Comments

  1. nukularbiskits says

    Received my second Moderna shot yesterday afternoon.
    Today, my left arm was sore as hell and I felt wiped out enough to take a nap.
    It’s more than worth it, though.

    Unfortunately, I live in MS where we have this:
    “As of Thursday, Civiqs showed 41% of Republicans saying that they would definitely not accept a COVID-19 vaccine, while another 10% remain unsure. With the remaining Republicans saying they will accept the vaccine down to just 18%, red states are starting to see a problem that the rest of the nation would love to have—a vaccine surplus. As The New York Times reports, Mississippi alone is now sitting on tens of thousands of doses that they’re having a hard time giving out.”

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/4/9/2025136/-Vaccine-is-piling-up-in-red-states-as-Republican-anti-science-threatens-national-health

    Asshats.

  2. Craig says

    Well, they are keeping tourist dollars out, that’s for sure. I used to have a goal of visiting all 50 states someday; my spouse before we met had a similar goal for state capitols (the buildings). Now we couldn’t care less about our missing states.

  3. cartomancer says

    It’s looking like I won’t be getting my first one until mid May at this rate, when my parents get their second dose. At my age I can probably go back to normal life after just the first one has kicked in, but still – I’d like to be able to see my friends again after a year.

  4. PaulBC says

    I had my first shot of Moderna recently and my shoulder was sore a little longer than I expected. I may have had mild chills. Not too much. I’m looking forward to getting the second one out of the way even if it means feeling lousy for a day or two.

  5. hemidactylus says

    I get my second Moderna in a couple weeks. I actually had a mild “COVID arm” rash on my shoulder around 8 days after the shot. The initial soreness had subsided then returned. Wonder what the 2nd shot will bring.

    In my own version of vaccination Lent I have given up alcohol altogether under the pretense that abstinence will maximize my immune response. Can’t wait until 2 weeks after the 2nd shot to enjoy some beer. After that delay I will perhaps start going to restaurants again after over a year hiatus. Still nervous about the variants though.

  6. PaulBC says

    Craig@2 I can’t say I was eager to travel there to begin with. I used to say I was OK with most of the US, including Texas (at least Austin), but the Deep South just freaks me out. I want nothing to do with it. Actually I used to think I’d fit in fine in the midwest but with people like former congressman Steve King, I have wiped most of that off my list too. I have been in New Mexico a couple of times and liked it. Nevada is interesting. I sort of like Reno. It’s a little seedy, but there are always a lot of Bay Area people there. I am not a fan of Las Vegas.

    To be honest, two words “open carry” will make me think twice about setting foot in any state. Fine, maybe they like it like that. They won’t be getting my money either, and to hell with them.

  7. raven says

    Congratulations.
    We’ve all been dodging invisible death for the past year.
    And, most of us have made it this far and the winning prize is…the vaccine.

  8. raven says

    All 4 nurses in a Kansas county’s health department refused to give out COVID-19 vaccines
    Mary Meisenzahl Jan 18, 2021, 9:13 AM Businessinsider

    All four nurses working in the health department of Coffey County in Kansas said they wouldn’t give people the COVID-19 vaccine, a sign of how misinformation about the shots is spreading even among health professionals.

    In a January 4 county commission meeting, health department administrator Lindsay Payer said that they were not willing to give the COVID-19 vaccine, The Daily Beast reported.

    “My staff is not comfortable with that. It’s a new technology we’ve never seen before,” Payer told the Board of Commissioners in the meeting, which is available on YouTube.

    This Kansas county had to outsource their vaccination clinic. Because the entire health department were superstitious idiots who refused to not only get the vaccine but to administer it. Well, rural Kansas, no surprise.

    I suspect the number of anti-vaxxers will drop as more and more people get vaccinated without acquiring any magic computer chips, 666 tattoos, or demons.
    Still there will be a hardcore that won’t, mostly white fundie xians.
    They will get vaccinated anyway, by getting Covid-19 virus, and risking death or permanent disability.

  9. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Conga-rats on the second shot. The biggest change is that after the vaccine is fully active, you don’t feel so paranoid being around people. I’m back doing my volunteer driving of senior citizens to their medical appointments, both of us masked of course.

  10. raven says

    CIDRAP April 09,2021

    Southern states face surplus of vaccines
    Mississippi is one of several southern and heavily Republican states that have low rates of COVID-19 vaccination and a growing surplus of unused doses, the New York Times reports. Although access is a problem in some parts of the state, public health experts worry the surplus indicates a significant number of residents with vaccine hesitancy.

    On Thursday, Mississippi had more than 73,000 slots open for vaccines, and Oklahoma announced it may begin opening up vaccine eligibility to out-of-state residents.

    Four in 10 rural residents (39%) say they have gotten at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, which is larger than the share of adults in suburban and urban areas who say the same (31% each), according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation survey. But fewer rural residents say they are planning to get vaccinated than suburban or urban residents.

    At some point in the near future, the USA will tip over from vaccine scarcity to vaccine surplus.
    A few states are already there.
    Because they are fundie xian/GOP states and a large fraction of the population won’t get the vaccine.

  11. Akira MacKenzie says

    AWESOME!!! Welcome to the ranks of the inoculated! (One of us! Gooble gobble! We accept you!]

    Because I’m a fat slob, I was able to get the Johnson and Johnson jab through my county’s public health department about three weeks ago. I had no side-effects. While I’m still wearing my mask just about everywhere I go, I’m in touch with other of my friends who have been vaccinated and we’re finally getting together. After a year in exile, I’m back at my friendly local game store to paint and model as well as actually playing games every Sunday and Tuesday. My small circle of friends are plotting a party later in the year when we should know we are safe to celebrate or liberation from both COVID-19 and Trump.

    While I’m certainly wary of the duplicity of the Biden Administration, it is a welcome change from the previous mofos who resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave..I can safely say that things have an improved chance of changing for the better than it was a few years ago… provided that the Dems can hold on to power and make good on their campaign promi… OH WHO THE FUCK AM I KIDDING? WE ARE DOOMED!!! THIS CAPITALIST, CHRISTIAN, SHITHOLE WE CALL THE “USA” IS DOOMED! AND THE MAJORITY OF COMMON DULLARDS WILL SING OUR SHITTY PRAISES UNTIL THE END!!!

  12. JoeBuddha says

    Today is my last quarantine day. Tomorrow, I’m planning on putting paid to that quarantine beard and hair. No more Mr. “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!”. I don’t even have the staff for crying out loud.

  13. PaulBC says

    I am used to how I’ve been living the past year. In fact, it’ll be sort of strange to take a bike ride without a mask, like going out naked. Also, there’s no very convincing reason to go for a bike ride with a mask in the first place. It’s nice to be able to smile or scowl without everyone knowing I’m doing it.

    I have considered losing the face shield I wear to Costco now that I have a single shot and just go with a mask like I was doing up to November or so. That will be a little simpler. I suppose that after the second shot, I will let my life drift back to where it was, but there is honestly very little I actually miss. It’s been a pretty good year for other reasons, no hardship at all, though I realize I’m lucky.

  14. says

    Got my first one a couple of weeks back. I’m now trying to work out how to reprogram the Evil Microchips™ into a brain–computer interface so I can produce typos just by thinking instead of two-finger pecking at this darned keyboard.

  15. tacitus says

    It warmed my heart this week when I watched a video by a virulently anti-mask couple from Dallas complaining bitterly about everyone still wearing their masks in the stores even though the statewide mask mandate was lifted weeks ago.

    How virulently anti-mask are they? Well, the husband hasn’t seen his mother in a year because the nursing home she lives in won’t let him in without a mask and without testing negative for Covid.

    I haven’t seen most of my friends face to face in a year, but now we’re all vaccinated, we’re planning our first outdoor gathering later this month. I won’t be able to make it unfortunately because I have to get on a flight to the UK to help care for my ailing father, but being fully vaccinated should make the whole experience a lot less fraught than my Christmas visit, though I still have to be very careful to ensure I’m not stuck in quarantine with an opportunistic Covid infection.

  16. wzrd1 says

    I had allowed my beard, from cleanshaven to a proper Santa beard to Grow to Duck Hunters ludicrousicity.
    That came off after my first shot. The second is on the 24th, two weeks after, its celebration time actually be comfortable enough to go out ans socialize with neighbors and restock the food sharing dump point.
    I was group 1A, but transportation issues defeated either and both of us (wife being top of group 1A) until last weekend.
    Our youngest, a COVID-19 long hauler said, “Dad, you have the immune system of an ox:. Not comforting, even if the reality of it is spot on – I’m rarely ill, when something does rarely hit, I’m down hard, just short of hospital time.
    My wife, not so much.
    Quie a few men and women consider me utterly fearless, that’s enirely wrong. Yes, in dire conditions, I do advance, rather than risk becoming besieged. That’s just tactical thinking and segmentation within a specific environment.
    In matters involving my wife and children and now, grandchildren, I cannot provide that separation from emotion and sound planning and have never ben able to do so,

    Yeah, the virus scares the shit out of me and I am comfortable with operating under BSL-4 conditions.

    Oh, one of the Falwell tried to enter the political fray, under religious authority nd was laughed out of that party, especially by the Trumpian core.
    Knowing how their excuse for a se of minds think, one of their preferred epithets likely uttered when reading or hearing his comments. “Cuck”.
    Loss of credibility sucks, so whyinhell do they proceed to destroy their own foundation?

  17. says

    I had my first shot (Moderna) a couple of weeks ago. I was basically fine, other than a painful shoulder, for two days — and then I had horrible, horrible aches in my shoulders and neck for about 18 hours. Since the side effects are supposed to be worse the second time, I’m not looking forward to my probable reaction, but it will be very nice to have it over with and stop worrying so much about the whole thing. Like death, only presumably I’ll still be alive to enjoy it.

    Now we just have to worry about the E484K mutation…

  18. microraptor says

    I got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Monday. Had a tiny bit of soreness in my arm, but it wasn’t really noticeable unless I was actually focusing on it.

  19. birgerjohansson says

    So, the lizard people who made those microchips hidden inside the vaccine will have full knowledge of everything P Z is doing from now on?

  20. birgerjohansson says

    Speaking of viral vectors, having read about Amazon’s successful anti-union campaign I want Jeff Bezos to get Ebola.

  21. kenbakermn says

    I don’t grab strangers and kiss them either, but thanks for the idea.

    Actually I had a minor income stream planned if I ever got COVID: I’ll tell people, give me a list of people you don’t like and for $10 each I’ll lick all their door knobs.

  22. maireaine46 says

    Members of my family who live in the LA area have gone to Bakersfield in the Valley to get the vaccine, it seems they have a surplus there. Could this be similar to the situation in the deep south? A long drive but worth it. We got our second shot this week here in NJ, no ill effects. That seems to vary so much from person to person.

    PZ. so glad you and Mary got your shots.

  23. R. L. Foster says

    I had my 2nd Moderna jab on the April 1st. I didn’t feel anything other than a sore arm at first. But 24 hrs later the real effects set in. I was laid low for about 36 hrs. Sore throat, muscle and joint aches, low grade fever. Then it was over. I’m thrilled and relieved to be done with this virus. I can’t wait to do normal stuff again.

  24. PaulBC says

    Members of my family who live in the LA area have gone to Bakersfield in the Valley to get the vaccine, it seems they have a surplus there. Could this be similar to the situation in the deep south?

    It seems so, but I don’t know the cause. Fresno is closer to us, but also seems to always have appointments. I was willing to drive as far as Soledad (about 90 minutes), but my wife found a much closer location. CVS appointments in the Bay Area are filled as soon as they’re announced.

  25. DonDueed says

    I’m now four weeks past my J&J vaccination. Only notable effect was a sore arm for a couple days, starting about 24 hours after injection. Pretty much the same reaction as I get from the annual flu shot. No further symptoms since, and I am now as fully immunized as I’m likely to be.

    I expect I’ll see my family again (300-ish miles away) before too long. Other than that nothing much has changed, I still stay home most of the time and mask up when I go out in public.

  26. rydan says

    I realize it is too late to say this now but you get between 50% and 80% efficacy two weeks after the first dose. You can likely already do that by the time you get the second dose. Worst case is you get a few sniffles except in extremely rare circumstances.