General Wellness

With every storm, there are those who seek opportunity. In some cases legitimate but in many, illegitimate.

Sadly, we still see this with useless, fake Covid testing kits which are sold online and now we see it with the vaccine. Whether they are actually trying to just sell you something useless or they are trolling for your personal information, there are many shysters out there, so be careful.

Let me be clear, there are NO sources of vaccine for which you can pay cash and “skip” the lines. Sure, there may be very isolated cases of people who happen to be in the right place at the right time and were around when extra vial doses were available. And in a few rare cases, some unethical people who had access to legitimate vaccines snuck a few doses for their family and friends, but these are very rare.

We are seeing people of all ages getting contacted by phone, email and even text, offering vaccines. People are desperate and the trolls are feeding on this.

Be very leery of cold-calls. Legitimate organizations are much too busy to look for more business.As it is, for just a few 100 doses, they are getting Inundated with thousands of calls.

If you do get contacted, there are a few basics he should be aware of: 

1. Ask for their names and organizations. Legitimate places include hospital systems, universities and possibly pharmacies.  There are local services which are well-documented and you should be aware of them.  Anything fishy, you should ask for their website and look them up.
   
2. NEVER give away your social security number (social insurance number in Canada), to anyone. It is not needed.
   
3. Never provide any financial information. This is also never legitimately asked for.

In the meantime, be patient and keep checking your local resources for availability. Being at the right place at the right time OR, on the right website at the right time, seems to be the best way to get an appointment so far.

Apparently, many large pharmacy systems will be providing vaccines in many parts of the US. Stay tuned. Whatever amounts they get, it will be drips and drabs so be patient but persistent and also, be prepared to stay up and get up at all hours of the night to get your dose.

At this stage, only 10% of Americans have received the first dose of a vaccine and only 3% have had their second. Not very many. This is going to be a long, slow road and hopefully, the variant viruses won’t cause much trouble, but that will only be the case if people continue to do all the things they need to do to keep themselves, and again, EVERYONE ELSE safe and healthy.

MASK

DISTANCE

WASH

DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE

PROTECT YOUR EYES. This may be even more important with the variant viruses since one of the ways they are more infectious is their increased ability to bond to ACE2 receptors and there are many of these in the conjunctiva of the eyes.

VENTILATE

VACCINATE

GET HEALTHY

Stay safe and be well.

AC

The numbers are falling. Deaths, cases and hospitalizations. All seem to be dropping but we need to keep it in perspective.

For the first time since November 2020, less than 100,000 new Covid cases in a week were identified and, under 3000 Covid-related deaths occured in one day! These are numbers we used to think were apocalyptic in the spring of 2020, and now they seem like a positive sign.

Why are the numbers dropping? A combination of better compliance with mask wearing and distancing, slow, but progressive vaccination as well as some degree of protection for those who actually got sick is all contributing. It seems that in the schools where proper PPE and limited, rotating class sizes are implemented, Covid rates are very low. Even the NFL, the professional league which seemed to be the strictest with PPE and Covoid-mitigation plans, seemed to do pretty well. I saw much better mask compliance on the sidelines and in the crowds during the Superbowl than the regular season. It was good to see.

The downward trend is certainly positive, but with a weekly doubling in cases of the British variant in the US, along with the S. African and Brazilian variants are likely already spreading more than we know (US ranks 42nd in terms of genomic testing), these numbers may just be temporary. Some epidemiologists are even predicting a worse scenario than we have yet seen in about 4-6 weeks. Hopefully not.

The recent loosening of social distancing and opening up of restaurants in certain hard hit areas in the country won’t help either. Why take your foot off the break when there finally seems to be some control?

As far as vaccine efficacy is concerned, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines seem to have some protection against both the British and S. African variants as does the new one from J&J although that one is still awaiting FDA approval. Administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine has been halted in S. Africa since a recent study showed very poor efficacy against their variant strain which accounts for 95% of their cases in recent months. Studies were small, but significant.

We need to continue to be careful and vigilant, if for no other reason than to give scientists more time to catch up with vaccine production and development of newer vaccines to cope with the new strains. This may not be as difficult as de-novo production of a vaccine, but they still need time to tweak the existing vaccine.

I am surprised how often I get comments about how I need to worry less about the virus since I’ve been vaccinated. Sure, I’m less worried for me, but I am just as worried for everyone else. I can still transmit the virus if exposed. If exposed to one of the variants, I can even spread it more so, I am changing nothing about my behavior. 

Whether you have been sick or not, whether you have been vaccinated or not, PLEASE continue to be safe and do what we know works, not just to protect ourselves but also to protect everyone else:

MASK

DISTANCE

WASH

DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE

EYE PROTECTION

VENTILATE

VACCINATE

GET HEALTHY

Stay Safe and Be Well. 

AC