At this moment in time, being vaccinated is a bit like having a comic book hero special power. Realistically, a fully vaccinated, otherwise healthy person can pretty much walk around mouth kissing strangers*, while life for the unvaccinated is what it has been for the last year or so.
In a few months time, that will all change. I think Biden’s July 4 prediction was a bit conservative (as it should have been), but certainly COVID will be over for the vast majority of the US by mid- to late-Summer.
That leaves the assholes who don’t want to get vaccinated. In the comments on my post yesterday, there was some discussion about proof of vaccination. My take on the current vaccination card is that it’s inadequate as proof — it’s simply a card with a couple of stickers indicating the lots of vaccine used when the card carrier got their jab(s). Places like Israel have more robust alternatives like their “green pass”. Here’s a non-paywalled overview of the technology and privacy issues, but basically, you can have an app that displays a QR code that can be scanned at concerts and other mass gatherings to prove your vaccination status.
My guess is that we’ll develop something like this, or maybe there will be multiple versions, and it will be driven by corporations like airlines and ticket sites. Delta, which currently runs planes with empty middle seats, is going to want to fill those things back up, and the best way to do so is to only let the vaccinated fly. Ticketmaster can justify their abusively high fees by only selling to the vaccinated, and adding a scan of the green card to the entry process at venues.
Yeah, there are privacy issues, and there needs to be an opt-out for those few who truly can’t take the vaccine. I’m not predicting that you’ll need to get your green card scanned to go to Wal-Mart or the grocery store. But for things that are considered optional luxuries, like leisure travel and attending concerts, there’s going to be immense pressure to make sure that the herd attending is, indeed, immune. This is another reason why I believe that far fewer than 1/3 of Republicans will not get vaccinated.
* Of course, any such actions should be undertaken solely at your own risk, and the management of Balloon-Juice cannot be held responsible for any reader attempting this. This is not medical or legal advice. Consult your doctor, attorney and/or Q-shaman before attempting.
germy
How to Pretend You Aren’t Vaccinated so You Don’t Have to Do Stuff
dnfree
Public service announcement for anyone making corned beef this season. Here is the horseradish sauce that came with my recipe, excellent on both the meat and the vegetables. The horseradish I use is the kind in the refrigerator case, not the kind on the shelf with the mayonnaise.
Horseradish sauce:
1 c. sour cream
2-1/2 tbsp. prepared horseradish
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. dried dill (I use more)
Mix together and serve at room temperature.
RSA
I’m wondering how hard it will be to identify forgeries, especially for the lower-tech solutions.
Keith P.
@dnfree: Thanks!!! I broke down last week and got Boars Head instead of making my own…terrible, like mildly salted leather. Homemade is absolutely the way to go
Martin
Green pass QR code? Fuck that. Everyone should be issued an NFT.
Ken
Yeah, no. I think a lot of people will be easing back into things, though perhaps not as cautiously as in yesterday’s XCKD.
Ken
@RSA: @Martin: Why can’t they just use the chips to identify people? They’re already in the vaccine.
Ohio Mom
Good news from Columbus: all Ohioans 16 and over will be eligible for a Covid vaccine starting March 29!
Add in a week or so to find an appointment, three weeks between jabs, another two or so after the second (counts on fingers), that comes out to …somewhere before Memorial Day when you’ll be able to let out that big sigh of relief.
Ain’t competent government grand?
Mike in NC
@Keith P.: Boars Head products are overpriced and frequently overrated.
Lobo
There needs to be a low tech solution. If anything, vaccine scheduling as shown us the limit of of “apps will save the world” for many communities.
germy
germy
DaBunny
I think you’re too sanguine about the effect of a large virus reservior amongst us. If the virus is still circulating and mutating, there’s a pretty good chance it’ll “come up with” a workaround for the vaccines. Then we’re back to square one.
Relatedly, that’s why we need to get the whole world vaccinated ASAP. Including the poor Brazilians suffering under that asshole Bolsenaro.
chopper
so, the mark of the beast is what you’re advocating for here. harumph!
MattF
I’m pretty hopeful. Vaccinating the most vulnerable en masse makes direct, obvious sense, and reduces the intensity of the most likely hot spots. Wouldn’t be surprised if we need boosters six to eight months from now.
Ken
@germy: Which differs how from the Senate with the filibuster in place?
Jeffro
I have already gotten dose 1 of the Moderna vaccine, and have to admit, I haven’t begun to think about what I will and won’t do once I’ve gotten dose 2 + a month has gone by.
BUT
I am not dining out indoors, watching a movie in a theater, or working out in an enclosed gym until this fall at the earliest. I’ll be flying domestically once, late this July, and that’s it until the fall at the earliest. I’m going to keep double-masking whenever I’m in a store (grocery or otherwise). I’m not going to any of these huge outdoor festivals or ballpark concerts either (sorry Crue!)
Society has a lot of shit to get figured out before I’m going to do any of that stuff. And there’s lots of outdoors stuff to do around here anyway. ;)
germy
BOSTON (AP) — State health officials say a variant of the coronavirus first identified in Brazil has been found in Massachusetts for the first time.
The state Department of Public Health in a statement Tuesday described the person with the variant only as a woman in her 30s who lives in Barnstable County.
She tested positive in late February. No information about her travel was released.
PJ
@Ken:
Yeah, it’s not much of a threat when it changes nothing. Except maybe Mitch’s statement will piss Manchin off, which is something positive.
It does seem to indicate that Mitch knows change is coming. If he were confident about the filibuster staying as is, he would just keep his mouth shut.
Uncle Cosmo
I would presume that for international travel, vaccination data would be included in (and readable from) biometric passports. Probably need to work out international agreements on standardized formats and contents and then require them. Once that’s done – I’m guessing it’ll take 2 years at minimum – Feds could offer current passport holders a break (maybe credit for remaining validity) on upgrade or replacement. Or just require them & let us eat the extra cost – I kinda doubt most of us international travelers will feel it much in the wallet, especially if the result is recovering freedom to move about the planet…
germy
@Ken:
I was thinking the same thing.
Another Scott
I heard a bit of a Andy Slavitt/Tony Fauci press conference yesterday. Slavitt said that there was not going to be a federal vaccination ID card and that was that. (I think that’s a mistake, myself, but it’s not worth a battle now). He said there were 3-4 rules that they were hoping to encourage in vaccination ID cards, among them that they be open-source and run by some non-profit.
I do wonder how vaccinated travelers are going to be treated.
“Oh, you’ve got the Apple iVax Card v 1.23c2? We don’t accept that. It has to be 1.25 or later. Do you have a GNOME card? We take any version of that.”
:-/
Too much money is at stake for something not to be worked out. Here’s hoping that something good results before too many people are too aggravated.
Cheers,
Scott.
Frank Wilhoit
“…certainly COVID will be over for the vast majority of the US by mid- to late-Summer….”
Everyone who has hitherto made any statement of this form has wound up looking a fool. The virus is still trying to survive and there are still humans trying to help it.
Benw
NYS is rolling out the Excelsior Pass!!
I’m getting jab 2 this weekend, so I’m considering trying it out, beta-style!
geg6
@dnfree:
I’ll bet the fresh horseradish my sister makes every year would be delicious in that. I don’t know how she gets through grating it (I don’t think she owns a gas mask, but…). It’s easy to grow, if one is so inclined.
Another Scott
@dnfree: Kinda related – I got a small jar of Real Wasabi a while ago that I’ve been saving for a special occasion. It’s still sealed.
Amazing stuff.
Cheers,
Scott.
Raoul Paste
@PJ: Yes I think Mitch is flailing here, and it actually makes him look weak
germy
@Frank Wilhoit:
And many of us are still trying unsuccessfully to get vaccine appointments.
germy
dnfree
@geg6: Yes, fresh-grated would be the gold standard. Second best is the kind in the refrigerated cases that I use. It has a very short “best by” date of just a month or two in the refrigerator. Anything shelf-stable isn’t going to be even close. It took me a couple of trips to find the refrigerated kind this year, and honestly it’s the highlight of the meal (along with the homemade soda bread). I’m a vegetarian and that’s why I say it’s good on the vegetables, which at our house are cooked separately from the corned beef but with the same spices.
germy
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@DaBunny:
Maybe – but I think the combo of the US vaccinating relatively quickly, and borders that will still be somewhat closed, will give us a few warm months where things are pretty good. I agree that mutation might hurt us, but so far the vaccines seem at least fairly effective against mutant strains.
Feathers
Horseradish is the Devil’s work. I know many love it, but horseradish renders anything with even the tiniest bit of it inedible to me.
Edit: Clarity
bluefoot
@Lobo: There definitely needs to be a low-tech solution. I know many elderly people who don’t have smart phones. Same with kids (once kids are able to get vaccinated). And there will be those who can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons.
We also don’t know how long vaccine-induced immunity lasts. Will there need to be an “expiration date” on any so-called vaccine pass? Will it depend on your age group and which vaccine you received?
And there needs to be a way to do this that also protects privacy. But I don’t know what that solution would be.
Served
The big cudgel for the holdouts here is high school sports. Tie attendance requirements to the reopening phases. Schools have been pretty good about this even in rural areas here because they are liable to the state.
They lost a year of watching their kids play, and if they want to pack a gym ever again, they all need to get vaccinated.
dmsilev
July is a plausible target for “every adult who wants a vaccine can get one”, but that’s only part of the story. There’s “every adult who doesn’t want a vaccine needs to get one anyway”, and there are children. I think late spring/early summer is the expected timetable for being able to start on teenagers, with younger kids coming later.
I’m due for my second shot next week, and have started planning to go visit my parents. We originally thought about Passover, but that’s too soon especially since I would be flying cross-country. So, we’re thinking about mid April. That’d be about 3 weeks after my second shot, and maybe 5 or 6 weeks post 2nd dose for them.
Ken
@Another Scott: @Benw: This is going to end up like the automated toll systems, isn’t it? Where you need to get four or five different transponders to do a cross-country trip because New York, Ohio, and Illinois aren’t on the same system.
geg6
@dnfree: I am a carnivore, so I love horseradish sauce on ham, which is the first meal I will be having with more family than just my one sister and her husband. By Easter, all of us sisters (4 of us altogether) and our husbands/significant others will have had both jabs. So we are getting together for an Easter meal. Minus our nieces, because they won’t have been vaccinated yet, I’m quite sure. They are 28 and 20, so they will probably be okay for either Memorial Day or the 4th. I can’t wait to see my family. I miss them.
Peale
@germy: Good. I know that we’ve come to look down on the idea of “running government like a business”, but we really need to address the huge fucking inefficiencies in the way that decisions get made in the “deliberative body”. There are too many rules! Maybe they were put in place at one time to make sure that everything had a “fair” hearing….lol. Highly doubtful, but I’m being charitable here. But no organization that had a decision making process like the Senate goes through before there are votes would ever survive. So let him throw all the stupid rules that are in place just to block things out there so we can eliminate those, too.
JCJ
My brother lives in Indiana and he sent me a screen shot from the Indiana Department of Health stating that he had received two doses of the vaccine. This was back in January. I do not know if that was available to him because he is in a health care (medical oncologist) or if that is available to everyone. I have no such thing from the state of Wisconsin.
rikyrah
@germy:
Phuck Outta Here ?
Roger Moore
@Ohio Mom:
Unfortunately, being eligible doesn’t mean there are enough doses around to actually vaccinate everyone in the near future. People will be able to sign up, but a lot of them will have to wait a month or two for there to be enough doses to go around.
Denali
Wow- I am exited about the NYS Excelsior plan. But – I am worried about my hopes to visit my granddaughters in Hungary. Europe – especially Italy is on another lockdown and is not getting the vaccine out to everyone. Very disappointing.
Matt
Guaranteed that Vanilla ISIS will roll out “ZOMG ITS THE MARK OF TEH BEAST!” and insist that spreading disease is a bedrock of their religimous beliefs
Patricia Kayden
Old tweet but love this!!
rikyrah
Feathers
@bluefoot: What do you consider to be the privacy that needs to be protected? In the US we have this horrible patchwork of small zones fiercely protected, at great cost, and vast swathes of predatory flaying of our privatest lives.
rikyrah
VeniceRiley
In my mind, I’m already mentally preparing to fly back to the US for boosters late in the year, as we will likely get those first and fast as well.. How would I transfer a vaccine app pass from a us phone and number to a uk phone and number? Who knows.
Barbara
@germy: If you don’t grind it to a halt on your own I’ll do it for you! If you don’t commit suicide now I’ll kill you instead!
What he wants is preemptive endorsement so he can say that things are functioning this way because both parties have agreed to it.
Major Major Major Major
Vaccination cards are going to be like social security cards. Woefully inadequate proof of nothing, technically speaking, but good enough. The ideal amount of fraud is not zero, as they say, and most unvaccinated people aren’t going to like buy cardstock and stickers and make their own.
Delk
Yay! Another fee that Ticketmaster will tack on.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
My wife got her first dose of Pfizer in late December because she’s a front line health care worker. It seems like it’ll be July at least before I get dosed. I know vaccinating this many people fast is a Herculean task but my parents have gotten their shots and my MIL who lives with us has and if I could just get vaxxed up we’d all be protected and I could visit my parents for the first time in more than a year, so it seems like the wait is SO LONG.
Feathers
@Major Major Major Major: Also, because anyone who needs to can verify the information on them and I suspect the consequences for fraud will be severe.
I’ve already seen people talking on message boards about how they are lying to employers in job interviews about having been vaccinated. People are getting CDC cards, is that data going back to the CDC or just the state? It’s either going to be government data or private data (AKA credit reports). We have to choose which we want.
Sloane Ranger
England is expected to lift/ease restrictions on international travel on 17 May if everything goes according to plan with all restrictions lifted on 21 June. Coincidentally I have a holiday in France booked to start on 21 June. It has been postponed three times already. I am scheduled to get my 2nd jab in late May so I should be fully protected by the time I should be travelling. Of course, this is dependent on what happens in France. At the moment they have lifted their restrictions on UK citizens travelling over there but, if their vaccination programme continues at it’s current pace, there may be further outbreaks and new variants by then. I haven’t booked my overnight airport hotel yet as I am waiting a bit longer to see how things develop.
As far as vaccine passports are concerned, this has already become an issue in an organisation I am a member of. Pre-COVID we used to hold monthly members’ meetings, have a Speaker and socialise a bit. Meetings could be as large as 200 people. One of our volunteers who serves refreshments to members is a loud and proud anti-vaxer and, even though we are currently holding our meetings on Zoom and haven’t even thought about when we will go back to live ones, several members have approached committee members (I am one) to say they won’t be coming back if this person is also attending. Much less if she is also serving the tea and biscuits.
We are hoping for guidance on this from the Government and our National HQ because it throws up a lot of questions about individual rights and civil liberties. The UK government has already said they are ready to look at something for international travel but are opposed to “internal passports”. Of course, this position may only affect England, I’m not sure if devolution would mean other home nations could take a different view. If it does, it is going to get really complicated in border areas.
Kent
Here in my corner of the world (Vancouver WA, and other suburbs across the Columbia River from Portland) we are starting to see more capacity than demand in some places. A couple of local pharmacies are announcing that they have lots of open appointments. I expect we will also soon be opening up to all people over age 16 if this keeps up.
As for some sort of vaccine passport? I don’t see that happening outside of smaller tightly controlled societies like Israel and Singapore. And maybe countries like Chile where vaccine distribution is 100% run by the national health service which means they have data on everyone they vaccinate and can cross reference against national IDs.
Here in the US where you can get vaccinated at any of a bazillion random public and private clinics, pharmacies, and random pop-up vaccination centers there is simply going to be no way to track and verify vaccines. Every single medical provider uses a different system of electronic medical records. There is just no way to do it. I don’t think they will bother.
What I do expect is various private app developers will come up with various phone-based “passports” that will require various levels of documentation to get into their system. probably just a cell phone photo of your vaccination card in most cases. But they will only be as good as the data that people upload. And none of them will be in any way universal. We might have to upload our data and get “verified” on several different passport systems to do all we want to do. Basically some sort of private app version of TSA pre-check.
JPL
@dnfree: The refrigerated type really is superior. Decades ago, I didn’t have sour cream so used yogurt, and haven’t gone back. Forty plus years ago, it was easy to find plain yogurt, but now you have to search.
Marigold
@Ohio Mom: I’m so excited! I’ll be able to start calling as of Friday, but I didn’t realize how much relief I’d feel for my younger family and friends.
Yutsano
Prince Phillip is out of hospital. That’s a good thing right?
Barbara
@Roger Moore: But it will reduce the complexity of the process. That will disadvantage many people, but it will also reduce the possibility of unused vaccine. At some point, speed will become more important than targeting based on priority. States still have a chance to gear up to make sure those with significant needs get vaccinated first.
catclub
@Another Scott:  
Yeah, I figure there will be a lot of people calling Delta or United Reservations and asking: “So how do I prove I have been vaccinated so I can ride on your planes?”
The Delta reservations people are probably ALREADY aggravated.
Major Major Major Major
As an aside, I really hate the term ‘jab’.
JPL
@geg6: What a wonderful Easter it will be. I’m hoping my niece comes, but she and her husband would have to drive straight through from NYC. It’s doable. Since I’m vaccinated, they would have to arrive early and quarantine before seeing my pod son and his family.
acallidryas
I have three kids in the school system who I’ve had to provide proof of the traditional vaccinations (MMR, Whooping Cough, etc) before starting school, and used to travel for work in the Before Times and had to have proof of things like yellow fever vaccines in my passport, so it’s not as if proof of vaccines is a totally foreign concept. I see how it will bee harder to do now than it would have if we’d started it from the beginning, but I don’t understand at all any of the arguments that low-tech vaccine proof or passports aren’t possible.
catclub
@Barbara:
I think the mass availability early is because a large fraction of those presently eligible are not getting vaccinated [and using up all the available vaccine]. hearing about nurses who are turning down the shot is maddening.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
My card is simply scribbled in.
Sister Golden Bear
I got my appointment for the first vaccine shot on Friday — and a job offer (pending a background check) more than a year after getting laid-off.
It’s a 12-month contract, but unlike the vat majority of contract work that I’ve applied to, it doesn’t mean a major pay cut. In fact it’s paying slightly more than my last job, albeit no vacation time, although it also provides health benefits.
Finally feel like I’m getting my life back. Yes, I’m crying.
Another Scott
@Major Major Major Major: It’s a UKism, of course.
I don’t know if it’s better than “shot” or not. And is it from shot like shot of whisky or shot like from a gun or shot like hockey??
I jabbed the Sheriff, but I did not jab the Deputy…
Cheers,
Scott.
WhatsMyNym
If you had your shot(s), somebody paid for it. They keep records.
Gravenstone
@germy: If this leads to a Senate “rule” that forbids the Senators from Kentucky from speaking or even being in the chamber other than to cast votes, I’m 110% on board…
Another Scott
@Sister Golden Bear: Excellent news!
Hang in there, and best of luck!!
Cheers,
Scott.
rp
@Sister Golden Bear: Congrats!
BruceFromOhio
The lifespan of usefulness for a ‘vaccine passport’ or whatever it’s called is pretty limited. Do you care who gets the flu shot every year? That’s where getting vaccinated for COVID is headed, you keep up on annual immunizations and it becomes a non-topic. I expect that a year from now it will be the usual idiots (anti-vaxx’ers and Qutie morons) that continue to resist, and this population will be a small (if obnoxious) minority, and if we haven’t hit full herd immunity, it will be pretty close.
@Ohio Mom:
IKR??? Got an appointment to get stuck on 3/27, and whether it’s one or two shots, I’ll be hanging with my folks ASAP. Already planning a 7/4 with the fam and a fuckton of pyrotechnics.
Yutsano
@Sister Golden Bear: WOOT! Now let’s hope all the ex-employers behave!
satby
@acallidryas: Iceland, for example, is considering using the internationally recognized “yellow card” vaccination record as one proof of vaccine; but no firm guidance yet.
UncleEbeneezer
@Sister Golden Bear: Wow, those are two very big wins! Congrats on both.
Major Major Major Major
@Sister Golden Bear: Congrats!!
Major Major Major Major
@Another Scott:
It’s worse, for the simple reason that I hate it.
Timurid
For Schrodingers…
Sorry, I missed the end of the last thread and the reply function here has been bugging out on me (it won’t let me type in the text field of the reply window).
Regarding Truschke… I was at a conference with a bunch of Mughal historians in 2019 and she came up in conversation. The reviews on her were mixed, with the biggest complaints that she tried too hard to cross over to a popular history audience, tended to oversimplify complex topics and was a contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. Keep in mind that the Mughal subfield is nerdy and insular even by the standards of academic historians, so some amount of sour grapes may be involved. Truschke did do some legitimate big brain work on the influence of Hinduism and Sanskrit on Mughal literature, art and culture before branching out to more popular topics (Aurangzeb, etc.).
mali muso
I hope that this is an ok place to squee that my husband and I literally just got our vaccines an hour ago. Some leftover Pfizer shots that had to be used up or thrown away at the clinic where I volunteer. I’m all up in my feelings. Especially since FB reminded me this morning that it was exactly one year ago that I had my first “work from home during the pandemic” day.
On the vaccine passport front, here is one that IATA is piloting.
JMG
My personal guess is that big businesses will put significant pressure on their employees to get vaccinated. They have way more leverage than do any government bodies.
West of the Rockies
@Another Scott:
Poked? Nah, too sexual.
BruceFromOhio
@Ken:
Actually they are: EZ-Pass. Now, Montana, Iowa and Mississippi, for example, are on different systems.
citizen dave
@Ken: “This is going to end up like the automated toll systems, isn’t it? Where you need to get four or five different transponders to do a cross-country trip because New York, Ohio, and Illinois aren’t on the same system.”
I think it has improved over the years. Google: “States connected to the E-ZPass system include Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia. Additionally, portions of Florida are also compatible with E-ZPass”
CaseyL
@Sister Golden Bear:
Excellent news! Congrats!
mali muso
@Sister Golden Bear: That’s wonderful news! Very happy for you on both fronts. :)
rikyrah
@Sister Golden Bear:
Yeah???????
Sloane Ranger
@Major Major Major Major:
I am sorry that a colloquialism in common use in the home of the English language does not meet with your approval. :-)
citizen dave
@mali muso: The problem for us US-centrics is this IATA pass looks to be a bunch of Asia and elsewhere airlines. I linked yesterday a bunch of US Industry companies sent a letter to Biden last week asking for some sort of pass to be developed.
It’s an interesting problem–how to prove, need someone to confirm, etc. When we get visas (or at least the two times I needed vaccine proof), the company handling my visa did it before I travelled. Maybe some juicers can say what happens if you just show up in some country and have to prove a vaccine? Of course in our case we’re all thinking of needed to prove it just to move around our local and our own nation. For domestic stuff I can imagine the ultimate answer will just be “F – it!”. Many less of us do international travel.
rikyrah
@mali muso:
Wonderful???
Brachiator
People are stupidly rushing to “return to normal.” People who are vaccinated can still transmit or catch the virus.
I saw a recent news story about some people experiencing guilt over being vaccinated.
Also a growing market in fraudulent proof of vaccination cards.
Roger Moore
@bluefoot:
If you don’t know how long immunity lasts, you can’t assign an expiration date. You’d be better off including a vaccinated date and then letting people figure the expiration date from the other data on the pass.
Sister Golden Bear
Thanks all! Now I just need to get as many home projects done as I can during the next three weeks.
@Yutsano: Apparently it’s taking longer than normal to get proof of employment from past employers, although worse case I can provide them with W-2s.
Major Major Major Major
@Sloane Ranger:
Colour me sceptical that we should judge our dialect by a foreign one. This is America, innit bruv?
(And can I bum a fag, anyone?)
Benw
@Sister Golden Bear: yay for you!!
Benw
@Denali:
Sorry that sucks! I am VERY CAUTIOUSLY planning to visit my in-laws in VT (drive up from NY) once everyone except my kids are fully vaccinated. I can’t imagine missing your family in Europe right now
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
I wish they had gone with “prick.”
mali muso
@citizen dave: Yeah, so far the main signatories to the IATA pass are non-US. I’m very curious to see how this shapes up, particularly since a large piece of my job is moving groups of students and faculty around the world.
In my experience with the yellow fever vaccination proof, the yellow “WHO card” is just presented to the border patrol officer who is processing your visa/arrival at the port of entry.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear: ?
TomatoQueen
OT, onions/dust:
Child left Buzz Lightyear on a Southwest plane. A ramp agent sent the toy back. – The Washington Post
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
Speak for yourself, man.
dnfree
My husband just accused me of making this song up because I quote the chorus from time to time. So I had to go find it on YouTube. Hoyt Axton, apparently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6ehpskEQas
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Uncle Cosmo:
Internationally, the yellow WHO card has always been acceptable as proof of vaccination. It’s not beautiful, but it works and is something that less technologically developed nations can work with.
Roger Moore
@Matt:
While wearing “Make America Great Again” on their foreheads.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
As others have noted, we picked up a UK reference.
I would have thought that people here would have used “shot.”
What about “stick?”
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: I was aware that it was a britishism but what really mystifies me is that people here seem to think think this fact justifies its use!
Connor
@Major Major Major Major:
Only if I can knock you up in the morning.
cintibud
@Sister Golden Bear: Congratulations!
Robert Sneddon
@Major Major Major Major:
‘Jab’ is better than ‘shot’, i.e. a lump of lead hitting me at supersonic speeds. I’d rather be jabbed, thank you.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Sister Golden Bear: Congrats, I’m looking right now for anything.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Brachiator:
Speaking just for me, I’m intending to rush back to normal. My mental health requires it, and I don’t feel like I have the luxury of continuing the isolation beyond two weeks after my second poke.
Sorry.
John Harrold
The disability folks on twitter are very concerned about how required vaccination proof will affect them negatively. I’m not seeing appreciation for that here.
Major Major Major Major
@Robert Sneddon: English is nasal enough already, maaaan
And I don’t associate getting a shot with getting shot at all, personally. It’s never even crossed my mind.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Benw:
One of my wife’s primary Australian vendors has been living in Philadelphia for years with his wife and younger children, but has kids, grandkids and sibs back in Sydney that he hasn’t seen in a year.
Brachiator
@Sister Golden Bear:
Very cool!
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
ME TOO!!!!
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: I’m getting my second shot on Thursday at Duke Energy Center. I’m so relieved. I had to call Board of Health back but I got an appointment.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
The best way to get plain yogurt is to make your own. It’s not too hard, and you can make sure there’s only stuff you want in there.
Kathleen
@Lobo: Agreed! I was lucky to have an analog alternative.
lowtechcyclist
@Benw:
It’s made out of some of that shredded packing material, then? ;^)
Ken
@West of the Rockies: @Baud: @Brachiator: @Robert Sneddon: I was going to suggest “injected with synthetic mRNA” as a compromise, but some of the vaccines don’t use that technology.
BTW, if you haven’t read up on the vaccine RNA sequence, it’s fascinating. It’s not the viral sequence; they’ve substituted some bases to make the RNA more stable. It also doesn’t generate the viral spike protein, again because they’ve made a few stabilizing changes.
Fair Economist
Delta is already going to allow people back into middle seats, no proof of vaccination required. I forget exactly when, but I think it’s mid-April.
JoyceH
I rather like ‘jab’. It seems less threatening than ‘shot’. Guns were around centuries before injections. So why did we adopt the term for being struck with a bullet to indicate getting an injection?
Kathleen
@germy: Yes and? Hasn’t this been Moscow’s modus operandi for oh I don’t know 11 EFFING YEARS??????
Major Major Major Major
@Connor:
Could you stop by a little later? We can have elevenses or snag a spag bol.
JoyceH
@Major Major Major Major: Who’s up for a cheeky Nando’s?
Roger Moore
@Sister Golden Bear:
I hope there’s also a reasonable chance of a renewal at the end of those 12 months.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Roger Moore:
Get the Greek starter, it’s better, and avoid using whole milk (2% is preferred). If you can find it, Leb starter is even more amazing.
If you don’t have a candy thermometer, a good rule of thumb on milk temp is 10 seconds on a finger.
Sister Golden Bear
@Roger Moore: There’s a chance of extension to either 18 or 24 months, as well as potentially temp to perm.
Regardless, having income coming in (and employment on my resume) for the next year is a Good Thing.
Kathleen
@Sister Golden Bear: Yeah!!!! Congratulations!!!!
Jinchi
As a compromise, they’ll simply fill the center seats with the vaccinated passengers.
Everybody wins!
schrodingers_cat
@Timurid: Thanks that agrees with my read of her. She courts controversy and comes across as a know-it-all.
BTW do you any suggestions for good books about the Mughal period?
Another Scott
@JoyceH: It might (though I haven’t checked) go back to the needle-less smallpox vaccines that lots of us got in grade school in the ’60s.
The Hingson Jet Injector.
Cheers,
Scott.
yellowdog
I am 72 years old and I still have to wait another month to rejoin civilization. Got Moderna two weeks ago, have to wait another two weeks for the second shot and then two weeks to see people. AND Moderna does not protect against the B117 variant. I am pissed. I am going to seek out the J&J vaccine this Summer (after everyone who wants one has received a vaccine) so I can be fully covered. Everybody else I know has had two shots with the Pfizer and can live again.
Central Planning
@Benw: I signed up for the beta this morning and got the invite for it. I am not impressed.
I sent them feedback on it, but I doubt it will do any good. Who does a beta with crucial functionality missing? Ugh.
Major Major Major Major
@JoyceH: or a Japanese curry, none of that spicy Asian crap.
lowtechcyclist
My take is this: once everybody who wants to be vaccinated has had abundant opportunity to get vaccinated, things should just open up, period. And those who haven’t been vaccinated who get Covid? Sucks to be them.
However, there really needs to be some official vaccination credential for international travel. Who’s going to let you in without a 2-week quarantine unless you can prove you’ve gotten your shots? And who besides the rich can afford to blow 2 weeks of their vacation on being quarantined? For most of us, that IS our vacation.
Roger Moore
@JMG:
Yep. And the pressure they can bring to bear will massively increase relatively soon. As has been mentioned before, employers and schools can’t legally require anyone to get vaccinated with a vaccine that only has emergency approval. Once the vaccines receive full approval, employers can start demanding people get vaccinated to keep their jobs. Pfizer has already said they plan to apply for full approval in April, and I expect Moderna to do so shortly after. That means we could have a couple of vaccines fully approved by the time we’re supposed to have enough doses available for the entire adult population.
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: A Jackal (I’ve forgotten his ‘nym) is the author of this which may be helpful in what you’re looking for.
It’s in my to-read pile. :-)
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Totally understandable, but perhaps you can also include some reasonable cautions to protect yourself and others.
People want to return to normal, but reality is more complicated. The good thing is that the vaccine gives us more options.
mrmoshpotato
@dnfree: Yummo! Thanks for sharing this.
Kent
That’s not actually precisely correct. Employers can require Covid vaccine for both existing employees and job applicants as long as they can reasonably show that being vaccinated is a condition of the job, and that they make reasonable accommodations for those who cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons:
Sloane Ranger
@Amir Khalid:
Seconded, my dear chap!
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
(Checks atlas.) Isn’t Japan in Asia? Also too, if it ain’t spicy, it ain’t curry.
Buckeye
I have friends, married couple in their 70’s, who got their 2nd Moderna on the 3rd. But the wife is extremely hesitant to go back to her pre-pandemic social schedule, which was pretty busy (she’s very much an extrovert). It may take her several months to feel more comfortable again.
My friend and I got our first Pfizers today, and I hope to continue my pre-pandemic non-social existence. Just feeling safer when I do go out and about.
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid:
Yutsano
@Sister Golden Bear:
If you get too much resistance, you can go to your local office of the IRS and get the last ten years of your records. Or even create or use an account on the IRS website and get them that way. Hopefully that works for you.
Roger Moore
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
The big trick I’ve learned is to use ultrapasteurized milk. Yogurt works better if you scald the milk first, and ultrapasteurization effectively scalds the milk for you.
Ohio Mom
John Harold:
Interesting. I haven’t seen that concern in the corners of disability twitter that I frequent but I don’t doubt you, the twitter universe is large and contains multitudes.
Is there anyone in particular you follow and would recommend? Thanks.
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
Ahem. Most British Asians are descended from the peoples of the Indian subcontinent, and most Asian-Americans are descended from East Asians, true. But this doesn’t mean the word is being used differently, because the peoples of the Indian subcontinent and East Asians are both Asian peoples. If my Southeast Asian self were to emigrate to the US, I too would be an Asian-American.
chopper
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
my brother is in a similar situation, his wife is a nurse who vaccinates people so she got the shot in december, and he has to keep waiting. this seems to make no sense, as we only now have a clue as to whether or not the shot stops infection and spread (about 90% reduction, so there’s still a chance). at the time we had no idea, so why the policy wasn’t to move spouses of those people up into a higher-risk-of-exposure category i have no idea.
Just Some Fuckhead
The simplest method to empower commercial activity aimed at those who have been vaccinated is to place a mark on the forehead or hand of the vaccinated. If you don’t have the mark, you can’t participate in the vaccinated economy. Problem solved.
jeffreyw
@Major Major Major Major:
Never show your weaknesses to this crowd or they will jab you at every opportunity.
Ohio Mom
Kathleen:
I ended up at the UC Health drive-through but the scene at the Duke Energy Center sounded like it had potential to be fun. I imagine I would have run into some long-lost acquaintances (maybe even you).
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid:
Except it does, because… the word is used differently. If I’m reading a British story and somebody is described as Asian, I’m to understand theyre from the subcontinent. If I’m reading an American story, I’m to assume they’re East Asian. It’s… that’s a different usage!
Feathers
@Kent: One of the things that is going to happen is tightening of being able to claim a religious exemption. That is already happening for schools. I know that in Massachusetts there are Catholics claiming religious exemption, which should totally not be allowed, because the Catholic Church believes in vaccination. What to do about it, I don’t know. Christian Scientist Church was founded here, so there is usually a religious exemption for all sorts of medical things, but that also means that people have seen the cases of kids dying of diseases which could have been prevented.
@John Harrold: It really sucks that what will really hurt the disabled community are all the people falsely claiming that they are disabled to avoid vaccination. How big that problem becomes is what will determine how much proof is required of disability for not getting the vaccine (or if employers, etc. will accept the non-vaccinated).
Steve in the ATL
I thought our ancestors fought a war to stop this sort of language use
PST
I have a story for Chicagoans interested in getting vaccinated at United Center, and it may be relevant to others near a federally-run center. My neighbor made an appointment for his 90-year-old mother for yesterday. Over the weekend, her local pharmacy, where she was in the queue, called to give her an appointment for today. This was better since it is familiar and she wouldn’t have to wait in line. So my friend went in her place. He didn’t wear a dress and gray wig. He just said flat out that he was only 60 and did not otherwise qualify, but his mother had found another spot and he didn’t want the appointment to go to waste. He was told to stay in line and keep moving. So he now has his Pfizer 1 and a date for Pfizer 2. My wife, who was also vaccinated in center run by the army, brought all kinds of documentation to show her essential worker status, but no one ever asked her to show it. There may be a lot of places that just want to maximize throughput and aren’t too particular how they do it.
Brachiator
It’s been a year since California and other states responded in a big way with lock downs, etc
I local radio host this morning talked about it and took calls. He noted that even though he is introverted and does not have many close friends, he felt intense loneliness over time. Missed going out to restaurants, even by himself. Missed being around people.
A co-host noted that the absence of a regular routine, e.g., going to the gym, made it harder for him to deal with health conditions. Another co-host noted that not being able to visit with family or to just go out to farmer’s markets and other outdoor events on a whim was depressing.
A caller noted that she had to put her husband in a memory care facility in April, and was unable to think about touching him until she got the vaccine.
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@yellowdog: Do you have a citation? What I’ve seen is similar to this. from UMinn CIDRAP
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Sloane Ranger:
@Major Major Major Major:
Related from the last thread, I think “American Indian” is silly term that lacks specificity (when referring to Native Americans) and is based on a total misunderstanding from hundreds of years ago. Can’t for the life of me get why Native Americans prefer it now
Feathers
@JMG: I’m really wondering if Fox going full anti-vax will hurt the Murdoch empire more than the right wing racist shit. Corporate America doesn’t like the latter, but feels they have to put up with it. But they really want to get everybody back to work and the anti-vaxxers are fucking that up, big time.
Read a thread where the vast majority of anti-vaxx material on Facebook comes from only 111 users/sources. YouTube is also a huge problem.
Will we finally see a crackdown on misinformation spreaders? I have a feeling there are a lot of people just waiting on an excuse. Now they have one.
J R in WV
@germy:
What a threat!!! And he asks Dirtbag McConnell, how would that be different than the Senate WITH a filibuster???
Exactly how would that be different, with details, please?
The poor old boy is crazed, now, I’m a tellin’ you!
patrick II
@germy:
A hundred-car pileup with nothing moving is what the Senate has been like for the previous ten years with Mitch and a filibuster.
Gravenstone
Moderna dose #1 done. Now waiting for 30 minutes…
MattF
Unexpected news— some people suffering from ‘long-haul’ COVID have recovered after getting vaccinated. Go figure.
germy
@patrick II:
Shakti
@Sister Golden Bear: Yes! I’m so happy to hear that!
Anoniminous
SARS-CoV-2 is endemic in the biosphere. It is and will continue to mutate because that’s the way these things work. Severe evolutionary pressure, e.g., vaccine, will move the virus to develop immunity to the pressure and become a yearly Thing. It is entirely possible a variant will develop that is immune to the current vaccine. The second possibility is the virus will amp down on virility to become a “Common Cold” (sic) pathogen, annoying but not life threatening. And it is possible the virus has Met Its Match and will die out. Finally, it is possible for the virus to mutate to The Virus of Death, run rampant through the human population, slaying as it goes.
No way of accurately predicting.
Because that’s the way things is.
Viruses as Complex Adaptive Systems
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
Nope. Asia is a big place with many ethnicities. So the term Asian means all of them. E.g., the British Asians at Hogwarts include Indians and one Chinese, all equally Asian.
germy
@Feathers:
Murdoch was one of the first in line for his vaccine.
These people remind me of the anchors on my local sinclair station doing all their “Open Up!!” stories remotely from the safety of their living rooms. Their main anchor hasn’t been in the studio for a year.
Feathers
@yellowdog: One thing to realize is that there is a difference between “we don’t have the data to know if it protects or not” and “we’ve studied this and it doesn’t protect.” There is the third option of “we’ve studied this and it is X% less effective against variant Y.”
This has been happening since the beginning of the COVID outbreak. Masks don’t prevent – when the truth is, we haven’t done the peer-reviewed studies that would give us the proof that they do. We don’t know AND Asian countries with more experience with novel viruses use them, so maybe we should to – is a possible answer.
What we end up with is anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers running around waving information from outdated, overly picky contrarians.
mrmoshpotato
“Realistically” is doing some heavy lifting while being an irresponsible assclown.
JPL
@Roger Moore: I should try it sometimes, because it does look easy. Only plain yogurt works with granola, so I never got into the flavored stuff.
hueyplong
Once those who want to get vaccinated twice have been able to do so, I’m pretty much at the point of hoping for a full reopening while letting Darwin sort out the remainder.
There is only so much of their shit we should have to tolerate before wishing them ill, with extreme prejudice. Let them do a little self-voter suppression, and if prior to their expiration they want to pass all their extra cash on to Trump for the benefit of his creditors and plaintiffs, fine by me.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Have you considered asking them or looking it up? Not saying I get it either, but
@Amir Khalid: This doesn’t address the fact that the word colloquially refers to entirely different places in the different dialects. Again: if I am reading a British novel, and I see a person described as Asian, I am supposed to assume that means they are from the subcontinent, otherwise the author would have written ‘oriental’ or clarified some other way. This is an entirely different colloquial meaning of the word than in American English, a difference of potentially thousands of miles, of wildly different language families and cultures!
ETA: If I were in England and somebody said I should be on the lookout for his friend, “she’s Asian”… I might misinterpret and just totally not even notice her. This is a difference!
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: I can live with coconut curry not really being curry then. Mmmmmm ?
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
Yes, exactly. Me too!
No better term could be devised to inhibit faith in vaccinations and other medical stuff administered via injection, than Jab!
Thanks British media management for allowing this despicable term!
Shot is a little better, but still unpleasant in all the connotations!
Roger Moore
@J R in WV:
From what I’ve read, McConnell is threatening to withhold unanimous consent from absolutely everything, even the most uncontroversial motions; the example he gave was turning the lights on. My feeling is that this is just a sign that the rules need to be revised so not every tiny little thing requires a vote, or so that votes can be taken quickly and efficiently rather than dragging out.
Shakti
My brother grudgingly registered with the county to get a vaccine yesterday.
They’re not letting me get vaccinated yet because I’m not elderly or a first responder. I tried a pharmacy site. Boo, DeSantis.
I spent an hour talking to someone about what we used to do before covid.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Gravenstone:
The wait is only 15 minutes in my state. You are getting screwed out of 15 minutes.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
The British were among the first in the English speaking world to vaccinate people on a large scale.We only picked up “jab” because this is how vaccinations were reported. The word just … stuck.
Do we really need to get into English language chauvinism?
Call them “freedom pricks.”
ETA: The Visual box went away and then came back. Weird!
Anoniminous
Research on masks.
Check it out.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_vis=1&q=masks+covid&hl=en&as_sdt=0,32
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid:
Malay man speaks the truth.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Roger Moore:
Imagine if Senate democrats had tried this when Republicans were stealing the Merrick Garland seat. We might already have reform now.
VeniceRiley
THIS IS NOT TRUE. Where did you hear that? it is only marginally less effective.
Uncle Cosmo
Really. That’s Just. Fucking. Wonderful! So I get to wait another 2.5 weeks for my second Moderna jab (eff you, M^4!) and likely experience another few days of queasy chills & arm soreness … so I can be insufficiently protected against the variant that will probably be ripping through the region by the time I should’ve been free to roam around the planet.
What a fucking waste.
I guess I’ll need to do the same as you – stay hunkered down till summer & hope to cadge a J&J jab. Presuming we don’t get clobbered by still other mutations that sneak past that.
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: It’s not chauvinism, I just hate the word. I’d hate it if it came from America. I was referring there to how people in this thread responded to me saying “I hate this” by saying “it’s British!” as if that would address the aesthetic issue.
“I hate meat pies.”
“But they’re British!”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator:
Doesn’t sound introverted to me.
OldDave
@Uncle Cosmo:
As others have stated, yellowdog’s statement that Moderna doesn’t protect against B117 appears to be nonfactual.
mrmoshpotato
@Feathers:
With or with drowning Bookface in the ocean?
Steve in the ATL
On a related note, for reasons unknown I hate the word “whilst”, written or spoken. It’s been helpful that I’ve pied Sloane Ranger, Tony Jay, Amir Khalid, etc. Meat pied them, perhaps? Eww.
Anoniminous
Wooooooooooooooo
picked-up a lying POS
Updated: Updated Mar. 4, 2021
Cite: Information about the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine
“Information on how well the vaccine works
gvg
@germy: Isn’t the point of eliminating the filibuster that he was already bringing things to a halt and if we get rid of it he wouldn’t be able to?
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
Eons ago, there was a Compuserve Forum devoted to the X Files. There were English speakers from Canada (where the show was filmed), the US, England and Hong Kong.
After a while, I noticed that the language was subtly changing as phrases common to one usage began to be accepted or slightly modified by various people. No one usage dominated, and everyone had to make adjustments.
That’s kinda how language works. Informal usage reins over any rules. What people like, find charming, or reject, establishes informal usage.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
The technical term is “Fauci Ouchy”.
Steve in the ATL
@Brachiator:
Like, literally?
mrmoshpotato
@JPL:
Certainly granola-flavored yogurt would be great with granola.
mrmoshpotato
@Major Major Major Major:
@J R in WV: How about……. VACCINATION?
Yes! Wildly out of left field! I know!
Benw
@Central Planning: New York, bay bee!
Maybe I’ll hold off on signing up for a bit :)
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: right, but Amir is the one pointing to the technical census-ish definition here. I’m just trying to describe how most people use the words differently in the two dialects.
(As a side note, anecdotally, the Indian and Pakistani Americans I know do not identify as asian american… nor do ~half of my friends of East Asian ancestry, who prefer finer-grained hyphenation).
mrmoshpotato
@Roger Moore: It’s also a sign that I’m definitely pissing on his grave. What a power-hungry, obstructionist, turtle-faced, fascist shitstain!
Roger Moore
@gvg:
McConnell’s point is that there are lots of ways of making the Senate grind to a halt that don’t require the filibuster. In particular, there are lots of things that theoretically require a vote but are completely non-controversial and wind up being passed by unanimous consent. Just one Senator can deny unanimous consent and require a vote on all those motions. A group of 20 Senators can demand a roll call vote on any motion, which would slow things down even more. That isn’t enough to completely stop business, but it is enough to make everything much, much slower.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: honestly, whatever. I invite him to fuck around and find out.
WhatsMyNym
@Major Major Major Major: Too late, it’s already in merriam-webster.
gvg
@John Harrold:
We already know some people cannot get the vaccine for medical reasons and that will have to be taken into account. What I don’t understand is your connection of that to disability. I don’t really think of being immune compromised as a disability and someone in a wheelchair or blind or autistic or something like that can take a vaccine. Can you explain what you mean?
mrmoshpotato
@WhatsMyNym: Mmmmm meat pies in Merriam-Webster.
Steve in the ATL
@Roger Moore: Harry Reid did a bit of that back in his day, to the great benefit of the US and the world.
piratedan
@Roger Moore: and all it takes is for someone else in the majority to write and change the rules taking away his “power”. Really, that’s all it takes. If the concern is that Mitch takes exception at someone doing unto his agenda what he has already done to Obama’s, he’ll find the usual sympathetic ears in the usual sympathetic places, but if you deal in bad faith as constantly as he does, I could see passing a law that all Republicans have to show up in the Senate without clothes in order to participate in the proceedings. He wants petty, fine here ya go, here’s a new list of Senate rules voted on by the majority.
Steve in the ATL
@piratedan:
TRIGGER WARNING PLEASE
gvg
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
People are funny. My father is basically a hermit and my mother is a social person on all kinds of committees, but he is the one who has been going crazy with restlessness the last few months. he wanted hardware stores and trips I guess. I know a few others. Some of it is how long this has gone on, plus people like my mom plunged into zoom meetings and phone calls.
dnfree
@gvg: I don’t know for sure what John Harrold means, but a compromised immune system was considered a disability to keep a relative from having to go physically to work with the public during the pandemic. It required certification by a doctor.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Denali: Yes, I am disappointed in Europe’s condition as well. I would love to plan a trip to Europe for this summer or Fall and it clearly isn’t happening yet. Sigh.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m not suggesting we keep the filibuster just to keep McConnell from doing his thing. I’m just pointing out that there are plenty of things he can do once the filibuster is eliminated. IMO, the solution is to eliminate those stall tactics, too. If a small number of obstructionists can gum up the works, the rules need to change even if nobody is currently exploiting them.
piratedan
@Steve in the ATL: apologies Steve, I’ve forgotten you STILL carry a flame for Sen Lummis of Wyoming…
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Sloane Ranger: As an American, I would really like to travel to the UK and Europe again, hopefully, this year! We had a lovely trip to the Loire Valley for July 2020 canceled that we had looked forward to for more than a year (sigh). Right now it looks like England may be more likely than France this summer or fall.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Sister Golden Bear: What wonderful news! I’m so happy for you and, yes, you deserve it.
ETA: Your nym may just be a play on the America song, but as an Old Blue, I always think of you as a fellow Cal grad. You’re probably both, with a clever nym.
H-Bob
@Martin: Why not also inject them with a nanochip that can be scanned by 5G networks?
Jeffro
@Major Major Major Major: seconded. Couldn’t hand us a better campaign issue short of, well, all the others. =)
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
You’re right. A common Internet (and maybe conversational) thing.
Like others, I fell into talking about how the usage got picked up here in the US of A.
Can’t really do anything about the aesthetic issue.
S. Cerevisiae
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
as an enrolled American Indian I’ll give you my opinion on it, basically we’ve kind of adopted it over the years, particularly after the 60’’s and AIM. Back then Indian Pride was a popular bumper sticker and even now you have news sites from Indian Country and “NDN” is slang you see all over. Maybe some of us like the irony of using the colonial term but everyone is different. I like the Canadian term First Nations but it hasn’t caught on south of the border.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Feathers: I know in California we used to let parents avoid vaccinating their kids on a very loose “religious or personal opposition” reason. Then we started getting measles outbreaks and that BS has disappeared. Now kids have to be vaccinated to go to school unless they have very serious reasons to avoid vaccination (medical, etc.). It’s a good thing.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: right, exactly. I’m sort of an accelerationist on this. Fuck around and find out, Mitch. Maybe your house will have to stop acting like a bunch of lords.
Sister Golden Bear
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Yes, I’m a Cal grad. Go Bears!
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
Demographics changes everything. More people from different parts of the world. The old designators don’t work anymore. Not that they were even all that good originally.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
My basic feeling is that Mitch is making extravagant threats in large part because he doesn’t want to try the alternative approach. The filibuster has a kind of mythology built up around it that makes filibustering things seem not just legitimate but kind of noble. There isn’t the same reputation built around the kind of procedural stalling McConnell is threatening. More importantly, the stuff McConnell is threatening is just plain annoying to everyone, so it’s going to be unpopular even within his caucus. The net result is that if he tries, he’s either going to be told to cool it by his caucus or the Democrats will change the rules to remove the need for votes on so many procedural matters. Almost everyone understands this, and Mitch is just hoping he can scare one Democratic Senator into voting to preserve the filibuster.
planetjanet
@germy:
How is that different from the Senate under McConnell?
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: Sure but these people are like 27.
way2blue
I’m late to this discussion, but when I got my second Moderna jab at Stanford University last Saturday, I asked the nurse whether I could use the CDC card for international travel in lieu of a negative CoVID-19 test. He said that some states are already discussing ‘vaccination passports’ and he figured all states would probably implement some sort of ‘passport’. Would be nice if we could get actual stamps on our passports, but there’s a fair chance we’ll need yearly boosters, similar to flu shots, so maybe that wouldn’t be worth the effort…
Gravenstone
@Just Some Fuckhead: Had covid last year. Guidance is 30 minutes for those circumstances, 15 minutes otherwise.
Feathers
@way2blue: As people have said, there is a WHO protocol for proving you have the correct vaccinations to travel to countries which require them. Presumably, this will be updated to include the COVID vaccinations.
Where I would get my information on this later would be the website of the International Office at a university like Harvard, MIT, or Stanford. Their people constantly travel all over the world, so they have staff keeping track and updating all the information international travelers need. It’s generally public because people traveling to the university need it as well.
NotMax
Oh my, is it possible to be any more simplistic?
It’s a virus, not a friggin’ light switch.
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: Oh it would have been fun to run into you! A friend of mine got her second one at Duke and said it was uber organized and pleasant.
Uncle Cosmo
Yeah, I’ve been out grocery shopping but before I left I googled (FTR the google has been behaving strangely on my bowser) & discovered that the rumors of
Antiqua’sModerna’s ineffectiveness vs B117 is (at most charitable) highly exaggerated.I really should know better than to believe anything anyone posts on this site without confirmation from other sources. (And that, FTR, includes anything any of Cole’s anointed Subject Matter Experts posts on topics that lie outside their narrowly construed area[s] of expertise.) I highly recommend yinz do likewise.
Ruckus
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I waited after my first shot for 30 minutes. The VA asked specifically if I’d ever had issues and even had 15 and 30 minute number cards to call out so you could leave when your time was up.
The reason is that I’ve had rather severe reactions to some vaccines in the past, including being hospitalized for 9 days. I don’t take them lightly and not all vaccines affect me, the Pfizer shots seemed to affect me about the same as most people and the effects cleared up in about the same timeframe.