This is horrible, absurd, and totally flies in the face of public health. Every dose should be used. Immunizing a healthy 18 yr old still helps to stop transmission. They should have a wait list, and call in people to take the leftover doses. If it means immunizing those who are not in the qualifying group, so be it. It’s better than throwing out doses!
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I am concerned there will be a lag time between the appearance of variants and the development of new versions of the vaccines. In the interim, while vaccines are being tweaked, new variants can evolve. Sorry, having one of those down days. But I don’t expect to behave any differently once vaccinated, except to see my kids (I hope).
My H and I still have to wait until they start with those of us under 65 in our area, but my parents and my Grandmother will get their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday. What that means for me is that I will be able to visit my parents in March at their home to celebrate my mom and my birthdays (I was born on her birthday). We will still all wear masks and be outside since we are not vaccinated, but we can easily do this in Southern California. When I talked with my mom yesterday she told me how happy she is that we can celebrate together!
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Could not agree more. Is there no way to have “standby line” locations in cities as end-of-day repositories where the willing can go out and stand in the cold if they so choose? I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I guess there is the issue of second doses but seems like more shots in more arms would be good for all of us.
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@DadofTwoGirls I know either choice has potential bad outcomes and if they are allowed to give the unused doses to non-qualifiers that could be used to justify favoritism, but to be honest, I don’t care. Shots in arms, don’t throw it away whilst I cannot get an appointment.
The more shots in arms, the fewer people queueing up in front of me. Just give everyone the shots, even the line jumpers, the donors, the big wigs who don’t deserve it. Don’t waste a single dose. Even if it’s abused, it’s still better than throwing them away.
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They aren’t throwing them away in Colorado. Some places have on-call lists, some give it to volunteers in the parking lots, some move the vaccines to another location (a pharmacy or clinic).
Line jumpers? Yes, but they are there anyway. What they need to control is the number of vaccines the providers thaw each day to ‘accidentally’ have 200 doses left over.
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I agree with having greater control over the vials defrosted, having 200 extra makes no sense to me. The vials only take 15-30 min to thaw, there is no reason to have 20 extra vials.
I am also afraid there will be a short window between us being vaccinated and a resistant strain running rampant, I’m not planning any major changes but will fantasize about a trip.
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My 18 year old got it when he was volunteering at a vaccine site. If they have extra that’s apparently what they do first.
Throwing out surplus seems completely antithetical to the end goal. If there’s a way to use surplus equitably and ethically, that should be the first step. Otherwise, they really should just give to whomever’s arm is there.
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Re: extras. I got my second shot yesterday (as an eligible recipient). I was quite early arriving and when I checked in, I mentioned that. The person check me in said they make appointments so they can keep the flow going AND so they know how many vaccines to bring and prepare.
I can see a couple of extras because folks don’t show up or something…but hundreds shouldn’t be happening.
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In our large city, the logistics were not communicated well and so there was significant confusion. Further, people signed up for vaccines and then ended up getting them elsewhere so didn’t show up. I suspect there were also folks who simply didn’t have transportation (which is another issue). At the site my son volunteered at, they were doing >200/hour all day. Drive through service, about 4 stations.
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I feel like I will worry less and will be more likely to do things like eat inside a restaurant. Generally speaking, vaccines also reduce spread because the viral load doesn’t increase to the same extent it does in folks with no immunity.
One of our kids is working out of state, a plane ride away. Depending on what is going on with variants, we may fly out to see him (with proper precautions). And see our other son who is driving distance away, but uncomfortable seeing us as he has a lot of exposure at this job.
I would still mask and distance, but would be more comfortable seeing a vaccinated friend inside (still sitting apart) or going out to dinner. We had outdoor dinners with friends all summer, but have not eaten inside (except once briefly at a food court with few others and very open area). I may also go back to the gym, masked of course.
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Will change:
I will get a haircut.
I will dine in at my favorite restaurants, instead of dining outside in the parking lot patios or getting take-out.
I will go to the library.
I will go to the county rec center and use the treadmill.
I will make overnight trips again.
Might change:
I might teach pre-academic ESL classes on the community college campus but that will depend on 1) availability of good-for-COVID-times classroom spaces, and 2) numbers of students interested in in-person classes and numbers of students preferring to continue in online classes.
Won’t change:
I will still teach Adult Ed. ESL classes online because 1) there is about 0% chance the public school where they used to meet will let us back in that building any time soon, and 2) our students are used to the convenience of attending online classes that aren’t dependent on where they live.
I will still binge-watch Korean soaps on Netflix because why would I give up such a fun thing that I started to do during the pandemic. 
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You are absolutely correct. I am acquainted with someone with indolent lymphoma in Israel who contracted the UK variant 4 weeks after having had the second dose of Pfizer. He had not yet had any treatment for the indolent lymphoma, so it cannot be blamed on a lymphocyte-depleting treatment, although certainly, his immune system would not have been 100% functional. He’s still having fever on day 7 - we will see how it goes for him. Watch the data that will come out of Israel, since everyone is getting Pfizer there, and UK variant is now dominant there. I wouldn’t be surprised if South African variant gets there, too, as soon as they open the airport back up again.
Makes sense to just keep up the precautions as much as possible even after immunization.
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I’ve been watching the data out of Israel and it looks promising. Did you see this? Israel Vaccination/Infection Plots
Updated to add new Israel data: Israeli study finds 94% drop in symptomatic COVID-19 cases with Pfizer vaccine
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I stayed with my mom when she got her 2nd dose on Thu. Yesterday she was on the phone with her friends about starting up their Mahjong game again. It was nice to hear her being so alive. She did say they should start slow (4 hours rather than 6-8 hours) because they are out of shape. LOL.
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Awe. That is fabulous! My 77 year old dad also sounds so lively now. He has renewed energy and a long to do list. As a retired physician, he knows that he must still be careful, but he is ecstatic that he can have dinner with his vaccinated girlfriend in a restaurant. And they can expand whom they see now. Everyone they know is vaccinated (FL).
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I’m getting mine next month. H (who has more vulnerabilities) got his first shot Friday. So, soon we’ll both be probably protected. However, other family members aren’t yet, and it’s still possible to pass it on potentially, so we’ll mostly be as careful as before. However, knowing we can’t jeopardize each other will be great.
Might try in-person grocery shopping occasionally (morning senior hour, quick trip). Even maybe dining out–outside–next summer–feels like a wild thing to even think about right now!
But with D pregnant, and other family not in line for vaccines yet, we will probably only step down to what other people’s caution was, and tiny steps away from ours.
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In NJ pregnancy is a medical condition that is eligible for vaccines now. They often time also vaccine the SO. D1 has done some research on getting vaccines while pregnant. She said she would get it as soon as it is available to her even though she is breastfeeding. I guess the risk for pregnant women is if she should get a high fever in the first trimester.
The health care company where my daughter works, did put in a a disclaimer about if you are pregnant or breastfeeding get approval from your OBGYN first.
What my D has run into is that our county site is not doing pregnant women, even though the state is. And our county site is the easiest to access. They advise to get a letter from the doc, but then the volunteers have refused people who show up. So she can work with the statewide mega-sites or the store sites, which is what I hope she will do. I thought she’d talked to the doc when she saw them last week about this, but she says she still has to do so. Would really make MY life easier if she were vaccinated!