Have you gotten a COVID vaccine?

[Birdie dog]

Very few that I'm aware of. In our ER, I only know of a couple non clinical staff...

 

[DopeyDame]

DH just found out he's on the "next" list - he's a volunteer EMS/Fire Fighter. They're expecting to get to him in early January. Fingers crossed!

 

[cepmom]

my hospital is supposed to get another shipment this week and anticipates opening
more spots tomorrow...hoping to get an appt this time

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Looks like our local VA hospital is using Moderna and has just received them https://www.kctv5.com/news/local_ne...f-11eb-8aa1-0f500d27dd53.html?block_id=991162

This is amazing news because just a week ago they were left off the list of VA places (all VA places in my state were left out and KC on the MO side was left out) and were told they would need to wait.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I was listening to talk radio yesterday the host offered this - he had me convinced;
NOTHING against health care workers, TRULY heroes, I mean no disrespect, but we are prioritizing vaccines wrong. If you really want to improve hospitalizations, ICUs and deaths, you would vaccinate the +70 people first. HEAR ME OUT! Over 85% of the people ending up in the hospital are +70. Give them immunity and the numbers come down precipitously.

Do I think health care workers have earned the right to have early access to the vaccine? ABSOLUTELY! But if you really want to help them, you do what it takes to decrease the # of patients they are seeing right now. After all, they really need a break, and will still need to wear the full PPE once they get vaccinated anyway. Not much is going to change for them until the +70s get vaccinated.

 

[xjillianpaige]

My brother gets his tomorrow (Tues)

Update! My mom got hers today, too. As did my friend Jenna (she lives in California).

 

[disneypharm]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I was listening to talk radio yesterday the host offered this - he had me convinced;
NOTHING against health care workers, TRULY heroes, I mean no disrespect, but we are prioritizing vaccines wrong. If you really want to improve hospitalizations, ICUs and deaths, you would vaccinate the +70 people first. HEAR ME OUT! Over 85% of the people ending up in the hospital are +70. Give them immunity and the numbers come down precipitously.

Do I think health care workers have earned the right to have early access to the vaccine? ABSOLUTELY! But if you really want to help them, you do what it takes to decrease the # of patients they are seeing right now. After all, they really need a break, and will still need to wear the full PPE once they get vaccinated anyway. Not much is going to change for them until the +70s get vaccinated.

I think there are several reasons that healthcare workers are getting the vaccines first:
-To instill more confidence that the vaccine is safe.
-In general, younger population will have less adverse effects from the vaccine, so again people who are reluctant to get the vaccine may feel better about getting it.
-As of Sept 2020, more than 1700 healthcare workers have also died from Covid. I am sure as many have long-term effects, so they are not immune to getting it even with PPE.
-Keep in mind that 75+ group are next in line to get the vaccine, so the difference is only less than a month to get the Moderna vaccine.
Now, if we are talking about the politicians, why on earth younger politicians (not the elderly ones) are getting the vaccine before frontline workers and elderly? Shameful.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I was listening to talk radio yesterday the host offered this - he had me convinced;
NOTHING against health care workers, TRULY heroes, I mean no disrespect, but we are prioritizing vaccines wrong. If you really want to improve hospitalizations, ICUs and deaths, you would vaccinate the +70 people first. HEAR ME OUT! Over 85% of the people ending up in the hospital are +70. Give them immunity and the numbers come down precipitously.

Do I think health care workers have earned the right to have early access to the vaccine? ABSOLUTELY! But if you really want to help them, you do what it takes to decrease the # of patients they are seeing right now. After all, they really need a break, and will still need to wear the full PPE once they get vaccinated anyway. Not much is going to change for them until the +70s get vaccinated.

The first priority for the vaccine (at least where I am) is healthcare workers AND the elderly in care facilities. Healthcare workers on the front lines need to be protected from getting work so we have people in the hospitals to care. During the initial spike in March, my mom was able to give fewer patients to nurses than usual (for example, 3 patients per nurse versus 5). Now, too many nurses are getting sick and out of work (mostly from community exposure since everything is open, even with restrictions) so my mom can't lower the ratio of nurses to patients.

This needs to be coupled with vaccinating the elderly in the care facilities as that was the population most impacted in the spring. It goes hand in hand.

 

[disneypharm]

I still have a lot of doubts about those vaccines. I'm not against the vaccines in general, but it's a completely new medicine and I don't think it was tested enough

Not sure if it has been that fast. mRNA vaccine technology has been studied for over 3 decades.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1748013219301483

 

[dez1978]

I am scheduled to get mine on Monday.

 

[DopeyDame]

I still have a lot of doubts about those vaccines. I'm not against the vaccines in general, but it's a completely new medicine and I don't think it was tested enough

Welcome to the Dis.
There are other threads for that discussion.

 

[Heather07438]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I was listening to talk radio yesterday the host offered this - he had me convinced;
NOTHING against health care workers, TRULY heroes, I mean no disrespect, but we are prioritizing vaccines wrong. If you really want to improve hospitalizations, ICUs and deaths, you would vaccinate the +70 people first. HEAR ME OUT! Over 85% of the people ending up in the hospital are +70. Give them immunity and the numbers come down precipitously.

Do I think health care workers have earned the right to have early access to the vaccine? ABSOLUTELY! But if you really want to help them, you do what it takes to decrease the # of patients they are seeing right now. After all, they really need a break, and will still need to wear the full PPE once they get vaccinated anyway. Not much is going to change for them until the +70s get vaccinated.

disneypharm brought up many good points.

The first thing I thought about was all the stress frontline have been through. Hopefully getting a vaccination means one less thing they have to worry about, even for those who were less at risk. Well deserved and it can do alot to boost morale.

 

[RN2003AZ]

*Update*
I received my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine today. Very sore arm now about 6 hours later but nothing else. As of when I received it there hadn’t been any significant reactions to it since last week at our facility with almost 2000 workers receiving it.

 

[MICKIMINI]

My son got his vaccine today. No reaction and he was going home to do a spin class. He works in TX.

 

[Birdie dog]

Question for those who have received the vaccine already.

Have you signed up for V-safe? (I have and you should!)

 

[kanne323]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I was listening to talk radio yesterday the host offered this - he had me convinced;
NOTHING against health care workers, TRULY heroes, I mean no disrespect, but we are prioritizing vaccines wrong. If you really want to improve hospitalizations, ICUs and deaths, you would vaccinate the +70 people first. HEAR ME OUT! Over 85% of the people ending up in the hospital are +70. Give them immunity and the numbers come down precipitously.

Do I think health care workers have earned the right to have early access to the vaccine? ABSOLUTELY! But if you really want to help them, you do what it takes to decrease the # of patients they are seeing right now. After all, they really need a break, and will still need to wear the full PPE once they get vaccinated anyway. Not much is going to change for them until the +70s get vaccinated.

Someone else had very good points about why health care workers are first, but I'd like to add that we need the staff to be healthy in order to take care of the covid patients and even to give the vaccines. Yes, the hospitalization rate is significantly higher for people over the age of 70, but some hospitals are struggling to adequately staff due to how many staff members cannot work because of their own covid diagnoses (some hospitals are allowing asymptomatic nurses to care for covid+ patients, but there are plenty of symptomatic health care workers who cannot and should not be working.)

 

[Birdie dog]

Someone else had very good points about why health care workers are first, but I'd like to add that we need the staff to be healthy in order to take care of the covid patients and even to give the vaccines. Yes, the hospitalization rate is significantly higher for people over the age of 70, but some hospitals are struggling to adequately staff due to how many staff members cannot work because of their own covid diagnoses (some hospitals are allowing asymptomatic nurses to care for covid+ patients, but there are plenty of symptomatic health care workers who cannot and should not be working.)

I'll also add that heart attacks, strokes, and other emergencies haven't stopped due to covid. We're short staffed due to sick employees, we're overrun with patients. We can't lose anymore staff and keep people safe. We needed these vaccines.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Has anyone NOT in healthcare or NOT presently in talks with their doctor received communication from a health provider regarding vaccine information (like safety, bits of history and how the vaccine works, ec) and about recommending getting the vaccine as it becomes available?

I just got an e-mail from a local health care system where I have mainly sought care the last several years though I do not have a specified doctor.

One of their statements was:

• "As soon as vaccine supply becomes available for the community, we will share the information with our patients and community, in coordination with the CDC and Kansas Department of Health and Environment."

Then they go on to give a few key safety/knowledge about how the vaccine does and doesn't work.

Then they say:

• "With this safety information, we strongly recommend you get a COVID-19 vaccine as it becomes widely available. Please continue to watch for updates regarding the timing and location for receiving the vaccine."

Just didn't know if others had received this similar type communication? I'm guessing they are sending it out because the vaccines are in our metro though they are not yet at this hospital system yet.

 

[kanne323]

Question for those who have received the vaccine already.

Have you signed up for V-safe? (I have and you should!)

We were not given information about that. I read about it here and poured over the four pages of information I was given and did not see it anywhere. We were given the VAERS info to report specific things and the Pfizer reporting website.

I ended up with a fever a few hours after I had posted here. Fever lasted about 24 hours (it wasn't high, around 101), and experienced exhaustion and lack of appetite, as well. I had a headache, too, but that's common for me. I'm encouraged by the side effects I experienced because I hope it means my immune system was beginning to mount a response!

 

[Birdie dog]

We were not given information about that. I read about it here and poured over the four pages of information I was given and did not see it anywhere. We were given the VAERS info to report specific things and the Pfizer reporting website.

I ended up with a fever a few hours after I had posted here. Fever lasted about 24 hours (it wasn't high, around 101), and experienced exhaustion and lack of appetite, as well. I had a headache, too, but that's common for me. I'm encouraged by the side effects I experienced because I hope it means my immune system was beginning to mount a response!

I'm surprised that the same info isn't being handed out to all. The V-safe is a CDC site and I love that it's giving further info on vaccine side effects.
I also had chills (didn't take a temp, it was 0100) and felt pretty cruddy for part of the second day. I've had covid though and was thinking my antibodies were reacting to the shot. My symptoms also went away quickly.