SARS II: Respiratory Boogaloo

I take Amlodipine, Lisinopril, and a shit-ton of Metoprolol and experience zero side effects. I'm a machine!

A terrible, broken machine.

Goddamn. I am both impressed and saddened at the same time.

J&J vaccine likely to be approved by the weekend. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/02/24/johnson-and-johnson-vaccine/

I've got an appointment at Kaiser Permanente for the Moderna vacc on 03/14. I'm not expecting a problem with the first dose (I get a flu shot every year, and the worst symptom is soreness at the injection site a couple of hours later), but I hear mixed reviews on the second dose (mild fever, headache, muscle aches). Still better than the alternative, though.

I'm hoping the pending approval of Johnson & Johnson will advance my schedule. Right now, there's no official word when those of us under 65 in "non-essential" roles will be included.

59% of Americans say that teachers should be vaccinated before schools reopen. It's a long article, so I'll just quote this snippet.

My brother got an appointment for Friday afternoon. He had a previous one set for March 5 at a different location. He will cancel the March 5 appointment after he gets the shot on Friday. We think what happened was that shipment's delayed by last week's weather combined with this week's shipments to create more openings than usual. It's an ill wind and all that...I'm still hoping I'll get mine in March...Pfizer, Moderna, J&J whatever, just shoot me!

What I like about the J &J vaccination is it's a "one and done" shot. No worries about the second shot not being available within the optimal time window. That said I am way down the priority list no matter which product becomes available.

So I had my second shot a week ago... when am I supposed to get my FEMA death camps and/or teh autism?

I can find you via 5G now!

And when 6G comes out, you'll be able to detonate him remotely!

Ah, sweet, sweet release from retail!

Lemme guess, the "corporations can do whatever they want!!" GOP is suddenly up in arms about that exact thing happening?

Hey, you're a retired vet? I bet you could probably get a shot through the VA. You live in GA and most people believe it's a hoax anyway, so I imagine the VA will be giving those shots to anyone who wants one.

dude, OF, this is a good idea!

But, it doesn't have to be. The entirety of the article should be "Well, duh!"

Did you have any side effects? Starting about 18 hours after my second dose, I developed all the symptoms of the flu (fever, body aches, etc) without any respiratory symptoms. It shut me down for about 36 hours but then I was fine. I'd still recommend anyone and everyone getting the vaccine. 36 hours in bed is far better than COVID.

Outside of a sore shoulder, nothing of note. I still enjoyed plenty of rest, as I had the next day off work anyway.

Well, the VA is socialized medical care and we know how OF feels about socialism....

Fix yer damn quote tag attributions

Oh, this is a big help.

I will add that there's some preliminary studies that indicate the J&J vaccine has increased effectiveness if a second dose is given.

I don't understand why nursing home deaths fell so immediately. They don't lead other deaths anywhere else on that graph. Was the vaccine given to residents who had an active infection, and did that help ward off death? The second graph in the article makes more sense as you'd expect the effect on infections to be more immediate. Still, it's surprising that there was no lag *at all* between the beginning of the rollout and the decline in new cases... I'd have expected a few days (and a couple weeks for deaths), but maybe nursing home residents are tested more frequently than I think.

I suppose you could call the VA socialized, but it is a perk that is part of our job benefits package that we signed up for or were drafted for with the old timers.

a second dose? Bait & switch dammit!

It is exactly what is meant by socialized medicine, a benefit provided by the government to its citizens, just as Medicare and Medicaid are. The mythology that socialized medicine means "Gubmint gets to assign your doctors!!!" is one of the principal stumbling blocks to an expansion to all citizens that would enable competitive pharma pricing and eliminate a shit-ton of paperwork, not to mention the private insurers' arbitrary caps and refusal to cover certain expenses no matter how high your premiums.

The fact that it works in every industrialized nation except the U.S. suggests that those opposing it are either ignorant, mendacious, in the pocket of the insurers, or all of the above.

I have an aunt who is 99-years-old and she lives in a very expensive nursing home that is basically a cross between a college dorm and a hospital. Even before COVID hit they were big on restricting access and keeping things clean. Since it hit, they've basically been on total lockdown, with people only being able to visit their loved ones on rare occasions (like once a month), and even then, everyone had to be outside, masked, and over 6 feet apart. They still had people contract the disease. I'm guessing that it was staff members not taking the necessary precautions outside of work that led to the cases.

So, it might be that by getting the residents (and presumably the staff) vaccinated, you immediately broke the chain of infection. There's some evidence that getting the vaccine even after you've been infected can help you ward off the disease. And who knows how many of the staff might have been asymptomatic carriers of the disease?