U.S. sees significant drop in vaccinations over past week

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Daily coronavirus vaccinations have slowed significantly for the first time since February, a sign that demand is slipping even though every American adult is now eligible for the shots.

About 3 million Americans are getting vaccinated daily, an 11 percent decrease in the seven-day average of daily shots administered over the past week. The unprecedented drop is rivaled only by a brief falloff that occurred in February, when winter storms forced the closure of vaccination sites and delayed shipments nationwide.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=

The downturn hits as half of all eligible Americans have received at least one vaccine dose. And it coincides with the pause last week of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is under review by a panel of experts following a handful of cases of severe blood clotting.

Softening demand also appears to be a factor: Scores of counties from Iowa to Texas have begun to decline vaccine shipments, highlighting issues of hesitancy and barriers to health care that may hamper efforts to reach the levels of protection needed to halt the spread of the coronavirus.



Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/21/vaccinations-downturn-jj-pause-soft-demand/

[genxlib]

1. This was always going to be the obvious part

Getting to 50% was going to be a no-brainer

Getting to 70% is going to take some work to cajole some people off the sidelines

Getting to 80-85% is going to be near impossible because we share this Country with a bunch of stubborn selfish ignoramuses

[zaj]

2. Because Trump poisoned...

... hs own supporters. He had enormous power of persuasion and he used it to kill people, instead of save them.

[piddyprints]

25. Totally right.

I am so frustrated that a lot of people I know just won't get it. They're afraid of side-effects. The evil side of me hopes they get more than their share of "side-effects" when they get Covid. I just wish they couldn't spread it around.

[genxlib]

3. I wonder how much of that dropoff is related to J&J getting paused

I know they said they were backfilling with extra doses of the other brands but that doesn't happen instantaneously. Not to mention that appointments get cancelled and people go back in line.

I think demand is still pretty high in many places but the supply is not well distributed to match the demand. In Florida, there are plenty of appointments available in the northern part of the state while people still can't get appointments in the south.

[FBaggins]

15. Likely all

There will no doubt be a point where demand dries up before we want it to... but I'm sure that J&J represented more than 11% of the volume of the prior week. So Moderna/Phizer numbers are likely still growing.

[moriah]

17. Here in AR, our metro area has a great distribution plan, except for the online thing.

Aka, there are people who don't have government smart phones who can't book appointments for people. There are at least five apartment complexes within walking distance of two different vaccine locations -- both serving up Pfizer.

But because of needing to minimize people being in the store and still allow for at least four people to be under observation at once (3 "15 minute wait" spots plus one or more in case there's someone who they want to make wait 30 -- was me last time, that pharmacy knows I have Epi-Pen scripts filled there and wasn't taking chances, tho they said I'd only have to do the 15 minute wait for my second tomorrow cuz the first went well), walk-ins are difficult, especially for groups.

Still, while I don't know all the current tenants at all of them, I know people who do. And so I started making sure all of the people I knew were shown how to book an online appointment ,at least at the closer of the two and my primary one. I'm going to talk with the pharmacist there later (if I get the chance, but I see them monthly so I usually can get a 2-minute jabber) about what can be done to help those who still don't have the access to book online -- especially if they get to the point where they *can* do walk-ins for at least the first dose.

Plus, there are a lot of people who have wanted to wait to let us ppl with serious risk factors be their guinea pigs. I can't blame them. But spreading the word that "Hey, I got mine from this pharmacy up the street, and here I am walking around fine -- if you want yours, here's how to get an appointment" has helped get at least a few people I know up there to get their shots. The word is spreading in at least one complex, hopefully will go further.

And if demand is decreasing for appointments, that means there should potentially be availability for people who can't make an appointment to just come on in -- yes, it may mean some spoiled doses at the end of the day, but the shots are within walking distance of the people who need them in my city. Still doesn't mean they'll be accessible to those same people until they can do a walk-in for at least the first appointment.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. MAGAts prefer the international cabal that control their brains

over the patriots trying to plant microchips in their numbskulls

Don't say you weren't informed.

[d_r]

5. The thirty percenters

They are just horrible selfish people.

[mahina]

21. I don't know, they are afraid and they are not very bright

I find I don’t get very far with people that I view that way.

The right wing algorithm icertainly works to sift out and feed folks disinformation.


There are some. The rest are being used. How do we get through to those people? We have to.

[d_r]

33. You are right

But some of them are just unsalvageable imho. I don't know how to save the others

[mahina]

35. Read you 100%

Lost a friend, unimaginable. He was infected by Marines at MCBH.

He’s from Japan and was never political. Now he has W stickers and Trump crap everywhere.

We haven’t spoken for a little while now

[twodogsbarking]

6. People are idiots.

Don't expect otherwise.

[forgotmylogin]

7. I must admit - I want the vaccination, but I don't want to stand in line for it.

I've seen that some cities are doing "no appointment" walk-in vaccinations, and that's what I'm hoping for.

I'm going to do it, I just need to find the right opportunity. I'm hoping my local pharmacy I frequent will start doing them eventually.

I will probably get myself on a list soon as well.

[MiniMe]

9. I would think it would be more crowded if you didn't have an appointment

That's what I'd want to avoid. But that is me.

[obamanut2012]

10. Just make an appointmnet at a pharmacy

You won't have to stand in line with anyone, and only a few people will even be around. The "walk-in" ones are packed.

[cinematicdiversions]

13. A lot of sites are drive thru. You never leave your car. NT

[BumRushDaShow]

14. This I think is a barrier to probably 10 - 20% of a population

notably in urban areas, where you have many home-bound who are not in facilities (and may or may not have a professional caretaker), cannot just go to some stadium or convention center and stand in line to get a shot (nor do they have transportation to a drive-through site if one is even available), or even if relatively ambulatory, cannot be so for extended periods of time. So it comes down to something akin to getting out a vote - by "door-to-door canvassing" and offering "house visits" to get one. Additionally even having a mobile van/trailer like those Red Cross units, that can drive through towns or neighborhoods and offer a shot, might make a difference.

Sometimes I sense a level of tone-deafness among many Health Departments that are perhaps attributing a lack of interest to "hesitancy" versus a real lack of EASY access.

I think many (and I was one) prefer going to a local pharmacy just due to being a known element that is usually close to home. And although my regular pharmacy is doing them, at the time that I inquired, they were narrowed to a very specific population and screw everyone else (and ironically when they first started offering the shots, a supposed "glitch" in their scheduling had city-located branches actually rejecting city residents for appointments claiming they "weren't eligible", and only accepting suburbanites with non-city zips). The same type of phenomena was discovered even before the glitch at that chain.

Meanwhile I was finally able to find an independent pharmacy not far from where I grew up and also a few miles from where I currently live, and got my 1st shot there last month and my 2nd there yesterday. I had signed up with my city's (Philly) "vaccine interest" site back in January and heard absolutely nothing until last week. But by then, it was too late since I was already doing a scheduled 2-shot regime, and their offer was only for a site 12 miles away from me downtown at the PA Convention Center (uh nope nope nope...).

This week they finally got a bit desperate here due to the sudden drop-off of appointments locally and started offering walk-ups at the big sites, but I think by now, many who are left were just fed up with the nonsense and system-gaming and plan to wait until it is more convenient.

[IronLionZion]

24. It also depends on the size of the vaccination site

some of these mass vax sites look intimidating, but they move very quickly so the wait isn't too long. The ones in massive parking lots allow you to wait in your car.

[piddyprints]

26. I got mine from my car.

Sure, you "stand in line," but you can listen to the radio or have a snack or whatever and don't have to deal with maskholes. You will surely wait in line if you do the "no appointment" ones.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I hope you can get it soon.

[tblue37]

34. Our drive-through clinic was held at the county fairgrounds & very smoothly handled.

I got my shots there and never had to wait as we went through. The only wait was the one at the end to make sure of no reaction. There were many, many people getting shots.

[MiniMe]

8. Getting my 2nd shot today. Moderna

[genxlib]

16. Me too

[Chakaconcarne]

11. Guess we're approaching that point......

If everyone who wants it has gotten it, we're good.... Everyone else is on their own.

I don't think we should be striving for a percentage we won't reach...

[ForgoTheConsequence]

20. That percentage wasn't pulled out of thin air.

It's what is needed to reach herd immunity and slow down mutations. We can and should be striving for it.

[NYC Liberal]

12. It'll pick up once they receive FDA authorization and businesses can start requiring it.

[h2ebits]

19. I hope so. . . .

I have one granddaughter-in-law who keeps insisting that it is not FDA approved and has influenced her entire family plus my Trumper oldest son. They are my family locally, which makes it very difficult.

In point of fact, the FDA HAS APPROVED these vaccines for emergency use. Trump and cronies truly poisoned the well and, sadly, our entire country has lost because of it. Millions of people have now been vaccinated with Pfizer and Moderna and not one of them has died.

If you look at the FDA approval process you will see that it can take 7-8 YEARS for final approval with the process that the FDA has put in place. What really pisses me off is that they still throw drugs on the market that kill people and have such serious side effects that I would refuse to take them (and have refused to take them).

I have to stop now because the whole situation makes me very angry and the more I write the angrier I am getting.

[Raftergirl]

22. People in your situation need to

tell the anti vaxxers in their families that they won’t be seeing them unless the get vaxxed. That is what I would do. Fortunately for me everyone in my extended family is vaccinated except the kids under 16.

I hear plenty of people making excuses for why they cannot do that but, IMO, I just think they are chicken to have the confrontation.

[piddyprints]

28. We have that problem.

One of our daughters refuses to get vaccinated. The other one will be fully vaccinated next week. So what are they doing? Vacationing together next month! I told the vaccinated one that there is NO WAY I would go unless her sister got vaccinated and I am not on board with them doing this.

Might as well talk to the wind, I guess.

[h2ebits]

32. Thanks for the advice. . . .

At Christmas, and before I had been vaccinated, I refused to go over unless everyone was wearing a mask. Although my son was angry. . . ."in his own house, blah, blah, blah" they all wore masks because I just shrugged and said that I wouldn't be able to come over if they didn't. Just so you know, my son, his partner, and 2 grandkids all had COVID-19 at the beginning of November. There were a couple of other family members masked and I wore my mask. I ate in the kitchen while everyone else ate in the dining room and I left a little later.

Relationships are difficult for everyone and particularly hard with what has happened in the last 4-years. I am the matriarch of my family and will not "throw the baby out with the bathwater" as the expression goes. I continue to inform and chat, modify, try to change, etc. It is who I am.

[Stallion]

18. The Truth, The Bottom 13 States are Republican and Most All the Top Vaccinated States are Democrats

there is a stark dividing line between Republican and Democratic controlled states. "Republicans will kill us all". Republican evangelicals and anti-vaxxers are the reason we might not reach herd immunity promptly. Democratic leaning states likely will and much earlier

[melm00se]

23. It is far more complex than

just blaming Trump and his supporters.

J&J vaccine has issues.
Astrazeneca vaccine has issues.

Yes, yes, yes, I know that they impact a very small number of people (well under the 1% bar) but the fact that these are spread by news reports is creating fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Yes, the news reports say the likelihood is very low but the psychology of journalism means that most people will read the headline and no more than a couple of sentences so that fact is never seen and then suggestibility kicks in and spurs people to report (via social media) that there is a HUGE issue with ____________ vaccine.

But, the damage is done.

I am not sure how this can be addressed without damaging (or destroying) certain rights to make this all stick.

[Ace Rothstein]

27. Some folks also wanted the J&J vaccine due to it being one shot.

I know people who were specifically seeking out that one. Do they get a vaccine now if that one doesn't become available again?

[melm00se]

29. For people who want the vaccine?

I believe that they would seek out the others.

If, however, they are on the fence (or near the fence) as to the safety of these vaccines, they may just throw up their hands and say "Too dangerous!" and hold until there is more data.

This will not address like the person I heard the other day who said that taking an mRNA vaccine (and they used that word) would alter your DNA and make you some sort of space alien (Who I guess will man the Jewish space lasers?) and no longer a human being. There will be no fixing that level of stupid.

Honest skepticism? That is a much higher level of difficulty.

[IronLionZion]

30. 1 in a million is 0.0001%

5 in a million people in general population get blood clots regardless of vaccine. That's 0.0005%.

[IronLionZion]

31. This is a tremendous opportunity for those who want it to have shorter waits

Since everyone is eligible now, go for it. Red counties tend to have open appointments so people in blue counties have been driving there to get vaccinated. More mass vaccination sites have been opening up.