Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

This is how realignments happen…

I don’t care how fun he is after a few whiskies. fuck that guy.

The revolution will be supervised.

I personally stopped the public option…

We still have time to mess this up!

Let there be snark.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Deploy the moving finger of emphasisity!

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Verified, but limited!

Fuck if i know. i just get yelled at when i try it.

Shelter in place is one thing. shelter in pants is quite another.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Something seems odd about that, but i have been drinking.

All this crying. this is why i don’t click on stuff.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Everybody saw this coming.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Biden Live On Vaccines

Reader Interactions

67Comments

  4. 4.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I just walked past the cafe in this building and as usual the TV was tuned to Fox. They had Biden on live. The chyron said he was invoking the Defense Production Act

  5. 5.

    RedDirtGirl

    I got a message from my doctor’s office yesterday telling me I can schedule my first vaccine jab. I am rather surprised, since I am 55, with no underlying conditions.
    I’m getting it tomorrow afternoon.

  6. 6.

    zhena gogolia

    Thank you, TaMara.
    I’d love to see the Biden-Harris posts proliferate in the coming weeks.

  8. 8.

    trollhattan

    My NH bro got his first jab today in a parking lot so windy it blew the dispensing tent over the waiting cars. Guess refrigeration wasn’t a problem. :-)

  13. 13.

    debbie

    When I got my first jab yesterday, I was so impressed at the set-up. It was a drive-through (five separate lanes depending on the health system you were using), and it took maybe 10 minutes tops, plus 15 minutes waiting to make sure you wouldn’t blow up and explode. Healthcare/nurses took the info, gave instructions, asked questions about medications, etc.; firemen administered the shots.

    Don’t let anyone tell you government can’t organize with any sense of efficiency.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    The headline promise is enough vaccine for all US adults by the end of May, two months sooner than previously expected. That’s a big deal, and it’s pretty plausible; double the current rate would just about do it, and the predicted increases for next week are a substantial step towards that doubling.

  15. 15.

    RedDirtGirl

    @zhena gogolia:  I’m in NYC, and my doctor is part of NYU. That might be why, or it could be that I brought her some homemade candy the last time I was at her office…

  17. 17.

    zhena gogolia

    @RedDirtGirl:

    I really wish we could get it through our doctors. Connecticut keeps being commended, but I have to say the process is extremely chaotic and difficult. I’m supposed to get my first shot in a parking lot on Friday, but I am not confident it’s actually going to happen.

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    What are they babbling about a “crisis at the border”? That must be Doocy.

  19. 19.

    dexwood

    Just returned home from getting my first jab. I received a text from the state DoH yesterday about five saying I could schedule an appoint for today which I immediately did. I was very surprised to get it because at 69 I knew I wasn’t in the 1B group for 75 and up, but I was told today it’s a reflection of a significant increase in the number of doses New Mexico now receives since Biden was sworn in. I have mixed feelings about getting the vaccine. I’m very happy about it, feel like a weight has been lifted, but it makes me sad to know there are so many who still can’t schedule an appointment. Things are improving, though, and the day everyone who wants one can get one seems closer.

    ETA The process was smooth and very well run given the number of cars and people at the Fair Grounds. The volunteers were fantastic and I couldn’t thank everyone I encountered enough. Well done!

  24. 24.

    Cheryl Rofer

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    @rikyrah:

    Right. Hey, Texas only has [checks notes] the second-largest population in the US. What could possibly go wrong?

    Bush to Perry to Abbott, how does Texas manage to get worse with each governor? What’s next?!? (Both the Lt. Gov and AG come to mind, but there are also some kitchen appliances to consider.)

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @trollhattan:

    Bush to Perry to Abbott, how does Texas manage to get worse with each governor? What’s next?!?

    George P Bush.

  30. 30.

    rikyrah

    @RedDirtGirl:

    I have a close friend in NYC. I had told her of my fight to get an appointment, so she was ready.

    She was talking about vaccines in general conversation, and this person gave her the name and number for someone.

    Called her 15 minutes later and got in last Saturday.

     

    I will point out that this was at one of the vaccination centers who had been put on blast for having people who didn’t live in the neighborhood – which is Black and Brown- coming in to get the vaccine.

    My friend said that she hadn’t seen that many Black and Brown folks together in a long time.

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    Dolly Parton, 75, gets Moderna COVID vaccine after pledging $1M to help fund trials… as country star quips she’s ‘getting a taste of her own medicine’

    • Parton, who turned 75 earlier this year, has revealed she’s now received the Moderna vaccination for COVID-19 
    • It comes after t he singer donated $1 million to vaccine development at Vanderbilt University last year 
    • ‘Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine,’ the singer quipped on her social media account on Tuesday 

    By HEATHER WAUGH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and CARLY JOHNSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
    PUBLISHED: 17:01 EST, 2 March 2021 | UPDATED: 17:02 EST, 2 March 2021

  34. 34.

    Kent

    @Cheryl Rofer: It is about time to prioritize teachers.   I just got my first vaccine today here in WA by virtue of being over 50 and a member of a multi-generational household.  But as a teacher I can’t qualify for the vaccine yet in WA.  Ridiculous.

    The fact that we sometimes take care of a niece in our home due to lack of available daycare qualifies me?  But teaching 150 students in an enclosed and unventilated classroom does not?

    I got the Pfizer vaccine today through Kaiser Permanente which was quick and easy once I managed to snag the appointment after hundreds of futile tries.  They got a huge new shipment of vaccine yesterday which I heard about through the grapevine and managed to get in right when a bunch of new appointments opened up.

    Interestingly, after my first shot was in the system, they emailed me a special ticket link to schedule my second shot which was basically an email back door into the scheduling for the second vaccine.  I guess they reserve a certain amount of appointments for second shots so that one was super easy to schedule.

  37. 37.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    OT- Rewatching the Ken Burns Vietnam series.

    I was struck by the Gallup polling that showed 78% opposition to the Calley murder verdict, which sounds like completely made up bullshit (as did the Nixon claims of the volume of telegrams and letters in support of Calley).

    Wonder if anyone ever drilled into those representations?

  38. 38.

    burnspbesq

    ETA: Note that Abbott traveled to East Bumfuck to make the announcement. If he did it in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, or El Paso he might be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

  39. 39.

    Monala

    @Kent: this really frustrates me. I live in WA too, I’m in my 50s, with underlying conditions, and I work with the public. I’m raising a teenager. But because she’s my *own* child, not a grandchild or niece or nephew, I’m not eligible for the shot. I don’t get it. If they’re worried about children losing caregivers in their 50s, why would it matter if the caregiver is a parent, rather than some other person? And if their assumption is that children in multigenerational households have already lost someone — well, that’s not always the case, as your situation shows. But meanwhile, my daughter has lost her dad, grandmother, and her home in the last two years. Why not protect her remaining parent?

  40. 40.

    jackmac

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​
      I heard some Republican pollster on Monday talking about George P. Bush as the party’s future in Texas. I thought we were finished with the Bush family, but now there’s this latest spawn — a Texas Road Commissioner at that.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    Also about Texas being Covid-free because Abbott says they are. Per Johns Hopkins, in the last week:

    New cases: 54,278
    Record high: 158,922 Jan 10–Jan 16, 2021
    New deaths: 1,608
    Record high: 2,311 Jan 17–Jan 23, 2021
    Test results: 396,094
    Record high:     926,977 Jan 10–Jan 16, 2021
    Testing positivity: 13.48%
    That last value should have sirens going off across Austin. California’s testing positivity over the same period? 2.33% out of 1.3M tests.

    Texas, you are NOT OUT OF THE WOODS. I’m not sure you’ve even found “woods” in the dictionary.

  44. 44.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    Quite a few of my friends seem to have been able to schedule their first shot lately. Things are slowly getting a bit better.

  45. 45.

    Kent

    @Monala:@Kent: this really frustrates me. I live in WA too, I’m in my 50s, with underlying conditions, and I work with the public. I’m raising a teenager. But because she’s my *own* child, not a grandchild or niece or nephew, I’m not eligible for the shot. I don’t get it. If they’re worried about children losing caregivers in their 50s, why would it matter if the caregiver is a parent, rather than some other person? And if their assumption is that children in multigenerational households have already lost someone — well, that’s not always the case, as your situation shows. But meanwhile, my daughter has lost her dad, grandmother, and her home in the last two years. Why not protect her remaining parent?

    If you read through the background minutes on the decision-making that lead WA to prioritize 50+ in multi-generational families over 50+ in front-line positions like teaching and meat packing you discover that the undertone has to do with race.

    When they did group 1A which was health care workers and the very elderly the results tilted very white for the simple reason that health care workers are predominantly white (or Asian) and not Black or Hispanic.  Also nursing home residents are whiter than the general population because in states like WA the Black and Hispanic populations (especially Hispanic) trend much younger.

    So the state was getting grief for being racist in its vaccine rollout be because more whites were getting vaccinated relative to their share of the general population.  Which was 100% predictable when they defined group 1A.

    Rolling into groups 1B they clearly wanted to shift the equity issue back more towards people of color.  In their background minutes there is a lot of discussion about how multi-generational families are a much higher percentage of people of color and by prioritizing them it is a way to reach into those communities.

    I think they know that K-12 teachers in WA trend very white and middle class relative to the population and by pushing a whole cohort of teachers to the front of the line, they were just going to make their “equity” statistics look even worse, and tilt the playing field even further in favor of the white population.

    That’s my best guess as to why they did the tiers like they did in WA.

    BTW, when I registered for the vaccine through Kaiser (you have to be a Kaiser member) it was 100% honor system as to whether you qualified for the appointment.  When I went in today there was a big line and the nurse just stuck my arm.  No screening for eligibility at all on the part of Kaiser. They just trust you to be honest.  I actually qualified because we do have 3 generations in the house right now.  But I’ll be damned if I know how I could actually document that.  In any event, I don’t know if that is the case with other providers.

  46. 46.

    Monala

    @Kent: Thanks for the background on this decision. That makes a lot of sense.

    Would you happen to know where I could learn more? For instance, they have only defined Phases 1A and 1B for rollout – no further phases or groups have been defined. I think I’d feel better if I knew when I could expect to be eligible, but I’ve seen no information on it whatsoever.

  47. 47.

    Kent

    @burnspbesq:

    @jackmac:

    It may surprise outsiders to learn that George P. is far from the worst available option.

    George P is the next generation of old school Republican elite, more like the first George H W Bush, than Shrub.  He may still be able to make that work in TX due to his Hispanic heritage (mother is Hispanic).  But I think he is very far from the mainstream MAGA GOP right now.

    Yes, there are far uglier Republicans all over Texas.  Like Dan Crenshaw, for example.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    Thousands of federal employees spread across several agencies have deployed across the country to assist in efforts to vaccinate Americans against COVID-19, with more expected to do so in the coming weeks.

  49. 49.

    Cameron

    @rikyrah: Straight out of the Trump playbook.  If all goes well, slurp up credit for reviving the economy.  If it creates a whole new spike, blame it on Biden for pretending he had it all under control

  50. 50.

    bluefoot

    I work for a good-sized biotech/pharma company in Cambridge, MA. The company had been trying to become a vaccination site. Not just for employees, but as a state vaccination site. The company was told that MA is not allowing companies to be vaccination sites. What the hell? We have many -70C and -80C freezers, large indoor and outdoor spaces that could be used for vaccination (which we do annually for on-site flu vaccination). We have many employees with medical training; many of whom are volunteering to administer shots, etc already. Not only that, we are located in Kendall Square, easily accessible by public transit.

    We are by no means alone amongst biopharma companies in having infrastructure that would allow for mass vaccinations.

    Instead, most eligible people I know aren’t able to sign up to a vaccine appointment AND the governor is opening the state back up to indoor entertainment, dining, etc. Grrrrr.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    The problem, as I’ve repeatedly said, is that every time Biden makes this type of announcement it ignores the reality that until or unless he takes the power to determine who gets vaccinated when from DeStupid, Kemp, Abbott, other Republican governors, it won’t matter how much vaccine is produced and in freezers in different states, because it won’t be going into the arms of anyone who wants a vaccine.

    I will be damned surprised if I’m vaccinated by August, let alone some time before 2022 because DeSantis determines who can receive vaccinations for COVID in Florida.

  52. 52.

    Kent

    @Monala:

    @Kent: Thanks for the background on this decision. That makes a lot of sense.

    Would you happen to know where I could learn more? For instance, they have only defined Phases 1A and 1B for rollout – no further phases or groups have been defined. I think I’d feel better if I knew when I could expect to be eligible, but I’ve seen no information on it whatsoever.

    No announcements yet.  Right now this the only official notice:  https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/VaccinationPhasesInfographic.pdf

    But I expect things will start to accelerate soon.

  54. 54.

    CarolPW

    @Adam L Silverman: How could DeStupid keep you from getting vaccinated at a FEMA mass vaccination clinic located on federal property? I think that approach could make a lot of difference in states with fuckhead governors.

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    @CarolPW: You can only get vaccinated in Florida, regardless of the site, if you are over 65, are a first responder or essential health care worker and have a special code issued by your employer, or if you have a limited number of serious preexisting conditions and/or comorbidities.

    I’m well under 65, I’m neither a first responder nor an essential health care worker, and I do not have any of the serious preexisting conditions and/or comorbidities.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @CarolPW:

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/2021/03/02/new-federal-vaccine-site-opens-in-tampa/

    The federal vaccine sites follow the state’s guidelines for who can get a vaccine. Currently, those eligible are: long-term care facility residents and staff; people aged 65 and older; frontline health care workers; and sworn law enforcement, K-12 employees and firefighters aged 50 or older.

    People deemed “extremely vulnerable” to the coronavirus can also get vaccines in certain situations through hospitals, physicians and pharmacists.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kent: I’m way under 65 and am not in any of the groups that DeStupid is authorizing to get vaccinated.

  59. 59.

    Sure Lurkalot

    In Colorado, the Dept. of Health lists the providers by county with links but after that, you’re on your own.  As soon as I was eligible (2/8), I signed up on 5 or 6 heath center/hospital providers to get on their waiting lists.  Then vaccine became available to Walmart and our Kroger affiliate so I started the daily checking on those sites.  Meanwhile, all my friends are getting poked.

    I was able to snag an appointment for myself at a nearby Kroger on Saturday for today.  But then nothing for my spouse.  On Sunday, he kept at the search but came up empty.  I popped online Sunday afternoon and suddenly there were 4 slots at a closer Kroger for yesterday.  So we are both done with #1 and scheduled for Moderna #2 in 4 weeks.  A bit nervous about that one.  Actually, I was nervous about this one because at my spouse’s appointment, an ambulance was called for someone who had a reaction.  Yikes!

  60. 60.

    Gvg

    @Adam L Silverman: De Santa’s announced the next group in Florida will be educators k-12 and firefighters over 50. Not all educators just the ones over 50 but I guess it’s a start. It’s also staff at schools so that’s good. I have been worried about custodians and such who tend to be forgotten. Selfishly, I wish it included college staff and teachers.

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    Did I mention that as of three weeks ago, the genomic testing on positive samples of COVID19 in Florida show that 20% of the virus in the state is the much more infectious and much more lethal Brazilian variant?

  63. 63.

    cain

    @Kent: ​
    George P is the next generation of old school Republican elite, more like the first George H W Bush, than Shrub. He may still be able to make that work in TX due to his Hispanic heritage (mother is Hispanic). But I think he is very far from the mainstream MAGA GOP right now.

     

    Which means he needs to act and become a MAGA asshole to win office.

  64. 64.

    burnspbesq

    The fourth branch of Texas gubmint, H-E-B, has surrendered to the insanity. Employees and vendors required to mask up, but not customers.

    Fuck if I’m going in there.

  67. 67.

    Mousebumples

    Got my first shot this morning. Slightly sore arm, and feeling a bit run down 9 hours later.

    Much more excited that my mom (hs teacher with preexisting conditions) also got her first shot today!

    The GQP is going to try to continue to screw things up, but we’re laying making progress!

Comments are closed.