Thursday, March 25, 2021

Just as I was about to step off into the minefield...

 ...looks like I might be getting a mine-plow;

Here's the sad part.

This was a mistake on the part of the Oregon Health Authority.

Despite my age, and my position as the Designated Geezer in a house with two kids in public school, I was not "eligible" per the Oregon vaccination schedule to get my Anti-COVID Armor until late-mid-April. Despite a fair sized chunk of the Oregon public, like the rest of the country, being unwilling to even GET this goddamn shot. Despite the simple epidemiological reality that the single best way to beat this bug is to get as many needles in as many arms as fast as possible...I should have been shit out of luck.

But.

The OHA has, at least, been willing to honor it's fuckup and not shot-block those of us who jumped on the chance to schedule this thing.

So...

8 comments:

Ael said...

Congratulations!

Israeli data shows that chances of getting Covid double in the next week or so after getting a shot. People forget that the vaccine takes two or three weeks to kick in. Make sure to keep wearing that fucking mask.

FDChief said...

Israel is a fucking shitshow (after having started out so promisingly) that seems to have as much to do with people being stupid about public health...but my real motivation isn't not getting the damn thing. It's that the vaccines knock the chance of really severe symptoms and mortality way down.

Given the shockingly large number of people who AREN'T getting these shots I' almost resigned to some fuckstick giving it to me eventually. That's why I want the vaccine; I want to reduce my chances of getting REALLY sick, fatally sick, when said rando dumps a viral load on me.

Ael said...

I got mine a week ago. Total time in the clinic less than half an hour (including waiting 15 minutes to ensure I didn't go into anaphylaxis.

Time well spent.

Still, it does take time to work its way through your immune system.
Don't behave like you are made of steel for at least 3 weeks.

Nestor said...

I'm happy for you Chief and your metaphor is, as always, spot on! Because as the mining plows are being distributed to the front troops and just as the minefields are being cleared, you know there will be some who will declare the mine danger over and start running carefree and dancing through the minefields. And when they invariably and shockingly end up setting off some explosions, you want to be safely tucked inside some armour. (Now what that behavior shows about the troops and their leadership is another issue...)

And to expand, if I may, there will also be the prophets and experts who will convince the rest that the mines are not worse than traditional holes in the ground, or the machine guns covering them no worse than bows, and all they need to do is just wear the right amulets, or run naked or in the correctly shaped dense formation through the minefields and all will be all right. And when these guys start setting off explosions en masse, you really can use that armour.

But to end on a positive note (I get the impression the vaccination story may have shaken your belief in the US system and some of the people): no matter what stupid ideas and practices you see around you and no matter the degree of stupidity, you can take pleasure in that very quickly they will spread through a good deal of the rest of the world, even (or even predominantly) among people who may claim they are wary of US ideas and cultural influence. So the cultural leadership of the US is still going strong! No matter how disappointed, you can always think of the US as a shining beacon, or maybe as a fountain on a hill, having a refreshing influence to the rest of the world below! (now you may feel like commenting on how much the water being sprayed is actually clear fresh water and how much is stale and mixed with urine, but I am trying to look at the positive side :-)

FDChief said...

It's not so much that it "shook my faith" as much as it kind of fit in with all the "holy shit what a fucking mess we are" things that I've been seeing out of my country over the past forty-odd years. I mean...we're not Russia or Somalia, but they have excuses for how they turned out.

We don't.

We should be way better than we are. We have a ridiculous excess of resources and should be distributing them in ways that help make ALL of us richer and better educated and healthier. Instead we're scuttling as fast as we can back to the Gilded Age, one of the worst periods in our history.

And there's the whole "how have we done with climate change" thing, which...brrrr. That's a whole 'nother level of "WTF"...

chris said...

Glad to hear you got your shot! Colin & I got our first shot this week as well. It's spreading like mad here in NY state, especially around college towns - and just wait till the idiots get back from spring break!

Stormcrow said...

Don't be too surprised if you have to get another shot in a year or two.

Our playmate is an RNA virus, which means it's genetically unstable, with a baked-in rate of about 25 mutations per year. It's also an immature human pathogen; it's only been munching down on humans for 18 months or so, so it's still learning its new trade. And the key "spike" protein has been growing out worrisome changes of late.

If one of those mutations both succeeds (i.e. it doesn't gutter out into extinction, which happens more often than not) and slips past vaccine-conferred immunity, we're going to have to re-target our vaccines. Thank all the gods we can now do that PDQ, thanks to mRNA vaccine technology.

But we're in for some uncertainty and maybe for new rounds of shots as well, until this little bastard matures.

Stormcrow said...

Just saw this on Twitter: https://twitter.com/celinegounder/status/1378109617872457732


Might want to check out the article she cites at PubMed: Sensitivity of infectious SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants to neutralizing antibodies.


Long story short: If you're getting Pfizer, make sure you get that second dose. The South African variant, B.1.351, appears to be able to evade vaccine-conferred immunity after only one dose.


I'm up for my first dose of Moderna tomorrow. And absent a Major Pharmacy Fail, you damn betcha I'm going to have that second dose firmly scheduled before I walk out of there!