Unsurprising email received this morning. This is the second time my scheduled appointment has been changed. Originally, I had a February 14th appointment. I had to reschedule and got March 1st, and now, today, I see I am bumped to March 29th.
I don't like this, but I do think I'm in a better position to weather the delay than a lot of other people. I only have priority because of age, and I'm not that old. I'm 70. I don't have any conditions that are causing me to worry, and I'm retired and easily able to avoid contact with other people. I want us all to get vaccinated, and my getting the vaccination is important to me, but it's also important to me that other people get vaccinated.
I'd like to see the world get going again, and that has more to do with people other than me getting their protection.
ADDED: Here's Anthony Fauci: "It may take until June, July and August to finally get everybody vaccinated. So when you hear about how long it’s going to take to get the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated, I don’t think anybody disagrees that that’s going to be well to the end of the summer and we get into the early fall."
They're managing our expectations with something approaching double talk. It may take until June... but everyone agrees that it won't be until the end of the summer and let me just float the phrase early fall.
Posts
261 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 261 of 261Howard: "Vaccine distribution should be privatized like the Texas electric grid."
Wind turbines, photovoltaic farms, and gas lines pressurized with electric motors driven by regulations kneeling to environmentalism.
"I've never heard of anyone who caught influenza but didn't know about it. When you get the flu: you know."
Well, what surprise- you never heard of something that no one ever tested for before. What do you suppose you would find if you randomly tested the population for influenza using the analogous RT-PCR protocol used for COVID? Isn't it quite likely that you would find many positive results in people with no symptoms?
The testing protocol used for COVID is truly a unique one in the history of infectious disease, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that you get what look like unique results.
mockturtle said...
Iowan2: This is from Johns-Hopkins.
"Also, while the vaccine may prevent you from getting sick, it is unknown at this time if you can still carry and transmit the virus to others. That is why, until more is understood about how well the vaccine works, continuing with precautions such as mask-wearing and physical distancing will be important."
>>>
John Hopkins is full of shit.
We know. PFE and MRNA ran large controlled clinical trials.
The patients were tested
They were not infected, never mind seriously infected or hospitalized after vaccination. This was demonstrated by the testing
They were not infected, despite no doubt being exposed to infected people.
They were not infected, therefore they will not infect others.
THIS IS FUCKING SCIENCE.
For Wisconsinites, it’s about time!
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is launching a new service March 1 that will help connect people with available vaccine. The Wisconsin COVID-19 Vaccine Registry will provide a central place to let people know where and when they can they can get vaccinated, and let them schedule an appointment. The Wisconsin Vaccine Registry will be used by those who opt in and will not be a comprehensive resource for all vaccination options. Health care systems, pharmacies and local health departments may already have their own registration and scheduling software.
continuing with precautions such as mask-wearing and physical distancing will be important
Physical distancing, maybe. It depends on the transmission mode (e.g. fecal) and environment (e.g. greenhouse effect). Masks, no. They may offer some protection from symptomatic spread, but from controlled studies, anything less than N95 and following strict protocol, is known to statistically increase infection in both specialized and especially in general use.
So, what is our collective thought about Australia and NZ? They have closed up during their summer. How hard will they get hit during their winter? They haven’t been building any immunity in their population. Australia got killed in a third spike in 1920.
"Well, what surprise- you never heard of something that no one ever tested for before...."
To be clear, I was exagerating. There is asymptomatic flu spread. It seems to be that there are way more mild and asymptomatic cases with COVID than flu. At times it seems as if actually getting sick from COVID is the exception rather than the rule. That would be unusual for flu.
The worst flu we have experienced killed ~100 million people in about 8 or 9 months. It killed healthy 25 year old men at similar rates to the elderly. As a consequence it caused a 12 year drop in life expectancy.
The worst corona spread we have experienced is COVID. While destructive, COVID is not nearly as deadly as 1918. Not even close.
The point being, we will have to wait to see if COVID is an ongoing problem like flu. If we are trying to draw analogies to flu. 1918 Flu was way more deadly than COVID-19. If seasonal flu and seasonal COVID bear the same relationship, it's not crazy to think seasonal COVID shot may not even be worth the effort. Too early to say.
Guessing you are UW Health. We got our Moderna vaccine (mint flavored) from SSM health 02-17-21 and will get our second, booster shot March 14.
nn the shutdown of thermal plants in Tx are the root of the problem. Wind is just 10% in winter. Texas sold out to foreign ownership who don't have to follow pesky regulations. Wait for stories of Enron type profiteering from this colossal fuckup to come to light.
Texas sold out to foreign ownership who don't have to follow pesky regulations.
That's not how pesky regulations work. You think foreigners who do business in the U.S. are immune from our regulations?
Folks should stop bitching, you could be getting the barely 50% effective China vaccine. Evidently it's the same quality as their sheetrock and dog food.
I am amazed that Wisconsin does not have an online system in place that identifies sites with available vaccine and allows you to make an appointment.
Looking at the state health website I see this :
"The Wisconsin COVID-19 Vaccine Registry allows Wisconsin residents to register for and schedule COVID-19 vaccinations locally – when they are eligible, and as vaccine becomes available.'
"The vaccine registry will likely become available to the public on March 1, 2021."
March 1???
Holy Hell. My backwards, redneck, non-progressive state has had such a system up and running for two months. It's how I scheduled my shots. We've got drive through sites manned by the Guard and are held back only by the number of vaccines available.
Am I reading this right? Surely you can go online to the state health website and register for an appointment? If not then, What the Fuck, Wisconsin. Don't kill Althouse!!!
I’ll repost this from Tuesday night for those who can’t or won’t get a shot soon.
I will pass along this info from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. This was forwarded to me by my friend and neighbor, a family practice doc. He and his wife both contracted covid and utilized the I MAST protocol for early treatment and both had a very mild course of infection. They are in their mid 50’s.
https://aapsonline.org/early-treatment-saves-lives-aaps-testifies-before-u-s-senate/
You can access the pdf file of Dr Kory testimony that contains the specific protocols for the use of Ivermectin as either prophylaxis or early treatment here:
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony-Kory-2020-12-08.pdf
You can also download a home base treatment guide for covid here:
https://aapsonline.org/covidpatientguide/
Inform yourself, be proactive, especially if you have concerns or co morbidities.
The Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, is one of the most incompetent in the country. If he was a Republican, he would be savaged in the media on a daily basis. Since he’s a Democrat, he’s barely mentioned in any stories regarding the vaccine rollout debacle. Funny how that works.
>>Here in California, the seriously obese will get priority treatment
This is what governments and politicians do: They make rules. In this case, the rules seem to be focused on who can get the vaccine, and maybe more importantly, who can't.
Vaccinating 250+ million people is not about rules, it's a problem of logistics...something companies like Amazon, Walmart, and UPS excel in every day.
How many logistics experts are there in Biden administration?
Not many, I suspect. For example, Bush put John Snow (not that one), the former CEO of the CSX railroad into the job of secretary of transportation.
Biden has nominated Buttigieg... If he has any hidden talent for logistics it is very well hidden indeed.
As with almost any new product introduction, the rollout will proceed with a few well publicized users, followed by a clamor by everyone who wants the new product. They won't get it because there won't be tens of millions produced before introduction to the public with the first batches. Then follows a time of slowly increasing supply, and suddenly there is a glut on the market with product sitting on shelves.
Remember trying to get facemasks or hand sanitizer in April 2020? Look at any retail outlet now, and you can get all you can afford.
The pandemic may go on a while. I'm done with it. I'll wear my mask and clean my hands and distance from others, but I'm not staying in, or slowing down, one more damn minute.
>>The pandemic may go on a while. I'm done with it. I'll wear my mask and clean my hands and distance from others, but I'm not staying in, or slowing down, one more damn minute.
I just got a haircut. None of the staff were wearing masks, and only one customer of about six was wearing one while he waited.
Somehow, have not all died.
Howard: "Wait for stories of Enron type profiteering from this colossal fuckup to come to light."
Sure Howard.
Sure.
No profiteering from the "green" boondoggles.
Let me guess: it will all magically appear in a dossier of some sort....
For Howard, but it wont matter:
“Between 12am on 2/8 and 2/16, wind power plunged 93% while coal increased 47% and gas 450%, according to the EIA. Yet the renewable industry and its media mouthpieces are tarring gas, coal and nuclear because they didn’t operate at 100%” https://t.co/wtFPkVOXt2
So..1% fatality rate for Covid cases in WI..
My 80-year-old parents in Michigan and Nevada each have received both shots arranged through their primary doctor's groups.
With my mom, we got an email notice to be on the lookout for an email inviting us to make an appointment. We got that email a day or two later. Followed the link on MyChart, picked a day and time, and boom, all done. Took all of two or three minutes. The second shot was scheduled automatically when she got the first.
Doing it through the primary, just like any other seasonal shot. Not that hard.
But do it through the government, of course its is going to be a Charlie Foxtrot.
Re: D. Driver:
The point being, we will have to wait to see if COVID is an ongoing problem like flu.
I can't really envision a realistic scenario in which it doesn't just end up like the flu. Vaccination in the US is probably going to fall short of the level needed to eradicate it. Vaccination in the developing world isn't going to make much progress until next year or the year after -- will Europe and the US be willing to cut off illegal migration from Africa/Central America respectively and subject all entrants to strict screening for illness? Not likely.
And unlike the flu, which has been evolving and adapting to human hosts for thousands of years, the Wuhan coronavirus is newly introduced to human hosts, so there's a lot of low-hanging evolutionary fruit in terms of
mutating to better adapt to human populations, so even if a vaccine is 95% effective against variant A (100% effective for severe cases), it may be only 75% effective against B (95% for severe cases), and so forth. Which will put herd immunity even further out of reach.
We'll just get our shots, wear masks when we're feeling under the weather (rather than all the time), and that'll be that. Long term, those regular shots will probably be more like the Johnson & Johnson vaccine -- no need for supercooled transport, single shot, etc. -- than Pfizer. And since children seem less likely to develop severe cases than adults, perhaps they'll get infected while young and acquire lasting natural immunity? In 20 years it may just be like chicken pox.
When does a vaccinated person regain the freedom to not wear a mask?
I will tell you from experience that it seems like it will be a very long time before you will be allowed to be unmasked while flying on a commercial airline flight.
""Wait for stories of Enron type profiteering from this colossal fuckup to come to light.”
You mean like Hillary’s campaign manager and Gazprom, oddly those millions of dollars of stock they gave him became worthless within a couple days of Hillary losing, oh and Nancy Pelosi’s son who is a “clean energy” executive for a Ukrainian company? The reason this kind of profiteering takes place is because “green energy” is a license to steal from taxpayers and so the crony ‘capitalists’ make sure to be well connected.
"When does a vaccinated person regain the freedom to not wear a mask?”
Same time as everybody else. Sorry that the logic of that is too hard to figure out apparently, so I am going to just give you the bottom line.
Oddest Althouse moment for me in the last 18 months: YOU'RE 70?!? That's hard to believe, honestly.
And unlike the flu, which has been evolving and adapting to human hosts for thousands of years, the Wuhan coronavirus is newly introduced to human hosts, so there's a lot of low-hanging evolutionary fruit in terms of
mutating to better adapt to human populations, so even if a vaccine is 95% effective against variant A (100% effective for severe cases), it may be only 75% effective against B (95% for severe cases), and so forth. Which will put herd immunity even further out of reach.
This is not how flu works. And, our experience with 1918 was the more human adapted the virus became, the less lethal it was. Being human adapted is not necessarily worse.
Also--we don't need herd immunity to all forms of corona. We just need herd immunity against the deadly strains. If (as I suspect) the strains get progressively attenuated over time, its like saying we will never have herd immunity against the common cold. While on one hand, you are right. On the other hand, who cares?
Jordan Schachtel
@JordanSchachtel
·
2h
YouTube has an entire curated section of random YouTubers interviewing Anthony Fauci about COVID-19.
Does this guy do anything but media hits? The man is an absolute addict.
Am I reading this right? Surely you can go online to the state health website and register for an appointment? If not then, What the Fuck, Wisconsin. Don't kill Althouse!!!
Sure, you can go online and register for an appointment with your health department. And you get back a note - don't call us, we'll call you - and that's the and of that. Or you sign up with a local vaccine point and get an appointment, This why I keep saying that effectively Milwaukee's black community is being denied vaccination. They're skeptical; most can't get appointments through the health department; and skeptics won't go out of their way to make an appointment out in the suburbs somewhere. So why isn't there a selling job going on in this community which is hard hit by covid? The Bucks talking it up? "Fear the Deer, not the vax." Right now, the leaders of the black community and their Dem "friends" are inert, waiting on WorstEver Governor who is waiting on Harrisbiden who is waiting for What? By summer the disparity in vaccination rates will be an issue of white supremacy and it will officially be my fault as a reader of Shakespeare. Same with the downtown schools not opening.
Since we are in a seemingly permanent risk off environment officially we will be wearing masks and made to cower a year from now. Maybe 18 months. There will never be an all clear from the medical community. Never. Maybe in the next six months people will rip off the masks with a wtf.
tim in vermont said...
"When does a vaccinated person regain the freedom to not wear a mask?”
Same time as everybody else.
--
Ah. Isn't Joementia tossing around next Christmas?
Probably worth watching to see when 5 y/o kids are relieved of masking.
Sometime after that...
Re: D. D. Driver:
This is not how flu works.
Agreed, but that's exactly the point of the contrast between flu (flu viruses have been adapting to humans for millenia) with coronavirus (adapting to humans for, maybe, a year or so?) Virologists apparently assumed coronavirus would work like the flu, so they were surprised that we've seen a bunch of new mutations that have made the coronavirus more virulent, even if they don't seem to have made it more lethal. Their assumption was wrong.
But I think it will be flu-like in terms of how we respond going forward. Yes, in the long term, the most "successful" varieties will probably be the ones that spread fast and don't kill their hosts, but the fatality rate is already quite low, as we've developed treatments and hospitals aren't getting overwhelmed like spring of last year. So the evolutionary pressure towards reduced lethality is probably fairly mild in the developed world. As the virus is still "new" to humans, I expect we'll continue to see new variants crop up, generally pushing the virulence higher (and the herd immunity threshold higher). We'll need to develop tweaks to our vaccines in response. But all that means is annual shots and mask-like precautions when we're sick. More or less like what we do with the flu, at least in East Asia.
“My 80-year-old parents in Michigan and Nevada each have received both shots arranged through their primary doctor's groups.
With my mom, we got an email notice to be on the lookout for an email inviting us to make an appointment. We got that email a day or two later. Followed the link on MyChart, picked a day and time, and boom, all done. Took all of two or three minutes. The second shot was scheduled automatically when she got the first.
Doing it through the primary, just like any other seasonal shot. Not that hard.”
Well no, it’s not that “hard” once you get that “invitation” to schedule the vaccine. The problem is, that private healthcare providers are not sending the invitations out on any large scale to their patients. It’s a small number of people and only if the HC provider has the vaccine allotment for those people for that week, which often they don’t.
"Sure, you can go online and register for an appointment with your health department."
If that's correct at the state level, and I don't think it is, then the Wisconsin Department of Health Services has the sign-up buried deeper than I could find.
Inga,
Did you check via pharmacies outside your county?
"They're managing our expectation"
Ha!
He's admitted as much.
Info on a "need to know basis"...aka lying..or simply incompetent.
“Did you check via pharmacies outside your county?”
Yes I did. No luck. Plus I’m not really ok with taking a vaccine away from another counties residents because I can’t get it in my own county. ALL counties in WI don’t have enough vaccine. Up in Black River Falls where my sister lives is the same issue with there not being enough vaccine. In Brown County where my brother lives, same story, not enough vaccine. And lord knows they need their vaccines even more than we in Waukesha County do, in Brown County.
So the evolutionary pressure towards reduced lethality is probably fairly mild in the developed world.
I agree. My thinking was not so much that I think nonlethality will be selected for. It's that any random mutation is more likely to make the virus less lethal than more lethal.
Here's a clumsy analogy. Imagine you had a 3.9 GPA and the dean came to inform you that she had to randomly (don't ask why randomly, just go with it) change one of your grades. While its possible that your GPA could go up if she changes one of your few Bs to an A, by far the most likely outcome is that your GPA will come down. This is because if you have a 3.9--most of your grade are already As.
I believe COVID-19 has a "very high GPA" and when you go in a randomly swap out codons, its more likely that the GPA goes down than goes up.
“Or you sign up with a local vaccine point and get an appointment, This why I keep saying that effectively Milwaukee's black community is being denied vaccination. They're skeptical; most can't get appointments through the health department; and skeptics won't go out of their way to make an appointment out in the suburbs somewhere.”
Wildswan, you continue this drumbeat that minorities in Milwaukee are being denied the vaccine. That really isn’t true. Last week the Journal Sentinal had an article about the pharmacies being offered the vaccines in larger numbers. The article said that the majority of the vaccines would go to pharmacies in UNDERSERVED areas in Milwaukee. People in the suburbs are not getting the vaccine any faster than minorities in Milwaukee. The issue of minorities being suspicious about the vaccine and refusing to get it still remains. There is a huge effort to get the Black community to get the vaccine, you keep wanting to act as IF this isn’t happening.
Just to complete my thought. Even though there will not be selective pressure to be "less lethal," once enough people are immune from COVID-19 there WILL be selective pressure to appear different to the immune system than COVID-19.
Different "less lethal" (I predict) is more likely than different "more lethal" or different "as lethal," for the reasons above.
COVID-19 already only seriously affects a smallish population (unlike flu), its possible that even the elderly will survive a "less lethal" COVID-22 without serious trauma. Who is to say that COVID-22 won't be more like the common cold than influenza?
“Am I reading this right? Surely you can go online to the state health website and register for an appointment? If not then, What the Fuck, Wisconsin. Don't kill Althouse!!!”
Yes, not until March 1. I’m told by an acquaintance who works for the WDHS that once it’s up and running the logistics of getting out the vaccine will be amazing. I’m waiting to be amazed.
Blogger tim in vermont said...
"When does a vaccinated person regain the freedom to not wear a mask?”
Same time as everybody else. Sorry that the logic of that is too hard to figure out apparently, so I am going to just give you the bottom line.
Thanks Dr Fauci!
Virologists apparently assumed coronavirus would work like the flu, so they were surprised that we've seen a bunch of new mutations that have made the coronavirus more virulent, even if they don't seem to have made it more lethal. Their assumption was wrong.
Also, I'm pretty sure flu scientists would expect a novel virus to become more virulent as the virus becomes host adapted. I don't think that should have been a surprise. Why would a virus spread more poorly as it become better adapted to its host? Again, COVID seems to operate like a normal virus.
"Yes, not until March 1. I’m told by an acquaintance who works for the WDHS that once it’s up and running the logistics of getting out the vaccine will be amazing."
I don't know how that squares with UW rescheduling my appointment from Feb 25 to Mar 25. Is the state hogging the supply? Cuz that's always a way to achieve efficiency …
“I don't know how that squares with UW rescheduling my appointment from Feb 25 to Mar 25. Is the state hogging the supply? Cuz that's always a way to achieve efficiency …”
Haven’t you already had Covid? I understand that those who have had Covid should still get the vaccine, but if your blood tests are still showing antibodies, why the urgency to get the vaccine?
"Also, I'm pretty sure flu scientists would expect a novel virus to become more virulent as the virus becomes host adapted. I don't think that should have been a surprise. Why would a virus spread more poorly as it become better adapted to its host? Again, COVID seems to operate like a normal virus."
It was already well-adapted to human beings from the very first known samples. If it had naturally crossed over from another species, we would have expected to see the virus rapidly evolve as it adapted to its new host.
Instead the virus samples from back in February are basically the same as what many people are being infected with now. And it has taken an incredibly long time, from a virus perspective, for new variants to emerge.
The obvious conclusion is that this modified bat coronavirus was already well-adapted to human beings before the epidemic began. And it seems improbable that that could have happened, naturally, without our noticing it.
"Haven’t you already had Covid? I understand that those who have had Covid should still get the vaccine, but if your blood tests are still showing antibodies, why the urgency to get the vaccine? "
My hematologist says get it. And he says don't get my overdue colonoscopy until I do.
My immune system sucks and it needs the boost.
You didn't address my point, Inga (not that you have to) but if the problem is nobody has enough vaccine I don't see how the anything from the state is going to be "amazing".
OM, yes that makes sense.
Here is an update from my County, not impressive.
“Waukesha County has reached a milestone in vaccinating its 65 and older population: more than a third of those residents have gotten at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
As of this afternoon, 30,415 doses of vaccine had been administered to adults 65 and older, out of 77,845 individuals in this group. Since older adults became eligible to be vaccinated on January 25, more than 13,000 vaccines have been administered in the county each week, with the vast majority of vaccines going to that group.
More than 1/3 of Residents 65 and Older Have Received COVID-19 Vaccine
The greatest limitation to vaccinating this population continues to be access to vaccine. Waukesha County and our partners have the capabilities to vaccinate people at a much faster pace, but only receive a fraction of what is requested by the State each week. Last week, Waukesha County requested 7,000 doses of vaccine, but only received 900 doses for this week’s clinic.”
“You didn't address my point, Inga (not that you have to) but if the problem is nobody has enough vaccine I don't see how the anything from the state is going to be "amazing"”
I agree with you. It won’t be amazing until vaccine availability is amazing.
My folks in Waukesha received their 2nd dose of Pfizer today. They’re 80.
Perhaps WDHS hired the ACA website developers.
Not everyone needs to be vaccinated. A large minority, perhaps majority, either have preexisting immunity or immunity through exposure. Others are eligible for accessible, affordable, low-risk treatments to mitigate disease progression and deny safe sanctuary to viral contagion.
Close Planned Parent/hood, one of the few venues where there were excess deaths.
The progress of the COVID-19 epidemic in Sweden: an update
Whether the longer or shorter regression periods provide better estimates of normal mortality in 2019 and 2020, it seems clear that excess deaths, as a proportion of the population, were much higher in England than in Sweden. Excess deaths in England per 100,000 population were about four times those in Sweden for 2019 and 2020 combined, and about double those in Sweden for 2020 alone
Viral transmission and disease progression: what doesn't work, may not work, other factors, and collateral damage.
Michigan's Beaumont Hospital System (largest in the counties surrounding Detroit) had to reschedule today too, as the state is reconfiguring how they handle things.
I think a lot of the Blue Governors got so used to being able to blame Trump for everything, they forgot to do their jobs.
Michigan Governor Whitmer and Wisconsin Gov Evars did make a video with a few other governors, telling people to "make a plan for when it's your turn to get the vaccine". So they are pretty good at telling us we better get ready....for something.
Should have told their states to make a plan to get people their vaccines.
I don't know how they thought tweets and Facebook posts was going to get old people into their vaccine appointments.
re. Comparing England to Sweden:
Englund (sic) - the UK - is a totalitarian regime with dictatorship principles, and classic propagandized censorship. And the people love it.
I got my second jab on the 17th. My arm still feels it.
Post a Comment