Coronavirus (2021) thread

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johnnymarrsbarres said:
She would’ve been eligible for ages surely? I know you’ve posted about her frustrations but surely you don’t need to wait for the doctors to give you a ring?

My mum is in her mid 60s, no health conditions and was booked in for her booster a couple of weeks ago but had to cancel as she had a cold. She’s having it done on Thursday now.

Your friend will have been way above her in the pecking order..?
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There are many factors involved. Not least that she has had about 10 visits to her home by a doctor or by a nurse whilst eligible (they finally gave her the flu jab that way 7 weeks after I had mine at about the third request from her).

But the Pfizer jab is not really practical to do that - or so they said. Because of its special temperature constraints that limit even most GP surgeries from storing it. Why I had to trek for miles to get it, but I am able to walk and she is not and had to stop driving (something she loved) a few years ago as doctors passed her too unfit to risk doing so.

Though they presumably have a way round the constraints on Pfizer to reach care homes. And as I told her to pester them and ask - in the circumstances why not tell them you will have AZ as surely any booster is better than none? And they CAN easily do that in her home. And as I noted here when I had my booster last week you can have AZ in special circumstances as they organised that for someone who had turned up whilst I was waiting and they said should not risk having Pfizer.

My friend did as I asked and it was that which pressed them into action but she still has to get a taxi to the Etihad (though not far from her home) and with an uncertain wait period depending how busy it is Sunday call another one to go home. And is panicking about being left outside if it is cold or raining.

There do seem to have been a lot of assumptions made about how easy it is for people to go get these jabs and not much preparation for those who will find this less than straightforward.

When I had my first one in February at the same place I went last week (even though that was AZ there were limited places doing it then) because of the distance they organised drivers and taxis and offered one up front for all patients coming some distance with any mobility issues. Common sense but that was not used for these boosters as it was considered easier now people knew where to go.

I would have thought doctors would realise that if you have mobility issues knowing where to go is the least of your concerns about getting there.
 
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Bill Walker said:
Had my Pfizer booster Wednesday, Thursday felt terrible, shivering, aching muscles, light headed and no energy.
Friday I felt fine.

Thank god we all live in a country where this is available and free. I was reading that most African countries are about 1.5% vaccinated, PNG similar. Figures for other 3rd world countries arent much better.
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Very, very, low rates of hospitalizations and deaths in Africa.
 
Healdplace said:
There are many factors involved. Not least that she has had about 10 visits to her home by a doctor or by a nurse whilst eligible (they finally gave her the flu jab that way 7 weeks after I had mine at about the third request from her).

But the Pfizer jab is not really practical to do that - or so they said. Because of its special temperature constraints that limit even most GP surgeries from storing it. Why I had to trek for miles to get it, but I am able to walk and she is not and had to stop driving (something she loved) a few years ago as doctors passed her too unfit to risk doing so.

Though they presumably have a way round the constraints on Pfizer to reach care homes. And as I told her to pester them and ask - in the circumstances why not tell them you will have AZ as surely any booster is better than none? And they CAN easily do that in her home. And as I noted here when I had my booster last week you can have AZ in special circumstances as they organised that for someone who had turned up whilst I was waiting and they said should not risk having Pfizer.

My friend did as I asked and it was that which pressed them into action but she still has to get a taxi to the Etihad (though not far from her home) and with an uncertain wait period depending how busy it is Sunday call another one to go home. And is panicking about being left outside if it is cold or raining.

There do seem to have been a lot of assumptions made about how easy it is for people to go get these jabs and not much preparation for those who will find this less than straightforward.

When I had my first one in February at the same place I went last week (even though that was AZ there were limited places doing it then) because of the distance they organised drivers and taxis and offered one up front for all patients coming some distance with any mobility issues. Common sense but that was not used for these boosters as it was considered easier now people knew where to go.

I would have thought doctors would realise that if you have mobility issues knowing where to go is the least of your concerns about getting there.
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The constraint around Pfizer, and indeed many vaccines, are the doses per vial and any dilution that may need to be done beforehand. Going to a care home to jab several people is fairly simple, whatever the vaccine.

Pfizer needs to be diluted before use and cannot be moved multiple times so planning housebound patients can be problematic, especially considering indemnity insurances and the like.
Moderna on the other hand, is fairly simple to prepare but, at this moment in time, cannot be used as ‘outreach’. Both of those vaccines also require a post vaccination observation period of 15 minutes.
It’s another example whereby, if you could keep ministers out of the way, the whole process would have been much simpler. None of these logistical limitations are a surprise and, with a better planned rollout, were easily solvable.
 
hgblue said:
Very, very, low rates of hospitalizations and deaths in Africa.
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most of Africa doesn’t have easy access health care to allow people to get help. Most African nations don’t even register death certificates for the majority of there populations due to lack of facilities.

safe to say official stats are massively under counted. Same as they were in India where the closest way to track was crematorium capacity being overwhelmed and knowing a rough idea of what that capacity was…. They usually had something like 10k a day and they were topping running 25-50k over that per day in there main wave.

Then there what the others have already pointed out. The weaknesses that covid used to kill in the 1st world had already killed the people.
 
hgblue said:
Very, very, low rates of hospitalizations and deaths in Africa.
Click to expand...

Hard to get into hospital when there isn't one, I guess.

Fatality rates in developing countries are estimated as around double those in developed country per age range.

www.medrxiv.org

Assessing the Burden of COVID-19 in Developing Countries: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Public Policy Implications

Introduction The infection-fatality rate (IFR) of COVID-19 has been carefully measured and analyzed in high-income countries, whereas there has been no systematic analysis of age-specific seroprevalence or IFR for developing countries. Indeed, it has been suggested that the death rate in...
www.medrxiv.org www.medrxiv.org
 
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