With US Covid Vaccine Stockpiles Mounting, Pressure to Help the World Mounts

Andrew Donaldson

Born and raised in West Virginia, Andrew has since lived and traveled around the world several times over. Though frequently writing about politics out of a sense of duty and love of country, most of the time he would prefer discussions on history, culture, occasionally nerding on aviation, and his amateur foodie tendencies. He can usually be found misspelling/misusing words on Twitter @four4thefire and his food writing website Yonder and Home. Andrew is the host of Heard Tell podcast.

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41 Responses

  1. Jaybird says:

    Maribou told me about the shot numbers for Colorado Springs and she said something like (and I’m going to mess this up and it’s my fault and not hers):

    A month ago, the numbers for the week were 48,000.
    Three weeks ago, the numbers for the week were 50,000.
    Two weeks ago, the numbers for the week were 42,000.
    Last week, the numbers were 10,000.

    Now the percentage of people who got the shot in our county is somewhere in the low 30’s.

    Maribou and I were both crazy people who were actively agitating to get the shot. We got it on the 2nd day it was made available to us and we stood in line to get it.

    Well… we’re reaching the point where all of the crazy people who were actively agitating to get the shot have gotten it. Both shots, by this point.

    But the system is set up so that it’s kinda irritating. One of the websites I visited to set up a shot said to get your ID and your insurance card to facilitate getting a shot.

    I guess I kinda understand? I guess? But that seems to be a recipe to make sure that the crazy people who don’t mind going upstairs to get their wallets are helped and the people who immediately think “WHAT ELSE ARE THEY GOING TO ASK ME FOR” to just close the window.

    Why do you need an insurance card, anyway?

    Just say something like “you will have to show your driver’s license to get the shot, fill out the form using the name that appears on your driver’s license”. I mean, you will still have to deal with stuff like Booger McStarmer putting “Booger” in the name field instead of “Eustace” but the people at the clinic can deal with the fact that Booger is telling them to just give him the shot and he doesn’t care if “Booger” appears on the card.

    Just train your shot givers to ask “is this your first or second shot?” and, if it’s the first, explain to them that they NEED TO KEEP THIS CARD SAFE as you give it to them. If it’s the second, ask them for their card… and if the person doesn’t have their card, give them the J&J shot as their second shot and tell them that they still aren’t fully vaccinated for another 6 weeks, so continue taking “not vaccinated” precautions until July.

    That will take care of the people who want it but won’t jump through hoops.

    Then we can deal with the people who are open to it but, like, not to the point where they’d open a website… like, I heard a story about a clinic that had extra shots and so they went next door to Starbucks and asked “does anybody need the shot? We’ve got extra!” and all of the customers had been vaccinated and none of the staff did. So everybody on staff got a shot that day.

    I drove past a church yesterday that had big yard signs up announcing WALK IN VACCINATION CLINIC. This is good! Go to churches, go to restaurants, go to bars. Make it *EFFORTLESS* to get the shot. (This is why I like the J&J. One and done. It avoids the “Arnold Pharma” problem of getting a mix of the Moderna/Pfizer shots and the J&J has been approved to be the second shot for both Moderna and Pfizer first shots.)

    And *THEN* we can start tackling the people who might be persuaded to get the shot (but they have to be persuaded first).

    We need to pivot to making it downright simple/effortless to get the shot.

    And if doing that doesn’t result in significant numbers after a couple of weeks?

    Send 95% of those extra shots to the rest of the world. Put little American flags in the crates.Report

    • Michael Cain in reply to Jaybird says:

      Colorado’s allocation of the J&J vaccine for the week of May 10 is 9,700 doses. For the entire state. Versus 144,200 for the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. If we’re going to win this in the near term, we’re gong to have to do it with the mRNA vaccines.

      As of a few minutes ago, the FDA’s web site explicitly says that no mix-and-match combination is approved under any circumstances. They point out the J&J as second dose scenario in particular as not being approved.Report

      • Jaybird in reply to Michael Cain says:

        Aw, man! The J&J as second dose was a great idea. Pity it got yanked.

        We’re going to have the Cadillac shots sitting idle if we don’t get our heads out our butts and make it *EASY* to just walk up and get a shot in the arm.

        (What’s the cost of just getting one of the two shots? A mere 85% immunity after 6 weeks or something like that?)Report

        • Kazzy in reply to Jaybird says:

          What were the benefits to the J&J as shot #2? I haven’t heard anything about that.Report

          • Jaybird in reply to Kazzy says:

            My information is officially old.

            But. The information that I had once (that is now bad!) is that you could get one of the mRNA shots as your first shot and the J&J shot was an acceptable second shot.

            The benefits included additional protection (compared to just getting the J&J, anyway) and the 2nd shot having Zero side effects (compared to my Moderna 2nd shot which knocked me on my butt for a day and a half).

            I also had a handful of “credible commitment” worries about the two Cadillac shots. What if you got the first shot but then they didn’t have any of that kind of shot when you went in three weeks later?!?!? WHAT THEN???? Oh, you could get a J&J shot? Whew!

            That’s the list of benefits that I had, back when I thought my info was good.

            Which I am now reliably told that it is not.Report

      • JS in reply to Michael Cain says:

        I got the J&J shot, but I am absolutely watching to see if it’s recommended for a booster later — or whether you should also get Moderna/Pfizer at a year or something.Report

    • Kazzy in reply to Jaybird says:

      We need to make getting the shot the easiest thing someone does that day.

      Like, let CostCo start giving out samples again. Set up the station with the little cracker and slice of cheese. Setup the station with the tiny slice of cheese cake. Setup the station where the guy sizzles up the wantons hot and fresh. But in-between the last two, setup a station with shots.Report

      • Jaybird in reply to Kazzy says:

        Yeah, when I read that original story about the Starbucks impromtu vaccination site, I felt like it was vaguely obscene.Report

        • Kazzy in reply to Jaybird says:

          You know how sometimes they do that thing to lure in people who owe child support or parking violation fees or something and they tell them they won a prize and just need to show up at the local rec center to collect and then, BAM, pay up suckas?

          We should do that only, BAM, here’s your shot! Also, here’s your prize anyway. Make sure you come back for your next prize. Err… I mean, who knows… sometimes people win TWICE! 😉Report

    • North in reply to Jaybird says:

      I am really puzzled by how other states have been doing it. In MN I signed up for the states vaccine tracking service. Then about a week after they opened vaccinations to 16+ I got an invitation to make an appointment. We’d tried going privately to get shots earlier and during that week but all the private appointments were booked solid; though as a 41 year old in good health I simply am not a demographic who could, or should, be able to skip the line.

      The vaccination appointment scheduling was easy as heck and the actual vaccination process was downright impressive. Convention center in Minneapolis. No more than 2 people backed up in any line. We virtually never stopped moving through the process until we were sat down for our 15 minute observation period after getting the shot. When we exited you could literally see streams of hundreds of people at a time moving into and out of the convention center at a casual strolling pace and streaming out the other end at about the same pace. I know the anecdote isn’t evidence but I feel like MN’s got the process down pat.Report

      • Jaybird in reply to North says:

        Yeah, I’d say that the original website sign-up that Colorado had rewarded conscientiousness. It wasn’t just a “fill out the fields, check the box, click next” that signing up for Steam or Amazon does.

        So I’m not going to say that you needed a college degree to do it. You didn’t. But I’d say that a high school diploma was probably a good gauge of whether someone could get through it easily.

        And it should have been easier than that. Something about as easy as signing up for Steam.Report

        • North in reply to Jaybird says:

          Yeah mine was “fill out the fields” and next. As I recall it was identity and contact info, demographic info, insurance info and that was it. Scheduling the appointment was even easier.Report

          • Jaybird in reply to North says:

            I feel the need to clarify. The day of the shot was easy peasy. Walk up, show your Driver’s License, get stuck. Sit around for 15 minutes and make sure you don’t fall over. Start to go home. Realize that you’re near the Einstein Bagels with the drive-thru. Get bagels. Go home.

            It was that initial sign up on Day One that required effort.Report

      • Saul Degraw in reply to North says:

        I signed up for notifications for my county but most county sites allow any CA resident to get it there. A week before it opened to general population, I found an opening for a J&J shot in a neighboring county and they asked very broad questions on eligibility to reserve. When I got there, they just checked to make sure I was on the list.Report

        • North in reply to Saul Degraw says:

          I had a similar experience for arrival. They looked at my confirmation email and waved us through. That was the biggest backup in the process: hubby and me, two people waiting in a line. Through in 3-4 minutes. Otherwise we barely stopped moving until we were sat down for the jab and then sat down again for the 15 minute observation period. I was quite gratified.Report

          • Dark Matter in reply to North says:

            Meijer has massive assembly line style vaccination “clinics”. A dozen plus people doing the jabs and a few gate keepers. Very impressive.

            Walgreens has one person doing the jabs and their sign up is painful to use. Multiple log ins just to search and impossible to change who you’re signing up. Weirdly they send you an email with a massive confirm number but the store doesn’t use it.

            Walmart claims they have it but I think it’s “one technician” more than “mass clinics” and I’ve never had them have it when I’ve needed it.

            All of that is local so your experience may vary… except for Walgreen’s software is probably for the company. And weirdly for all of Walgreen’s issues they’ve done half my family.Report

  2. Dark Matter says:

    Shrug. Give our extras to Covax or practice “vaccine diplomacy”.

    Public Health Experts often focus on inequality, so they’re going to squeak real hard at anything we do because there isn’t enough vaccine to go around. If the ship is going down and there aren’t enough lifeboats, then the guy making lifeboats has more say than normal on who gets them. If that’s a problem, then build some more.Report

  3. Oscar Gordon says:

    I love all the squawking about Pfizer making a profit on the shot.

    Like, yeah, so? Why do people insist that good acts solely be motivated by philanthropy, rather than self-interest?Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

      Philanthropy, as measured by how strongly one feels something, allows for people who create nothing-at-all to be as morally good as the people who actively help.

      Perhaps even morally *BETTER* than the people who actively help.Report

    • North in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

      Seriously, what the fish are profit botherers actually fretting about on this? Don’t we want more vaccines made in the future? Let making vaccines be profitable? There’s no-on, in this country who’s been unable to obtain the vaccine due to the cost of the vaccine. No. One.Report

      • Dark Matter in reply to North says:

        I got one of my kids vaccinated a few days ago. Print on the wall black letter spells it out.

        They’d like to charge your insurance, if you have none then it’s still no charge to you. I assume they charge the gov but whatever.

        Don’t we want more vaccines made in the future?

        There will never be another pandemic. Just like there will never be another Amazon.Report

        • North in reply to Dark Matter says:

          Uh huh, and on top of it your insurer -WANTS- to be charged. I got an easy 2-3 emails and one letter from my insurer saying “Get vaccinated as soon as you’re able. Won’t cost you a cent. It’s on us. Seriously, we’ll pay for your vaccination no matter what. For fish’s sake get vaccinated!” It’s no big puzzle why the insurers would crawl over broken glass to insure their risk pool either.Report

      • Oscar Gordon in reply to North says:

        Yeah, and it’s not just dumb kids on Twitter, either.
        https://twitter.com/rbreich/status/1389639742384267265

        I mean, he’s not a kid, and given he was a former labor secretary and got some fancy degrees, dumb isn’t exactly appropriate either.Report

  4. Jaybird says:

    Reason had a fun post talking about how our moral judgments creep into our Covid risk assessments.

    Here’s the fun paragraph:

    Study participants were presented with hypothetical scenarios of pandemic behavior. In these vignettes, risk factors were consistent but intentions and context varied. For instance, in one vignette, “Joe” got stuck in an elevator with maskless people in order to mail “a crucial work document”; in another, he got stuck in the elevator on his way to go buy cocaine.

    I imagine they chose cocaine deliberately. I mean, *I* immediately jumped to “if they’re willing to take *THIS* risk then they’re probably willing to take other risks and so the cocaine guy is probably having makeout parties with strangers in his free time and using cocaine to lure people to go to them!!!”

    But if there’s a drug that signals high-conscientiousness better than cocaine, I don’t know what it would be and, anyway, the question isn’t “is this guy likely to get the ‘rona at makeout parties” but whether he’d get it in the elevator.Report

  5. Philip H says:

    I am not at all pleased with the lack of willing vaccination in Mississippi. but our process is mostly as easy as it can be. Every county has a health department run vaccine site that you can sign up appointments at through the web. All it wants is your legal name, your address and your Date of Birth. Then you get a day and time to show up. My county was doing it in one of the big halls of the exhibit center/ performing art/events coliseum. totally drive through. The site is staffed by the national guard.

    You can also get shots at pharmacies and doctors offices. and Walmart’s with pharmacies. Most of them are set up to do walk ins. Sure, our rates re lower then one would like (Our county is 24% full; 28% at least 1; state wide 25.77%). but I don’t see that as being because its hard to get.

    And I also believe that to whom much is given, much is then required. If we have vaccines and Ecuador needs vaccines we need to ship them vaccines. This is a global pandemic, and Americans need to be global in something more then warmongering.Report

    • Dark Matter in reply to Philip H says:

      It will be interesting whether we send “extra” doses to Covax (fighting inequality and being all global) or engage in vaccine “diplomacy” (India is on fire and they’re our ally, we should help them first).

      This whole thing has showcased real world politics. Changing from Trump to Biden didn’t change “America First”.Report

      • North in reply to Dark Matter says:

        It hasn’t in any other democratic country either and I wouldn’t expect it to here. There is virtually no political consistency outside of the pointiest of pointy headed idealists on the internet for a “forego vaccinating your voters to help out poor people elsewhere first”. That’s politics 101. I can’t even honestly say it’s an immoral position to take: You neglect your constituents to help poor folks elsewhere and your constituents are going to boot you for a politician who won’t.

        What nations have neglected vaccinating at home to ship vaccines abroad in a bid for diplomatic points? Ones that don’t have to answer to their constituents (as directly).Report

    • Michael Cain in reply to Philip H says:

      I guess I’m generally pleased with the response in my county: 50% of the age 16+ population fully vaccinated, 60% of the age 16+ population with at least one shot, 70% of the age 70+ population fully vaccinated. Once there are licensed vaccines there will be another bump because the state university and several of the big employers are going to make vaccination mandatory. I’m hoping for end of July.

      I was unhappy with my state’s methods for finding a vaccination. They let/forced each provider to run their own thing: Kaiser, UCHealth, CVS, Walgreen’s, the county health department, the big state/FEMA drive-throughs when those opened, etc. If you were in a hurry you had to sign up on multiple sites. I just signed up with my usual provider, who was doing vaccinations. The aggressively multiple-site people beat me by about three weeks.Report