Covid Vaccine Updates and General Discussion About Vaccines

[GoofGoof]

With Pfizer’s news dropping last Monday on their vaccine being 90%+ effective in their phase 3 clinical trial I wanted to start a thread dedicated to the vaccine developments. The general Covid thread moves too fast and sometimes vaccine info and discussion gets lost. Feel free to discuss anything vaccine related including but not limited to:

• updates on vaccines (Moderna‘s initial phase 3 results expected to come out any day),
• discussion on who gets the vaccine first
• how the vaccines are being distributed
• whether vaccines are safe
• whether businesses like Disney should require customers show proof of vaccine after its widely available
• The impact and timing of when a vaccine could help get WDW back to something resembling normal

 

[GoofGoof]

With Ticketmaster exploring a plan to allow concert and sports venues to require a vaccination or negative Covid test to attend an event, what do people think about WDW possibly doing something similar once a vaccine is widely available? If WDW could remove their Covid restrictions sooner by asking guests to either show proof of a vaccine or a negative Covid test would you go?

Ticketmaster exploring negative COVID-19 test or vaccination to attend concerts

Wallet? Check. Water? Check. COVID-19 test? The pre-concert checklist for music fans is about to get more complicated, as Ticketmaster is planning to check the coronavirus vaccination status of con…

nypost.com

 

[drizgirl]

With Ticketmaster exploring a plan to allow concert and sports venues to require a vaccination or negative Covid test to attend an event, what do people think about WDW possibly doing something similar once a vaccine is widely available? If WDW could remove their Covid restrictions sooner by asking guests to either show proof of a vaccine or a negative Covid test would you go?

Ticketmaster exploring negative COVID-19 test or vaccination to attend concerts

Wallet? Check. Water? Check. COVID-19 test? The pre-concert checklist for music fans is about to get more complicated, as Ticketmaster is planning to check the coronavirus vaccination status of con…

nypost.com

There's going to be a period of time where some are getting vaccinated and others are not. The virus will still be around. We can't expect companies to hang out longer than absolutely necessary to get back to business. So I fully expect something like what they are proposing. It will be interesting to see which other venues come up with something along this line.

 

[GoofGoof]

I think one of the challenges we are going to have once the vaccine starts getting rolled out is that some people who get it are going to think that the covid safety rules, mask wearing for example, should not apply to them. Proof of vaccination will probably help in areas like cruises or sporting events, but it's not going to be practical to do that everywhere, especially early on.

I agree. A concert or a visit to WDW or a cruise are one off events. I don’t see this becoming widespread to get into a Starbucks or an office building. They also have to be careful that the vaccine is widely available before implementing. I think we could see some push back on Covid restrictions once vaccines start rolling out, but even with the very positive Pfizer results it’s still only 90% effective so people need to wait until we reach herd immunity to really pull back all restrictions. It’s gonna take time.

 

[GoofGoof]

Sorry -- this is misleading. If the vaccine failed, yes the U.S. govt (in your terms. "the federal government") would have no risk involvement, but in reality the risk was taken by the European Union and the German Govt. who provided the up-front funding via monies to BioNTech to underwrite the risk. Just admit that the US is benefiting from a group of other countries that had a better grasp of what was going to be needed to respond to the pandemic.

I agree. That comment was in reference to Pfizer specifically taking big money from the US government.

 

[GoofGoof]

Agreed. providing the less developed economies are not left to die because either they can't pay for vaccines or effort doesn't go into creating the infrastructure needed to deliver the vaccinations. So, a big question needs to be aimed at the US. govt, the UK govt, the German/French/EU govts. the Chinese/Russian govts -- what are you doing to get the vaccine/s out to the world's population.

I think I read somewhere that the EU has contracted enough vaccine purchases to vaccinate everyone 5 times over. The US, UK and Japan are not far behind. The extra doses will need to be given to the rest of the world for cheap or free. I think it’s going to be up to the largest economies to absorb most of the cost but we can’t end the worldwide pandemic without stopping the virus everywhere. I also think vaccine candidates like the JnJ vaccine have more promise in the 3rd world since it doesn’t require deep freezing and also only needs one dose. That assumes it is effective, but in places where the power grid is sketchy at best you can’t deliver a bunch of vaccine that needs to be frozen only to have it spoil during a power outage.

 

[drizgirl]

I agree. A concert or a visit to WDW or a cruise are one off events. I don’t see this becoming widespread to get into a Starbucks or an office building. They also have to be careful that the vaccine is widely available before implementing. I think we could see some push back on Covid restrictions once vaccines start rolling out, but even with the very positive Pfizer results it’s still only 90% effective so people need to wait until we reach herd immunity to really pull back all restrictions. It’s gonna take time.

I think people will continue wearing masks after immunization for a while. But once we reach the point where everyone who wants a vaccine has gotten one, I don't expect them to continue. They're not going to want to wear masks because others refuse to get the vaccine.

 

[GoofGoof]

I think people will continue wearing masks after immunization for a while. But once we reach the point where everyone who wants a vaccine has gotten one, I don't expect them to continue. They're not going to want to wear masks because others refuse to get the vaccine.

Yep, depending on how soon you get vaccinated there may be a period where you feel safe but still need to wear masks and distance. Maybe not in your home as much but in public still. For a business like Disney I think once they get their CMs vaccinated then they could consider relaxing masks and distancing which would open up their ability to nring in more guests.

 

[GoofGoof]

Here’s some details on who gets the vaccine first:

Who gets the COVID-19 vaccine first? CDC committee meets to start the discussion

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices sets guidelines for who should get vaccines once they’re authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. It held one of its three times a year open meetings this week, ending with a full-day discussion of COVID-19 vaccines on Friday.

www.usatoday.com

The CDC will ultimately decide, but healthcare workers, first responders and high risk people seem to be in the first wave and then everyone else. Since trials were later starting for kids they may he later in the roll out.

 

[GoofGoof]

Some pretty good details on Pfizer’s distribution plans:

Pfizer Sets Up Its ‘Biggest Ever’ Vaccination Distribution Campaign

The drugmaker is preparing to ship over a billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine using frozen boxes, cargo planes and trucks in a mega logistics operation.

www.wsj.com

 

[GoofGoof]

Theres clearly a decent segment of the population that dosen't want to be vacinated or wants to wait a year or so as evidenced by posts in this very thread. To those wiser than me whats that mean for reaching the new normal? Hypothetically if say 5% of the population refuses the vaccine are we still having to be restricted and wearing masks everywhere?

I don’t think we need 95% compliance. The conservative estimate seemed to be we needed 60% immune to reach herd immunity. If a vaccine is really 90% effective that means we basically need 2/3 of the population to be vaccinated to reach 60% immune. Once that happens, in theory the spread slows down until it hits zero. When the masks can come off is a good question. There will definitely be a period where some people are vaccinated but not enough to get rid of masks.

 

[JusticeDisney]

 

[matt9112]

I don’t think we need 95% compliance. The conservative estimate seemed to be we needed 60% immune to reach herd immunity. If a vaccine is really 90% effective that means we basically need 2/3 of the population to be vaccinated to reach 60% immune. Once that happens, in theory the spread slows down until it hits zero. When the masks can come off is a good question. There will definitely be a period where some people are vaccinated but not enough to get rid of masks.

So it wouldn't just bounce around the unvaccinated population?

 

[GoofGoof]

So it wouldn't just bounce around the unvaccinated population?

It will for a little while, but once the R naught drops below one, meaning each infected person infects less than 1 other person your case count drops low enough that eventually it nears zero. For the unvaccinated population and the unlucky 10% that get a vaccine that doesn’t work there will likely be future outbreaks (especially with borders opening) but it won’t turn into uncontrolled community spread.

 

[eliza61nyc]

stick me in both arms and legs. I can't even begin to describe the toll this virus is taking on me

 

[Heppenheimer]

If certain businesses are going to start requiring proof of vaccination, this is the kindn of thing for which I would like to see the federal government (in conjunction with the WHO) develop a universally recognized standard. It could be something as easy as bringing back the little yellow books, but a scanable, bio-identifiable passport would be better.

 

[JoeCamel]

If certain businesses are going to start requiring proof of vaccination, this is the kindn of thing for which I would like to see the federal government (in conjunction with the WHO) develop a universally recognized standard. It could be something as easy as bringing back the little yellow books, but a scanable, bio-identifiable passport would be better.

Yellow armbands? Maybe a plastic band that has an rfid chip you could wear on your wrist with a link to your information when scanned?
Slippery slope here

 

[DBM]

With Pfizer’s news dropping last Monday on their vaccine being 90%+ effective in their phase 3 clinical trial I wanted to start a thread dedicated to the vaccine developments. The general Covid thread moves too fast and sometimes vaccine info and discussion gets lost. Feel free to discuss anything vaccine related including but not limited to:

• updates on vaccines (Moderna‘s initial phase 3 results expected to come out any day),
• discussion on who gets the vaccine first
• how the vaccines are being distributed
• whether vaccines are safe
• whether businesses like Disney should require customers show proof of vaccine after its widely available
• The impact and timing of when a vaccine could help get WDW back to something resembling normal

I have no problem showing proof as long as I don't have to wear a mask!!!!

 

[lazyboy97o]

Moderna announces initial Phase 3 data showing its COVID-19 vaccine is up to 94.5% effective

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine can be stored in a normal refrigerator, unlike Pfizer's.

abcnews.go.com

 

[drizgirl]

stick me in both arms and legs. I can't even begin to describe the toll this virus is taking on me

Right there with you. I'll take what's behind door number 2 please.