Seriously thoughtful The Covid Vaccination Poll

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Obviously both the US and UK fell flat on their faces with their respective responses to this pandemic, so it takes more than preparedness plans. They need to prepare the politicians as well. Poor execution by the executive branches can lay waste to the best made plans, as we have witnessed over the past year.

The US and UK aren't alone in being flat-faced, of the top 20 countries in that survey, only 4 can be said to have met its expectations - Australia, Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia. Note: they are members of the WHO West Pacific region, as are some of the countries that exceeded expectations, e.g New Zealand and Vietnam. China is a member of the same region.

Is it possible that the information provided to the NTI survey, presumably by respective bureaucracies, was wilfully or blissfully inaccurate? One assumes the politicians would have been advised by the same bureaucracies.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

As terrible and frustrating as the process was just to try and GET an appointment; kudos to the rural county health department I used for perfecting a mass drive-through vaccination clinic. It was a well-oiled machine. I was back home in an hour, and the trip itself was 20 minutes (one way).

Not a huge clinic by any means, but 300 or so people scheduled with arrival times spread out between 10am and 1pm.

You should be so lucky.

Here's what Dr Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s public emergencies program has said about Australia's response (my emphasis)

“Australia not only flattened that curve, it destroyed that curve and it has kept it at that really low level since,

“That didn’t happen by accident, that didn’t happen because of luck, that happened because the Australian governments [state and federal] applied a comprehensive strategy to suppress this virus, to track contacts, [to trace sources] and test, test, test. They have really shown us all how to use public health to kill a virus.”

You could be forgiven for assuming the same public health capabilities (which lie overwhelmingly within the state & territory health bureaucracies) would be used to implement the national vaccination program. But no, the centre-right federal government has outsourced it to private sector labour hire firms, general practice doctors, and pharmacies.

One of the states had an election yesterday, the incumbent centre-left regime is predicted to win 53 of 59 lower house seats - the biggest majority in any state election ever.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

You should be so lucky.

I was.

Sorry, but I'm having trouble understanding how anything you said after quoting me had anything to do with what I said in the quote.

[alee]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

I got the 2nd Moderna shot today at Walgreens. Got there early and didn't have to wait, except for one person checking in ahead of me. When it was done, I asked whether I should wait around for a while and they said I could leave if I wanted to, so I did.

I believe that the reason that patients are often asked to stay for 15 minutes is in case of the rare, but serious risk of anaphylaxis. I read that after getting his second dose today, Yo-Yo Ma played his cello during the 15 minutes for everybody at the clinic to hear.

[Gardenman]

Had my first shot of Moderna on the 9th. Just a slight sore arm for 2 days

[drofgnal]

I had my first shot on the 10th. My arm was very sore. For a while i couldn't lift it to shoulder high.

[issybird]

I’ve got Covid Arm after my second vaccination on Thursday.

[haertig]

I am glad to see that most here (at least the ones responding to this thread) are getting the shots, or wanting to get them when they are eligible. Several months ago I was more in the "I'm not going to be anyone's guinea pig!" group, but that changed. I had friends that got covid and did not do well (and still aren't now, months after "recovering"). And a few "friends of friends" that died from covid. So my thinking turned and I became one of those desiring the vaccine. It's an individual decision, but I'm still glad to see many here making the same decision that I did. Everyone, stay safe and enjoy life!

[Almamida]

Originally Posted by haertig

I am glad to see that most here (at least the ones responding to this thread) are getting the shots, or wanting to get them when they are eligible. Several months ago I was more in the "I'm not going to be anyone's guinea pig!" group, but that changed. I had friends that got covid and did not do well (and still aren't now, months after "recovering"). And a few "friends of friends" that died from covid. So my thinking turned and I became one of those desiring the vaccine. It's an individual decision, but I'm still glad to see many here making the same decision that I did. Everyone, stay safe and enjoy life!

I’m “glad” to read that.
I’m in negotiations with my mum, to get her vaccinated. (She is 68, lives overseas, in France, like the rest of my family) I’m weighing in my potential trip at the end of the year to visit them to the condition they’re vaccinated.
Some of my old friends there are also skeptical to get vaccinated.

[cromag]

I was finally able to book an appointment. I should be getting my first shot this coming Friday.

[OtinG]

I got my 1st vaccination shot on February 28. Last night I got an email stating that they have set up an appointment for me on March 21 for my 2nd vaccination shot. That is exactly 21 days after the first one, so they are right on schedule. I'm being sent to a different vaccination center though. The first center was a well oiled machine that had been planned and set up by FEMA and operated by the US military with help from the local police and fire departments. The military is really good at such tasks, and so are large fire departments, both of which have plenty of medical staff to draw on. I'm not sure about this next site, so hopefully it goes well.

@heartig, I too am glad more and more people are planning to get the vaccination. I lost a boss and friend that I worked with back in the early 1980s. I live in a small city of 6000 people, and one of our police officers died of it too. They think he probably got it while on duty. He was a 27 year veteran of the force and most people in town knew and liked him. I met him a few times, he seemed like a really nice guy. I'm also glad that many people are still wearing the masks, and many businesses still require them, even though our idiot governor has completely done away with the mask mandate and reopened the state to unrestricted business allowing them to go back to full occupancy. I think that was an incredibly stupid act on his part, especially since March is Spring Break month. But such is life in Texas where big business reigns supreme and the common people get treated like peasants and chattle.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

The US and UK aren't alone in being flat-faced, of the top 20 countries in that survey, only 4 can be said to have met its expectations - Australia, Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia. Note: they are members of the WHO West Pacific region, as are some of the countries that exceeded expectations, e.g New Zealand and Vietnam. China is a member of the same region.

Is it possible that the information provided to the NTI survey, presumably by respective bureaucracies, was wilfully or blissfully inaccurate? One assumes the politicians would have been advised by the same bureaucracies.

I'm not surprised so many countries shanked their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the US we have to go back a century to the Spanish Flu pandemic near the end of World War I to find a major pandemic. We went through the polio era of course, but that wasn't really a pandemic as such, and it played out over several decades. Keeping a country focused on how to properly react during a pandemic is very challenging, especially if the last major pandemic occurred over a century earlier. That of course doesn’t excuse the failure of intelligent imagination. But countries tend to put planning for such unlikely scenarios on the back burner since it cost money to be prepared. My guess is that we will be better prepared for the next pandemic if it occurs in the next decade, but if it doesn't occur for several decades we won’t be prepared. We have plenty of hurricanes, forest fires, tornado outbreaks, floods, earthquakes, et cetera on a fairly regular basis, so we stay prepared for our responses to them. But if a pandemic of this magnitude only occurs once every quarter century or longer, we will forget to be prepared for it. Unfortunately that seems to be human nature.

In the US we did have a flu pandemic scare a decade or so ago, and they were not prepared for it. They set up some preparations for that in the future, however by the time COVID-19 arrived we had already allowed our medical supply depots to be woefully depleted and/or stocked with expired supplies. That was a huge set back when COVID-19 came around. And of course we had the politicians who ran the country telling us don’t worry this isn’t that bad, we will be just fine. Once they did start responding, it turned into more of a pep rally event than a real pandemic response. So we, and other countries too, failed in our lack of maintaining proper levels of preparedness, and we failed in accepting the pandemic as a real and deadly threat until it was nearly too late to have a successful response.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I'm not surprised so many countries shanked their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Neither am I. And that's because I believe many governments/politicians tried to turn it to their political advantage before they tried to defeat it. But this is true for any politician, any party, in any situation - a virus, protests/rioting/looting, a mass murder... Their first thoughts are always "how can I turn this to my advantage?" rather than "how do I solve this problem?" Unfortunately, this is the core nature of politicians of every flavor, of every stripe, of every political party. And it's probably the biggest reason why things get out of hand so quickly.

[Victoria]

I was able to book my first shot for the coming Sunday. Thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences. I’m a bit needle phobic, and don’t know anyone who has had the vaccine yet, so it’s been reassuring to read your first hand accounts.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Victoria

I was able to book my first shot for the coming Sunday. Thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences. I’m a bit needle phobic, and don’t know anyone who has had the vaccine yet, so it’s been reassuring to read your first hand accounts.

Don’t look. You probably won’t even feel it. I think the common reaction is that people are so happy to be getting it that it overrides what would be only the mildest and over-before-you-know-it prick in any case.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by issybird

Don’t look. You probably won’t even feel it. I think the common reaction is that people are so happy to be getting it that it overrides what would be only the mildest and over-before-you-know-it prick in any case.

I'm definitely happy to get it whenever they'll give it to me.

I have an intense fear/hatred (there's a thin line there) of needles due to receiving extensive therapeutic phlebotomy as a kid, and for the first time in my life I'm ready to run towards a needle. I want it. Twice, if need be.