouremco said:

In the US, who is allowed to administer vaccinations? In most Canadian provinces, in addition to doctors and nurses, pharmacists are permitted to administer a number of different vaccinations. When and if a viable vaccination for COVID-19 is approved for use in Canada, I'm confident that it will be added to the list for administration by pharmacists, thus significantly increasing capacity. Are US pharmacist similarly empowered? If they are, that would have a large impact on the speed with which US residents could be protected. If not, have there been any discussions of this possibility in anticipation of this vaccine?

Most US states.  In PA a pharmacy can administer vaccines.  Or free clinics or walk in clinics.  Many doctor's offices do not carry all vaccines.  But for a COVID vaccine I think it will be administered to everybody.  Possibly including municipalities with special vaccination events.  Some states allow pharmacy technicians to administer vaccines.  Some require a pharmacist.  Most of this applies to adults, not children.

[TeeRick]

On 6/23/2020 at 11:04 PM, K.T.B. said:

Honestly, I doubt a company like Astrazeneca would put so much faith into a vaccine like this if they weren't fairly certain of its success.  Their goal is to make 3 billion doses by then.  I have no idea how much is costs to make one dose, but even at a penny a dose that'll cost them $30,000,000.  That's a lot of money lost if it fails.

 

So, hence my optimism that it'll work!  

Astra Zeneca has major support from both the UK and US government-  minimizing some of the risk.  These efforts would not work unless that happened.  That's also why a lot of initial doses will be no cost to the public.

 

https://www.biospace.com/article/u-s-government-provides-astrazeneca-more-than-1-billion-for-covid-19-vaccine/

[TeeRick]

16 hours ago, Fouremco said:

I'm sure that everyone globally hopes that the vaccine will 100% effective, but we all know that simply won't be the case. You can cherry pick whichever year you want to make your point - for example, it was more than twice as effective at 60% in 2010-11 - the fact remains that the vaccine will save lives. [COMPLETELY AGREE]

 

Even with your low ball 29%, that represents 36,000 US lives that would have been saved and 710 K fewer people who would have caught the virus over just a 4 month period had they been vaccinated. Far from perfect, but far better than no vaccine at all.

Influenza vs Covid-19. This is a common comparison and concern expressed here and about everywhere in the media.  I think even a 50-60% efficacious COVID-19 vaccine will be approved and will be extremely helpful if a large percentage of the population gets vaccinated.  But I think we need to dispel the myth (for now) that a COVID-19 vaccine will be like a Flu vaccine.  And will need to be changed every year.  They are two entirely different viruses but everybody loves to compare them as the same.  Not so.  Let's wait for the vaccine to be developed.  SARS-CoV-2 has some strain variation but has been surprisingly more conserved and stable than many initially believed.  Fingers and toes crossed!