COVID-19 Vaccinations Part 1

SUMMARY: Feb 22: I'm a one-fer! And in 3 weeks, hope to be a two-fer!

[ELLEN: ADD LINK TO PART 2 WHEN THAT's DONE]

From notes on February 8:

COVID vaccination: I have an appointment for the 22nd of February, about half an hour from home.  Getting any appointment was a challenge! Plenty of folks on Facebook talking about struggles to find an open appointment, or traveling an hour or two to get one. Kaiser members were supposed to go through Kaiser and other sites were turning Kaiser folks away, and Kaiser was still limiting to over 75, so I was stuck.

Then, on Feb. 8, Santa Clara County stepped up and offered vax to anyone who lives or works in the county (and who meets the other qualifications due to limited vaccine availability, such as over 65 or being an essential care worker). 

So, on February 8, I tried:

• Fairgrounds, which is close to me, had no appointments available.
• Everything else was farther away or had no appointments. 
• So I looked at what I figured was the farthest-away option for most Santa Clara County people (Valley Health Center in Gilroy), and Lo! they had tons of appointments starting on the 11th!  

But it wasn't quite that simple:
I went thru the sign-up process, including picking one of their listed times on the 11th, Yayyy! But it said sorry it can’t schedule it. So I went back, and then it listed times only from the 16th! And those were almost all taken already! So I picked one and raced thru the options and--- it said it couldn’t schedule it. So back to the beginning and all of those dates had vanished, too, so I went to the last date available for scheduling, and finally it went thru. So not until the 22nd!  They must have just opened up dates for that location and word got out fast and I wasn’t fast enough to get something soon, but at least fast enough to get something.  

From notes on Feb 22:
I couldn’t get into the places closest to me, so I signed up to go way down to Gilroy for my first dose (a bit more than a half-hour drive). 

[ignore numbers by photos]

9

They were ready for huge long lines. I apparently picked the right date and time.
A couple waiting in the fairly short line inside said that they had driven by 
a few days earlier and the line went all the way around the parking lot.

1

They labeled everything very well. It was calming in the face of COVID-19.

2

The pre-existing round bench, one of many places we could sit to fill out our forms,
had a 6-foot-distance reminder sticker.
In fact, everything did. Lots of the usual floor stickers for the lines.

3

I'm inside and waiting in line #4 of 5 (all of which were short).
1) Get check-in forms and fill them out.
2) Usual test for fever and responding to questions about health.
3) Quick check of your paperwork and ID and appointment confirmation.
4) Full check-in with your medical ID and everything goes into the system.
5) Get poked with a sharp pointy thing that didn't hurt worth mentioning.

4

Reading material about the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines while standing in line. Convenient.
And note the usual floor sticker.

5

Keep your distance! In four languages!
All are common enough here that it's well worth accommodating them.
(English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese.)

6

Line #4, almost to the front.
I took no more detailed photos because I didn't want to 
post recognizable people online or have to edit them out.

All the stations had large acrylic dividers between them and us.
Between those everywhere now, and masks, and me being deaf in one ear--
it's often hard to hear clearly.

7

After my full check-in, they whisked me to a station to get my shot.
Right past a huge line of people waiting for their vax, 
but they all needed the Moderna and I had Pfizer.

I don't know how those decisions were made;
likely by their usual service provider due to availability?
After the shot, lines and signs directed me to the waiting area.

8

They keep you for 15 minutes, socially distanced from a bunch of others,
to ensure that you don't suddenly keel over, explode, or burst into flames.
They slapped a sticker on each person for what time the 15 minutes was up.
I liked that.

10

After the shot, on my way home, I made a quick stop at the Gilroy Outlet Center. 
In normal times, a bustling place.
In these times, not many cars or people, quite a few empty shops.

11

Signs everywhere:
On walkways, on stores' windows or doors, inside the shops, on benches, restrooms...
I plan on posting a good sampling of those at some point.
Haha. You know my track record for this.

12

 

A mobile COVID-testing station. "We accept insurance."
My medical HMO (Kaiser) did this for free onsite--with a pretty long line for drive-through tests.
I had one back in November and came out clear.

13

And it was all worthwhile, because I got this button!! Yay!

NOW I just wait 3 weeks more or less exactly for the 2nd shot; they already set me up for that down here in Gilroy again. So nice not to worry about it!

P.S. I had virtually no symptoms from the first shot. Tiny soreness in my arm at the vax site, but only if I thought about it and touched it. Yayyyy!

P.P.S. (Noted on March 24) I haven't talked about my concerns about vaccines that were developed so quickly without the possibility of long-term testing. All that are approved are through an emergency OK after whatever testing the CDC required for emergencies.  So: NONE ARE OFFICIALLY APPROVED yet.  But I accepted that this IS an emergency situation, after all, and we need to put a clamp on the virus spreading because it's already mutated too much into nastier versions because it has had so many willing hosts (won't wear masks, won't socially distance--you know the lot).  

Measles vs Disneyland

SUMMARY: Idiots don't vaccinate, and now we have this media frenzy and what could be a health catastrophe.

A personal journey into measles--

November 2009: Friend comes from Australia to do Disneyland. We make plans to meet again in 5 years and do it again.

Jan 2015:

Tickets are purchased, plans are made, friend arrives from Australia for the first time since then  specifically for that planned Disneyland trip. But braces yourselves--

From AP:

"While still a scourge in many corners of the world, measles has been all but eradicated in the U.S. since 2000 because of vaccinations. But the virus has made a comeback in recent years, in part because of people obtaining personal belief exemptions from rules that say children must get their shots to enroll in school."

From AP, Jan. 23, 2015 (that would be yesterday): "A major measles outbreak traced to Disneyland..." [starting in mid-December] ...[has sickened 70 people, most traced back to Disneyland.] "To control this latest outbreak, those who are not vaccinated were warned this week to stay away from Disney theme parks." "Disney employees who have no proof of immunization and may have come into contact with sick colleagues were placed on paid leave until they are given the medical all-clear."

From CNN, Jan 22:

Forty-two of the state's 59 measles cases since December can be linked to initial exposure at Disneyland and the adjacent Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California Department of Public Health officials said. 

Since Friday, California's public health department had been saying the disease linked to Disney was over. 

But on Wednesday, Kathleen Harriman, chief of the Vaccine Preventable Epidemiology Section for the state public health department, said the most recent case was diagnosed, in a park employee, on Sunday. 

This outbreak, health officials said Wednesday, is ongoing.
Read more: http://www.kpho.com/story/27908793/outbreak-of-51-measles-cases-linked-to-disneyland#ixzz3Po73Q900

From USA Today:

A quarter of the patients in this outbreak have been hospitalized.

Measles is damaging and deadly. From the Immunization Action Coalition:

The 1989–1991 measles outbreak in the U.S. resulted in more than 55,000 cases and more than 100 deaths. In the United States, from 1987 to 2000, the most commonly reported complications associated with measles infection were pneumonia (6%), otitis media (7%), and diarrhea (8%). For every 1,000 reported measles cases in the United States, approximately one case of encephalitis and two to three deaths resulted. The risk for death from measles or its complications is greater for infants, young children, and adults than for older children and adolescents.

From a friend:

"Measles is THE most infectious disease known."

From the IAC again:

How contagious are measles, mumps, and rubella?
Measles is highly infectious. It is primarily transmitted from person to person via large respiratory droplets. Airborne transmission via aerosolized droplets has been documented in closed areas (such as an office examination room) for up to 2 hours after a person with measles occupied the area. Following exposure, more than 90% of susceptible people develop measles. The virus can be transmitted from 4 days before the rash becomes visible to 4 days after the rash appears.

 And IDIOTS continue to not vaccinate.  Back to AP:

The vast majority of those who got sick had not gotten the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine.

From the CDC:

"You do NOT need the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR) if you had BLOOD TESTS that show you are immune to measles, mumps, and rubella."

Well, that's scary--how quickly can I get a blood test done?

... But wait--

From the LA Times:

 "Do I need a shot if I had the measles long ago?
A: No. "The people who had measles a long time ago, there's good evidence they're protected for life. The only exception to that is if they got it in the first year of life," said Dr. James Cherry, a UCLA research professor and primary editor of the Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Virtually all people born before 1947 would have had the measles, Cherry said."

(That last sentence-- wow.  We don't realize how lucky we are that the vaccines were developed.)

From my baby book:

April 26, '62. Came home from school with fever of 102. 4 days later, developed measles rash. Maximum fever recorded--104.5. Back in school after 2 weeks.

From my doc, when I asked about whether I shd get a blood test anyway:

All patients born before 1957 even without clearly documented history of Measles are considered to be immune and do not need any additional immunization.

Well, there ya go, I had it "long ago" (doesn't SEEM like that long ago) and so I shouldn't need a blood test or a vaccine. Guess I'm going to DISNEYLAND!