Quick thread about vaccine distribution—personal story

Mom is in a high-risk category and is eligible to receive a vaccine. I’ve been busy in the ICU and honestly assumed she was signing up to get vaccinated because she’s a responsible, conscientious person.

1/

After days of meaning to call, I finally remembered at a time of day when we're both awake and asked, just to confirm because of course she’s on it, right?

Nope. She’s not signed up.

2/
I’m in Arizona right now, she’s home in California. I haven’t kept close tabs on what’s going on with vaccines there (I've been busy), so I ask her why not. She says she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do.

3/
Easy fix, I think! I'm a good daughter, I think. So I google “How to get COVID vaccine Santa Clara County”

This takes me to the County website. No big deal! I’ll get her the link in a sec, I think. I confirm she is eligible based on the current tier.

4/
Can’t schedule an appointment there. No problem—I’m sure they’ll tell us how to do it?

They say contact a healthcare provider. They then list several healthcare systems (not providers--I'm confused). Mom has Blue Cross Blue Shield. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Not on the list.

5/
Hmmmm….I’ll just go to the Blue Cross Blue Shield website. Surely, they’ll have information there, right? Wrong.

First of all, COVID is not even on their menu (on my mobile browser). So I tell Mom she should call her doctor.

6/
But I’m also thinking there’s no way this doctor is supposed to manage every single patient’s vaccine appointment, right? That makes no sense. And shouldn't someone have communicated something to the people who are eligible at this point??

So I keep digging.

7/
I scroll down on the BCBS website and find “COVID-19 Vaccines.” A-ha! This will be it. I mean, I’m on the website for her insurer, and this is the link for the vaccine. Done!

Nope.

8/
Their section on “When and where to get vaccinated” takes me to a site from which I can select the state. Remember that I started on the COUNTY website—the most local government resource available! Now I have to go to the state site. Fine.

9/
I click on the link, which takes me to the CDC. I select California from the menu. Maybe this will be helpful? I click on the “COVID-19 Vaccines” section. Wait for it…

Absolutely nothing about scheduling!

10/
I scroll down to the “Learn More” section because, well, I would like to learn more. Specifically, I would like to learn how to schedule my only mother, the one I worry about every day when I'm in the ICU caring for patients with COVID, FOR A VACCINE.

11/
Sadly, while the “Learn More” section has lots of information, it has nothing about scheduling a vaccine. I go back to the California Public Health website and see a link at the bottom to go to the California COVID-19 Updates page. I cross my fingers and click on that.

12/
I scroll down to “When, where, and how can I get a vaccine?” Soooo promising! I scroll through a bunch of generic information and get down to the “Questions and answers” section. I click on “How can I get the COVID-19 vaccination?”

13/
“Most Californians will be vaccinated at community vaccination sites, doctor’s offices, clinics, or pharmacies.”

🤦‍♀️

Seriously?

14/
I went back to BCBS, which has a link to check for in-network providers. Fortunately, some of the pharmacies in her town apparently have vaccines.

But who knows how one accesses those?

15/
That’s all I know for now. I gave up because I need to go to sleep so I can get up early and get back to the ICU.

I just wanted to share this because holy smokes how will we get 100 million vaccines delivered in 100 days if it’s this hard to figure it out??

16/
Btw Mom and I have 2 PhD’s and 1 MD between us (granted she hasn't put her cognitive power to the task yet, and I'm sleep deprived, but still!). And there may be a link on one of these sites I've missed, but really it SHOULD NOT BE THIS HARD.

17/17
cc @ASlavitt @JoyAnnReid @MollyJongFast @DoctorYasmin @drjessigold @RoxanaDaneshjou @FutureDocs @DoctorsForBiden @alikhan28 @GavinNewsom

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No-regret #hydrogen:
Charting early steps for H₂ infrastructure in Europe.

👉Summary of conclusions of a new study by @AgoraEW @AFRY_global @Ma_Deutsch @gnievchenko (1/17)
https://t.co/YA50FA57Em


The idea behind this study is that future hydrogen demand is highly uncertain and we don’t want to spend tens of billions of euros to repurpose a network which won’t be needed. For instance, hydrogen in ground transport is a hotly debated topic
https://t.co/RlnqDYVzpr (2/17)

Similar things can be said about heat. 40% of today’s industrial natural gas use in the EU goes to heat below 100°C and therefore is within range of electric heat pumps – whose performance factors far exceed 100%. (3/17)


Even for higher temperatures, a range of power-to-heat (PtH) options can be more energy-efficient than hydrogen and should be considered first. Available PtH technologies can cover all temperature levels needed in industrial production (e.g. electric arc furnace: 3500°C). (4/17)


In our view, hydrogen use for feedstock and chemical reactions is the only inescapable source of industrial hydrogen demand in Europe that does not lend itself to electrification. Examples include ammonia, steel, and petrochemical industries. (5/17)

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@franciscodeasis https://t.co/OuQaBRFPu7
Unfortunately the "This work includes the identification of viral sequences in bat samples, and has resulted in the isolation of three bat SARS-related coronaviruses that are now used as reagents to test therapeutics and vaccines." were BEFORE the


chimeric infectious clone grants were there.https://t.co/DAArwFkz6v is in 2017, Rs4231.
https://t.co/UgXygDjYbW is in 2016, RsSHC014 and RsWIV16.
https://t.co/krO69CsJ94 is in 2013, RsWIV1. notice that this is before the beginning of the project

starting in 2016. Also remember that they told about only 3 isolates/live viruses. RsSHC014 is a live infectious clone that is just as alive as those other "Isolates".

P.D. somehow is able to use funds that he have yet recieved yet, and send results and sequences from late 2019 back in time into 2015,2013 and 2016!

https://t.co/4wC7k1Lh54 Ref 3: Why ALL your pangolin samples were PCR negative? to avoid deep sequencing and accidentally reveal Paguma Larvata and Oryctolagus Cuniculus?