The CDC recently updated the underlying medical conditions that place people at risk for severe COVID-19 illness. How recently? I have no idea since I only found out about it when someone texted me about it yesterday asking if I’d seen it. When I spoke to my own physician three or four weeks ago about my pre-existing conditions and he pulled up the CDC site it still had the original list that was prepared and published under the Trump administration in December 2020. So the change to the guidance has been within the past month give or take a day or so despite the website saying the revision went up in December 2020, which is not true. Since I’d not seen any reporting on this, I figured I’d make sure to bring it to everyone’s attention. While I figured that the Anderson on insurance guy knew and didn’t need me to tell him, I just checked and he DID NOT!!! I think we can all agree that Richard Mayhew would never have missed this type of thing… But I still want to make sure all of you readers and commenters and other front pagers know.
More seriously, the real reason I want to make sure you all see this is that while some of you live in states and municipalities that are handling the vaccination roll out well, including West By G-d Virginee!, which is why Cole got his first shot a couple of week’s ago if I’m recalling correctly, a lot of us are unfortunately living in places governed by the likes of Ron DeStupid, Charlie Baker, Greg Abbott, etc, etc, etc. Here in Florida, Governor DeStupid has decided to pick fights with both teachers, law enforcement, and emergency service personnel by refusing to lower the vaccination age requirement below 50 for people in those professions. This boiled over a bit when Walgreens, CVS, and Wal-Mart, which are all part of the Federal pharmacy COVID vaccination program told him to go piss up a rope, because they got their doses directly from the Federal government, and they’d follow the just revised Federal guidance on these classes of professionals not his guidance. I know from recent reporting that Charlie Baker in Massachusetts has decided to join the DeStupid is as DeStupid does vaccination regime and is picking fights over vaccine access with teachers and asthmatics. From the reporting we also know that as Greg Abbott was lifting the mask, social distancing, and occupancy mandates and forbidding municipalities from putting their own in place, Texas was almost at the bottom of states for percentage of the population vaccinated.
Before you start your inner ethical monologues about whether this is somehow cheating to use the form documenting your underlying medical conditions to get vaccinated now, it is important to remember that in places where a lot of the population are also all in on the DeStupid is as DeStupid does program, vaccines are just sitting waiting for someone to inject them into people that both want and need them. This happened in Florida last week where at the end of the weekend, the primary FEMA non-mobile vaccination site in Tampa for the greater Tampa Bay region had 3,000 doses left over that went unused. The site is set up to dispense 3,000 doses per day, so they basically had an entire day’s worth of doses left over. The reporting says this isn’t typical, so hopefully it’s a unique and not to be frequently repeated occurrence.
Here’s the link to the CDC’s medical conditions list. Though it isn’t 100% the original list as they appear to have now separated out Type 1 and 2 diabetes into the separate lists.
Here’s the original list of underlying conditions, which are still at the top of the list:
Adults of any age with certain underlying medical conditions are at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19. Severe illness from COVID-19 is defined as hospitalization, admission to the ICU, intubation or mechanical ventilation, or death.
Adults of any age with the following conditions are at increased risk of severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19:
- Cancer
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Down Syndrome
- Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
- Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
- Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg/m2 or higher but < 40 kg/m2)
- Severe Obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2)
- Pregnancy
- Sickle cell disease
- Smoking
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
And here’s the recently updated and expanded revisions:
COVID-19 is a new disease. Currently there are limited data and information about the impact of many underlying medical conditions on the risk for severe illness from COVID-19. Based on what we know at this time, adults of any age with the following conditions might be at an increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19:
- Asthma (moderate-to-severe)
- Cerebrovascular disease (affects blood vessels and blood supply to the brain)
- Cystic fibrosis
- Hypertension or high blood pressure
- Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids, or use of other immune weakening medicines
- Neurologic conditions, such as dementia
- Liver disease
- Overweight (BMI > 25 kg/m2, but < 30 kg/m2)
- Pulmonary fibrosis (having damaged or scarred lung tissues)
- Thalassemia (a type of blood disorder)
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus
So if you live in a state that is being run according to the DeStupid House Rules and you have one or more of the underlying conditions on the original or revised lists, contact your primary care physician or nurse practitioner and see what you need to do to get them to certify you to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Open thread!
Villago Delenda Est
C’mon, Adam. It’s Ron DeathSantis DeRacist DeStupid.
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: Of the Jacksonville DeRacist-DeStupids…
debbie
Wow, they really lowered the BMI.
Cheryl Rofer
My ethical calculation is that the primary thing is to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible. There are a great many secondary things, like pre-existing conditions, age, and occupation that should get people vaccinated earlier, but I am not being picky if some rules are bent.
sherparick
Thanks. I should note that approximately 74% of the U.S. adult population over 18 is considered overweight or obese. So sign up for the those shots and if you jump line to get a shot that otherwise would be thrown out, more power to you.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: I will let the CDC advisory committee know that you are ethically in approval so that they can update their files.//
Seriously, you and I are in complete, 100% agreement.
dmsilev
California is expanding eligibility to include a similar list, starting on Monday. Per the state public health department:
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Thanks Adam!
I’m pissed that DeWine in Ohio still hasn’t opened eligibility to more essential workers. I was lucky, but most aren’t
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: I’m fortunate, my doctor has been able to keep my congregate living spaces under control while also managing my transportation and logistics with appropriate medication complimented by diet and exercise.
JPL
My DIL is pregnant and her doctor wants her to wait until she gets the vaccine. They are careful and have groceries delivered, but It’s concerning because if she does get the virus, she’s at risk.
Chetan Murthy
Adam, thank you for this. It looks like I’m now eligible on two different counts. Time to learn how to find a shot appt.
trollhattan
Getting closer to reverse-engineering the Antikythera Mechanism.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56377567
Amazing, especially since they only have perhaps a third of the original piece. Those Greeks and their fancy gears and such.
Adam L Silverman
@Chetan Murthy: You have to find out if California is going to need a form from your doctor first. Once you’ve got that sorted, you should be able to make an appointment or just go to a walk up site.
Chetan Murthy
@dmsilev: Mmm … this list looks like the old one. I guess it’ll change soon to match the CDC? hope so ….
Adam L Silverman
@Chetan Murthy: The FEMA sites all work off the CDC list. So figure out what documentation they need and go to one of the FEMA sites.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: According to what I read yesterday, no. You need to sign an attestation that you have a qualifying condition, but that’s it.
I can see the logic, from a medical privacy and an accessibility standpoint (lot of people without a primary-care doctor who can sign something regarding preexisting conditions), but it’s going to be a mess.
Chetan Murthy
@dmsilev: heh, not that I’m proud of it [and started intermittent fasting to undo some of it], but my attestation is my chubby bod, hangin outta my t-shirt. Well, and sure, I have high BP too.
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: That’s the issue being reported on in Florida. Especially in the communities of color that DeStupid is fucking over with his state directives. Far too many people in them with these conditions don’t have primary care providers despite having one or more of these underlying conditions. So they can’t just call up and ask for one to be prepared. They have to go and find a public health or urgent care clinic to do a work up. There have been widespread calls to just let people self attest. DeStupid is largely unfazed.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Yup, it was just updated a day ago, I’m still SOL.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: FEMA? There’s no need for FEMA here in SoCal…wait I saw snow…EMERGENCY!
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You’re trying to tell me that you’re an adult male American and don’t have at least one thing on that extended list?
I can arrange a phone call with several people about things not working right on the back end of the blog and we can have you diagnosed with high blood pressure in about three minutes!
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Maybe these guys can help!
ProfDamatu
I’ve about decided that it makes sense for me to claim my two-time cancer survivor status as an underlying condition and get vaccinated. I know that we don’t have extensive studies, but there are some observational series that seem to indicate that even people who finished their most recent treatment *years* ago are still at significantly increased risk for severe disease if they catch COVID-19.
I’m at very high risk of exposure, too; my university is pushing in-person instruction, and I teach labs in a small room to students who I’m sure are not being as careful about exposure as I am.
Adam L Silverman
@ProfDamatu: DO IT!!!!
Shantanu Saha
I can attest that at least the hypertension item has been in the list since January, when I filled out a registration form to determine eligibility in New York State, where my school is located (currently teaching from home in NJ). It wasn’t there when I applied for my remote accommodation at the end of the summer. The BMI of 25+ was NOT there, however.
In the meantime, working and eating at home, I was able to reduce my BMI from above 30 to just below, so I still qualify due to BMI (as well as Diabetes 2 and heart condition) but now adding hypertension.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: On the federal list, yes; the California list, no.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Dude, that’s a summertime activity.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: All the pharmacies participating in the Federal pharmacy vaccination program are using the Federal lists. So Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart.
You know what to do.
Shantanu Saha
@ProfDamatu: my wife worked at a University, but in a staff position with no student contact, and remote 4 days a week since September (all remote up to then). She still was eligible and got her shots before me even though I am a k12 teacher with multiple comorbidities, because the university hooked her up.
Adam L Silverman
@Shantanu Saha: It was not on the list until the update. Cardiovascular disease was, but hypertension was not included.
J R in WV
My wife received permanent and total disability in 2006. I retired in 2008 in part to be able to be with her more.
Then in 2011 when we when to Rehobeth Beach via Baltimore Inner Harbor, wife contacted pneumonia, a stealthy version that gave no sign of its infection.
I took her to the ER Sunday evening, and when they asked her for her birth date, she said 1913, which was her father’s birth year. They swept her into treatment area in about 90 seconds. She was put on a vent in MICU where she remained for nearly 4 weeks. After they weaned her off of the ventilator, she had a collapsed lung, which lingered for weeks.
Eventually her thoracic surgeon decided to take a look to see why her collapsed lung wasn’t reinflating. He told us he was going patch whatever was leaking, probably a 20-30 minute procedure. Then a staffer took me to the surgical waiting room, where I waited for several hours!
It turned out that the lower lobe of her left lung was extensively necrotic — in layman’s terms, rotten. Much to the Dr’s shock and dismay. He spent all that time cleaning up the mess, using antiseptic liberally, scraping the waste up. When he walked down the hall towards the waiting room, he was as white as a ghost, sweaty and pasty, which is saying something for a Filipino doctor!
She obviously recovered, was discharged still with chest tubes, which the home health care nurses were shocked to see. I was given a long course in treating sucking chest wounds and maintenance of chest tubes the day she was discharged.
She is fully recovered, more or less.
But where does this show up on the pre-existing conditions list??? It obviously doesn’t, not at all, way too rare! Doc said when I asked about it that he had never heard of such a thing, ever!
But I listed ALL those details when I signed us up for the WV waiting list, and it worked well enough… We both had our first Moderna shots 3 weeks ago and are scheduled for the second shot next week at the local Primary Care Clinic in the county seat.
I’m feeling lucky, we’ll call for a time on next Friday on Monday. Thank FSM Former Guy isn’t in charge of anything any more!!!!!!!!
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: Excellent about the shots. The rest sounds dreadful.
Ken
The ones that classify “donated to my campaign” as a condition requiring immediate vaccination?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Nope, they seem to be following the California guidelines.
Cheryl from Maryland
Maryland is still fucked. My spouse, a cancer survivor with hypertension and on dialysis found one site (M&T Bank Stadium) about one hour from our home which will give him the vaccine in one week. Closer mass vaccination sites, pharmacies, grocery stores, Montgomery County Health Department, NADA, because our GOP governor Hogan allows different criteria for different sites and hates liberal Montgomery County, shortchanging the Health Department on vaccines. All things considered, fingers crossed and wish him luck.
Ken
I wondered for a moment if the original decision not to include the 25-30 range was so they wouldn’t offend a certain orange blob, but then remembered that said blob is a perfect physical specimen and in no way overweight, much less obese.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken:@Ken: And live to be 220,000 years old, or some shit like that!
A Ghost to Most
Best of luck getting vaccinated in Cockroach Acres. Whodoya know?
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
It was at the time, but all well now…
WE have traveled to Basque country, then to Tuscany, then to see the whales off Baja California Sud. Also built the winter camp in AZ, saw the Grand Canyon, visited friends in CO, etc.
So we are both doing well, until the Plague happened.
My point was there’s no way for her situation to be accounted for because it’s so exceptional. I’m just very glad someone saw the list I entered and said, “Oh, my!!” and also connected me with her situation as her caregiver… It appears to have worked well, which is kind of amazing.
Ruckus
@ProfDamatu:
@Adam L Silverman:
I agree. Do whatever is necessary to get a shot. From the sound of it the federal government is receiving a lot of doses and insuring that someone is putting them in arms.
Frank McCormick
The text of the website still has the incorrect update date, but the subheader of the site has what is probably the correct update date, February 22, 2021 (Washington’s Birthday!).
Ruckus
@Ken:
It is said that he had his shot before he was kicked out of the WH.
Don’t know if that was first or second shot. He also could be lying about it, he is known to lie about, well everything.
mvr
Got my first Pfizer shot today when they opened it up to higher ed here in the county. All went very smoothly in Lincoln Nebraska. Drove up in a long line that moved quickly to a large warehouse style building. Went in along with a few hundred of my closest friends all keeping their distance. Filled out a form after they checked my appointment, had me talk to a doc, then get a dose at a different table, and go to yet another place to sit for 15 minutes. They will do 3K people today.
My wife who I worry about is a year older (63) and a bit more overweight but here in Nebraska our Governor has decided it is Age before medical need (and apparently he thinks marijuana will kill your kids) so she has to wait.
Very happy to get the first dose but since I’m more worried about her it still doesn’t make me relax. Just makes me impatient.
SWMBO
My son (40) and I got our first Pfizer shot today. I found a number to call on a Facebook site (South Florida Vaccination Information). I called Thursday around 3 pm and got an appointment for 12:15 today. It was a drive through site. They couldn’t find my preregistration info that I’d done Thursday night. So they entered it by hand while I waited in my car. I had my son and his paperwork with me so I asked if there was any way to get him registered. The kid doing intake (Diego) took the doctor’s letter to his supervisor and they signed him up as well. You drive through the cones and barricades to get to the numbered tents. I got my shot at tent 13 and my son got his at tent 19. It looked like they were using every other tent so they could reload shots and finish each individual’s paperwork. I was in and out in less than an hour
DeathSantis said people whose doctor said they were at risk were in the first group. Liar. It has a button on the website but no way to use it. The statewide signup is a fluster cuck of irritating proportions. I got my husband an appointment by going through a separate sign up using the hospital system. They still excluded my son and me (they were trying to get as many over 65 done as fast as possible). When they finally opened it up to 60-65 , I found this number on the South Florida Vaccination Information site on Facebook. There is a Central Florida Vaccination Information website as well. You do have to be on Facebook to access it.
Another place I found useful was the local paper has a Vaccination Information page with tips and websites and phone numbers.
Good luck and May the odds ever be in your favor.
Robert Sneddon
Research on asthma and COVID-19 in the UK reported that mild sufferers were not specifically at risk of severe illness if they contracted COVID-19 so here they are not given priority for vaccination. People with severe cases and with a recent history of medical intervention or hospitalisation with breathing problems from asthma are getting priority in vaccination though.
The Scottish figures for vaccination are reporting 100% takeup of first vaccination in the 70-74 year old age group. This maximum is probably due to the vaccination data collection being a bit skew-whiff and also some error bars in the population survey that provides the supposed number of people in that age band. According to the same reports over 98% of everyone aged over 65 (including yours truly) has been vaccinated with their first dose now.
The numbers of vaccinations has dropped over the past couple of weeks from a peak of about 60,000 a day mid-February. This is, according to the Scottish government, due to a temporary shortage of vaccines which they said would happen. They’re now promising a return to the previous pace, about 400,000 vaccinations a week as they start providing second vaccinations to older people as well as opening up appointments for younger adults.
The advice here in the UK remains that pregnant women and those planning to get pregnant soon should not get vaccinated as there is little or no solid test data on any vaccine’s effects on pregnancy. Britain, of course was one of the countries that suffered from the thalidomide disaster and memories linger.