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Covid-19 - Treatments & Vaccines

Opinion: White evangelicals are wary of the vaccine. It shouldn’t come as a surprise.


Hint: they tend to be skeptical of science and perceived “elites”...of a wide range of disciplines.

... And the skepticism about elites did not stop with the clergy. In “The Democratization of American Christianity,” historian Nathan O. Hatch describes a populist revolt against the legal and medical professions as well. The Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s was accompanied by the rise of natural remedies and botanic medicine as an alternative to the norms of traditional medical education. One popular practitioner, Samuel Thomson, argued that Americans “should in medicine, as in religion and politics, act for themselves.”...


... These tensions have occasionally emerged in controversies surrounding vaccination. During a 2011 Republican presidential debate, former representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota attacked the routine administration of the vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV) as “innocent little 12-year-old girls” who were “forced to have a government injection,” which she later claimed might lead to “mental retardation.” Her description of this safe, easy, effective way for women to avoid cervical cancer was remarkable for its level of destructive ignorance. But it was also typical of some evangelical opinion.
Now a substantial minority of White evangelicals are hesitant about the vaccine for the coronavirus. I suspect that some of this is the result of believing absurd conspiracy theories (which I won’t repeat for fear of coughing this informational virus on the public). But this hesitancy is also the symptom of a much broader alienation between evangelicals and the scientific enterprise. Vaccine skepticism remains part of a populist revolt against elites whom evangelicals regard as hostile to their values.

In a highly technological society, however, there is often no alternative to social trust. None of us can master the highly specialized fields that help assure our well-being, including medicine and epidemiology. And it can be highly destructive — to ourselves and others — if we prefer our intuitions to the experts....
 
here is TN they are finding only about 30% of these people (in rural areas of TN, which got the vaccine first over Nashville) are getting the vaccine. mainly because a large portion of them still do not know how to signup using their phone or computer, which here is the main way to sign up. They are no longer, for a while now, signing up people that call in. this is a real concern.

Based on what I am seeing, there is a similar problem in Illinois, with the podunk MAGA rural areas flush with the vaccine, while more populated areas/cities don't have much.
 
Based on what I'm seeing about supply and distribution and hesitancy, I think we'll be at the point where anybody can get it if they want it by the end of April. At some point, states and federal officials are going to realize that they shouldn't hold vaccines for people who don't want it. There's just going to be a lot of people in early groups who don't want to be among the first to get it for whatever reason.

Then in May or June I think there's going to be a second wave of folks who eventually come around. Could be because there's no wave of vaccine related deaths. Could be because there are no lines. Could be the success of local, state, and federal campaigns promoting the vaccine. Could be because political and religious leaders stop opposing the vaccine. Could be because airlines are requiring proof of vaccination to travel. Any number of reasons.
 
I am worried about my second vaccination. As badly as we shit the bed last year, I'm not sure I want to go back to the Anaheim Convention Center next Tuesday.
 
Remember that app that turned Trump's tweets into presidential statements?

Full circle.
 
I was able to get my first dose on Tuesday after volunteering at a vaccine distribution center for a day. It wasn't guaranteed, but it seemed worth the gamble and it paid off. Honestly, paying 40 volunteers per day with the vaccine in a city like Nashville, TN to help facilitate the rollout is a no-brainer to me. Especially when TN has been hovering around 48/50 states when it comes to vaccine distribution efficiency (vaccines administered/vaccines received by the state). I worked a 4.5 hour shift and nobody that got the vaccine that day had to wait even a single minute in line. I was surprised though that there wasn't even really a constant stream of people coming through. They said they had 500 people scheduled to get vaccinated in those 4.5 hours. It's possible we got close, but I literally greeted every single person that got it, directed them where to go, and I'm not sure we even hit 500. And that was in the heart of Nashville.
 
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I was able to get my first dose on Tuesday after volunteering at a vaccine distribution center for a day. It wasn't guaranteed, but it seemed worth the gamble and it paid off. Honestly, paying 40 volunteers per day with the vaccine in a city like Nashville, TN to help facilitate the rollout is a no-brainer to me. Especially when TN has been hovering around 48/50 states when it comes to vaccine distribution efficiency (vaccines administered/vaccines received by the state). I worked a 4.5 hour shift and nobody that got the vaccine that day had to wait even a single minute in line. I was surprised though that there wasn't even really a constant stream of people coming through. They said they had 500 people scheduled to get vaccinated in those 4.5 hours. It's possible we got close, but I literally greeted every single person that got it, directed them where to go, and I'm not sure we even hit 500. And that was in the heart of Nashville.


I heard an interview with a epi student at Arizona State who is doing their vaccine distribution. She said they have their process down to 90 seconds from showing up, processing, and the shot. I think it's about time to open up to everyone who wants it or at least open it up to the next stage and set a date for opening it up to everyone. I'm seeing far more about how quickly people are getting the shot and lack of lines or leftover doses than scarcity.
 
I think that would help. I see a lot of colleagues and friends very anxiously trying to make appointments and find surplus opportunities but if they knew in 3 weeks (or what ever) their age group will be eligible, they'd settle down and wait until it opened up.
 
Good to see Joe reads the boards.

The Biden administration is playing this well. Set the date. Make it tough for Republican governors to be dicks about it. They look like shit if their base doesn’t get vaccinated. Get everybody looking forward to celebrating July 4. Connect this optimism to the COVID relief bill.
 
Good to see Joe reads the boards.

The Biden administration is playing this well. Set the date. Make it tough for Republican governors to be dicks about it. They look like shit if their base doesn’t get vaccinated. Get everybody looking forward to celebrating July 4. Connect this optimism to the COVID relief bill.

My new hot take is that Joe might actually know what he’s doing
 
Just saw this posted by someone in Charlotte.

“Hearing that Park Church at 6029 Beatties Ford Road, Charlotte, NC 28216 is vaccinating all groups right now without appointments. Reports say until 6 pm or until they run out.

They are using the Johnson and Johnson one shot vaccine and as of an hour ago there was no line.

**Info from the NC/SC Vaccine Hunters group, not personally confirmed, but if you want a shot, I would check it out.”
 
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