Are vaccines the light at the end of the tunnel?

[TeeRick]

20 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

I thought it was more than two variants?

 

UK

South Africa

Brazil

Possibly USA

 

 

There are and will continue to be variants circulating.  Many of them worldwide.  Some have been named by where they were discovered so it makes them sound more ominous.  This is completely expected.  The nature of an RNA genome virus.    So far there has been no evidence presented that these variants will not respond to one of the available vaccines.  As the vaccination efforts really pick up in the area of the UK with their variant, I would suspect that real data and not speculation and fear will answer this important question.  Will a person with two previous doses of vaccine become easily infected (or sick) with the UK variant?  Easy enough to answer with the numbers circulating out there.

[Homosassa]

On 1/14/2021 at 6:28 PM, Covepointcruiser said:

Our county in Maryland is not handling the vaccinations well.    The governor has stated that all senior 65s and over are now eligible but our county is holding it at 1a.   That is, unless you are a wealthy senior.   Those in the high cost Asbury Complex, $500k to buy in and everyone has a cottage or an apartment, received their vaccinations last Friday.    It has not been opened to other seniors, even those 75 and over.   County adjoining ours is giving vaccines to those 65 and over.   Glad our politicians are focused on DC and are forgetting about COVID and their constituents.

You are in Calvert County? And is it Anne Arundel that you are referring to?  My daughter is in group 1B for AA county (school teacher) and registration has just opened for that group.  Seniors 75+ are included in 1B.

 

For anyone who has been suggesting that I need to expand my horizons to find a vaccine here in Florida, let me explain where my posts are coming from.

 

I live in Citrus County and therefore I have boots on the ground information about the vaccine efforts here in the county. That is what I am posting about.

 

However, my effects to find vaccines for my husband and I are not limited to Citrus County. We have given ourselves a travel time of  four hours which means basically anywhere in the state or southern Georgia (yes, I do have an ethical problem with traveling to another state to take a vaccine).  We have just not been successful yet and it is not for lack of trying.

 

The four hours do have geographical limitations as four hours west puts us in the Gulf of Mexico  and four hours east in the Atlantic Ocean. 😄

[Caymus88]

58 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

You are in Calvert County? And is it Anne Arundel that you are referring to?  My daughter is in group 1B for AA county (school teacher) and registration has just opened for that group.  Seniors 75+ are included in 1B.

 

For anyone who has been suggesting that I need to expand my horizons to find a vaccine here in Florida, let me explain where my posts are coming from.

 

I live in Citrus County and therefore I have boots on the ground information about the vaccine efforts here in the county. That is what I am posting about.

 

However, my effects to find vaccines for my husband and I are not limited to Citrus County. We have given ourselves a travel time of  four hours which means basically anywhere in the state or southern Georgia (yes, I do have an ethical problem with traveling to another state to take a vaccine).  We have just not been successful yet and it is not for lack of trying.

 

The four hours do have geographical limitations as four hours west puts us in the Gulf of Mexico  and four hours east in the Atlantic Ocean. 😄

Lake county still taking appts as of this am.

[4774Papa]

On 1/11/2021 at 1:41 AM, wrk2cruise said:

 

The someone was me.  The 4 day grace period was for an early second dose.  That's why I posed the reference.

 

"Persons should not be scheduled to receive the second dose earlier than recommended (i.e., 3 weeks [Pfizer-BioNTech] or 1 month [Moderna]). However, second doses administered within a grace period of 4 days earlier than the recommended date for the second dose are still considered valid. Doses inadvertently administered earlier than the grace period do not need to be repeated."

Interesting, because I received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday and was scheduled by the Health Department to receive the second dose 17 days later.  They fit me in that date because of all the others had booked up the dates for 21 days.  Glad it should be a problem.

[4774Papa]

On 1/9/2021 at 10:59 PM, nocl said:

1. License Plates both the state and the dealership mentioned around the plate. Observing which vehicle they got out of or returned to

2. Talking and listening to people (visitors will usual say where they are visiting from to just about anyone they meet).

3. Behavior - One can get a pretty good idea by observing the locals vs visitors. One recognizes the locals that frequent the beach area simple because you have seen them week after week. Keep in mind that Pismo Beach is around 8,200 people.  Even if you lump in the 5 cities you are talking 50,000. if someone is fishing from the pier they are usually local, if the chairs they use on the beach are used they are usually local.  If they have chairs that have a hotels name or have one of the hotels beach towels they are usually visitors.  People hitting the tourist focused gift shops are usually visitors. If someone enters or leaves one of the local hotels or vacation rentals they are usually not local. On and on.  In this small of a community, that tends to be a tourist destination, one gets a good idea who is local and who is not.

 

 

I live in Coastal Georgia, known as the Golden Isles.   We have commiserated with many of our neighbors and friends about the huge difference in behavior between locals and visitors from out of town.

 

Our area has a significant number of tourists during the warmer months, especially Memorial Day weekend, Fourth of July weekend and Labour Day weekend.  We can always tell those from out of town when they are at the grocery by what they are buying, beach stuff and other stuff that locals would not purchase.  Also, the way they seem lost in the store, trying to find items.  Same to some degree in the Pharmacies and even restaurants.  

 

This year during Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends, by FAR, the people not masking or social distancing were the out of town people.   Out of town people include people from North Georgia (Atlanta) and typically the NE USA, New York, NJ, etc.  

[sgmn]

On 1/13/2021 at 2:57 PM, upwarduk said:

Some news today from UK, we will NOT BE ISSUED WITH A VACCINE PASSPORT.

One of the reasons given was that we could pass the virus on to other people, but be asymptotic ourself.

 

https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/coronavirus-vaccine-passport-immunity-lockdown-normal-life-threat-to-freedom

Apparently according to a friend who's mother has had her 1st vaccine you get given a small card but that maybe just that local health authority and not nationwide 

[Sam.Seattle]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

Apparently according to a friend who's mother has had her 1st vaccine you get given a small card but that maybe just that local health authority and not nationwide 

Cards are also being issued in Washington and California.

[nomad098]

2 hours ago, sgmn said:

Apparently according to a friend who's mother has had her 1st vaccine you get given a small card but that maybe just that local health authority and not nationwide 

 

The article was from 7th December 2020,

The official line is there will not be any covid-19 certificate/passport other than the appointment card.

Of course this could all change.

I believe the government roll out of the vaccines has not yet linked vaccine recording with NHS and GP surgery records without this there will be no chance of any sort of official certification or passport.

[Mark_T]

2 hours ago, sgmn said:

Apparently according to a friend who's mother has had her 1st vaccine you get given a small card but that maybe just that local health authority and not nationwide 

 

The aim of the card is to remind you about the need for the 2nd vaccination and to help make sure you get the same vaccine as the first, it has no use or purpose beyond that and would never stand up as proof of anything as they are trivial to duplicate.

[Jazzbo]

We got our first doses of Moderna on Tuesday (1/12) at the Orange County (FL) Convention Center.  The vaccination process was very organized, and we never had to get out of the car.  WE even got our appointment for our second dose before we left. 

 

Getting the appointment was really frustrating, though.  The County opened up the second round of appointments for 65+ at 8:00 am on the previous Thursday.  Both my husband and I started trying to register online at 8:00 am.  The few times it let us in, it kicked us out before we could complete the process.  After about 45 minutes, there was a message to try back at 10:00 am.  At 10, we got try back at noon after about 10 minutes of trying; same thing after about 20 minutes of trying starting at noon, then try back at 2:00.  At 2:00, try back at 3:00 immediately.  When we got the try back at 6:00, we tried a different strategy.  We started trying at 5:00 instead, and finally got to sign up about 5:30.  All appointments were taken by Saturday.  They opened up again at 8:00 this morning.  I hope they have improved the website! (CDR is the website; we had to register on CDR when we got tested last month.)

[4774Papa]

35 minutes ago, nomad098 said:

 

The article was from 7th December 2020,

The official line is there will not be any covid-19 certificate/passport other than the appointment card.

Of course this could all change.

I believe the government roll out of the vaccines has not yet linked vaccine recording with NHS and GP surgery records without this there will be no chance of any sort of official certification or passport.

I read that there was to be an online site that would allow one to pull up who had the vaccine.  That is likely still in the planning stage.

[nomad098]

3 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

I read that there was to be an online site that would allow one to pull up who had the vaccine.  That is likely still in the planning stage.

 

UK governments over the years have spent 100's of millions pounds trying to develop an integrated NHS system and we are still nowhere near having one.

[nocl]

8 hours ago, TeeRick said:

There are and will continue to be variants circulating.  Many of them worldwide.  Some have been named by where they were discovered so it makes them sound more ominous.  This is completely expected.  The nature of an RNA genome virus.    So far there has been no evidence presented that these variants will not respond to one of the available vaccines.  As the vaccination efforts really pick up in the area of the UK with their variant, I would suspect that real data and not speculation and fear will answer this important question.  Will a person with two previous doses of vaccine become easily infected (or sick) with the UK variant?  Easy enough to answer with the numbers circulating out there.

It seems to be a bit inconsistent for everyone to be referring to the variants by location, when only a few months back the WHO and many others (including the media that is now referring to the varients by location) said that viruses should not be referred to by location when people were referring to COVID19 by its originating location.

 

I guess people only get upset when the location is in certain countries. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by nocl

[nocl]

4 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

I live in Coastal Georgia, known as the Golden Isles.   We have commiserated with many of our neighbors and friends about the huge difference in behavior between locals and visitors from out of town.

 

Our area has a significant number of tourists during the warmer months, especially Memorial Day weekend, Fourth of July weekend and Labour Day weekend.  We can always tell those from out of town when they are at the grocery by what they are buying, beach stuff and other stuff that locals would not purchase.  Also, the way they seem lost in the store, trying to find items.  Same to some degree in the Pharmacies and even restaurants.  

 

This year during Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends, by FAR, the people not masking or social distancing were the out of town people.   Out of town people include people from North Georgia (Atlanta) and typically the NE USA, New York, NJ, etc.  

In many ways that makes sense, after all if one is concerned about the risk and following the protection guidelines,  they are far less likely to be traveling.  Those that are traveling are generally less concerned about the risk and less likely to feel that the protective measures are needed.

[NantahalaCruiser]

8 hours ago, Homosassa said:

You are in Calvert County? And is it Anne Arundel that you are referring to?  My daughter is in group 1B for AA county (school teacher) and registration has just opened for that group.  Seniors 75+ are included in 1B.

 

For anyone who has been suggesting that I need to expand my horizons to find a vaccine here in Florida, let me explain where my posts are coming from.

 

I live in Citrus County and therefore I have boots on the ground information about the vaccine efforts here in the county. That is what I am posting about.

 

However, my effects to find vaccines for my husband and I are not limited to Citrus County. We have given ourselves a travel time of  four hours which means basically anywhere in the state or southern Georgia (yes, I do have an ethical problem with traveling to another state to take a vaccine).  We have just not been successful yet and it is not for lack of trying.

 

The four hours do have geographical limitations as four hours west puts us in the Gulf of Mexico  and four hours east in the Atlantic Ocean. 😄

I feel for you.  After 1 1/2 weeks of trying to get through the NC red-tape registration we finally have appointments for our first shots on this coming Tuesday (1B since we are both over 75.)

 

Glad it will be the Moderna version since it is around 80% effective a few weeks after the 1st shot and 95% effective a few weeks after the 2nd shot.  Hopefully we will live through this and enjoy cruising again starting on an Alaskan in July 2022.

 

Hope you also will soon get your appointments.

[NantahalaCruiser]

56 minutes ago, nocl said:

In many ways that makes sense, after all if one is concerned about the risk and following the protection guidelines,  they are far less likely to be traveling.  Those that are traveling are generally less concerned about the risk and less likely to feel that the protective measures are needed.

Perhaps; but when we traveled to Charleston over Thanksgiving, it seemed that the vast majority of locals and tourists alike were concerned and taking appropriate protection measures.  And the worst social distancing and poor mask wearing (over mouth but not over nose) was by local wait staff in the one restaurant that also had insufficient social distancing.

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 1/15/2021 at 9:03 AM, D C said:

Here's a good chart from the CDC in the US.  They establish a 'comparison group' (20-somethings) and compare the relative risk vs them.   Remember, it's a relative comparison, so even the 30x higher for death in the 50s is compared to a very small death rate, but it goes up exponentially with age.

 

That's great unless you are the unlucky one that dies or has a permanent issue.

In Arizona cases and deaths were mostly those over 70 at first.  Today some 80%+ of cases are 20-35 and hospitalization numbers rising for that group.  Now 1/3 of hospitalizations.

We are group 1B.  Scheduled for vaccine on Feb 2.  Did it on line.  Very shortly we will run out of vaccine as large numbers will need 2nd dose.

To the OP.  Vaccines are the light.  But the tunnel is seemingly getting longer.

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Arizona Wildcat

[Fouremco]

An interesting article on how some states are administering Covid-19 vaccines at twice the speed of others:

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/health/states-vaccinating-faster-west-virginia/index.html

[Porky55]

If possible, could someone enlighten me on the truth or not of this:

 

“How do we know, if someone tests Positive, that they aren’t someone who has HAD Covid and has recovered and is not infectious but just shedding - like Tennys Sandgren? This is what we are being told - as his Covid Test this week was Positive but he can still go out in public and play tennis!!
 

True or false 🤔

 

 

[Dr. Pam]

Friends......truly, we are in the tunnel but will not see the light for awhile! There are a lot more pandemic concerns to come.  I am sad and disappointed that we will not cruise in the near future (this year...only my thoughts.)  I am trying  to appreciate the other small things in life that perhaps I have overlooked.  Happy and Safe travels in the future. 

[zitsky]

5 hours ago, nocl said:

It seems to be a bit inconsistent for everyone to be referring to the variants by location, when only a few months back the WHO and many others (including the media that is now referring to the varients by location) said that viruses should not be referred to by location when people were referring to COVID19 by its originating location.

 

I guess people only get upset when the location is in certain countries. 

 

Not sure what your last sentence means.  You make a big leap.  It's people who want to distinguish one variant from another.  Yes there is a scientific term for each one.

[nocl]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

 

Not sure what your last sentence means.  You make a big leap.  It's people who want to distinguish one variant from another.  Yes there is a scientific term for each one.

Just as there is for the virus, there are also codes for the variants that do not require place names. For example the UK variant is B.1.1.7.  

 

Just pointing out that the media that was adamant that COVID19 should not be referred to by a place name are very happily using the place names for the variants in countries not named China.

 

As I mentioned a bit inconsistent. If they were adamant before they should stick to the same standard today.  

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by nocl

[Porky55]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

 It's people who want to distinguish one variant from another.  Yes there is a scientific term for each one.

Agree, but change ‘people’ to Media, who seem to be shaping our lives, making Leaders (and vanquished), winners & Losers, for or against at the moment with their 24/7 coverage. And not for the good I fear.

Edited January 17, 2021 by Porky55

[zanderblue]

I have attached link below to the current COVID vaccination plan for Scotland. Headline details are on pages 8 and 9, but also interesting to note that the plan is based on worst case for vaccine availability. Let’s hope that it they can deliver it.

 

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2020/12/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-deployment-plan-2021/documents/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-deployment-plan-2021/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-deployment-plan-2021/govscot%3Adocument/COVID-19%2Bvaccine%2Bdeployment%2Bplan%2B14%2BJanuary%2B2021.pdf

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Hopefully more good news is just "weeks away" with regards to the J&J and AZ/Oxford vaccines, especially with regards to getting the vaccines delivered to more rural areas both in the US and Canada.

 

Fauci: Approval of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines likely 'weeks away' | TheHill