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Pfizer for teens?
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Also, is it ethical for wealthy countries to start vaccinating low risk children, while developing countries need vaccines for their elderly people?
Fortunately, the US bought way more doses than we need for our population and will share 80 million doses with other countries by the end of June.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/03/1002888711/the-u-s-is-sending-at-least-80-million-surplus-covid-19-vaccines-abroad
..."We know that won't be sufficient," said Jeff Zients, coordinator of the White House COVID-19 response. But he said it's an important step toward boosting global production and trying to end the global pandemic.
"We expect a regular cadence of shipments around the world across the next several weeks. And in the weeks ahead, working with the world's democracies we will coordinate a multilateral effort, including the G-7, to combat and end the pandemic," Zients said.
The U.S. has contracts for hundreds of millions more vaccine doses than it could possibly use — and this is a major move by the Biden administration to attempt to exert global leadership after months of pressure from global health organizations.
Zients said 75% of the first 25 million doses will be allotted through COVAX, an international distribution system aimed at helping vaccinate people in the world's poorest countries.4 -
We should stop talking only about death rate (but there are indirect deaths esp. In counties with worse health care systems so the "real" number is higher.
Organ damage caused by COVID-19
Although COVID-19 is seen as a disease that primarily affects the lungs, it can damage many other organs as well. This organ damage may increase the risk of long-term health problems. Organs that may be affected by COVID-19 include:
We should talk also about this(including children) ...
Heart. Imaging tests taken months after recovery from COVID-19 have shown lasting damage to the heart muscle, even in people who experienced only mild COVID-19 symptoms. This may increase the risk of heart failure or other heart complications in the future.
Lungs. The type of pneumonia often associated with COVID-19 can cause long-standing damage to the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs. The resulting scar tissue can lead to long-term breathing problems.
Brain. Even in young people, COVID-19 can cause strokes, seizures and Guillain-Barre syndrome — a condition that causes temporary paralysis. COVID-19 may also increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease8 -
Pfizer in regional areas of South Australia is now available to everyone from age 16 - 50.
(and AZ for people over 50)
So, includes teens aged 16,17,18, 19
why government has made this so for regional areas only - urban areas only people from 50 up and younger medical/occupational risk groups - I have no idea.
Perhaps because harder to access specialised hospital care if you get the disease in regional area?2 -
Yes, but weren't half given placebo?
(Okay, that's it for me on this subject!:D)I think the numbers oyouf kids in the clinical trials were sort of low. Maybe I'm worried more about that than the time frame. I mean I know it has to be tested on someone's kids for us to see any downsides, and all my respect to parents and kids who are brave enough to be the first ones. I'm just not one them!
What numbers do you think were involved in the trials?
The number I saw was 2,000 subjects.
You seem to not understand how statistical analysis works. You should be looking at whether the numbers used, the way the samples were chosen and the results obtained lead to a statistically significant conclusion. The absolute number of kids will not tell you much.
Spoiler: the numbers above have already been looked at by the relevant health authorities in each country.6 -
Some people do have insurance but their deductible is so high, 3-5k a year that it prevents them from seeking care. For some the monthly payments are 700+ per month. The very poor typically qualify for Medicaid and get everything free. It is those just above that threshold or even lower middle class who have a hard time.
As a side note- so many employers are switching over to high deductible HSA type insurance plans. My husband has a good job, with one of these plans through a good insurance company. I'm getting ready to have out-patient cataract surgery, which is going to set us back around $4,000 out of pocket. We automatically have money put into our HSA account every week, so this will cover most of it, but I can't imagine having these high deductible plans and not have a cushion set aside to help offset it. And after my surgery, our HSA cushion will completely wiped out. Our annual out of pocket max, for our family of 5, is $13,300. If we had a catastrophic incident and reached this, it would be devastating for us financially. And my husband makes more than our state's average income/we're considered upper-middle class in our area.6 -
On being able to afford the vaccine, at least in the U.S.: from the CDC
Who is paying for the vaccine?
The federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status.
COVID-19 vaccination providers cannot:
-Charge you for the vaccine
-Charge you directly for any administration fees, copays, or coinsurance
-Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network
-Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination
-Require additional services in order for a person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare services can be provided at the same time and billed as appropriate
COVID-19 vaccination providers can:
-Seek appropriate reimbursement from the recipient’s plan or program (e.g., private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid) for a vaccine administration fee
-However, providers cannot charge the vaccine recipient the balance of the bill
-Seek reimbursement for uninsured vaccine recipients from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Programexternal icon
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Yeah, not sure why the insurance debate around the vaccine when it's 100% free in the U.S.
I would guess that a month stay in hospital would be devastating financially, regardless of how good your insurance may be. Lost wages, just the stress of it, etc.4 -
cmriverside wrote: »Yeah, not sure why the insurance debate around the vaccine when it's 100% free in the U.S.
I would guess that a month stay in hospital would be devastating financially, regardless of how good your insurance may be. Lost wages, just the stress of it, etc.
This was one of our deciding factors in getting the vaccine, we just can't afford extra medical costs due to getting a bad case of covid. We know several people who had hospital stays due to it, their medical bills are insane.3 -
YellowD0gs wrote: »On being able to afford the vaccine, at least in the U.S.: from the CDC
Who is paying for the vaccine?
The federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status.
COVID-19 vaccination providers cannot:
-Charge you for the vaccine
-Charge you directly for any administration fees, copays, or coinsurance
-Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network
-Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination
-Require additional services in order for a person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare services can be provided at the same time and billed as appropriate
COVID-19 vaccination providers can:
-Seek appropriate reimbursement from the recipient’s plan or program (e.g., private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid) for a vaccine administration fee
-However, providers cannot charge the vaccine recipient the balance of the bill
-Seek reimbursement for uninsured vaccine recipients from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Programexternal icon
No one said anything about not affording the vaccine.
Heath insurance costs came up because the question was asked...is it ethical for a "wealthy" country to vaccinate low-risk individuals when there are developing nations that can't vaccinate their most vulnerable.
Some of us pointed out that even this "weathly" nation has many people that cannot afford to be sick with Covid, so vaccines should not be diverted away from people here, even if they are low-risk.
We can't afford NOT to get the vaccine.4 -
cmriverside wrote: »Yeah, not sure why the insurance debate around the vaccine when it's 100% free in the U.S.
I would guess that a month stay in hospital would be devastating financially, regardless of how good your insurance may be. Lost wages, just the stress of it, etc.
This was one of our deciding factors in getting the vaccine, we just can't afford extra medical costs due to getting a bad case of covid. We know several people who had hospital stays due to it, their medical bills are insane.
I can't even imagine what a month long hospital stay would cost, especially if one needed a high level of care. I actually feel a bit queasy just thinking about it.4 -
paperpudding wrote: »Pfizer in regional areas of South Australia is now available to everyone from age 16 - 50.
(and AZ for people over 50)
So, includes teens aged 16,17,18, 19
why government has made this so for regional areas only - urban areas only people from 50 up and younger medical/occupational risk groups - I have no idea.
Perhaps because harder to access specialised hospital care if you get the disease in regional area?
We saw a similar process in the U.S. Different regions, even within individual states, had different eligibility requirements at different stages. Less populated areas were able to open vaccinations to broader age groups earlier than dense urban areas. It's just a matter of logistics when you're talking about a large population center.
As an example, in my state of Illinois, most of the state is pretty rural except for the large population center of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Chicago was far behind the rest of the state for a while, still just vaccinating the elderly and essential workers, while the rest of the state opened to everyone.
The reason given here was that they did not want to overwhelm the system with people trying to get appointments when they had not made a dent in the most vulnerable population.
In a small town, you can rip though the high-risk population pretty quickly and move on to other groups.2 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »YellowD0gs wrote: »On being able to afford the vaccine, at least in the U.S.: from the CDC
Who is paying for the vaccine?
The federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status.
COVID-19 vaccination providers cannot:
-Charge you for the vaccine
-Charge you directly for any administration fees, copays, or coinsurance
-Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network
-Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination
-Require additional services in order for a person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare services can be provided at the same time and billed as appropriate
COVID-19 vaccination providers can:
-Seek appropriate reimbursement from the recipient’s plan or program (e.g., private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid) for a vaccine administration fee
-However, providers cannot charge the vaccine recipient the balance of the bill
-Seek reimbursement for uninsured vaccine recipients from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Programexternal icon
No one said anything about not affording the vaccine.
Heath insurance costs came up because the question was asked...is it ethical for a "wealthy" country to vaccinate low-risk individuals when there are developing nations that can't vaccinate their most vulnerable.
Some of us pointed out that even this "weathly" nation has many people that cannot afford to be sick with Covid, so vaccines should not be diverted away from people here, even if they are low-risk.
We can't afford NOT to get the vaccine.
But Suzy, vaccines are now being diverted because people are refusing it.
Anyone in this country (U.S.) who hasn't initiated vaccination at this point doesn't want one.
Send it where it will find a willing arm.3 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »Pfizer in regional areas of South Australia is now available to everyone from age 16 - 50.
(and AZ for people over 50)
So, includes teens aged 16,17,18, 19
why government has made this so for regional areas only - urban areas only people from 50 up and younger medical/occupational risk groups - I have no idea.
Perhaps because harder to access specialised hospital care if you get the disease in regional area?
We saw a similar process in the U.S. Different regions, even within individual states, had different eligibility requirements at different stages. Less populated areas were able to open vaccinations to broader age groups earlier than dense urban areas. It's just a matter of logistics when you're talking about a large population center.
As an example, in my state of Illinois, most of the state is pretty rural except for the large population center of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Chicago was far behind the rest of the state for a while, still just vaccinating the elderly and essential workers, while the rest of the state opened to everyone.
The reason given here was that they did not want to overwhelm the system with people trying to get appointments when they had not made a dent in the most vulnerable population.
In a small town, you can rip though the high-risk population pretty quickly and move on to other groups.
We did the opposite here. The third wave this spring hit Toronto and surrounding high population areas so hard that we diverted vaccine from the outlying areas to the more populated areas. So those of us living in high density "hot spots" were eligible much earlier than those in rural areas where there wasn't much community spread. I mean it makes sense that is where the outbreak was happening and it was getting out of control.
The far north and remote indigenous communities they did do really early due to health care accessibility issues but the numbers were so low as to be inconsequential to the total vaccine numbers.1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »Yeah, not sure why the insurance debate around the vaccine when it's 100% free in the U.S.
I would guess that a month stay in hospital would be devastating financially, regardless of how good your insurance may be. Lost wages, just the stress of it, etc.
This was one of our deciding factors in getting the vaccine, we just can't afford extra medical costs due to getting a bad case of covid. We know several people who had hospital stays due to it, their medical bills are insane.
I can't even imagine what a month long hospital stay would cost, especially if one needed a high level of care. I actually feel a bit queasy just thinking about it.
A few years ago one of my kids had a freak accident and ended up in the ER for a small skull fracture/concussion. She needed staples, a CT scan and one night in the hospital for observation. All said and done that hospital experience was over $20,000. For less than 24 hours of care (we went in at around 9pm, were out the next day late afternoon.). Not included in that cost was the follow up visits to doctors (for the concussion), or the removal of the staples (her pediatrician was able to do it, thankfully) etc etc. It was $1,000 just to walk into the ER triage and say we needed help/the very initial exam before any of the specialists came in to see her. We had a different insurance plan back then, but still the high deductible HSA set-up. We ended up making payments to the hospital/doctors for over two years. What a sucky experience!7 -
cmriverside wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »YellowD0gs wrote: »On being able to afford the vaccine, at least in the U.S.: from the CDC
Who is paying for the vaccine?
The federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status.
COVID-19 vaccination providers cannot:
-Charge you for the vaccine
-Charge you directly for any administration fees, copays, or coinsurance
-Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network
-Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination
-Require additional services in order for a person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare services can be provided at the same time and billed as appropriate
COVID-19 vaccination providers can:
-Seek appropriate reimbursement from the recipient’s plan or program (e.g., private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid) for a vaccine administration fee
-However, providers cannot charge the vaccine recipient the balance of the bill
-Seek reimbursement for uninsured vaccine recipients from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Programexternal icon
No one said anything about not affording the vaccine.
Heath insurance costs came up because the question was asked...is it ethical for a "wealthy" country to vaccinate low-risk individuals when there are developing nations that can't vaccinate their most vulnerable.
Some of us pointed out that even this "weathly" nation has many people that cannot afford to be sick with Covid, so vaccines should not be diverted away from people here, even if they are low-risk.
We can't afford NOT to get the vaccine.
But Suzy, vaccines are now being diverted because people are refusing it.
Anyone in this country (U.S.) who hasn't initiated vaccination at this point doesn't want one.
Send it where it will find a willing arm.
The specific situation being discussed was "should we be vaccinating low-risk children instead of sending the vaccines to other countries who have not yet vaccinated their vulnerable population." It was suggested that we deny the opportunity for parents to get their kids vaccinated.
Also, I think we need to continue efforts to convince hesitant people to get vaccinated. Not everyone is an anti-vaxxer, just scared or misinformed. I don't think we just give up and say, well, if you haven't had it by now, you never will.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »Yeah, not sure why the insurance debate around the vaccine when it's 100% free in the U.S.
I would guess that a month stay in hospital would be devastating financially, regardless of how good your insurance may be. Lost wages, just the stress of it, etc.
This was one of our deciding factors in getting the vaccine, we just can't afford extra medical costs due to getting a bad case of covid. We know several people who had hospital stays due to it, their medical bills are insane.
I can't even imagine what a month long hospital stay would cost, especially if one needed a high level of care. I actually feel a bit queasy just thinking about it.
A few years ago one of my kids had a freak accident and ended up in the ER for a small skull fracture/concussion. She needed staples, a CT scan and one night in the hospital for observation. All said and done that hospital experience was over $20,000. For less than 24 hours of care (we went in at around 9pm, were out the next day late afternoon.). Not included in that cost was the follow up visits to doctors (for the concussion), or the removal of the staples (her pediatrician was able to do it, thankfully) etc etc. It was $1,000 just to walk into the ER triage and say we needed help/the very initial exam before any of the specialists came in to see her. We had a different insurance plan back then, but still the high deductible HSA set-up. We ended up making payments to the hospital/doctors for over two years. What a sucky experience!
I sure was NOT thinking about health insurance when I joined the military in the late 80's, but what a great benefit it turned out to be! I recently spent 12 hours at Urgent Care and had a CT scan among other things. Since I'm unemployed, it's not going to cost me a dime, and would have cost me $50 if I was working.4 -
janejellyroll wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »Yeah, not sure why the insurance debate around the vaccine when it's 100% free in the U.S.
I would guess that a month stay in hospital would be devastating financially, regardless of how good your insurance may be. Lost wages, just the stress of it, etc.
This was one of our deciding factors in getting the vaccine, we just can't afford extra medical costs due to getting a bad case of covid. We know several people who had hospital stays due to it, their medical bills are insane.
I can't even imagine what a month long hospital stay would cost, especially if one needed a high level of care. I actually feel a bit queasy just thinking about it.
A few years ago one of my kids had a freak accident and ended up in the ER for a small skull fracture/concussion. She needed staples, a CT scan and one night in the hospital for observation. All said and done that hospital experience was over $20,000. For less than 24 hours of care (we went in at around 9pm, were out the next day late afternoon.). Not included in that cost was the follow up visits to doctors (for the concussion), or the removal of the staples (her pediatrician was able to do it, thankfully) etc etc. It was $1,000 just to walk into the ER triage and say we needed help/the very initial exam before any of the specialists came in to see her. We had a different insurance plan back then, but still the high deductible HSA set-up. We ended up making payments to the hospital/doctors for over two years. What a sucky experience!
Not to 1-up you, but...
My wife had a brain aneurysm 3 years ago, ct scans, mri's, etc, + brain surgery to install a stint/coils to block the bleed and a month long stay in neuro-ICU following that... total billed cost (not what the insurance actually paid, but billed cost) was over $700,000 when all was said and done.
As for COVID - we had a family friend that spent over three weeks in ICU on a ventilator, plus a week in the hospital before that and another month in a rehab center after the hospital. I don't know what the charges were for her, but I can imagine those charges were very similar to my wife's (maybe even higher because of the rehab stay).4 -
It's not fully approved. I'll leave my comments at that.4
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It's not fully approved. I'll leave my comments at that.
Pfizer will most likely be approved yet this summer though. Moderna is not that far behind them in the process as well. It will be interesting to see if FDA approval will actually make a difference for those not vaccinated yet though. The handful of people I know in real life who refuse to get the vaccine keep moving the goal posts for why they won't get vaccinated.
11 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »YellowD0gs wrote: »On being able to afford the vaccine, at least in the U.S.: from the CDC
Who is paying for the vaccine?
The federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status.
COVID-19 vaccination providers cannot:
-Charge you for the vaccine
-Charge you directly for any administration fees, copays, or coinsurance
-Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network
-Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination
-Require additional services in order for a person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare services can be provided at the same time and billed as appropriate
COVID-19 vaccination providers can:
-Seek appropriate reimbursement from the recipient’s plan or program (e.g., private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid) for a vaccine administration fee
-However, providers cannot charge the vaccine recipient the balance of the bill
-Seek reimbursement for uninsured vaccine recipients from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Programexternal icon
No one said anything about not affording the vaccine.
Heath insurance costs came up because the question was asked...is it ethical for a "wealthy" country to vaccinate low-risk individuals when there are developing nations that can't vaccinate their most vulnerable.
Some of us pointed out that even this "weathly" nation has many people that cannot afford to be sick with Covid, so vaccines should not be diverted away from people here, even if they are low-risk.
We can't afford NOT to get the vaccine.
But Suzy, vaccines are now being diverted because people are refusing it.
Anyone in this country (U.S.) who hasn't initiated vaccination at this point doesn't want one.
Send it where it will find a willing arm.
The specific situation being discussed was "should we be vaccinating low-risk children instead of sending the vaccines to other countries who have not yet vaccinated their vulnerable population." It was suggested that we deny the opportunity for parents to get their kids vaccinated.
Also, I think we need to continue efforts to convince hesitant people to get vaccinated. Not everyone is an anti-vaxxer, just scared or misinformed. I don't think we just give up and say, well, if you haven't had it by now, you never will.
Well that's quite a leap.
If people don't want it now they don't lose their lifetime decision. It's not now or never, it's Now or wait till the next round is manufactured. At some point in the not-that-distant future there will be enough doses for the world. If you turn away your place in line right now, well, your decision. Catch it next time around. If you're still here.
The Pfizer in particular has a shelf-life. So we should just leave it *somewhere* until *maybe* people change their minds? Let the rest of the world fend for themselves? Wow.
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