All Things Coronavirus (Part 2)

[Dashinka 24,497]

3 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

"Your National Health Card, Comrade."

No one has pointed out that such a requirement would also seem to violate HIPAA.

For all but the caravans of illegals poised to enter over the southern border.

Based on the goals being set by Old Corrupt Joe, they are setting the bar very low.

[Dashinka 24,497]

Interesting.

 

The Covid-19 vaccine had to be used, Texas doctor used it and was fired

 

 

The next morning, he said, he submitted the paperwork for the 10 people he had vaccinated the previous night, including his wife. He said he also informed his supervisor and colleagues of what he had done, and why.

Several days later, the doctor said, that supervisor and the human resources director summoned him to ask whether he had administered 10 doses outside the scheduled event on Dec. 29. He said he had, in keeping with guidelines not to waste the vaccine — and was promptly fired.

The officials maintained that he had violated protocol and should have returned the remaining doses to the office or thrown them away, the doctor recalled. He also said that one of the officials startled him by questioning the lack of “equity” among those he had vaccinated.

“Are you suggesting that there were too many Indian names in that group?” Gokal said he asked.

Exactly, he said he was told.

Elizabeth Perez, the director of communications for Harris County Public Health, said the department was unable to comment on its protocols, the Dec. 29 vaccination event or the Gokal case.

On Jan. 21, about two weeks after the doctor’s termination, a friend called to say that a local reporter had just tweeted about him. At that very moment, one of his three children answered the door to bright lights and a thrust microphone. Shaken, the 16-year-old boy closed the door and said, “Dad, there are people out there with cameras.”

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/world/the-covid-19-vaccine-had-to-be-used-he-used-it-he-was-fired-7183653/

[TBoneTX 45,288]

3 hours ago, Dashinka said:

The Covid-19 vaccine had to be used, Texas doctor used it and was fired

This was a very big story around our parts.  It was clear that the doc intrepidly tried every avenue (and fruitlessly so) to follow appropriate protocol.  Probably any of us would have done the same in this circumstance.

[Dashinka 24,497]

1 hour ago, TBoneTX said:

This was a very big story around our parts.  It was clear that the doc intrepidly tried every avenue (and fruitlessly so) to follow appropriate protocol.  Probably any of us would have done the same in this circumstance.

It appears he did follow the proper protocols.  Disturbing, but it appears this has more to do with the entire equity thing.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

1 hour ago, Dashinka said:

It appears he did follow the proper protocols.  Disturbing, but it appears this has more to do with the entire equity thing.

 

  I'm not sure protocol was followed exactly, but if he was told to find a way to use the doses and not waste them, ultimately he did that and they shouldn't retroactively say he picked the wrong people. Now if he decided on his own to use the doses for family members and acquaintances without being the person authorized to make that decision, I can certainly understand the reaction. The guidelines for extra doses are very strict, and it is not a good look ending up with them going to your friends and family.

 

  Really, there should have been something in place to prevent this from happening in the first place. I don't really understand how you end up with 10 extra doses at the end of the day, but if you do, you should have an existing protocol that doesn't end up with what happened here. Our protocol is having a waiting list a mile long and also an on call list for people who can come in on very short notice. It has to be less than an hour. Ultimately if we accidently thawed a vial and felt like we couldn't use it, there is a medical director with final say on how to proceed. If someone didn't go through that channel they are definitely risking liability if it is determined the doses were not used appropriately.  

 

  

[Dashinka 24,497]

18 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  I'm not sure protocol was followed exactly, but if he was told to find a way to use the doses and not waste them, ultimately he did that and they shouldn't retroactively say he picked the wrong people. Now if he decided on his own to use the doses for family members and acquaintances without being the person authorized to make that decision, I can certainly understand the reaction. The guidelines for extra doses are very strict, and it is not a good look ending up with them going to your friends and family.

 

  Really, there should have been something in place to prevent this from happening in the first place. I don't really understand how you end up with 10 extra doses at the end of the day, but if you do, you should have an existing protocol that doesn't end up with what happened here. Our protocol is having a waiting list a mile long and also an on call list for people who can come in on very short notice. It has to be less than an hour. Ultimately if we accidently thawed a vial and felt like we couldn't use it, there is a medical director with final say on how to proceed. If someone didn't go through that channel they are definitely risking liability if it is determined the doses were not used appropriately.  

 

  

It seems that was covered in the story when the judge dropped the misdemeanor charges after the prosecutor could not produce the written protocols from the time period nor a waitlist.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

15 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

It seems that was covered in the story when the judge dropped the misdemeanor charges after the prosecutor could not produce the written protocols from the time period nor a waitlist.

  The theft charges were dumb in the first place and look vindictive.

 

   It looks more like they may not have had a good working SOP in place and tried to retroactively enforce one. 
 

   In the end, if all the doses went to people who qualified, they really overreacted to this. As I said, I think the optics of his wife getting a dose were what triggered most of that reaction.

[Neonred 3,562]

Finally I am scheduled for my first vaccine, tomorrow afternoon.  Had to get some help getting the appointment....LOL

 

 

[laylalex 7,284]

19 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

No one has pointed out that such a requirement would also seem to violate HIPAA.

I don't think that's how HIPAA works. In order to get on a flight, you'd need to have a test. You'd responsible for disclosing your own health information to the airline. Even if the results were transmitted from your healthcare provider to the airline, you'd still have to approve the disclosure when you took the test. Do you really think that such a system would be set up that would violate HIPAA? Healthcare providers wouldn't stand for it, they'd open the floodgates for lawsuits. 

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

7 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

  The theft charges were dumb in the first place and look vindictive.

 

   It looks more like they may not have had a good working SOP in place and tried to retroactively enforce one. 
 

   In the end, if all the doses went to people who qualified, they really overreacted to this. As I said, I think the optics of his wife getting a dose were what triggered most of that reaction.

The prosecutor still wants to pursue this case

[TBoneTX 45,288]

3 hours ago, CanAm1980 said:

The prosecutor still wants to pursue this case

The Harris County District Attorney is vindictive to a fault (except against career criminals, who are routinely released) and has at times acted borderline psycho.  Worse, she doesn't care.

[Dashinka 24,497]

Good news.

 

Pfizer says vaccine can be stored in normal freezers

 

Pfizer submitted data to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) showing the vaccine is stable when stored between -13 degrees and 5 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers and refrigerators.

 

The company is asking the FDA to update its authorization of the vaccine to allow for vials to be stored at these temperatures for a total of two weeks as an alternative or complement to colder freezers.

Pfizer previously stated the vaccine must be stored at temperatures between -112 and -76 degrees Fahrenheit. It can remain stored at those temperatures for six months. Those requirements, which have posed challenges to rural hospitals, pharmacies and other vaccination sites, will become an option if the changes are approved by the FDA.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pfizer-says-vaccine-can-be-stored-in-normal-freezers/ar-BB1dPAfY

[Dashinka 24,497]

More good news.

 

Israeli studies find Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduces transmission

 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine greatly reduces virus transmission, two Israeli studies have found, shedding light on one of the biggest questions of the global effort to quash the pandemic.
 

Data analysis in a study by the Israeli Health Ministry and Pfizer Inc found the Pfizer vaccine developed with Germany’s BioNTech reduces infection, including in asymptomatic cases, by 89.4% and in syptomatic cases by 93.7%.

 

Findings of the pre-published study, not yet peer-reviewed, but based on a national database that is one of the world’s most advanced, were first reported by the Israeli news site Ynet late on Thursday and were obtained by Reuters on Friday.

 

Pfizer declined to comment and the Israeli Health Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

 

A separate study by Israel’s Sheba Medical Center published on Friday in The Lancet medical journal found that among 7,214 hospital staff who received their first dose in January, there was an 85% reduction in symptomatic COVID-19 within 15 to 28 days with an overall reduction of infections, including asymptomatic cases detected by testing, of 75%.

 

More research is needed to draw a definitive conclusion, but the studies are among the first to suggest a vaccine may stop the spread of the novel coronavirus and not just prevent people getting ill.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-israel-vaccine/israeli-studies-find-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-reduces-transmission-idUSKBN2AJ08D

[TBoneTX 45,288]

In Houston during the freeze, some Moderna vials were thought to have gone bad when the power and a backup generator failed.  However, Moderna said that they could be re-refrigerated.  Don't have a link for this handy, but this word was the source of great relief.

[Dashinka 24,497]

John Hopkins Doctor Thinks COVID Will Be Largely Gone By April, Half of U.S. Has Herd Immunity

 

Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon and a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, believes that the coronavirus will be "mostly gone" by April.

In an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal on Friday, Makary argued that half of the U.S. has already reached herd immunity because there are more coronavirus cases in the country, possibly 6.5 times as many, than the 28 million that have been reported.

Combined with the 15 percent of Americans who have already begun receiving the vaccine, the doctor argued that normal life will return by the spring.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/john-hopkins-doctor-thinks-covid-will-be-largely-gone-by-april-half-of-us-has-herd-immunity/ar-BB1dQ8XM

 

Not really hearing the same thing from others.