COVID-19 vaccine discussion

3 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

how old are you?

when you registered did you say you had insurance?  

if under 65 and you said yes you might as well call HEB and check the dashboard that shows other types of locations that have some.

if over 65 but have insurance you might call APH, if you can.

yes under 65 and did say i had insurance.  i'll start calling around too.  thanks 

2 minutes ago, Captainant said:

So wait, we're doing great with vaccine distribution?? I'll let my dad's nursing home know so they can vaccinate him! And I'll likewise let my grandfather know so he can get his first dose too. It's so great to learn that we have in fact been working on coordinated vaccine distribution since they got approved! It's been soooooooooooo much fun calling his care facility every day and hearing that they have no idea when he'll get his, I'll miss it so.

Unless I misunderstand you, and it's just that you're attacking me because I say facts you dislike and/or are offensive to your otherwise delicate sensibilities.

My wife has some clients that we’ve known forever. Both over 70 and both cancer survivors. They haven’t been able to get their first dose. Meanwhile we have multiple friends in their 30s and 40s that got them through “hookups.” It’s ridiculous. 

5 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

My wife has some clients that we’ve known forever. Both over 70 and both cancer survivors. They haven’t been able to get their first dose. Meanwhile we have multiple friends in their 30s and 40s that got them through “hookups.” It’s ridiculous. 

Anecdotally (from this thread and otherwise) it seems like the best way to get a vaccine is to be mobile and a flexible enough schedule to drop everything and rush over to a different town that has a handful of shots. It's infuriating, and is causing a vaccination bias towards people in lower risk groups at the expense of the elderly and immunocompromised who can't travel easily. If vaccines are such a precious resource, it's beyond the pale that they have so far been distributed in this ad-hoc manner. The fact my dad can't even make a goddamn appointment and put a date on the calendar to look forward to has been especially rough on him.

22 minutes ago, Captainant said:

So wait, we're doing great with vaccine distribution?? I'll let my dad's nursing home know so they can vaccinate him! And I'll likewise let my grandfather know so he can get his first dose too. It's so great to learn that we have in fact been working on coordinated vaccine distribution since they got approved! It's been soooooooooooo much fun calling his care facility every day and hearing that they have no idea when he'll get his, I'll miss it so.

Unless I misunderstand you, and it's just that you're attacking me because I say facts you dislike and/or are offensive to your otherwise delicate sensibilities.

CA, do you know which pharmacy vendor the facility signed up with through the CDC program back in November?  Might be a useful piece of info, and based on how they respond to that question, you might very well need to expedite the process by making an appointment for him somewhere else, assuming he is ambulatory. 

29 minutes ago, Captainant said:

So wait, we're doing great with vaccine distribution?? I'll let my dad's nursing home know so they can vaccinate him! And I'll likewise let my grandfather know so he can get his first dose too. It's so great to learn that we have in fact been working on coordinated vaccine distribution since they got approved! It's been soooooooooooo much fun calling his care facility every day and hearing that they have no idea when he'll get his, I'll miss it so.

Unless I misunderstand you, and it's just that you're attacking me because I say facts you dislike and/or are offensive to your otherwise delicate sensibilities.

...is your dad or granddad white?

Y'all trying to full blown CR this thread. Cut the shit.

4 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

CA, do you know which pharmacy vendor the facility signed up with through the CDC program back in November?  Might be a useful piece of info, and based on how they respond to that question, you might very well need to expedite the process by making an appointment for him somewhere else, assuming he is ambulatory. 

he is unfortunately not ambulatory and requires special transport, and I'm not sure the pharmacy vendor of his current rehab hospital or nursing home (context: he developed bedsores that advanced to severe wounds at his old NH so he is currently a month into wound care at a RH, and once healed will be a resident at a new NH). Good thing to ask tomorrow during business hours though, thanks. Have you seen one vendor/supplier that has had better distribution into care facilities or some sort of "vaccines delivered" mechanism?

1 minute ago, dcar00 said:

...is your dad or granddad white?

Not sure what it has to do with anything, but they both are. Dad is a >65yo advanced Parkinsons patient and granddad is a >80yo retired AF colonel that just beat cancer, so I kind of figured they'd be among the first to receive doses, but go figure.

10 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

Y'all trying to full blown CR this thread. Cut the shit.

it ain't y'all...you know who showed up.  you are about 40 posts too late.

Took mom and dad (both 83) to Parkland drive through site at Eastfield in Mesquite today.  40 mins total from pull up to exit including the 15 minute wait.  Well oiled machine - staff were all great.  Got very lucky that neighbor showed me how to register them last week when they opened the process.  Dad has severe mobility issues, so drive through was probably our only option right now.  Received Pfizer - back in 3 weeks for round 2. 🤞

16 minutes ago, Captainant said:

he is unfortunately not ambulatory and requires special transport, and I'm not sure the pharmacy vendor of his current rehab hospital or nursing home (context: he developed bedsores that advanced to severe wounds at his old NH so he is currently a month into wound care at a RH, and once healed will be a resident at a new NH). Good thing to ask tomorrow during business hours though, thanks. Have you seen one vendor/supplier that has had better distribution into care facilities or some sort of "vaccines delivered" mechanism?

Not sure what it has to do with anything, but they both are. Dad is a >65yo advanced Parkinsons patient and granddad is a >80yo retired AF colonel that just beat cancer, so I kind of figured they'd be among the first to receive doses, but go figure.

Not sure if the rehab facility would be different.  Seems unconscionable to me that they cannot provide you with any info on scheduling at this point. If you can find out who the pharmacy provider is, assuming they are signed up with one, perhaps an angle to go is working through the rx side to see what the facility is scheduled.  I am quite sure that the transitions between facilities is not working in his favor. 

 
Correct.
Capitalism saved the day here, not the government. And will continue to do so. These pharmas would have found the money had Germany and the US not given it to them ahead of time. They would have had no problem getting the money from Private Equity or elsewhere.

Private equity would charge so much we’d all be antivaxxers.

51 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Private equity would charge so much we’d all be antivaxxers.

You don’t say?

 

Didn't see it mentioned yet. Isreal reports first Pfizer only 30% effective

thejewsdidthis.gif

2 hours ago, Captainant said:

Have you seen one vendor/supplier that has had better distribution into care facilities or some sort of "vaccines delivered" mechanism?

CVS is the vendor for my mom's assisted living facility.  She got her second round shot last Monday.  All 80 residents at her facility were vaccinated (first shot on 12/29/20.  Where is he located?  My mom is not at a facility in a large metro area.

9 hours ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Roomie and I got texts from HEB on Tuesday asking us to reply YES to opt into their texts so that we can schedule our second doses. Hopefully that means they are expecting more doses soon or that they have them in hand for those that got the first through them. We haven’t heard anything else yet. 

A couple coworkers of mine are getting their second dose through H‑E‑B tomorrow (Riverside).  I am not due until 2/2 at 183&Springdale.  A pharmacy tech I used to work with who works at Riverside has been updating us.  His info has been good so far and he says they (Austin area stores) have allocations for the second doses and everyone who got a first dose should have one available.  I will be nervous until the second shot is in my arm, but it is H‑E‑B and they are pretty trustworthy (when open).

3 hours ago, Captainant said:

Not sure what it has to do with anything, but they both are. Dad is a >65yo advanced Parkinsons patient and granddad is a >80yo retired AF colonel that just beat cancer, so I kind of figured they'd be among the first to receive doses, but go figure.

You may want to contact the VA for your grandfather’s vaccine. A buddy was able to schedule an appointment through them in San Antonio for his 95 year-old, WW2 veteran dad. 

3 hours ago, Captainant said:

seems like the best way to get a vaccine is to be mobile and a flexible enough schedule to drop everything and rush over to a different town that has a handful of shots.

I'm ready. I'd have my mom in a car in 30 minutes and I'd drive her anywhere in Texas (or farther) if I knew a vaccine was waiting for our arrival. The question is how to find out where it's actually available.

The appointments for the 400 doses available at HEB in Wharton were gone in <30 seconds this AM.

Bernard

8 minutes ago, Bernard said:

I'm ready. I'd have my mom in a car in 30 minutes and I'd drive her anywhere in Texas (or farther) if I knew a vaccine was waiting for our arrival. The question is how to find out where it's actually available.

The appointments for the 400 doses available at HEB in Wharton were gone in <30 seconds this AM.

Bernard

More signups open in morning for Arkansas pass and Portland. 

My wife has some clients that we’ve known forever. Both over 70 and both cancer survivors. They haven’t been able to get their first dose. Meanwhile we have multiple friends in their 30s and 40s that got them through “hookups.” It’s ridiculous. 

Do they have pre existings? I'm 38 and got my first dose today. I have a pre existing condition and legitimately am 1b but I was definitely self conscious.

On another note I'm trying to find shots for my parents in Dallas but so far nothing.

33 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

More signups open in morning for Arkansas pass and Portland. 

I'll be refreshing my browser at 9AM.

$500 bounty to any fast fingered Surly who can get through the HEB portal on my behalf. If you care to participate, PM me for my phone number, if you get though at 9:00:01 AM, you can call me and I'll give you whatever deets you need to enter in their system. First caller wins.

Bernard

I can't believe that no one has posted this New Yorker article from two weeks ago.

THE PLAGUE YEAR

It's a great summary and timetable of events of 2020. Infuriating and frustrating, but informative. It's a long read and puts everything in great detail, but well worth your time. 

Someone said earlier in the thread, but if you or your parents are eligible to be vaccinated, be persistent, keep trying, do whatever it takes, it will happen. I was able to get vaccinated at a small family clinic on the 2nd and I go back for round two on the 30th. They gave me the number for an affiliated facility and I was able to get my parents vaccinated 10-days later. Keep trying. Show up and tell them you'll wait for a no-show. Don't take "no" for an answer.

Read the article.

9 hours ago, Armybrat said:

What about the waivers for some of the extended vaccine testing & development rules? Wasn’t that a factor in speeding up the process?

No. Because (apparently) the formula for this vaccine is completely different and most of the heavy lifting had been done as early as 2013. Moderna's messenger-RNA delivery platform worked, but they had never brought a vaccine to market. In 2013 structure based vaccine design was developed, but MERS faded and funding went away before it could be tested on humans. Once the Chinese posted the genomic sequence the same group could design the proteins to defeat this coronavirus and to be fitted on the messenger RNA. Then they turned it over to Moderna for manufacturing. As Coach Royal would say, "it's where preparation met opportunity". 

It's a great article, but there are like 5 or 6 Covid threads on this site and it has been posted in several of those.

 

NM

Edited January 22, 2021 by Rockwell Torrey

Out of curiosity, do all of you live in the areas where their offering heb vaccines? If Aransas Pass’ HEB has doses, I’m sure the idea is not for Houston people to drive down there.

13 hours ago, Wax Beer Cup said:

Took mom and dad (both 83) to Parkland drive through site at Eastfield in Mesquite today.  40 mins total from pull up to exit including the 15 minute wait.  Well oiled machine - staff were all great.  Got very lucky that neighbor showed me how to register them last week when they opened the process.  Dad has severe mobility issues, so drive through was probably our only option right now.  Received Pfizer - back in 3 weeks for round 2. 🤞

How did the County contact you after you registered? Email, phone, text? Trying to get my father vaccinated in Dallas County and signed up awhile back. I did get the email confirming registration but nothing since. He's in his 80s, had a stroke a few years ago, heart condition etc and proud Longhorn.

@Bernard HEB just opened their sites.

 

Also...

 

 

And...

 

 

DSHS please give HEB 20k shots and lets see what they can do in an urban/suburban area.  kthxbai. 

HEB's website is awesome.  Simple to use, easy to understand, appears to scale, appears to function...

Failed again.

I was refreshing my browser fast and furiously just before 9 AM. At a bout 8:59:20 (per time.is) the "not accepting appointments for Phase 1b" notice changed to "Check Availability" link.

I clicked on that link and the scheduler page appeared, but it said "no appointments available". I refreshed that page constantly for five minutes but nothing changed. Frustrated, I stopped refreshing for a minute or two. Then refreshed again to see 42 slots available at one location and 35(?) slots available at another location. Clicked both of those links and was told no appointments available. 😞

Bernard 

3 minutes ago, Bernard said:

Failed again.

I was refreshing my browser fast and furiously just before 9 AM. At a bout 8:59:20 (per time.is) the "not accepting appointments for Phase 1b" notice changed to "Check Availability" link.

I clicked on that link and the scheduler page appeared, but it said "no appointments available". I refreshed that page constantly for five minutes but nothing changed. Frustrated, I stopped refreshing for a minute or two. Then refreshed again to see 42 slots available at one location and 35(?) slots available at another location. Clicked both of those links and was told no appointments available. 😞

Bernard 

Yeah, saw similar.  Either their scheduling app is spazzing or the demand just far outstrips the supply.  If the latter, throw some quantity at them and see what they can do. 

Got first dose yesterday and very glad since it is reported they have now run out in houston.  Distribution should be better, but it appears we are vaccinating  ~1 million per day for the last week or so.  Not bad, but not enough.  not sure how it is possible to get more out there.  

Edited January 22, 2021 by pepper brooks

At current 7 day average first shot vaccination rates, Texas will cross 50% of the over 16 population on July 21st and 100% next January 18th.  Believe it or not, that's progress.  About ten days ago, the 100% date was in June 2022.

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Texas Jeff

17 hours ago, Hunt Stevenson said:

This is hard for any fair minded person to disagree with.  

You haven't met Captain Cunt yet, have you.

7 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

At current 7 day average vaccination rates, Texas will cross 50% of the over 16 population on July 21st and 100% next January 18th.  Believe it or not, that's progress.  About ten days ago, the 100% date was in June 2022.

 

When do we get all Americans over 65 vaccinated? At that point the number of deaths should drop by 80%.

Bernard

I helped out my employer with providing vaccines to the public last week. Surprisingly (or not) it takes a large # of people to run the hub centers.

• helping patients get to where they need to go
• helping people that missed their vaccine appointment yesterday (last week)
• dealing with walk-ins asking for the vaccine
• assisting with forms
• re-cleaning any surface/chair touched by a patient
• finding answers for brand new questions from patients
• recording all of the data

And this is all before they see the healthcare worker that will give them the vaccine and then scheduling dose #2. You also need to have a team of people preparing the vaccine doses to align with the expected # of patients. 

You see all of that work, and it feels like 5,000 people were vaccinated, but you're told that the daily # will be 1,200.  I had a new appreciation on how much work will go into vaccinating everyone (or 70%.)

Edited January 22, 2021 by Nice Guy Eddie

33 minutes ago, pepper brooks said:

Got first dose yesterday and very glad since it is reported they have now run out in houston.  Distribution should be better, but it appears we are vaccinating  ~1 million per day for the last week or so.  Not bad, but not enough.  not sure how it is possible to get more out there.  

NYC has no shots, NJ has no shots, Houston has no shots.  Where are all these 20 million unused shots?  Stuck at the Denver Airport?

2 hours ago, CHEF DIESEL said:

How did the County contact you after you registered? Email, phone, text? Trying to get my father vaccinated in Dallas County and signed up awhile back. I did get the email confirming registration but nothing since. He's in his 80s, had a stroke a few years ago, heart condition etc and proud Longhorn.

I did the registration directly through Parkland’s site (parkland hospital.com), not Dallas county.  You have to create a MyChart record to get in their system (assuming he’s not already one) and you can then book through the scheduling tool.  I think it’s tougher to schedule now that word has gotten out, but stick with it - appts open as they get more supply.  Good luck!

NYC has no shots, NJ has no shots, Houston has no shots.  Where are all these 20 million unused shots?  Stuck at the Denver Airport?

The basement of The Alamo.

19 minutes ago, Bernard said:

When do we get all Americans over 65 vaccinated? At that point the number of deaths should drop by 80%.

I was just looking at that this morning.  In Texas, 65+ accounts for about 72% of all deaths.  80+ is about half the death.  If you think about a little herd immunity effect once you start vaccinating all of the seniors, you are probably right with the 80% number.

I don't have trend data yet, but I can say that in Texas, about 12.7% of folks over 65 have already had at least one shot (about 480k out of 3.77M seniors).  Consider that the first two weeks were just Phase 1A, so really we have been working on the 65+ group for 3-4 weeks.

You can project that out, but it's going to take a while.  Even if Texas just focused on 65+ and continued to receive about 330k first shots per week, it would take 10-11 weeks to get first shots to 100% of the 65+ group.

12 hours ago, Surly Bevo said:

It's a great article, but there are like 5 or 6 Covid threads on this site and it has been posted in several of those.

Excellent. Thank you. Glad it was already out there.

23 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

I was just looking at that this morning.  In Texas, 65+ accounts for about 72% of all deaths.  80+ is about half the death.  If you think about a little herd immunity effect once you start vaccinating all of the seniors, you are probably right with the 80% number.

I don't have trend data yet, but I can say that in Texas, about 12.7% of folks over 65 have already had at least one shot (about 480k out of 3.77M seniors).  Consider that the first two weeks were just Phase 1A, so really we have been working on the 65+ group for 3-4 weeks.

You can project that out, but it's going to take a while.  Even if Texas just focused on 65+ and continued to receive about 330k first shots per week, it would take 10-11 weeks to get first shots to 100% of the 65+ group.

And we are still waiting for our notification for an appointment.

1 hour ago, pepper brooks said:

Got first dose yesterday and very glad since it is reported they have now run out in houston.  Distribution should be better, but it appears we are vaccinating  ~1 million per day for the last week or so.  Not bad, but not enough.  not sure how it is possible to get more out there.  

By getting another approved vaccine out there. Really need J&J to be good. It would be a game changer. 

11 minutes ago, LurkingHorn said:

Really need J&J to be good. It would be a game changer. 

McClellan saying 100MM JNJ doses on tap by spring/April. 

1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

McClellan saying 100MM JNJ doses on tap by spring/April. 

“Y’all got any of that phase 3 J&J data?”

 

Any more stuff from the new Admin about the whole "better to have more folks with one shot than fewer with two shots" thing since the "reserve" fiasco?  I ask because there's a lot of stuff from the Israelis indicating that one shot is not 50% effective as Pfizer claimed, but more like 20% to 30%.

40 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Any more stuff from the new Admin about the whole "better to have more folks with one shot than fewer with two shots" thing since the "reserve" fiasco?  I ask because there's a lot of stuff from the Israelis indicating that one shot is not 50% effective as Pfizer claimed, but more like 20% to 30%.

I'm not sure the plan was to just get one dose to as many people as possible without worrying about the 2nd. I think they are betting the supply chain will catch up in the next 30-60 days so people can get their 2nd dose.

My impression from watching some of the press briefings is that they are still trying to get a grasp on what's in place. It also sounds like they know the data they have with regard to vaccine distribution and inoculations is flawed. They're going to have to get that sorted out before anything else. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Anastasis said:

McClellan saying 100MM JNJ doses on tap by spring/April. 

I haven't been paying super close attention but hasn't the JNJ chain of events been like this: (i) Good early data and expect to apply for early vaccination end of January, should be a approved early to mid-February (ii) reports out that there have been significant production delays. and JNJ will likely not have many doses available in February and likely won't have 10MM available until March (iii) report out that, hey, we were wrong, we won't have Phase III data until mid to late February after all and (iv) now a report that a shit ton will be available by April?

Call me a skeptic but seems plausible they are holding onto their Phase III data waiting for manufacturing to catch up so they can time "Approval" with actually being able to deliver a material amount of product (thus creating a lot more "buzz" for their brand increasing overall supply significantly overnight).   

54 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I ask because there's a lot of stuff from the Israelis indicating that one shot is not 50% effective as Pfizer claimed, but more like 20% to 30%.

Interesting.  Where are you seeing this data?  I could have sworn I read something last week speculating the 50% claim after 1 shot was likely conservative and expectation was it's higher.

6 minutes ago, Skipper said:

I haven't been paying super close attention but hasn't the JNJ chain of events been like this: (i) Good early data and expect to apply for early vaccination end of January, should be a approved early to mid-February (ii) reports out that there have been significant production delays. and JNJ will likely not have many doses available in February and likely won't have 10MM available until March (iii) report out that, hey, we were wrong, we won't have Phase III data until mid to late February after all and (iv) now a report that a shit ton will be available by April?

Call me a skeptic but seems plausible they are holding onto their Phase III data waiting for manufacturing to catch up so they can time "Approval" with actually being able to deliver a material amount of product (thus creating a lot more "buzz" for their brand increasing overall supply significantly overnight).   

Yeah, it's been tracking all over the place.  The most recent I have seen indicates that they have essentially all the data ready to analyze, and will start that ASAP.  The comments came from McClellan today I think.  He is past head of the FDA and also on their board.  Not sure if I believe the 100MM number by April or not, but anything that they can push into the system will make a huge difference in terms of ramping up availability.  Personally, I would still prefer the PFE or MRNA vax over the JNJ one, two shots or not.  Just hoping that JNJ can dump substantial quantities into the system to free up availability. 

22 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Interesting.  Where are you seeing this data?  I could have sworn I read something last week speculating the 50% claim after 1 shot was likely conservative and expectation was it's higher.

the # i've been reading/hearing has been 30%.  don't have one singular source but i follow this closely as part of my job and we get updates several times a day in research reports.