Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

He really is that stupid.

We still have time to mess this up!

This really is a full service blog.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Republicans in disarray!

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / 12 and Up

12 and Up

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The Food and Drug Administration cleared the first coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in children as young as 12 on Monday, expanding access to the Pfizer-BioNTech shot to adolescents ahead of the next school year and marking another milestone in the nation’s battle with the virus.

[…] Expert advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scheduled to meet Wednesday to recommend how the vaccine should be used in that age group, and the vaccine can be administered as soon as the CDC director signs off on the recommendation.

My guess is that there won’t be a Pfizer appointment to be had in New York as soon as this goes into effect. Speaking of New York, it was just announced that all SUNY and CUNY students must be vaccinated for in-person attendance in the Fall.

ETA: I forgot to include this, which I thought was a clever way to promote J&J (one-shot vaccination).

Reader Interactions

187Comments

  1. 1.

    catclub

    My guess is that there won’t be a Pfizer appointment to be had in New York as soon as this goes into effect.

    There are now at least TWO places (probably more) CVS and Walmart, in my town, where walkup shots are available. No appointment necessary.
    I do not live in New York State, however.

  4. 4.

    Cermet

    And the damn begins to break – with adult vaccination gonna pass 60% (but likely not by too much) combined with these teens, it might be possible to exceed 70% vaccination rate for the US; especially if it gets approval for 6 and up by the beginning of Fall.

  5. 5.

    Wag

    I am thrilled by this news.  And my 15 year old twins are beyond excited!

     

    and the University where I teach is requiring vaccines for everyone on campus starting in the Fall.

  7. 7.

    kindness

    Vaccine Passports!!!!  This will piss off the right people mightily.

    Funny how they never cared when they had to show they were vaccinated for Polio in order to go to schools.  Funny how they have no problems having to wear shoes & shirts to go into businesses.  But proving you’ve been vaccinated for Covid triggers them.

    Poor whiney ass babies.

  8. 8.

    PsiFighter37

    @Lyrebird: Interestingly, my wife is more hesitant about our daughter getting the shot, even though she has been fine with all the other vaccines. I said we should study the trial info when it comes out, but it’s not like they are authorizing this on the basis of a handful or even hundreds of kids. I’m sure thousands, if not tens of thousands, had to have been trialed for it to get an EUA.

  10. 10.

    FlyingToaster

    WarriorTeen came running downstairs, hooting.  And demanded that I make an appointment.  Which I canna do until Massachusetts sets up the distro and process (assume next Monday), at which point I will make an appointment.

    The Commonwealth is already preparing to close the MassVax sites (stadia, auditoriums), in favor of local neighborhood clinic distribution.  I’m hoping this will include the pediatricians’ office.

    WarriorTeen’s school is requiring vaccinations (last week’s announcement “NO REMOTE OPTION FOR FALL” was pretty effing clear).  First Trimester may still involve podding, as the 6th graders are still only 11 and will likely not be all vaccinated until Thanksgiving.  And chorus may be cancelled again.  Heh.

  15. 15.

    dr. bloor

    it was just announced that all SUNY and CUNY students must be vaccinated for in-person attendance in the Fall.

    Hijinx ensue when town and county governments in Northern NY and the Southern Tier ban vaccinated students from entering their municipalities.

  16. 16.

    VOR

    My son’s small liberal arts college also is planning in-person instruction for Fall 2021 and mandating proof of vaccination. There is an exception process, which they need because there is a pretty significant non-US student population. The school is coordinating vaccine shots on campus if needed.

  17. 17.

    Brachiator

    There are now at least TWO places (probably more) CVS and Walmart, in my town, where walkup shots are available. No appointment necessary.

    Los Angeles County is about to permit no appointment vaccinations in general.

    Not sure about the rest of California.

  21. 21.

    Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix

    @dr. bloor:

    Hijinx ensue when town and county governments in Northern NY and the Southern Tier ban vaccinated students from entering their municipalities.

    I was in the North last Fall and they were extremely tight on masking to keep tourists from spreading infection.  There are plenty of Trump signs up there, but the majority is probably A-OK with students from out of the area being vaccinated to keep COVID out of their towns.

  22. 22.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @different-church-lady: that is a smoking hot take on a show that’s been off the air for, I think, more than a decade now?

    then again, I’m such a stereotypical tote-bagger I actually came to like Prairie Home Companion

  23. 23.

    Lyrebird

    @PsiFighter37: . I’m sure thousands, if not tens of thousands, had to have been trialed for it to get an EUA.

    Yes I’m sure you’re right!  But I can also relate to worries…   in our house we’ve got kiddos with preexisting conditions that go with bad complications, so that makes facing this easier for me.  And the kiddos hate shots but love candy, so yes bribes are good here!

  24. 24.

    dr. bloor

    @Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: Good for them.  I was up there last summer as well. Clayton was pretty tight, but a little further south noses sticking out of masks were more common.

    We stayed at an Air BnB where the proprietor had a “TRUMP 2020: MAKE LIBS CRY AGAIN” flag on the back of his riding mower.  I can’t recall if I was laughing too hard to be pissed, or too angry to laugh.

  25. 25.

    dmsilev

    @VOR: Here, we’re requiring summer students who live in dorms to be vaccinated (the “live in dorms” bit apparently gives us the right to require it even under emergency-use rules), and we’re planning on requiring vaccinations for everyone for the fall term. Almost the entire staff is vaccinated already, even without any sort of mandate or requirement.

  29. 29.

    laura

    Rikyrah is going to be over the moon at this news – and her Peanut will likely be going to Summer Camp.

    I’m thrilled for every parent, every member of the education community, for children who’ve worried and waited, for any and everybody.

  30. 30.

    Benw

    NYS hasn’t updated the appointment site yet. I was gearing up to take the pre-teen to a walk-in site today!

  31. 31.

    Shana

    @Wag: Do you think virtually all universities and colleges will require vaccinations? My daughter’s boyfriend is resisting getting vaccinated but will be moving to Champaign with her this fall while she starts law school and he’ll finish his BA. We’re all hoping he’ll be forced to get the jab in order to attend.

  33. 33.

    Scout211

    @Brachiator:

    The federally contracted pharmacies are now required to offer walk-ins but the state programs are allowed to set their own policies.  Here in NorCal, most of the county-run programs near me offer both appointments through MyTurn and walk-ins.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/05/04/biden-will-order-pharmacies-to-offer-walk-in-covid-vaccines/?sh=7ab24afe2200

    This week, Biden is directing the nearly 40,000 pharmacies that receive vaccine doses through a partnership with the federal government — including independent stores and chains like CVS — to start offering walk-in appointments, he said in a Tuesday speech.

    He’s also pushing state-run clinics to offer walk-in vaccinations, though state governments have been given broad latitude to set their own vaccination policies.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @Shana: I still get the University of Illinois emails, and I am pretty certain that I read that vaccinations will be required.  Not 100% certain, but I think that’s what I read.

  35. 35.

    dmsilev

    So, if we take the “75% of population” estimate for “suppress viral spread without any additional measures” aka herd immunity. Prior to this approval, getting to that point with just ages 16+ was going to be basically impossible; we’d need to get about 93-94% vaccine uptake, and short of arming Amazon delivery drones with dart guns, that doesn’t seem plausible. With the eligibility expansion, now roughly 85% of the population can get the vaccine, so we “only” need 88% of the eligible total to get the jab. Somewhat lower in actuality, since people who have had the disease have a fair degree of acquired immunity.

    (Context: The best-performing states so far, MA and VT, have given at least a first dose to ~72-73% of the 16+ population. I’m sure they’ll hit 80% of eligible. Less sure about 90%.)

  36. 36.

    dmsilev

    @Benw: The CDC hasn’t signed off yet; that’s most likely set for Wednesday. So, figure Thursday at the earliest, maybe Friday.

  38. 38.

    dmsilev

    @WaterGirl: The big California state schools are all going to be requiring the vaccine for the fall.

    I guess I have to ask: Anyone know whether the Florida state schools will be doing so? Texas?

  40. 40.

    Ohio Mom

    PaiFighter37:

    I know they grow up fast but your little bundle of joy can’t be anywhere near 12, the newest cut-off. Is she (do I remember correctly your kid is a girl?) even old enough for kindergarten yet?

    It’s going to be a while until her age group becomes eligible and maybe by then your wife will be more comfortable. Or wait a few extra weeks after your daughter’s age group becomes eligible, and let thousands of others go first.

  44. 44.

    Geminid

    After a halting start, Virginia Republicans are moving right along with tabulating the 30,000 ranked, weighted* ballots from Saturday’s “Disassembled Convention.” Jason Miyares is the Attorney General nominee, and it looks like their candidate for Governor will be announced tonight. Glenn Youngkin appears to have it the bag.

    Overall, this has been a rancorous and discreditable process, even for the Virginia Republican party. While 53,000 people preregistered, some 23,000 did not show.

    *Anybody could be a delegate by preregistering before a deadline some weeks ago (Except for radio host Hew Hewitt, who thought he was registered but was turned away from his Alexandria polling place. “Bummer…” he tweeted). Ballots are weighted according to the number of Republican votes from the jurisdiction in last year’s presidential election. So a vote from populous Fairfax County would have more weight than a vote from mountainous Tazewell county.

  47. 47.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: ​

    How lucky can this guy be?
    No virus will hassle me!
    There’s no permanent harm
    To get that shot in the arm!

    The malls are just swarming with youth
    Who know what’s a lie and what’s truth,
    Lining up at the pharm
    To get their shot in the arm!

    My head is pounding,
    Pain in my shoulder resounding,
    But the protection’s astounding!
    My life is gonna be back –
    Almost to normal!

    Gimme another hour & I might have the rest…

  48. 48.

    dmsilev

    In other vaccine news, Novavax now says June at the earliest for approval. Through a lot of hard work by a lot of people, the US has finally reached the point of ample supply, so this doesn’t impact us much. It does matter for the rest of the world though, especially since it’s an easy-to-store vaccine with less strenuous cooling requirements.

  50. 50.

    craigie

    @dmsilev:

    and short of arming Amazon delivery drones with dart guns, that doesn’t seem plausible.

    Maybe not, but we should totally try this.

  51. 51.

    CaseyL

    This is really excellent news, and makes me think back to nearly-normal might actually happen by Autumn (if most schools in most states require vaccination for enrollment).

  52. 52.

    different-church-lady

    @StringOnAStick: I vowed to quit them the moment Biden’s hand hit the bible, but here I am still hate scrolling over there two or three times a day.

  53. 53.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geminid: ​ We missed a real opportunity – someone could’ve whipped up a bunch of cardboard & tinfoil Number Fives from Short Circuit, stuck a small cassette recorder inside each one, taped them to Segway chassis & sent them into the convention locales shrieking

    NO DISASSEMBLE! NO DISASSEMBLE!

    Maybe they could’ve given them shitty orange mop-wigs and labeled them NUMBER 45…

  54. 54.

    Ken

    This is such great news. I have some nieces and nephews who are now eligible and were waiting for this.  But, I gotta be me, so:

     

    @VOR:My son’s small liberal arts college

    Is Penthouse Letters still a thing?

     

    @dmsilev: short of arming Amazon delivery drones with dart guns

    I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  55. 55.

    Soprano2

    All the big pharmacies in Springfield MO are advertising walk-in Covid shots – Walmart had a sign on the entrance door on Saturday,  and HyVee had those signs that look like “For Sale” signs in front of the store advertising walk-in appts too. I said “yay!!” when I saw that.

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    @dmsilev:

    I believe DeSantis has signed a bill banning the vaccinated from attending, teaching, or mowing lawns at state colleges and universities.

  59. 59.

    Ken

    @VOR: I like U of I’s approach, and we should try to get it used more widely.  “Oh, you’re not vaccinated?  We can still let you in, but I have to stick this six-inch probe up your nose….”

  61. 61.

    Ohio Mom

    Eric Loomis has two categories of opinions.

    The first is opinions in which he is incredibly well-informed — he really does know American history, and I put his approval of Biden in this category, since he is judging Biden against the full range of presidents and presidential accomplishments.

    The second category is opinions that completely randomly reflect only his personal idiosyncrasies.

    But he himself does not seem to distinguish between the two types. I think it is something of a long-running joke on his part but I am not completely sure.

    I sometimes wonder how his wife stands it but then I remember theirs is a long distance marriage (they are both academics).

  62. 62.

    Sure Lurkalot

    This affects my great niece and I’m so happy for her and the rest of my niece’s family, all vaxxed, just in time for summer.

  63. 63.

    Parfigliano

    @Geminid: I heard Hewitt on the radio talking about his voter registration snafu.  I bet the asshole never bothered to register.  Probably just figured as the whitest guy on the planet he didnt have to register.

  65. 65.

    Wag

    @Shana:   Yes I do.  Unless you’re a Christian college in FL, in which case you’ll have to prove that you haven’t bee vaccinated

  68. 68.

    Tazj

    This is great news. I had to have my 15 year old tested for COVID on Friday because he developed a fever and had a headache and sore throat. He plays sports so I thought he might have caught something. Fortunately, he feels much better and has had no fever for 2 days. We found out this morning his test was negative.

  69. 69.

    Ken

    @Geminid: So a vote from populous Fairfax County would have more weight than a vote from mountainous Tazewell county.

    So sparsely-populated rural areas shouldn’t be able to block the will of the majority?  What an intriguing concept. Do you think it will catch on?

    (Although, as I think about it, this does seem a little screwy.  You’d expect the number of delegates to more-or-less track the population anyway, so doesn’t this give extra weighting to the more populous counties?)

  70. 70.

    Nina

    I remember reading (probably here) that a clinic specifically for 16 and 17 year olds managed to rope in a lot of parents as well, who had just never bothered to make the vaccination trip on their own.  Child care dominates so much of your life when they’re younger.

  71. 71.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator:

    Los Angeles County is about to permit no appointment vaccinations in general.

    Not sure about the rest of California.

    I suspect the rest of the state will be doing it about the same time.  The big question is how we’ll do at getting the vaccination sites into poor communities that are trailing in vaccination rate.  It’s great that we had big vaccination sites, but they don’t help people who don’t have cars and plenty of time.  If we want everyone vaccinated, we need to make sure everyone has realistic access to the vaccine.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    Popular culture producers have fallen down on the job in not having sitcoms include at least one ‘getting the shot’ episode.

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    Although, as I think about it, this does seem a little screwy. You’d expect the number of delegates to more-or-less track the population anyway, so doesn’t this give extra weighting to the more populous counties?

    Yes, you would.  It’s possible this is intentional on the part of the designers.

  75. 75.

    cope

    I made an appointment for my 13 year old grandson within 30 minutes of learning that CDC had expanded the age range.  He goes in on Wednesday.  His sister (9) will just have to wait a bit longer but what great news in general.

  77. 77.

    Doc Sardonic

    To repurpose one of my grandmothers old statements, opinions are like assholes, and Eric Loomis is one.

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    This means that all high.schools.can be fully vaccinated and open for in-person school in September.

    With extra-curriculars?

  81. 81.

    Rokka

    @Ohio Mom: As a music critic, Loomis is an obvious fraud who main tactic is to slag on a big name for things that are the fault of others like record company management etc. If you ask him to explain why he doesn’t like something , he will ignore you.

  82. 82.

    Ken

    @Baud: We should require vaccine passports voter ID.

    How about, your vaccination card is valid voter ID for any Federal election.  Slip that through in some appropriations bill, the GQP never reads so won’t notice it anyway.

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken: It’s actually “spit in a cup”, but it’s A LOT OF SPIT and you have to go to certain locations, so nothing is stuck up your nose but it’s still something you have to do 2-3 times a week.

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    @Ohio Mom:

    Eric Loomis has two categories of opinions.

    The first is opinions in which he is incredibly well-informed — he really does know American history

    I don’t know who this guy is. Is he informed enough about American history to hate Trump?

  88. 88.

    Baud

    @Ken:

    Oh, you’re not vaccinated?  We can still let you in, but I have to stick this six-inch probe up your nose….”

    They should choose another body part just cuz.

  89. 89.

    Baud

    @Brachiator:

    LGM front pager.  He’s a lot of things but he is on the right side of hating Trump.

    ETA: LGM = Lawyers Guns $ Money blog.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @Uncle Cosmo: You could not prank the Virginia Republican party any worse than they have pranked themselves with their discombulated Disassembled Convention. Everybody but Glen Youngkin and his myriads of paid minions are pissed off.

    I often follow the state’s Republican  politics through the journal Bearing Drift, “covering Virginia politics from a conservative point of view,” as they put it. Those people are fed up with the trumpers and their fellow travelers in this state. At least one writer has declared himself a Democrat, and others pretty much say in article comments that they’ll vote for Terry McAuliffe this fall.

    Bearing Drift did convention day updates Saturday. The last update recounted the experience of their managing editor. The woman happened to live a two minute walk from her polling place. But when she walked over, officials told her sorry, you must be in a vehicle to vote, those are the rules. They would not be persuaded otherwise. So the woman wished them a nice day and walked home. She could have hopped in her car and driven back, but she didn’t bother. She’s probably as fed up with her party as the rest of the folks at Bearing Drift.

    Virginia Republicans could have had the state conduct a primary this June, for free. But they are afraid of their voters. And Youngkin, a managing partner at the Carlyle Group who is worth an estimated $600 million, probably put the fix in.

  91. 91.

    Catherine D.

    @WaterGirl: I swab my own nose at Cornell twice a week. I’m fully vaccinated and only have to test once a week, but data, baby, data!

  92. 92.

    Mokum

    @Ken: theU of I developed their own test, were you drool in a tube. Not painful, but for many students too much of a hassle to do twice a week.

  93. 93.

    Roger Moore

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    They’re setting up vax sites in 3 Metro stations(A Line(Blue) at the Del Almo Station, C Line(Green) at Crenshaw/105 Station and at the Harbor Transit Center in Gardena.

    It’s still a hassle for many people to get to any of those locations.  We need to have lots of small sites rather than a few big ones.  Local pharmacies are a great start, but we need to think about temporary clinics in places where there isn’t a local pharmacy to give shots.

  94. 94.

    Ken

    @Baud: “See you later, I’ve got to go for my twice-weekly COVID test.”

    “Didn’t you get the vaccination over two months ago?”

    “Don’t kink shame.”

  95. 95.

    Ohio Mom

    Rokka:
    Yeah, music is not what Loomis got his PhD in. Gotta put that in the opinions that are random personal idiosyncrasies column.

    That’s the thing about him. I’m fine when he unequivocally declares the person buried under the headstone he’s photographed was (insert whatever historical fact and interpretation here).

    But does he really not know when he’s strayed out of his field? He must. Then he’s insufferable and that’s when I start scrolling past. I don’t care what music or beer he likes.

  97. 97.

    dmsilev

    @WaterGirl: Our testing center (which uses the same spit test) had for a while signs encouraging people to “think of your favorite food” and other handy hints for producing sufficient saliva. I’m not sure why they bothered; the sample vials aren’t all that big. I guess some people were having trouble?

  98. 98.

    Brachiator

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    They’re setting up vax sites in 3 Metro stations(A Line(Blue) at the Del Almo Station, C Line(Green) at Crenshaw/105 Station and at the Harbor Transit Center in Gardena.

    Interesting. Pretty good choices.

    These are the first vaccination sites to be installed on the Metro transit system and are scheduled to open on Tuesday, May 11. The sites are designed for walk ups and are a short walk from each Metro station. The vaccine site locations were selected based on Governor Gavin Newsom’s list of county zip codes where there is, and has been, high rates of COVID-19 cases and low vaccination rates.

    What? Still requires appointments???

    Vaccine site operating hours will be Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Vaccines are free and appointments can be made by visiting myturn.ca.gov. Both Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available at all locations. Pfizer vaccinations will be available to everyone 16 years and older. Johnson & Johnson vaccinations will be available to everyone 18 years and older. The vaccines are free and no insurance documentation is required.

    Hopefully, walk-ins will be allowed soon.

  100. 100.

    dmsilev

    @Roger Moore: I can’t find the press release just now, but the County has been setting up mobile vaccination clinics to go into various neighborhoods; spend a few days at each site, and then on to the next. Seems sensible. Ultimately, door-to-door might be needed to cover housebound folks and the like.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    @dmsilev

    Nervousness can lead to dry mouth.

    @Roger Moore

    Blood banks have operated bloodmobiles for decades. While initial start-up costs would tend to be on the high side, no good reason not to set up vaxmoblies.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: People I knew said it was a challenge to come up with enough spit.  Then at some point they changed the tubes so they didn’t require as much spit.  (Hazy on the details.)

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Shana:

    My daughter’s boyfriend is resisting getting vaccinated

    out of curiosity: Why is he resisting?

  104. 104.

    dmsilev

    @NotMax: We’ve been running this type of test since January (and nasal swabs before that). At this point, I seriously doubt anyone is nervous about it; it’s just part of the regular routine.

    We are starting to consider winding it down for fully-vaxxed people. That seems reasonable to me.

  107. 107.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: At the U of I, it looks like you still have to do the testing until the fall semester starts.

    Message today:

    Please note mandatory testing requirements are still in place even for individuals who are fully vaccinated. A verified Vaccination Record Card will not be used to replace mandatory COVID-19 testing until the upcoming Fall 2021 semester.

  109. 109.

    Baud

    OT. What say you, NYC Jackals?

    Kathryn Garcia for N.Y.C. Mayor: The Times Endorsement

    NYT > Top Stories / by The Editorial Board / 7min

    The editorial board’s endorsement for the Democratic mayoral primary.

  111. 111.

    randy khan

    @Cermet:

    And the damn begins to break – with adult vaccination gonna pass 60% (but likely not by too much) combined with these teens, it might be possible to exceed 70% vaccination rate for the US; especially if it gets approval for 6 and up by the beginning of Fall.

     

    Right now, 43% of the population (and 0% of the under-18 crowd) has had at least one shot.  People 18 and over are about 77.7% of the population, so this means that we about 55% of the adult population already has had shots.  We shouldn’t have a huge amount of trouble getting to 60% or more of adults vaccinated, and with school vaccination mandates, I would guess we’ll end up with close to 80% of kids vaccinated.  60% of adults and 80% of kids is about 65%.  Meanwhile, more than 10% of the population has had COVID-19, and you should add them to the total.  (Some, but not nearly all, of them will get vaccinated, so to be conservative figure they add 5%.  And there you are at 70%, without much strain.

    Now it’s going to be uneven – right now we have 17 states at or above 50% for at least initial vaccinations, and 11 below 40% – so we’ll probably see case rates drop a lot more dramatically in the northeast, the Dem-controlled Midwest states, and the West Coast.  (Fun fact:  only 3 of the 17 states over 50% are outside the Eastern Time Zone.)  But as a country, we’re making a lot of progress, enough that the EU’s goal is to catch up with us.

  113. 113.

    dmsilev

    @randy khan: Your numbers are a bit off; fortunately, you were overly pessimistic. Per the CDC’s dashboard, we’re currently at 46% of total population having at least one dose, and 58% of 18+. Also, Pfizer’s original approval was for ages 16 and up, so at least some kids have already had doses.

  115. 115.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    Mobile clinics seem like a good idea.  My employer has a “Bloodmobile” that they use for blood drives.  A “Vaccinemobile”- preferably dozens of them- would be at least as good an idea.

  116. 116.

    smith

    @dmsilev:  Another reason for some optimism: almost 84% of people 65+ have had at least one shot. Given the age distribution of political opinion, it’s a sure bet many of them are MAGAts and fans of Tuckems, but they went for a vax anyway.

  117. 117.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    I just read it. She sounds good. I hope this has more impact than their endorsement of Warren/Klobuchar.

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @Ken: The problem is that with only 30,000 attendees, or 53,000 if they all had turned out, a candidate with strong support in a particular area- like State Senator Amanda Chase has in Chesterfield County- might bring out a big crowd disproportionate to that locality’s general election strength. Chase might have motivated the many gun nuts across rural Viginia as well.

    This year a lot of the party’s strategy, such as it was, revolved around blocking Chase. She’s pretty much a single issue politician, but the fear was that she might win with a plurality in a crowded primary. By having a ranked choice convention, Chase was suppressed.

    A self-described “trump in heels,” pistol-packing dingbat Chase would drag the rest of the ticket into the Dismal Swamp. Everybody was trying to pull Chase down. The very conservative Bull Elephant titled a Chase article “Trump in Heels? Or Queeg in Flipflops?”

    As it is, it looks like Chase will come in third, behind “Not a Politician, but a Businessman” candidates Youngkin and Snyder.

  119. 119.

    lgerard

    I have Mike Lindell’s big Corn Palace hoedown streaming in the background.  At the moment faux Christian Eric Metaxas is droning on and on  but I am eagerly awaiting tonight’s special guest….

    Joe Piscopo!

    I imagine that the people of South Dakota are thrilled at the prospect of revisiting the early 1980’s

  120. 120.

    randy khan

    @Geminid:

    Ballots are weighted according to the number of Republican votes from the jurisdiction in last year’s presidential election. So a vote from populous Fairfax County would have more weight than a vote from mountainous Tazewell county.

    True, but what that really does is give more power to a red, red county than a blue one, as compared to population.  Fairfax has 1.1 million people, and Trump won 28 percent of the vote (168,000 votes), while Tazewell has 40,000, and Trump won 83 percent of the vote (16,731 votes).  If the counties were weighted by population alone, Fairfax would count for 27.5 times Tazewell, but when you do the weight by votes, but using the Republican system, Fairfax gets just over 10 times as many votes as Tazewell.

    This isn’t an uncommon approach in general terms – national convention delegate allocations generally have some component based on how the party has done in each state – but it’s a pretty extreme version.

  121. 121.

    randy khan

    @Ken:

    See my preceding comment – it actually overrepresents the red rural counties.  (This is my shocked face.)

  122. 122.

    randy khan

    @dmsilev:

    I’m happy to be off – I was pulling from the NY Times dashboard, which usually seems to track the CDC numbers, but in this case I’m glad it doesn’t.

  125. 125.

    Gin & Tonic

    The pleasures of springtime here in New England – my son foraged a big bunch of ramps, so we pickled the bottoms and made a pesto from the leaves, and then my daughter’s fishmonger had both soft shell crabs and shad. When she came by to visit her mother yesterday, we ate well indeed.

  127. 127.

    West of the Rockies

    Has it been addressed and I missed it?  When can the 12 and up start to get shots?

  128. 128.

    Geminid

     

     

    @randy khan: Yes, they are weighting ballots according to the Republican vote, trying to track Republican strength in a general election. Still, of course, inferior to just letting people vote in a primary. Virginia has open primaries, so independents would have a say. But they could in this system anyway, since all someone had to do when preregistering was make an unenforceable pledge to vote for the nominee.

    And at this point, Republicans cannot win a statewide race without carrying the independent vote. A February, 2021 Wason Center poll of registered Virginia voters showed self-identification at Democrat, 37%; Independent, 33%; and Republican, 25%. The last number represents a six point drop from a December, 2019 Wason Center poll. Virginia Republicans can thank trump for most of it, their own pigheadedness for the rest.

  129. 129.

    Suzanne

    This is SOOOOO great. I only have one family member who falls in this age range, but I just want everyone to get it. My younger Spawns and most of my nieces and nephews are all 10 and younger, so fingers crossed that they can get it soon.

    I just worked out in a gym for the first time since March 2020. So weird.

  130. 130.

    Jackie

    @Geminid: Isn’t Chase the one who claimed she’s leading in all the polls and threatened an audit if she didn’t win the nomination? Heh

  131. 131.

    different-church-lady

    @randy khan: Well, he seems to enjoy voicing opinions, at the very least. I can’t really say how he feels about having them…

  132. 132.

    different-church-lady

    @Brachiator:

    Is he informed enough about American history to hate Trump?

    He hates so many things that it’s really impossible to tell just what category his hatred for Trump falls into.

  135. 135.

    Mary G

    @Roger Moore: Latest from Orange County today:

    May 10, 2021
    Vaccines are now available for walk-ins and for those with confirmed appointments. A list of sites and hours of operation can be found at CovidVaccineFacts.com or by calling the OC COVID-19 Hotline at (714) 834-2000.

    Community members who need a ride to a County of Orange Super POD vaccination site, can schedule through the OC COVID-19 Hotline at (714) 834-2000.

    In order to best meet the changing needs of those we serve, the County will close its Super POD vaccine sites on June 6 and shift operations to an expanding network of mobile vaccination PODs. Location and appointment details will be posted to Othena.com as they become available.

    They are a bit slow so information on 12-15 yos will probably come out in a day or two, but I am very happy that people can call for a ride if they don’t have a car or a convenient bus route.

  136. 136.

    Shana

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sigh, we’re not asking, but according to our daughter he has questions about it because of how quickly it got to market. We think he may be a republican.

    We’ve tried to give her ammunition to argue for the vaccine but aren’t pushing. We’re in VA, they’re currently in TX so it’s not an immediate issue for us but I know she would very much prefer he get vaccinated.

  137. 137.

    zhena gogolia

    The second half of Don Lemon’s interview with officer Fanone:

    “Thousands of rioters came to the Capitol hellbent on violence and destruction and murder”??Part 2 of @donlemon ‘s interview with Officer Michael Fanone: ??pic.twitter.com/lRwG26Zqly— Let's help Biden heal our nation (@WarnockWarrior) May 10, 2021

  140. 140.

    FlyingToaster

    @dmsilev:

    (Context: The best-performing states so far, MA and VT, have given at least a first dose to ~72-73% of the 16+ population. I’m sure they’ll hit 80% of eligible. Less sure about 90%.)

    I’ve seen two polls out in MA, and we’re seeing about 7% “vaccine hesitancy”.  Those who haven’t gotten theirs yet are trying to get days off, a month apart, to deal with the effects of the mRNA vaccines.  Several larger retail firms (Target, Costco, Wegmans) scheduled their employees to accomodate vaccination.

    When the 12-15s come on next week, I’m aiming for a specific date for the vax, because WarriorTeen and I have the same flu vax reaction.  It’ll be “no school for 5 days” if I have my way.

  145. 145.

    Roger Moore

    @randy khan:

    Fairfax has 1.1 million people, and Trump won 28 percent of the vote (168,000 votes), while Tazewell has 40,000, and Trump won 83 percent of the vote (16,731 votes). If the counties were weighted by population alone, Fairfax would count for 27.5 times Tazewell, but when you do the weight by votes, but using the Republican system, Fairfax gets just over 10 times as many votes as Tazewell.

    That system makes sense, but only if the party controls the number of delegates from each county.  It would make sense to give Fairfax 10 times as many delegates as Tazewell, or for each county to have the same number of delegates but weight the votes from Fairfax 10 times as much as ones from Tazewell.  Either of those will give a fair picture of the overall Republican sentiment in the state, assuming that the delegates represent the voters in their county.

    What doesn’t make sense is to allow anyone who wants to be a delegate and then to weight their votes by the county population.  In that case, you’d expect Fairfax to have 10 times as many delegates as Tazewell- it has 10 times as many Republican voters, after all- and each of their votes counts 10 times as much.  That should result in Fairfax getting 100 times as much say as Tazewell, not 10 times as much.

  146. 146.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Jackie: Amanda Chase also threatens to run as an independent candidate for Governor.

    Amanda Chase first won office in 2015, when she beat an establishment Republican State Senator in the suburbs/exurbs south of Richmond. That was a year after Dave Brat knocked off Eric Cantor in the 7th Congressional District, north of the city. She was part of the Tea Party wave that pushed the Virginia party rightward, and helped the Democrats take over.

    Chase is an airhead. If South Dakota Governor Kristy Noehm is a dollar store Sarah Palin, Chase would be a yard sale Sarah Palin. That she came in third this time on a low budget just shows the political bankruptcy of the Virginia Republican party.

  147. 147.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: I’m not usually in the “eat the rich” club, but that has me feeling a mite peckish…

  149. 149.

    Geminid

    @Roger Moore: I think they somehow adjusted the weighting to the actual number who turned out in a jurisdiction. I bet it got complicated in design and execution, what with the ranked choices. Bearing Drift linked to a spreadsheet showing results as of the third round, after the lowest two finishers were dropped. I looked at it and just went cross-eyed. But the simple raw vote totals were interesting, as they gave a good comparison of relative strength in a give jurisdiction.

    This Disassembled Convention was designed on the fly, after one faction of a deadlocked State Commitee finally gave in with a state electoral deadline looming. Originally, there was going to be a gigantic drive in convention at Liberty U. The party announced it one day, and dropped it the next when Liberty said no. They had never been asked.

    So it’s just been a mathematically opaque, logistically awkward, shoddily executed, undemocratic fucked up mess. And all they had to do was let the state conduct a primary, for free.

  150. 150.

    Jackie

    @Geminid: Trump in high heels. If she runs as an Independent, surely that’s a good omen for the Democratic nominee.

  151. 151.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:
    What is a half-billion dollar “yacht”* to a man who will still have US$199.5 billion left after paying for it?

    *It seems to be the size of a cruise ship, from what the story says. And no, CNN, those things are not “manufactured” — each is custom built, one at a time, to the specifications of the gilded one who ordered it.

  152. 152.

    guachi

    No state that voted for Trump in 2020 has an above average first-shot vaccination rate. None. Zero.

    Three of the four Biden states below average flipped from Trump to Biden (GA, AZ, MI). NV is the only Clinton/Biden state below average.

  154. 154.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: An independent run by Chase would help the Democratic candidate, who will all but certainly be former governor Terry McAuliffe. But Virginia Republicans, who were dominant statewide twenty years ago, have really hit the skids this past decade. The Chamber of Commerce types who used to call the shots have been overrun by an alliance of bible thumpers and tea party cranks rebranded as “Constitutional Conservatives.” With moderates scared away, and the college educated and immigrant citizens voting increasingly Democratic, the Republican party seems like it is starting to go into a death spiral. And this convention is like having a piece of a wing fall off.

    So the Democrats probably don’t need Chase’s help this year. She’d be fun, though.

  159. 159.

    Gvg

    Alachua county Florida has been vaccinating in the high schools for awhile. My cousin works for the school board. She just texted that next week they will be vaccinating in the middle schools for any child old enough with a permission slip. I haven’t figured out my other nephews choices in an other county but Florida has been no appointment vaccine surplus for a few weeks now. I suspect his mom will have it done as soon as she gets a day off. She is a doctor. That nephew has been asking questions and anticipating for weeks. He misses his friends. I hope desantis doesn’t delay approving it in the state.

  160. 160.

    PJ

    @different-church-lady: ​

    Eric Loomis: a man resolutely dedicated to enjoying absolutely nothing in life beyond the sound of his own opinions.

      Funny that a guy who started a blog has that trait. (And it’s admirable that Cole emphatically does not.)​

  161. 161.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    What’s all this I keep hearing about the Amazon buying a yak for $500 million dollars. Why does Brazil want a yak and why are they so expensive?

  162. 162.

    PJ

    @different-church-lady: ​
      This is a man who has in his Twitter bio: “Occasionally compared to Philip Marlowe.”

    I’m pretty sure the only person who ever did that had the initials “E.L.” Chandler would have mocked him for his self-regard alone, if not for all of his wrong opinions.

  164. 164.

    PJ

    @Baud: ​
      She’s one of the few candidates who has actual experience in running city government (and she ran the Sanitation Dept. well, or at least there were no screwups that I noticed), which is a big plus in my book.

  170. 170.

    bemused senior

    @Roger Moore: I was vaccinated at the oakland coliseum, and there was a car line and a walk up line for the people who came via bart.

  173. 173.

    eclare

    @NotMax:  I slept a lot for two to three days after Moderna #2.  As someone with insomnia, it was a wonderful side effect!

  178. 178.

    Jay

    SWIMBO has noticed a possibility,  and is working on getting us our second Moderna shot sooner, ( May,) not later, ( Sept), as being an Indigenous Family, we “should” be eligible to be fully vaxxed.

    Lost our Paint Department (17 people) this week, 1 in hospital, 16 in Quarentine. Tamir passed away this week, ( Plumbing), after a month in ICU.

    On the bright side, I have Wed. off and DERA has decided I can be part of their Vaxx team, 2 walk in sites on the Downtown East Side and at 2 unhoused encampments, so I will get to see and talk with some people that I have known for years, haven’t seen in a year, and give them the vaxx.

  180. 180.

    Jay

    @eclare:

    thanks, we will see how it goes. The “rules” are ill defined and the call center staff doing the bookings are mostly working off simplified check lists.

    All in all, could be worse. Fraser Health Authority closed 3 Rona’s in Langley last week for a mandatory 21 day quarantine, due to too much covid spread in the stores and back out into the community.

  181. 181.

    eclare

    @Jay:  A good friend of mine is from India, yes, it could definitely be worse.  I hope the US exports vaccine soon to Canada and Mexico.  I think Pfizer said they would be shipping vaccine to Canada.

  182. 182.

    Jay

    @eclare: 

    “The Plan” was to get more First Shots in Arms, faster.

    Like the US, there are gaps between doses and takers, at times in places. Some of the Pharmacies are doing “hour before close, Covid shots available”.

  183. 183.

    NotMax

    @eclare

    Probably more of a concern for Mexico than Canada, it ought to be pointed out that shipping vaccine is but one step. Without an adequate and steady supply of needles, the vaccine is gonna sit in vials. And consideration must be paid to the availability, capacity (or lack thereof) and reliability of deep refrigeration at the receiving end. The logistics of supply and distribution are far more complex than”pack it in dry ice and slap a label on it.”

  184. 184.

    prostratedragon

    @lgerard:

    “What do they know in South Dakota?”
    “They know what they like.”
    —On the Air, Ep.2

    Even the MAGAts might wonder, why Piscopo? Is it his first name?

  185. 185.

    Jay

    Like a bunch of other SNL “comics”, Joe went from starving standup “liberal” to FUIGM “independent” to full MAGAT.

  186. 186.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WaterGirl: @dmsilev: People I knew said it was a challenge to come up with enough spit.

    Democrats only needed to imagine they’d be expected to expectorate on the Tang©-toned visage of Dolt45…

  187. 187.

    Gvg

    @rikyrah: 2260. Half placebo

    i read that the test was supposed to be only something called bridging and they were measuring how strong an immune response the subjects had (antibodies I think). They results were higher for the kids than for young adults. However the test got strong real world results too. 18 kids in the placebo group got covid in just the few months of the trial. 0 kids in the vaccine group got it.

    The side effects were the same range as earlier adult groups. Basically no reason to think it is different for kids than adults.https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-biontech-announce-positive-topline-results-pivotal

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