COVID VACCINE - The Megathread

Would you get the Pfizer vaccine if it were available to you?


  • Total voters
    77

DrParasite

The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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Is being abrasive just your online persona, or is this how you conduct yourself IRL?
a little from column A, and a little from column B, and then there is column c (tone is hard to pick up when read over the internet)... I'm just done with all of the panic and fear-mongering for everything related to COVID. Between all of the misinformation, the politically slanted information, the conflicting information from various levels of government, the half-truths and mostly lies (from both sides of the aisle), and all the BS that is found on social media, I'm just over it all. People will get sick (like happens all the time), so, while I do feel bad that you know three people that got sick, I don't the general public should be doing lifestyle changes as a result. I am a very compassionate person when deal with people who get sick and injured; however, my level of compassion drops significantly when the reason I was called was avoidable, or when you try to make a huge mountain out of an email (not saying you were trying to do that)
Anyhow, I essentially agree with the rest of your post. We simply cannot shut down again for delta. As a matter of fact, I’m going on a cruise in a few weeks, and I’m not in the slightest bit worried.
Enjoy the cruise, and I hope everyone who is attending is vaccinated (and if they don't, then I have little sympathy if they get sick, because most of what they will experience could have been avoided).
 

Akulahawk

EMT-P/ED RN
Community Leader
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Now they're gonna cancel deer season.
Nah... they'll just make the deer all wear masks...

On a more serious note, while I'm not surprised, it would be interesting to see if they could find actual CV in the wild, sequence it, and see what variant it is and perhaps figure out where/how CV spread to them or even if it's causing significant disease in the deer herd.
 

Fezman92

NJ and PA EMT
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Hasn't it spread to other animals as well? I seem to recall hearing that dogs and lions can get it.
 

GMCmedic

Forum Deputy Chief
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Hasn't it spread to other animals as well? I seem to recall hearing that dogs and lions can get it.
Yes but to this point we've only known of animals that have regular contact with humans (pets, captive zoo animals, farm animals). This is interesting because it's wild animals across multiple states.
 

PotatoMedic

Has no idea what I'm doing.
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Denmark I think killed off all their mink because of it.
 

GMCmedic

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Nah... they'll just make the deer all wear masks...

On a more serious note, while I'm not surprised, it would be interesting to see if they could find actual CV in the wild, sequence it, and see what variant it is and perhaps figure out where/how CV spread to them or even if it's causing significant disease in the deer herd.
I gathered from the article that they didn't suspect serious illness. I know our state DNR does CWD sampling and investigates suspected EHD cases. I wonder if they'll take blood samples for covid testing now also.

I think it certainly requires further investigating, this could potentially be very bad for wildlife.
 

ffemt8978

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Have there been any talks of medical providers receiving "booster" shots?
The FDA is expected to announce a booster shot for the those with compromised immune systems.


A few interesting take aways from the article: it does not apply to J&J vaccine; it will be authorized by a change to the EUA (since the vaccines have not received full FDA approval), and the WHO has called for a moratorium on booster shots except those that are "necessary" for people with immune deficiencies.
 

Summit

Critical Crazy
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The WHO wants vaccine shipped to poor countries instead of used as boosters. Great, that is the job of the WHO to advocate for. But that isn't happening. I'd rather use the vaccines we have to boost higher risk folks here than see it expire.
 
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GMCmedic

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We have by far provided the most funding for vaccine research that most of the world is now benefitting from. I'm going to take the selfish route and say we should do with it as we please before sending anymore off.
 

Summit

Critical Crazy
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We have by far provided the most funding for vaccine research that most of the world is now benefitting from. I'm going to take the selfish route and say we should do with it as we please before sending anymore off.
I don't disagree, however, as long as we first protect our hospital capacity and economy, whatever reduces total global infections the fastest will reduce opportunity for new variant creation.
 

FlorianFred

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I'm one of the vaccinated who ended up getting COVID. You'll find my vaccination postings earlier in this thread -- 1st Moderna shot was late December and 2nd was late January. I live in a state with a low vaccination rate, and my county has one of the lowest vaccination rates (34%). It's a county with an all volunteer fire service, and the last numbers I saw were less than 10% of the firefighters were vaccinated (at least as of last month....it's probably gone up by now). I run medical calls (although a paid service does the real work), and I'm never without my PPE (which includes my mask). But I will admit that around June I stopped wearing my mask inside the fire station and during our meetings and trainings -- in retrospect it was foolish to do, but I got tired of being the only one with a mask....totally my fault and a dumb reason to put yourself at risk, I know. I never stopped wearing it on calls or when shopping, but my wife and I did start going out to eat (maybe once a week), and we started getting lax about wearing it in a restaurant while not eating. In my neck of the woods, you rarely see a mask, even now. It is very much considered a "political statement" around here, those who wear the mask believe the left-wing propaganda and liberal media.

In early July I caught some kind of vicious summer cold -- runny nose, sinus headache, lots of drainage, then after thinking it was gone (about a week after the symptoms), I caught it again (or it never left), by July 20th I felt like I had gotten over it and was "catching it" again. I woke up in the middle of the night sweating, nauseous, and the room spinning. After vomiting, I felt better, but I noticed that I couldn't smell anything....nothing. All the other aforementioned symptoms resolved in about 4 hours, but the anosmia remained. I tried smelling bleach, vinegar, fresh cut herbs....it was like a weird parlor game with my wife thrusting something overly fragrant items in my face and saying, "can you smell this?". Had I not experienced that symptom, I really wouldn't have gotten tested....if I did have a fever it broke fast, I wasn't having respiratory symptoms, but COVID seemed to be the logical culprit of my anosmia. I got tested and was positive. Aside from one REALLY unpleasant night, and loss of smell, I'm feeling fortunate that this is a mild case. I'm starting to get some sense of smell back -- it left quickly, but it returns slowly....or so I'm told. I may have gotten a mild case prior to the vaccination, but I'm giving most of the credit to the vaccine.

I'm back in the field, and given the low vaccination rates, we've seen a dramatic increase in our hospitalizations. It's anecdotal, but I know 2 people on respirators -- one was vaccinated (same time as me, one of the few firefighters, albeit retired) and 1 who did not take the vaccine. If there is a booster, I will take it.
 
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Jim37F

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So the City&County just made an announcement that the vaccine is being made mandatory for all employees, get it, or go get tested weekly. Or be layed off.

They announced that like not even two weeks before the deadline. And there's no pre arranged testing for employees beyond going and paying out of pocket for each test.

Needless to say basically every Union and other entity are filing lawsuits as fast as they can fill out the forms, and it's all a big kerfuffle.

Now me, I'm pro vaccine, got vaxxed back in December about as early as possible and think everyone whose at least healthcare/1st responder should be 100%.... and I have absolutely no support whatsoever for this mandate, especially the way its been implemented as an out of the blue "get it or get lost, now" type deal.

4 of the guys on my crew are vaccinated, the 5th guy is not. To paraphrase his own words, he's not anti-vaxx, but doesn't like that the vaccines are still experimental and not officially fully FDA approved. While based on the data available I'm fully convinced he should go, but I also support his right to not be forced to get what is still legally an experimental treatment or risk losing his job.

Supposedly the FDA is about to officially approve the vaccine, at least that's the word that's spreading here, but for the moment, it's not yet. And that I think is all the difference.

If the mandate came out after full approval, I might easily be singing a different tune, especially if they had a proper grace period to get it (2 weeks to be fully vaccinated when you have to wait 3-4 weeks in between the two shots, then it's another 2 weeks for it to be fully effective?)

If the vaccine full approval is just waiting on admin issues, paperwork and what not, why not just wait for it to be done? Say "Hey, we fully expect the FDA to approve this soon, and once it's approved we will make it mandatory, so just heads up, should really start looking into getting your shots now"

Otherwise I do think mandates at this stage are too much of a government overreach (even though I am fully vaxxed and quite frankly feel a bit of relief about that)

Of course the people that are convinced it's poison will still be protesting once all approvals are done and finalized and I'll just say I'm so glad people weren't treating Polio or Smallpox vaccines like that....
 

Akulahawk

EMT-P/ED RN
Community Leader
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I'm also someone that was fully vaccinated that got COVID. In a way, I'm just not all that surprised. The antibodies that my body developed as a result of the 2 shots did wane as expected. That being said, the cellular side of this did remain. This part is why most vaccinated people that do get COVID do not develop severe disease. It's because their bodies "remember" the antigen and begin producing antibodies again and also start working on clearing the virus from the body.

My symptoms are pretty similar. I had a headache for a couple days (very minor headache), a runny nose, and a very mild sore throat. That's literally it as far as my initial symptoms are concerned. It was ever-so-slightly more than a nuisance that made me get tested on the 6th, and I was positive. I'm now about a week into it and my symptoms are nearly gone. I did develop anosmia about a day or so after the positive test but that's starting to return.

Now then, I did follow the FDA-recommended schedule for vaccination. The Israelis have some data showing immunity does decrease pretty sharply about 4-5 months after that 2nd shot on that particular schedule. The UK ended up delaying their 2nd shot for several weeks (10 weeks or so) so they're showing a longer period of antibody activity. In either case, the vast majority of vaccinated people, regardless of which schedule they were on, are NOT being admitted to the hospital because their disease severity is quite mild... just like my case. My wife also has a very similar disease progression and she is now just about ready to go back to work, assuming she tests "negative" in the next day or so.

At this point, aside from having a slightly stuffy nose and an improving anosmia, I actually feel pretty darned good!
 

Fezman92

NJ and PA EMT
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Of course the people that are convinced it's poison will still be protesting once all approvals are done and finalized and I'll just say I'm so glad people weren't treating Polio or Smallpox vaccines like that....
Actually they were: at least with smallpox
 

akflightmedic

Forum Deputy Chief
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Yesterday, in my state (Maine), the Governor and State CDC have now mandated ALL Healthcare workers, Dental Workers, EMS workers, anyone in the medical field...MUST get the vaccine series by October 1st. No shot, no work. End of story.

There is NO religious exemption. They will entertain medical exemptions only...and as we know, there are actual very few reasons medically why one should not get the vaccine.

They expressed it clearly. Get the shot or do not work.

Also, as of yesterday, a very small EMS dept I work for now has 4 Covid+ employees...our department was 100% vaccinated (myself included). Their symptoms are mild, they are at home doing fine. I cannot say how they would be if they were not vaccinated, but science suggests they would be far worse.

In my ER patient population, covid is ripping through our area again. We had just started moving supplies back in the rooms and relaxing certain precautions. Now it is back to full caution...bleh.
 

DrParasite

The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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Supposedly the FDA is about to officially approve the vaccine, at least that's the word that's spreading here, but for the moment, it's not yet. And that I think is all the difference.
<snip>
If the vaccine full approval is just waiting on admin issues, paperwork and what not, why not just wait for it to be done? Say "Hey, we fully expect the FDA to approve this soon, and once it's approved we will make it mandatory, so just heads up, should really start looking into getting your shots now"
is it just the FDA formal stamp of approval and he will get it? because that sounds like a bureaucratic rubber stamp, and it won't change anything, other than allowing some people to get a warm and fuzzy feeling when they get the shot. The EUA was given (and @Carlos Danger explained that testing had been done), and it's been administered to millions of people (myself included, back in Jan/Feb).... does anyone really think the FDA won't be giving its full blessing on the vaccine?

While I understand the concern, I think using the whole "FDA hasn't approved it" is just an excuse, and once the FDA does approve it, they (those who don't want the vaccine) will find something else to say as the reason why they don't want it.
 

EpiEMS

Forum Deputy Chief
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is it just the FDA formal stamp of approval and he will get it? because that sounds like a bureaucratic rubber stamp, and it won't change anything, other than allowing some people to get a warm and fuzzy feeling when they get the shot. The EUA was given (and @Carlos Danger explained that testing had been done), and it's been administered to millions of people (myself included, back in Jan/Feb).... does anyone really think the FDA won't be giving its full blessing on the vaccine?

While I understand the concern, I think using the whole "FDA hasn't approved it" is just an excuse, and once the FDA does approve it, they (those who don't want the vaccine) will find something else to say as the reason why they don't want it.

It’s been a facile excuse from the beginning. That said, maybe for a subset of a portion of the people that don’t want the vaccine, it might make a difference - so the rubber stamp ought to be put to paper!
 

Summit

Critical Crazy
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Here is my solution to the vaccine hesitancy issue:
1. Fedgov stops paying for COVID-19 hospital costs in unvaccinated.
2. Insurance companies can charge based on vaccine status.
3. Employers are protected from liability related to vaccine mandates including against state or local government restriction.

Everyone will be vaccinated by the end of the year.
 
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