REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - Getting a Vaccination in New Hampshire

The Ledes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

The Washington Post's live updates of Hurricane Milton developments are here: “Hurricane Milton, which has strengthened to a 'catastrophic' Category 5 storm, is closing in on Florida’s west coast and is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane, which could bring maximum sustained winds of nearly 160 mph with bigger gusts, poses a dire threat to the densely populated zone that includes Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers. As well as 'damaging hurricane-force winds,' coastal communities face a “life-threatening” storm surge, the center said.” ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.

Washington Post: “The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to David Baker at the University of Washington and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind.... The prize was awarded to scientists who cracked the code of proteins. Hassabis and Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of proteins, one of the toughest problems in biology. Baker created computational tools to design novel proteins with shapes and functions that can be used in drugs, vaccines and sensors.”

Sorry, forgot this yesterday: ~~~

Reuters: “U.S. scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence boom. Heralded for its revolutionary potential in areas ranging from cutting-edge scientific discovery to more efficient admin, the emerging technology on which the duo worked has also raised fears humankind may soon be outsmarted and outcompeted by its own creation.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Thursday

Feb182021

Getting a Vaccination in New Hampshire

Thanks to all who shared their own experiences getting (or not getting) vaccinated.

Note Update below:

Yesterday, I got my first anti-Covid-19 vaccination. The whole process was well-organized.

I signed up for a vaccination January 22, and the next day, the state gave me the go-ahead to sign up for an appointment. At that time, New Hampshire was relying on a CDC site, and I had to answer the same health questions – which were extensive – on both a New Hampshire site & a CDC site. I have heard that New Hampshire has since stopped relying on the CDC site. There also was a facility for allowing people to get their shots at the same time another family member or partner was getting hers. I received confirmation notices of the time and place of my appointment timely. A week or so later, the state sent me a reminder and asked me to again confirm my appointment. The day before yesterday, I received another reminder of my appointment and had to complete an update of my health condition, but this one was shorter than the ones I had completed in January.

The vaccination was administered in the garage of a defunct Sears store. The only part the state could have made clearer was the location. The state gave only the street address of the site, and of course the street address is not plastered all over a Sears store in a shopping mall. I had to check the Internet to figure out exactly where the site was. The state should have included something like “former Sears garage” with the street address.

At the site, the National Guard seemed to be running the whole operation. It went very smoothly. (Really.) What with the site's being a garage, it was a totally drive-up operation. I would not have had to get out of my car had I not needed to remove my coat. There was a line of cars. Guardsmen (and they were all men) approached me at several “stations” to ensure that I had an appointment. They all wore masks, as did I (I was double-masked.). One of them said he had my name on his list. I had to show him a photo ID (my drivers license). BTW, it was 28 degrees here during the time I was there, and these Guardsmen were standing out in the cold. There were some who were directing traffic. Again, all very orderly. When I got to the technician who would administer the shot, he asked me health questions again. He also asked to see my photo ID again. He gave me a card indicating what vaccination I had received (Pfizer) and told me I should make an appointment a month from yesterday to get my second shot. After that, I was directed to an area – this one run by local firemen – where I had to wait about 15 minutes to make sure I had no adverse reactions to the shot. The total process, from start to finish, took less than an hour. I thanked every single person who approached me for coming out in the cold to help me.

Today, I received an e-mail notice that I had completed my first appointment and an opportunity to sign up for the second shot. The next appointment date was not until March 23, so that slips the target date by about a week. I signed up.

The shot itself was pretty painless. My arm hurts a tiny bit today when I move it, and the vaccination did make me sleepy, as the technician warned me it might. I took an unscheduled three-hour nap yesterday, and I was not otherwise sleep-deprived.

Based on a news report in today's Washington Post, it appears my second shot will not be my last. According to the Post, because the Pfizer vaccine does not work well enough against the South African strain of the virus, “Pfizer and BioNTech announce[d] they were taking necessary steps to develop a booster shot or updated vaccine.”

Update. Oops! A Glitch in the System. I sent a friend of mine a copy of this post, and she wrote back to tell me that she had heard that I shouldn't schedule a second appointment because the "suggested" date on the card the technician gave me actually was a hard appointment. I noodled around the Internet & found a news report to that effect. So I called the state because I didn't want to miss my second shot on account of misinformation. Sure enough, my friend was right, and I should have ignored the email that directed me to make an appointment for the second shot. The state said I was scheduled for March 17 (St. Patrick's Day, so easy to remember!) same time, same place. So I cancelled the March 23 appointment. I am pretty sure the problem resulted from the state's attempt to coordinate with the CDC. The email telling me to make a second appointment came from the CDC, not the state. Nothing is perfect.

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Reader Comments (9)

Marie,

Congrats on your shot. A well run operation? What does that tell you?

Neither Trump nor his drooling, hopelessly unorganized anti-science sycophants had anything to do with it.

February 18, 2021 |

Akhilleus

Thanks for the run-down and glad that the procedure was so well wrought. My experience at Yale Health was similar plus everyone was cheerful and most helpful. My after effects were the same as yours although they say the second shot may cause more after effects; we'll see, won't we?

February 18, 2021 |

PD Pepe

Congrats on being chosen for a vaccine shot. I'm sure many of the RC readers can remember listening to pop radio in the 1960s, where the tenth lucky caller to identify the song just played got a prize or tickets to a band concert. Here in Pierce County Washington getting a vaccine appointment is kind of the same thing - you get notified when a vaccination event will occur in your area and you can register for an appointment online the next day after 9:00 AM. Usually by 9:05AM all the appointments have been taken, that is if the website hasn't crashed, which happened last Tuesday. Maybe appointments are made directly for essential workers and people with medical conditions, but for me, like my younger self, with the last digit on the rotary dial phone cocked and ready to be released then the song starts playing - I'm logged in at 8:59AM with finger on the enter button hoping to get lucky this time with appointment.

February 18, 2021 |

periscope

I'm scheduled for my second jab on the 22nd, but haven't gotten my confirmation call yet. So between shortages and our erratic governor I'm unsure what will happen.

February 18, 2021 |

Bobby Lee

I'm glad to hear that went so well for you, Marie. Here on the coast of NH, my mother and her partner also got their first shots yesterday, but not on their scheduled day, which had been March 24. In their town, people who are eligible for the vaccine can call to get on a list for end-of-day vaccinations. My sense is that if they have more vaccines than arms, they refer to the list and start calling people. It's a "Can you get here in twenty minutes?" situation. My mother and partner called yesterday morning and got their shots. Their second shot is also scheduled, and it's for earlier than their original date. I had been worried about availability of vaccine doses for their second shot, since that would have been in April, so this was a huge relief for me.

February 18, 2021 |

Elizabeth

I happened into a shot on Monday-- I had written an angry screed to someone-- the wrong person, actually--on our health portal for the the "hospital mafia" here-- Actually, we have access to four different hospital systems here, which is why it is so frustrating to try to find a shot at Rite-Aid, or Weis Markets...Anyhow, husband got two appts. for March 9, but all of a sudden, after the screed, I got an "invitation" to sign up, after a questionnaire, and a preregistration, but husband has not gotten one yet. Anyhow, it was very organized, I was there early, and they ran 20 minutes late, so a total of about an hour for me too. Did not hurt. Arm began hurting that evening, and Tuesday I felt a bit flu-ish, and arm hurt, but no "flu" effects yesterday or today and arm almost completely back to normal. All in all, good. They made an appt. for the second, Moderna, for a time on March 15. The "mafia" did well, and if I had not established a portal with the hospital, I would not have gotten an invite. The county commissioners are "planning" (yeah, now--)a large site at defunct Bon Ton or Sears opening in March.

On a hopeful note, PA is not TX, with its arrogant public officials and a private grid, a red-winged blackbird has shown up in the sleet/snow, tons of robins, and elsewhere in the county, tundra swans and snow geese, so spring IS going to come.

February 18, 2021 |

Jeanne

Got my 2nd shot Tuesday. Like Marie, I was in and out in less than hour, both times. The county runs the program. The appointment was a two hour window, which was done through Eventbrite. The Disney-like line move along nicely, snaking through rooms and hallways for the occasional change of scenery. I suspect that, like so many other vaccinations, booster shots will be offered soon.

February 18, 2021 |

CaptRuss

My wife got her second yesterday. She received hers from a local clinic where my son works providing healthcare to the mostly uninsured Hispanic farmworkers...but the vaccine is available to everyone as long as supplies are available.

My second is scheduled March 2 at the local fair grounds site operated by the county health dept and volunteers where I also received my first.

Age doth have its privileges.

February 18, 2021 |

Ken Winkes

I'm glad to hear the vax train is rolling along. My wife got the second shot two days ago; she said it was more painful than the first. So, get your heavy lifting and chores done in advance of the shot.

February 19, 2021 |

citizen625

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