COVID-19 vaccine discussion

CVS and Walgreens are dosing nursing home residents like crazy right now. That’s why they state that the don’t have them when people call. They’re getting a lot and dosing on schedule, just not done with their obligations yet.

Yes my grandmother and everyone at her facility got it yesterday afternoon via cvs pharmacist that came onsite. My mom and dad were there visiting (they wheel gm out on the porch to visit from a distance) and the owner offered them 2 extra they had left over so they got dosed too. CVS guy said meet him back there on x day for shot 2.

Retail locations do not know when they will be vaccinating individuals in stores.

I know this because my wife runs a pharmacy.

ETA: Vaccine doses are not even being stored, etc at most retail locations. They are being distributed from a centralized location, I believe.

CVS handling nursing homes is what allows H‑E‑B to immunize 1a in stores currently.

This. My wife manages a pharmacy in a small town close to where we live. She was told they would receive the vaccine this week and then told later it would be next week. Meanwhile, the local pharmacy under the same ownership received their vaccine shipment this past week and has already been giving injections. The distribution really depends on the company and the individual stores.

30 minutes ago, midtown said:

WTF is wrong with people?

 

They're the WORST

In other news, WV accidentally gives monoclonal antibody covid treatment instead of vaccine to patients. They think it will be ok for the patients who are now involuntarily participants in a new study.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/42-people-west-virginia-mistakenly-regeneron-antibody-treatment/story?id=74993785

28 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

In other news, WV accidentally gives monoclonal antibody covid treatment instead of vaccine to patients. They think it will be ok for the patients who are now involuntarily participants in a new study.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/42-people-west-virginia-mistakenly-regeneron-antibody-treatment/story?id=74993785

You can't make this stuff up.  They sound like Ricky Bobby when he gets into autograph mode.  If you stick your arm out, we will inject you with something.

 

The Brookshire Bros. in Giddings called my dad back this evening.  He goes in next Thursday to get his vaccine.  I put his name on their list yesterday morning.  They do have a message now when you call that they no longer are adding new people to their list as they have enough folks for their current allotment.  

Good to know that these small pharmacies are actually calling people back on their list.  I think the key is to keep pestering and get a little lucky as well.

3 hours ago, scottsins said:

Mrs. Scottsins was stuck closing her store, so the H‑E‑B pharm brought it to her and administered the dose, which I find pretty awesome and encouraging.

That is pretty cool. 

40 minutes ago, Borachio said:

The Brookshire Bros. in Giddings called my dad back this evening.  He goes in next Thursday to get his vaccine.  I put his name on their list yesterday morning.  They do have a message now when you call that they no longer are adding new people to their list as they have enough folks for their current allotment.  

Good to know that these small pharmacies are actually calling people back on their list.  I think the key is to keep pestering and get a little lucky as well.

When we called Brookshire's today to get my wife off their call list (since she got it elsewhere), the woman asked her where she got her vaccine because they are doing their best to refer people to other options for the time being.

2 hours ago, Cement said:

 

If some of the frontline healthcare workers are refusing science, why should a patient listen to the healthcare worker when they’re dispensing healthcare advice to the patient?

I can understand a vaccine refusal if pregnancy is involved because that definitely has not been tested. But if I were the hospital mgmt, I would want to hear some other valid reasons and not some crap that basically came from Facebook. Everyone is working hard to treat covid patients but some of the staff aren’t doing their part to lessen the community spread.

9 hours ago, Foosters said:

I'm an essential worker that got lumped into group 1C (don't even get me started). Is there a way we can figure out a rough estimate of when we can receive the vaccine depending on state/county?

Probably not.  Each state has their own definitions of who is in what phase.  The national government sets standards but states can do what they want with their allocation.

Are you in Texas?  Obviously Phase 1B has either started in Texas or will soon start, depending on who you talk to.  Phase 1B in Texas is bigger than 1B nationwide since it goes down to age 65 and includes ages 16-65 with certain heath conditions.  I think 1B covers about 1/3 of all people in Texas,.  Covering obesity added a big pile of folks to the list.  Other states have a narrower 1B so they will transition to 1C sooner.

Within Texas, the vaccine allocation has been pretty equitable across counties.  The Pfizer vaccine requires cold storage that some counties don't have, but maybe they are getting more Moderna.  You don't have to be vaccinated in your county or even your state, so hunt around if you really want it.

I would guess that Phase 1B in Texas will be winding down .... sometime in March?  I base this on Fauci and others saying that willing people will have access to a shot by June or July, so by March we should be at least 1/3 of the way to that goal.

Not only did my folks, aunt and FIL get it yesterday, but I learned that my MIL also got it at Harvey Hall in Tyler yesterday.  FIL told my wife that it was about a 3.5 hour wait yesterday at HH.  Good for her as she's having surgery next week and starts chemo 10 days later.

I got my first dose at Harvey Hall yesterday. Signed up online - they had several spots open. In and out in less than 25 minutes. They were not prepared for the number of people that shows up for shots. They closed around 3:15, with several hundred people waiting.
They would not schedule the second shot. Said they want to make she they get their allocation, and then will call people.
I called places today to line up the second shot. Several told me they wouldn’t give it to me, and that I needed to go back to where I got my shot. Makes some sense from a logistics standpoint, but my impression is that if you think it is bad now, it’s going to be so much worse when it’s time for the second shot.

Leave it to H‑E‑B to figure out how to efficiently distribute this thing. But are they even open???

I wish we had HEB in NYC. So far, only 88k shots in arms. Things are moving really slowly.

This article would have been timely yesterday before me and[mention=245]royiv[/mention]'s sparring match. Might have saved us some typing..

https://www.expressnews.com/news/houston-texas/health/article/texas-leaders-covid-vaccines-hospitals-pharmacy-15838452.php

Sum sum.. most hospitals are using their allocations almost immediately, there are reporting and data issues, and it's likely that the majority of doses allocated are in arms. And Greg Abbott's proclamation that tons of doses were sitting around going to waste was poorly researched, wrong, and irresponsible. Our state leadership played politics instead of governing responsibly.

3 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

This article would have been timely yesterday before me and[mention=245]royiv[/mention]'s sparring match. Might have saved us some typing..

https://www.expressnews.com/news/houston-texas/health/article/texas-leaders-covid-vaccines-hospitals-pharmacy-15838452.php

Sum sum.. most hospitals are using their allocations almost immediately, there are reporting and data issues, and it's likely that the majority of doses allocated are in arms. And Greg Abbott's proclamation that tons of doses were sitting around going to waste was poorly researched, wrong, and irresponsible. Our state leadership played politics instead of governing responsibly.

You want to see my shocked face?

11 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

If some of the frontline healthcare workers are refusing science, why should a patient listen to the healthcare worker when they’re dispensing healthcare advice to the patient?

I can understand a vaccine refusal if pregnancy is involved because that definitely has not been tested. But if I were the hospital mgmt, I would want to hear some other valid reasons and not some crap that basically came from Facebook. Everyone is working hard to treat covid patients but some of the staff aren’t doing their part to lessen the community spread.

I agree with the first part of this but not the second. This isn't Nazi Germany. Let people express free will.

BTW, doctors are easy to control. The medical board could easily refuse to issue licenses without proof of vaccination. That is in their wheelhouse.

9 minutes ago, Bevo said:

I agree with the first part of this but not the second. This isn't Nazi Germany. Let people express free will.

BTW, doctors are easy to control. The medical board could easily refuse to issue licenses without proof of vaccination. That is in their wheelhouse.

Why do I keep hearing "this isn't Nazi Germany" so much from the "let people choose the vaccine on their own terms" crowd?  

If I choose to stay home, wear a mask, keep my kids remote learning, etc.---then I'm a conformist, right?  A sheep?  

You pass on it now, you move to the end of the line.  They shouldn't get to change their minds in a month or 2.

2 minutes ago, kevwun said:

You pass on it now, you move to the end of the line.  They shouldn't get to change their minds in a month or 2.

Fine sentiment, but would require a very well structured data tracking and workflow management system....so yea nice sentiment

 

43 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Why do I keep hearing "this isn't Nazi Germany" so much from the "let people choose the vaccine on their own terms" crowd?  

If I choose to stay home, wear a mask, keep my kids remote learning, etc.---then I'm a conformist, right?  A sheep?  

Because, we as a society are moving in that direction. My dad has been practicing medicine for 60 years. He goes to the pharmacy to fill a prescription and a 30 year old pharmacist tells him that he can't get it filled because it was for GI and he is an ENT. When he questions her, she tells him that those are the rules. I try to get a procedure approved through medicaid. Medicaid will only pay for an inferior procedure. Even if I perform the better procedure at the cost of the inferior procedure, I can go to jail for improper billing.

Shit, I was at the airport yesterday and had to do a 90 mile drive through a blizzard. I tried to call the airport and speak with the ticket counter but the number forwarded to the Philippines, I think. I dropped the family off at the ticket counter and returned the rental car. Because it was a small airport, it only took me 1 minute to drop off the car. We were pre-checked. The person helping my family called to make sure it was okay for us to make the flight. The lady next to her stopped her and told her the the TSA lines were too long and to not do it. I went over to Southwest and booked a flight for 5 which took about 5 minutes. Went to the TSA line and it was non-existent. We walked right through. Maybe, you are young, but this creep on individual liberties and strict adherence to rules which may or may not make sense is pervasive. It might be stuff you agree with, though, so there is always that.

BTW, I have been vaccinated. My dermatologist has chosen not to get vaccinated. He graduated #1 in his med school class. Why should you or I care, whether he wants to wait to see how things go or whether he chooses to forgo vaccination? Let him make up his own mind. He is a smart guy.

I agree with most of that.  That's pretty crazy for a GI prescription gets booted because he's an ENT. Those are obviously inter-connected fields, I know because I have GI issues with the "T" part of ENT coming into play heavily.  I don't think anybody would have any issue with a Dermatologist waiting on the vaccine.  I know some of them are frontline folks, but most of them---I call "Pimple Popper, M.D.!"  Of course, they're now treating this deadly Wind Cancer I've heard so much about.  

You're right, there's no need for categorical white-washing on any particular group.  But then again, we can't exactly start parsing out sub of sub of sub groups either, we don't have that luxury of time.  There's got to be a happy medium.  Most people in this country want freedom and not to have to bury relatives unnecessarily.  But unfortunately the extreme 10-20% on both ends saw the pain and apprehension in our eyes and thought, "Ah fuck it, let's torch this fucking thing!"  There was always a better way to do this, and the stats bear that out.  We used to be so great at this shit.  Good news though is we have yet another chance to do better for one another in 2021...I'm feeling optimistic we can pull it off collectively.  There ain't no other rock but this one.

Because, we as a society are moving in that direction. My dad has been practicing medicine for 60 years. He goes to the pharmacy to fill a prescription and a 30 year old pharmacist tells him that he can't get it filled because it was for GI and he is an ENT. When he questions her, she tells him that those are the rules. I try to get a procedure approved through medicaid. Medicaid will only pay for an inferior procedure. Even if I perform the better procedure at the cost of the inferior procedure, I can go to jail for improper billing.
Shit, I was at the airport yesterday and had to do a 90 mile drive through a blizzard. I tried to call the airport and speak with the ticket counter but the number forwarded to the Philippines, I think. I dropped the family off at the ticket counter and returned the rental car. Because it was a small airport, it only took me 1 minute to drop off the car. We were pre-checked. The person helping my family called to make sure it was okay for us to make the flight. The lady next to her stopped her and told her the the TSA lines were too long and to not do it. I went over to Southwest and booked a flight for 5 which took about 5 minutes. Went to the TSA line and it was non-existent. We walked right through. Maybe, you are young, but this creep on individual liberties and strict adherence to rules which may or may not make sense is pervasive. It might be stuff you agree with, though, so there is always that.
BTW, I have been vaccinated. My dermatologist has chosen not to get vaccinated. He graduated #1 in his med school class. Why should you or I care, whether he wants to wait to see how things go or whether he chooses to forgo vaccination? Let him make up his own mind. He is a smart guy.

Ok, but hospitals have frequently required flu shots for staff. This is no different. And spare time the “free will” bullshit. They have free will to work somewhere else.

Also, hospitals have another interest at stake. If their staff doesn’t get vaccinated and then contracts it or spreads it to other co-workers, now they have a staffing issue.

Also, your dad has been an MD for 60 years? Impressive. I hope to hell I’m capable of working at that age.

Ok, but hospitals have frequently required flu shots for staff. This is no different. And spare time the “free will” bullshit. They have free will to work somewhere else.

Also, hospitals have another interest at stake. If their staff doesn’t get vaccinated and then contracts it or spreads it to other co-workers, now they have a staffing issue.

Also, your dad has been an MD for 60 years? Impressive. I hope to hell I’m capable of working at that age.

It feels to me like hospitals are burying their heads in the sand and hoping enough voluntarily take it to give the facilities quasi herd immunity, rather than fight the inevitable legal and PR battles that would ensue with a mandate. Who knows, it might work in urban areas. I doubt it's gonna work in most rural facilities.

How does one get in on the 1b?  I have a heart condition and I also have 9/11 lungs that might get me moved up.   Do I call my cardiologist or GP?   Or do I just call someone who is giving and tell them I have a condition?

Whole Foods shopper here and I have a question:  are these vaccines certified organic and non-GMO ??

My county health officer posted an informal poll on his fb page yesterday asking about vax plans- yes, no, and wait were the options. 
so far there’s 750 respondents and yes I’m getting the vaccine is at 48%, followed by no at 35% and wait and see is the rest. I’d assume the data set of those that follow the county health officer would skew more towards being inclined to take it, but who knows anymore with social media.  

340K in arms per today's reporting (which locks at end of yesterday). Up from 272K in yesterday's reporting.  That's 68K more reported in arms and puts state over 1%.

https://tabexternal.dshs.texas.gov/t/THD/views/COVID-19VaccineinTexasDashboard/Summary?%3Aorigin=card_share_link&%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y&%3Amobile=true&%3AdeepLinkingDisabled=y

4 minutes ago, midtown said:

How does one get in on the 1b?  I have a heart condition and I also have 9/11 lungs that might get me moved up.   Do I call my cardiologist or GP?   Or do I just call someone who is giving and tell them I have a condition?

You are 1B.  Make an appointment somewhere that is scheduling 1B shots.  Get your doctor to send them a prescription for it if they require one.  You can also call your doc to see if they can get it for you somewhere.  You fit the category, so don't feel bad about getting the shot.

Thanks. Ill call my cardiologist on Monday

27 minutes ago, Shaggybevo said:

Whole Foods shopper here and I have a question:  are these vaccines certified organic and non-GMO ??

Definitely GMO and not certified organic. The uridine nucleic acids have been methylated. Cap 1 structures were added as well as tails. Purification was done through oligo-dT affinity purification and buffer exchanged by tangential flow filtration into sodium acetate.

Paranoia and irrational thinking are not absent among healthcare workers. Doctors included. Remember, most are not scientists and cannot provide weathered explanations of what exactly concerns them about the vaccine.

Edited January 1, 2021 by naija

Definitely GMO and not certified organic. The uridine nucleic acids have been methylated. Cap 1 structures were added as well as tails. Purification was done through oligo-dT affinity purification and buffer exchanged by tangential flow filtration into sodium acetate.

You must be a hit at parties.

15 hours ago, shadetree said:

I got my first dose at Harvey Hall yesterday. Signed up online - they had several spots open. In and out in less than 25 minutes. They were not prepared for the number of people that shows up for shots. They closed around 3:15, with several hundred people waiting.
They would not schedule the second shot. Said they want to make she they get their allocation, and then will call people.
I called places today to line up the second shot. Several told me they wouldn’t give it to me, and that I needed to go back to where I got my shot. Makes some sense from a logistics standpoint, but my impression is that if you think it is bad now, it’s going to be so much worse when it’s time for the second shot.

That seems like a major fuckup. Im under the impression that they always schedule the second when doing the first. 

30 minutes ago, shakahorn said:

You must be a hit at parties.

Well at 50 I can still do a flip. And I'm an expert at the gator and hand jive. I just need some lessons on break dancing. The robot and line dancing are for the impaired unless they are combined and if that happens, I leave the bar unless my hookup has big tits.

Edited January 1, 2021 by Bevo

4 hours ago, Bevo said:

He goes to the pharmacy to fill a prescription and a 30 year old pharmacist tells him that he can't get it filled because it was for GI and he is an ENT.

If a pharmacist refused to fill a script I wrote I would be calling the pharmacy board. That is ridiculous 

23 minutes ago, Xian said:

That seems like a major fuckup. Im under the impression that they always schedule the second when doing the first. 

They didn't when I got mine, but I got it as part of big group at work so I'm not too worried about getting the 2nd one.

26 minutes ago, Xian said:

That seems like a major fuckup. Im under the impression that they always schedule the second when doing the first. 

 

2 minutes ago, kevwun said:

They didn't when I got mine, but I got it as part of big group at work so I'm not too worried about getting the 2nd one.

For me, I was directed to a website to schedule my 2nd shot but nothing prevented me from ignoring the request. What do we assume the 2nd shot return will be 80-90%? There will also be screwups in reporting where someone gets their 2nd shot but a clerk counts it as their 1st.

Hmm. They gave me my second appointment before i actually received the shot 

7 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

 

For me, I was directed to a website to schedule my 2nd shot but nothing prevented me from ignoring the request. What do we assume the 2nd shot return will be 80-90%? There will also be screwups in reporting where someone gets their 2nd shot but a clerk counts it as their 1st.

And anyone who gets their shots at different locations could also be counted wrongly and it's going to happen since there is no functional distribution plan.  I don't have much faith in the DSHS data collection system at this point being able to track those people.

Edited January 1, 2021 by kevwun

If a pharmacist refused to fill a script I wrote I would be calling the pharmacy board. That is ridiculous 

Agreed, except when the written script has errors in dosing or there is a serious cross-reaction concern.

Just saying “this isn’t from the right kind of specialist” is ridiculous, even if, as in the example we are discussing, the script is being written for the doctor himself as the patient.

As if ENT's actually write scripts.

16 minutes ago, scottsins said:

Agreed, except when the written script has errors in dosing or there is a serious cross-reaction concern.

Just saying “this isn’t from the right kind of specialist” is ridiculous, even if, as in the example we are discussing, the script is being written for the doctor himself as the patient.

I presumed no errors. Calls to clarify erroneous scripts or to let me know about a conflict with a med the patient didn’t tell me they were on are always welcome. Also didn’t catch he wrote the script for himself. That’s...not something I do

If he wrote the script himself for himself, yeah I can see why that would be a problem

37 minutes ago, MoJames said:

As if ENT's actually write scripts.

well, among surgeons, they do quite a bit.

it can be a lot of outpatient, clinic work which is the bulk of private practitioners. which is why it gets classified as a "lifestyle" specialty. unless you choose the Head & Neck Oncology or Skull Base path

13 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

On 12/31/2020 at 8:40 AM, HookEm said:

Leave it to H‑E‑B to figure out how to efficiently distribute this thing. But are they even open???

I wish we had HEB in NYC. So far, only 88k shots in arms. Things are moving really slowly.

Yeah but that pretty much covers everyone in NYC that hasn't already had Covid. 

1 hour ago, naija said:

If he wrote the script himself for himself, yeah I can see why that would be a problem

It wasn't for himself but he is semi-retired. He mainly teaches at one of the Texas medical schools. So to recap. He knows his shit. He is well known in his field. He wasn't prescribing for himself. It wasn't a controlled substance or anything addictive. But technically, if you follow the rules to the T, you should only prescribe for patients of record in your field and semi-retired physicians don't have many patients of record so technically even though you maintain your license and know more than most physicians and pharmacists you shouldn't prescribe. And that was the point. You know the song "Signs" by Tesla:

Signs Signs
Everywhere there's signs
Fucking up the scenery
Breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign

 

Well, that use to have a meaning. Going after 80 year old experts who aren't doing any harm and are actually doing good may not always be the best course of action.

Edited January 2, 2021 by Bevo

It wasn't for himself but he is semi-retired. He mainly teaches at one of the Texas medical schools. So to recap. He knows his shit. He is well known in his field. He wasn't prescribing for himself. It wasn't a controlled substance or anything addictive. But technically, if you follow the rules to the T, you should only prescribe for patients of record in your field and semi-retired physicians don't have many patients of record so technically even though you maintain your license and know more than most physicians and pharmacists you shouldn't prescribe. And that was the point. You know the song "Signs" by Tesla:
Signs Signs
Everywhere there's signs
Fucking up the scenery
Breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign   Well, that use to have a meaning. Going after 80 year old experts who aren't doing any harm and are actually doing good may not always be the best course of action.

You misspelled Five Man Electrical Band.

I plan on getting the shot once my employer gets their allotment (I'm in IT but for a healthcare company so we still qualify in 1A). With that said, I can understand why some would pass on getting it. There is a big difference in the fuckheads who refuse to get ANY vaccines because autism/bill gates microchips/etc and those who are skeptical in a vaccine that has gone from not existing to being used by the general masses in less than a year.  My mother who is now a semi-retired nurse used to work in the research dept for a company to track data and treat patients in studies. There is an extreme level of detail that goes into the testing phases of treatments/medicines. I know we can't afford that level of detail here because of the circumstances but I get it why medical professionals would be hesitant. It's not like they're refusing a flu vac that has been around forever.