Community Chat

[Nancy Drew]

---

@suzyQ3 wrote:

---

@Nancy Drew wrote:

I get a flu shot every year, taking a COVID shot will not bother me at all. Throwing away those masks and getting our lives back especially our youth, I'm in!

---

@Nancy Drew, OMG, if I take the vaccine, I'll get my youth back -- where do I sign up?

---

Oh let me be clear. I am extremely worried about our youth during this pandemic. That is my number one priority.

[willdob3]

---

@Nancy Drew wrote:

---

@willdob3 wrote:

---

@Nancy Drew wrote:

I get a flu shot every year, taking a COVID shot will not bother me at all. Throwing away those masks and getting our lives back especially our youth, I'm in!

---

@Nancy Drew 

That isn’t the plan.

The vaccines are not going to let people toss the masks. The vaccines are supposed to be in addition to wearing masks. The studies they are doing have the participants wearing masks and practicing social distancing. 

---

Who's plan? Wearing a mask and getting a vaccine? Good Luck with that!

---

@Nancy Drew 

The makers of the vaccine, the health experts. Their plan. At no time have any of them suggested a vaccine might mean no more masks. Admittedly, they definitely don’t talk about that very often. 

Your reaction is one reason I keep saying people are almost certainly going to be disappointed with whatever vaccine is eventually released.

Those good results they are bragging about are when using the vaccine along with wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Half the people in this country refuse to wear masks now and the other half wears them but hates every minute 

Good in theory but I don’t see it working very well.

[noodleann]

---

@willdob3 wrote:

---

@noodleann wrote:

From a news source:

"Pfizer and Moderna each announced the findings in news releases, not in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and the companies have not yet disclosed the detailed data that would allow outside experts to evaluate their claims. Therefore, the results cannot be considered conclusive. The studies are continuing, and the figures on effectiveness may change."

It's good news, but everything depends on the data holding up under expert scrutiny. This same source said that 10 other firms, besides Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, are in stage III trials, and that over 50 others are in earlier stages of testing. Every day that goes by means more data on effectiveness. But it would be smart also to remember that in the decade it's existed, Moderna has never brought a product to market. If it pulls this off, it'll be the pharma coup of the century.

---

@noodleann 

It is very early to be getting excited about any vaccine. They don’t really have results on these yet, no matter what noise they spout. They don’t even have any idea how long any of them might last IF they provide any immunity at all.

Even best case scenario is getting a vaccine and continuing to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

I am afraid there are going to be millions of disappointed people out there. 

---

You're preaching to the choir on this. I said it's good news, but I am anything but excited because I know press releases are stories, nothing more.

I'm wondering whether people who have been given the vaccine and subsequently become infected but don't get sick can transmit the virus to others. I have a lot of other concerns about safety of the vaccines themselves, immediate and long-term. (For the self-appointed censor among us, I'm entitled to these concerns because I have auto-immune disorders that mean my response can be atypical.) We don't even yet know how often they'll be needed if it's not a one-time thing. Once the companies that get approval have fulfilled their obligation under the funding agreement, what will they charge?

My acronym for all of this is SEA: Safety, Efficacy, and Accessibility (access and affordability). All three will have to be robust for a vaccine program to work well. Plus--the major dealbreaker--people will have to be willing to be vaccinated.

Paul Offit said that masks and distancing will be necessary even with the vaccine. The problem is that, as can be seen in these posts, people won't believe that and will not mask or distance once they've had their shots. They won't be "disappointed," they'll reject the guidance. That's one of the reasons I don't see a vaccine changing things in a substantive way for a very long time. 

[Anonymous032819]

---

@vsm wrote:

---

@nevergivesup wrote:

I will be thrilled to see a vaccine in our future but I hope the concerns of those who have lost loved ones and suffered long term health consequences among many other things are not trivialized or judged. Would we tell someone who lost a child in war to be cheerful, get over it or imply they are neurotic or enjoying their grief?

I am happy for those who remain untouched by this once in a hundred year pandemic but I hope we can all bring compassion to the quarter million who have died, their loved ones and the healthcare workers who continue to risk their lives to hold the line.

---

I, for one, don't see on this thread any "trivializing" or lack of "compassion" or suggestions that the sorrowing are "neurotic or enjoying their grief" or should just "get over it."  I see help and hope, and I'm grateful. 

---

@vsm 

I agree.

Besides, the two are not mutually exclusive.

One can be happy and hopeful that an effective vaccine is right around the corner, and be compassionate to those who lost loved ones at the same time.

[golding76]

Yes, I am excited and hopeful that there is another vaccine to be available soon, but I think we must proceed with caution.  That means, as some others here have already pointed out, that we don't immediately throw the masks and social-distancing aside but, instead, continue with all measures that help control this stealthy virus and mitigate its destructive force.

It is important to proceed with caution, assess the efficacy of the available vaccines, remove each layer of preventative action one at a time and see where that leaves us.  

Fingers crossed we are going to control this wicked infectious disease sooner rather than later.

[Porcelain]

---

---

We're probably going to have even more deaths this winter because some folks will take this news and be so optimistic that they'll declare Covid Over prematurely. And plan huge unprotected Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations with their family and friends. The more people present the higher the liklihood that someone in the party will be positive and spread Covid to others.

That would be so tragic to die or get deathly ill with chronic health problems, just months or weeks before everyone else gets vaccinated and becomes relatively safe. (And of course all Covid deaths are equally tragic.)

[suzyQ3]

---

@Nancy Drew wrote:

---

@suzyQ3 wrote:

---

@Nancy Drew wrote:

I get a flu shot every year, taking a COVID shot will not bother me at all. Throwing away those masks and getting our lives back especially our youth, I'm in!

---

@Nancy Drew, OMG, if I take the vaccine, I'll get my youth back -- where do I sign up?

---

Oh let me be clear. I am extremely worried about our youth during this pandemic. That is my number one priority.

---

I was very clear, @Nancy Drew. Just wanted to lighten up the conversation a little.

[willdob3]

---

@noodleann wrote:

---

@willdob3 wrote:

---

@noodleann wrote:

From a news source:

"Pfizer and Moderna each announced the findings in news releases, not in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and the companies have not yet disclosed the detailed data that would allow outside experts to evaluate their claims. Therefore, the results cannot be considered conclusive. The studies are continuing, and the figures on effectiveness may change."

It's good news, but everything depends on the data holding up under expert scrutiny. This same source said that 10 other firms, besides Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, are in stage III trials, and that over 50 others are in earlier stages of testing. Every day that goes by means more data on effectiveness. But it would be smart also to remember that in the decade it's existed, Moderna has never brought a product to market. If it pulls this off, it'll be the pharma coup of the century.

---

@noodleann 

It is very early to be getting excited about any vaccine. They don’t really have results on these yet, no matter what noise they spout. They don’t even have any idea how long any of them might last IF they provide any immunity at all.

Even best case scenario is getting a vaccine and continuing to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

I am afraid there are going to be millions of disappointed people out there. 

---

You're preaching to the choir on this. I said it's good news, but I am anything but excited because I know press releases are stories, nothing more.

I'm wondering whether people who have been given the vaccine and subsequently become infected but don't get sick can transmit the virus to others. I have a lot of other concerns about safety of the vaccines themselves, immediate and long-term. (For the self-appointed censor among us, I'm entitled to these concerns because I have auto-immune disorders that mean my response can be atypical.) We don't even yet know how often they'll be needed if it's not a one-time thing. Once the companies that get approval have fulfilled their obligation under the funding agreement, what will they charge?

My acronym for all of this is SEA: Safety, Efficacy, and Accessibility (access and affordability). All three will have to be robust for a vaccine program to work well. Plus--the major dealbreaker--people will have to be willing to be vaccinated.

Paul Offit said that masks and distancing will be necessary even with the vaccine. The problem is that, as can be seen in these posts, people won't believe that and will not mask or distance once they've had their shots. They won't be "disappointed," they'll reject the guidance. That's one of the reasons I don't see a vaccine changing things in a substantive way for a very long time. 

---

@noodleann 

I wasn’t preaching to you; I was agreeing with and adding to what you said. 

This is a very long, in progress train wreck. I think a lot of people who research and pay attention will not get the vaccine. I think more people will run out, get the vaccine, and either not hear (we tend to hear what we want to hear) the message about continuing to wear masks and social distance, or they will ignore it. Half the country is ignoring it now.

There are even a lot of people who still don’t believe the virus exists - I’ve heard horror stories reported on the news of people with COVID refusing to believe they have it...

Personally, I am wearing a mask and doing all the other safety measures. I can’t think of any reason I should even be last in line for a vaccine. Not with the virus as we understand it now and not with the almost worthless vaccines they are suggesting. It all sounds like a money making big pharma con to me. In other words, nothing new. 

[Mindy D]

---

@haddon9 wrote:

Have they announced long term safety?

---

@haddon9 They only need to have short term safety results to get approval under Compassionate Use. They will follow participants for two years to get long term safety data.