I think I mentioned this before when the USA kindly donated a vaccine supply to Canada. Now they have sent one million doses of Moderna that landed back east in Ontario today.

Meanwhile, Canadian officials had already said they had enough supply to give every Canadian who wants one their vaccine doses. They may include these latest US 1-million doses in a Canadian donation of millions of vaccines to other countries who do not have enough for their population.

They said that the US didn't put any restrictions on the donation and so it can be used to augment the donations we are making elsewhere.

I'm happy there is (finally) enough to share and spread around the world but wondering why the extra step of accepting the US supply and then sending it out of country.

That doesn't detract, though, from the neighbourly gesture, which we most assuredly appreciate.

I am beyond fortunate to have received two doses already (Phizer), the last one just short of two weeks ago, so come this Sunday I can consider myself "fully vaccinated" and therefore potentially possessing a high degree of immunity. Our govt here in B.C. is predicting a back-to-normal school year, with no more cohorts or masks, as long as infection rates continue to decline and do not resurge.

I was somewhat apprehensive about the vaccine due to all the controversy but given that I've taken nearly every routine vaccine offered throughout my life, I went ahead. I was also quite nervous about the injection itself, given how ouchie it looks on TV when the camera takes close-ups of a seemingly huge long needle poking agonizingly slowly into a skinny little arm. Yow! And yet I scarcely felt the shot, especially the 2nd one when I didn't even know it had already been done until the nurse slapped on a Band-Aid.

So, yeah. Despite the upheaval and apprehension and seemingly agonizingly long stretch of CV-19, whew. It feels good to be on this side of it. Now we just have to think about the surging variants. But that's for another day. For now I'm planning on celebrating my apparent (and relative?) immunity this coming Sunday. Maybe I'll head to my favourite restaurant. But I'm still packing my mask. For now.

It's good to have a nearby generous sharing neighbour. So thanks, y'all!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2021 05:54PM by Nightingale.

I've long thought that the United States should donate two or even four billion doses not only to Canada and other G7 countries but to India and the rest of the developing world as well. The cost would be much less, in inflation-adjusted terms, than the Marshall Plan but would do much to repair the damage to US prestige incurred over the last several years and make Russia and China look feckless in comparison. The move would also redound to America's benefit by reducing the speed with which variants emerge and the frequency with which any booster shots become necessary.

There are times when the generous option is also the strategically wise demarche. This is one.

Lot's Wife Wrote:
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> There are times when the generous option is also
> the strategically wise demarche. This is one.

That's what I was thinking but you said it so well.

This is one of those times when it's obviously a case of what's good for you is good for me too. If we could knock back the variants in a worldwide effort that would help all of us in many ways. I hope we do so.

I think Canada plans to help India as much as possible. I'm not sure which other countries but wow, seems an almost once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go global in a way that benefits both the giver and receiver.

I believe Biden already pledged 500 million and persuaded the G7 to add another 500 million, which is again a way of tightening ties between the US and the others--sorely needed after the recent bout of nihilism--but I think he should go farther, also ideally with the partners.

China's sent its vaccines to a handful of countries and they don't seem to work. It's an ideal time to show the world which countries are dependable and which are not.

Our public health officials said "take the 1st vaccine that's available to you" (when people were holding out for particular ones they thought were better than others) and now they're saying if your 1st dose was AZ, for your 2nd dose you can choose to have an mRNA vaccine (Phizer, Moderna...) if available. Still, it's better to have 2 AZ's than only 1. And apparently there are likely fewer side effects if you have two of the same vaccine than if you mix different ones.

(I hadn't heard the feedback re the China vaccine. Yeah, no point in getting it unless it's objectively proven to be effective).

I had arm, shoulder and neck pain x 4 days after the first dose and took Tylenol a few times each day until the discomfort abated. Just mild arm pain x 2 days with the second dose. I still took Tylenol but not as much in a day and for only 2, not 4 days.

Even as a nurse and listening to all the news all the time re CV-19 it can be confusing to keep up with updates and changes. I find it's easy to misunderstand info and instructions. I don't blame people for feeling confused. And it's good to ask questions. However, I would likely always opt for the public health recommendations rather than rely on my feelings or fears.

They're talking too about potentially needing a booster shot, perhaps in the fall. I'll show up for that too. I seriously do not want to catch this thing. And even though it feels **amazing** to at last have good immunity (come Sunday) I'll still be wary of crowds and anyone I'm unsure of being around (i.e. not vaccinated). You're only guaranteed to be as safe as possible if everyone around you is vaccinated.

But the sun is warm and shiny, re-openings are on the horizon, school will likely be back close to normal for the fall and our case numbers are falling way down (average of only 70 new cases a day on three days last week).

Before vaccination, relatively high numbers, always climbing. Since vaccination, wow, opening back up is on the horizon (we were never fully shut down for groceries and, embarrassingly, liquor stores, among other "essentials". But even MD offices were shut; however, people needed their booze still!). And we have a ways to go still to get to 70-80% vaccinated but the difference in public health measures already is remarkable. In B.C. 65% of the population has had one dose and 14.9% have had their two. The latter is such a small number but it's made a big difference in easing up on closures.

And seeing that 14.9 number, wow, I'm even more grateful that I was able to get in and get done. The first time was April 13 (not usually a lucky number) and the second time was June 6 (D-Day). June 20 for full immunity (or as good as it gets). Celebration Day, for sure!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2021 07:24PM by Nightingale.

I think we should up our game with regard to vaccination donations as well. We're off to a good start, but more can be done. It's the ideal way to help out, and to build good will.

Thank you, Nightingale!

I'm glad your second shot is over, and you are now fully vaccinated.

I had the same experience too: each of my Phizer injections were barely physically perceptible as they were happening (and I, personally, did not have any of the after-effects people have been talking about).

It is really nice to be in a world where our nations and our peoples are helping each other out.

I hope this is the "new normal" for all of us.

Tevai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

I'm glad you didn't have any side effects, Tevai. I was grumpy for a few days with the shoulder/neck pain but the alternative could be much worse.


> It is really nice to be in a world where our
> nations and our peoples are helping each other
> out.
>
> I hope this is the "new normal" for all of us.

Amen to that, for sure.

I'm glad for you, Nightingale, and I'm glad for our dear northern neighbors. Good health!

Thanks so much, summer.

Yeah, it feels good.

Nighty, thanks for that. I hate to be such a kill joy, but I suspect one reason we had so much to donate was because so many Americans were too reluctant to take the dose available for them.

Because of pending expiration dates on some, and, in the case of the FDA not approving the J&J at first in the USA, we are getting some credit for donations to other countries simply because no one was using them here fast enough. Cynicism aside, I'm proud the USA can help donate.

I commend Nighty's graciousness!

Hi, dagny. Yes, I think you're right about the hesitance, which is certainly most unfortunate. We also had a slight issue with some doses nearing their expiration date and fortunately public health hustled and pushed people through early so nothing went to waste. That indeed would be a tragedy, given the overwhelming need elsewhere.

I'm happy too that Canada can donate, as well as the USA. We truly are a global village in many respects. Apart from anything else, we're all humans and it's awful to think of multiple casualties for lack of a resource that we now have in abundance.

Thanks for the compliment. You're always so good to me!

Yes! Thank you USA. My little brother is getting his second dose this afternoon.

Now can we send some vowels to Bosnia ?

Calling mRNA therapy vaccines is like conflating an antihistamine with a headache remedy.

FYI, flu, zika and rabies vaccines have been mRNA for a number of years now. Your pedantic hair-splitting sounds very Jordanesque.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mRNA.html

Thanks, BoJ.

He says:

“FYI, flu, zika and rabies vaccines have been mRNA for a number of years now.”

Not true, and nowhere in the article is such a thing claimed. The claim:

“mRNA vaccines have been studied before for flu, Zika, rabies, and cytomegalovirus (CMV).”

How did those studies go? Forgive me lazily using Wikipedia:

Up until 2020, these mRNA biotech companies had poor results testing mRNA drugs for cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases; selected targets for cancer; and rare diseases like Crigler–Najjar syndrome, with most finding that the side effects of the mRNA delivery methods were too serious.[29][30] mRNA vaccines for human use have been developed and tested for the diseases rabies, Zika, cytomegalovirus, and influenza, although these mRNA vaccines have not been licensed.[31] Many large pharmaceutical companies abandoned the technology,[29] while some biotechs re-focused on the less profitable area of vaccines, where the doses would be at lower levels and side effects reduced.[29][32]

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, no mRNA drug or vaccine had been licensed for use in humans.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_vaccine



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2021 11:28AM by Tevai.

They were CLINICAL trials.
That's why they call it am EXPERIMENTAL injection.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/the-promise-of-mrna-vaccines-68202

According to the inventor of mRNA tech, Dr. Robert Malone, the surveillance statistics and medical education of the current mrna experimental injection side effects is sloppy and inaccurate.

Who calls it an experimental injection?

The development of the vaccine and the trials were conducted the same way as other vaccines we are accustomed to. The difference was in the shorter length of time it took to develop the COVID vaccines. That process seems to be what spooked a lot of people as we are used to vaccine development and trials taking long periods of time. Some people were afraid the vaccines were "rushed".

Experts I have heard and read about explain that the shorter process was possible due to massive funding that was poured into COVID vaccine development. Trials could be done simultaneously instead of consecutively, as was usually done because of how the funding worked in the past. With additional funding for COVID vaccine development the process could be speeded up, to our great benefit.

The vaccines were tested in the usual way (called clinical trials - capitalizing the word 'clinical' seems to indicate there is something wrong with that but actually it's the usual procedure - all safety trials of new products, medications and vaccines are called "clinical trials").

The so-called "rush" was actually a concerted effort throughout the world to develop a vaccine as soon as humanly possible in view of the dread plague that befell us. Unfortunately, the speed did spook a lot of people who didn't trust the process, as it was a cooperative achievement that hadn't been done before.

In my view, it's good to be cautious and informed.

It's also a very fine idea to check one's reference sources, especially when it comes to health matters.

How very strange. Usually when people cite sources, they choose ones that support their argument--and yet here you cite one that is ecstatic about both the COVID vaccines and mRNA vaccines more generally.


-------------
> They were CLINICAL trials.

Uh, all drug and vaccine trials are CLINICAL. So how does that militate against mRNA as you suggest?


----------------
> That's why they call it am EXPERIMENTAL injection.

The article you cited doesn't even include the word "experimental."


--------------
> According to the inventor of mRNA tech, Dr. Robert
> Malone, the surveillance statistics and medical
> education of the current mrna experimental
> injection side effects is sloppy and inaccurate.

Your article doesn't use Malone's name or espouse the judgment you say it does.

What you have done is cite a source that bolsters BoJ's argument. Did you not realize that?

Ok, for starters, they are not experimental vaccines. The poster-of-many-names is just making that up.

They have emergency approval. That does not mean they have not been fully tested on the populations for which the vaccines have been approved. It means they have not yet been fully tested on all relevant populations, and the vaccines are not approved for those populations. Those unapproved populations would be teens, children, infants, pregnancy at various stages.

When the testing is completed on those groups, and all goes well, the companies will seek full approval rather than emergency approval. I think that is imminent for Pfizer and Moderna.

Hey NG, slipping in a little OT where I know you would see it. This way I don't have to start an OT thread lol. You cost me money. I am going to blame you bringing up the lilacs. Had to have it. Had to have it ALL! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OfFv0NsC44

And why didn't they just name her Elizabeth and then call her Lilibet or Lily? Elizabeth Diana is such a lovely name. It was a sweet gesture as her husband was the last one that called her that but geeze.

All y'all go back to your regular programing now :)

Covid vaccines are for 'emergency use only' and are experimental!!! They have not received full FDA approval which usually takes years instead of months!


https://www.thedesertreview.com/health/experimental-covid-shots-cannot-be-mandated/article_89b901ae-8126-11eb-a78d-07c0c7e926df.html

So what? The disease is real and the vaccines work. Is it your contention that the United States should continue going through what Trump put us through indefinitely? Do you want bodies flowing down the rivers like in India?

spiritist Wrote:
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> Covid vaccines are for 'emergency use only'
===============================

Hmmm -- okay, let's say it is for 'emergency use only."
D'ja reckon 603,000 dead Americans be an emergency yet? ;-)

(Ever have difficulty getting your head around how many folks that actually is? I do.
But if we put them in standard caskets, line them up shoulder-to-shoulder along the interstate, and drive past them at 60 mph, we'd be passing solid caskets for three hours, forty-eight minutes)

> are experimental!
===============================
Proven to work though.
Folks going to hospital and graveyard today are those who have not been vaccinated.

This delta variant is really something

I can see it now.

A young Spiritualist is blissfully riding down the street on his unicycle when out of an alley comes barrelling a Black Lives Matter bus, which crashes over him and his cycle and rides off into the deep dark city center, leaving him bleeding profusely from a head wound. Passers by immediately phone 911 and an ambulance with paramedics and EMTs soon arrives.

At first Spiritualist is happy to see the medical personnel but then he shrinks back in horror: "I will not," he declares, "accept help from emergency personnel who have not completed eight years of medical education, internships, and residencies. You are frauds, I say, FRAUDS!" Instead, he plods the seven miles to the hospital in his one remaining shoe and demands to be seen by the already overwhelmed emergency room physician who is tending to Antifa gun shot wounds, drug overdoses, and fraudulent medicare claims. It takes a while, but eventually our hero gets his head wound treated, and after a short sojourn is released from the hospital and resumes his erstwhile life.

It is not long thereafter that he starts receiving visitations from spirits who give him stock tips and tin foil recommendations. Led by these supernatural guides, he soon joins RfM with the rest of us lunatics.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2021 07:49PM by Lot's Wife.

I did some poking around on the NIH website. Technically, the vaccines are considered experimental until they receive full approval. So, my mistake on that.

As for employers not being able to mandate vaccination with the current vaccines, that is not true. There is a lot of hesitancy about mandating vaccination, but a fair number of universities are requiring students who attend on campus to be vaccinated, and some employers are also mandating vaccinations. A Houston hospital chain just this week fired about 150 employees that refused to be vaccinated. The employees filed a court challenge to the requirement and did not prevail.

Pfizer and Moderna have both started the process for full approval and they expect that to be completed before the end of the year.

Many Americans don't want it (a welcome solution to any lingering Malthusian concerns)

Dr. No Wrote:
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> Many Americans don't want it (a welcome solution
> to any lingering Malthusian concerns)

Do U mean U.S. citizens?

Canadia is part of America as is Mexico, Guatemalan, Columbia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Costa Rico, Bolivia, etc.

I am fully vaccinated as is my family. My daughter in law is an RN who has worked the Covid front line from the beginning and I take her advice on this matter with complete trust and don't have much time for naysayers, antivaxers, conspiracy theorists and fools who deny that Covid is real.

What 'emergency use only' amounts to is that 'everyone' should have been 'warned' that if they 'elect' to be vaccinated and they suffer a side effect (ie up to death), don't try to sue the Pharma companies ---- they put out a warning that it was for 'emergency use only'!!! Time is needed to make drugs and vaccines that are 'fully approved' by the FDA!

O Canadia, our home & native land...

My Canadian friend said Canada was once a world leader in vaccine production, somebody named Mulroney lost it all.

ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/we-took-our-eye-off-the-ball-how-canada-lost-its-vaccine-production-capacity-1.5204040

Mulroney: PM 84 to 93.

If it is good enough for Rusty, it is good enough for me.

Need anymore Nightingale?

Just wait till they turn on the microchips, Nightingale. . .

They haven't turned the microchips on yet? So *that's* why I'm not magnetic!