I’d be surprised if Type1 Diabetics will be given any priority for the COVID vaccination unless they also have comorbidities.
I’m inclined to let others who are more at risk go first, while also giving the medical community more opportunity to beta test these vaccines.
It’s much like waiting to download the latest version of iOS … let others find the bugs.
Why does that surprise you, @Jimi63? You mean type 1 over type 2 priority? That would surprise me. I don’t think they will do that. They want to shift the burden off the hospitals and its a numbers thing. Its a practical decision for the supplies that are currently available. They want to do diabetics and LTC first. I’d also be fine with other people going first, but if they tell me to do it, I will.
I don’t, personally, have any problem with the vaccine. I was not prepared to ‘test a placebo,’ but I would be a first vacc-er. There are always risks in life. I’d be fine going into VA hospital or LCT and working until we get through the meat of this (if we are all vacc-ed, I’m fine with those odds). There is so much need. They have been trying to recruit me like mad. If I can do that, and we are all given vacc priority, as suggested. Then, I’ll help bail water outta the ship. I’ve lived a long full life. I’ve been lucky to make it this long, lol.
I think they would be hard pressed to find another vulnerable group of this size that meets their criteria so perfectly. We are 40% of hospitalizations and 25% of deaths. Those numbers have been consistent and were first identified by the Chinese. They have held consistently through a larger and larger world data sample. I think that’s why we get called up. But, I’m interested if you have other theories.
I haven’t heard much about it yet. Is it really going to be ready that quickly? When they say it is safe I will take it. I think there will be other vaccines, not just the Pfizer one with 2 shots. Are we really going to have priority? I haven’t heard anything about that, I heard hcw would get it first then the elderly.
This year I could not get a flu shot at my doc. They scheduled an appointment, supposedly you can only get it by appointment, and then ran out. I did not get the message that they ran out, went there and was so upset. That office is terribly run, they have done this to me before. The excuse this time was a lot of people are coming in to get it, lol. I called a clinic to make sure they had it and went over there to get it. I was sick for several days again with it as usual.
@mohe0001 I’m not surprised by anything at present, as there isn’t an approved vaccine yet nor has anyone said who will be candidates for immediate vaccination.
Once approved I would be surprised if Type 1’s were given any priority, simply because most of us are not immunocompromized.
I just saw your President on TV and according to him, if Pfizer is approved and rolled out the general public won’t see anything until April at the earliest.
My comments didn’t include T2’s as I’m not as knowledgeable about that cohort.
https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/are-people-with-diabetes-immunocompromised-650981/
Yeah, it’s interesting, I was filling out a survey about COVID for NIH (as someone who receives funds from them for my work), and they explicitly listed T2 diabetes, but not T1, in their list of conditions putting people at risk (which also included hypertension, obesity (BMI > 30), and immunocompromised). I don’t consider myself immunocompromised as a T1, despite the autoimmune component, since I do not take any treatments that suppress the immune system, unlike for many other autoimmune diseases. So I’m not sure whether T1s without other complicating factors will be considered high risk or not, re: vaccinations, or if it will be limited to T2s.
From Jim’s link
In summary, to accurately determine whether a patient with diabetes is “immunocompromised”, we must consider their overall health, including other health conditions, the medications that they use, as well as their age and glycemic management. Simply having diabetes does not, on its own, necessarily mean that the patient is immunocompromised, although as a group, this patient population is more likely to have immune system function issues.
Although we’ve endlessly debated the risks of Type 1 and Covid, my impression points to Type 1’s not having an increased risk independent of comorbidities, such as advanced age, obesity, hypertension (with ACE-inhibitors reducing risk to a small degree), and specifically poorly controlled diabetes. The latter in some ways isn’t something that we might think of as poor control, e.g., HbA1c > 7, but much higher, and that poor level of control is likely to be immunocompromised. As @MM1 stated, it is likely a combination of multiple factors and not just glycemic control.
ugh, meee!!! That makes me sooo mad. I got my shot at the Walgreens pharmacy. Have you checked where you might be able to get over the counter shot. This makes me mad.
They have been pretty consistent in their press releases. But, things could change on a moments notice as things develop. This is a long post, so I’ll re-post the most recent statement here for their plan…
They just keep continually stating that diabetics are included in the ‘most vulnerable’ category - I think that’s because of our death/hospitalization rate. We are tearing up the system. We are the only concrete group that they use as an example of “vulnerable.” We are mentioned, specifically, again and again.
But people talk about how the nurses dont want to do all our blood sugars and get exposed to covid…that’s why dexcom has been donating so many CGMs for hospital use. I assume HIV is included in that “most vulnerable citizens” category. There are not nearly the # of HIV pts that there are diabetics, but they seem to believe that they have enough vaccine manufactured today to do us all. They have a lot of it. That early slot is also supposed to include workers at LTC. They will need more vaccine than they currently have in order to do that, but they just keep manufacturing. They are building it up, now.
The elderly get lumped into the Jan-Feb slot. Maybe that is because there are so many of them and they are retired. I suspect that they need TONS of vaccine to do all the healthcare workers and elderly.
Just to be clear, I’m not trying to pass judgment on what they should or should not do. I’m just posting what they say that they are gonna do. We gotta be on board with our own personal plans for what happens next.
I read that Type 2 will get the vaccine before Type 1 as they are considered high risk were Type 1 is considered increased risk
Evidence is mixed. You will read statements on both sides. I don’t think they actually know. The US gov is lumping us all in the same category, I believe, because they do not explicitly uses the words type ‘1 diabetics’ or ‘type 2 diabetics’. They say ‘diabetics.’
Clearly we have different expectations. Let’s hope that in 6 months time we’ll have a better idea of whether T1D’s are/were considered high risk by your government(s).
i went to citi md and got it that same afternoon, called ahead and they had it and it is free everywhere except a pharmacy for me. I had forgotten that they already did that to me once. I did not want to go the citi md because there were tons of people getting covid tests etc. But I had my kn95 and fire goggles/gloves.
re: who will get it first etc. all diabetics are higher risk no matter what they say, whether you are immunocompromised or not, due to bg, anything can go south fast when you are ill and on insulin etc. as we know. We can go into dka etc. if things get out of hand fast. And if you have other high risks illnesses like I do more so.
I agree with @JamesIgoe:
I believe that the chances that “timing” has been delayed just because of the election are as close to 0.0% as one can possibly imagine.
I spent 40+ years (1972-2015) in the world of R&D … as an engineer, not a vaccine researcher. I never worked on ANYTHING remotely as important as the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and I never worked on anything that required human trails. However, I do know a a bit about life in the world of research and development.
I am confident that the folks doing the primary development have been working 20-hour days likely since last December. While I don’t know the names of the lead individuals, I expect that their names will be soon as well known as Banting, Best, Salk, and Sabin. In addition to the leads, there are huge teams of people supporting that effort who have been working equally hard.
When the various vaccine candidates entered phase 1, 1/2, 2, 2/3, and especially phase 3 trials months ago, it was virtually certain that there was zero chance of an announcement before Election Day. Recruit an appropriate cadre of volunteers, give each two shots three weeks apart, look for side effects, wait for an appropriate number of folks to get sick, look at the data … and we don’t even have full data, only a press release. We are still awaiting more complete data, emergency use application, compassionate care application, and, ultimately, full FDA approval. In many respects we have only gotten this far, this fast because of near miracles on the part of the scientific community and the fact that Covid-19 is so poorly controlled in this country that lots of test subjects got sick shortly after receiving the vaccine/placebo. Were this New Zealand or Australia, for example, we’d still have a long wait ahead.
I am confident that the magicians at Corning Glass have been working long hours to ramp up production of the special low-boron glass that is used in the vials that can withstand the -90 C freezing and ultimate re-heating without shattering.
I’m equally certain that Thermo-Scientific and other companies that make ultra-low temperature freezers are doing everything in their power to produce enough freezers in a timely manner to allow for timely distribution and storage of the frozen vials.
In short, I genuinely believe that the folks that are actually working on the critical elements required to get a vaccine produced and distributed as quickly as possible understand that thus is the greatest health crisis in a century … and they are doing everything possible to shave every day they can off the time to widespread delivery of a successful vaccine. Politics and introducing intentional delays is the FURTHEST thing from their mind.
I will certainly be in the queue when my number is called. However as a reasonably healthy 70 year old T1D who does NOT live in a congregate setting, I have no reason to believe that my “take a number and be seated” number will be less than 100 million in this country or less than one billion world wide. So, I’m confident that details of efficacy and/or side effects will be well understood long before anyone asks me to roll up my sleeve.
At least that is the way that I see things.
Stay safe!
John
cool. I first saw us cited specifically in the NASEM guidance. But, they just keep reiterating that.
I find it a little surprising, too. But, the grad students reading the foreign sources say they specifically delayed it. I have no source for that.
You GOTTA look at the foreign sources. That’s where the news about this all started. You miss so much if you don’t look there.
BBC says this (10 hours ago)…
We have to be honest, now. You gotta always be honest in matters of life and death. This was NEVER a 0% probability because it happened. They released their announcement that it was ready for FDA testing within days of the election. Depending on how long it takes this stupid election to be finalized, they could meet that deadline, lol. If the elections are all wrapped up in two weeks, then they missed it by a bit. They are on schedule. They have kept nearly perfect schedule since the start of this. It’s amazing.
They say December is when vacc starts. Their estimates should be FAR better now, this close to deadline than they were 8 months ago. 8 months ago there was need for some error calculated in. 8 months ago they said “maybe by December.” They can see it very clearly, now.
I want you guys to be prepared, personally, with your own plans whatever happens next. Its time to think this through and have your medical risk assessments done. Things may happen quickly, now. Be ready, soldiers. We need to take time to process information, but we also gotta deal in facts because the decisions people make now have consequence.
You need to know, “If the vaccine was offered to me tomorrow, would I take it? Or, would I prefer to wait until Spring?” Everybody will do their own risk assessment. This will be a very deadly winter, with or without a vaccine in December…
@mohe0001 - The difference in science and medicine, is that a hunch, belief, or optimism about, is not proof, and that proof generally requires clarity in study design and rigor in implementation, i.e., double-blind placebo-controlled, as well as statistical analysis of the results and that those results be statistically significant. If Pfizer could have reliably reported on a positive vaccine result, and in fact, they have not shown the numbers, it likely would have. Being the first to have a functioning vaccine would likely trump politics. What is suspicious is the timing for the stock sale from the CEO. Someone I know thinks that Bourla is considered Trump-friendly, but I could not confirm that, and the site that seems to have that information is down, and flipping the question yields no donation results:
Even then, is Pfizer somehow anti-Republican? Here is Pfizer’s contributions, and although individuals within Pfizer overwhelmingly preferred Biden, the corporation only has a slight tilt toward Democrats - it is about 55/45 - and even that tilt might be hedging its bets, knowing the odds of Democrats winning, and that Democratic regimes are a bit more pharma-friendly than Republican ones, but just my sense.
A deeper analysis of the announcement timing:
Information on the timing fo the annoucnement
Pfizer’s independent vaccine advisory committee began receiving data last Thursday or Friday, and met Sunday at 11 am. Bourla was informed of the results around 2pm and says that had the data been available before the election, he would have released it before the election.
Lost in the hype, is that the first vaccine to win approval might not be the best one. There are others in the pipeline, using different technologies, some that are stored at normal temperatures, as well as potentially more effective and/or long-lasting.
This was expected, but still, good news:
