Yeah… I’m feeling less confident as the days pass. According to WaPo, the pace of vaccinations is slower than expected.
I read another source that said at this rate, it would take 10 years to get the entire US vaccinated once. I’m very hopeful that things will move faster as the logistics come online, and I’m praying for a normal summer. But I’m definitely not planning on any pleasant surprises on that front.
Maybe not a huge bump in prescriptions on an annual basis, but a bump in new prescriptions within a short period of time, especially taking into account that when you fill most prescriptions you can generally count on the drug being available at your pharmacy of choice. Unfortunately that’s not the case here.
The Governor has said that because I represent criminal defendants, I am necessary for the “continuity of government.” I should be vaccinated by January 15.
It’s definitely going to get faster. The logistics of the non-Pfizer vaccines are easier as well as everyone improving their systems.
Does the prosecution go before or after?
The U.S. had all summer and fall to hire staff, train them, and locate them is large venues like convention centers and stadiums where social distancing is easier. Not much of that was done. So ramping up is liable to go slow.
Italy started a bit later but will likely more than catch up:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/italy-vaccine-pavilions-scli-intl/index.html
I now hear, from our nephrologost, that we should get it some time in January, so it will be very soon for me.
Kanton Luzern started December 23rd and has said that widespread vaccinations will be available late spring. My husband has a doctor’s appointment at the beginning of March, so we’ll ask then. We are early fifties without any major health issues.
I hope in the next 2 months we have more clarity in the entire situation. Assuming that the UK variant doesn’t throw a huge wrench in the works.
I expect my parents, who are in Washington state, to be vaccinated by the end of February. They are both above 75 and are living in their own home, so they are not in the first run.
I’m low priority so I’ll be in the last group.
My understanding is that vaccine distribution kind of works like this (if there is an official list, I’m not sure or if they’re still working on that).
-Nursing home residents
-Health care professionals
-High risk people (immunocompromised, comorbidities, elderly but not in a nursing home)
-First responders
-essential workers
etc
People like myself who are middle aged who are able to work from home are probably in the bottom. I’m guessing I’ll be offered a vaccine after about ~200 million Americans have gotten it before me. Which is fine. If I get the virus I’ll likely survive and I can work from home as mentioned.
Oregon Health Authority has just distributed this schedule for Phase 1a:
We are now in Phase 1a of Oregon’s Vaccine Sequencing Plan. These are the current groups in Phase 1a of vaccine distribution:
- Group 1 : hospitals; urgent care; skilled nursing and memory care facility health care personnel (HCP) and residents; tribal health programs; emergency medical service providers and other first responders
- Group 2 : other long-term care facilities and congregate care sites including HCP and residents; hospice programs; mobile crisis care and related services; secure transport; individuals working in a correctional setting
- Group 3 : outpatient settings serving specific high-risk groups; in-home care; day treatment services; non-emergency medical transport (NEMT)
- Group 4 : HCP in other outpatient, public health and early learning settings; death care workers
I should be in this phase. However, my local medical group doesn’t have any doses yet, and told me to check back for an update in a few weeks.
For me, it may be as early as the week of January 11: NC has put teachers in a pretty early phase of vaccination. Last week I had my annual physical, and my doctor wrote me a prescription for Clonazepam (sp?) for my needle-phobia, and my wife will give me a ride to and from the vaccination, so I’m pretty well set.
But January 11 is based on enough vaccine being distributed, and I don’t know if that’s gonna happen.
Wow, I’m hoping it’s that soon! My husband is in the same group you are in (we’re in NC as well) - he’s a healthcare worker over 50 (not frontline with Covid). I would love if he could get vaccinated within the next couple weeks. He has not heard anything from his workplace, which is connected to a hospital. He is our family’s biggest exposure risk, so I would feel a lot safer after he’s vaccinated. I know that we’re not sure yet if being vaccinated makes you less or non-contagious, but from what I’ve read it’s a very good possibility.
My workplace just put out a call for volunteers for the county public health department. They’re doing vax clinics (all outdoors for now) and need both clinicians to do shots and non-clinicians to do registration and database entry and other stuff like traffic control, since people coming to the clinics all stay in their cars.
I’m in phase 1b. I just checked with my primary doc’s office, and there’s no waiting list to be on. I was told to just keep calling back.
Update: my county now has a website where people can register to be updated regarding vaccine availability. Now if only we had a coordinated national thing like that with standardized criteria for where people are in line, what documentation they need, and all that jazz so this could go smoothly and quickly…
Our medical network will be notifying people via its on-line interface (MyChart).
I’m 60 - reasonably healthy. Not suggesting my history of asthma should give me any precedence. I would not bet on getting it before June 1. Hopefully earlier, but would not be surprised if later.
I’m employed by the federal government, in a job that normally involves interaction with the public. We’ve been providing a lower level of process via phone. I doubt that will result in my being moved forward as “essential.”
The BBC has published what amounts to a handy little guide for the UK. Scroll about two thirds of the way down this.
Now, the Daily Telegraph (reputable) reports that:
The Astra Zeneca campaign will be rolled out on Monday with an initial four million doses. Another 16 million doses will be available by mid January, with a total of 40 million being available by the end of March.
I’m in group 4 for vaccination, which means my queue position is 8.4 to 13.9 million (minus vaccine refusers). If the Telegraph is right about supplies, then there will be plenty of doses for this group by mid January*. Given what is going on here at the moment, I would expect breakneck-speed vaccination.
For my first shot, end of Jan, maybe? And vaccination completed with a second shot in end April.
j
(*) - on the basis of a 12 week delay between shots, as discussed in the BBC article.
I know you’re concerned about the loosening of the booster shot window but I think this is great news. Even if you don’t get super long/strong immunity from a single shot, getting the whole country a shot tout suite is going to make more difference than all the lockdowns to date.
We’re going to be in a very strange situation - depending on how the numbers work out we could have 15 or 20 million “half-vaccinated” people on the streets!
It really makes for mixed feelings about which vaccine you get. Pfizer looks more effective - but maybe not with a 12 week interval (never tested) and no sure knowledge about protection between 3 and 12 weeks (never tested). A-Z looks to maybe be less effective overall, but maybe there are reasonable grounds for thinking that, after the 12 week delay, the vaccine could be more effective than if there were a shorter delay.
(If you’re interested the A-Z data is in section 5.1, Immunogenicity part, of this document. See particularly the last 4 rows of the table (" SARS CoV-2 S-binding antibody response to COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca"). And yeah, it comes with a caveat: An immunological correlate of protection has not been established; therefore the level of immune response that provides protection against COVID-19 is unknown.)
j
But still, the A-Z vaccine is 70%+ effective? Every vaccine professional I’ve seen comment has said that’s pretty frigging good.