Re: Coronavirus
 

If BC isn't making appointments for my age group by May 1st, I am going to go California for a month, my wife can fly to Seattle and I will pick her up there. (we are in this weird spot where I can only cross by land due to no valid passport, and she can only travel by air to the US.) but does seem the best option at this point.

I called several pharmacies around the area my mom lives and the county health people, and all said ignore what the websites say about residency, if you show up they will vaccinate as they have plenty of vaccines and not enough people wanting vaccines.

Re: Coronavirus
 

What is the timing on second dosage if you go to CA? Will you be able to be fully vaccinated?

Re: Coronavirus
 

They do the 2nd dose based on manufactures recommended schedule, so 21 and 28 days, I can't remember exactly what Pfizer and Moderna recommend but somewhere in the 21-28 day range.

Re: Coronavirus
 

It was actually the Air Canada agent yesterday who told me that they're awaiting an announcement from Ottawa that they're expecting to be being made within the next couple of weeks regarding new rules for travelers wanting to return to Canada.

Her first stunner was actually to inform me that our national flag-carrier airline actually has zero flights to/from any of the 3 Washington DC-area airports at all at present. How can our country possibly hope to be taken seriously if we don't have even one Air Canada flight a week on the tarmac in the capital of the U.S.?

Re: Coronavirus
 

When the U.S. pharmacist gives you your 1st Pfizer shot (end-of-day unclaimed/unused & temperature-expiring), they'll automatically book you in for the 2nd shot 3wks hence, no problem. So don't worry.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Ok thanks...I will keep my eye on the news. It doesn't surprise me that there are no flights out, there aren't anybody coming back on them to return to Canada since the measures are so draconian and complicated.

Ok good to know. If quarantine free travel is possible i'd happily spend a few weeks in the US to get my vaccine before traveling onward and then returning to Canada.

Here in Canada you get your first Pfizer but don't get the second one until 4 months later. It is ludicrous.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Vaughan restaurant 105 high risk contacts asked to self isolate.... York Regional Health Authority

Re: Coronavirus
 

Before the U.S. pharmacist gives you your 1st Pfizer, s/he'll ask you to confirm that you'll be able to come back to him/her in 21d for the 2nd shot. The shots themselves are totally cost-free to us as Canadian visitors b/c we (ordinarily) have no domestic U.S. health insurance. I just had to give him my Canadian Driver License as photo ID bearing my birthdate, & give him my Canadian mobile #, as well as a local address (a hotel or a friend's place is fine).

I'm planning to cross back into Canada at a land crossing 3wks after my 2nd Pfizer shot, & am currently just assuming that I'll be being 'Covid-jailed' for 14d solid by the PHAC/CBSA. Although one can hope that perhaps our Govt might soon be a little less punitively vindictive towards fully-vaccinated Canadians returning with negative PCR tests.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Got first vaccine astral venika last night, over 55 male with issues lol

Got a cancellation, plenty of them at the mo !

Re: Coronavirus
 

Yay!!! :thumbsup:

I find people’s reaction to the AV vaccine positively weird. Tens of millions of people have had it and only a handful have developed blood clots.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I don't think that it's actually the pure stats that've caused a yellow flag to be raised, but rather the seeming prior good health & the total unexpectedness of the unfortunate victims' (some having apparently even been medical nurses) adverse reactions. When hospital staff see some of their own colleagues being stricken, that'll tend to supercharge officialdom's response.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Fraser Health is having to transfer patients to smaller hospitals in their region as the 3 COVID designated hospitals runs low in space.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/busy-b-c-hospi...grow-1.5387538

Re: Coronavirus
 

I take a handful of various drugs I’m sure it will feel at home In me. Blood thinners may help with clots but we see how it goes

Re: Coronavirus
 

I got it as well yesterday. I'm 56. Had lots of shivering about 8 hours after the vaccine, didn't sleep well and woke up with a headache. Starting to feel more like myself now. (27 hours later)

Re: Coronavirus
 

ah but it's happening to men.!.

The incidence of serious blood clots from: The Contraceptive Pill: 0.6% The AZ vaccine: 0.00017%

Re: Coronavirus
 

Yup and women don’t think twice about taking ‘the pill’.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Aren't most of the clots from the AZ vaccine in younger women mainly?

Re: Coronavirus
 

Hospitalizations in BC up 20% in a week.

397 in hospital with 120 in ICU, more patients in hospital than at any point in the pandemic.

1,168 cases today with 6 deaths.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...l-14-1.5987219

Re: Coronavirus
 

Mainly but the recipients are mainly younger women. I can't find any data on percentages of male / female.

Re: Coronavirus
 

It's not hard to understand at all:

• There is a risk, apparently quite small but clearly correlated with the AZ vaccine (and likely the J&J one as well). And it is a profound side effect, with a current mortality rate in the 25 - 40% range when encountered.
• There are (apparently) less-risky alternative vaccines available in many jurisdictions, e.g. Pfizer/Biontech and Moderna. And these alternates appear to be more effective against Covid-19 as well.
• Astra-Zeneca has done an abysmal job of dealing with major regulators, and latterly the wider public, in promulgating the efficacy and safety results from its major clinical trials.

If one is a pro-vaxxer, why would one want to settle for the AZ vaccine when there are better alternatives? And if one is an anti-vaxxer, or a nervous-about-vaccines fence-sitter, why would any of the recent news about the AZ vaccine lead to a willingness to line up for the AZ version?

Re: Coronavirus
 

Not sure if you saw the discussion over on the dark side about this.

I made the point about the normal blood clotting incidence among the population being something like 15 or 16 per million whereas the rate among the vaccinated was 'only' 4 per million. I wondered that one might expect it to be a higher incidence rate given the vast majority of people vaccinated were old/at risk - targeted for exactly that reason.

But it seems the blood clot risk is particularly among younger women and not many of those will have been vaccinated yet. The ones that would be are most likely to be those in some sort of health care setting.

So the 20 million mentioned that have been vaccinated (referenced in an article we saw) will include very few younger women, some of whom may have received Pfizer anyway.

So there has been a much smaller number of AZ doses given to the at risk younger women than the 20+ million reported.

I don't know what % of all those vaccinated so far are younger women but with the focus on more obviously at general risk groups it might not even be as much as 10%. If it was then the incidence rate increases tenfold.

It's probably less than 10% and adjusting it for those that didn't get AZ anyway, the real figure might be 20 times that currently being suggested.

Re: Coronavirus
 

It's not hard to understand at all. We've been told that it's of the utmost importance to vaccinate everyone as quickly as possible, and the Astrozeneca vaccine is the one available right now. The Phizer that we have is going to those under 55 since they're in a higher risk category from Astrozeneca than older people are. It's been on the news for weeks, so I won't bother posting any links.

Re: Coronavirus
 

It'd be interesting to know what % of older people would actually rather have the Pfizer instead of the AZ that they're being lined-up for.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I am (slightly) too young to qualify for the AZ vaccine, but if they offered I would be straight in the car.

Re: Coronavirus
 

That statistic isn't as important to me as the survival rate of seriously ill covid patients. I would have rather had the Pfizer but gladly took the protection that was available. I was told the second shot could be announced anytime between 4 weeks to 4 months. Maybe in the long run Astrozeneca will prove to be better than we think now, maybe we'll get a booster in the fall for added protection from variants... Right now I think it's crucial to get a good vaccine for kids and continue expanding the elegibility. The drive through in Regina has been accepting 55+ for about 2 weeks, and those 48 and over can book appointments, so it's been opening up steadily.

Re: Coronavirus
 

That's good to hear on the 55+ front for Regina. I'll be relocating there in June. I'll be fully vaccinated (Pfizer x2 in the U.S.), so no doubt Sask Health will be happy to add my data into their stats sheet.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Does anyone know if after the 2nd dose, is this vaccine 'for life' or do you have to get them both again at some point in your life similar to Tetanus etc, every 10 years?

Re: Coronavirus
 

Nobody knows the answer to that unfortunately.. they haven't worked that out yet!

Re: Coronavirus
 

Wont know for a while unfortunately. Pfizer knows theirs lasts at least 6 months as of now. It's a fluid ongoing situation with the vaccines.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I think that the public health authorities aren't sure about these things themselves yet, & they're waiting to see what the longer-term data reveals.

I think that a likely scenario would probably see us all being offered a cocktail booster shot sometime next year, tailored to variants (both extant & any that are yet to turn up mutationally).

Re: Coronavirus
 

The Moderna vaccines scheduled for next week are delayed until end of the month possibly first week of May.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mod...week-1.5988788

Pfizer will continue at 1 million per week through May but is due to ramp up to 2 million per week in June.

Re: Coronavirus
 

This is going to be more akin to the flu shot - booster dose every year or so to reflect variants in effect. At least until enough of the world is vaccinated to reduce the prevalence of variants.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Jeez, what a logistical nightmare this will be for the world.
Last time I checked, only 1/3 of Canadians get the flu shot, I wonder if this number will increase if it includes protection from COVID?

Re: Coronavirus
 

I nominate you for Pun of the Week. :lol:

Re: Coronavirus
 

Once everybody's been at least offered a Covid vaccination, this thing'll probably then have to be left to 'slow-burn' through society thereafter (relying upon a % of folks getting annual shots, 'herd immunity,' behavioural changes, etc.). Eradicating this new virus is likely not a realistic goal at this unfortunate point.

Re: Coronavirus
 

If flu shot was universally free for all in Canada, I wonder if more would get it? Last fall when it was free in BC, uptake increased so much it was difficult to get one.

Most years I didn't bother with flu shot as it cost $30-$40 but if free sign me up. Although last year I never did secure one, every appointment I made was cancelled due to no stock at the pharmacy come appointment day.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Seems people in Whistler are still hanging out in groups in close proximity to one another.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c...e_in_whistler/

Re: Coronavirus
 

You have to expect that, and since summer is right around the corner the central and south Okanagan is probably going to have a mitt-full of outbreaks just like last year; some from stupid parties, some from crowded worker housing, some from tourism or just because it's on the highway, and some just for spite.
edit to add long term care homes.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Ontario is predicting 18K new Covid patients per day by end of May. Yesterday’s record number was 4,736, 29 deaths.

https://www.cp24.com/news/curfew-con...rces-1.5388690

Re: Coronavirus
 

We may hit 2,000 cases a day by May if things keep up here in BC.

1,205 new cases today, 3 additional deaths.

Hospitalizations being driven by 40 to 79 age group.

Record high hospitalizations, 409 with 125 of those in ICU

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...l-15-1.5989005