OT: NEW EVERYTHING / ANYTHING COVID-19 THREAD PART II

[DennisHajekRC84]

Yet my parents in their 80's, who registered on the state website as soon as they were eligible, still have received no opportunity to book appointments from the state.
I later registered them with several other sites that use their own system.

Thanks to helpful suggestions on this football message board, I was able to get them appointments at Rowan, Sewell/Deptford for later this month.
But the fact the the state has yet to contact them to make appointments, even while I keep reading here and elsewhere how people got appointments like you describe is incredible. NJ's system is a major cluster F!@$.

I'm glad you were able to get them appts. I guess the rep did call you back. That's great. As NJ appears to be only using that Rowan site as its one and only place if you register online at the STATE"S system imagine the number of folks on line for that place. early on they were using it for high priority essential people. More recently a woman I bowl with got an invite for there. But you can get in if you got the magic phone number?! Truly a remarkably dysfunctional system. But not surprising.

Were any of the other Mega centers near them included in your registration? Atlantic City or Burlington? Just wondering if you ever heard back on those yet. I register at Burlington back mid Jan. and got an email for appt. in early Feb. Perhaps 3 week later for an appt. 3 weeks later.

Good luck to them.

 

[ArminRU]

I haven't seen one plan about vaccination IDs that didn't have major flaws.

Several countries are already doing it. Not as complicated as you think.

 

[RobertG]

Yet my parents in their 80's, who registered on the state website as soon as they were eligible, still have received no opportunity to book appointments from the state.
I later registered them with several other sites that use their own system.

Thanks to helpful suggestions on this football message board, I was able to get them appointments at Rowan, Sewell/Deptford for later this month.
But the fact the the state has yet to contact them to make appointments, even while I keep reading here and elsewhere how people got appointments like you describe is incredible. NJ's system is a major cluster F!@$.

By comparison, I live in New Hampshire. Here you register with the state and nowhere else. All vaccination appointments are scheduled through one system. All the state-run sites as well as the CVS and Walgreens, etc are handled in the same system. My group isn't yet eligible, but my wife and her mom, who are were initially given appointments for a first shot in April. Then as the supply increased they both received calls with the opportunity to move up their appointments. They had their first shots a couple weeks ago. There was no calling multiple places, or registering with multiple websites. No opening multiple incognito browser sessions on vaccine appointment sites to try and secure better "lottery" numbers. no muss, no fuss. Yes NH has 1 million people to NJ's 8 million. But that should not prevent NJ from managing a single cohesive system that lets the 80 year old's, who are not computer savvy, secure appointments in a simple fashion.

Apparently NJ is using a registration system developed by Microsoft that seems to be crapping out. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Maybe Gates should go back and fix this issue.

Microsoft says vaccine tools have ‘fallen short’ after D.C. snags

Widely-used Microsoft vaccine scheduling software that has run into difficulties in Iowa and New Jersey is being blamed for problems that left some residents of the nation's capital unable to book appointments.

www.seattletimes.com

 

[Scarlet16E]

I'm glad you were able to get them appts. I guess the rep did call you back. That's great. As NJ appears to be only using that Rowan site as its one and only place if you register online at the STATE"S system imagine the number of folks on line for that place. early on they were using it for high priority essential people. More recently a woman I bowl with got an invite for there. But you can get in if you got the magic phone number?! Truly a remarkably dysfunctional system. But not surprising.

Were any of the other Mega centers near them included in your registration? Atlantic City or Burlington? Just wondering if you ever heard back on those yet. I register at Burlington back mid Jan. and got an email for appt. in early Feb. Perhaps 3 week later for an appt. 3 weeks later.

Good luck to them.

Yes they called back the next day and made appointments for them. Even made the appointments together so they can do it together. Thank you very much for the secret number!
I had registered with the Moorestown Mall site and had been on the AC site's portal for several of their appointment lotteries (tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays), as well as the Rowan,Stratford site and CVS + Rite Aid.

 

[WhiteBus]

Several countries are already doing it. Not as complicated as you think.

Non communists countries?

 

[tom1944]

In the past week my ex, son, daughter, sister, and 3 friends all had appt's scheduled. I showed up at Brookdale CC only to find a friend in line with the same scheduled time.

So my May date is looking better all the time

 

[ArminRU]

Non communists countries?

Israel probably counts

 

[RU23]

That’s not what he meant as some of my men are very young and qualify just like you did.

It is exactly what he meant. And you should be encouraging anyone who is qualified to register and get vaccinated when they get an appointment. They are qualified for a reason (I.e. having to interact with more people than most and giving them a higher chance of getting/spreading the virus)

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

Yes they called back the next day and made appointments for them. Even made the appointments together so they can do it together. Thank you very much for the secret number!
I had registered with the Moorestown Mall site and had been on the AC site's portal for several of their appointment lotteries (tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays), as well as the Rowan,Stratford site and CVS + Rite Aid.

yeah, I forgot that AC thing was being done like that.. geez.

 

[WhiteBus]

Israel probably counts

But you have to admit Israel is more advanced with vaccine distribution and vaccinations then the US. However they will face the same issue with fraud. Theirs sounds like it's just like what they were using for the Brooklyn Nets. It will be digital AND paper you can print yourself.
The other advantage Israel has is they are doing as a single country. We are doing it state by state. Is each state going to give out the same passport as all the others or will they be like licenses and every state is different?

 

[rutgersdave]

A friend of my daughter called and received the JNJ shot all in the same day in Jackson

It looks like things are opening up because anecdotally I have become aware of at least 10 people who were able to schedule the shot within a week

I could have gotten an appointment yesterday at St Joseph for my one sister who refuses to take the shot. The only one out of 8 that is waiting a little longer. I almost got her one at Valley Hospital the day before, got to the time and then said full.

 

[e5fdny]

It is exactly what he meant. And you should be encouraging anyone who is qualified to register and get vaccinated when they get an appointment. They are qualified for a reason (I.e. having to interact with more people than most and giving them a higher chance of getting/spreading the virus)

No it’s not.

He is talking about those here in NJ who literally did jump the line.

You are totally legit and shouldn’t feel the need to defend yourself here.

 

[rutgersdave]

No it’s not.

He is talking about those here in NJ who literally did jump the line.

You are totally legit and shouldn’t feel the need to defend yourself here.

No one knows for sure who jumps the line. They see some young people on line and they think they jumped the line.

 

[RU23]

No it’s not.

He is talking about those here in NJ who literally did jump the line.

You are totally legit and shouldn’t feel the need to defend yourself here.

Ok I misunderstood what you were saying. But yeah that poster has been harassing me a little bit so I put him on ignore. He was 100% talking about me lol

 

[e5fdny]

No one knows for sure who jumps the line. They see some young people on line and they think they jumped the line.

Some of us do.😉 And I’ll leave it at that but will add this particular person didn’t even try to get one for her elderly mother.

 

[RU848789]

FYI, for anyone who hasn't seen them, the occasional White House COVID Task Force press briefings are very well done and chock full of useful information and guidance on COVID, ranging from vaccine science and distribution to public health measures (like masks/distancing) to statistics on COVID trends in cases, hospitalizations and deaths and more including Q&A. Here's the one from today (video and transcript)...



https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...response-team-and-public-health-officials-11/

 

[Joey Bags]

Pfizer CEO's Israel visit canceled because he is not fully vaccinated

Bourla said in December that he has not yet received the vaccine yet because he does not want to "cut in line."

www.jpost.com

Really, really bad look for the CEO of Pfizer. I'm not buying the "doesn't want to cut in line" nonsense. Seeing the CEO of the firm responsible for the most widely produced vaccine take his own product would be a big boost to public perception for vaccination.

Is it possible he's a closet anti-vaxxer?

 

[RU848789]

Pfizer CEO's Israel visit canceled because he is not fully vaccinated

Bourla said in December that he has not yet received the vaccine yet because he does not want to "cut in line."

www.jpost.com

Really, really bad look for the CEO of Pfizer. I'm not buying the "doesn't want to cut in line" nonsense. Seeing the CEO of the firm responsible for the most widely produced vaccine take his own product would be a big boost to public perception for vaccination.

Is it possible he's a closet anti-vaxxer?

Need to read more closely. He has taken the first dose, but not the 2nd, so he's clearly not anti-vaxx. The "not cutting the line" logic is actually gratifying to see out of a CEO, IMO.

 

[WhiteBus]

First dose today at a concert venue on South Street in Philadelphia. The TLA (Theater of the Living Arts) famous for local and national bands. Small place former movie theater. I've been there many times to see great music upcoming bands. Most famous, or soon to be at the time, was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Last time I was there was a punk rock jam by mostly cover bands with talent. Hosted by Penn Medicine for their clients only. Penn Medicine has rented the venue out for months along with 3 other places in CC Philly. Very efficient. In and out in maybe 20 mins which included 15 mins post shot waiting time.
However if people think there will be a vaccination passport anytime soon please stop. They all use their own systems to record the vaccination differently. Using different key info of identity.

 

[Greg2020]

It is exactly what he meant. And you should be encouraging anyone who is qualified to register and get vaccinated when they get an appointment. They are qualified for a reason (I.e. having to interact with more people than most and giving them a higher chance of getting/spreading the virus)

true but I do know some lying a holes who don't qualify and lied about conditions. Not in NJ though.

 

[ArminRU]

First dose today at a concert venue on South Street in Philadelphia. The TLA (Theater of the Living Arts) famous for local and national bands. Small place former movie theater. I've been there many times to see great music upcoming bands. Most famous, or soon to be at the time, was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Last time I was there was a punk rock jam by mostly cover bands with talent. Hosted by Penn Medicine for their clients only. Penn Medicine has rented the venue out for months along with 3 other places in CC Philly. Very efficient. In and out in maybe 20 mins which included 15 mins post shot waiting time.
However if people think there will be a vaccination passport anytime soon please stop. They all use their own systems to record the vaccination differently. Using different key info of identity.

Centralized databases dude. It ain’t 1980 anymore.

 

[WhiteBus]

Centralized databases dude. If ain’t 1980 anymore.

No it's not a centralized data base. Pharmacy and hospitals systems are not the same. HIPAA laws actually frown on sharing info. I got my shot from Penn Medical. They can not share that info without my consent. The one page document I signed had nothing about sharing info.

 

[ArminRU]

No it's not a centralized data base. Pharmacy and hospitals systems are not the same. HIPAA laws actually frown on sharing info. I got my shot from Penn Medical. They can not share that info without my consent. The one page document I signed had nothing about sharing info.

Believe what you want.

 

[WhiteBus]

Believe what you want.

I believe what I was told today and believe in the HIPPA Law. Funny you ignoring that law. It's very powerful. Whatever.
You fail to understand vaccinations are not a Federal Government program. Vaccinations are done on a local level except for the FEMA sites. I was not at a FEMA site.

 

[ArminRU]

Ok

 

[MulletCork]

Teachers now immediately eligible for the vaccine in NJ.

Get them vaccinated and get all the kids back in school. No more excuses!

 

[RU848789]

Teachers now immediately eligible for the vaccine in NJ.

Get them vaccinated and get all the kids back in school. No more excuses!

Was just about to post, thanks. Good news - mostly comes from a change in Federal Guidelines on vaccinations, but still good to see.

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2021...diately-not-on-date-previously-announced.html

 

[MulletCork]

Was just about to post, thanks. Good news - mostly comes from a change in Federal Guidelines on vaccinations, but still good to see.

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2021...diately-not-on-date-previously-announced.html

I am really surprised that teachers weren’t prioritized more. I’m not a teacher nor have none in the family.
I just feel that teachers are essential employees. It’s essential that kids are in school and learning. The future depends on it.

I know it’s been a numbers game with shots and all but I just am surprised teachers weren’t higher up the list.

The amount of students that literally have “disappeared” and fallen off the grid in some areas is shocking. Kids not attending school at home or in person for months. It’s hard to come back from that.

Obviously it helps the economy that parents can then work and earn paychecks if their kids are physically in school.

Glad to see this change and hope availability increases as projected.

 

[tom1944]

My daughter is a teacher and she is scheduled for Tuesday.

She has been in school all year with students in the class room

 

[RU848789]

I am really surprised that teachers weren’t prioritized more. I’m not a teacher nor have none in the family.
I just feel that teachers are essential employees. It’s essential that kids are in school and learning. The future depends on it.

I know it’s been a numbers game with shots and all but I just am surprised teachers weren’t higher up the list.

The amount of students that literally have “disappeared” and fallen off the grid in some areas is shocking. Kids not attending school at home or in person for months. It’s hard to come back from that.

Obviously it helps the economy that parents can then work and earn paychecks if their kids are physically in school.

Glad to see this change and hope availability increases as projected.

I agree, but there's also no perfect system. My sister in FL is annoyed that their system is basically over 65 first, then everyone else (she's 61 and would be 1C in NJ). Some like that approach. Some complain about smokers and overweight people getting vaccines, but not about those over 65 who are overweight or smokers. Personally, I like the way NJ has done it, putting emphasis on saving the most lives by focusing on elderly (big risk factor) and those with major risk factors who are under 65. Some feel like smokers or obsee people shouldn't be "rewarded" with a vaccine. I think that's just a very mean-spirited viewpoint and just want to see the most lives saved. I think by the end of March or maybe in April, it won't matter much anymore as we'll have enough vaccines for almost everyone by then. Then the battle becomes trying to convince the anti-vaxxers, who have no scientific leg to stand on, but they don't really care about that.

 

[Plum Street]

I am really surprised that teachers weren’t prioritized more. I’m not a teacher nor have none in the family.
I just feel that teachers are essential employees. It’s essential that kids are in school and learning. The future depends on it.

I know it’s been a numbers game with shots and all but I just am surprised teachers weren’t higher up the list.

The amount of students that literally have “disappeared” and fallen off the grid in some areas is shocking. Kids not attending school at home or in person for months. It’s hard to come back from that.

Obviously it helps the economy that parents can then work and earn paychecks if their kids are physically in school.

Glad to see this change and hope availability increases as projected.

Teachers proved to not be “essential “. Essential workers actually go to work

 

[MulletCork]

I agree, but there's also no perfect system. My sister in FL is annoyed that their system is basically over 65 first, then everyone else (she's 61 and would be 1C in NJ). Some like that approach. Some complain about smokers and overweight people getting vaccines, but not about those over 65 who are overweight or smokers. Personally, I like the way NJ has done it, putting emphasis on saving the most lives by focusing on elderly (big risk factor) and those with major risk factors who are under 65. Some feel like smokers or obsee people shouldn't be "rewarded" with a vaccine. I think that's just a very mean-spirited viewpoint and just want to see the most lives saved. I think by the end of March or maybe in April, it won't matter much anymore as we'll have enough vaccines for almost everyone by then. Then the battle becomes trying to convince the anti-vaxxers, who have no scientific leg to stand on, but they don't really care about that.

I agree. No perfect answer.
Clearly the priority was the elderly, particularly in long term care. I saw that deaths in NJ LTC facilities declined 64% from January to February.
After that I don’t know the right answer other than just getting shots in arms as fast as possible.

 

[T2Kplus20]

After that I don’t know the right answer other than just getting shots in arms as fast as possible.

+1
Old and LTC people, HC workers, first responders, seriously at-risk, and then everyone else. If you look at the math, NJ's guidelines (which are becoming more and more vague) account for 70-80% of the adult pop as of now. No need to play this game anymore. Time to formally make it everyone and as quickly as possible.

 

[RUfinally2008]

Nothing to see here, and of course, who's at the center of it again.https://thewashingtonstandard.com/a-betrayal-of-trust-anthony-fauci-the-swine-flu-hoax/

 

[RU848789]

Merck and J&J to announce a partnership where Merck will become a second manufacturer of the adenovirus vector vaccine, itself, as well as another manufacturer of the "fill and finish" production steps (where the vaccine sterile liquid is put into vials and packaged). The report says that within a few to several months this could help double the expected J&J prodcution levels, which is key for getting vaccines to the rest of the world (even if the US already will have just about all of the vaccine it needs by mid-summer). Keep in mind that continued transmission of the virus arond the world makes it more likely that future variants that evade the current vaccines will eventually evolve, requiring reformulation of these vaccines and booster shots.

Had heard some chatter about Merck becoming involved, since their two vaccine R&D candidates failed in early clinical trials, especially given Merck's huge vaccine production capacity, so this is nice to hear. Also not surprised that Merck got involved with J&J over Pfizer/Moderna, since the mRNA manufacturing process is very different from that of an adenovirus vaccine, which is much more similar to viral vector vaccines Merck already makes (like the Ebola vaccine). Wonder if @newell138 can shed any more light on the effort.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/heal...ohnson-and-johnson-covid-vaccine-partnership/

Good news from Merck on their antiviral, molnupiravir. While this is only a small trial (202 patients is small), seeing a statistically meaningful reduction in viral reduction in mildly ill COVID patients is very encouraging, as per the excerpt, below, from the press release; safety looks good also. We definitely still need effective treatments, especially an orally bioavailable antiviral in capsule/tablet form (remdesivir is marginally effective and only available by IV). Goes to show you how tight-lipped Merck is. Wasn't expecting this today and I worked there for 31 years and have been consulting on molnupiravir process development for the last 6 months, lol - have been hearing about the phase IIb/III data coming out by late March, but who knows?

Today’s presentation described findings from the secondary endpoint of reduction in time (days) to negativity of infectious virus isolation in nasopharyngeal swabs from participants with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, as determined by isolation in Vero cell line culture. At day 5, there was a reduction (nominal p=0.001, not controlled for multiplicity) in positive viral culture in subjects who received molnupiravir (all doses) compared to placebo: 0% (0/47) for molnupiravir and 24% (6/25) for placebo.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...stigational-COVID-19-Therapeutic-Molnupiravir

Edit: one other finding of note in the Saturday press release is that Merck also did an extensive in-vivo study of mutagenicity in animals, demonstrating that the compound is not mutagenic or genotoxicc, which should override the positive Ames test in bacteria.

“Of 202 treated participants, no safety signals have been identified and of the 4 serious adverse events reported, none were considered to be study drug related. In addition to the ongoing clinical studies, Merck has conducted a comprehensive nonclinical program to characterize the safety profile of molnupiravir. This program included assays such as Big Blue and PIG-a designed to provide a robust measure of a drug or chemical’s ability to induce mutations in vivo. Animals were administered molnupiravir for longer and at higher doses (mg/Kg) than those employed in human studies. The totality of the data from these studies indicates that molnupiravir is not mutagenic or genotoxic in in vivo mammalian systems.”

 

[T2Kplus20]

Good news from Merck on their antiviral, molnupiravir. While this is only a small trial (202 patients is small), seeing a statistically meaningful reduction in viral reduction in mildly ill COVID patients is very encouraging, as per the excerpt, below, from the press release; safety looks good also. We definitely still need effective treatments, especially an orally bioavailable antiviral in capsule/tablet form (remdesivir is marginally effective and only available by IV). Goes to show you how tight-lipped Merck is. Wasn't expecting this today and I worked there for 31 years and have been consulting on molnupiravir process development for the last 6 months, lol - have been hearing about the phase IIb/III data coming out by late March, but who knows?

Today’s presentation described findings from the secondary endpoint of reduction in time (days) to negativity of infectious virus isolation in nasopharyngeal swabs from participants with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, as determined by isolation in Vero cell line culture. At day 5, there was a reduction (nominal p=0.001, not controlled for multiplicity) in positive viral culture in subjects who received molnupiravir (all doses) compared to placebo: 0% (0/47) for molnupiravir and 24% (6/25) for placebo.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...stigational-COVID-19-Therapeutic-Molnupiravir

Looks like it may be a great new drug! Congrats to DRIVE for discovering it and Ridgeback for starting the development and commercialization.

 

[RU848789]

Looks like it may be a great new drug! Congrats to DRIVE for discovering it and Ridgeback for starting the development and commercialization and to Merck for recognizing its potential and bringing it through clinical trials, so far, and being ready to launch soon, if larger scale trials look as good.

FIFY.

 

[T2Kplus20]

FIFY.

Nice try. Once again, Merck bringing up the rear on a good medicine. That's fine, not all companies can be innovative. :)

Go RU!

 

[Greg2020]

@kyk1827 your for people under 25 the flu is far more dangerous than covid claim has been debunked. For people 15-24 covid is 4.2 times more deadly. For all of you flu bros. Covid on the whole is 9.1 times more deadly than the flu.

 

[Greg2020]

500k more american deaths in the last year than the year before. Covid deaths likely a bit undercounted.