Three PWDs’ experiences with long-haul COVID-19:
3 Likes
Looks like things wrt vaccine availability are about to change… Making everyone eligible for a vaccine from May 1 will make a really serious change to this year!
Since my wife had no health grounds for getting a vaccine we were looking at well into June before we could get to Taiwan. Now the timescales really depend on the Taiwanese government ramping up their systems to accept “vaccine passports”, and, of course, getting sufficient vaccine for their own island. Of course there will also be issues about the passports themselves; most countries haven’t got round to working out how it will work, but I remember going to Kenya with my parents a couple of years after turning a-pancreatic and vaccines were certainly required, along with the malaria tablets.
2 Likes
Wow, it’s amazing how different timelines are… I and most people I know have pretty much written off travel for much of this year. Maybe come the holidays, if everything goes well. Our province has just started easing restrictions slightly to allow people to visit with a consistent bubble of up to ten people, but only outside, with masks, and from a distance (and our province has been one of the more open ones, with no full lockdown since last spring). I’ll be very happy if I can visit friends and go shopping without feeling anxious by the summer. (I’m looking at mid-July for a vaccine by official guidelines, but there’s a good chance that will be moved up as supply of vaccines ramps up.)
4 Likes
I think responsible governments, including most of the western ones, have been very cautious about promises. It wasn’t clear initially that a vaccine would work; it’s only just starting to become clear with the lowering of the R numbers in places that have significant vaccination.
At the same time until we are all vaccinated we won’t see the full result and no government on this planet, except maybe Israel’s, feels confident enough in the existing vaccination levels to lessen the measures taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
I believe Canadians are in a much better place than I am, as a USian. IRC you are in Canada, so I think you will find that what your government did by signing contracts early on for more vaccine doses than Canada can use will ensure you all get vaccination PDQ and then rapidly see a massive change to your situation. Of course that is not something your government will say, and rightly so; no one in their right mind would say this will be over by a particular date, only make promises you can keep!
Here in the US we have the vaccines but we’ve only been working on the vaccinations for a couple of months; that’s why the May 1 statement was so important to me. Actually it would be fine if it was June 1; what matters is that it is a date I can believe in and a believable commitment by my government to actually continue to get it’s posterior in gear and do something.
Meanwhile Taiwan has moved too; the latest news is that the 14 day quarantine can be reduced to 5 days for people who have been completely vaccinated. They still require a PCR test within the last three days and, so far as I can tell, these are still unavailable without a doctor’s order in Oregon, so that blocks us, but things are moving.
1 Like
The federal government has said that every Canadian who wants a vaccine will get one by the end of September. So that’s a date to look forward to, but it seems a long way off yet. Especially with talk about threat of a third wave if the variants take hold before the vaccines do. I just don’t even really have things like travel on my radar yet, even though travel used to be a regular part of my work and life (and will be again hopefully next year). I’ll be happy just for an end to the underlying stress and uncertainty of the pandemic and the ability to hug friends and sit in a coffee shop without worry.
5 Likes
A lovely goal which I truly share!
5 Likes
@Jen, I’m hopeful that September target will move up as vaccinations ramp up across the country. Really, they’re just getting started in Ontario outside of LTC homes and frontline workers. There’s a massive scale-up just beginning as they expand vaccinations to pharmacies, family doctors, mass immunization clinics, hospital clinics, community health centres, mobile clinics for the home-bound, and on and on. I’m hoping it goes smoothly after the initial hiccups. And there seems to be very high demand for shots, which is good to see.
3 Likes
Yeah, last week (I think?) when the booking system opened to some seniors here in BC it got something like 1.7 million calls within the first few hours and crashed. So there is definitely extremely high demand! Hopefully the doses start flowing in and the distribution goes smoothy. I think I read end of June as a potential date for everyone to have at least their first shot, which would be great!
3 Likes
Josephine County, Oregon just got changed to allowing vaccination of Phase 1, Group 6 individuals.
So, tomorrow, the mass attack (aka my wife) begins; can I move my vaccination date up before April 9. We will certainly be going all out to achieve that.
1 Like
Replying to myself… No, the mystery continues; the CDC guidelines now specify Type 2 Diabetes, and Oregon follows those except that it doesn’t allow smokers (which would definitely include my wife; I’m borderline). So I don’t know now if my April 9 vaccination appointment is valid or not. I’m not going to ask until very close to the date; things are changing so fast and getting an appointment takes a lot of time itself.
3 Likes
Honestly, just go get the vaccine. Due to the ever changing guidelines from the state, I have many friends that have just gone and got them. They say the sad part is there are a large number of slots that get scheduled and people don’t show up. Just take care of yourself, you do have diabetes. No one is going to ask the type.
5 Likes
Yeah don’t ask, just do it, and tell them you qualify. They don’t ask why/how typically in part because these sites are prepared to deal with that kind of HIPAA protected data anyway. They actively do NOT want your medical records (no harm if you bring them, but they won’t take them).
3 Likes
We’ve been instructed to wait for the phone call, and I haven’t received it yet. A twenty something co-worker in good health was called a couple weeks ago. I’ve heard other reports of gaps in schedule in recent injection sessions.
I guess this is all to echo what @Chris said, just contact them, the plan and implementation seem less than perfect. (I need to do the same, I think I’ve fallen between the cracks).
2 Likes
I set it up with my family practitioner, who definitely does have my full health records. The CDC web site basically says they don’t have enough data for T1Ds; we are in the “probably at risk” category, but there are so few of us compared with the categories of health risks they have identified. So far as I can tell anyone who isn’t Rambo (before getting shot) is at risk.
With any luck it will get better on May 1, when it becomes a free-for-all and it will simply be a matter of weeding out the 14 year olds; something everyone knows how to do.
Nevertheless my personal sense of responsibility forces me to play-by-the-rules, so I shall see what they ask me on April 9 (day after my birthday, what a great birthday present!)
1 Like
Last week I found out that insulin-dependent diabetes (doesn’t specify type) is on the list of conditions that make people aged 16-64 eligible to get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine in the coming weeks. The government should be sending out letters to those who are on the “clinically extremely vulnerable” list now, so fingers crossed I get mine soon. I’ll also be eligible to get the AstraZeneca vaccine sometime in April based on my job. So, either way, I’ll get a vaccine in the next month. I have surgery coming up in April, though, so that may interfere as I’m guessing I don’t want to do those within a week or so of each other.
10 Likes
And the healthcare providers remind us that you don’t want to get another vaccination at around the same time as the Covid one - so no Tetanus boosters or whatever.
My process has so far been pretty painless - I got a text message a couple of weeks ago from Beth Israel Deaconness in Boston asking me to make an appointment, and I made one for April 13th. Then just this past Sunday (yesterday), I got a text message from Brigham and Women’s that gave me an appointment for this Wednesday - in two days - so that’s what I’m going to do. Once I get that one I’ll cancel for April 13th. I am still registered in the Massachusetts state queue, but that has not gone anywhere.
1 Like
So I signed up for April 8 injection, on basis that I work in critical infrastructure, phase 1E here in South Dakota. As I look at it, I guess I could have qualified previously under phase 1D, persons under 65 with underlying medical condition.
So my “black helicopter” friends tell me this injection includes Bill Gates robots. Do you think I should purchase “Old Glory” insurance? 
Old Glory
1 Like
I know resorting to name calling is considered inappropriate, but it sounds to me as though these “friends” of yours are human beings. Be careful. 
Oh yes, definitely human beings, but just a bit more given to believe conspiracy theories than most folks. I am exaggerating just a bit about the robots, BTW
Having been in the same hangar with the DEA’s black helicopters all I can say is that they are real. Also, should mention that one of my mates is the one loading the chemicals into jumbo jets to make the chemtrails. Keeps everyone calm…/s
2 Likes