Who's gotten vaccinated?

[matthew1]

When will that analogy be valid? Five years? Ten? When will we know enough?

We know lots about them. They weren’t made from whole cloth. They came from decades of expensive research and well-understood mechanics.

Should prisoners be eligible for early release due to COVID-19 health concerns if they choose to not get the vaccine in prison where it’s available?

That’s been in the news a few times.

[Sveedy]

Well I don't know how much time it will take. I would think at least five years of human trials.
As to the prisoners; I would say no because they are essentially wards of the state.

I think the general public would have been more believing that science had discovered a cure for cancer than we have been with this virus. This is just a bit too new for some of us. And as I pointed out, many thing we just don't know.
But I did hear today that the antibodies MIGHT last a life time. Now, speaking for myself, that is something to seriously consider.

As the " Dude " would say - " There lots of ins' and outs' here ".

[volvolugnut]

I was initially skeptical that an effective and safe vaccine had been developed. I did not want to be the first wave to receive any of the vaccines. But after waiting about a month after the initial wave of shots were given, and there were no wide spread problems (in my view) I signed up to get any of the vaccines that were next available. I believe the science is good and the FDA review was rigorous.

As they say, the only sure things are death and taxes. The vaccine will help us avoid the first peril. Still about 500 a day in the USA are not avoiding Covid-19 death.

volvolugnut

[RickHaleParker]

I was initially skeptical that an effective and safe vaccine had been developed.

My niece is a micro microbiologist. She had a part in building the vaccine labs in Kazakhstan that did a lot of work on COVID-19. She tells me the reason they got the COVID-19 vaccine out so quick is because most of the work was done before the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Volvo rolls a new model out. You don't need to relearn everything from scratch because they use some of the same subsystems from previous models. Same with virus, most are mutations or variations of something they all ready know. Of course it helps when the whole world is sharing their findings. The power of open development.

[Sveedy]

Either they really don't know as much as some think, or they did a terrible job of communicating the facts to the people.
If they have been working on this for decades then why not tell us that ? Seems like that would have gone a long way toward calming folks fears about this virus and the vaccine. " Don't panic. We have seen this sort of thing before. Been working on it for years. Decades even. We have this covered."
But they didn't. Just a lot of back and forth. Lets try this. Lets try that.
What was the deal with having everything disinfected before you touch it ? Groceries delivered outside your door, then wiped with disinfectant before being brought inside. Closing all public bathrooms ? Being told that going to the beach was dangerous ? I could never figure that one out. People at the beach typically set up their blankets as far away from each other as possible for privacy. It's always been like that. Couple that with sun and salt air / water and it's hard to see that as cause for concern. But shut them down they did. Until they somehow found " new " evidence that the beach really isn't a bad place to be after all. And the guidelines vacillating back and forth by the CDC didn't help. Aerosol droplets 6' away - No make that 60' away. Oh I guess 6' away is okay as long as you don't speak loudly. Doesn't sound like we know that much to me. Sounds more like we're just bumbling along with our fingers crossed.
So something is certainly different, or off, about the whole approach to this particular virus. So which is it ? Idiocy on our part pertaining to how we have communicated or dealt with this, or is it something new that we just don't know quite enough about yet.

However the good news is that the virus does seem to be receding, for what ever reason, one way or the other.
Hopefully next time this will be handled differently.

[matthew1]

Living in Colorado where on clear days up in the mountains you can get a sunburn in well under 10 minutes, I was never even mildly concerned about being outside around people during the height of this. The UV here is brutal, and while I haven't done the math on virus longevity in high UV environments, it doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

[peterr991]

I am waiting when I can get Pfizer.

[RickHaleParker]

Either they really don't know as much as some think, or they did a terrible job of communicating the facts to the people.

Which people? The rational ones OR the ones that reject facts no matter what. As we seen for the last decade or so, trying to enlighten the latter is futile.

[abscate]

Some of the confusion is the conflation of science and public health, two different fields.

Being at the beach might be a safe activity, but getting there is not. You have to make public policy in mind that some fraction will be non-compliant

[abscate]

Should we pay for head injury costs for motorcycle riders who don’t use a helmet?

More developed analogy

Should ask those who choose to drive recklessly, as a libertarian choice, to pay for the damage the cause to others .

We make our best efforts to show efficacy and safety of vaccines under a EUA, but if people don’t want to join in to minimize a perceived personal risk, you can’t expect to be able to rejoin society at the expense of those who do take that risk, to be fair.

It is clear now that the benefit of the vaccine , in aggregate, far exceeds the risk.

People promoting the “ what if you grow a hand out of your head in three years “ fear factor don’t get to play here.