COVID-19 Shot today🥴

[dakazman]

  After months of trying to make an appointment I lucked out and landed one.
Doing well, except for a very sore arm at injection site.  My next shot is scheduled for next month.

Any one else get a shot?
Dakazman

[Dan C 2624R]

I'm up here in New Jersey and I am finally scheduled for a Pfizer vaccine on the 16th.
What a time getting it scheduled.  Have to travel 60 miles to the MEGA site in South Jersey.

But it is what I want to do.

Dan in NJ
TC  2624R

[dakazman]

  I’m just hoping that they Open it up to all soon .  I try not to complain, but yes,  indeed a story Dan.
  Stay safe everyone!
Dakazman

[surfguitar58]

I’m getting my second shot Sunday. I’m actually a little embarrassed about it since I’m under 65 (63) and have no comorbidities to speak of. I am a volunteer board member at an assisted living facility and the director just announced at the last board meeting that board members were included in the count when they requested vaccines. I am assured I am not denying anyone of their rightful vaccine, but teachers can’t get a vaccine in this state, which seems stupid to me. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
Tom

[gideon]

You know, having mostly heard the phrase "lucked out" from Aussies or Kiwis, it always confuses me when an American says it.  In the Antipodes "lucked out" means "out of luck", but in North American it mean "in luck". 

Anyway it's a chaotic situation here in NJ at least.  I'm glad the system in the UK is more organized and my parents got their first dose a couple of weeks ago.  I think I might have to go to Florida to get vaccinated.

[dakazman]

 Surf , if you’re anywhere near assisted living personnel or in the building, you absolutely should have gotten a shot.
  My daughter is an intensive care nurse, she got a shot . Another daughter just got infected and is doing well. She had chills and a headache and in a few days felt over it but needs to stay self
quarantined.
 Dakazman

[Dan C 2624R]

To what Gideon said, I have heard of a number of people from NY and NJ driving to Florida solely for the purpose of getting a shot.

Talking to friends in the Villages, they say people from as far away as South Africa are coming in and getting shots there somehow.

Can't wait for Big government to put their nose in and have multiple agencies start vying for control and "approval" of any future plans.

A real mess is headed our way.

Dan.

[dakazman]

  I can say for a fact that only residents of Florida are getting the shot. I had to produce proof of residency.  They had several ways of producing verification so an out of state resident with a house can get a shot. So taxpayer over 65 yes.
Dakazman
 

[Richard48Y]

Hope the shots go well for all of you.
But I'm not risking first year production of anything!
This was rushed, so even less likely to trust it.

[Pfreen]

My wife just got over covid.  Her case was mild, but it is not a disease you want to get.  She was sick as a dog and isolated for a few days.  It took about two and a half weeks to recover.

On a side note, I would bet you have a lot higher chance of dying from covid than from the vaccine.  So, if you don't get the vaccine, be careful.

 We are retired and only go to the grocery store and always wear masks.  She got it.  We don't have any idea how.

[EuropaTC]

My wife just got over covid.  Her case was mild, but it is not a disease you want to get. 

I'm sorry to hear that but glad that she seems to be on the mend and my best wishes for a full recovery.  We've had family members who have had it and it seems almost random in it's infectiousness, one niece in a household of 4 gets it, the rest carry on with no apparent problem despite all living closely together.

At the moment I'm too young   (69)  to get a shot over here, I reckon I'll be in the next lot of 60-70's  around March. But when the call comes we'll both be queuing up. I took my mum (94) for hers at the beginning of January and she's not had any side effects so far.  I don't bother with the annual Flu jab but this is different, it's targeted at a specific virus whereas our annual flu jab is really a "best guess". So yes, we'll be lining up.

I understand reticence because of the rapid development, but it's not that remote from the normal procedure.  It's the media that hype up this "superfast development and aren't they clever" type of thing.

What the media don't say is that normally you'd think up a vaccine, do a few lab trials with paid volunteers and if it didn't kill anyone you'd work out costs/profits with your sales folks.   If the market looked profitable you'd invest in staged trials and go for approval.  Only after approval would you start to think about investing in plant to manufacture and get the stuff out to patients. That drags the process out and actually increases the end cost but given that not all bright ideas make it to market, it's a safer procedure for the business.

The difference this time, in the UK at least, is that the government got behind Oxford/Astra and hence all procedures went in parallel rather than sequentially. They were sorting out manufacture at the same time they were starting out on trials.  There was a big risk that it wouldn't work and Astra weren't being expected to shoulder that risk alone. 

I wouldn't be surprised if you folks didn't go the same way with your industries, so I wouldn't worry too much about the apparent "rushed" development, because in truth it isn't that phenomenal. It's just our government stepped up for once.

[surfguitar58]

FYI - I just got my second jab yesterday and I feel like I've been gang tackled by the Tampa Bay defensive line. (Sorry for the US Football reference.) I felt fine after the first shot but very achy, sore and tired 12 hours after the 2nd shot. I guess that means ITS WORKING!
Tom

[Footer]

Here in Michigan, I'm in the second group, over 65, and have registered but not received a scheduled appointment yet.  I'm being told mine will come towards the end of this month or into March.  I have some lung issues and if I were to get it, there would be no body left to finish assembling my Twin Cam Special.  I would hate to miss that not to mention not getting the chance to drive it either!
I don't have any qualms about complications from the vaccine.  As it was stated earlier, the side effects won't kill me but the virus certainly will.  So, we'll continue to live like a hermit until this is extinguished for good.

Hope everyone stays safe and healthy.

[SENC]

I'm in healthcare, so had my 2nd dose a couple weeks ago - no issues with either dose, and that has been the case for most.

For those on the fence, I will disagree completely with the notion the vaccine was rushed.  I will also disagree with the comment that it wasn't "superfast".  In fact, to most of us in healthcare, it is incredibly remarkable that we have made the progress we've made so quickly.  I'd say the media have understated this, if anything.

The real news is that the mRNA vaccine development led by Pfizer and Moderna is likely a long-term game-changer, not just for covid but for future virus vaccine development.  Guaranteed government funding didn't necessarily speed development, but definitely took the risk out of production so we're months ahead in that alone.  Where we did fast-track and reduce bureacracy is in the review and approval process - I understand those who don't want to be first given just the preliminary studies and reviews and EUAs... but the great news is that we now have millions of doses given and much better "testing" more quickly than traditional studies would have allowed.  Each will need to make their own decision, but the safety and efficacy of these vaccines are becoming more apparent daily.

[EuropaTC]

I will also disagree with the comment that it wasn't "superfast".  In fact, to most of us in healthcare, it is incredibly remarkable that we have made the progress we've made so quickly.  I'd say the media have understated this, if anything.

The real news is that the mRNA vaccine development led by Pfizer and Moderna is likely a long-term game-changer, not just for covid but for future virus vaccine development. 

Apologies if it looked as if I was talking down the science involved in this latest development, it wasn't intended that way. 

I remember reading on Reuters UK way back about how there were differences in the traditional approaches to discovering vaccines and thinking it was novel. We even had a radio interview with Bill Gates where he explained how it had come about and what he was trying to do.  And as you say, from my limited understanding this will be a game changer.

As you're obviously closer to this than I am, is my understanding that although they had a jumpstart with novel ways of finding a vaccine initially, once they'd got that in place then the rest of the trials were to normal specification, with similar volumes and timescales involved ?   I'm under the impression that they saved time here by not spacing out the trial stages with a review/breathing space/business analysis  between each one but more or less followed on, reviewing data as it arrived ?

Brian