This guy & Bill Maher should get together & discuss why the media can’t be more positive about a pandemic that’s killed 3M people globally.
Finally! Yes ! Why aren’t we focused more on all the positives of a global pandemic? Obviously it was to hurt Trump.
I saw a person post on fb yesterday that the virus was invented to ensure Trump did not win reelection.
The whole world conspired without the knowledge of the Trump admin. That’s how good they are. And 3mm were sacrificed for it. Just to beat Trump, he was that dangerous to the elites.
It really is crazy/scary to think that there are many people out there who take that for fact.
Don’t worry, plenty of US red states are starting to have difficulty finding people willing to vaccinate once they hit around 40% of the population , with supplies starting to pile up. While Canada institutes new precautions and the US opens everything up with guns blazing, we will have no problem passing Canada again in the covid race.
Fun fact, the US vaccinated population had more cases than Australia’s unvaccinated population. Over the last few months the US had 5800 vaccinated cases amount the 66M vaccinated while Australia had a couple hundred domestic cases among its 26M population.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,764
Amid hesitancy, Louisiana gets creative in vaccine outreach
By MELINDA DESLATTE
16 Apr 2021
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Brass bands playing at a 24-hour drive-thru coronavirus vaccine event. Doses delivered to commercial fishermen minutes from the docks. Pop-up immunization clinics at a Buddhist temple, homeless shelters, truck stops and casinos, with shots available at night or on weekends.
And now, door-to-door outreach getting underway in neighborhoods where few people have gotten vaccinated.
Louisiana is making a full-court press to get shots in arms, with aggressive — and sometimes creative — outreach to make it as easy as possible to get vaccinated. The effort comes as vaccine supplies are surging but demand is not.
The state has enlisted health care workers, colleges, community groups and church pastors to help cajole the hesitant and set up vaccination events. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has thrown open vaccine access to anyone age 16 or older. The health department has launched a call center to answer vaccine questions and set up appointments for those without internet access or limited tech skills.
Civic organizations and faith-based groups working with the state have started using get-out-the-vote tactics, knocking on doors and making phone calls, to pitch the vaccine.
But even with widespread ease of access, Louisiana officials struggle with a problem almost as vexing as COVID-19 itself: How to persuade those who are iffy about the shot to roll up their sleeves.
“I, quite frankly, don’t know what folks are waiting for. It just doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m going to continue to appeal to them,” Edwards said.
Health officials anticipate a difficult time reaching the threshold scientists believe is needed to stop uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, a benchmark of 70% or higher of the population having immunity either through vaccination or past infection. The problem has taken on particular urgency as more virulent and contagious virus strains reach the United States.
State surveys indicate 40% or more of Louisiana residents are hesitant about getting the vaccine or entirely unwilling to do so. And while Louisiana is administering doses at rates greater than some other Southern states, it remains among the bottom six in vaccinating adults 18 and older, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other states also are trying novel approaches, either because they've seen noticeable dips in vaccine interest or have concerns about equitable access. Even with the resistance, the United States has shown remarkable progress: As of Friday, more than 200 million doses have been administered to Americans, and nearly half of American adults have received at least one dose.
Alaska's health department is weighing creating vaccine clinics in airports. Ohio's health agency asked vaccine providers to develop sites near bus stops and to consider offering mobile immunization services. In Connecticut, the health department launched an effort to call residents directly to schedule appointments. Mississippi is working with local organizations to bring vaccinations directly to homebound elderly people. Alabama's health agency surveyed vaccine reluctance to determine how it should craft messaging to appeal to the hesitant.
Dr. Catherine O’Neal, chief medical officer of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Louisiana's capital, Baton Rouge, said she’s hearing from people who believe vaccine misinformation from social media, but also from those who simply don’t have a sense of urgency about getting a shot. Others worry about side effects.
“We have enough vaccine. ... If you want an appointment, you can get it within a week,” O'Neal said. But for many “there’s no driving force on when they’ll get it.”
Nearly 31% of the state’s population has received at least one dose of a vaccine that can require two doses, according to state data. More than 22% have been fully immunized.
Shane Pizani, a former Marine who lives in a New Orleans suburb, contracted COVID-19 shortly after Thanksgiving, with lingering symptoms for more than a month. Still, he was jittery about the vaccine.
To alleviate his worries, he did research and discussed it with his doctor, gaining information he said put him more at ease. When he got his first shot in mid-February, he had a panic attack.
Still, he got the second dose and then went to work to persuade his mom — who repeated anti-vaccine conspiracy theories she saw on social media.
“I just kept on, kept on, kept on. I told her, ‘We’re going to stop coming around with the kids, because I cannot live with myself if I gave you COVID and something happened to you,’” Pizani said. “So, she finally went and got her appointment.”
Kerri Tobin, an education professor at Louisiana State University, initially worried the vaccine came together too quickly to be safe. Then, she watched as more friends in the health care industry and others she trusted posted on social media about receiving their doses.
“I see someone else doing it and they are OK. And that keeps happening,” she said.
Tobin received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the end of March.
Health officials believe that sort of word-of-mouth among friends and family will help boost vaccinations.
Surveys show those who are reticent or don't want the vaccine cross racial groups and regions. A recent LSU survey showed greater uninterest from Republicans than Democrats. State officials have particular concern about southwest Louisiana, where people are struggling with recovery from back-to-back hurricanes and appear less focused on the pandemic.
In each instance, Louisiana's health department and state officials are trying to find a persuasive approach. For example, data shows Black people have gotten vaccinated at lower rates so the state reached out to African American pastors and is hosting immunization events at their churches. The state's historically Black college system is doing its own targeted outreach enlisting alumni, and faith-based and social organizations to encourage people to get vaccinated.
Some parishes have started delivering vaccines to seniors who are disabled at home and worked out deals with rideshare services to offer free transportation to vaccination events.
Such vaccine outreach may be further complicated by this week's pause of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine after reports of rare blood clots in six women who received it. Experts say it's too early to tell whether that will increase reluctance in Louisiana and elsewhere.
Mike Bayham, secretary of the Republican Party of Louisiana, had a rough battle with COVID-19 in March 2020. He was bedridden for a week and dealing with symptoms for weeks longer.
He's now received his first shot — and he's encouraging fellow Republicans to do the same. Bayham tells friends and colleagues the vaccine is one of the greatest achievements of Donald Trump's presidency, and he shares details of what it feels like to have COVID-19.
“You don't want this virus. Whatever the vaccine can do to you, the virus is far worse,” Bayham said.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Sounds to me that the US should set a deadline to say all those who want the vaccine have until X date, a date in the future where it’d be possible to vaccinate everyone currently unvaccinated, and after that we’re sharing a larger and larger percentage of vaccine with our neighbors to the north and south and eventually the rest of the world in need. Shit or get the fuck off the pot. Bunch of Whiney ass spoiled fucking brats. Want to be “responsible?” Live, or die, by your choice.
One
listing offered eBay customers an “Authentic CDC Vaccination Record
Card” for $10.99. Another promised the same but for $9.49. A third was
more oblique, offering a “Clear Pouch For CDC Vaccination Record Card”
for $8.99, but customers instead received a blank vaccination card (and
no pouch).
All three listings were posted by the same eBay user, who goes by “asianjackson” — usingan
account registered to a man who works as a pharmacist in the Chicago
area — and all were illegal, federal regulators say. The account sold
more than 100 blank vaccinationcards in the past two weeks, according to The Washington Post’s review of purchases linked to it.
The listings are a “perfect example” of burgeoning scams involvingcoronavirus
vaccination cards that could undermine people’s safety, as well as the
success of the nation’s largest mass vaccination effort, said North
Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein. Individuals might use them to
misrepresent their vaccination status at school, work or in various
living and travel situations, potentially exposing others to risk.
Stein, who led a recent effort with 47 colleagues demanding that eBay and other e-commerce platforms crack down on the scams,pointed to the FBI’s warning that anyone who makes or buys a fake vaccine card is breaking the law, and said he would consider prosecution, too.
“This
is a concern that is national and bipartisan,” Stein added, saying the
spread of fake vaccination cards “will extend the pandemic, resulting in
more people sick and more people dead.”
To
some, carrying a card to verify you've had a vaccination seems like a
foreign concept. But vaccine cards, or yellow cards, have been used for
decades. (Allie Caren/The Washington Post)
At least 129.5 million Americans have gotten at least one or both doses
of a coronavirus vaccine and have received a free proof-of-vaccination
card with the logo of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as
officials push to inoculate the nation. But that vaccination drive has
pitted people like asianjackson, selling blank or fake credentials,
against law enforcement officials rushing to stop them — and warning
that the full scope of the problem is impossible to grasp.
The
clash has escalated as businesses and universities say they’ll require
proof of vaccination before allowing Americans to board cruises, enter
some stores and even return to college classes, prompting some
vaccine-hesitant people to search for false IDs or make their own. And
the showdown is unfolding amid a bitter national debate about whether
Americans should have digital “vaccine passports” instead of paper
cards, and whether the government should be involved in credentialing
such efforts.
For months, officials have been a step behind thescammers, who have openly discussed strategies to fake the cards
on social media, sold them on sites such as eBay and pulled blank
photos off state websites. Federal officials’ decision to use paper
cards that can be easily photocopied or even printed off a template,
rather than a digital tracking system, worsened those risks.
“This
is exactly the scenario that you want to guard against. It undermines
the entire effort by having falsified cards out there,” said Jennifer
Kates, who oversees global health policy for the Kaiser Family
Foundation and reviewed asianjackson’s eBay listings. “It certainly
bolsters the argument for a digitized mechanism — which isn’t a
tamper-proof system, but certainly a more secure one.”
“Paper anything is ripe for fraud,” saidNenette
Day, an assistant special agent in charge at the Department of Health
and Human Services’ inspector general’s office who oversees
whistleblower tips. Day said she has reviewed dozens of reported
vaccination-card scams that range from Americans stealing blank cards to
sharing tips on how to fake a card on social media. She describedthe
trend as among the most frustrating chapters in a 20-year career that
included responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as an FBI agent.
“I
feel like nobody has taken this to its natural conclusion,” Day said,
hypothesizing about a scenario where an unvaccinated person could
illegally create a vaccination card and pretend to be immunized, using
that toenter a high-risk environment such as a nursing home, then unknowingly spread the virus, potentiallyresulting
in someone’s death. “It disturbs me, having been in law enforcement
this long, this flippant attitude that people have.”
While
e-commerce platforms cracked down on listings after recent news
reports, there are already signs that the supply of the cards is
bouncing back, said Saoud Khalifah, chief executive of Fakespot, a
company that specializes in rooting out online fraud and that began
tracking fake vaccine cards in February.
“We’ve
seen ads on Facebook and TikTok and other social platforms being used
to target these anti-vaxxers,” Khalifah said. “There’s demand from
people who don’t want to get vaccinated, but also people who think they
can use the cards to skip the line [and] say, ‘Hey, I got dose one, can I
get dose two?’ ”
Easy-to-copy cards
Some
federal officials involved in the vaccine drive said that last summer,
they had initially discussed using digital systems to track the vaccine
push and to help Americans manage getting shots. CDC officials believed
they could harnessthe nation’s dozens of immunization information systems, which track shots administeredby providers within a specific geographic area.
“IT/data infrastructure supports entire distribution, ordering, tracking process from end-to-end,” according to a July slide deck
about the CDC’s planned vaccine rollout that was obtained by The
Washington Post. The slide deck made no mention of using paper cards.
A
CDC letter sent the following week, also obtained by The Post,
similarly touted using IT systems to manage the vaccine rollout,
including “record-keeping for the vaccine recipient,” with no mention of
paper cards.
Pamela
Schweitzer, a retired assistant surgeon general who helped with the
coronavirus response last year, said that she and her colleagues were
aware in June that the CDC was focusing on a “comprehensive IT
infrastructure” to help Americans track their vaccinations before opting
for paper cards as a fallback later in the year.
A
former administration official closely involved in the vaccine effort
who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations
confirmed initial plans for “a digital system with digital reminders
about when to get your shot, like, ‘Your library book is due in five
days.’ ” But technical setbacks and time pressure forced the
administration to rely instead on paper cards, which the CDC had
positioned as a “fail-safe,” the official said.
“If
there had been a vaccine during the 1918 flu pandemic, you could
probably have used the same exact card — just with different logos at
the top,” the official said, adding that the paper cards, which are
passed around in health settings and potentially handled by sick
patients, were not ideal for curbing safety risks. “It’s a hard, tactile
object in the middle of the pandemic. It’s a pretty gross thing to
have.”
Paul
Mango, a former Trump administration official who helped oversee
Operation Warp Speed, the administration’s vaccine accelerator,
acknowledged that “there were many complexities, technical and
otherwise, associated with digital vaccination tracking, so for exigency
purposes, we fell back on vaccination cards.”
While
state and local immunization registries do store individual coronavirus
vaccination data, officials said there’s no current system that would
allow businesses, schools and other organizations to easily check the
databases to see if a visitor was presenting a falsified paper card.
HHS
did not respond to questions about health officials’ decision to opt
for paper cards and whether that increased the risk of scams. An HHS
spokesperson pointed to an October playbook
that instructed accredited vaccinators to provide “a completed COVID-19
vaccination record card to every vaccine recipient/parent/legal
representative.”
Private-sector organizations, including pharmacies such as Walmart and Walgreens, have recently mounted a push for using digital “vaccine passports” for Americans to prove they’ve gotten shots, arguing suchsystems
would better track vaccinations and protect against fraud. But federal
officials have struggled to corral the initiatives and adopt a
standardized approach, particularly as the issue has become politicized in recent weeks.
Even
as public health officials warn about the risk of fraud, some states
have inadvertently boosted it. The Post identified several states,
including Tennessee and Texas, that posted blank card templates to their
health department websites among their coronavirus-related resources.
Some social media users have boasted that they had printed the documents
to producetheir own fake cards.
Day,
the official at the HHS’s inspector general’s office, recounted an
explosion of whistleblower tips related to vaccination card scams in the
past month. “On any given day, it’s 40 to 50 percent of our
covid-related complaints,” she said.
One
report was about a woman who worked in a vaccination clinic and gave a
blank card to her boyfriend. The boyfriend then detailed on social media
how he had filled in the card himself and bragged about the
accomplishment, Day said.
Schweitzer,
who has volunteered at multiple vaccination clinics across Arizona,
compared the abundance of blank vaccination cards at those sites to
doctors not protecting their prescription pads.
“There’s limited control over these cards,” she said. “They’re all over the place. It’s pretty easy to get a stack.”
Asianjackson
— the eBay account maintained by a man who works at a Chicago-area
location of a national pharmacy chain — sold at least 110 blank
vaccination cards through eBay, including 50 cards alone on April 11,
according to a Post review. The Post obtained one of those cards, which
was identical to the CDC vaccination cards dispensed by pharmacies, and
sent from a Zip code in the greater Chicago area.
Law
enforcement officials said they are alarmed by the possibility that
eBay users such as asianjackson are taking blank cards from pharmacies
or other health-care facilities where they work.
“That’s
very troubling,” said Stein, the North Carolina attorney general.
“That’s an instance where it’s an actually authentic card but illegally
acquired and sold.”
When contacted by The Post through the full name offered on the eBaysales
receipt, the man who uses the “asianjackson” account confirmed he lives
in the Chicago area and works in a pharmacy, and listed other items
sold through the account, such as empty boxes from luxury-goods
retailers like Hermès and Chanel. But he claimed he had not used eBay
this month and had no knowledge of any vaccination card sales.
“I
need to get that straightened out with eBay,” the man said, claiming he
had stopped using the service after his password was unexpectedly
changed about two weeks ago. The Post is not identifying him because he
disputes he sold the cards.
After
The Post brought the listings to eBay’s attention on Thursday, the
company removed them. “Our team has reviewed and taken appropriate
action,” said eBay spokesperson Parmita Choudhury, who declined to
disclose additional details about the account.
Pharmacies
insist they have protections in place to track the blank cards they
receive and would know if any cards were wrongly removed.
“Our
pharmacies receive a limited number of CDC dose cards as part of the
CDC immunization supply kits shipped to the stores that are receiving
and administering coronavirus vaccines,” Walgreens spokesperson Erin
Loverher said in a statement.
“We
store and monitor the vaccination cards in our pharmacies and each
vaccine card is a 1:1 match for the vaccine doses in a pharmacy’s
inventory, so we would know if any are missing,” said Mike DeAngelis, a
CVS spokesperson.
Scammers exploit selfies
Still, scammers have had a field day, getting plenty of help from the public, not just in making fake cardsbut also in committing identity theft:Many
Americans put pictures of their vaccination cards online, sharing
information such as the day of their shot, their birthdays and other
identifying details. The trend, intended to boost vaccine acceptance,
has alarmed regulators. “While the #COVID19
vaccine helps protect against the virus, posting your vaccine card
online opens you up to another type of plague—scammers who would use the
document to steal your identity,” Ashley Moody, Florida’s attorney
general, wrote on Twitter in February.
Day agreed that those pictures have helped scammers get the details right,including vaccine manufacturer and lotinformation.
“They can fill out their cards, which would have at least some level of
legitimacy, because they had the right numbers and letters for the lot
numbers,” she said.
Khalifah, the Fakespot CEO, said regulators face persistent challenges because of how easy the cards are to exploit.
“Let’s
speak bluntly about this. We’re talking about paper and stamps —
technology that’s been around for a while,” Khalifah said, adding that
some people selling cards online are involved in other long-running
scams. “There’s overlap with these stores and others selling fake Gucci
bags. They’ll leverage fake reviews, fake upvotes. There’s a lot of
fraud.”
Officials said it’s impossible to get a true picture on the number of Americans who havefaked
vaccine cards themselves or have bought them online. “It’s not the kind
of thing that the person buying is going to report. In some ways,
they’re complicit,” Stein said.
“Anything
that’s going to delay the end of this pandemic is incredibly
unfortunate and counterproductive,” he added. “These vaccine cards will
do just that.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Guido Calabresi, a federal judge and Yale law professor, invented a little fable that he has been telling law students for more than three decades.
He tells the students to imagine a god coming forth to offer society a wondrous invention that would improve everyday life in almost every way. It would allow people to spend more time with friends and family, see new places and do jobs they otherwise could not do. But it would also come with a high cost. In exchange for bestowing this invention on society, the god would choose 1,000 young men and women and strike them dead.
Calabresi then asks: Would you take the deal? Almost invariably, the students say no. The professor then delivers the fable’s lesson: “What’s the difference between this and the automobile?”
In truth, automobiles kill many more than 1,000 young Americans each year; the total U.S. death toll hovers at about 40,000 annually. We accept this toll, almost unthinkingly, because vehicle crashes have always been part of our lives. We can’t fathom a world without them.
It’s a classic example of human irrationality about risk. We often underestimate large, chronic dangers, like car crashes or chemical pollution, and fixate on tiny but salient risks, like plane crashes or shark attacks.
One way for a risk to become salient is for it to be new. That’s a core idea behind Calabresi’s fable. He asks students to consider whether they would accept the cost of vehicle travel if it did not already exist. That they say no underscores the very different ways we treat new risks and enduring ones.
I have been thinking about the fable recently because of Covid-19. Covid certainly presents a salient risk: It’s a global pandemic that has upended daily life for more than a year. It has changed how we live, where we work, even what we wear on our faces. Covid feels ubiquitous.
Fortunately, it is also curable. The vaccines have nearly eliminated death, hospitalization and other serious Covid illness among people who have received shots. The vaccines have also radically reduced the chances that people contract even a mild version of Covid or can pass it on to others.
Yet many vaccinated people continue to obsess over the risks from Covid — because they are so new and salient.
‘Psychologically hard’
To take just one example, major media outlets trumpeted new government data last week showing that 5,800 fully vaccinated Americans had contracted Covid. That may sound like a big number, but it indicates that a vaccinated person’s chances of getting Covid are about one in 11,000. The chances of a getting a version any worse than a common cold are even more remote.
But they are not zero. And they will not be zero anytime in the foreseeable future. Victory over Covid will not involve its elimination. Victory will instead mean turning it into the sort of danger that plane crashes or shark attacks present — too small to be worth reordering our lives.
That is what the vaccines do. If you’re vaccinated, Covid presents a minuscule risk to you, and you present a minuscule Covid risk to anyone else. A car trip is a bigger threat, to you and others. About 100 Americans are likely to die in car crashes today. The new federal data suggests that either zero or one vaccinated person will die today from Covid.
It’s true that experts believe vaccinated people should still sometimes wear a mask, partly because it’s a modest inconvenience that further reduces a tiny risk — and mostly because it contributes to a culture of mask wearing. It is the decent thing to do when most people still aren’t vaccinated. If you’re vaccinated, a mask is more of a symbol of solidarity than anything else.
Coming to grips with the comforting realities of post-vaccination life is going to take some time for most of us. It’s only natural that so many vaccinated people continue to harbor irrational fears. Yet slowly recognizing that irrationality will be a vital part of overcoming Covid.
“We’re not going to get to a place of zero risk,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, told me during a virtual Times event last week. “I don’t think that’s the right metric for feeling like things are normal.”
After Nuzzo made that point, Dr. Ashish Jha of Brown University told us about his own struggle to return to normal. He has been fully vaccinated for almost two months, he said, and only recently decided to meet a vaccinated friend for a drink, unmasked. “It was hard — psychologically hard — for me,” Jha said.
“There are going to be some challenges to re-acclimating and re-entering,” he added. “But we’ve got to do it.”
And how did it feel in the end, I asked, to get together with his friend?
Soon everyone that wants a vaccine will get one and be vaccinated.....then what? Do we really see things changing much?
Naw man, not a thing will change... See the President of the United States letting everyone know that they can get the vaccine while waving his mask around.
Well with issues from Astrozenica and J&J you can’t be too upset with those arguing the vaccines are rushed.
Haven't checked this thread in a few days, but I don't understand why its still held up. I would think less than 1 in a million chance of a serious side effect is pretty good. And 1 in 7 million of being fatal. I don't understand why with odds like that we are slowing production down and slowing down vaccinations. SO we're going to let a few thousand die of covid in the meantime?
Following up on a previous discussion regarding the Texas Rangers opening day at full capacity
It has been 2 weeks and Texas has seen no increase in cases and deaths have decreased daily
Again, just a data point, not saying it was right or wrong
2010: Cleveland 2012: Atlanta 2013: London ONT / Wrigley Field / Pittsburgh / Buffalo / San Diego / Los Angeles I / Los Angeles II 2014: Cincinnati / St. Louis / Tulsa / Lincoln / Detroit / Denver 2015: New York City 2016: Ft. Lauderdale / Miami / Jacksonville / Greenville / Hampton / Columbia / Lexington / Philly II / New York City II / Toronto II / Bonnaroo / Telluride / Fenway I / Wrigley I / Wrigley - II / TOTD - Philadelphia, San Francisco 2017: Ohana Fest (EV) 2018: Amsterdam I / Amsterdam II / Seattle I / Seattle II / Boston I / Boston II 2021: Asbury Park / Ohana Encore 1 / Ohana Encore 2 2022: Phoenix / LA I / LA II / Quebec City / Ottawa / New York City / Camden / Nashville / St. Louis / Denver 2023: St. Paul II
Well with issues from Astrozenica and J&J you can’t be too upset with those arguing the vaccines are rushed.
Haven't checked this thread in a few days, but I don't understand why its still held up. I would think less than 1 in a million chance of a serious side effect is pretty good. And 1 in 7 million of being fatal. I don't understand why with odds like that we are slowing production down and slowing down vaccinations. SO we're going to let a few thousand die of covid in the meantime?
Well I can't speak for everywhere...but in northern VA, my daughter was slated for J&J. Because of the halt, she got Phizer instead. So at least here in VA, there were multiple options. They are saying that J&J will be turned back on soon, hopefully soon enough that there won't be a shortage and people missed shots they were scheduled to receive.
Soon everyone that wants a vaccine will get one and be vaccinated.....then what? Do we really see things changing much?
Naw man, not a thing will change... See the President of the United States letting everyone know that they can get the vaccine while waving his mask around.
Also, nobody is fully vaccinated... They are just done with their second shot on the perpetual pandemic profit machine!!
So you're now saying that the vaccine doesn't work, or do you believe that unless there is a 0.0% of infection, you can't consider someone fully vaccinated?
Well with issues from Astrozenica and J&J you can’t be too upset with those arguing the vaccines are rushed.
Haven't checked this thread in a few days, but I don't understand why its still held up. I would think less than 1 in a million chance of a serious side effect is pretty good. And 1 in 7 million of being fatal. I don't understand why with odds like that we are slowing production down and slowing down vaccinations. SO we're going to let a few thousand die of covid in the meantime?
Well I can't speak for everywhere...but in northern VA, my daughter was slated for J&J. Because of the halt, she got Phizer instead. So at least here in VA, there were multiple options. They are saying that J&J will be turned back on soon, hopefully soon enough that there won't be a shortage and people missed shots they were scheduled to receive.
Thats true. It could be part of the delay getting everyone vaccinated might be administering the shot, and not the vaccine itself. In that case, halting one of the multiple vaccines available won't slow anything down.
Soon everyone that wants a vaccine will get one and be vaccinated.....then what? Do we really see things changing much?
Naw man, not a thing will change... See the President of the United States letting everyone know that they can get the vaccine while waving his mask around.
Also, nobody is fully vaccinated... They are just done with their second shot on the perpetual pandemic profit machine!!
So you're now saying that the vaccine doesn't work, or do you believe that unless there is a 0.0% of infection, you can't consider someone fully vaccinated?
What I am saying is, are you ever truly vaccinated if you have to continue getting shots for it?
Soon everyone that wants a vaccine will get one and be vaccinated.....then what? Do we really see things changing much?
Naw man, not a thing will change... See the President of the United States letting everyone know that they can get the vaccine while waving his mask around.
Also, nobody is fully vaccinated... They are just done with their second shot on the perpetual pandemic profit machine!!
So you're now saying that the vaccine doesn't work, or do you believe that unless there is a 0.0% of infection, you can't consider someone fully vaccinated?
What I am saying is, are you ever truly vaccinated if you have to continue getting shots for it?
I think it's too early to know. We may need a booster, and we may need a variant. But that doesn't mean the vaccine isn't working. We get flu shots ever year (which your insurance pays for), so I would not be surprised if we need a booster. You also need a Tdap every ten years, men B. And you need a shingles shot even after Chicken Pox. I don't know why you're cynical about this one when boosters are very common in the vaccine regimen.
Well, OReading, you must be relieved that travellors outside of the Island health district can't come vacation and bring disease from other BC health areas? I know I am. I didn't want to send my child to school today until I heard the numbers posted from the weekend this afternoon. I am glad they won't spike in the IH region due to travellors looking for some fun in the sun. I had expected that our region would increase to that evident in the Frasers Health region, but I think the order that does not permit travel between health regions might help us rural folk.
Comments
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
Fun fact, the US vaccinated population had more cases than Australia’s unvaccinated population. Over the last few months the US had 5800 vaccinated cases amount the 66M vaccinated while Australia had a couple hundred domestic cases among its 26M population.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Brass bands playing at a 24-hour drive-thru coronavirus vaccine event. Doses delivered to commercial fishermen minutes from the docks. Pop-up immunization clinics at a Buddhist temple, homeless shelters, truck stops and casinos, with shots available at night or on weekends.
And now, door-to-door outreach getting underway in neighborhoods where few people have gotten vaccinated.
Louisiana is making a full-court press to get shots in arms, with aggressive — and sometimes creative — outreach to make it as easy as possible to get vaccinated. The effort comes as vaccine supplies are surging but demand is not.
The state has enlisted health care workers, colleges, community groups and church pastors to help cajole the hesitant and set up vaccination events. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has thrown open vaccine access to anyone age 16 or older. The health department has launched a call center to answer vaccine questions and set up appointments for those without internet access or limited tech skills.
Civic organizations and faith-based groups working with the state have started using get-out-the-vote tactics, knocking on doors and making phone calls, to pitch the vaccine.
But even with widespread ease of access, Louisiana officials struggle with a problem almost as vexing as COVID-19 itself: How to persuade those who are iffy about the shot to roll up their sleeves.
“I, quite frankly, don’t know what folks are waiting for. It just doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m going to continue to appeal to them,” Edwards said.
Health officials anticipate a difficult time reaching the threshold scientists believe is needed to stop uncontrolled spread of COVID-19, a benchmark of 70% or higher of the population having immunity either through vaccination or past infection. The problem has taken on particular urgency as more virulent and contagious virus strains reach the United States.
State surveys indicate 40% or more of Louisiana residents are hesitant about getting the vaccine or entirely unwilling to do so. And while Louisiana is administering doses at rates greater than some other Southern states, it remains among the bottom six in vaccinating adults 18 and older, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other states also are trying novel approaches, either because they've seen noticeable dips in vaccine interest or have concerns about equitable access. Even with the resistance, the United States has shown remarkable progress: As of Friday, more than 200 million doses have been administered to Americans, and nearly half of American adults have received at least one dose.
Alaska's health department is weighing creating vaccine clinics in airports. Ohio's health agency asked vaccine providers to develop sites near bus stops and to consider offering mobile immunization services. In Connecticut, the health department launched an effort to call residents directly to schedule appointments. Mississippi is working with local organizations to bring vaccinations directly to homebound elderly people. Alabama's health agency surveyed vaccine reluctance to determine how it should craft messaging to appeal to the hesitant.
Dr. Catherine O’Neal, chief medical officer of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Louisiana's capital, Baton Rouge, said she’s hearing from people who believe vaccine misinformation from social media, but also from those who simply don’t have a sense of urgency about getting a shot. Others worry about side effects.
“We have enough vaccine. ... If you want an appointment, you can get it within a week,” O'Neal said. But for many “there’s no driving force on when they’ll get it.”
Nearly 31% of the state’s population has received at least one dose of a vaccine that can require two doses, according to state data. More than 22% have been fully immunized.
Shane Pizani, a former Marine who lives in a New Orleans suburb, contracted COVID-19 shortly after Thanksgiving, with lingering symptoms for more than a month. Still, he was jittery about the vaccine.
To alleviate his worries, he did research and discussed it with his doctor, gaining information he said put him more at ease. When he got his first shot in mid-February, he had a panic attack.
Still, he got the second dose and then went to work to persuade his mom — who repeated anti-vaccine conspiracy theories she saw on social media.
“I just kept on, kept on, kept on. I told her, ‘We’re going to stop coming around with the kids, because I cannot live with myself if I gave you COVID and something happened to you,’” Pizani said. “So, she finally went and got her appointment.”
Kerri Tobin, an education professor at Louisiana State University, initially worried the vaccine came together too quickly to be safe. Then, she watched as more friends in the health care industry and others she trusted posted on social media about receiving their doses.
“I see someone else doing it and they are OK. And that keeps happening,” she said.
Tobin received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the end of March.
Health officials believe that sort of word-of-mouth among friends and family will help boost vaccinations.
Surveys show those who are reticent or don't want the vaccine cross racial groups and regions. A recent LSU survey showed greater uninterest from Republicans than Democrats. State officials have particular concern about southwest Louisiana, where people are struggling with recovery from back-to-back hurricanes and appear less focused on the pandemic.
In each instance, Louisiana's health department and state officials are trying to find a persuasive approach. For example, data shows Black people have gotten vaccinated at lower rates so the state reached out to African American pastors and is hosting immunization events at their churches. The state's historically Black college system is doing its own targeted outreach enlisting alumni, and faith-based and social organizations to encourage people to get vaccinated.
Some parishes have started delivering vaccines to seniors who are disabled at home and worked out deals with rideshare services to offer free transportation to vaccination events.
Such vaccine outreach may be further complicated by this week's pause of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine after reports of rare blood clots in six women who received it. Experts say it's too early to tell whether that will increase reluctance in Louisiana and elsewhere.
Mike Bayham, secretary of the Republican Party of Louisiana, had a rough battle with COVID-19 in March 2020. He was bedridden for a week and dealing with symptoms for weeks longer.
He's now received his first shot — and he's encouraging fellow Republicans to do the same. Bayham tells friends and colleagues the vaccine is one of the greatest achievements of Donald Trump's presidency, and he shares details of what it feels like to have COVID-19.
“You don't want this virus. Whatever the vaccine can do to you, the virus is far worse,” Bayham said.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Officials warn that falsified cards could endanger lives and undermine efforts to end the pandemic
One listing offered eBay customers an “Authentic CDC Vaccination Record Card” for $10.99. Another promised the same but for $9.49. A third was more oblique, offering a “Clear Pouch For CDC Vaccination Record Card” for $8.99, but customers instead received a blank vaccination card (and no pouch).
All three listings were posted by the same eBay user, who goes by “asianjackson” — using an account registered to a man who works as a pharmacist in the Chicago area — and all were illegal, federal regulators say. The account sold more than 100 blank vaccination cards in the past two weeks, according to The Washington Post’s review of purchases linked to it.
The listings are a “perfect example” of burgeoning scams involving coronavirus vaccination cards that could undermine people’s safety, as well as the success of the nation’s largest mass vaccination effort, said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein. Individuals might use them to misrepresent their vaccination status at school, work or in various living and travel situations, potentially exposing others to risk.
Stein, who led a recent effort with 47 colleagues demanding that eBay and other e-commerce platforms crack down on the scams, pointed to the FBI’s warning that anyone who makes or buys a fake vaccine card is breaking the law, and said he would consider prosecution, too.
“This is a concern that is national and bipartisan,” Stein added, saying the spread of fake vaccination cards “will extend the pandemic, resulting in more people sick and more people dead.”
At least 129.5 million Americans have gotten at least one or both doses of a coronavirus vaccine and have received a free proof-of-vaccination card with the logo of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as officials push to inoculate the nation. But that vaccination drive has pitted people like asianjackson, selling blank or fake credentials, against law enforcement officials rushing to stop them — and warning that the full scope of the problem is impossible to grasp.
The clash has escalated as businesses and universities say they’ll require proof of vaccination before allowing Americans to board cruises, enter some stores and even return to college classes, prompting some vaccine-hesitant people to search for false IDs or make their own. And the showdown is unfolding amid a bitter national debate about whether Americans should have digital “vaccine passports” instead of paper cards, and whether the government should be involved in credentialing such efforts.
For months, officials have been a step behind the scammers, who have openly discussed strategies to fake the cards on social media, sold them on sites such as eBay and pulled blank photos off state websites. Federal officials’ decision to use paper cards that can be easily photocopied or even printed off a template, rather than a digital tracking system, worsened those risks.
“This is exactly the scenario that you want to guard against. It undermines the entire effort by having falsified cards out there,” said Jennifer Kates, who oversees global health policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation and reviewed asianjackson’s eBay listings. “It certainly bolsters the argument for a digitized mechanism — which isn’t a tamper-proof system, but certainly a more secure one.”
“Paper anything is ripe for fraud,” said Nenette Day, an assistant special agent in charge at the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general’s office who oversees whistleblower tips. Day said she has reviewed dozens of reported vaccination-card scams that range from Americans stealing blank cards to sharing tips on how to fake a card on social media. She described the trend as among the most frustrating chapters in a 20-year career that included responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as an FBI agent.
“I feel like nobody has taken this to its natural conclusion,” Day said, hypothesizing about a scenario where an unvaccinated person could illegally create a vaccination card and pretend to be immunized, using that to enter a high-risk environment such as a nursing home, then unknowingly spread the virus, potentially resulting in someone’s death. “It disturbs me, having been in law enforcement this long, this flippant attitude that people have.”
While e-commerce platforms cracked down on listings after recent news reports, there are already signs that the supply of the cards is bouncing back, said Saoud Khalifah, chief executive of Fakespot, a company that specializes in rooting out online fraud and that began tracking fake vaccine cards in February.
“We’ve seen ads on Facebook and TikTok and other social platforms being used to target these anti-vaxxers,” Khalifah said. “There’s demand from people who don’t want to get vaccinated, but also people who think they can use the cards to skip the line [and] say, ‘Hey, I got dose one, can I get dose two?’ ”
Easy-to-copy cards
Some federal officials involved in the vaccine drive said that last summer, they had initially discussed using digital systems to track the vaccine push and to help Americans manage getting shots. CDC officials believed they could harness the nation’s dozens of immunization information systems, which track shots administered by providers within a specific geographic area.
“IT/data infrastructure supports entire distribution, ordering, tracking process from end-to-end,” according to a July slide deck about the CDC’s planned vaccine rollout that was obtained by The Washington Post. The slide deck made no mention of using paper cards.
A CDC letter sent the following week, also obtained by The Post, similarly touted using IT systems to manage the vaccine rollout, including “record-keeping for the vaccine recipient,” with no mention of paper cards.
Pamela Schweitzer, a retired assistant surgeon general who helped with the coronavirus response last year, said that she and her colleagues were aware in June that the CDC was focusing on a “comprehensive IT infrastructure” to help Americans track their vaccinations before opting for paper cards as a fallback later in the year.
A former administration official closely involved in the vaccine effort who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations confirmed initial plans for “a digital system with digital reminders about when to get your shot, like, ‘Your library book is due in five days.’ ” But technical setbacks and time pressure forced the administration to rely instead on paper cards, which the CDC had positioned as a “fail-safe,” the official said.
“If there had been a vaccine during the 1918 flu pandemic, you could probably have used the same exact card — just with different logos at the top,” the official said, adding that the paper cards, which are passed around in health settings and potentially handled by sick patients, were not ideal for curbing safety risks. “It’s a hard, tactile object in the middle of the pandemic. It’s a pretty gross thing to have.”
Paul Mango, a former Trump administration official who helped oversee Operation Warp Speed, the administration’s vaccine accelerator, acknowledged that “there were many complexities, technical and otherwise, associated with digital vaccination tracking, so for exigency purposes, we fell back on vaccination cards.”
While state and local immunization registries do store individual coronavirus vaccination data, officials said there’s no current system that would allow businesses, schools and other organizations to easily check the databases to see if a visitor was presenting a falsified paper card.
HHS did not respond to questions about health officials’ decision to opt for paper cards and whether that increased the risk of scams. An HHS spokesperson pointed to an October playbook that instructed accredited vaccinators to provide “a completed COVID-19 vaccination record card to every vaccine recipient/parent/legal representative.”
Private-sector organizations, including pharmacies such as Walmart and Walgreens, have recently mounted a push for using digital “vaccine passports” for Americans to prove they’ve gotten shots, arguing such systems would better track vaccinations and protect against fraud. But federal officials have struggled to corral the initiatives and adopt a standardized approach, particularly as the issue has become politicized in recent weeks.
Even as public health officials warn about the risk of fraud, some states have inadvertently boosted it. The Post identified several states, including Tennessee and Texas, that posted blank card templates to their health department websites among their coronavirus-related resources. Some social media users have boasted that they had printed the documents to produce their own fake cards.
Day, the official at the HHS’s inspector general’s office, recounted an explosion of whistleblower tips related to vaccination card scams in the past month. “On any given day, it’s 40 to 50 percent of our covid-related complaints,” she said.
One report was about a woman who worked in a vaccination clinic and gave a blank card to her boyfriend. The boyfriend then detailed on social media how he had filled in the card himself and bragged about the accomplishment, Day said.
Schweitzer, who has volunteered at multiple vaccination clinics across Arizona, compared the abundance of blank vaccination cards at those sites to doctors not protecting their prescription pads.
“There’s limited control over these cards,” she said. “They’re all over the place. It’s pretty easy to get a stack.”
Asianjackson — the eBay account maintained by a man who works at a Chicago-area location of a national pharmacy chain — sold at least 110 blank vaccination cards through eBay, including 50 cards alone on April 11, according to a Post review. The Post obtained one of those cards, which was identical to the CDC vaccination cards dispensed by pharmacies, and sent from a Zip code in the greater Chicago area.
Law enforcement officials said they are alarmed by the possibility that eBay users such as asianjackson are taking blank cards from pharmacies or other health-care facilities where they work.
“That’s very troubling,” said Stein, the North Carolina attorney general. “That’s an instance where it’s an actually authentic card but illegally acquired and sold.”
When contacted by The Post through the full name offered on the eBay sales receipt, the man who uses the “asianjackson” account confirmed he lives in the Chicago area and works in a pharmacy, and listed other items sold through the account, such as empty boxes from luxury-goods retailers like Hermès and Chanel. But he claimed he had not used eBay this month and had no knowledge of any vaccination card sales.
“I need to get that straightened out with eBay,” the man said, claiming he had stopped using the service after his password was unexpectedly changed about two weeks ago. The Post is not identifying him because he disputes he sold the cards.
After The Post brought the listings to eBay’s attention on Thursday, the company removed them. “Our team has reviewed and taken appropriate action,” said eBay spokesperson Parmita Choudhury, who declined to disclose additional details about the account.
Pharmacies insist they have protections in place to track the blank cards they receive and would know if any cards were wrongly removed.
“Our pharmacies receive a limited number of CDC dose cards as part of the CDC immunization supply kits shipped to the stores that are receiving and administering coronavirus vaccines,” Walgreens spokesperson Erin Loverher said in a statement.
“We store and monitor the vaccination cards in our pharmacies and each vaccine card is a 1:1 match for the vaccine doses in a pharmacy’s inventory, so we would know if any are missing,” said Mike DeAngelis, a CVS spokesperson.
Scammers exploit selfies
Still, scammers have had a field day, getting plenty of help from the public, not just in making fake cards but also in committing identity theft: Many Americans put pictures of their vaccination cards online, sharing information such as the day of their shot, their birthdays and other identifying details. The trend, intended to boost vaccine acceptance, has alarmed regulators. “While the #COVID19 vaccine helps protect against the virus, posting your vaccine card online opens you up to another type of plague—scammers who would use the document to steal your identity,” Ashley Moody, Florida’s attorney general, wrote on Twitter in February.
Day agreed that those pictures have helped scammers get the details right, including vaccine manufacturer and lot information. “They can fill out their cards, which would have at least some level of legitimacy, because they had the right numbers and letters for the lot numbers,” she said.
Khalifah, the Fakespot CEO, said regulators face persistent challenges because of how easy the cards are to exploit.
“Let’s speak bluntly about this. We’re talking about paper and stamps — technology that’s been around for a while,” Khalifah said, adding that some people selling cards online are involved in other long-running scams. “There’s overlap with these stores and others selling fake Gucci bags. They’ll leverage fake reviews, fake upvotes. There’s a lot of fraud.”
Officials said it’s impossible to get a true picture on the number of Americans who have faked vaccine cards themselves or have bought them online. “It’s not the kind of thing that the person buying is going to report. In some ways, they’re complicit,” Stein said.
“Anything that’s going to delay the end of this pandemic is incredibly unfortunate and counterproductive,” he added. “These vaccine cards will do just that.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
A fable for our times
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Also, nobody is fully vaccinated... They are just done with their second shot on the perpetual pandemic profit machine!!
Seems another one has flown the coop.
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
It has been 2 weeks and Texas has seen no increase in cases and deaths have decreased daily
Again, just a data point, not saying it was right or wrong
2012: Atlanta
2013: London ONT / Wrigley Field / Pittsburgh / Buffalo / San Diego / Los Angeles I / Los Angeles II
2014: Cincinnati / St. Louis / Tulsa / Lincoln / Detroit / Denver
2015: New York City
2016: Ft. Lauderdale / Miami / Jacksonville / Greenville / Hampton / Columbia / Lexington / Philly II / New York City II / Toronto II / Bonnaroo / Telluride / Fenway I / Wrigley I / Wrigley - II / TOTD - Philadelphia, San Francisco
2017: Ohana Fest (EV)
2018: Amsterdam I / Amsterdam II / Seattle I / Seattle II / Boston I / Boston II
2021: Asbury Park / Ohana Encore 1 / Ohana Encore 2
2022: Phoenix / LA I / LA II / Quebec City / Ottawa / New York City / Camden / Nashville / St. Louis / Denver
2023: St. Paul II
Time will tell - nobody should end up dying because of a baseball game.
interesting that texas is showing fewer cases and hospitalizations while other states are climbing.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
https://mobile.twitter.com/therecount/status/1377617359456903181
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/covid19-hong-kong-suspends-flights-connecting-india-from-april-20-to-may-3-101618767141653.html
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..