The covid vaccine

[iolaire]

In Arlington County Virginia there is no prioritization within any group, so I would have the same chance at a Virus as compared to an other high risk conditions person in the overweigh category with a BMI of 25+, and that person would have same priority of someone who is severe obesity with a BMI of 40+. 

That also meant that the special needs teachers who were teaching daily in class didn't receive vaccination before the teachers who were teaching remotely.  It feels like Arlington County didn't want to do any prioritization beyond the broad bands of 75+, 65+ (now being scheduled for shots) and then those with high risk conditions.  They are allocating something like 200 doses per week for our free clinic that might be prioritized.

DC is allocating 50% of their doses to residents of the zip codes with highest infection rates which sounds like a good method to get the vaccine to those who would benefit from it most.

[Michael Murphy]

Up date after second shot. Shot last Tuesday. On Thursday I was exhausted slept all day. Wednesday, Friday dialysis days tough to judge since I am having blood pressure problems (coming in low leaving lower). Today Saturday woke at 9:00 AM by noon was getting sleepy slept from 12:00 till 4:00 PM.  Weird.

[MooseMom]

Up date after second shot. Shot last Tuesday. On Thursday I was exhausted slept all day. Wednesday, Friday dialysis days tough to judge since I am having blood pressure problems (coming in low leaving lower). Today Saturday woke at 9:00 AM by noon was getting sleepy slept from 12:00 till 4:00 PM.  Weird.

Oh, that is weird.  I've not heard of "excessive sleepiness" being a possible side effect of the vaccine, but who knows?  Are you feeling any more energetic today?

[Michael Murphy]

Yes the need for a lot of sleep has passed.  All told a minor cost for immunity to covid worst effects,

[kristina]

Hello Michael, I am very glad for you and hopefully you are well and truly protected from now on! Fingers crossed!
Take good care and best wishes from Kristina.

P.S. I am still waiting for my second vaccination and have been told that my first vaccination already assists a lot, so I can only hope it is true and I can feel a bit calmer about "it" and hopefully it is going to work out ...

[MooseMom]

Yes the need for a lot of sleep has passed.  All told a minor cost for immunity to covid worst effects,

Oh, that's good to know.  Thanks for your post.

[Hereware]

I received the pfizer version this morning. It's 8hrs later and I have localized soreness, I feel fine but was a bit extra tired today. I took a nap when I got home after eating. I will upload some of the documents I recieved when I can. I'll also update any crazy changes if I have them. So far, nothing unexpected.

My sister in law who was vaccinated said it was normal to feel that way, but you will feel better after 24 hours

[cassandra]

Had second Astra Zeneca jab Sunday    felt flu-like yesterday. Think I’ll be good again when I officially will get up today. Now already a lot better. And ‘protected’ in 2 weeks. We will see how the situation is in Holland by the time we are allowed to travel again. Would love to see my mum.

[Hereware]

Glad to hear that you have positive feedback about the vaccine. Keep us updated. Wishing you the best!

[kristina]

Had second Astra Zeneca jab Sunday    felt flu-like yesterday. Think I’ll be good again when I officially will get up today. Now already a lot better. And ‘protected’ in 2 weeks. We will see how the situation is in Holland by the time we are allowed to travel again. Would love to see my mum.

Hello Cassandra,
I am glad about your Astra Zeneca-jab and hopefully it goes alright for you without any side-effects?
... I had "my" two Pfizer-vaccinations and my second jab went much better than the first one ... and I very much hope for you to be able and travel to see your mother again as soon as possible and hopefully Holland is doing alright with the Covid-jabs?
... I always loved to travel to Amsterdam and visit the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum with all favourite works by Rembrandt and Vermeer and for art-lovers, a journey to the Rijksmuseum is almost like a pilgrimage to see special paintings again, who, over the years have almost become "old friends" ... and that makes me realise, that I haven't been visiting these "old friends" for such a long while and I really need my urgent operation done as soon as is possible, in order to be able and travel again, when the covid-danger and lock-down are hopefully being "done and over with" a.s.a.p....
Best of luck from Kristina.

[UkrainianTracksuit]

Last week, I received a letter about vaccination info for transplant patients from the transplant hospital. Q & A's sort of thing. Also, an expedited process/registration to get a vaccine! Too bad I live far away and we're under a lockdown.

Same week, it was announced that our public health people will be reaching out directly to transplant recipients rather than a general call for vaccination (based on age or employment or race category).

Today, I got a call from the local hospital asking if I was interested in getting the jab. Yep, I said. As it was explained it to me, they are going to get the numbers of vaccines needed and then make direct appointments with the patients.

Different than what I expected and I am still lost.  Still, seems like things are moving behind the scenes. Just waiting for call #2 now.. due in the next few weeks.

[MooseMom]

OK, well, that IS progress, I suppose!  I certainly never got any direct instructions from my tx hospital!

[iolaire]

Thats good news UkrainianTracksuit.

[kristina]

Same week, it was announced that our public health people will be reaching out directly to transplant recipients rather than a general call for vaccination (based on age or employment or race category).

Hello UkrainianTracksuit,
Please tell me ... was it explained, how the vaccination could possibly be related to employment and/or race-category?
I am wondering about this, because when I was being "put" on the kidney-transplant waiting-list, I was told, that kidney-transplants are somehow race-related, i.e. I could only receive "my" transplant-kidney from a white-European-type-of-person with a similar set-up like myself (whatever that may mean) and I never could understand it, especially since I asked and no answer was forward-coming...
Could that mean, that there is a medical Apartheid taking place, or could there be real genuine medical reasons in place that must be taken into account? Does anyone know?
Many thanks from Kristina.

[UkrainianTracksuit]

Hi kristina,

Kidney donors/recipients most certainly can come from different races. It is only that one can receive a better match in regard to all the parameters (typically) with one with a similar genetic background. Here's a nice little article that can explain it better than I could ever: https://www.life-source.org/latest/does-my-race-ethnicity-matter-in-organ-donation/

In regard to the Covid vaccine, it is a little different. From the start, the government has focused on vaccinating indigenous peoples as a priority group because many do not have access to health care facilities, they live in communal or multi-generational housing and some of their communities are remote. That is what I meant by race considerations.

This has then transitioned to a focus on local hotspots meaning who have got the sickest more consistently and in larger numbers. Since many of them are essential workers, also living in some sort of multi-generational home, it has come down to socio-economic concerns. (People who cannot afford to stay home from work often work essential worker jobs, so they are exposed, get sick, and take the virus home to family members.) For the most part, this has been identified in racialized communities. So, there has been a push to get these people prioritized for vaccination, at least here in the "dumpster fire" of the country.

I guess a subpoint to this would be that particular groups of people (Black, for instance) had other co-morbidities and were hospitalized at higher rates. So, best to include them in the next general call for vaccination in phase 2.

Still in the line of employment, those that cannot work from home, all the way from farm workers to border inspection officers, are some of the groups included in the upcoming roll-out.

Hope that answers your question somewhat, kristina!

[kristina]

Hello UkrainianTracksuit and many thanks for your kind explanation, it does make sense and is very much appreciated. It also explains somehow, why my donated kidney came from an 80-year-old white European donor and I was told that it was such very good match and was accepted because of our striking similarities. Mind you, it is a pity that "all that" is so very complicated.
Take great care and many thanks again from Kristina. 

[Hereware]

Hello UkrainianTracksuit and many thanks for your kind explanation, it does make sense and is very much appreciated. It also explains somehow, why my donated kidney came from an 80-year-old white European donor and I was told that it was such very good match and was accepted because of our striking similarities. Mind you, it is a pity that "all that" is so very complicated.
Take great care and many thanks again from Kristina. 

What did they mean by striking similarities?

[kristina]

Hello UkrainianTracksuit and many thanks for your kind explanation, it does make sense and is very much appreciated. It also explains somehow, why my donated kidney came from an 80-year-old white European donor and I was told that it was such very good match and was accepted because of our striking similarities. Mind you, it is a pity that "all that" is so very complicated.
Take great care and many thanks again from Kristina. 

What did they mean by striking similarities?

Hello Hereware,
... they thought we had striking similarities in terms of blood-group, fitness,  I am also very slim and keep myself as well as is possible etc. ...

[kristina]

 ... Has anyone heard about the "Indian-Corona-Virus", which seems to be spreading very fast and is supposedly so powerfully deadly, that it makes the effects of the Pfizer-vaccination and any other vaccination null and void?

I do hope it is "only" rumour ... ? Because if it isn't, where do we go from here ...  ?   

[UkrainianTracksuit]

Hi kristina,

The particular variant of which you speak is indeed real and not a rumor. There are calls for the government here to halt all flights to/from India because of it. I found that this article had a useful Q & A format and traces the history of it: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/theres-a-new-double-mutant-covid-19-variant-in-india-how-worried-should-we-be

It is a bit to early to discount the efficacy of vaccines according to those in countries that have already experienced cases of this variant. For example, in Israel, it was noted that the vaccine was "partially effective." That is better than nothing. As you'll read in the above article, it states Indian authorities are investigating the efficacy of the vaccines registered in the country for use and this current variant.

(And in fact, it seems like the Israeli experience was based on use of Pfizer: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/covid-19-pfizer-vaccine-partially-effective-against-indian-variant/articleshow/82172657.cms )

That said, research is still ongoing regarding all the new variants of concerns and how the current vaccines can be tinkered with to match these new variants. All hope is not lost quite just yet. Except to see more variants I guess...like the more "sluggish" Siberian one that has been identified.

[kristina]

Hi kristina,

The particular variant of which you speak is indeed real and not a rumor. There are calls for the government here to halt all flights to/from India because of it. I found that this article had a useful Q & A format and traces the history of it: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/theres-a-new-double-mutant-covid-19-variant-in-india-how-worried-should-we-be

It is a bit to early to discount the efficacy of vaccines according to those in countries that have already experienced cases of this variant. For example, in Israel, it was noted that the vaccine was "partially effective." That is better than nothing. As you'll read in the above article, it states Indian authorities are investigating the efficacy of the vaccines registered in the country for use and this current variant.

(And in fact, it seems like the Israeli experience was based on use of Pfizer: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/covid-19-pfizer-vaccine-partially-effective-against-indian-variant/articleshow/82172657.cms )

That said, research is still ongoing regarding all the new variants of concerns and how the current vaccines can be tinkered with to match these new variants. All hope is not lost quite just yet. Except to see more variants I guess...like the more "sluggish" Siberian one that has been identified.

Hello UkrainianTracksuit,
Many thanks for your detailed research-results and, on one hand I am so glad to read & mentally digest more about it, but on the other hand this new development is a bit frightening, because I am still eagerly hoping and waiting to receive my most urgent operation to have finally repaired and "put right" the medical errors that happened during "my" kidney-transplant over two and a half years ago... and ... these medical errors have left me in chronic terrible pain ever since...
I am getting very tired of all the errors and everything else that went so awfully wrong, not only during “my” kidney-transplant, but ever since, due to lack of medical assistance and care ...
I also feel awful, because during the last two and a half years it would have been so good, if I would have been given a chance to look after my husband who had to undergo terrible cancer-operations and treatments and instead of being able to look after him, I was extremely miserable myself with chronic terrible pain...
And now we have to put up with such terrible news about new “variations on a theme of Covid-Virus” ... ... what next?

[UkrainianTracksuit]

My husband is eligible to get the AstraZeneca vaccine (aged 40+) at the local pharmacies.

Will he get it? No.

He is an educated person even with a background in the natural sciences. It's not as if he is stupid, or even a big believer in the media, but it has been completely tainted in his mind. His body, his choice. 

This is one of those moments where it isn't worth fighting, but I'm just dismayed all his logic went out the window.

[iolaire]

Sorry UT we visited with a couple a few weeks ago and the highly educated quantitative financial analyst Ukrainian husband had various logical reasons he was not going to get the vaccine. We felt bad for the wife and for you. It didn’t feel like argument would change his views.

[PrimeTimer]

I have a question for you transplant recipients -you lovely people! 

Have any of your doctors had you taper down and temporarily stop any of your immuno-suppressant drugs prior to getting the vaccine?

[UkrainianTracksuit]

I have a question for you transplant recipients -you lovely people! 

Have any of your doctors had you taper down and temporarily stop any of your immuno-suppressant drugs prior to getting the vaccine?

Hey Pea Tea, over here, no. They didn't feel there was enough evidence or a clinical protocol just yet.

That said....

I've heard through the grapevine that those with other illnesses are having their prednisone managed differently around vaccine times, such as a delayed dose.