The Vaccine

[ruffrecords]

If we are operating in an apparent shortage of vaccine doses, it seems prudent to give twice as many people 80% effective protection. This seems like a no brainer, but moderna has not been formally tested as a one jab vaccine, so not authorized for use that way. The 80-90% result was from a single 2,000 person trial.
JR

That is the case  here in the UK. The original plan was to get the second dose three weeks after the first but because the first does give some protection they then decided to change this to 12 weeks so they could give first injections to more people. They are now talking about changing this to six weeks.

I think it is important to remember the vaccine does not prevent you catching Covid; it just gives your body ready made tools to destroy it quickly before it can be a serious threat to life.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JohnRoberts]

J&J (not approved yet) is projecting making 1B doses this year, so I might get a jab yet, even in MS.

JR

 

[ruffrecords]

J&J (not approved yet) is projecting making 1B doses this year, so I might get a jab yet, even in MS.

JR

LOL. How many days hike is it to civilization?

Cheers

Ian

 

[crazydoc]

LOL. How many days hike is it to civilization?

Cheers

Ian

Going west it's through Louisiana or Arkansas, north through Tennessee and Kentucky, and east through Alabama (you know, where the sharpie marker said that hurricane was going to hit). So I think the best bet is to get in a boat and head south to the Yucatan where the Mayans still live.

 

[JohnRoberts]

LOL. How many days hike is it to civilization?

Cheers

Ian

That depends on how you define civilization....? I have a Walmart about 7 miles away, and WWW even closer.

I am a born and raised Yankee (NJ)..... but have lived here in the deep south for several decades and now feel very much at home. Watching the "big" cities on the news makes me feel even more OK about living in the boonies. In fact I have become a little defensive about people casting shade on MS, without ever experiencing it first hand.

JR

PS: I appreciate that elections have consequences so I will wait for my dose(s).

 

[ruffrecords]

That depends on how you define civilization....? I have a Walmart about 7 miles away, and WWW even closer.

I am a born and raised Yankee (NJ)..... but have lived here in the deep south for several decades and now feel very much at home. Watching the "big" cities on the news makes me feel even more OK about living in the boonies. In fact I have become a little defensive about people casting shade on MS, without ever experiencing it first hand.

JR

PS: I appreciate that elections have consequences so I will wait for my dose(s).

I long been envious about just how much space many Americans have. OK you have 5 times the population of the UK but you have at least 50 times the area. Add to that the fact that California has about the same area and population as the UK which means the other 49 states have even more room.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Winston OBoogie]

That's about what I expected. My neighbour who is 76 got his last week but his wife who is only 71 got hers too.

I took my mum and dad (87 & 93) for their 1st jabs and feel better for them having had it.

The figures I see reported on TV for the percentage of the population having received a 1st jab is about 10 in every 100 which is a pretty good chunk thus far.

I hope your area is up to speed and has now seen most of the +80 there so that you and your wife get your letters of summons/invite soon. 

Take care 

 

[Winston OBoogie]

...  I think the best bet is to get in a boat and head south to the Yucatan where the Mayans still live.

   

Sadly, I never made it to M.S.  The closest I ever got was 3 months in L.A. (N'Orlins) in the '90's when I worked on a pair of old Neve desks.
I loved the culture, the food, history, and everything about New Orleans.   

But I sure would have liked to have visited Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo.   

 

[Script]

Israel might be a good case in point. They are the worldwide fastest in inoculation.

Here's a quote from an NHK article in Japanese (Google translation).

...128,600 people who have completed the second vaccination.

When we examined the situation more than a week after the second vaccination, 20 people tested positive, accounting for 0.01%. All 20 had symptoms such as coughing and headaches, but none were hospitalized. In addition, 10 of them had underlying illness.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210127/k10012836221000.html

Added:
A different article gives three reasons why Israel can inoculate at such a fast pace:
- universal health care system
- medical data is all digital
- people get notified by text message onto their phones
( - comparatively small population and they paid slightly more for the Pfizer jabs plus deal with them on post-inoculation data sharing, I think)

 

[JohnRoberts]

   

Sadly, I never made it to M.S.  The closest I ever got was 3 months in L.A. (N'Orlins) in the '90's when I worked on a pair of old Neve desks.
I loved the culture, the food, history, and everything about New Orleans.   

It's hard to get a bad meal in Nawlins....

I used to participate in a 10k race down there every year with some 30,000 runners, pretty much a party with beer trucks and live bands at the finish area.

But I sure would have liked to have visited Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo. 

Elvis moved to Memphis, TN and that is the official tourist trap.  Hard core musos visit the "crossroads" where Robert Johnson reportedly met the devil.

MS has a long list of notable popular musicians (BB King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and many more).

JR

 

[Winston OBoogie]

Hard core musos visit the "crossroads" where Robert Johnson reportedly met the devil. 

Well yes, that would've naturally been the 1st stop before Tupelo 

MS has a long list of notable popular musicians (BB King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and many more).

It sure does - Also Elmore James, Mississippi John Hurt, and in keeping with  Elvis' heritage, there's Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup.

 

[Tubetec]

I think ,and this is of course a totally unqualified opinion , that a fast pcr test could be administered before a vaccine shot , that way people previously infected with the real live virus(and maybe didnt even realise) and already with some natural immunity built up needent get vaccinated until later , then people with no previous exposure who need the vaccine more could get their doses first and we dont end up wasting doses on people who are already producing antibodies naturally . It could reduce demand by a margin, allow better more effective use of the short stocks of vaccines we do have and cut the profiteering of the producers , we could all keep a good supply of smelly socks to stuff into the mouths of the share holders to shut the  f***ing c**ts up   

 

[JohnRoberts]

I think ,and this is of course a totally unqualified opinion , that a fast pcr test could be administered before a vaccine shot , that way people previously infected with the real live virus(and maybe didnt even realise) and already with some natural immunity built up needent get vaccinated until later , then people with no previous exposure who need the vaccine more could get their doses first and we dont end up wasting doses on people who are already producing antibodies naturally . It could reduce demand by a margin, allow better more effective use of the short stocks of vaccines we do have and cut the profiteering of the producers , we could all keep a good supply of smelly socks to stuff into the mouths of the share holders to shut the  f***ing c**ts up 

that almost makes sense but it depends what is the limiting constraint. Right now we don't have a surplus of testing either (at least I don't).

This is an object lesson in how poorly government administers scarce resources.

I am resigned that I need to wait several more months but I am OK with that. We need to jab all the politicians, and their stooges. 

JR

 

[Script]

This is an object lesson in how poorly government administers scarce resources.

Seems to work splendidly in Israel  Their aim is to finish inoculation of entire population (9M) by the end of March.

We need to jab all the politicians, and their stooges.

Very true. What would we only do without them.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Seems to work splendidly in Israel  Their aim is to finish inoculation of entire population (9M) by the end of March.Very true. What would we only do without them.

Israel is an example of above average governance. most of the population is involved in some kind of military or government service. Not at all like most western countries.

As I recall several decades ago the military gave us shots using high pressure air guns, no needles involved. But I suspect that might not be compatible with super cold vaccine... they could jab a lot of people in a hurry, using conventional vaccines and did. 

For today's TMI anecdote I recall hearing about one troop back then who was frozen by fear and didn't step forward after getting his first air jab, he took multiple hits before they figured out he wasn't moving.

JR

 

[crazydoc]

I remember going through that line, shirt off, at Ft. Lewis in January.

The covid vaccines are not cold when given - only for storage. They could use a jet injector, even for deep intramuscular delivery, but there are problems with cross contamination using them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_injector

Anyway, the problem with delivering speedy doses of covid doesn't lie so much in the injection itself, but in the large pile of administrative data that has to be collected and processed about each recipient, and the 15 minute wait after the shot. And of course, as it is turning out, the supply of the vaccine itself.

 

[boji]

Thanks for the link, didn't realize these guns present cross-contamination risks.

 

[Script]

most of the population [in Israel] is involved in some kind of military or government service

Most... involved... in government service ? What ? Never heard of that. Obligatory military service and large reserve, yes, for obvious reasons. (TMI: Although there are people in Israel who refuse to go to the army for religious reasons. But then again, you can't really want ultrarthodox settlers, for example, to be trained at weapons.)

Anyway, what I wanted to draw attention to is that a more streamlined (centralised) health care system has obvious benefits to offer in times of a pandemic. Data collection in Israel is all but one single push of a button away (exaggeration, but still...) including telephone and e-mail contact. Sure, most other Western countries would object to that citing data privacy.

On the other hand, there is very little so absolutely last century and also expensive and not least to mention time-wasting as sending out vaccination coupons and notifications as paper 

 

[Tubetec]

Dont the Palestinians living in occupied territory in Gaza and the Westbank count ?
Theres around 4.7 million of them and Israel has unambiguously stated it has no intention whatsoever of vaccinating them . If a government anywhere else on the planet decided to vaccinate according to ethnicity there'd be blue murder. So in reality your looking at a vaccination rate of around 65% not the 100% that Israel claims.

 

[Script]

That might be the case, but it does not diminish the fact that they are extraordinarily fast and efficient.

I was purely looking at the data compiling and streamlined inoculation processes -- (and not at ethnicity and not at politics and not at who does what and not at whose fault is what).

Streamlining our systems for higher efficiency by looking at how Israel does it, as well as others do it, does not require us to copy everything else that they do or do not do.