"There are 12 states that are already at 70%. I worry about the ones that are way below that, and they are sitting ducks for the next outbreak of Covid-19 — which shouldn't have to happen now"—@NIHDirector to @ChrisCuomo @CNN
??The vulnerability for these people and the country pic.twitter.com/geksu8snVJ— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) June 4, 2021
63.2% of all American adults have received at least one vaccine shot; 52.3% are now fully vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/Yv0ql1Uw0j
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) June 5, 2021
The active propaganda campaign by so many media and political figures who should know better has brought vaccination efforts in the US, if not to a halt, certainly to a crawl, with only about half the country's adults vaccinated. https://t.co/2KbhEbLbZC
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) June 5, 2021
======
New @ThinkGlobalHlth vaccine certificate tracker looks at which countries are using or planning to use vaccine certificates to enable travel. SPOILER: it's rich countries w/ lots of vaccines.
Excellent work by: @samckiernan @serena_tohme @kailey_shankshttps://t.co/SyDl0f4DCs— Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH (@JenniferNuzzo) June 4, 2021
The U.S. will give Taiwan 750,000 doses of COVID-19 shots, part of President Joe Biden's move to share millions of jabs globally, three senators said, after the self-ruled island complained that China is hindering its efforts to secure the injections. https://t.co/zXjhY91myL
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 6, 2021
India to ease lockdown rules as coronavirus case numbers decline https://t.co/KRMkUAqcjj pic.twitter.com/jjLcgihVUT
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 6, 2021
India’s capital region will ease some restrictions on Monday, even as the country prepares for a possible 3rd wave https://t.co/AvMsw4nV1o
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) June 5, 2021
Rising numbers of "black fungus" infections are causing alarm in India as the country continues to battle Covid. Many states have labelled black fungus an epidemic and are reporting shortages of the drugs needed to treat it.
More on the possible causes: https://t.co/EjuxfhJbGH pic.twitter.com/cCrbTJ6pEG
— BBC World Service (@bbcworldservice) June 3, 2021
Nepalese PM calls on UK to provide vaccines as cases surge https://t.co/zpRmh6tj7b
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) June 4, 2021
Coruscating piece on the different roles and experiences of the rich and poor in massively unequal Thailand, by @hkbeech https://t.co/57dnqUeEGh
— Jonathan Head (@pakhead) June 6, 2021
The nation’s total number of recovered #Covid19 cases has reached 1,188,243 after 7,372 more recoveries were reported on Sunday. https://t.co/z7lB7LCdjK
— Phil News Agency (@pnagovph) June 6, 2021
Japan disposes of over 7,000 mishandled doses of COVID-19 vaccine -Yomiuri https://t.co/nEmyGU8Uyv pic.twitter.com/pJACe2ZSQa
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 6, 2021
#Iran: #Coronavirus Fatalities Exceed 306,200 in 543 Cities
Many of Iran’s southern provinces are reporting fragile conditions and the UK, South African and Indian variants are expanding up north.https://t.co/JCZDLlz9Bn— Mohammad Mohaddessin (@Mohaddessin) June 5, 2021
Russia recorded nearly 425,000 excess deaths from April 2020 to April 2021 when it was in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters calculations based on data released by Russia's state statistics service showed on Friday.? https://t.co/zIlzvfe0U0
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) June 4, 2021
Over 1,000 coronavirus infections in Russia involve one of three variants believed to be more contagious, the head of Russia’s consumer protection watchdog said https://t.co/UME2hJxhQm
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) June 4, 2021
As vaccines turn the tide of the pandemic, the US and Europe diverge on the path forward. The split is particularly stark in Britain, which is facing the spread of a new variant, while America has essentially lifted all rules for people who are vaccinated https://t.co/fGlm35Rz2i
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) June 5, 2021
Too soon to say if English lockdown will end June 21, Hancock says https://t.co/BuPRjbZngS pic.twitter.com/DQFrikNBbc
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 6, 2021
'Swab dogs' spread joy in Melbourne lockdown https://t.co/dJtnaNbvxc
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) June 5, 2021
EXCLUSIVE In boost for Africa, Senegal aims to make COVID shots next year https://t.co/S4LOmOTWkB pic.twitter.com/VahF21Su21
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 6, 2021
Brazil approves imports of Russia's Sputnik V, India's Covaxin vaccines https://t.co/UxcNIu3yCx pic.twitter.com/lMHQ0HDf3J
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 5, 2021
It's absolutely wild how fast Canada opened up a 10pt gap over US on percent vaccinated. . . pic.twitter.com/eGedKm0F7A
— 46 Taco Trucks??????? (@Mateo_in_ATX) June 5, 2021
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Covid's impact on the brain is varied and common. New report https://t.co/1PSngKtKzo pic.twitter.com/bJDLZ4jNKR
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) June 5, 2021
US blood supply is safe from SARSCoV2, according to tests of ~18k pools of donated blood, representative of more than 257k single donations. Study conducted by the Blood Epidemiology & Clinical Therapeutics Branch at the Nat'l Heart, Lung & Blood Institute https://t.co/oKh6Z4xa1Q
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) June 5, 2021
======
New England is giving the rest of the country a possible glimpse into the future if more Americans get vaccinated. The region has among the highest vaccination rates in the U.S. and is seeing sustained drops in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. https://t.co/wtEL8oHY9k
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 5, 2021
A whole lot of people is still unvaccinated, immunocompromised people exist, no-one can tell who's vaxxed or not not, so maintaining a masking etiquette to put people's mind at ease isn't the worst thing to do. https://t.co/zCIa8v1Noy
— prime macpoasting account (@Convolutedname) June 5, 2021
Death recorded. pic.twitter.com/jt0G6S1OCR
— Bad COVID-19 Takes (@BadCOVID19Takes) June 5, 2021
(Backstory on that phrase.)
Twitter suspended Naomi Wolf yesterday so I put together a tribute pic.twitter.com/uI4Wg4Ijno
— The Real Truther (@thereal_truther) June 5, 2021
Another Twitter exile:
Laura Loomer pushed the swab way, WAY too far. pic.twitter.com/c213Cft92U
— Eugene V. Belitsky (@Jhenya_Belitsky) June 4, 2021
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY stats:
53 new cases – 74.5% were people under 40, including 11 children between 10 and 19. People in their 20s had the highest number of cases. There were no reported cases in children under 10.
Deaths are now at 1303.
1.5% test positivity
57.5% with at least 1 shot
50.58% totally vaccinated
Baud
Go Canada!
mrmoshpotato
Re: BBC article on the dogs
1 doesn’t believe your bullshit for the upteenth time
2 is all “Oh hello.”
3 was just startled awake
Cermet
Could someone explain how Canada has a higher rate of vaccination when the US has 90 doses per 100 people vaccinated but Canada has only 68 doses per 100 people? And while we have more fully immunized that alone doesn’t explain how they have 10% more – US 60 %of total pop and they are somehow above this by 10%? But they have only 68 does per 100 people – how is that 70% of their population?
Kristine
Glad to see green Illinois on that map.
otmar
Quick update from Austria:
About 20% fully vaxxed, 40% partially. Speed is picking up.
Case numbers are way down, we’re at 30 cases/week/100k. Hospital load also harmless.
We opened up a lot, but the rules are that you need on of 3 G: Genesen (recovered, proof my antibody tests), Geimpft (vaccinated), or Getestet (tested). That applies for restaurants, barbers, hotels, …
Thus leads to a very high rate of testing. Tests, including pcr are easy to get by and free. My kids do 3 pcr per week as the price for normal school.
All that means our test positivity is now at .08%.
Let’s hope we can hold the line and get the vaxx numbers up until the indian variant arrives.
Cermet
OK, just saw the incorrect data I used – never mind
mrmoshpotato
@Kristine: Not as green as I’d like, but yes.
prufrock
That New York Times map is the least surprising graphic I’ve seen in a while. All the usual suspects have terrible vaccination rates, except Florida. However, that’s because Florida is full of old people who are the one US demographic that isn’t fucking around with the pandemic.
The hot breath of The Grim Reaper on one’s neck tends to clarify the mind.
mrmoshpotato
@otmar: Good to hear, and glad they’re enforcing rules to keep the virus at bay.
JMG
Perhaps the following development will spur some more US vaccinations. At the Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour, golfer Jon Rahm had a six shot lead after the third round, but was then forced to withdraw due to a positive covid test. He’d only had his first vaccine shot early last week. First place in the event carries a mere $1.5 million prize. It was like a reverse lottery. It’s estimated that only 50 percent of the touring pros, as Trumpy a bunch of athletes as exist (young white men, mostly rich, many dumb) have been vaccinated. Bet that percentage goes up now.
YY_Sima Qian
On 6/5 China reported 7 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangdong Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Liaoning Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered &. There are 2 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
In Yunnan Province, there currently are 4 domestic confirmed cases.
Imported Cases
On 6/5 China reported 23 new imported confirmed cases, 15 imported asymptomatic cases, 2 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 23 confirmed cases recovered, 16 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 8 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 789 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 392 active confirmed cases in the country (297 imported), 10 in serious condition (1 imported), 374 asymptomatic cases (341 imported), 3 suspect case (both imported). 8,303 traced contacts are currently
As of 6/5, 763.065M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 18.582M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 6/6, Hong Kong reported 7 new positive case, 6 imported & 1 domestic (a close contact of the domestic case reported on 6/5).
Catherine D.
@prufrock: Harvard has mapped vaccination by congressional district. Vaccination rates are generally higher in D districts. See my shocked face!
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Heath Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 6,241 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 616,815 cases. He also reports 87 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 3,378 deaths — 0.55% of the cumulative reported total, 0.64% of resolved cases.
There are currently 86,628 active and contagious cases; 890 are in ICU, 444 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 5,133 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 526,809 patients recovered – 85.41% of the cumulative reported total.
30 new clusters were reported today.
6,227 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 2,168 local cases: 88 in clusters, 1,593 close-contact screenings, and 487 other screenings. Sarawak reports 599 local cases: 32 in clusters, 443 close-contact screenings, and 124 other screenings.
Johor reports 564 local cases: 199 in clusters, 256 close-contact screenings, and 109 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 556 cases: 153 in clusters, 297 close-contact screenings, and 106 other screenings.
Kuala Lumpur reports 414 local cases: 32 in clusters, 228 close-contact screenings, and 154 other screenings.
Sabah reports 305 cases: 65 in clusters, 178 close-contact screenings, and 62 other screenings.
Penang reports 271 cases: 87 in clusters, 106 close-contact screenings, and 78 other screenings. Kelantan reports 270 cases: 42 in clusters, 184 close-contact screenings, and 44 other screenings. Melaka reports 225 cases: 84 in clusters, 96 close-contact screenings, and 45 other screenings. Labuan reports 211 local cases: 64 in clusters, 80 close-contact screenings, and 67 other screenings.
Perak reports 174 cases: 59 in clusters, 93 close-contact screenings, and 22 other screenings. Terengganu reports 158 cases: 29 in clusters, 111 close-contact screenings, and 18 other screenings. Pahang reports 155 cases: 63 in clusters, 65 close-contact screenings, and 27 other screenings. Kedah reports 125 cases: eight in clusters, 77 close-contact screenings, and 40 other screenings.
Putrajaya reports 30 cases: six in clusters, 20 close-contact screenings, and four other screenings. Perlis reports two cases, both close-contact screenings.
14 new cases today are imported: 10 in Selangor, one in Kuala Lumpur, one in Johor, one in Sarawak, one in Labuan.
Barbara
@JMG: I was surprised the rate was even that high. I suspect that many are partially vaccinated. Due to eligibility protocols I was only “fully” vaccinated two days ago, even though I spent a lot of effort to do it as soon as possible.
germy
germy
The Mohonasen senior story posted above is presented as a “feel good” story by the newspaper. I don’t know, though. Isn’t she ignoring the school’s safety precautions?
I don’t know anymore.
Ken
“Researchers now believe this was the origin of the terrifying new ‘Zeta’ COVID variant…”
germy
@Ken:
A few months ago, the paper was running stories about high school basketball. Every photo showed players with their masks down around their chins.
And then a few weeks later, the paper would have a story about a new outbreak.
But the paper never made any connections, so they probably would never run a “researchers now believe…” story.
Matt McIrvin
I remember feeling frustrated when all my friends in Arizona were rushing out to get their shots and I couldn’t, yet. But it’s clear that the reason was that vaccine demand in AZ was lower, so they could lift all the rationing restrictions earlier.
Ken
@Matt McIrvin: I would be interested to see the vaccine maps at a county level. I suspect they’d look even more like the election maps.
Peale
That the latest outbreak in Thailand started amongst the clubbers tracks pretty well with what I’ve been thinking since late March. A lot of the series I watch from Thailand started having delays as actors started testing positive.
That the country hasn’t started vaccinating in earnest because it’s waiting for a factory owned by the king to come online to start producing it is about the most overdetermined plot development the writers could throw in there. I’m going to be taking bets that what gets produced there might be useful as placebos some day.
Matt McIrvin
@Ken: In Massachusetts, I’m pretty sure that if you plotted a map of vaccination levels by town right now it would look like a map of income levels and/or non-Hispanic ethnicity. Reaching working-class neighborhoods has been hard.
Matt McIrvin
@prufrock: Arizona is also full of old people, and yet.
Matt McIrvin
…As for Canada, compare it to the Northeast US and it doesn’t look like as big a gap in rates. The main difference is that Canada is following the UK strategy of delaying second shots to prioritize maximum coverage on first shots.
dmsilev
@Ken: For California, that’s certainly true. The Republican areas of the state have vastly lower vaccination rates than the Bay Area, SoCal, etc. LA County, for instance, is about 56% of total population with at least one dose, whereas head over to Kern County (home of Kevin McCarthy) and it’s 37%. Some of the northern tiered counties are lower still.
Brachiator
Southern California fun. I went to get a haircut the other day and feel totally renewed. The barbers wore masks, as did I. The barber who cut my hair noted that she finally was able to get the vaccine, but had a frustrating time making an appointment. The various online appointment systems were poorly designed and overly complicated, especially for people who are not tech savvy. I had problems early on, but correctly guessed that I could skip some of the confusing questions and prompts, and still get through. I hope that the various state agencies are making notes on how best to deal with the next pandemic.
And the next day I went to a cafe that had take-out food and outdoor dining. A sign was taped to the front door, “No Masks Required.” The owner was previously good about obeying health advisories. Didn’t ask, but I wonder if he got tired of dealing with the mask-averse. Most of the customers who came while I was there in were wearing masks. I think California is tentatively scheduled to relax the rules on June 15, but I would feel better if there weren’t so many dopes acting against their own best interests.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 775 new cases of COVID-19 reported, zero new deaths of people confirmed to have COVID-19 and a test positivity rate (TPR) of 4.0%. These are weekend numbers, I normally wait until a Tuesday before comparing the numbers week to week.
The TPR keeps on creeping up which probably concerns me more than the rather variable case numbers day on day. The WHO’s benchmark is that above 5% TPR represents a situation where the disease is spreading out of control. This 5% figure is rather arbitrary and doesn’t take into account a number of local factors in each nation or area but it’s still alarming.
About 45,000 vaccinations were carried out over the past 24 hours, a little down on the previous weekday figures of 50,000 a day. The gap between the numbers of first and second doses is closing gradually as delayed second dose appointments are being filled in. The vaccination surge continues, no mention yet of any future vaccine and consumables supply problems. It may be that Public Health Scotland (PHS) has ramped up its supply chains to meet this increased vaccination tempo, I haven’t heard anything definitive about this in the news.
Matt McIrvin
I’m guessing this is relevant to the situation in my vicinity:
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/vaccine-access-hesitancy-problem-latinos-senators/story?id=77961547
If Trump were still in you KNOW we’d be hearing about ICE raids at vaccination sites.
WaterGirl
@Kristine: Illinois is still very much a mixed bag.
This site tracks cases, etc. and it shows IL as only 55.7% vaccinated. I live in a college town, and we are only at 59% as of today.
WaterGirl
@Matt McIrvin: Yeah, but our issue in the US is NOT availability of the second shot, so I don’t see that as the difference between the US and Canada.
They can’t possibly have as many crazy, stupid, conspiracy people as we do.
Matt McIrvin
More about systemic obstacles:
https://khn.org/news/article/latinos-are-the-most-eager-to-get-vaccinated-survey-shows-but-face-obstacles/
I’ve been hearing a lot of remarks lately to the effect of “the pharmacies are all doing free walk-ins, how much easier can it get?” and assuming that everyone who’s still unvaccinated must be an antivaxxer. But there are still big gaps to fill, particularly with regard to lack of information and lack of institutional trust among groups that have gotten burned in the recent past.
lafcolleen
Today is my daughter’s 15th birthday and yesterday she got her second Pfizer shot. So now we are fully vaxxed at my house.
Now we are actually making plans rather than just thinking about ‘someday.’
we have a vacation scheduled for July – we are planning a trip to visit colleges for my older daughter – the girls are talking about school without (or minimal) restrictions on socialization –
we live in Chicago. the Cook County Health Dept. site was full of teenagers getting their shots.
One of my clients was. able to arrange for a home visit for vax admin.
charon
@Matt McIrvin:
I (in AZ) just got my first shot a week ago at the local grocery, easy as pie.
Ohio Mom
I grumble to myself that Republicans will be the death of us every time I hear about their efforts to slash the social safety net, overturn the ACA and Roe, toss out environmental and other safety regulations, etc.
Looking at the map of vaccination rates in Red states, it’s pretty stark that “the death of us” is no metaphor.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin:
Arizona is one of the youngest states, on average. Lots of the olds are winter visitors and aren’t there right now,
I have been very homesick this week, and full of regret for moving to PA. This map helps somewhat. Gotta say, Allegheny County is killing it. There is much to be said for life in a “Democratic stronghold”.
charon
@Matt McIrvin:
Lots of AZ olds are from Trumpy places like Nebraska and Oklahoma etc. though.
My district contains the Sun Cities and has Trumpy kook Debbie Lesko as Congresscritter.
germy
smith
@WaterGirl: That 55.7% is for the whole population, and somewhat better than the national number of 51.3%. The Biden goal of 70% with at least one dose is for adults 18 and over. For that, IL stands at 68.2%. In other words, we will join the elite 70% group shortly.
Soprano2
@Brachiator: So how is it that in my red state you can walk into every Walmart, CVS, Walgreens etc. and get vaccinated with no appointment needed, while in blue California people are still navigating an online maze trying to get appointments? Walmart has a sign on every entry door saying “the Covid-19 shot is free to you here”. It’s strange to me that we’re way behind in percentage vacced but ahead in availability. Maybe it’s the lower demand here?
My county has a Republican rep; last time I checked the fully vacced rate was around 36%, with 43% getting at least one shot. In hoping the fully-vacced # will reach 50% sometime in July. That’s when it seems like things start getting better.
Roger Moore
@Catherine D.:
I looked at county-by-county vaccination data for California. I had eyeballed the data and noticed there was a strong income effect- richer counties were better vaccinated- and thought it was probably more important than the political effect. When I actually ran the numbers, it turned out I was wrong: the income effect and political effect were almost exactly the same size, and they were sufficiently independent that you could explain a lot more variation in vaccination rates when you included both factors than just one or the other.
Sloane Ranger
The UK-wide position as reported on Saturday. As Robert Sneddon says above, these figures should be viewed with caution because of weekend reporting delays and Wales not giving out case numbers on a Saturday.
Yesterday in the UK we had 5765 new cases. This is an increase of 46.2% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,
England – 4810 (down 292). The current R rate is 1.0 – 1.2
Northern Ireland – 95 (up 22). The current R rate is 0.8 – 1.0
Scotland – 860 (down 132). The current R rate is 1.3 – 1.7.
Wales – Does not report on Saturday’s. Can’t find a recent estimate for R rate.
Deaths – There were 13 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is an increase in the rolling 7-day average of 3.4%. New deaths by nation, England – 12, Scotland – 1.
Testing – Not updated at weekends.
Hospitalisations – Not updated at weekends.
Vaccinations – As of 4 June, 40,124,229 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 27,160,635 had had both. In percentage terms this means that 76.2% of all adults in the UK have had 1 shot of a vaccine and 51.6% were fully vaccinated.
WaterGirl
@smith:
I had not read the fine print.
Is there a good link for that for the US, for IL and other individual states?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The way I see it, there will be a mini third wave later this year in anti-vac regions of the country, at which point the resistance to vaccine will break down because no one will care because the numbers will be low next to last winter and it will be to embarrassing to get COVID. This is mainly about POWNing the Libertards as always.
RaflW
Oh, look. New-Jim-Crow-Same-As-The-Old-Jim-Crow Joe Manchin’s state of West god damned Virginia is one of the orange color incubator states.
What a fucking Sunday we’re off to already.
Roger Moore
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think the next big step in getting everyone vaccinated will be vaccines getting full approval, which should be coming soon. At that point, it will be possible for employers to require vaccination, which will make a big difference.
smith
@WaterGirl: My favorite source of state-level vaccine stats is the CDC vaccination site. If you scroll down a little ways you see a map for which you can set parameters using the buttons above it (age range, full or partially vaxxed, raw numbers or %). Putting the cursor on any state shows you the data.
CDC will also give you county-level data here.
debbie
@Roger Moore:
During a team meeting last week (less than 10 people altogether), someone was bitching about being forced to get vaccinated. She’s got a kid in grade school. I think she’s starting to angle to be allowed to remain remote based on not being vaccinated. I’m not sure this will work for her.
debbie
@germy:
I’m still giggling over the CT state legislator who had imbibed a bit too much before rising to make her remarks, but there’s also the legislator in the row behind her with her mask just below her mouth. WTF?
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
In St Louis City, the vaccination rates for the predominantly African American counties mirror the Trumpiest rural counties with rates in the 20’s. There is a lot of fear and hesitancy. I was really surprised that very Trumpy suburan St. Charles had a higher vaccination rate than St. Louis City. I expect it is driven by the very high vaccination rate among the elderly. Still, it shows how it isn’t just about political affiliation. Wealth, education, access, etc play an important role.
Wag
@Cermet: Single dose J+J vaccine?
Roger Moore
@debbie:
Lots of people just don’t get masks. I still see people who want to pull their mask away from their face every time they talk, which is exactly wrong.
debbie
@Roger Moore:
And then they touch something!
Fair Economist
@Peale:
Fucking authoritarian corruption.
mrmoshpotato
@Matt McIrvin:
I’m ashamed to admit that that never crossed my mind, but you’re totally right.
Fair Economist
@Soprano2:
It’s walk-in all over Orange County at least. I got my second shot that way. I don’t know why Brachiator’s hair stylist had to go through a runaround. Maybe the appointments systems are getting neglected now that they aren’t really needed?
When I tried to make an appointment I got into a voicemail maze myself and decided to just drive over and hope the drugstore had shots, and they did.
@Roger Moore:
Nice work.
Feathers
@Matt McIrvin: This. One thing I wish is that all the vaccine apartheid folks would instead focus on how we make the push out beyond the people who are highly motivated and have the resources to work through the process. Creaming is an acceptable strategy, if organizations use it to make sure they are focusing their energy on the people who need help in getting the vaccine.
Lack of paid sick days for everyone is really screwing us over. The yarn shop Kamala Harris visited in Virginia actually closed down so that staff could get vaccinated and have the next day off to deal with side effects. A program to encourage that might work in New England. Although I hate putting more money into the pockets of assholle small business people.
Roger Moore
@Feathers:
Improving access seems like it’s the big remaining problem. One big part of it is doing a better job of getting out the word that getting vaccinated is A) free and B) won’t get you in trouble with whichever government agency you’d rather not deal with. ICE is the big one people are afraid of, but I’ll bet there are plenty of other people not getting vaccinated because they are shy about dealing with the government for other reasons, e.g. past criminal convictions.
RaflW
@Soprano2: I don’t know what the Biden Admin has done of late, but there was talk of shifting the distribution plans as slow-uptake states continue to be slow on the uptake. It doesn’t make sense to keep stocking up in areas where the rate of arms being proffered is declining, but there’s queues and (relative) shortages in others.
Feathers
@Roger Moore: I’m guessing that mobile vaccine sites with the one shot vaccine, no paperwork, no questions asked will be the answer at some point. It will be interesting to see who is willing to go there. It should probably be limited to places with low vaccination rates. Springfield would probably be a good test case. You could just ask people for age, gender, race, and zip code, so that you would have the statistical data. People would have to be informed that they won’t show up in the records of who is vaccinated, but that may be what they are trying to avoid. Maybe this could be done after the July goal is reached, or in August, to get the extra boost before school starts again.
RaflW
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: The wealthy (and upper middle class) can afford to have a relationship with a PC physician. When their trusted Dr. says take this shot, they will. Even if they have to lie to their MAGA friends about it afterwards.
Brachiator
@Soprano2:
Very sorry. I was tired and battling insomnia when I posted. I was mainly referring to the first months when the vaccine was being distributed. Things are better now. We have walk-in availability here as well. I meant to say that vaccine availability needs to be simple to get as soon as possible, from the very beginning.
And upon further reflection, information distribution for various reasons is not as good in some non English communities. Some people think you have to pay to get the vaccine.
debbie
@Brachiator:
FWIW, a large health system here wasn’t charging for the vaccines, but they were charging for the actual injection.
Brachiator
@debbie:
Really? That is stupid, insane, WTF?
debbie
@Brachiator:
Specifically:
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: This is how it works in Massachusetts. The vaccine itself is free, government-funded, but they ask for health insurance information, and if you have coverage you can disclose, the cost of administering the shot is billed to your insurance.
If you don’t, you still get the shot and the government picks up the tab. But, as one of the people I know who was working the sites said to me just today, it’s a confusing mixed message: it’s free but not-free, because they do bill your insurance for something. There’s no copay in either case. But if you’re worried on the basis of all past experience that you’re going to be socked with an unexpected bill, this is not all reassuring.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
I got billed $0 by my insurance. But this is another issue that should be streamlined in the future.
But in any case, I personally did not care whether the vaccine was free. But I know that this could have been a big issue for others.
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: Basically they’ve already vaccinated all the adults who were both eager to get it, confident about their general healthcare situation, and had no work-related obstacles or any particular reason to fear the government. Now they have to work on everyone else.
boatboy_srq
@prufrock: You’ve not visited The Villages recently.