Your ex-husband is a doctor and can’t get the vaccine? I have to say I’m surprised. I know at least a dozen doctors - some in private practice and some who work in hospitals and they all got it last week. My SIL is a physical therapist in Northwestern’s group and she can get it whenever she wants. I’m not sure I feel like Illinois is a mess. You’ve heard for sure that teachers will get “pushed back” past Jan? Or are you just guessing?
I’m feeling confident that the groups will be identified soon for the upcoming groups. I heard things are slow now in some states because there aren’t enough places set up to give the vaccine yet. Some hospitals are busy with Covid patients and don’t have extra personnel to contact people and get appointments made for them and get the shots in their arms. I think people are being a little unrealistic. It’s going to take a little time and there will be some starts and stops.
Like I said above, too, people can say no to the vaccine but when it becomes mandatory for some workers and for students and for those of us who want to to to a sporting event or a concert, people will fall in line. For those people who say they are waiting a couple of months, fine. They will see it’s all ok and get the vaccine this spring.
There have been a lot of studies done and the percent of people willing to take it increases with each new report.
It’s not that he can’t get the vaccine, it’s that it keeps getting delayed. I had a physical last week and my own internist who has had it because he also goes to a facility that treats covid patients has said that’s the only reason he has already gotten it and not everyone in his group has gotten it yet either and he’s part of North Shore which as you know is the biggest system in the area. So yeah it is a cluster. Meanwhile some long term care facilities have already been given it. Much of it is also about what county someone lives and/or works in based on the allocation so that could be why your sil is able to get it.
As far as teachers, it is more than likely they’re going to be pushed back for two reasons, one because Illinois is behind on their overall schedule, they aren’t even close to finishing with group 1a and 2 because Pritzker hasn’t come out with how he’s doing group 1b now and which guidance he’s following and the order he’s following it. So, he may put people over 65 first, 76 first, teachers first, other essential workers first, etc. and also no plan for what the overall order of teachers will be. At one point I had heard elementary will be first before high school, but seeing as high school teachers seem more afraid of going back due to teenager behavior who knows if that will change since so many high schools aren’t open. Once 1/20 rolls around I have heard everything will change and it will all speed up so we just need to hold on for 3 more weeks.
Agree 100% about the mandate. It will be mandated ultimately in many places. My daughter’s school already mandated the flu vaccine this year. And yep, if people want to go to sporting events, concerts, fly, or have a normal life, they will have to prove they have the vaccine. I think many jobs will require it too. Mine required a drug test among other things. I want to be able to travel again, live life again, hug my parents again, visit my kids at school again, not worry about my kids and other family members, getting covid and having long term health risks.
It is not looking good if nurses, nursing home staff and residents, and paramedics who have presumably seen the effects of COVID-19 are unwilling to get the vaccine.
So there will be no herd immunity from the vaccine given such high rates of vaccine refusal. Protect yourself from COVID-19 by getting the vaccine, and hope you do not need to go to the hospital when periodic surges of COVID-19 among vaccine refusers fill up hospital capacity and prevent you from getting urgent or emergency care.
Unfortunately, if you are medically unable to get the vaccine, the prevalence of vaccine refusers who likely more easily* could bring COVID-19 to you will make life more risky for you going forward. However, given other vaccines that are in trials, it is possible that some who are medically unable to get the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna vaccines may be able to get one of the ones currently in trials, if these succeed and are approved.
*Yes, we do not know for sure if the vaccine reduces transmission, but it is likely for a vaccine that is 95% effective against symptomatic disease.
Pfizer responded to the UK and Canadian provinces who are moving forward with the one dose regimen, saying " there are “no data” to demonstrate that a single dose of its coronavirus vaccine will provide protection from infection after 21 days."
The plan is for healthcare workers and workers in nursing homes to be first, but it is going very very slowly… Our local hospital staff have started, and some nursing homes have started. I am unaware of any general public vaccs even being offered at this point.
Our local hospital is overwhelmed with patients, and has cancelled all procedures and elective surgeries. There is no testing center outside of doctors’ offices and you need to be symptomatic to get one. I don’t know where they will find people to administer shots, here.
How could it be everyone? Reducing the double-shot to a single-shot only doubles the number of people vaccinated, not everyone. The production of the vaccines doesn’t seem to be the main bottleneck right now. Administering them is. I’d imagine the process would be even slower if we spread the shots to twice as many people.
I am glad to see this thread, because I have begun to fret about the dearth of detailed plans in my state (VA). My sister in NY is equally baffled. The issue isn’t really the priority groupings; it is how the state is planning to administer and communicate to us older and otherwise at risk people outside of the medical profession and nursing homes. I have contacted my county and state reps but haven’t gotten any information.
I’m sure this isn’t limited to my situation, but with the unanswered questions about progress in providing shots in the arm, I wonder if I’ll find out about my state on CC before getting info from the State.
I think you misunderstood. They’re vaccinating everyone first with shot 1, and in 3 months starting the second shot, instead of doing it in 28 day intervals. This way they will achieve greater immunity quicker. There are also less people there than here so maybe that’s why they are able to do it at that kind of speed. Afterall, per this link they are immunizing at a much faster rate than we are and they have way less people than we do. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations - Our World in Data
I understand what UK is doing. If we can administer the shots as quickly as we can produce them, the overall effectiveness is about the same. However here in the US, if we can’t seem to administer the shots as quickly as we can produce them, by spreading the shots to twice as many people, we’d only slow it down, in terms of the overall effectiveness of the vaccines among the population. UK doesn’t seem to have the same problem as we do. They’re making the bets that they will get the vaccines in time for the second shots for most people, but they’re running the risk that vaccine acquisition may be slower than they anticipate and the effectiveness may actually wane due to prolonged gap between the shots.
Did you see what happened in Wisconsin? That pharmacist intentionally gave people bad doses! Who does that? Those poor people who thought they were vaccinated and weren’t. Perfect example though of why when you do get the vaccine you still need to continue to wear a mask.
In Ohio our governor said 60 percent of nursing home workers are refusing the vaccine. I don’t know where he got his number, might be just anecdotal and then extrapolation. But … really? When that is where many/most of the fatalities are occurring, and staff is bringing it in? I know it is voluntary right now, but at some point it has to be mandatory like the immunizations required now for healthcare.
I fully expect college students to be a priority by summer, so they can be on campus in some fashion. I figure I am at the back of the line, lol.
Such news doesn’t make me any less inclined to get the shots. I want to get the shots to help stop the spread of the virus. If they also help protect me in the process, so much the better. We know some tiny portion of these vaccines will be ineffective, due to either deliberate (as in this news) or inadvertent actions (which could happen during transportion or handling of the vaccines), or manufacturing defects (inevitable statistically). I’ll continue to wear the mask until the virus mostly disappears from the general population regardless.
It would be nice to see some teeth put into legislation such that if you refuse the vaccine, not for medical reasons, and are later sick and hospitalized then you must pay for the treatment yourself…
I read of a plan to not only immunize more people with just one dose, but to also require antibody testing. If someone has antibodies, they don’t get the vaccine (at that time).
I read an article about how public health departments are simply overwhelmed, so I’m not sure what is going to magically happen come January 20. What is the fix for that?
@yearstogo Sadly, I have to agree, but why not take it further and if you refuse to take the vaccine or adhere to guidelines as so many have, you are last in line for care as well. Think of all the people that are being turned away in CA because of those who were intentionally disregarding the guidelines. There was a high end restaurant in LA that sent secret New Year’s invites to an A list of clientele for a private party. Thank god someone reported them. In addition to having to turn patients away, they are almost to the point of rationing care. I cannot imagine.
@bearcatfan Are you sure that’s what he said? I thought I heard him say (he was interviewed on CNN) that the residents in nursing homes that refused to get the vaccine were the people who live there and the reason being is that they are older and just want to enjoy the quality of life they have left because they don’t have that long.
ABC had a list of top states having the hardest time with compliance (or refusal of vaccine) and surprisingly at the top of the list it was Ohio. In IL where I live, everyone I know and in FB groups I’m in with thousands of people everyone wants to get it with only a handful that just want to wait.