CDC Notifies States, Large Cities To Prepare For Vaccine Distribution As Soon As Late October

[mom2rtk]

In NY the governor who I guess no longer feels the need to personally approve the vaccine announced we will be getting 170,000 doses in the coming weeks.

Isn't it funny how that works?

 

[Hikergirl]

Ok so this is my logic on vaccine distribution and of course it will probably be all wrong. In NY the governor who I guess no longer feels the need to personally approve the vaccine announced we will be getting 170,000 doses in the coming weeks. Those are reserved for health care workers and nursing home residents. I absolutely agree that vaccinating health care workers is number 1 but if we vaccinate the nursing home workers (and they continue to wear masks) then why don't they prioritize the seniors living in the community? The nursing home residents would be at a lower risk and seniors living in the community would be a higher risk. Part of my thinking is that personally my 78 year old father lives with us and with 4 kids in their late teens/early 20s (3 of whom live with us) I want them to be able to live their lives again and I want my father to be able to get out - he is driving me slightly crazy( as I teach remotely). Is my thinking that flawed on this??? Just wondering if anyone else has thought about this.

Perhaps he's trying to make up for some policy he instituted when the Pandemic began that went horribly wrong.

 

[mrs. magoo]

Perhaps he's trying to make up for some policy he instituted when the Pandemic began that went horribly wrong.

Yes I know that is probably why but is my logic off?? If we vaccinate the workers in the nursing homes and they continue to wear masks do the residents need to be priority number 1 after health care workers? I would much rather see the senior residents who live in the community be vaccinated. I know that I want it because of my situation but still.

 

[Hikergirl]

Yes I know that is probably why but is my logic off?? If we vaccinate the workers in the nursing homes and they continue to wear masks do the residents need to be priority number 1 after health care workers? I would much rather see the senior residents who live in the community be vaccinated. I know that I want it because of my situation but still.

The decision to vaccinate residents comes from the advice of the CDC. What that is based on I have no idea, so I can't really say if your logic is flawed.
If the past is any indicator, what the CDC recommends now will probably end up changing. So who knows it may turn out you are right all along.

 

[skeeter31]

Yes I know that is probably why but is my logic off?? If we vaccinate the workers in the nursing homes and they continue to wear masks do the residents need to be priority number 1 after health care workers? I would much rather see the senior residents who live in the community be vaccinated. I know that I want it because of my situation but still.

It’s much easier to vaccinate NH residents with the initial batches of vaccine if they don’t have the infrastructure to start giving it out to the public. They can ship cases to the hospitals and NHs and do a mass vaccination in one day. Whereas if they were to start allowing seniors in the community to be the first to get the doses, they would need to ship to individual doctors offices or pharmacies and there just isn’t enough vaccine coming in this initial dose. It will very soon, but not first. It’s all about getting the best bang for the buck with the first doses and it’s just easier to ship them to institutions that can mass vaccinate very quickly.

 

[Pyotr]

Ok so this is my logic on vaccine distribution and of course it will probably be all wrong. In NY the governor who I guess no longer feels the need to personally approve the vaccine announced we will be getting 170,000 doses in the coming weeks. Those are reserved for health care workers and nursing home residents. I absolutely agree that vaccinating health care workers is number 1 but if we vaccinate the nursing home workers (and they continue to wear masks) then why don't they prioritize the seniors living in the community? The nursing home residents would be at a lower risk and seniors living in the community would be a higher risk. Part of my thinking is that personally my 78 year old father lives with us and with 4 kids in their late teens/early 20s (3 of whom live with us) I want them to be able to live their lives again and I want my father to be able to get out - he is driving me slightly crazy( as I teach remotely). Is my thinking that flawed on this??? Just wondering if anyone else has thought about this.

I’m not sure about New York but here in Florida our governor released a video yesterday listing the vaccine tiers. Seniors living in the community are third on the list behind health care workers and LTC residents.

 

[Jonfw2]

Here's a terrifying thought for everyone:

Our friend who runs the urgent care where we got our tests said that the other day they had 25 PEOPLE IN A ROW test positive.

Number with symptoms? ZERO.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Here's a terrifying thought for everyone:

Our friend who runs the urgent care where we got our tests said that the other day they had 25 PEOPLE IN A ROW test positive.

Number with symptoms? ZERO.

The estimates have varied from studies for asymptomatic from 20 to 30 to 40% over time (I can't remember if I saw 10% at some point or not). I guess it's not terrifying for me because since the beginning they've told us to just act like everyone you encounter has it; that's kinda stuck with me. Unfortunately many states didn't keep a good track record of some key things all the time like race or ethnicity. My state added a tracker for symptoms vs asymptomatic but they are missing 49.8% of the data so it's virtually useless to say 44.9% are symptomatic and 5.5% are asymptomatic when you're missing half of the total data sets lol.

It's very common for corrections facilities to have a high percentage of asymptomatic. The largest outbreak in our state I believe had something like 80% were that way.

 

[Jonfw2]

The Wall Street Journal just published an article saying the NFL is now using a PCR test (considered the most accurate) that gets results in 30 minutes- these tests had up until now taken at least two days to return results.

 

[NotUrsula]

Yes I know that is probably why but is my logic off?? If we vaccinate the workers in the nursing homes and they continue to wear masks do the residents need to be priority number 1 after health care workers? I would much rather see the senior residents who live in the community be vaccinated. I know that I want it because of my situation but still.

The decision to vaccinate residents comes from the advice of the CDC. What that is based on I have no idea, so I can't really say if your logic is flawed.
If the past is any indicator, what the CDC recommends now will probably end up changing. So who knows it may turn out you are right all along.

I listened in on the CDC meeting; CNN had it on live feed. The logic they were using was that as staff move in and out of the community they were more likely to act as asymptomatic carriers, thus inoculating them first cuts down on the probability of transmission from outside the premises. Participants also pointed out that many care homes are still experiencing shortages of PPE, and that the sooner the staff are vaccinated, the less PPE will be needed for non-clinical interactions such as serving meals and cleaning rooms.

There was a huge discussion about the necessity of spreading staff inoculations for each shift over at least a 4-day period (& preferably over a longer period), because of the probability that workers will miss at least one work day due to the side-effects of the vaccine. Other than that caution, however, the doctors on the committee thought that it made logistical and financial sense to administer the vaccine to both staff and residents at the same sessions; but again, reiterated that no facility should attempt to vaccinate everyone during a single session.

I am guessing that the natural isolation of most aging-in-place senior citizens is what is pushing them a bit down the list as a group. As a general rule even in healthy times, they tend to spend more hours at home alone than almost any other segment of society, and their interactions tend to most often be within certain predictable parameters: doctor's office staff, supermarket staff, restaurant staff, and their own extended families. If the occupational groups in that list are vaccinated, most of them will gain a margin of earlier protection that way.

I think that the key question appears to be "Which groups are most likely to contract it in the workplace and pass it on to strangers?" -- which makes sense, because that not only affects the physical health of the community, but also commerce, thus becoming in essence a bit of a two-for-one benefit at the start. It also has a tiny bit of compensatory flavor, in that the majority of essential workers are not typically well-paid, but have been taking outsize risk with their health in order to keep the country running for the rest of us -- that we owe them first dibs as a form of bonus compensation for that risk.

 

[lifesavacation]

Yes I know that is probably why but is my logic off?? If we vaccinate the workers in the nursing homes and they continue to wear masks do the residents need to be priority number 1 after health care workers? I would much rather see the senior residents who live in the community be vaccinated. I know that I want it because of my situation but still.

In Wa state, long term care residents account for half of our deaths. They are more vulnerable than seniors living in the community. I understand your logic, though. If they vaccinate the caregivers coming in and out of the facilities then they will have some protection. The problem is that the vaccine isn’t 100% effective so COVID can still make it’s way into the facilities.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Ok so this is my logic on vaccine distribution and of course it will probably be all wrong. In NY the governor who I guess no longer feels the need to personally approve the vaccine announced we will be getting 170,000 doses in the coming weeks. Those are reserved for health care workers and nursing home residents. I absolutely agree that vaccinating health care workers is number 1 but if we vaccinate the nursing home workers (and they continue to wear masks) then why don't they prioritize the seniors living in the community? The nursing home residents would be at a lower risk and seniors living in the community would be a higher risk. Part of my thinking is that personally my 78 year old father lives with us and with 4 kids in their late teens/early 20s (3 of whom live with us) I want them to be able to live their lives again and I want my father to be able to get out - he is driving me slightly crazy( as I teach remotely). Is my thinking that flawed on this??? Just wondering if anyone else has thought about this.

It's possibly because, like me and I am much younger, older people tend to have inflammation issues so it might not be safe - or- theoretically Dr's can't be certain it's safe for this group to get the vaccines that work because they trigger a solid response. This is why I was told I am not a candidate out of the gate even though on paper it seems I should be in group 1B. Also, elderly people and very young children are absolutely known to have a poor immune response so it's likely a better strategy to vaccinate everyone around the high risk population who might bring the illness in to them than to waste a vaccine that won't take in that group. Maybe take a look at research on Flu vaccines in the elderly to see the reasoning, Dr's give certain age groups a much stronger version of Flu shot to try and trigger a more substantial response to the Flu Vaccine but that may or may not work. WIth limited supply I would tend to agree high risk people are better off vaccinating the lower paid 20 somethings handling food, cleaning their rooms & giving them medicine every day because that youthful underpaid group is leaving the healthcare setting at 5 pm and then going off to house parties or bars on weekends... this is where those outbreaks are originating.

 

[DopeyDame]

Yes I know that is probably why but is my logic off?? If we vaccinate the workers in the nursing homes and they continue to wear masks do the residents need to be priority number 1 after health care workers? I would much rather see the senior residents who live in the community be vaccinated. I know that I want it because of my situation but still.

Right now people in nursing homes are isolated in their rooms. No guests, no visitors - only overworked staff and maybe a roommate. Their life is miserable, and it's certainly not good for their mental or cognitive fitness in their last few years. If the residents get vaccinated, then they can see their children and grandchildren they may not have seen in nearly a year.
Additionally, nursing home residents are a really high percentage of people in hospitals and of deaths. Getting that number lower will free up hospital space.

I'm sure the seniors living in the community are struggling, and of course they should be high on the list. But getting nursing home residents out of the miserably purgetory they are currently in and reducing the numbers of deaths and hospitalizations should be a higher priority.

 

[DLgal]

Here's a terrifying thought for everyone:

Our friend who runs the urgent care where we got our tests said that the other day they had 25 PEOPLE IN A ROW test positive.

Number with symptoms? ZERO.

My husband works at a military boot camp. They have approximately 1200 recruits come in every month. 6% of them test positive now, consistently. Back in June/July, the number was closer to 40%. Absolutely ZERO with symptoms, ZERO hospitalizations and zero deaths. They do their 2 week quarantine and then join their class and go through boot camp.

Asymptomatic cases are extremely common, especially in young adults.

 

[DLgal]

The Wall Street Journal just published an article saying the NFL is now using a PCR test (considered the most accurate) that gets results in 30 minutes- these tests had up until now taken at least two days to return results.

We have private labs here that have been able to do these rapid tests for a couple months now. It costs $300, though. People are using them for travel when they don't or can't plan ahead.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Ugh.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pfizer...ter-facing-supply-chain-obstacles-11607027787

 

[lifesavacation]

Ugh.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pfizer...ter-facing-supply-chain-obstacles-11607027787

That’s disappointing

 

[dvcgirl67]

That’s disappointing

It is. It's just for the vaccines to be shipped this year. They had a raw material issue. It doesn't say if the U.S. doses will be impacted for 2020, but it did say that the U,K. was expecting 10 million doses (enough for 5 million) by the end of this year, and now will get only 4-5 million. Time is just so critical right now.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It is. It's just for the vaccines to be shipped this year. They had a raw material issue. It doesn't say if the U.S. doses will be impacted for 2020, but it did say that the U,K. was expecting 10 million doses (enough for 5 million) by the end of this year, and now will get only 4-5 million. Time is just so critical right now.

Do you have an article not under a paywall by any chance?

 

[dvcgirl67]

Do you have an article not under a paywall by any chance?

Sorry about that...forgot I was reading the WSJ. Here's one.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/03/pfi...any-cut-its-covid-vaccine-rollout-target.html