Some good news:
Liquid nitrogen to keep a mRNA-based vaccine stable is relatively cheap, about $1 USD per gallon (ish)
A N2(g) large-scale generator is about $20-25K, expensive but not unattainable.
In a sealed dewar, liquid nitrogen can last for up to two-three weeks without sublimating. So a batch of mRNA vaccine could be placed in a dewar flask for transport in a big city and then shipped out to rural areas, even in developing nations, fairly effectively. It isn't highly desirable, but it IS doable.

Source: I did RNA-protein biochemistry work for 10+ years in a university lab, used N2(g) on a daily basis to flash-freeze samples.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2020 06:08PM by ColoKate63.

For further information about how Pfizer is gearing up for distribution of its version, check out today's Washington Post article. WaPost is allowing free access to covid-19 coverage, so you will not need to be a subscriber to its online service to read about all of this.

My local hospital says they already have a fridge/freezer able to handle this. So, that's been good to hear. No need for a frantic renovation of sorts. We're ready to roll whenever Pfizer wants to give us doses.

eta: Immunity to COVID may last years - even decades possibly.
[www.nytimes.com]

@ wrote:

How long might immunity to the coronavirus last? Years, maybe even decades, according to a new study — the most hopeful answer yet to a question that has shadowed plans for widespread vaccination.

Eight months after infection, most people who have recovered still have enough immune cells to fend off the virus and prevent illness, the new data show. A slow rate of decline in the short term suggests, happily, that these cells may persist in the body for a very, very long time to come.

I really hope so. Either way, really hoping everyone stays safe through mass vaccination. We could be be in great shape by Easter 2021!!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2020 10:03PM by shoptastic.

A British firm (?) and Oxford University have joined the list of those giving early and encouraging reports. This vaccine may provide exceptional protection for the "over 70" folks at highest risk. More definitive results to happen "before Christmas."

[www.cnbc.com]
"Doctors say CDC should warn people the side effects from Covid vaccine shots won’t be ‘a walk in the park’"

@ wrote:

The CDC must be transparent about the side effects people may experience after getting their first shot of a coronavirus vaccine, doctors urged during a meeting Monday with CDC advisors.

Dr. Sandra Fryhofer said that both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines require two doses and she worries whether her patients will come back for a second dose because of potentially unpleasant side effects after the first shot.

Both companies acknowledged that their vaccines could induce side effects that are similar to symptoms associated with mild Covid-19, such as muscle pain, chills and headache.

Latest from Fauci:
[www.yahoo.com]

@ wrote:

"If I were a person that had an underlying allergic tendency, I might want to be prepared that I might get a reaction and therefore be ready to treat it," Dr. Fauci said during a talk with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta during "COVID-19: Chasing Science to Save Lives." He advised those dealing with it—"that they might be cautious about vaccination, or at least be prepared to respond with some sort of antidote to the allergic reaction."

I have a severe allergy to mackerel fish. I wonder if that fits? It causes my airways to seize up and I cannot breathe. I almost passed out once and friends considered taking me to the hospital. Thankfully, I just laid down and let it wear off after about 20-30 minutes (I was close to normal again).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2020 10:41AM by shoptastic.

Not quite on an as serious note but I found this an interesting read:
[ca.news.yahoo.com]

I like these first vaccination stories. Very uplifting.

If you have allergies it is best to talk to your doc. One of the tv news docs said if you have to carry an epi pen for your allergies, then they are considered severe and the covid vac is a no no. But I believe at some point they will have to develop a protocol for people with allergies, so they CAN take the vaccine.

I got to see a box of vaccines up close...does that count?

Wealthy Americans looking to cut the line for COVID vaccines:
[news.yahoo.com]

@ wrote:

They're offering tens of thousands of dollars in cash, making their personal assistants pester doctors every day, and asking whether a five-figure donation to a hospital would help them jump the line.

The COVID-19 vaccine is here — and so are the wealthy people who want it first.

Veering, or perhaps Lurch-ing, in a different direction now... I am watching 'The Addams Family'. Even the Addams Family was on board for Lady Bird Johnson's National Beautification project back in the 1960's. POTUS' sensibility will not house any displaced persons, but it might make the visible world pleasant and a welcome contrast to harsh conditions. Even if I can't occupy a McMansion or the White House, at least I can see a lovely capitol for the USA. Speaking of McMansions: have you followed the blurbs about all the famous rich people who are buying and selling multi-million dollar properties? Those places are not ghettos, overly abstract, or otherwise ugly and lacking in curb appeal and location, location, location. They are beautiful because their nearest neighbors demand this.

Who will fund a beautification project? (I can afford diy mani/pedi.) Who can spare a few billion bucks for the nation's capitol? The lovely national space It will last for many generations, longer than one person's lifetime... and be a silent greeting to the world. No bribes required.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2020 01:19AM by Shop-et-al.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Who will fund a beautification project?

We need a thread, called: "Shopetal's Random Ruminations" Would you like me to make that thread for you, so that you can "blog" your interesting thoughts in your own thread?

In other news, I saw a very sad commentary a few days ago. It said that people were actually purposely not caring about COVID anymore now that there's a vaccine. My original hope was that people would actually take it more seriously finally, as we have a vaccine now. I don't want my parents dying months before vaccination. I really don't think I could take it. I would think lots of other people have parents or grandparents they'd like to see get vaccinated and be safe. I'd have thought people would be extra careful now. ...Some are...I've seen them tweet about it. Sadly, in a travel story I was reading a few days ago about people getting on planes with COVID (a couple was arrested for knowingly doing this while infected), a health official said there is a weird logic going around right now. People are not caring as much, because they know the vaccine exists. Therefore, lives will soon be saved from it. They are letting loose and going out in high risk situations feeling like it can't hurt that much, b/c soon everyone will be safe. That's their intellectual justification/rationalization.

THAT IS STUPID LOGIC. Dena Grayson had this to say (on a different topic, but relevant to this still): [twitter.com]

@ wrote:

Another reason that a natural #HerdImmunity "strategy" is stupid is that it gives the #coronavirus more chances to mutate into a variant that is more transmissible, more deadly, and/or evades the vaccines.

People need to think about this. Do you want this to morph into the Spanish flu's second wave, which killed healthy adults in their prime (20 and 30 year olds) within 24 hours? The more infectious European variant is already causing issues. If a more troublesome variant emerges that evades our vaccines, then we're back to square one. Medical crisis and crushed economy.

We got a call from San Francisco relatives, who sadly told us there are teens/young adults going wild in the streets despite state lockdown orders. They are terrorizing people practically and the police won't do anything about it (or simply cannot, because there are large mobs and just too many). They are gathered like gangs (who knows, maybe they are!), playing loud music and go all over the place in the streets partying and purposely disobeying orders.

I theorize this is the result of inadequate bailouts for the poor and working classes. People are desperate. They are acting out.

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2020 05:29AM by shoptastic.

I think a lot of people, whatever their economic situation. are itching to get things 'back to normal'. My husband, who has taken the whole thing very seriously since the pandemic started, asked me the other day if I wanted to go to some friends' house for dinner. I believe that the friends are also taking things seriously, but I don't think it's time yet to start socializing.

Next week he will probably be the one who talks me out of a situation.

@shoptastic wrote:

In other news, I saw a very sad commentary a few days ago. It said that people were actually purposely not caring about COVID anymore now that there's a vaccine. My original hope was that people would actually take it more seriously finally, as we have a vaccine now. I don't want my parents dying months before vaccination. I really don't think I could take it. I would think lots of other people have parents or grandparents they'd like to see get vaccinated and be safe. I'd have thought people would be extra careful now. ...Some are...I've seen them tweet about it. Sadly, in a travel story I was reading a few days ago about people getting on planes with COVID (a couple was arrested for knowingly doing this while infected), a health official said there is a weird logic going around right now. People are not caring as much, because they know the vaccine exists. Therefore, lives will soon be saved from it. They are letting loose and going out in high risk situations feeling like it can't hurt that much, b/c soon everyone will be safe. That's their intellectual justification/rationalization.

THAT IS STUPID LOGIC. Dena Grayson had this to say (on a different topic, but relevant to this still): [twitter.com]

@ wrote:

Another reason that a natural #HerdImmunity "strategy" is stupid is that it gives the #coronavirus more chances to mutate into a variant that is more transmissible, more deadly, and/or evades the vaccines.

People need to think about this. Do you want this to morph into the Spanish flu's second wave, which killed healthy adults in their prime (20 and 30 year olds) within 24 hours? The more infectious European variant is already causing issues. If a more troublesome variant emerges that evades our vaccines, then we're back to square one. Medical crisis and crushed economy.

We got a call from San Francisco relatives, who sadly told us there are teens/young adults going wild in the streets despite state lockdown orders. They are terrorizing people practically and the police won't do anything about it (or simply cannot, because there are large mobs and just too many). They are gathered like gangs (who knows, maybe they are!), playing loud music and go all over the place in the streets partying and purposely disobeying orders.

I theorize this is the result of inadequate bailouts for the poor and working classes. People are desperate. They are acting out.

oh, shoptastic. lighten up already. the absurd is less lofty and sometimes downright amusing.

It's all about the money. Always the money...

If anyone has money to bribe the fed for a vaccine, they also have money to fund beautification. The nation's capitol is the default representative of the nation. Must ours ignorantly blare 'look at me' 'and me' and 'over here me' in structural dissonance and cacophony, or can it present a calm presence to online and in-person visitors?

If I had a boatload of money, I would contribute to the beautification and maintenance of the nation's capitol area. There is no need to change the foundations of that radically. There is only a need to incorporate newer materials, forever miss some of the details that no artisan can produce today, and incorporate the new into the old.

Did covid change values, or are we reading int this thread about the real, divergent values?

Signed,

___#always-remember-that-time-and-chance-beset-despite-vaccines#___

@KathyG wrote:

I think a lot of people, whatever their economic situation. are itching to get things 'back to normal'. My husband, who has taken the whole thing very seriously since the pandemic started, asked me the other day if I wanted to go to some friends' house for dinner. I believe that the friends are also taking things seriously, but I don't think it's time yet to start socializing.

Next week he will probably be the one who talks me out of a situation.
disobeying orders.

I theorize this is the result of inadequate bailouts for the poor and working classes. People are desperate. They are acting out.

This is true. It's difficult to stay disciplined for so long. It wears on you and you can start to go a little nutty. I have. My family has.

I think my muscle tone is not the same from not walking as much. I feel more sluggish. My brain feels slower from not having constant work (unless one counts trading the stock market). It's not healthy, but neither is gathering in groups during the winter surge. It's tough.

I have found Google Meet pretty fun, though. I've gotten in group meets and enjoy it. That part of COVID isolation will probably stay with me going forward even after reopening. I like the convenience of "getting together online." Haven't tried Zoom, even though it's supposedly more user friendly, b/c their security hasn't been that great and people have hacked in.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

oh, shoptastic. lighten up already. the absurd is less lofty and sometimes downright amusing.

It's all about the money. Always the money...

Okay - what do you think of Lori Laughlin getting out of prison after two months?

I have no opinion on the matter.

But if you were thinking that she has big bucks, newly free time, and an employment gap to fill-- and therefore could use that money in some clever way to assist with the ongoing expenses associated with upgrading and maintaining the nation's capitol-- I could rouse myself to contemplate something. After all, our government just obliged the future generations to contend with trillions of dollars of debt. If she and others could fund this civic project, their efforts could free government funds for other purposes.

@shoptastic wrote:

@Shop-et-al wrote:

oh, shoptastic. lighten up already. the absurd is less lofty and sometimes downright amusing.

It's all about the money. Always the money...

Okay - what do you think of Lori Laughlin getting out of prison after two months?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2020 02:46AM by Shop-et-al.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

If she and others could fund this civic project, their efforts could free government funds for other purposes.

I was her fan on Full House - great show. Hopefully, she has learned her lesson. I wish her family well.

In other news, there is bad news with the South African COVID variant:
[www.cnbc.com]

@ wrote:

Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned that vaccinating Americans against Covid is more critical than ever, especially as the new South Africa variant appears to inhibit antibody drugs. . .

Gottlieb cited experimental evidence from Bloom Lab, and explained 501.V2 does appear to partially escape prior immunity. It means that some of the antibodies people produce when they get infected with Covid, as well as the antibody drugs, may not be quite as effective.

“The new variant has mutated a part of the spike protein that our antibodies bind to, to try to clear the virus itself, so this is concerning,” Gottlieb said. “Now, the vaccine can become a backstop against these variants really getting more of a foothold here in the United States, but we need to quicken the pace of vaccination.”

My mother is 93 and is in nursing home in Rockland county. She had covid and recovered. She has had her 2 shots so now I cannot get mine until later in the spring. Hmm so I cannot visit her. Yea things change everyday. I'll feel better January 20th anyways!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[www.cbsnews.com]

@ wrote:

A Texas trauma surgeon says it's rare that X-rays from any of her COVID-19 patients come back without dense scarring. Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall tweeted, "Post-COVID lungs look worse than any type of terrible smoker's lung we've ever seen. And they collapse. And they clot off. And the shortness of breath lingers on... & on... & on."

"Everyone's just so worried about the mortality thing and that's terrible and it's awful," she told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. "But man, for all the survivors and the people who have tested positive this is — it's going to be a problem."

She says patients who've had COVID-19 symptoms show a severe chest X-ray every time, and those who were asymptomatic show a severe chest X-ray 70% to 80% of the time.

My San Francisco aunt has COVID. She's 72, I think.

Has been coughing this week, but no major distressed symptoms (yet).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2021 05:23AM by shoptastic.

50% of Seniors in America Have Gotten At Least 1 Dose of Vaccine:

My parents are scheduled to get their first shot within a few days. Crossing fingers everything turns out well.

in other news, Dr. Dena Grayson cites some "hard evidence" of vaccine efficacy:
[twitter.com]

@ wrote:

As I keep advising, the results for J&J’s #COVID19 vaccine are impressive:
Only 1 shot
Effective against new variants
No extreme cold storage
Whichever #coronavirus vaccine you can get, GET IT ASAP.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2021 11:25AM by shoptastic.

[www.forbes.com]

@ wrote:

On Monday, March 22, Krispy Kreme stores began offering a free “Original Glazed” doughnut to anyone who can present his or her Covid-19 Vaccination Record Card. In other words, if you can provide this proof that you got the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine or at least one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, you will be entitled to a free “ooooooohh”-shaped piece of fried dough slathered with gooey, ooey, glaze. . .

Now there is a limit to the number of doughnuts that you can get for free: no more than one “Original Glazed” doughnut per day. So, in theory, should you visit Krispy Kreme every single day for the rest of the year with the exception of holidays like National Eat Your Beans Day, you will only be able to get around 280 more free doughnuts in 2021.

Doughnuts aren’t the only the food that you may able to score with your Vaccination Card, depending on where you live or how far you are willing to drive.

I look forward to my free Krispy Kreme glazed donuts. . .Is anyone not trusting of the Astra Zeneca vaccine?

I don't know much about it, but I know I'm happy to take Pfizer, Moderna, and/or Johnson & Johnson.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2021 12:58PM by shoptastic.

I received my second Moderna dose 9 days ago.
Heading out with a trunkful of presents, cookie ingredients, Nerf guns, water balloons, beach toys and other grandmotherly type things to visit my grandkids for the first time in... forever.
SO HAPPY!!!!

@ColoKate63 wrote:

I received my second Moderna dose 9 days ago.
Heading out with a trunkful of presents, cookie ingredients, Nerf guns, water balloons, beach toys and other grandmotherly type things to visit my grandkids for the first time in... forever.
SO HAPPY!!!!

I've read the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines take two weeks post-2nd dose to be fully effective, but that is great you got both of yours! My elderly relatives here all got Moderna too (getting dose #2 in a week). . . . just counting down the days until full peace of mind!

Second vaccines are scheduled. Then, we will be like adoptable pound puppies. We will be current on all our shots and fit for public consumption. Woof! Woof!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2021 12:08AM by Shop-et-al.

lol ....let's just hope we don't get vax-busting variants/mutations taking over...although, the major bio-techs/pharmas are working on tweaked vaccines for those as well.........They are truly wonderful companies/scientists and have done America proud.

eta: In other belated news:
"Normal immune response to the COVID-19 vaccine can mimic a sign of breast cancer"
[www.yahoo.com]

@ wrote:

Doctors recommend patients schedule their mammogram before receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, or space out the two appointments, after some women have been mistaking swollen lymph nodes for breast lumps.

These swollen lymph nodes, which are a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine, can also show up in mammograms and other types of imaging scans, experts say.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2021 10:24AM by shoptastic.

GO Pfizer!
[www.cnbc.com]

@ wrote:

Pfizer said Wednesday its Covid-19 vaccine was 100% effective in a study of adolescents ages 12 to 15, encouraging results that could clear the shots for use in middle school students before school starts this fall.