Ontario’s vaccine rollout plan becomes clearer:
My friend the PSW has already signed up for hers. She’s near the front of the line, even in front of my other friend the nurse…
or actually:
“President Hassan Rouhani … expressed fear the money could be seized.”
Which is an Iranian Trumpism: they just say what they like the sound of.
Regarding “developing their own” – it’s not like sanctions are the reason scores of vaccine candidates are still in development around the world. Nigeria is developing it’s own vaccine candidate.
Can’t agree with that. Critical medical supplies trumps politics and if the sanctions interfere with vaccine acquisition then the sanctions need to be eased to accommodate this transfer. If that is logistically impossible for some reason then a large enough supply of the vaccine should be purchased and transferred to them gratis. No bargaining.
You can even spin this selfishly, as this is a global pandemic and an unvaccinated Iran is potentially a lingering re-transmission threat. But the real importance is the moral imperative to save lives - any life.
Have you considered how smallpox was eradicated?
Rats. I had been expecting new movement restrictions in Panama, since cases have been soaring, but the government has announced that on January 4 it is imposing the same severe lockdown measures as in the early part of the pandemic in April. Basically, I will be limited to leaving the house to only four hours per week, on two days. I will not be allowed to leave the house from Thursday afternoon to the following Tuesday morning.
Average daily new cases are at 2,800, having risen steeply from about 650 at the start of November. They began rising sharply once they reopened most of the sectors of the economy. They will again close most non-essential businesses on January 4.
I agree they should be doing something to control new cases, but I don’t think the strict lockdown earlier this year was particularly effective. People can only leave the house for two hours a day, based on their ID number, with a special 2 hour window for those over 60. Women are allowed to go out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and men on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There is a complete curfew for everyone from Friday night to Monday morning. And only essential shopping is permitted; we will no longer be permitted to go out for exercise.
So far, it’s only for 10 days, from Jan 4-14, but I expect to see these measures extended.
If Iran had a vaccine and refused to share it with other countries that would be just as disgraceful and I would condemn it just as much. But that is not the situation, is it?
Do you have any idea what this sounds like?
I think cases probably really are falling (they were in several states prior to Christmas, and several others seemed to at least have a slowed rate of increase at that point), but the data for the next week or two will be too messy to draw any conclusions at all. The 7-day average is always artificially low for a week or longer after a holiday – fewer people get tested on holidays to begin with, and there are delays in processing the tests and reporting the results – and then there’s an artificial bump when people finally return to work and the backlog gets processed. This will probably be delayed until after New Year’s Day in this case, since we’ve essentially got back-to-back holiday weekends.
This. A hundred times this.
The US has the UK variant:
U. S. donors pledge 150K doses for Iran:
@Colibri – How tied to Panama are you? Are you still able to do your research, or whatever you do, while locked down? What prevents you from returning to the States for the duration?
He expressed that fear because the US required that funds pass through the US, where the US could seize than (as it has in the past, mostly to pay reparations to Americans.) Honestly, it sounds like a completely reasonable fear.
Well, that’s good. Money that doesn’t belong to Iran, it and won’t be seized. Turned into vaccine that won’t be seized, because that’s too obviously wrong. (I hope.)
Yes, of course. And they should do it. But in the meantime, they should be able to purchase the currently available vaccines, too.
Even Nigeria? Is that how I’m supposed to read that? Confused emoji follows.
Big topic!
I like reading medical history but don’t see a smallpox title, at amazon.com, that seems to stand out. Do you know enough to recommend one?
As to how smallpox was eradicated, I do know it was a long process (180 years from first vaccine to eradication). Not acceptable!
I also know it was eradicated without widespread use of boosters (except when there was a notable outbreak).
As to your implied point about need to make sure the whole world has COVID vaccine availability ASAP, I totally agree. The economic harm of COVID, to a a medium population European country, must dwarf the cost of giving away a strong vaccine dose to the less prosperous half of the earth.
One concern I have is that the second doses of mRNA COVID vaccines are more reactogenic than the first. We do not want to have a low COVID fortress America where you need to get a booster every year or two, possibly becoming sicker each time, because of the disease being rampant elsewhere. Instead we need to get initial protection, as fast as possible, pushing that R below 1.0 planet-wide.
The smallpox vaccine I was given in 1955 reportedly wore off after 3-5 years. This is fine because most of the world, by then, was getting similar protection.
Less rare for politicians.
I’m a permanent resident of Panama. I’ve been living here for 28 years, so this is home.
I don’t do much of my own field research these days, but I may help on other projects as a advisor. I’m a free lance writer, and have worked mainly from home for many years. I currently have two books projects, a Wildlife Guide for Costa Rica and the second edition of the Birds of Panama, but these have been delayed since without tourism there is no market. I also develop museum projects and visitor centers, but these are also on hold until tourism comes back.
I miss being able to get out birding, although I was able to do two Audubon Christmas Counts here this year.
This is the first time since 1984 that I haven’t gone up to New York for the holidays to visit family. At first I was thinking to go up before Christmas and hang around in New York until the vaccine became available, but it now looks it won’t be available to those at my priority level (over 65 without major health problems) until maybe March or April, and I don’t want to sit around in the cold that long. I much prefer the weather in Panama.
The Panamanian government say several vaccines will be available in “the first trimester of 2021,” but I haven’t heard a schedule beyond that. If it looks like the vaccine will be available in New York well before I can get it here, I may risk traveling up.
And a new high for daily cases in Panama today, 4,574, topping the previous high by 37%. And we haven’t even hit the surge that would have been produced by Christmas.
Congressman-elect from Louisiana, Luke Letlow, has just died from COVID-19. He was 41.
Do you have any evidence that is not the case? Because even the original article, referenced by the original poster, did not quote anyone making that claim, or make that editorial claim. So far, the claim that Iran is not currently able to purchase vaccines seems to be limited to a Breaking News thread on the SDMB.