Covid vaccination status?

[JayhawkCO]

Pfizer is now much more common around here.  They basically stopped giving people Moderna because it's easier to store, and they want to send that out to the smaller towns around the state–saving the difficult-to-store one for a larger city that can actually accommodate it better.

I forgot to mention scheduling when I got my first shot last week.  Afterwards, I could either (a) go up to a person and have him or her help me schedule my next appointment, (b) scan a QR code and proceed from there, or (c) just go home and schedule my next shot from the convenience of my home computer.  That's what I'll be doing.  But I haven't done so yet, because I'd rather wait and make sure I don't come down with any COVID symptoms and then have to wait three months or whatever.

I didn't even really get a choice.  When I got my first shot, the nurse just said "OK.  Then you come back on the 14th at the same time to get your second," which was fine with me.

The people who think masks don't help are also the ones who don't want to get vaccinated, especially if conspiracy theories are involved.

Really?  The people I know who think masks don't help simply think most masks are ineffective at preventing the spread.

I don't know that I know anyone that thinks "masks don't help".  I know people who won't wear masks because they think Covid is a hoax or "not that bad".

Chris

[1995hoo]

My doctor's office had me sign up for the second appointment as part of the process for scheduling the first appointment. Made sense to me to do it that way instead of waiting a few weeks to be offered a time, and I liked having the advance notice because I could in turn put it on the office calendar so nobody can say I didn't give advance notice.

[GaryV]

My wife got hers at a pharmacy.  I searched their sign-up website early morning to find her an appointment - then had to wake her up so she could finish the registration.

When she got the first shot, they told her that she'd get an email or text about the 2nd.  Turns out it was the same day of the week and same time.  Really?  The computer at the store couldn't have done that?  Ah well.

[kphoger]

As for upcoming mandates, here's how it's playing out in my neck of the woods:

Previously, the state of Kansas issued a statewide public health order that imposed face mask and physical distancing requirements.  It did not apply to counties that developed their own public health order.  That is, counties could opt out, but only by custom-making their own order instead.  The effective end date of the state order was to be at the end of March 2021 or when the state of emergency was lifted, whichever came first.  Sedgwick County (Wichita) created its own public health order, so that's what we've been under here ever since.

Recently, the state of Kansas made several changes.  First of all, it extended the state of emergency into May, which means the public health order would be extended as well.  But the state also voided any state-issued virus-related mandates, to be effective at the end of the month.  As part of reworking the system of emergency response, the state opened up a path for citizens who have a grievance about how a county health order has affected them to file suit against the county–and that they must receive a hearing within 72 hours.

Sedgwick County immediately decided that, because the bar for who is an "aggrieved party" is so low, it is not willing to risk the court system being overrun with litigation.  As such, Sedgwick County has rescinded its public health order.  Contrary to popular belief, that merely left us all under the existing state public health order, which doesn't expire until tomorrow night.

The governor has already announced that she'll issue another public health order on April 1.  However, one other change I didn't mention earlier is that the legislature now has the power to overturn any such order.  The current legislature is not in favor of mask mandates and has already said they plan to overturn whatever order she issues.

Wichita's mayor would also like to pass a city order, but there likewise don't seem to be enough members of city council on the mayor's side for that to happen.

With all this said, then, it's likely that my city and county will be mandate-free starting Thursday morning–but due mainly to political reasons, rather than the steep downward trend in cases here.

In contrast, however, I believe Johnson County (KC suburbs) has already drafted a new public health order.  I don't know if they aren't worried about the potential for litigation, or if they're just digging their heels in, or what.  We'll see what happens.

Who was it that said the end of mandates would be a haphazard, chaotic thing?  I'd say you were right.

[kphoger]

My doctor's office had me sign up for the second appointment as part of the process for scheduling the first appointment. Made sense to me to do it that way instead of waiting a few weeks to be offered a time, and I liked having the advance notice because I could in turn put it on the office calendar so nobody can say I didn't give advance notice.

Yeah, I wouldn't have wanted that, because I was in the same room as a person with COVID for about 1½ hours on Wednesday.  Even though I was not a close contact (more than six feet away and not facing each other and half protected by plexiglass), I was still concerned about getting my first shot.  I wasn't concerned about being contagious yet (only two days later), but I was worried that the virus, if I had it, had begun to replicate in my body enough that the first shot wouldn't do me any good.  Therefore, if I ended up coming down with COVID, then I would have been under the CDC recommendation to wait three more months before getting my second shot.

I still have zero symptoms, though, and statistically they would have shown up by today.  My wife is back to kissing me again, as of yesterday.  But I'll still wait until 14 days have passed before scheduling my next shot.  Just in case.

[J N Winkler]

Wichita's mayor would also like to pass a city order, but there likewise don't seem to be enough members of city council on the mayor's side for that to happen.

With all this said, then, it's likely that my city and county will be mandate-free starting Thursday morning–but due mainly to political reasons, rather than the steep downward trend in cases here.

I think the swing vote on a mask mandate is likely to be Becky Tuttle (District 2, far northeast Wichita).  I expect my council member, Cindy Claycomb (District 6, central/near northwest) to support it, as well as Brandon Johnson (District 1, near northeast) and the mayor.  The City Council is formally nonpartisan, but Johnson and Whipple are Democrats, Claycomb is unaffiliated, and most if not all of the rest--Jared Cerullo (newly appointed to District 3, southeast), Jeff Blubaugh (District 4, southwest), and Bryan Frye (District 5, far northwest)--are Republicans.  (I don't know Tuttle's affiliation, if she has one.)

There has been some spread among the council members in terms of whether they rely on remote-only or hybrid formats for their district advisory board meetings, and I think that is probably indicative of their respective attitudes toward mask mandates.  Claycomb has been remote-only all the way, while I think Frye has done hybrid meetings.

The City Council normally meets on Tuesdays but is not doing so today.  I expect a mask ordinance to appear on the agenda for the April 6 meeting if the legislature follows through on its threat to overturn a renewed statewide mask mandate.

[1995hoo]

My doctor's office had me sign up for the second appointment as part of the process for scheduling the first appointment. Made sense to me to do it that way instead of waiting a few weeks to be offered a time, and I liked having the advance notice because I could in turn put it on the office calendar so nobody can say I didn't give advance notice.

Yeah, I wouldn't have wanted that, because I was in the same room as a person with COVID for about 1½ hours on Wednesday.  Even though I was not a close contact (more than six feet away and not facing each other and half protected by plexiglass), I was still concerned about getting my first shot.  I wasn't concerned about being contagious yet (only two days later), but I was worried that the virus, if I had it, had begun to replicate in my body enough that the first shot wouldn't do me any good.  Therefore, if I ended up coming down with COVID, then I would have been under the CDC recommendation to wait three more months before getting my second shot.

I still have zero symptoms, though, and statistically they would have shown up by today.  My wife is back to kissing me again, as of yesterday.  But I'll still wait until 14 days have passed before scheduling my next shot.  Just in case.

If I wound up in that situation, I'd simply cancel the second appointment.

[US71]

I received a text message today to call my doctor about getting the vaccine. After playing ring around the rosie trying to find someone talk to, I was told all the appointments had been taken, but they MIGHT have some more in a few weeks.

[cl94]

NY announced yesterday that open season begins next Tuesday.

Given how many appointments have been available in Oneonta, Plattsburgh, and Potsdam every day, there's a nonzero chance I'll be able to get my first jab before the end of next week. I might need to drive a little bit to make it happen, but that's just an excuse to do some roadgeeking along the way.

[hbelkins]

I received a text message today to call my doctor about getting the vaccine. After playing ring around the rosie trying to find someone talk to, I was told all the appointments had been taken, but they MIGHT have some more in a few weeks.

If your community is like mine, there are a number of local government agencies and medical providers with public Facebook pages. It's fairly common for me to see a Facebook post in the early afternoon that the local Walgreen's will have shots available that day and the vaccine will need to be tossed if it's not used today. I'll bet it happens at least twice a week. If you're not doing anything and see such a post, you can often luck into a shot.

I've been reading that Kentucky has lots of vaccine appointments available that are going unused, and Louisville has opened up its vaccination to Indiana residents.

[SSOWorld]

I've gotten my first jab last week... in Iowa (helps that I'm 20 minutes away from the state lines of IL and IA). Jab 2 was scheduled alongside jab 1.

[vdeane]

NY announced yesterday that open season begins next Tuesday.

Given how many appointments have been available in Oneonta, Plattsburgh, and Potsdam every day, there's a nonzero chance I'll be able to get my first jab before the end of next week. I might need to drive a little bit to make it happen, but that's just an excuse to do some roadgeeking along the way.

Being flexible certainly seems to help.  I ended up scheduling mine for Phizer (which is what nearly all the state-run sites give; not sure what happened to Moderna) at SUNY Oneonta at the end of next month, though I could have gotten more sooner if I wasn't trying to fit it (drive time included) around meetings and whatnot on my calendar (there was even one left for Monday).  Plattsburgh or Potsdam I'd be more willing to drive to for the J&J vaccine, but having to go back to the same place for the second dose makes things more complicated.

I'll probably check the pharmacy sites and see if I can fit something in sooner.

[gonealookin]

With Young People Spring Break just about wrapped up, I'm going on Geezer Spring Break to Miami next week.  The long-scheduled flight down there is on Tuesday and my first day of eligibility is Monday, so no real opportunity to even get the first dose before the trip.

The young'uns apparently left a little spike in Covid rates in south Florida.  Don't know exactly what Miami-Dade's current mask rules are but I'll definitely continue my CA/NV practice which is mask at all times in shared space indoors except when eating, and if a restaurant or bar looks more crowded than my comfort level I'll go elsewhere.

While I'll be happy to leave the regular mask wearing behind, there are some situations where I may continue use indefinitely.  It used to be that as I was boarding an airplane I'd see that one person wearing a mask and I'd give it the    but now I'm inclined to continue with that.  I haven't had so much as a cold or sore throat for the last year, knock on wood, and I've enjoyed that.  OTOH, standing shoulder-to-shoulder and dancing at a concert involves physical activity, and I'll take the risk there.

[interstatefan990]

15 Million Doses of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Ruined By Ingredient Mix-Up:

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/31/johnson-johnson-vaccine-15-million-ruined-478776

[LM117]

15 Million Doses of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Ruined By Ingredient Mix-Up:

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/31/johnson-johnson-vaccine-15-million-ruined-478776

Oof.

[Scott5114]

Went to get my second Pfizer dose today. The site in Ada that I got my first dose at wasn't operating three weeks after (why?), so this time I went to Eufaula, at the McIntosh County Health Department. This was a much less formal affair–sign in with a nurse, sit down in the waiting room, fill out a questionnaire, then the nurse collected the paperwork and administered the shot right there in the waiting room.

So far, only side effects are a sore arm, clinching OK-84, and needing to figure out what my new entry for the lowest route number I haven't been on is.

[US 89]

I finally got an appointment for my first dose of Pfizer next Monday.

[Duke87]

Well I no longer have an accurate poll response available since there isn't an option for "I'm eligible and want it but have not been able to get an appointment yet".

Gotta love Connecticut going ahead and deciding they were going to open up eligibility to everyone ages 16 and up when, even right after midnight, absolutely everything is already booked completely solid (presumably by people who were already eligible prior to midnight). Methinks they jumped the gun on this and tried to go open season too soon. Traffic metering failure right there.

Upshot is every website I looked on functioned smoothly so nothing has crashed this time! (yet, anyway)

09:45 Update: state website, CVS website, and local hospital website all still functional, no crashing. Still no available appointments, however.

[Buck87]

Got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday. Went smooth and no ill effects.

Ohio's age based eligibility has been stairstepping down every few weeks, and Monday the 29th was when it got to everyone 16 and older (1.5 weeks after it had reached everyone 40 and over.) My attempts to find an available appointment through the state website were unsuccessful, but then I tried CVS and was able to find an opening within a half hour drive, and was also able to schedule both appointments at once. My 2nd shot is April 21.

LM-Q620

[Scott5114]

About twelve hours after getting the second shot, some covid-like symptoms started to set in, which made it difficult to sleep. I was running a temperature of 100.0° when I went to bed, and at one point randomly started coughing so hard that I was afraid I was going to throw up.

[doorknob60]

Got my first shot of Pfizer on Tuesday. Second shot is 4 weeks from then, due to a quirk in Walgreens online scheduling system, but I called the pharmacy and they said 4 weeks is still fine (even though 3 weeks is the usual recommendation for Pfizer). Barely any side effects, arm soreness is barely noticeable, probably less than a flu shot for me. My wife's is more sore but nothing problematic. I have been a bit more tired, but if I hadn't got the shot, I wouldn't think twice about it (it's nothing out of the ordinary). If anything it's made it easier to fall asleep and get a full 8 hours haha.

For what it's worth, I did catch Covid in December (a mild case, though my sense of taste and smell have still not recovered to 100%).

[kphoger]

Call me crazy, but I don't like having a non-zero percent chance of killing people by avoiding doing something so simple.

Be sure to let us know when you've reached a zero chance of killing someone by airborne contagious disease, and then we can all check to see if Hell froze over.   



Does anyone know if there's a maximum recommended interval between first and second doses?

[kphoger]

About twelve hours after getting the second shot, some covid-like symptoms started to set in, which made it difficult to sleep. I was running a temperature of 100.0° when I went to bed, and at one point randomly started coughing so hard that I was afraid I was going to throw up.

My wife gets her second shot Saturday afternoon, and she's not exactly happy at the thought of being sick on Easter from it–especially considering Easter got canceled last year.

[NWI_Irish96]

Call me crazy, but I don't like having a non-zero percent chance of killing people by avoiding doing something so simple.

Be sure to let us know when you've reached a zero chance of killing someone by airborne contagious disease, and then we can all check to see if Hell froze over.   



Does anyone know if there's a maximum recommended interval between first and second doses?

If we didn't have the urgency of a pandemic that was killing hundreds of thousands, there would have been a variety of clinical trials testing the vaccine under different conditions, such as lengthening the time before the second dose. Of course, due to the time crunch, they only had the one set of trials, so we don't really know how much effectiveness decreases as the interval increases.

[JayhawkCO]

Call me crazy, but I don't like having a non-zero percent chance of killing people by avoiding doing something so simple.

Be sure to let us know when you've reached a zero chance of killing someone by airborne contagious disease, and then we can all check to see if Hell froze over.   



Does anyone know if there's a maximum recommended interval between first and second doses?

I mean, I get it that shit happens, but a little bit of sacrifice on my end for this one massive pandemic doesn't seem like a large price to pay.  <shrug>

Chris