Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Neera Tanden's nomination appears to just about be dead. Committee vote was supposed to be held today but just got canceled. One of the worst (if not THE worst) nominations Biden has made.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I wrote about this yesterday but the link I had from the WSJ was pay-walled. It became an AP story late yesterday. The article is worth a read.

By the end of March, Pfizer and Moderna expect to have provided the U.S. government with a total of 220 million vaccine doses, up sharply from the roughly 75 million shipped so far.

“We do believe we’re on track,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said, outlining ways the company has ramped up production. “We think we’re at a very good spot.”

That’s not counting a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, that’s expected to get a green light from regulators soon. The Biden administration said Tuesday that it expects about 2 million doses of that vaccine to be shipped in the first week, but the company told lawmakers it should provide enough of the single-dose option for 20 million people by the end of March.

Asked pointedly if they face shortages of raw materials, equipment or funding that would throw off those schedules, all of the manufacturers expressed confidence that they had enough supplies and had already addressed some of the early bottlenecks in production.

“At this point I can confirm we are not seeing any shortages of raw materials,” said Pfizer’s John Young.

It's over. You can safely ignore stories to the contrary. I've seen first hand and read about FL's capacity to deliver the doses into arms. I can only assume other states have the infrastructure in place to get it done. Although it's just a start, Ghana received 600K doses through the COVAX program underwritten and managed by the WHO. Other poorer nations will follow.

The only question remaining is when will it be over? That depends on a mix of politics and proper application of available data. The facts are emerging - the vaccines are working as intended and somewhat unexpectedly also appear to be reducing transmission rates, variants included. The science of why the variants aren't producing spikes in the increasingly large global population of vaccinated people involves the mutations of the spike proteins. While research shows the virus mutants with these spike protein changes attach more readily to human cells, the vaccines don't give a shit about that and are effectively clearing the virus with a two pronged attack that involves both the innate and adaptive immune systems.

If the science and the data drives public health policy like it should, mobility will return to pre-pandemic levels sooner than later and most mitigation measures will slowly be set aside by local officials. I do think there is a risk to a quick end to this coming from the Biden administration. We've seen, in the form of overly cautious rejoinders from both Fauci and Walenski (CDC head), and heard what appears to be an effort to set low goals, easily exceeded, for political purposes. The NYTs surprisingly actually opined a few days ago about this. The MSM needs to keep up the pressure.

https://apnews.com/article/drug-executives-congress-vaccine-supply-deb7cbd379a05f4f106e2a88165a7354?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AP%20Morning%20Wire&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers

[Dr. Strangelove]

FDA just approved J&J this morning too

[iam416]

Neere Tanden is awful.

J&J approval is not awful. It's about fucking time.

The WSJ OpEd piece by the Hopkins "expert" or whatever that opined that we may be very much out of the woods by April is way closer to reality than anything Fauci or the MSM is saying.

We're almost fucking there. We can see the light.

BTW, within 12 months of the onset of the pandemic in the US -- roughly March 14 (at least that's when I was sent home) -- we're looking at almost 100M stabs. ONE HUNDRED FUCKING MILLION. And, I'll never tire of reminding anyone of this -- the experts and MSM said that was impossible.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Y'all need to stop being so white...

[crashcourse]

tiger with a compound fracture rodded with proximal and distal tibial fractues
then fasciotomy because of crush injury causing compartment syndrome
throw in plates and screws here and there

thats is a 2 year recovery at best

had to have nerve and circulation damage also i imagine

[lineygoblue]

Neere Tanden is awful.

J&J approval is not awful. It's about fucking time.

The WSJ OpEd piece by the Hopkins "expert" or whatever that opined that we may be very much out of the woods by April is way closer to reality than anything Fauci or the MSM is saying.

We're almost fucking there. We can see the light.

BTW, within 12 months of the onset of the pandemic in the US -- roughly March 14 (at least that's when I was sent home) -- we're looking at almost 100M stabs. ONE HUNDRED FUCKING MILLION. And, I'll never tire of reminding anyone of this -- the experts and MSM said that was impossible.

Like it or not, Warp Speed got it there quicker than any other single factor.

Its what the USA does, when we put our minds and talents to it.

[lineygoblue]

Meanwhile, not even 100 days into his presidency, House Democrats want Joe to give up sole possession of the nuclear football. Soon, they'll want him to give up the oval office in favor of Queen Kamala.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-biden-rescind-sole-nuclear-capabilities

I predicted that Joe would no longer be President by October. Looks like its on schedule.

[Hannibal]

I still think that it will take a little while longer than that. But two years tops.

[Mike]

I'm still trying to figure out what makes Fauci so great and why people give a shit about what he has to say. From my perspective, he's been flying by the seat of his pants through this whole thing, always being vague and non-committal, flip-flopping on masks, etc.

But the main thing, as Talent pointed out, is we are nearing the end. I expect things to be fairly normal this summer and I'm sick and fucking tired of daily stories claiming that even after people get their second shot they should be cautious and still distance and mask. Fuck that. That's the whole point of a vaccine! I've been a good citizen to this point but once we reach 200M+ people vaccinated in the U.S. and it's warm and sunny, my give a shit is going out the window.

[Hannibal]

I'm still trying to figure out what makes Fauci so great and why people give a shit about what he has to say. From my perspective, he's been flying by the seat of his pants through this whole thing, always being vague and non-committal, flip-flopping on masks, etc.

But the main thing, as Talent pointed out, is we are nearing the end. I expect things to be fairly normal this summer and I'm sick and fucking tired of daily stories claiming that even after people get their second shot they should be cautious and still distance and mask. Fuck that. That's the whole point of a vaccine! I've been a good citizen to this point but once we reach 200M+ people vaccinated in the U.S. and it's warm and sunny, my give a shit is going out the window.

Re: Fauci -- because Orange Man bad.

Agree on the vaccine and the calls for caution, never getting back to normal, etc. The moment that we can say that everyone over 65 who wants to be vaccinated is vaccinated, this shit is over, full stop.

[Mike]

The Boss is free!

https://nypost.com/2021/02/24/prosec...e-springsteen/

[lineygoblue]

I wish they'd give our county some vaccine. Still none for us.

[Mike]

Try to be less white.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Fauci talks like a typical doctor/scientist/attorney, IMO. Very non-committal language. Measured, sometimes to the point of overthinking what he's going to say. Doesn't want to over-promise.

Trump's the exact opposite. Everything is hyperbole and salesman guarantees. Best ever. Never seen anything like it. Completely under control.

And never admit you don't know something. Just wing it.