Seriously thoughtful The NEW Covid Vaccination Poll

[mrscoach]

I'm fully vaccinated, hubby isn't getting any. Why? Because my first shot nearly put me in the hospital. I ran 102 fever, arm swole up like a balloon, lymph nodes enlarged and caused a thick sweat under my arms that smelled like something died two weeks earlier, and my whole body HURT, even my toes. It was the Moderna vaccine and i was in bed 3 days. We know someone else who hav the same thing happen. Luckily my second shot only made me sick for about 1 1/2 days and not as high of a fever. Husband said after seeing my reaction he wasn't going to get vaccinated. I will also NEVER get a booster shot, that is being pushed by pharmaceuticals rather than doctors.
I live in Texas, where only about 1/3 have gotten shots, but our rates of infection are going down. I also don't wear a mask except on rare occasions. I work in a school and we had in-class learning all year and, gasp, no major outbreaks.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Just in my own little world...the majority of people I know personally who have NOT been vaccinated have also had covid. For the ones I've talked to, having covid was their reason for not being vaccinated. Most also had it before the vaccine was released.

My world is pretty small...

Given I don't know anyone who has had covid-19, I guess my world is even smaller

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

We had the first large family get-to-gether in 16-17 months with hubby's side today. His mom turned 91 a few days ago, and was taken out of the nursing home for a week to spend time with family. It was wonderful to see everyone, gathered without masks and group size limits.

Thanks for sharing the joy of having your hubby's mom spend time with you both.

BR

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

His mom turned 91 a few days ago, and was taken out of the nursing home for a week to spend time with family

That is so good to hear. Didn't work out that way for my mom, the covid lockdowns kept her totally isolated from family. I am glad to hear that things are loosening up now and family reunions are going on.

[Almamida]

Just got my second shot. I was eligible to advance my second dose (initially scheduled 4 months after). We’re getting there !

[BetterRed]

COVID-19: UK government negotiating with AstraZeneca to secure South African variant vaccine

I'm too old to have anything but the AZ, so I am hoping they'll have the new brew by August when I'm due for my second dose.

A couple of weeks ago Professor Andrew Pollard (Oxford U vaccinologist) was on Aussie radio spinning his way through the 'South African' variant issue by telling us how effective his brew was against the 'Kent' variant.

He then ducked and dived on the AZ induced clotting issue. He couldn't seem to grasp the fact since our vaccination rollout began in February the number of AZ induced clotting cases was about the same as the number of local covid-19 infections - as well there being one death from AZ TTS and none from covid-19.

It's changed a bit since, Melbourne has gone into its fourth lockdown Ψ³

BR

[haertig]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

since our vaccination rollout began in February the number of AZ induced clotting cases was about the same as the number of local covid-19 infections

Wow. I had not heard that the number of clotting cases was the same as the number of covid cases. The last I read was that clotting was an extremely rare side effect. When did this clotting problem get so big? I don't remember reading anything about it being a problem of that magnitude in the US news (the AZ vaccine is not yet approved for use here). If AZ has really gotten that bad for clotting, I am surprised that they're still giving it to anybody at all. And surprised that anybody would take it. I read several news sources every day (most all are US based though), including far-left and far-right. I have seen nothing of this on any of them. I don't really trust any news source these days, no matter how big and established they are. I guess things like this are one of the reasons why. Wow. That's a terrible track record on clotting.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by haertig

Wow. I had not heard that the number of clotting cases was the same as the number of covid cases. The last I read was that clotting was an extremely rare side effect. When did this clotting problem get so big? I don't remember reading anything about it being a problem of that magnitude in the US news (the AZ vaccine is not yet approved for use here). If AZ has really gotten that bad for clotting, I am surprised that they're still giving it to anybody at all. And surprised that anybody would take it. I read several news sources every day (most all are US based though), including far-left and far-right. I have seen nothing of this on any of them. I don't really trust any news source these days, no matter how big and established they are. I guess things like this are one of the reasons why. Wow. That's a terrible track record on clotting.

It's not that the clotting problem is so big. It's that the number infected with Covid in Australia was so low.

The clotting problem seems to affect maybe 1 in 100,000 (up to 1 in 50,000 in young people, down to 1 in 200,000 in older people), and the problem is fatal in 1 in 5 cases or less.

[haertig]

I thought Australia was doing pretty good. But I can't believe they're doing THAT good ... having a covid case count of 1 in 100,000 (same as reported clot percentage).

USA: Population 348 million, current covid case count 33 million
Infection rate about 10%

Other countries are mostly better than the US, except maybe for India and a few others.

Australia: 1 in 100,000 have covid (same as the reported clot percentage)
Infection rate about 0.001%

I don't have any data to dispute that, but it doesn't feel like a realistic number. It will be great when we do get to that point however.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by haertig

I thought Australia was doing pretty good. But I can't believe they're doing THAT good ... having a covid case count of 1 in 100,000 (same as reported clot percentage).

USA: Population 348 million, current covid case count 33 million
Infection rate about 10%

Other countries are mostly better than the US, except maybe for India and a few others.

Australia: 1 in 100,000 have covid (same as the reported clot percentage)
Infection rate about 0.001%

I don't have any data to dispute that, but it doesn't feel like a realistic number. It will be great when we do get to that point however.

Australia managed to essentially eliminate Covid through restrictions and quarantine. They have recorded just 30,150 cases, and 910 deaths. There are just 122 active cases in Australia at the moment.

https://www.worldometers.info/corona...try/australia/

[haertig]

That is amazing. They really are doing that good. Kudos to Australia!

I do hope that they all get vaccinated though. With that low of a total covid case count thus far, if they lose focus on quarantining and lockdowning for one instant, covid could sneak in and burn through like a wildfire. And they will have to open up at some time. But it looks like they may indeed have made it past the critical point to where vaccines are readily available. More than anybody, they need a successful vaccination program.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Australia managed to essentially eliminate Covid through restrictions and quarantine.

Mainly eliminated via restricting who can cross borders (external and internal), and putting those that do into police managed quarantine detention for a couple of weeks.

There was a national lockdown for a few weeks in March/April 2020, but prolonged state/city wide restrictions have only been necessary in Victoria. Some states impose 3-5 day widespread lockdowns when there's a local case, but experts are divided whether they achieve anything other than to 'send a message'.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

They have recorded just 30,150 cases, and 910 deaths. There are just 122 active cases in Australia at the moment.

57 of the 122 active cases are in quarantine detention, there's 1 local case in West Australia, the other 64 are in Victoria.

BR

[haertig]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Mainly eliminated via restricting who can cross borders (external and internal), and putting those that do into police managed quarantine detention for a couple of weeks.

Are the great majority of Australians getting vaccinated? Do you have any choice in that matter? Are vaccines in good supply or are there shortages? Do you know, does Australia manufacture any vaccines or all they imported?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by haertig

That is amazing. They really are doing that good. Kudos to Australia!

I do hope that they all get vaccinated though. With that low of a total covid case count thus far, if they lose focus on quarantining and lockdowning for one instant, covid could sneak in and burn through like a wildfire. And they will have to open up at some time. But it looks like they may indeed have made it past the critical point to where vaccines are readily available. More than anybody, they need a successful vaccination program.

https://covidlive.com.au/

Originally Posted by haertig

Are the great majority of Australians getting vaccinated? Do you have any choice in that matter? Are vaccines in good supply or are there shortages? Do you know, does Australia manufacture any vaccines or all they imported?

Vaccines are not readily available in most of the world, they're being hoarded by the US, UK, EU, Canada etc. Countries that have used non pharmaceutical measures to control the pandemic (e.g. Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand) have not been able to get vaccines - particularly the mRNA vaccines.

When the EU seized a shipment destined for Australia (because the unelected Italian PM said we didn't need it), our PM wrote to the EU Commission President requesting the vaccines we had ordered be sent to Papua New Guinea instead -- AZ/EU have refused. We've given some vaccines to PNG, and through Covax they have received some more ---- from INDIA.

In mid 2020 Australia's long established vaccine manufacturer (CSL Limited), secured a license to manufacture the AZ vaccine here. The federal government promoted as 'our ace in the hole' as it meant we wouldn't be as dependent on overseas supplies.

When the AZ clotting issue arose the federal government tried to pivot away from its 'ace in the hole' by recommending that under 50s wait for the Pfizer vaccine. This has been widely interpreted in the MSM as 'people under 50 must not get the AZ vaccine, and people over 49 must get the AZ vaccine'. Consequently all the recent cases of clotting are in people older than 50 <sigh>.

BR

[Almamida]

You’re rewriting what happened.
Europe has been regularly exporting its vaccine production, since the beginning.
When the Italian PM requested to block exportation to Australia, Europe agreed as other countries were definitely in urgent need of vaccine while the Australian situation was largely under control.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Vaccines are not readily available in most of the world, they're being hoarded by the US, UK, EU, Canada etc.

That's the problem with globalization. When things are good, globalization works. When things are bad, globalization sucks. You can't realistically expect one country that needs their own production for their citizens to give it to some other country.

It sounds like if Australia can manufacture their own AZ, and is having trouble importing other vaccines, then AZ should be offered to everyone. The clotting issue is evidently a rare thing. At least Australia has the ability to manufacture one of the vaccines. That's better than a lot of countries.

It is bad that Australia has done so well in controlling covid through lockdowns, that now they may be having trouble getting vaccines because other countries are saying "you don't need it as much as we do". That may be true ... for the moment. But if covid makes its way into Australia in quantity, circumventing the lockdowns, Australia is like a bundle of dry grass waiting to explode into fire. Similar to what happened to India.

There are several countries that are in this situation (limited access to vaccines) that I knew about. But Australia, as large as it is, is not one I was aware of. It was only recently that I became aware that Canada was in the same situation, although it seems things are improving markedly there. I hope Australia will improve soon as well.