I have a good story. Hawaii gave me the following monologue yesterday, which is so incredibly cute in its innocence:
"I'm reading this book called The Assasin's Game and the front cover had a girl wearing a hockey mask and holding a bloody knife. So I thought it was going to be really gory. And the back cover made it seem maybe gory. But it's actually about this game that's not gory at all, called The Killer Game, and these kids at prep school play it once a year. And they play it every year and no one dies or anything. So it's not actually that gory. So either this cover is WAY exaggerating the book, or things are going to go REALLY wrong. Because the actual game is not that bad."
In fairness, maybe no one actually dies. It just reads like a set up for a spree killer on the loose.
Basically I start these threads whenever I realize I have a story I want to tell.
That's what a spree killer would say.
Election day is a school holiday ("teacher professional development day") here. The after-school program runs a day-camp like thing, and we signed up for it a month ago. Late last week we got handed a flyer with their schedule.... which included three hours indoors at the local bowling alley and pizza restaurant around lunchtime. So the kids were going to be in the same building as a bunch of unmasked diners, including during when the kids would eat lunch and thus be unmasked themselves. WTF? So Mr. 9 didn't go (there was much wailing about how he really wanted to hang out with his friennnnnds) and I took a day off work instead. Definitely messes with my momentum for the week and does not help my impression of the judgement of the after-school folks (who, sadly but predictably, never seem to have the resources to hire actually good people).
beloved electric assist bike is on the fritz & in for repairs, the loaner they offered was a piece of shit imo so rented a trek hybrid and ... considering switching??? there's a 180 ft/.75 mile hill on my ride home from the cove & i'm kind of enjoying cranking it out. i figure if i can do that cheerfully i should be able to handle the rest of sf. would be grand to have a sweet bike nicely kitted out & no need for charging & all that hassle ....
I'm already blasting the pharmacy sites but they seem to be in no hurry to update their systems. One says, "We are doing school clinics. For individual appointments check back in a week."
Yes 1/3 dose and different package size and storage guidelines. I saw a table somewhere.
There's a debate about kids near 12 if they should just get the adult dose if they're already closer to adult size. That's the problem with cutoffs, you need clear rules for protocols but it's not like Logan's Run where predefined things happen exactly at a certain age.
am imagining wale sky at the starting gate with a celebratory bottle of champers! 🎉🎉🎉🍾🍾🍾
Row shell Walensky
Lore in Walensky
Smith and Walensky
Wegmans in Chestnut Hill, oddly, was willing to set us up with an appointment. Fingers crossed that it's for real and not some kind of system glitch.
11: There's also a debate about whether kids in the 12-16 range (especially boys) could get by with a lower dose.
There was also a question of what you do if you get vaccinated at 11 years 50 weeks and are 12 when you come back whether you should get the 10mcg or 30mcg. Paul Offit said he did not think the 2nd dose should be higher. I'm hoping it will get explained in the guidance in the next MMWR.
8: I really like the Wegmans pharmacy in Burlington, if you're willing to drive. They're website hasn't been updated, but they are very helpful on the phone. They've even put aside specific flu shots for me.
I thin' this is on Baker/Sudders. In other states, doctors are already scheduling appointments, but providers are kind of in the dark and we're told to stay tuned last week. I think we are getting 360,000 doses for 500,000 plus kids and providers are expected to administer 90% of their allocation within 30 days. After that, the providers will be able to order directly from the Feds.
If i had a kid that age, I'd try to get the first shot, but I'd postpone the 2nd shot a week or 2.
16 before I saw 15. But Wegmans rules.
Burlington would be easier to get to but only had 12+; Chestnut Hill was not so restricted. And the one in Medford, that I actually go to, has no pharmacy at all.
CVS and Walgreens opened appointments starting Sunday. Sadly the most available slots are if you look in the poorer neighborhoods of Boston, but we got one in Watertown for Monday.
11: I saw an editorial saying the age/dose guidelines are fine. It's immune response (age-correlated), not mg/kg dosing. I think it's likely that boosters will be eventually needed for folks immunized as kids (hard to give a timeline since it's not clear boosters are needed for healthy adults under 50), and kids are both way lower risk of serious side effects and have much more active immune systems.
The Moderna trials are pretty close behind (although not sure why FDA is not working particularly fast on review - further investigation of myocarditis risk?). Moderna seems to have targeted max tolerated dose to maximize efficacy; BioNTech/Pfizer seems to have targeted lower doses to maximize safety/minimize side effect profile.
20: Shane Crotty at La Jolla said he leaned toward Moderna for adults but thought that the 10mcg dose of Pfizer was good for kids - likely better than the 50mcg Moderna is testing, given how active kids immune systems are.
20: it seems like the CDC has classified a majority of Americans as unhealthy. The put mental illness as a rooks factor. And I can't tell whether that's because so many people with schizophrenia are overweight, smoke and have diabetes and vulnerable for that reason OR (because their criteria include mood disorders) whether there's something about being depressed enough to be on Prozac that makes you vulnerable.
I mean, I feel fine but there is that I've got high blood pressure, arthritis, and gastritis plus too much fatness.
23: Right, we are not a super healthy nation.
CVS and Walgreens in MA seem to have sooner appointments now. I woke up in the middle of the night and was browsing Facebook, saw someone on the parents group mentioning having booked their kids, so got up and got that wide open 3:30am selection. Our two kids have appointments for Saturday.
(hard to give a timeline since it's not clear boosters are needed for healthy adults under 50)
I suspect we are going to have to start providing boosters pretty soon. In the UK, the waning effect of the vaccine is being identified as a possible major factor in our current wave. Most adults in the UK are about 6 months or more after their second vaccine, by which point, it's not really that effective at preventing infection. It is effective at preventing severe illness, but if you want to keep case numbers down, and stop the unvaccinated and the vulnerable catching it, that's probably not sufficient.
Purely anecdotal, but I know more people who've had COVID in the past month than at any time since the start of the pandemic, and ALL of them are vaccinated, and many of them have previously had COVID.
I am bummed to have missed out on the early-morning availability -- CVS and Walgreens in our neighborhood are now booked up, according to their websites at least. The school district will be running a clinic next Wednesday, so that's not too far off I suppose, but I may call a couple of places this morning to see if we can get started over the weekend (either by appointment or walk-in).
I guess I should think about my booster more actively.
27: I think people are mostly saying that the goal is not to prevent infection, but hospitalization and death. We need to get vaccines down to the 6 month- 4 year group. This sucks for vulnerable people - like the disabled and immunocompromised. Hopefully the antivirals will work some, and maybe we can get Preventive antibodies for the most vulnerable. My boss has had 4 shots - 3 legit Pfizer, but she also got a J and J after finding out that she hadn't produced antibodies to 2 shots of Pfizer without telling the drugstore she'd been vaccinated. She's a kidney transplant patient, and I don't think the vaccines are going to be enough to protect her.
I'm personally still worried about Long Covid. I'm sure the vaccines help some, but I've dealt with enough fatigue to prefer to avoid the infection in the first place.
I'm back at Dirty Fucking Hippie college with another alum. Last night we (mostly her) gave a talk about the financialized shenanigans of the administration and trustees around the endowment (e.g., outsourcing over 100 union jobs to bump up the credit rating, lots of other austerity measures). This morning we're meeting with a small group of activists to strategize. Viva la DFH!
As a society, we already decided to fuck over the vulnerable on this.
But really, it's been clear for a long time that in most of the country any attempt to control covid to the point where someone vulnerable would be safe is not going to happen.
32 and 34: YES. I think their only real hope will be medical therapies - either rapid treatment coupled with regular self-testing, or some kind of PrEP.
Or staying home. I think part of the labor shortage is people at high risk either being forced out of work for their safety or shifting to other fields where they don't see people.
For now, but I meant that a medical treatment is the only long-term strategy for them to have anything close to a pre-pandemic life.
34: Vermont was super strict for much of the pandemic but once vaccines came and they got above a certain percentage vaccinated, they pretty much let it rip.
|| Surely someone here must be interested: The FT's paywall is down for today. |>
Quick advice: I'm going to Florida in a month, where I will be interacting with numerous unknown humans in an enclosed space. I'm nervous! I would like a booster before my encounter with Florida Man. I'm not currently eligible, but I'm told that no one is checking. Two questions:
1) I felt it was completely unethical to obtain a vaccine under false pretenses back in the spring, when there was a vaccine shortage. Now that there are plenty of shots and (I'm told) my area pharmacies are throwing them away, is it still morally wrong to lie? My friend did it, and said it's just a matter of checking a box to "confirm you are eligible," but I am uncomfortable.
2) I had Pfizer in spring. If and when I get my booster, should I get Moderna?
40: I was a little uncomfortable using a technically accurate but not really justified excuse to get my first vaccination quickly. I had absolutely no such misgivings about getting the booster. There doesn't seem to be any possibility of a run on booster shots making vaccinations unavailable.
And yeah, they continue to not really check your eligibility beyond asking if you're eligible.
Now that there are plenty of shots and (I'm told) my area pharmacies are throwing them away, is it still morally wrong to lie?
I did it, as well.
(I was nervous about coasting on J&J in the run-up to the Delta surge, so this was back around August 1st. Before boosters were a thing for anyone.)
I got Pfizer after J&J and didn't need to lie. They didn't seem to know and didn't ask and it all went fine.
Oh hey, I checked the CDC website and I guess I am eligible! I'm a "former smoker," ha ha.
Given all the confusing information out there about the relative efficacy of mixed or matched vaccines, I think it's pretty dumb for the FDA to say you can switch brands for your booster shot, without giving a clear recommendation* for what people should do. I don't want to make this decision by myself! I don't know anything! Also, I have a job, I can't spend all my time searching for and reading a bunch of garbage online articles written by journalists who don't know anything either.
ALSO, did we not just spend a year and a half watching the public health disaster that unfolds when people with too little education and too much confidence make health decisions based on Google searches and Facebook forwards? Why why WHY would the FDA tell the American public to just decide for themselves what vaccine strategy is right for them?
*except for folks who had the J&J for their initial shot
45: Data says get the Moderna booster. Need the paper with the table? Will hunt it up if you like. The difference in response likley isn't large enough to make a difference in the real world, but it was unambiguously better. Just looked this up for a friend who's in a high risk group.
Data is coming whether mRNA vax with an adenovirus booster is better/different, but it's not available yes.
No guilt on a booster. Criteria are meant to be very flexible. Israel is boosting everyone. I suspect we will too, eventually. I got mine today, after the pharmacy invited us back (occupation qualified us the first time) for a walk-in booster clinic.
I'd like to blame the typos on the booster, but I'm otherwise side-effect free thus far.
My niece gave birth! A new generation of peeps!
Congratulations. You should buy them a Baby Yoda doll. Those are great.
6 weeks ago the doc told me I am no longer in the pre-diabetic range. Checking the box for a booster is about the only upside I can think of.
I can't tell which way you got off the list, but take care.
I think I'm borderline eligible for the Moderna booster (depending on how broadly one reads 'teachers', not otherwise eligible) but not looking forward to it based on my reaction to the second shot. I basically need to pick a day where I can take the next day off.
I have shrewdly made a booster appointment for 11/10, and our office is closed for Veterans Day. I really don't qualify, but I have talked myself into believing that it doesn't matter, because vaccine scarcity isn't an issue anymore. (Although I'm ready to be talked out of that if anyone convincingly thinks I shouldn't get the shot if I don't qualify.)
54: I've seen a couple researcher ssay they think a 3rd shot would be more durable, that the antibody protection against infection is likely to last through the winter when younger kids will likely be immunized.
Also, I bet you can find something that would make you qualify. I think 90% of the population does. Even seasonal affective disorder would make you qualify.
I signed up for a booster. Zero qualms.
I'm certainly weird enough to self-diagnose myself with some kind of mental illness, but no one professional ever has for me. (Amateurs do express opinions on occasion.)
57: I've been prescribed medications for depression and ADHD, so I assume that counts as being diagnosed with those conditions.
Is it "eligible" or "recommended"? I just got my booster yesterday, figuring I'm an educator since I am teaching in person. But unlike early on when you had to give a reason why you were eligible, at no point during the process did they ask me for a reason I was eligible.
Walgreens asked. Not when I was signing up online, but when I had to fill out and sign the form at the store.
I was eligible immediately, as a J&J recipient the first time 'round. Got it and the flu shot at the same time, didn't even have sore arms. Also had no reaction other than mild soreness to the J&J or either Shingrix shot. Maybe this is my superpower.