# V Day is here. Vaccine rollout starts **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [December 8, 2020, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552 "2020-12-08T08:29:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/1 "2020-12-08T08:29:42Z")
V Day, as the UK media are besides themselves to have coined, has started. First cab off the rank Margaret Keenan, aged 90, an in-patient at NHS University Hospital Coventry. [Read all about it.(BBC)](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55227325) ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/2 "2020-12-08T11:06:41Z")
I for one welcome our new vaccine overlords! Canada is expecting to approve the Pfizer vaccine this week and we have 250K does expected by the end of the month. Moderna should follow shortly. Canada has purchased 400M doses combined for 39M people, but I don’t expect to reach the front of the line until late spring at best. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/3 "2020-12-08T13:04:08Z")
Did you mean 400M or 40M? This is great news for the UK. I’m hopeful the US V Day is by the end of the week. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/4 "2020-12-08T13:20:32Z")
I don’t know total but Canada has 40M on order from Moderna alone. It was apparently one of the more aggressive western countries doing advance purchases. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/5 "2020-12-08T13:20:55Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Did you mean 400M or 40M? I actually undersold it, Canada has orders for 414 million shots: > **[The global race for coronavirus vaccine doses: how does Canada compare? -...](https://globalnews.ca/news/7467507/canada-coronavirus-vaccines/)** > > Canada has reached agreements with seven different drugmakers on track to produce the world's first COVID-19 vaccine, totalling almost 414 million doses. The Canadian government realized with no domestic production capacity we would hedge our bet with multiple orders with different manufacturers back in the spring and summer. This of course assumes all the vaccines are approved. We’ve got about 45 million doses coming just from Pfizer and Moderna. The intention is to provide our surplus vaccines to countries that can’t afford it. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/6 "2020-12-08T13:25:04Z")
Is anyone following the approval process? Is there any chance the FDA will approve any of the other candidates before or at the same time as Pfizer? > [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > We’ve got about 45 million doses coming just from Pfizer and Moderna. I got my number of 40M of Moderna alone because apparently Canada exercised an option to up their order by 20M yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/7 "2020-12-08T13:26:35Z")
Seem to have missed the chance to call it Victory over Corona Day (VC day). My dad, who is almost 80, thinks he might be getting vaccinated at the end of January. Hope the U.S. is that organized. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/8 "2020-12-08T13:32:02Z")
In theory those in Nursing Homes & Assisted living should be inoculated in January. Those at home but 80 could be January or February. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/9 "2020-12-08T13:40:01Z")
> [@FigNorton](#): > > I got my number of 40M of Moderna alone because apparently Canada exercised an option to up their order by 20M yesterday. Anyway you count it, I’m confident Canada has addressed the sourcing. Now it’s just a waiting game to see how quickly we can get shots in arms. > [@FigNorton](#): > > Is anyone following the approval process? Is there any chance the FDA will approve any of the other candidates before or at the same time as Pfizer? On the weekend news shows they were saying likely Pfizer on Thursday and Moderna two weeks later by the FDA. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/10 "2020-12-08T17:30:54Z")
The second person to get vaccinated was a guy called William Shakespeare from Warwickshire. Cue a million puns on Twitter. The lady who got the first non trial vaccine must be furious - everyone’s forgotten about her. ---
**Author:** ![SingleMalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/singlemalt/32/3961_2.png) [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/11 "2020-12-08T17:37:21Z")
When asked about the experience, he replied, “'Twas not so wide as a chapel door, nor deep as a well, but 'twill suffice, 'twill serve.” Ok, he didn’t really say that. Pity. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/12 "2020-12-08T17:41:51Z")
The taming of the flu etc and so on ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/13 "2020-12-08T20:14:45Z")
If it were done, 'twere well it were done quickly ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/14 "2020-12-08T23:30:12Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > I actually undersold it, Canada has orders for 414 million shots: > > (Snipped) > > Canada has reached agreements with seven different drugmakers on track to produce the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, totalling almost 414 million doses. > > The Canadian government realized with no domestic production capacity we would hedge our bet with multiple orders with different manufacturers back in the spring and summer. This of course assumes all the vaccines are approved. We’ve got about 45 million doses coming just from Pfizer and Moderna. > > The intention is to provide our surplus vaccines to countries that can’t afford it. The following is based on my understanding of the Covax system, which is a bit complicated. I double-checked a few things from an article I’ll link at the end of this post, but some is based on recollection from other articles I’ve read. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Canada is part of Covax. (The US and Russia are the only remaining major holdouts.) The countries that are part of Covax have committed to buying vaccines and achieving certain levels of global inoculation so that vaccines are distributed equitably around the world. It’s aimed at not allowing all the richest countries to buy up vaccine and drive prices up until their populations are fully protected, and only then having poorer countries get a shot at it. So Canada has a commitment to purchasing not just a sufficient supply for itself, but also for many other countries. I believe the plan is that each country gets enough vaccine, initially, to vaccinate 20% of its population, with healthcare/high risk segments being prioritized. Only after all countries receive enough vaccine to cover that would more vaccine be released. It’s a stepped rollout globally. I know Canada has joined Covax, but I don’t know if they are one of the countries that has made side deals – “double dipping.” My guess would be no, but I don’t know. I assume all of the doses were bought for the Covax “facility.” > **[171 countries are teaming up for a Covid-19 vaccine. But not the US.](https://www.vox.com/21448719/covid-19-vaccine-covax-who-gavi-cepi)** > > Vaccine nationalism is real. But so is vaccine multilateralism. ETA: Nope I’m wrong. Canada’s agreements to purchase all of those doses actually undermines Covax. [https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-vaccines-covax-exc/exclusive-canada-in-talks-to-donate-extra-covid-19-vaccine-shots-to-poorer-countries-sources-idUKKBN27Y2UW](https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-vaccines-covax-exc/exclusive-canada-in-talks-to-donate-extra-covid-19-vaccine-shots-to-poorer-countries-sources-idUKKBN27Y2UW) ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/15 "2020-12-08T23:41:04Z")
From the Reuters article I linked, regarding Canada’s extra reserved doses. (Canada has purchased more doses per capita than any other country.) > [@](#): > > The approach could undermine efforts to ensure vaccines are distributed fairly around the world. COVAX, led by the GAVI vaccine group, was created to buy vaccines and share them among countries, not to distribute donated leftovers. > > Its aim is to make 2 billion COVID vaccine doses available by the end of 2021, and it has raised more than $2 billion in funding, but needs $5 billion more to meet its goal. > > If rich countries do not close that funding gap, and then wait until most of their own residents are vaccinated before sharing doses, millions of frontline workers and vulnerable people in poorer countries could face a long wait for vaccination. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/16 "2020-12-08T23:41:39Z")
I’m seeing conflicting reports on the name of the vaccinated gentleman. Some sources spell his name as “Shakespeare”, same as the Bard, but some have it as “Shakespere”. I’m guessing it’s more likely the latter, since it’d be more likely for a mistake to change it to the famous name than away from it, but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/17 "2020-12-09T00:33:33Z")
Well, the _other_ William Shakespeare spelled his name any which way he felt like at the moment, so maybe this guy is just keeping up the tradition? ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/18 "2020-12-09T01:05:56Z")
In Canada’s defense, that order number is based on the idea that every vaccine they pre-bought would be successful. I doubt anyone thought in August there’d be such success as we have thus far. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/19 "2020-12-09T01:13:00Z")
True. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552/20 "2020-12-09T18:01:25Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > In theory those in Nursing Homes & Assisted living should be inoculated in January. Those at home but 80 could be January or February. I think they are starting nursing homes this month, even this week. My wife and I are in the over 80 isolating at home group. We will be first in line when eligible. I wonder how they will organize it. We got our flu shots by getting an appointment at our pharmacy. I guess they can do it again if they have a freezer. Apparently the vaccine is stable for several days at home freezer temperature. But I have heard nothing about the plans. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-day-is-here-vaccine-rollout-starts/927552.md?page=2)