Seems that the president of the Czech Republic is throwing a Trumpian fit because the Minister of Health refuses to allow the use of Sputnik vaccine without approval from the European Medicines Agency. Now, he wants the Prime Minister to fire the Health Minister because the Health Minister refuses to resign on his own.
It’s not the first time people tried to force him out. The reason it didn’t work last time is that nobody wants the damn job because it’s a thankless one where politics rules over science and results in character assassination if the medical expert doesn’t get in line with the party’s desires.
No fucking wonder why this country is the most infected one in the world.
In positive news, I get shot #1 tomorrow afternoon.
Health systems in most of Brazil’s largest cities are close to collapse because of Covid-19 cases, its leading health institute warns.
More than 80% of intensive care unit beds are occupied in the capitals of 25 of Brazil’s 27 states, Fiocruz said.
Experts warn that the highly contagious variant in Brazil may have knock-on effects in the region and beyond.
“Brazil is a threat to humanity,” Fiocruz epidemiologist Jesem Orellana told AFP news agency.
What do we know about the Brazil variant?
Preliminary data from the University of São Paulo, Imperial College London and Oxford University suggests the P1 variant could be up to twice as transmittable as the original version of the virus.
It also suggests that the new variant could evade immunity built up by having had the original version of Covid. The chance of reinfection is put at between 25% and 60%.
Florida is not much better. I think today I’ll ask my local Publix how many vaccines they’re actually giving out per day/hour. I will report back. I just don’t know how they’re going to ramp up when more vaccine becomes available.
Basically everyone my wife knows has been vaccinated. “It’s so easy!” they tell her, and I don’t think they’re lying about that. Meanwhile, in a month she’ll begin working in person again - she works in television and is going into production on a new show, so she’ll need to be on set (indoor studio) two days a week.
There are clinics in LA where you stand a great chance of getting an “extra” vaccine if you can sit in line for eight hours, but her schedule doesn’t allow that. To get the shot she would have to at least ignore the current regulations, if not outright lie.
I’m steadfastly against jumping the line but man it is hard knowing all these people are happily getting jabbed without thinking twice while she’s headed into harms way and basically the only reason she hasn’t gotten vaccinated is my moral compass.
I mean, is your prime minister wrong here? I’m sure there’s a lot of nuance here that I’m completely ignorant of, but it seems totally appropriate for electeds to push the bureaucracy to adapt to exceptional circumstances. If the minister thinks the Sputnik vaccine is unsafe or ineffective, then OK. But passing the buck to the EU seems pretty dubious.
Holy fuck on the day I become approved for a vaccine I find out I was in close contact with someone who tested positive a couple days after I was near them so now I get to sweat that and I believe I have to wait at least 2 weeks from exposure date to get the vaccine. I’ve been going into work in a large factory for the last year and have somehow successfully evaded contact tracing/close contact situations and now it happens when I’m so close to the finish line, what a blow.
If I end up positive I assume the advice is to pass on the vaccine until later this spring or summer?
Waiting until he has enough data to make a sound decision seems pretty reasonable. Are you telling your citizens to put something into their body based on Putin’s word?
His policy is not to distribute a vaccine that hasn’t passed EU health regs. Not exactly sure what you expect him to do here. Rely on his gut feelings about vaccine safety?