Yeah even though the email I got from my vaccination site sounded like anyone could get a booster, a different email from the state says only immunocomprised and certain other people should get one, and they are still waiting on the Feds to approve boosters for all

Interesting story, serenitystat, thanks for the link. Sounds like it was more than just seniors trying to get first dibs, they had people flying in from out of state and the nursing home board members giving it to their friends which was ...special.

I do remember the slight uproar about Publix getting to distribute down there. I really didn't think that was odd because all the chain and supermarket pharmacies were supposed to get them eventuallyand in NJ it become a lot easier to get appointments once they did.

Olma - Publix controlled distribution so could send vaccines to wealthier areas. That's how you target by race and income level.

Thanks, Beesie! After reading about it I suggested he wait a week until he could get Pfizer. My kids got Pfizer. I got Spikevax from my specialty pharmacy. I know it wasn't branded then. 😉

I looked at the painting from the 14 hundreds (or whenever its' from) and I see a large crowd of people burning some individuals at the stake and the question was, basically, have we not progressed since then? No. We haven't.  All Bad Things are being laid at the feet of the unvaxxed and tremendous pressure is being applied, (fire at the stake) to force compliance. The crowd has the conviction that god has told them to burn the witches. God speaks directly to the good people. They KNOW they are right. THey know who the witches are. They look like witches! They smell like witches. And the only sensible thing to do is torture them until they turn in the other witches and then burn them. So to answer the question have we not progressed? Not even a little bit.

Beesie, I am still not convinced that total eradication of the virus was possible or even an intelligent goal. As someone said, it is a coronavirus and they have proven to be slippery fish when it comes to the cure - thus the common cold being common. If there was proof that we could achieve absolute safety with two shots, I would consider that good evidence. I have been looking for that evidence! But the more I look, the more it seems the wheels are coming off the bus. So while there are more waves coming, perhaps it's time to reconsider if we even ought to have the bus pointed down this road. 

Hub and I have also conducted ourselves in ways we normally do not. We have elderly parents. His vaxxed, mine not. If we feel even remotely 'off', we put a stop to all contact. When people call to say they're coming over (infrequent, we live in the sticks) we tell them we are not vaxxed. THey can decide to do what they feel is best.  I do not hug anyone unless I ask if they accept hugs. Some say no and I absolutely respect that. We wear masks everywhere we go and yes I hate every second of it. Most of our meetings with people have been outdoors in wide spaces with lots of room. So we have done what we can to be as safe as possible. But being forced to take the jab is our line in the sand. We are not against it. We are jut watching and watching and living a very curtailed life in the meantime. 

And here I thought I had been un-named. Imagine my disappointment. 

Hi KBL

You are not asking a question so I will just give you my California comment on Mr DeSantis. I find him abrasive, not approachable, empathetic nor particularly astute. But, he is your governor so it's your opinion that counts.

Stay well,

Jane

Ahhh, now the question - Covid & healthcare coverage. I do have strong feelings on this & I feel they are consistent to what is the current practice. I feel the full treatment for Covid should be completely covered if the patient is insured in any form. For those uninsured, the costs are currently written off after all legal means of collection is exhausted. Basically, this lines up with my feeling that medical care should be covered for every citizen in this country - no matter what.

However, insurance companies are in the business to make money & that means they have to assess their risks. Actuaries have decided that certain behaviors are high risk. That is why some insurances make you state if you are positive for nicotine, alcohol, etc. They can look into your previous health histories & see what you were admitted for. I would support an extra premium, like Delta Airlines has done, for insurance coverage.

I think the witches support vaccination. No???

I don't agree with forcing the insured to pay the full medical bill, regardless of whether or not they are vaccinated. We musn't lose our sense of compassion. However, I do understand adding a premium for those who are unvaccinated, especially in industries where there are a high number of people getting sick from Covid. The US doesn't have universal healthcare, so private insurance works very differently depending on what state you live in, and even depending on whther or not the company pays some of the cost of care.

I used to work as an account executive for a pharmaceutical benefits company, and worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield as well. There are some insurance plans where the company pays a portion of medical costs. For example, I had a client who had two patients that had HIV. Those employees cost them an extra two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. Now imagine a company like Delta, and why they would implement a premium for something that is deemed by the federal government as preventable? The key here is that the government deems it as preventable. Instead of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical bills for a preventable illness, and passing that cost onto all employees, they are trying their best, within the law, to mitigate the issue. Alternately, a person who doesn't agree with the rule can either find a new job or pay the premium. That's the price for living in a socialist country. Health insurance is a socialist concept. Money doesn't just grow on trees. It has to be pooled together and reserved for the few who will actually need it.

runor,

She who will not be named was a Harry Potter reference 😊. The original was he, not she, and was in reference to the dreaded Voldemort. My now 31 year old daughter and I read all of the HP books when she was young. My oldest granddaughter, 9, is now getting into them.

Before COVID people wore masks to prevent spreading illness and taken required vaccines when mandated. Why are so many so resistant now?

KBL - Here's an article for you. Short answer is experts believe no long term effects. Read for details.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/israeli-experts-analyze-if-mrna-covid-vaccines-be-dangerous-in-long-term-678171

About the insurance surcharge, I was under the impression that the ACA outlawed using any factor, other than tobacco use and age, to charge higher premiums.

Maybe Delta is getting around that because they're self insured? Not sure. I also read that Delta won't charge the surcharge for people who are unvaccinated due to health or religious exemptions. United just mandated vaccines for all employees, Delta is using the carrot/stick approach I guess.

I am more amenable to the idea of having vaccine mandates for employees who interface with the public (like food servers and flight attendants) then I am to the idea of total vaccine mandates for everyone or the electronic “vaccine passport" required everywhere we go.

I heard that somewhere (maybe a UK country?) they are requiring people to scan a QR code before they enter buildings etc for purposes of “contact tracing". Not sure whether to laugh or cry about that. (If true).

KBL - maybe you’re thinking of the Dalkon Shield. That was an IUD that injured many women and was pulled off the market

KBL: Prevention is better than treatment. Wearing a helmet when biking is better than having excellent care for your fractured skull.

serenity,

Thank you for the link to the Jerusalem Post article. I think is an easy to understand explanation of how a vaccine works as well as some historical information that supports vaccine safety.

From New York Times today (Aug. 30, 21):

The vaccine makers — Pfizer, Moderna and others — have an incentive to promote it, because booster shots will bring them big profits. The C.D.C. and F.D.A., for their part, have a history of extreme caution, even when it harms public health. We in the media tend to suffer from bad-news bias. And many Americans are so understandably frightened by Covid that they pay more attention to alarming signs than reassuring ones.

Also:

The current booster shots may do little good for most people. The vaccines continue to provide excellent protection against illness (as opposed to merely a positive Covid test). People will eventually need boosters, but it may make more sense to wait for one specifically designed to combat a variant. "We don't know whether a non-Delta booster would improve protection against Delta," Dr. Aaron Richterman of the University of Pennsylvania told me.

My DH and I had both shots of Pfizer but I really don't believe in booster shots if they are not designed for the current virus variant. It is like getting last year's flu shot. Unfortunately, where I work, we are required to have vaccines, boosters, etc. even though I won't work on medical field.