The Biden administration has agreed to supply Mexico with excess doses of the coronavirus vaccine, and Mexico is moving to help the United States contain a migration surge along its southern border, according to senior officials from both countries involved in the conversations.
The decision to send Astra-Zeneca vaccine to Mexico, and to Canada, is expected to be announced Friday. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had asked President Biden to help them fill vaccine shortfalls in recent talks.
The AZ vaccine is safe and effective, but it hasn't gone through FDA approval yet so it can't be used in the US. At the same time, we seem to have enough of the Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J vaccines to vaccinate everyone in the country. Helping out our neighbors is the right thing to do with any excess.
And as long as we're on the subject of vaccines, here's some data from Gallup going back to 1954:
Americans have always been a little hesitant about new vaccines, and the response to the COVID-19 vaccine is exactly the same as it has been for previous vaccines. Gallup also reports that Republicans have consistently been a little more hesitant toward vaccines than Democrats—although the gap for COVID-19 is larger than usual. However, now that Donald Trump has finally urged everyone to get vaccinated—including those who voted for him!—maybe the Republican number will increase.
In fact the AZ vaccine might have some issues. They are issues that once we understand them better we can likely deal with but...
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/it-s-very-special-picture-why-vaccine-safety-experts-put-brakes-astrazeneca-s-covid-19
The European "FDA" which investigated the alleged problem has just given the Green Light to AstraZeneca. No problem.
It seems there could be a problem. However it's not as big an issue as rampant coronavirus infection.
Japan's vaccination rate is 0.34 doses per 100 persons. South Korea is 0.067 doses per 100 persons. Singapore's is 0.34, too. Malaysia is at 0.067.
They all have vastly lower infection and death rates than the US and they're much closer to being open than the US.
MASKS
"Helping out our neighbors is the right thing to do with any excess." So, why when the Europeans asked, did the Biden administration say no? https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/542988-white-house-rejects-requests-to-send-millions-of
It is nice to help our neighbors, and judging from the numbers Mexico could use some help, but it seems a number of EU countries are in far worse shape than Canada.
Has "America First" morphed into "North America First?"
Europe has plenty is supply. Few takers.
What?! Few takers? Europe does not at all have enough, and would very much like to get more than is currently available.
sure. and up is down and down is up over there ...
Pour poor Shootie another.
@rick_jones
First of all, the previous administration would never have agreed to supply anyone else with life-saving drugs, because no one else is exceptional enough. Secondly, the U.S. has a legit interest in nearby nations who have long borders with the U.S. getting vaccinated. Finally, it looks like Biden is trading vaccine for Mexico's help with the current glut of misinformed immigrants at the border. You use the tools you have to make things happen. The only tool Trump had was the racism of his base.
Is self-hatred racism though, or just self-hatred???
No, it's also my tab at this Steubenville, OH, bar.
The Europeans made the mistake to ask too early. US supplies were well short of what is needed back then. Anyway the Europeans messed up the vaccine distribution on their own, maybe it is fair to give Canada and Mexico the first portion.
Anyway, now that the vaccine is cleared in Europe AstrZeneca will probably deliver doses that were kept in storage because of the blood clot scare. So for now the Europeans have something to work with.
I have 5 Ameros on it.
Many of the larger EU countries are refusing the Astra-Zeneca vaccine because of concerns over blood clots, even though the EU itself has approved it.
Tim Armstrong's reign of terror will never end.
Brody Dalle tried to warn us...
I think it's truly SAD that Trump is being so hypocritical. Chinese viruses require Chinese vaccines as solutions! And anyway, the virus is a Dem HOAX, so surely there's no need to urge vaccination, right??!
Bleh.
(and I'll be going to roll up my sleeve as soon as I'm allowed).
Easy there Vel
The Mrs and I had COVID in Dec. Daughter gave it to us. (She is 37). She lost here sense of taste and smell completely and slept for 3 days. The Mrs and I had what we thought were colds but after her test we got tested. Sure enough everyone was positive. We had mild cases - slight soreness and I had mild loss of taste.
Anyway. We got on the list to get vaccinated and last week got round ONE of the Pfizer vaccine. We are scheduled for round 2 first week of April.
Nurse who gave us the shot advised us point blank - your body already has antibodies and this vaccine will put you in antibody over dose for a couple of days. You MAY experience fever, aches, tiredness etc but it will pass quickly. Expect it again when you get round 2.
I'll tell you what - our left arms hurt like HELL for 2 days. We both had a slight increase in tiredness but other than that felt fine. We are looking forward to round 2 but the nurse admitted that the Brazilian variant is posing some serious heartburn in the medical field. Re-infection is very high with that variant and Moderna, nor Pfizer have "jiggered" their vaccines to address that variant. the J&J vaccine is also not as effective against it. AstoZeneca IS effective but is in very limited supply AND not approved yet by our FDA. In addition the Brazilian variant is affecting those aged 19 to 54 at a much higher rate than previous variants did.
At your (OUR) ages we gotta be careful which is why I'm sharing my info with you.
"This message was brought to you as a customer service from the fine folks in the 'holler at Vog's haberdashery, hookah bar and spoiled meat emporium."
Be careful
“The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine appears to be highly effective against a more-contagious variant first discovered in Brazil, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, raising hopes that ongoing vaccination efforts will help curb its spread.“
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/09/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/
iam-
And it has also caused 2 deaths in Denmark recently.
I think the AZ vaccine may have to go through more standardized testing rather than through Operation Warp Speed given that the other vaccines have not caused as much damage as AZ's has
Glad to see MAGA Mode is back now that the Coral mods can't get us.
"However, now that Donald Trump has finally urged everyone to get vaccinated—including those who voted for him!—maybe the Republican number will increase."
I wouldn't hold my breath. Meanwhile, in view of the report on Giuliani's role in seeking Russian clandestine help for Republicans in the last election, Claire McCaskill calls Giuliani "a treasonous, traitorous clown." Sounds about right.
Republicans are vaccinating at a higher rate than Democrats. Polling is a waste on this. Democrats who reject vaccination are ideological against it.
While this comment system isn't as, well, liberal in accepting links, it will accept at least one or two, so a cite or two in support of the difference in vaccination rates by political affiliation would be nice.
@mudguard
Where did you see this? Or are you just making it up?
Anti-vax new age hippies ain't getting this bub. Republicans don't have to get it, but so many have had problems with Covid, places like Alaska, Wyoming, Dakota's are have surging vaccination rates.
Links please - the polling and the excess doses in Red states point to the exact opposite of what you claim.
Go to CDC map for vaccination rates. Alaska leads the country per 100,000. The deep south is the slowest sans Florida and to a lesser extent weezie. I suspect much of the polling on Republicans comes from the deep south, distorting state by state vaccination programs which Republicans generally support. New England has been getting slammed by the "slow" role out", but the rate is fine. Give it time. California and Oregon are slower than other "Democratic" states because of all the new age hippie loons.
35% of residents of San Francisco (home of the hippies) has received at least one dose.
Until a state starts to approach a 60% vaccination rate, the current vaccination rate in a state doesn't mean anything. We are currently slowly working our way through people that want to be vaccinated, and there are plenty of democrats in red states.
Those states have higher vaccination rates, not because Republicans are getting vaccinated at a high rate, but because of the Native American/Indian push to vaccinate, by way of federal allocations to Indian Health Services/HHS and grants to support them in their efforts.
Let's take Alaska for example.
Demographics:
White: ~464.5K
Native ~114.1K
At Least One Vaccination Shot:
White: 13.5%
Native American/Indian: 36.8%
The states with the highest vaccination rates are closely aligned to those with large Native American/Indian populations served by IHS.
Midgard believes that polling is a waste of time when a vivid imagination & the ability to spout alternative facts are faster.
Heh. Midgard is Shootie/Shootie2/Shootie24/Shootie2422 AICMFP
Might that be because right now the elderly have priority? (Assuming the info is correct). The majority o the elderly are voting Republican. Hard to understand since the GOP wants to cut Social Security (pardon me: They want to "reform entitlements"). But there you are.
Fall off your barstool again, Shootie?
Whatever their socio-political views, it would certainly be reassuring if those reported as declining vaccinations among medical staff (especially part-time workers in multiple nursing homes), prisons, & police departments would change their minds. Masks & distancing couldn't do the job alone, even if everyone were cooperating.
And since our country hasn't had anything resembling a "good neighbor" policy for a long time, I am glad that we are helping Canadians & Mexicans, even if motivated in part by self-interest.
I believe that these are rather too scattered data points. The last time the flu was a threat as serious as COVID-19 was in 1918. The flu shot is just not life saving in the way the COVID shot is. Small Pox was already extinct in 2000 (and the news was all over the press when it happened (no "media" yet back then) so people were largely aware of the fact. So most of the data concerns vaccines for dieases that were either not considered a danger by many (flu) or were in fact a very remote threat if any (small pox). The only exception is polio.
I don't understand the 60% acceptance of the polio vaccine in the 50s. Wasn't it mandatory for kids (several boosters along the way as I remember--I got the first dose by syringe, the boosters by mouth)? I mean polio did occur occasionally even in developed countries in the 50s. It was a nasty threat as it could cause disabilities for the whole life.
I remember when the military was bringing back smallpox vaccination for our uniformed personnel after 9/11, due Bush administration fears that al-Qaeda may pilfer Russian disease control's stock of the pox.
Weren't a bunch of troops dealing with complications for years after?
Hmmm... 30% of the population won't get vaccinated; 30% of the population has already started vaccination; and 20% of the population has already been infected. So that leaves me in the 20% of the population waiting to start vaccination. I guess I have a 50-50 chance at starting in the next 3 weeks...
When I was a year old, my mother was paralyzed by polio. In the morning, she was an athletic fox of a woman, by that evening she was fighting for her life in an iron lung, feeling, as she once told me, like she was having a tooth pulled all over her body. Within a day or so, she was a flaccid husk of meat, imprisoning a brilliant mind: she could move her head, and crawl (not lift) her hands. That's it. And I grew up taking care of her.
Yeah, we got the Salk and Sabin vaccines. Yeah, I've taken every shot I could conceivably need. Damn betcha.
The anti-vaxxers (plenty of them otherwise smart people) have a death wish. I hope they'll understand, if I step aside as they go to their doom. Sorry 'bout that.
I am sorry to hear about your mother.
A neighbor, a childhood friend, walked with a limp & seemed to have poor immunity, but at least had survived polio, not needing an iron lung. Made the rest of us in that block feel pretty lucky. Never heard of ANY parents choosing to not vaccinate their kids.
My sympathies, Stewart. Polio was a terrifying scourge when I was growing up. When a vaccine was available there was NO QUESTION in my family about getting vaccinated. I took my shots then and like you, I take my shots now.
So sorry about your mother. My mom's half sister died from measles complications. So like you I'm pretty militant about vaccines.
Take-up is likely to show regional variation. Here in Connecticut, where we had an early outbreak with a high number of cases and deaths, this is today's report:
So far, 62 percent of Connecticut’s population over the age of 55 has received at least one dose, including:
78 percent of those over the age of 75;
74 percent of those between 65 and 74; and
46 percent of those between 55 to 64. [eligible since 1 March]
Per the Washington Post (the link I have is from there daily email to me and I suspect won't work for others) MARCH 19, 2021
"According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, barely half of front-line health-care workers (52 percent) said they had received at least their first vaccine dose at the time they were surveyed. More than 1 in 3 said they were not confident vaccines were sufficiently tested for safety and effectiveness."