I swear some people would shy away from that balanced scales symbol the way a vampire shies away from a cross.
Speaking of which: I was just on a long flight for work. There was a middle-aged white guy at the gate who was walking around with no mask, even sticking his head past the plexiglass barrier to yap at one of the staff working the desk. They told him to wear his mask, but he was chinstrapping. When I entered the plane, I gave the flight attendants the heads up that there were folks who were not wearing masks at the gate and thanked them in advance for having to deal with that. Sure enough this guy, just a few seats ahead of me, pulls down his mask as he’s going down the aisle, then completely removes it as he sits down. When the flight attendant comes down the aisle for pre-flight she tells him to mask up. So he does, but pulls off one ear strap. As the flight attendant comes forward again, she notices and signals for him to correct it. So he does. And when she turns and heads to the front of the plane, he goes chinstrap again.
He stays like that through takeoff and until we hit altitude. When the flight attendants come through next, they tell him again to wear his mask. So he does, but this time he again waits until they aren’t looking and goes to dicknose mode. I hit the flight attendant button and pointed to the guy as the flight attendant came down the aisle. She stopped at the guy and finally read him the riot act, saying that if he kept neglecting his mask, he could be arrested at the destination and be banned from flying with the airlines for life. He acted all offended, but from then on complied. I noticed that 5 minutes didn’t go by without a flight attendant cruising by for the rest of the flight.
We are close to beating this thing. Why can’t some people just fucking fall across the finish line?!
Friendly reminder from science: overconfidence is dangerous.
Personal take: I try to mention off-hand in as many conversations as possible that vaccinations do not cause sterile immunity, even for fully vaccinated people. Now, I can probably mention the increased risk described here, as well.
I’m glad to see that they got good results in their trials, but considering that a big part of this trial was done in Mexico you’d think that the drug company would have picked a different name. Come on, Novavax? Did they learn nothing from Chevy’s experience selling cars there in the 70’s?
(Ok, yeah, I know that was actually an urban legend)
Here in Japan, 15% of the population has now had one (of two shots) and 5% are now fully vaccinated. Today, the government announced that they would allow people under the age of 64 to be vaccinated at the mass vaccination centers in Tokyo and Osaka provided that they have a vaccination voucher issued by the municipal government (they have also loosened residency restrictions). This isn’t all good news though. The decision was made because the Tokyo center isn’t receiving enough reservations to fill capacity or even half capacity (possibly because many over the age of 65 have to wait for their second shot and perhaps due to vaccine hesitancy). It’s still not entirely clear when people under the age of 64 will receive their vaccination vouchers (it really seems to depend on the municipality). There are smaller vaccination centers throughout the country and I am not sure if this change applies to those.
Universities are planning to start mass vaccinations of students as early as next week. Corporations will be able to vaccinate employees by the end of the month, with municipalities using the Pfizer vaccine and universities and corporations using the recently approved Moderna or Astra-Zeneca vaccines to avoid confusion. I will try to keep everyone updated.
That’s…an odd reason. Have you got any background on that? (Links to articles explaining this, e.g.?)
In Europe, different storage conditions and other practicalities are the reason that different jabs are available at different locations.
This one says that they are authorizing the use of the Moderna vaccine only at medical facilities that have not previously used the Pfizer vaccine so as to avoid mix-ups where the wrong kind of vaccine is stored in the wrong conditions or the wrong vaccine is administered by accident.
Then, this article says that by having municipalities administer Pfizer and having universities and corporations administer Moderna, the two sides can avoid stepping on each other’s toes when it comes to supply chains.
Phu, I also finally got my jab. Johnson & Johnson. Rather surprising, my doctors office still only vaccinates people over 60, but a D&D friend had good connections (and wants to see me at the table again G )
Edit: Sorry, that wasn’t meant as a reply, I used the wrong link
The inflated pay for health care executives came as some sectors of the industry appeared to struggle amid the pandemic. Many people put off routine health visits and screenings and delayed elective procedures and treatments. A record 1.4 million health care workers were laid off or furloughed in April of 2020, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the federal government provided $70 billion in bailouts to hospitals and other health care providers.
This is not counting those (like us) whose pay was cut significantly due to “loss of expected income.” Yeah, we are heroes and shit. I was actually told once the “real heroes don’t worry about the pay.” Goodwill doesn’t make house payments, or pay medical bills.
