There’s been a lot of terrible and odd news about the coronavirus vaccines in the past week, like the fact that the Trump administration was slow-walking the Pfizer vaccine being sent out to states – there was back and forth about that for days, and there was some talk about how Trumpers were delaying that vaccine on purpose for various corrupt reasons. But I think it’s far more likely that the Trump administration is simply incompetent, and the delays and scattershot vaccinations of government figures are mostly about the lack of planning more than anything else.
Anyway, I’m still kind of mad about the fact that Mike Pence, Mother Pence, Marco Rubio that those a–holes got some of the first available vaccines. The bigger priority should be the incoming Biden administration officials, namely Joe Biden, who is very old. Well, President Biden did get his Covid vaccine yesterday. This belongs in a museum!
Dr. Jill Biden also received the vaccine. Apparently, Dr. Anthony Fauci will take the vaccine today. There are hopefully frontline workers – doctors, nurses, hospital support staff – getting vaccinated right now in every state too. I think there are CDC guidelines – to vaccinate the elderly and frontline workers first – but the Trump administration is largely leaving it up to the states to determine how to distribute the first wave of vaccines. It will be interesting to see how the vaccine rollout changes under President Biden.
IGs courtesy of Joe Biden.
I’ve seen stories in the news that lots of other people are jumping in line. I”m not surprised but it still makes me angry.
Yeah rich people are already trying to bribe their way to the front of the line, which is gross. Wait your turn. I personally don’t mind that I won’t be getting the vaccine until phase 4, it at least provides more time to learn more about the vaccine and observe how it’s impacting others.
Seeing that a Black, female medical professional is the one that is giving President Biden his injection, I am getting a bit teary at that sight.
I am sure it is by design and I happy they did it.
I was thinking the same thing. Glad it wasn’t a white male doctor since that just feeds the stereotype that only men and only white people can be competent doctors. I’m hoping Biden’s presidential physician is also a WOC!
I noticed that all of the Rethugs who bragged about getting the virus on their social media all had white, male medical professionals.
Moscow Mitch’s literally looked like a klan member behind that flag.
Nothing against the men who injected them, but, damn.
*vaccine.
Whoops.
I hope when Biden takes office distribution can be sorted out. And I’m glad he, Dr. Biden, and Dr. Fauci will be protected!
I so look forward to the day I can get my vaccine. I have my annual appointment in February and daydream about them saying “hey, we have the vaccine, do you want it?” Which is obviously too early and won’t happen. But literally this is what I fantasize about these days lol.
I decided I’m not taking a vaccine that’s been pushed through so fast. Most vaccines take years to develop and with the covid strain changing the vaccines will also have to change to combat them. I’m also not among the first in line for this one and that’s okay (I’m not an elder or a front line worker). I will continue to wait my turn, watching how the vaccines effect others, masked up and socially distanced.
Leah, I was worried about the speed too. But my biology colleagues (I teach) have all supported it.
And one pointed out that the speed is due to a) them using a lot of old research and b) working 24/7 on this, which is not usually vaccine creation. It’s like if you paint a room an hour a day it’s going to take a few weeks, but if you work all day, you could probably paint the room in a day or two.
I definitely hear what you’re saying re: new strains. But something is better than nothing.
Risk benefit analysis. I believe that the risks of not taking the vaccine outweigh the risks of taking it.
I understand your concerns and think your feelings are valid, but I do want to comment on one point that I’ve seen bantered around that isn’t quite correct – the vaccine wasn’t “pushed through so fast” so much as highly prioritized and funded. The mechanism for creating vaccines is well known and has existed for years (the mRNA one is a little newer but still has basis in previous research). It’s usually just a matter of either isolating proteins or a deactivated virus form unique enough to generate an immune response. That’s what actually eats up most of the research time in developing new vaccines. Flu vaccines are usually created within a few months based on prediction models for which strands will be the most virulent that year, and they are then rolled out several months later after production is completed. COVID19 is novel in terms of its invasion mechanism, but it stems from a commonly known virus family. With the amount of money and resources thrown at it, it’s not surprising they were able to knock out a few variations on a vaccine in less than year.
The mechanism of the vaccine itself is not really questionable to me. We know the science of how to make them. Concerns of the actual physical production, I can understand. If there’s a place where quality tends to break down, it’s usually during the manufacturing or supply chain. This being said, I would be shocked if Pfizer/BioNtech or Moderna put out a bad vaccine because the eyes of the world are on them now. The impact on their reputations and the lawsuits that would follow would be pretty staggering.
The reason other vaccines and medications take so long to produce is almost entirety because of money. The COVID vaccine efforts had funding pouring into it from all over the world. If every clinical trial or other research effort had the money we’d have a lot of things very quickly.
The vaccine really wasn’t pushed through fast. Scientists built off of years of research and the previously in-progress SARS vaccine to develop this. There were still a full clinical trials with a normal amount of participants. The thing that usually holds up vaccines is funding. Also, keep in mind that the last vaccine that took “years” to create was the mumps vaccine in 1967. Science has advanced significantly since that time.
I’d encourage you to follow Jessica Malaty Rivera on social media. She’s an epidemiologist who has been sharing a lot of great information about vaccine development and the importance of as many people as possible receiving the vaccine.
I’m fine with politicians getting the vaccine because I’d rather people in government functioning – except of course for the ones who called it a hoax. They can f*ck off.
Same
I’m completely fine with him getting it – not just based on his age, but because he’s the president-elect AND he has taken this seriously from the start. He’s not getting the vaccine as an excuse to have a huge party or throw out his masks.
Our state has announced that by next week all front-line hospital workers will have gotten the vaccine, which I know is a huge relief for them.
My nephew is an ER/ED doc in MD. Was vaccinated in the last couple of days, and given a date in January for the second. When I spoke to him last Wednesday, vaccination was well underway in his hospital; it’s being staggered within departments so that if there’s side effects, not too many people are affected at the same time, which seems to be typical – same thing in my sister’s hospital system in NE.
Yes, my doctor daughter in law is getting the vaccine today. She’s out on maternity leave from her hospital but will be returning to work in February and I’m so relieved she will be totally vaccinated.
I’m really glad to see Biden and Dr. Biden get theirs, I’ve been worried about him being out there campaigning and stuff, even though I know they were as careful as can be.
It makes sense for it to go to government higher ups, the whole continuity of government thing, but I don’t know why Mother Pence or Marco Rubio got theirs so early. Rubio especially, he’s in his 40s and healthy, and just a Senator, and he was one of the people playing down the pandemic and ignoring the rules. He should have gone to the end of the line.
I believe everyone in congress no matter what age received it this week. Normally I would be happy for people running the government to be safe, but it does really infuriate me that elected officials that downplayed the virus and wearing a mask and helped make this so much worse are now rushing to the front of the line.
Exactly, Anne Call!