"With vaccine, Mass. this week goes from ‘defense to offense’ against COVID-19" by John Hilliard Globe Staff, December 13, 2020
The earliest shipments of COVID-19 vaccine are expected to arrive at some Massachusetts hospitals starting Monday, officials said, as the state readies for a distribution effort that initially seeks to vaccinate thousands of medical workers and support staff in hospitals, as well as employees and residents of long-term-care facilities.
A significant portion of the state’s initial allocation of 59,475 vaccine doses, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, is being shipped directly to several area hospitals and health care systems. Tufts Medical Center could receive vaccine as early as midday Monday, while Massachusetts General Brigham and UMass Memorial Health Care each could get deliveries on Tuesday, officials said.
For many health care workers who have battled for nearly a year to save lives during the coronavirus pandemic, news of the vaccine is seen as a turning point in a long conflict, said David Twitchell, the chief pharmacy officer of the Boston Medical Center Health System.
Some in the medical field have even taken to calling the vaccine distribution effort “V-Day,” he said — comparing it to the 1944 invasion of France during the Second World War.
“This is going to be the largest vaccination effort in history,” he said. “I think the D-Day analogy is right: We’re going to go from defense to offense here.”
I'm sickened by the analogy, for the the war is against us, the rest of humanity.
As Massachusetts launches its vaccination campaign, the state continues to be pummeled by a fall surge of COVID-19 cases. The state reported 4,677 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the state’s total to 279,574. The state’s confirmed death toll was 11,098, including 41 new deaths reported.
Those numbers have been inflated.
The recent surge in cases also led Governor Charlie Baker to impose more restrictions on many businesses and daily life intended to protect people’s health. Baker’s order, which went into effect Sunday, rolled back the state’s four-phase economic opening to Phase 3 Step 1 and required the closure of some businesses, including theaters and indoor performance venues. It also tightened restrictions for businesses, limiting their capacity, and cutting the size of outdoor gatherings to no more than 50 people. Gatherings of more than 25 must notify the local board of health.
Tara Gregorio, president of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, said Saturday that vaccine distribution at long-term-care facilities, including rest homes, and assisted living facilities is planned to begin next week. That process will be carried out by clinical staff from CVS and Walgreens, she said.
Related:
"After administering approximately 15 million COVID-19 tests and more than three million vaccines, CVS Health Corp. beat expectations on Wall Street on Tuesday, reporting $69.55 billion in revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter — higher than analysts’ predictions of $68.75 billion. but the Woonsocket, RI-based drug store chain, which has nearly 10,000 retail locations, reported net income of $975 million, down from $1.74 billion the previous year. The fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. Full-year total revenue was $268.7 billion, an increase of 4.6 percent from $256.8 billion in 2019. Profits were up as well: $7.2 billion in 2020, an 8.5 percent increase from $6.6 billion in 2019. The company also shared its full-year guidance for the upcoming fiscal year, projecting earnings per share ranging from $6.02 to $6.22 and adjusted earnings per share of $7.39 to $7.55. The company’s full-year operations cash flow is projected at $12 billion to $12.5 billion. The news comes as CVS Health has offered testing for COVID-19 in many of its stores, and administered more than three million vaccines to more than 40,000 long-term care facilities nationwide — including many in Rhode Island. Last week, the company began offering vaccinations to eligible recipients at select locations in 11 states, including Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. This is on top of the company’s individual state partnerships, including with Rhode Island."
CVS mu$t LOVE COVID!
The state expects to receive 300,000 doses of vaccine by year’s end, and that figure includes 120,000 doses from Cambridge drug maker Moderna,; its vaccine is expected to be reviewed by the FDA for emergency use Thursday.
In a statement Sunday, a COVID-19 Response Command Center spokeswoman reiterated the state’s support for progress on the vaccine but did not elaborate on details on vaccine deliveries. Pfizer, in a statement Sunday afternoon, directed questions about the Massachusetts distribution to state officials.
Samuel Scarpino, a Northeastern University epidemiologist, said the speed of development for COVID-19 vaccines could be among the biggest scientific achievements in history.
“We didn’t even know there was a COVID-19 at this time last year, and now we have a safe, highly efficacious vaccine that we’re going to be giving to health care workers and other individuals,” Scarpino said. “It’s amazing.”
He warned that even with rapid progress with vaccines, it will still be several months before people can begin to resume their lives in a “new normal.” That means public health measures like mask-wearing, social distancing, and restrictions on gatherings will likely remain in place for months, he said, as the state anticipates to ramp up vaccinations for the general public in the spring.
“The more we focus on supporting individuals who are bearing the financial and economic burden of this, understanding that the rest of us are making sacrifices, and couple the vaccines with the non-pharmaceutical interventions, the more likely that we will all get out of this quickly,” Scarpino said.
Forget his empty promises because they mean for the "public health measures" to remain FOREVER!
Health officials have worried that large swaths of the American public will not take a vaccine — and have warned that without widespread use, the coronavirus will continue to pose a threat.
Building public support for COVID-19 vaccine could be critical to its success, health officials said Sunday.
Related:
"If anyone can persuade skeptical Black people to take the coronavirus vaccine, it’s Rev. Liz Walker, and that has become the charge of the longtime WBZ-TV anchor-turned pastor. As Governor Charlie Baker announced the state’s plans for vaccine distribution last week, he stressed the need for equity in the process, and he quickly handed off to Walker, the senior pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church and one of the members of his COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group. It was a blunt acknowledgement of the long-simmering fear that substantial numbers of people of color — and, in particular, Black people — may be reluctant to take the vaccine. Those fears are borne, Walker said, of both historical concerns and present-day frustrations with the health care system. Those concerns are valid, but COVID is a monster, and the vaccine is the way out....."
We truly are in the age of False Prophets!
As the vaccine is deployed in the state’s hospitals, officials in separate interviews have said equity is a key consideration in distribution efforts. Along with workers such as nurses and physicians who help COVID-19 patients, other employees who risk exposure to the coronavirus, including environmental service workers, will have access to the vaccine as well.
All for an alleged disease that does not, in fact, exist and if it does, of which the vast majority of COVID-19 patients ride out the illness at home, and according to the very same people the vaccine will prevent neither transmission or infection so why take it?
What is the REAL PURPOSE, 'eh?
A MASS EXTERMINATION EVENT the likes of which past potentates could only dream?
Dr. Sharon Wright, the infection control lead at Beth Israel Lahey Health Incident Command, said focusing the vaccination process on health workers may help broaden support for the vaccine among the public.
“Patients are much more willing to take advice about vaccination, and have confidence, when they’re told by their health care provider,” Wright said, “and so if they see tens of thousands of health care personnel getting vaccinated without long-term ill effects, then the confidence in the vaccine is likely to be higher.”
We are approaching a thousand deaths in the U.S. alone, along with tens of thousands of adverse reactions.
Nick Duncan, the director of emergency management at Tufts Medical Center, said the hospital expects to receive its first shipment of 975 doses as early as midday Monday. They hope to start up a clinic for vaccinating employees by Wednesday.
Beyond the initial push for health workers, Tufts is looking to ramp up plans for distributing vaccine to other personnel, including possibly first responders. Tufts provides COVID testing for those workers in Boston, he said.
“They are equally as important as people working internally in the hospital to make sure the health care system ... provides the best, safest support,” he said. “The light is starting to come up on the horizon ... but there is still a long way to go.”
Twitchell, with Boston Medical Center Health System, said the hospital is expecting 1,950 doses of the vaccine, which are due to arrive Monday or Tuesday. BMC served as a clinical test site for Pfizer’s vaccine, and Twitchell served on the state’s COVID-19 advisory group on vaccine distribution.
The doses shipped to BMC and other hospitals, officials said, are critical to the first wave of vaccinations for workers. BMC’s vaccination effort is due to begin Wednesday, Twitchell said, with the goal to vaccinate about 1,000 workers by Saturday.
There is excitement among his colleagues over the prospect of vaccinations for COVID-19, he said, and when their first vaccine shipment arrives, Twitchell said, he would like to escort it from the hospital’s loading dock to an ultra-cold storage facility in its in-patient pharmacy.
After such a long struggle, many at BMC want to recognize the vaccine’s arrival with a ceremony, he said.
“It feels like a real event here, an actual thing we can mark on our calendars. This is the day that it started.” Twitchell said. “I’m very excited for this, and the potential to save a lot of lives.”
--more--"
Thus, as the FDA recommended emergency use of first COVID-19 vaccine in US the immortal words let's roll were uttered as the state embarked on an ambitious vaccination campaign that will likely ease the burden on hospitals, but may not slow the spread with the novelty of the new vaccines only making it more difficult to stay how quickly vaccinations would usher in a sense of normalcy -- not actual normalcy, just a sense of it.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
This next item will literally make you shit your pants:
"The number of Massachusetts confirmed coronavirus deaths reached over 11,000 on Friday, passing a tragic milestone as the state experiences a dismaying second surge. Massachusetts’ surge comes as the nation, as a whole, is seeing rising coronavirus cases and deaths. The next few months are “going to be really tough” in the United States, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned Thursday. The much-cited University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model predicts the nation could see a total of around 500,000 coronavirus deaths by April 1....."
So safety the modern day shaman, and it looks like the skewed statistics will beat it -- but thank God the loss at Mass General Brigham was not as bad as expected.
"Will you take the vaccine as soon as you can? Only about half of residents say yes, new poll finds" by Victoria McGrane and Stephanie Ebbert Globe Staff, December 13, 2020
Weary of the coronavirus crisis and split on whether to quickly get a vaccine, most people in Massachusetts nonetheless are optimistic about their future and believe key parts of life will be returning to normal in the next year, a new poll by Suffolk University and The Boston Globe found.
At the same time, signs of deeper distress started to appear among residents as a pernicious second surge bears down on Massachusetts, with a growing minority souring on the state’s direction.
More than 7 in 10 residents approve of the way Governor Charlie Baker has handled the crisis, but his numbers have dipped since June. More people, especially young workers, say they’re worried about the toll the pandemic is taking on their financial health.
The crisis has also chipped away at how Massachusetts residents size up their neighbors, with 27 percent of respondents seeing people here as mostly selfish rather than generous. That’s up from 18 percent in May.
Slightly more than half of Massachusetts adults say they will take a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can, while a third of people said they would wait awhile until other people have been vaccinated and another 12 percent said they would not take the vaccine at all.
Those figures roughly mirror national polls indicating significant skepticism about the safety of the various vaccines expected to ship to states in the coming days, weeks, and months.
The Suffolk/Globe survey found Black and Hispanic residents are far more reluctant to get the vaccine, a trend that is also echoed in national polls. In Massachusetts, only 11 percent of Black and 32 percent of Hispanic respondents said they were willing to get vaccinated as soon as possible, compared to 59 percent of white residents and 71 percent of Asian respondents.
The poll found that nearly one-third of the state’s Black residents don’t want to take a COVID-19 vaccine at all; same goes for about one quarter of Hispanic residents.
In interviews, several people expressed at least some concern with the blazing speed at which the first vaccines were developed, less than a year after the virus was identified — and said they were glad to learn they will be relatively far back in the state’s priority line for who gets inoculated.
“I am worried about the safety of the vaccine,” said Ronald Butler, a 61-year-old Black resident of Mattapan.
When Butler saw the guidelines on the news for how vaccines would be distributed to people in their 60s, he was satisfied, believing he would get the vaccine in the spring.
“I think that would be a good time,’' he said. “I want to wait to make sure that it’s working.”
Others expressed internal tension between their own wariness of vaccines generally and the collective fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Tim Fisk, 46, who owns a salon in Northampton, said he is conflicted about taking the vaccine since he prefers to let his body’s immune system “do what it’s supposed to do” and skips the flu shot every year, but he also understands that “in order for the vaccine to work, as a society, we have to get a certain critical mass of people taking it,” said Fisk. “I don’t want to take it for myself, personally, but I kind of want to take it to be a good citizen.”
Oliver Sughrue, 23, a teacher who lives in New Bedford, said he will take a vaccine as soon as he can — but the speed at which these first vaccines arrived gives him some pause.
“It feels science fiction fast,” he said. “We’re bracing ourselves for so much bad news, we expect something to go wrong.”
And it has, despite the Globe ignoring the adverse side effects and insisting the poisonous toxins are safe.
When it comes to COVID-19 more broadly, the survey found the overwhelming support Baker enjoyed earlier in the pandemic slipping somewhat, though he remains very popular.
Approval of Baker’s handling of the coronavirus crisis slid to about 72 percent, down from 81 percent in June, a statistically significant drop. His support among women, rural residents, and Hispanic people dropped most significantly.
Meanwhile, 58 percent said Massachusetts is heading in the right direction while 29 percent said it’s on the wrong track, a notable shift from June, when 71 percent said the state was on the right track and just 18 percent said wrong direction.
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said there’s a link between these declines and the greater financial worries captured in the poll, particularly for certain demographic groups.
“Between health concerns and the economic anxiety people are feeling, the right direction number is dropping,” he said, noting the lack of a deal on COVID relief in Washington could be weighing on people as well.
Rural residents, Hispanic people, and lower-income households are among those who reported much more economic pain than they felt in the summer, not long after stimulus checks had hit bank accounts.
So did younger workers. Nearly two out of three residents ages 18 to 24 said they’ve had their income diminished by the pandemic, up from 40 percent in June. For those aged 25 to 35, more than half said their income has taken a hit, compared to 38 percent six months ago.
“The fallout from coronavirus, economically, is hurting young people,” Paleologos said.
Fifty-seven percent of residents say Baker has so far struck an appropriate balance in closing down businesses as a second surge of the virus begins to lash the state, but 23 percent believe Baker is being too lenient with COVID restrictions.
Dan Jackson is among those who’ve soured on the governor’s response.
“Putting profits over people is never a good thing, and it’s very much what it feels like,” said the 32-year-old Watertown resident. He expressed dismay that with case numbers soaring and deaths creeping back toward the levels seen in the spring, Baker is not responding with the same sense of urgency in tone and action as he did then.
“I don’t mean to downplay the effect that it’s had on small businesses across the Commonwealth, but unfortunately it’s a once-in-a-century pandemic,” said Jackson. “We’ve got vaccines in sight . . . . We can see the shore, we just need to freakin’ swim there, but a lot of people are going to drown on the way.”
On the other hand, about 15 percent of Massachusetts adults believe Baker’s efforts to stop the virus’ spread have gone too far.
One respondent who had told the pollster he thought Baker was being too strict couldn’t talk to a reporter because, he said, he was on vacation, but most Massachusetts residents approve of the job Baker is doing and even appreciate the challenging task he faces.
Fisk, the Northampton salon owner who also runs a boutique in Greenfield, said he sees Baker “walking that fine line” between wanting to support businesses and wanting to respond to public safety demands, “and then also knowing when it’s time to shut down. It’s so nuanced.”
He darn near exploded at the reporter, who saw some oily rags lying around that led to the burning down of the house.
The Nuance is that the vaccines may not come soon enough for the economy because there’s a long time between now and then, months before the country gets back to anything resembling normal, while stopping the spread of the virus will require inoculating somewhere between 60 percent and 80 percent of the population and it could take through through the summer as the new deaths continued to drop with Baker sounding a cautiously hopeful note after he learned in a call with federal officials that the new vaccines, from Pfizer and Moderna, could begin to be distributed in the state sometime in mid-December before deaths start rising agains.
“I just think he’s been very careful and I think mandating masks is really important,” said Bethany Boyle, a 42-year-old realtor and registered Democrat from Taunton. “That’s helped Massachusetts be in a better position than the rest of some of the states.”
The survey also uncovered some troubling signs for the state’s public health experts. Even with more than 32,000 new cases and 342 deaths reported in the state last week, nearly 3 in 10 residents say they plan to spend holidays this month with people outside of their immediate household.
The poll of 500 Massachusetts residents was conducted by live callers dialing landlines and cellphones from Dec. 7 to Dec. 10 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Despite the dark winter ahead, a majority of respondents believe they’ll be back to seeing friends and family as they were before the pandemic struck no later than next fall, and the vast majority — 71 percent — of Massachusetts residents say they feel optimistic about their futures, a sentiment reflected in a number of interviews.
That is absolutely chilling considering the deep implications and what is occurring in the South right now.
“Hopefully though there’s a positive that can spark out of this,” said MacDonald Sprague, 52, a roofer who lives in Middleborough. “Look at it this way: You take the same route to your destination every single day. You have two options: sit and cry at the bridge being out or get in your vehicle and say we’ll find a new way. . . . Hopefully people are figuring out a way to get over it, around it, or under it.”
The Boston Fed is helping to build a “bridge to better times, post-downturn,” so.....
--more--"
Related:
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday advised clinicians to reassure their patients of the safety of Covid-19 vaccines. “Safety standards for vaccines are high,” Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, the agency’s vaccine safety team lead, said on a conference call with clinicians, but trials “may not detect all types of adverse events, especially ones that are rare or take longer to occur,” Dr. Shimabukuro added, reiterating the importance of continuing to monitor vaccinated people for any rare or unexpected side effects. Part of that process will involve keeping close tabs on people who receive the vaccines in the coming months. Some side effects are so rare that they may not appear until hundreds of thousands of people get the vaccine, and certain groups of people, including young children and pregnant women, have not been rigorously studied in vaccine trials, but the government has noted that women who are pregnant or breast feeding can still opt to get the vaccine, and people as young as 16 were included in the F.D.A.’s authorization for emergency use. Dr. Shimabukuro encouraged clinicians to report all “clinically important or medically significant adverse events following vaccination, even if it’s not clear if the vaccination caused the adverse event.” To ease the process, the C.D.C. is rolling out a smartphone app called v-safe, which will use texts and web surveys to check in with vaccine recipients in the weeks and months after they get their shots. Based on data gathered from months of clinical trials, people receiving vaccines like Pfizer’s might expect to experience mild symptoms like fevers, fatigue, headaches and chills that clear up within a couple days. Anything more anomalous or prolonged should prompt a conversation with a health care provider....."
Pfizer has been a particular butcher regarding deaths and adverse reaction as criminal officials plead with the public to get vaccinated even in they only got half the vaccine doses they were expecting, but who CARES anyway after Puerto Rico paid millions in salary to nonworkers.
"The first shots were given in the American mass vaccination campaign on Monday, opening a new chapter in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more people in the United States — over 300,000 — than in any other country and has taken a particularly devastating toll on people of color. With a promise to deliver millions of doses in the coming weeks, the government and its massive logistical effort to get the vaccine out across the United States are about to be tested."
It's the weapon that will end the war, according to the New York Times, but a new survey found that about a quarter of Americans don’t want to enlist even as the death toll soars.
Of course, it is always the politicians that lie us into the wars with flowery words that cover up their power and privilege gained by the endless wars to preserve American primacy. It's the hard reality at the bottom of the most ambitious vaccination drive in history and a real test of faith:
"The Biden administration is boosting purchases of coronavirus vaccines to deliver enough to protect 300 million Americans by the end of summer, as it surges deliveries to states for the next three weeks following complaints of shortages and inconsistent supplies. President Biden announced the surge in deliveries Tuesday, along with the news the government is purchasing an additional 100 million doses each of the two approved coronavirus vaccines. With existing purchases, “This is enough vaccine to vaccinate 300 million Americans by end of summer, early fall,” Biden said, calling the push a “wartime effort.’' Addressing reporters on Tuesday, Biden acknowledged the role of the Trump administration and public health experts in getting the coronavirus vaccine program up and running, but noted he was surprised upon taking office to discover the initiative was in “worse shape” than he had expected. The purchases from drug makers Pfizer and Moderna come as the Biden administration is trying to ramp up vaccine production and the states’ capacities to inject the drugs. Even more vaccine could be available if federal scientists approve a single-dose shot from Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to seek emergency authorization in the coming weeks. Biden also announced a roughly 16 percent boost in deliveries to states over the coming weeks, amid complaints of shortages so severe that some vaccination sites canceled tens of thousands of appointments with people seeking their first shots. Detailed figures on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website showed the government plans to make about 10.1 million first and second doses available next week, up from this week’s allotment of 8.6 million. The figures represent doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. It was not immediately clear how long the surge of doses could be sustained. The increase comes amid complaints from governors and top health officials about inadequate supplies and the need for earlier and more reliable estimates of how much vaccine is on the way so they can plan accordingly. Biden’s team pledged to provide states with firm vaccine allocations three weeks ahead of delivery during the first virus-related call with the nation’s governors Tuesday. “Until now, we’ve had to guess how much vaccine” each week,’' Biden said. “This is unacceptable. Lives are at stake.” Biden’s announcement came a day after he grew more bullish about exceeding his vaccine pledge to deliver 100 million injections in his first 100 days in office, suggesting that a rate of 1.5 million doses per day could soon be achieved. The administration has also promised more openness and said it will hold news briefings three times a week, beginning Wednesday, about the outbreak, which has killed over 420,000 Americans."
Somehow, Biden left soldiers and war material on the battlefield, but it is not clear when and where -- although there are reports of 11 dead in Maine.
