CommentsLEANING RIGHT--As with my last CityWatch piece, we are all in a RACE between getting our vaccinations to this dreadful "Russian Roulette" of a virus.
Russian Roulette as in some have no symptoms, some get a cold, some get a flu, and some die dreadful deaths.
We have got to get past this! We need to be free of the physical, psychological, and economic ravages of this COVID-19 virus:
1) Doggone it we're seeing hospital and counties have to throw away COVID-19 vaccine dosings because aggressive outreach measures aren't taken to utilize EVERY vaccine dose, then shame on all of us. Don't blame Trump, Fauci, the FDA, the CDC, Biden, or anyone else in Washington, DC (unless you're a dogmatic political hack)--blame your local state or county for screwing up bigtime!
2) As the COVID-19 epidemic (the "second wave") was predicted but yet NOT prepared for (not even close in California, and in most other states in the U.S. (the states/counties, not the feds, distribute the financial support and vaccines they get from DC and federal agencies), the lack of coordination and messaging has only 1/3 of vaccines distributed at this time.
3) Meanwhile, it's gotten so hellish in our over-burdened, understaffed hospitals that car crash victims and gunshot wound victims are NOT being allowed to access our hospitals if they can't be resuscitated Why, Governor Newsom, didn't we train the National Guard and trained medical personnel during the summer to be ready to be ready for this long-predicted second wave?
So even NON-COVID-19 patients are out of luck, and on their own!
4) Meanwhile, when vaccines are offered to those in the general public over age 65, such as in Florida, there are huge lines of desperate seniors who are fighting on their own to get their vaccine during a chaotic and incoordinate vaccine rollout.
5) Hence, the consideration of half-doses of the Moderna vaccine is both NOT scientifically proven and a moot point--because those who want the vaccine right NOW can't reliably get it!
6) Ditto for the Pfizer vaccine--giving only one dose is NOT scientifically proven, and as with the Moderna vaccine, it's a moot point.
7) So, both medical personnel and seniors, both nursing home caregivers and residents, and both grocery workers and restaurant/business owners--who are ALL essential individuals deserving of a rapid vaccine RIGHT NOW are not getting vaccinated. Don't worry about any new USA or Britain variant messing up our COVID-19 second wave/crisis--the problem is our ability to handle the "same ol', same ol"" COVID-19 virus of early 2020!
8) Meanwhile, both medical groups and large supermarket chains (and the rest of us!) are fighting like Hades to get their fair share of vaccines, but Kaiser Permanent is offering the Moderna vaccine (for which it was part of the clinical trials, hence their getting lots of vaccine doses).
9) If large-scale numbers of Americans aren't getting vaccinated in January, they damn well should do so in February.
Like I've stated before, we need to get past this--but we sure as heck aren't going to do so if we can't vaccinate the large-scale numbers demanded by both the Trump and Biden Administrations right away.
As in ASAP! As in...STAT!
(CityWatch Columnist, Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 8-9 years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)-cw
