I work at a hospital and I was one of the first to get the vaccine in my department. I havent had any side effects yet but my second maderna dose is in the beginning of Feb.
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You said it, Terry! My risk of dying from COVID-19 is much greater than the risks from taking the vaccine. The argument reminds me of those folks complaining about water pollution while smoking a cigarette!
I take personal offense to this, and find it bad taste to cast such an aspersion on all those with an opposing opinion.
Obviously you’ve never been deeply affected by the negative side effects of a vaccine. We’re not talking a sore arm or the sniffles here. We’re talking life-altering and/or risking consequences. It’s not a decision I take lightly. I am very conscious of the risk/reward situation.
I personally have 3 auto-immune conditions, none of which have been significantly investigated in trials for interactions and/or negative outcomes. My husband has his own health concerns, likewise without enough research.
In your analogy, “smoking cigarettes” would be akin to recklessly exposing ourselves to the virus. Yet, we’ve been entirely isolated since March, when my husband took a leave of absence. We’ve been surviving off our doomsday funds and rations we had put aside just for emergency situations like this. Thankfully, we’re “preppers” and are better situated than most to wait this out safely. We live rurally and have a homestead, so this has been a rather comfortable year for us, despite the trouble. Still, we’ve had zero interaction with anyone except my MIL since March… and even in her case, it’s been with masks and the 6 foot minimum space.
I’m well aware of the dangers of Covid-19. We’ve had nearly a year to see the other frightening effects of the illness emerge, such as the neurological symptoms. Guess what we haven’t had? Nearly a year with the vaccine in a large number of people to see if they similarly react.
I’m also aware of the relatively low risk of Covid-19 to me personally. There’s only a 1.7% death rate here in the US, and thus far there have been ZERO deaths in my county, who is doing an amazing job of repressing the spread of the virus and the medical facilities are still positioned well. Even at that, that risk only applies if I manage to contract the virus in the first place… Which I have absolutely no intention of doing. I’m going to continue to isolate and practice extreme safety. Thus, in my personal case, it doesn’t require a lot of unknown risk in the vaccine to outweigh the virtually non-existant risk of the virus to me. I can’t really speak on the systemic, but not lethal, effects of the virus comparably, because we don’t have enough data and experience with the vaccine to make a judgement there.
If I were living in a metropolitan area or forced to work with others, then I might evaluate and come up with a different risk vs reward opinion. Not getting the vaccine YET, if ever, is an independent and educated choice I’ve made for myself, and not one I’m trying to force on anyone else… And not one I intend to put anyone else at risk with. Do not suggest I’m “smoking cigarettes”, just because I don’t allow the government to think in my stead.
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Exactly. And he isn’t accounting for the fact that some of us can take precautions like work from home, wear masks, and avoid dangerous scenarios
And still avoid taking the vaccine…
The way I see it, if I’m smart and want to get the vaccine after 6 months, i’ll know more.
If I take it there is no going back if something ■■■■■■ is reported.
Not to mention my endo pretty much said that he had 50+ patients who got Covid and they were all fine…and that “good” diabetics are in much better shape than those that don’t take care of themselves…remember people on this board are quite elite with control.
75% of diabetics are in meh to poor control and give the statistics a scary look
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I’m going to get the vaccine as soon as I can. Not only am I doing this to protect myself, I wish to be part of the solution that saves more lives.
The sooner we can reach that magical thing called herd immunity the sooner we can be assured that lives are being saved, that this beast has been neutered.
I feel strongly that I should do this for myself as well as for others. I also see this as self preservation, I think its imperative to protect everyone because in doing do I protect myself. I do not wish to slow down the solution for myself or for the herd.
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I had a Skype appointment with my family doc yesterday who is in private practice in WA state. I asked him what I should do since i live in wa but am a critical infrastructure worker in ak and therefore qualify for a higher priority in alaska… his advice was clear—- get it ASAP wherever you possibly can first—- he even said he doesn’t know how or where to get one himself in WA at this point
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@John58, They have pushed the vacc schedule WAY out. Are other people seeing that as well?
Thanks for that helpful info, @cardamom. Very helpful indeed.
T1 is considered autoimmune in this case, right?
Thanks to Robyn and Geo for raising both the risks of getting a vaccine and the risks of not getting the vaccine.
Its so tricky to sort this stuff out and requires a lot of individual risk analysis tailored to each person.
Hang in there everybody.
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Crap, you guys. I’ve been telling people probably March.
Is everything really delayed this much? I need a 2nd source, other than WA State.
Scheduling is impossible. I don’t know if I should tell people that I can start a new job or not. I’ve turned down 2 jobs already because I thought that if I just held out until February, the timeline would be clear and that would be near vaccination time.
I have an interview on Monday. What do I tell them?
I don’t think this WA State schedule has any basis in reality. Does it?
Each state is starting to diverge from the fed guidance and from other states with vax priority plans for the next few months. I don’t think you can assume any other state would copy WA. Especially since WA is pretty far behind on getting the vax delivered to the public. (And my opinion the other states know how inept WA is at central planning anything big…google WPPSS, it was the biggest fiasco to hit financial markets in the 80’s).
My best guess is many states will panic and start to copy Florida or Israel, but it will happen on a state by state basis.
This is more than a divergence, John.
I read the WA State schedule…maybe a month ago.
Everyone has been pretty similar in agreeing that phase 1c would be completed by February. I understand that there are delays. But, WA has 1c completing 1 year from now.
That’s not “divergence.” That’s something else completely. There is no parallel with CDC guidelines. When did this pop up?
Washington State is NOT West Virginia. Its not Mexico. Its in the United States.
I think your phase B3. A comorbidity might be high Blood Pressure. You got that…or, your gonna soon living in WA. Diabetes is a comorbidity. There no question about that - especially if your t2, by admission of previous WA documents.
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I agree the WA plan can only be described as bizarre. They kept saying the next phases will follow ACIP guidelines and then they dropped this turd a few days ago. What I meant was don’t assume other states will go as far off the deep end as WA. I will probably figure out a way to get vaccinated in another state.
The pattern here so far has been continually “updating” anything covid related. With each update just adding more complexity. The gang in charge here seems to be making it up as they go along.
I will get it as soon as possible.
Thanks for that info Rick. That’s a real dilemma. My little granddaughter–well, she’s 9, so not so little anymore–takes Humira for a rare auto-immune bone disease. Her shots are bi-weekly, though, so hopefully not such a long delay time if the same vaccine protocols apply. But I haven’t been able to find anything about it on google. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
She will likely be OK. The medication i use is Rituxan. Rituxan is a bit unique. It targets B cells (whatever the heck that is). This is the very thing cell the vaccine enhances in order to work,
Generally other Biologic medications are being listed as safe to have without wild gyrations. I pray she will be OK and get her vaccine.
Rick
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I’ve been following this disturbing vaccination news.
Here’s the lede paragraph.
In a move that surprised and upset some of its own employees, Oregon Health & Science University has offered the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to all of its staff and students, including those who are working from home and others who may not meet the CDC definition of frontline healthcare personnel.
I think missing leadership from the top invites this poor human behavior. I’m angry and disappointed but must remember that my position as a retired person with a sufficient income enjoys a privilege many others don’t share.
I’m hoping new national leadership and a more robust vaccine production schedule will swamp these current issues.
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Yes, indeed. The vaccines were brought to market very fast, and probably aren’t as well tested as past vaccines, but I don’t read any serious problems yet, and the alternative seems much more dangerous than the vaccine.
New Jersey, BTW, is very well organized on this front. Currently my health situation–age, diabetes, mild AFib–will let me get the vaccine starting Feb 24, unless things change, which I expect they will. But it’s good to have the basic plan out to the public already. My county in particular–Camden–does its job excellently, so I expect no problems.
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Idaho finally has vaccinated those in nursing homes. I talked with the Dept of Health yesterday, and they told me that they are having a lot of difficulty getting the vaccine.
I don’t think this is unusual. I will be fortunate if I can get vaccinated in April. Hopefully President Biden will be able to speed things up.
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Can you call your endo and ask him to interpret these new rules?
I can’t believe that they are pushing you that far down the line.
I don’t think that’s true. I think that if that were true, then there are some phone calls that need to be made - perhaps we shold call ADA or the health department and ask?
They might have actually pulled you closer to the front of the line.
I think this warrants some clarification.
What appears is that they are injecting a LOT of frontline workers. But, I expect that pushing people with medical conditions to the back of the line would be a violation of CDC guidelines.
Yup. This is an issue here.
We have already vacced remote hospital workers - like billing and management.
But, have not completed all frontline health care employees.
Yee who haveth the vaccine, maketh the rules.
The hospitals have physical possession of the vaccine.
There have been some lawsuits I think against specific hospital systems.
If the hospitals won’t follow protocol, I think no one else will. I think this gets messy.
I am lowering my expectations.