Well, you can comfort yourself in knowing many others will be in a similar situation. No travelling for many of us!
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- Thread starter EmoBorg
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Really sorry to hear about this.
The noises in the British Media suggest additional restrictions may be coming for over the XMAS period, or before New Year.
Scientists are claiming we should apply extra restrictions now.
Of course they may be right but so much is still unknown with the new variant. While positive cases in the UK are high, deaths and hospitilisations remain stable, although they do tend to take a little while for an increase to show.
Tough for governments around the world, do nothing and deaths go up you get criticised, lockdown and the variant proves to be mild they will get criticsed for overreacting.
As I said in a previous post a degree of common sense from the public could keep the spread low. We saw friends yesterday for a pre christmas dinner but did a test before we went, will do another in a couple of days then one again before family visit at christmas.
We are due for a big family trip over New Year (i say big its 11 of us including 3 young children) in a big cottage. We celebrate my mums 80th my 50th and my nieces 30th which all happened this year, mums is on new years eve.
I am genuinely concerned it wont happen now, i was 80% in favour last week, now im not even sure im 50/50.
Of course if it doesnt go ahead we are lucky, none of us live on our own, and we live close enough to see each other in an outdoor setting, its tough for those that dont have that luxury, and i feel for anyone forced to spend time alone, especially at this time of year.
Lets just hope this variant does prove to be milder, and the next one milder still, and we get vaccines out to the worlds population not just those of us who live in rich countries.
I said it last year but say it again, hopefully next year will be a better one.
Scientists are claiming we should apply extra restrictions now.
Of course they may be right but so much is still unknown with the new variant. While positive cases in the UK are high, deaths and hospitilisations remain stable, although they do tend to take a little while for an increase to show.
Tough for governments around the world, do nothing and deaths go up you get criticised, lockdown and the variant proves to be mild they will get criticsed for overreacting.
As I said in a previous post a degree of common sense from the public could keep the spread low. We saw friends yesterday for a pre christmas dinner but did a test before we went, will do another in a couple of days then one again before family visit at christmas.
We are due for a big family trip over New Year (i say big its 11 of us including 3 young children) in a big cottage. We celebrate my mums 80th my 50th and my nieces 30th which all happened this year, mums is on new years eve.
I am genuinely concerned it wont happen now, i was 80% in favour last week, now im not even sure im 50/50.
Of course if it doesnt go ahead we are lucky, none of us live on our own, and we live close enough to see each other in an outdoor setting, its tough for those that dont have that luxury, and i feel for anyone forced to spend time alone, especially at this time of year.
Lets just hope this variant does prove to be milder, and the next one milder still, and we get vaccines out to the worlds population not just those of us who live in rich countries.
I said it last year but say it again, hopefully next year will be a better one.
Quoting myself from December 8th thanks to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green - there's is a Tweet for everything !
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marjorie-taylor-greene-polio-vaccine_n_61c066e5e4b0bcd21941798c
Yeah, I really hope it's a sign that things are tapering off. In 1918, one of waves was more infectious, but with milder symptoms, and each subsequent wave less destructive as it went on. But I hope if that's the case, the AV-ers won't ruin it for us.
Regarding Booker, it sounds much like how my Cousin in Montreal experienced it.
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Today was the day the province opened up the booking portal for everyone 18+, so I tried to book my booster shot today. No luck. 
Managed to snag an appointment for my for 2 days from now. I consider that a nice Christmas present!
just read that new yorkers will be paid 100 dollars to have the booster vaccine.
it's madness, up there with when we in the UK paid pregnant women money to stop smoking
it's madness, up there with when we in the UK paid pregnant women money to stop smoking
I couldn't get a shot in my area. Everything was booked up by like 3 am yesterday. I'll probably end up getting it through my doctor like the first two. I'm on his high risk list due to how sick I got from a respiratory virus I had December/January right before Covid came out (and my asthma). My mom got hers already because she volunteers at the clinic and they had extras at the end of a shift and it was either use them or toss them. My 87 year old Uncle is scheduled for Jan 7th I think. My Dad hasn't been able to et an appointment, he's in one of the hardest hit parts of the province and has respiratory issues as well.
Why? Even if you set aside the purely empathetic reasoning of not wanting more of your people to die or be permanently debilitated and look at it simply as a cost/benefit analysis, the cost of treatment of people in NYC who go to the emergency room for COVID symptoms w/o healthcare coverage or using local, state or federally funded healthcare programs would end up costing way more to the city and state than the $100 per booster shot ever would.
And the promise of a monetary benefit will do a lot to convince many of the people who are resisting getting the vaccine for political reasons to set aside their differences to make $100 bucks.
shouldn't people make decisions that benefit their health for the right reasons not monetary ones?
if its the right thing to do to pay people for having a vaccine which can save their lives, or stop smoking for the health of them and their unborn child, should I also be paid for eating healthy and doing exercise to keep healthy, that must save money too.
I think it's short sighted to reward people financially to do something they should anyway because it is yet another step towards a society were we think its OK for people to absolve themselves of personal responsibility for their own health
it's my opinion of course, doesn't mean I'm right but it's what I believe
I mean, sure, but the middle of a pandemic, closing in on year 3, with a large number of people refusing to get vaccinated or take simple precautions to slow the spread, isn't really the time to stand on the moral high ground. If bribes are what it takes, fucking bribe them.
If financial well being is your concern, it would cost the government a lot more than $100 if they get infected themselves, let alone everyone they spread it too ...
If financial well being is your concern, it would cost the government a lot more than $100 if they get infected themselves, let alone everyone they spread it too ...
Yes, it's something they should do, but as been shown, people haven't always done what they should be doing during this pandemic. The incentives are around to give the hesitant people that push towards it. They've had to resort to incentives because a lot of people outrlightly refuse. They're more for those kinds of people rather than you or me who haven't had a problem getting it. If a financial reward is what it takes for them to line up for the greater good of the population, then that is worth it in the end.
Yes, ideally people should make sound health decisions for their own benefit, the benefit of those they care for, and the benefit of people around them. What part of the last two years of people losing their shit over COVID or the past year losing their shit about the vaccines makes you think we're dealing exclusively with people who are making sound and logical health decisions motivated by scientific evidence?
If someone doesn't eat healthy or lives a sedentary lifestyle it's bad for their health, and may cost the state some money down the road for their care, but it doesn't have an immediate impact on the health of another person, like infecting someone with COVID or smoking while pregnant would. It's a much more immediate and dangerous situation, and one which for whatever ridiculous reason has become a political wedge issue which requires some unusual measures for gaining greater compliance, like financial rewards.
I agree that it's madness, but if that's what it takes to get people vaccinated then so be it - I'm in favor, at this point, of just about anything that gets shots into arms, and the cost analysis actually works !
Otherwise, if people want to live on a diet of pork rinds, Jack Daniel's, and Marlboros then fine by me - at least that's not contagious...
Otherwise, if people want to live on a diet of pork rinds, Jack Daniel's, and Marlboros then fine by me - at least that's not contagious...
Reminds me of the line Clark's father says in Christmas Vacation when Clark asks him how he's managed it all these years, "Oh, I get along with my friend Jack Daniels."
Lucky! Congratulations!!
As I mentioned upthread, when I tried on Monday, I had no luck at all. Then today I'm hearing people at work getting theirs this week and next week, and I'm thinking "how did you pull this off??" So later today, I went back and started playing the "Hunger Games" that everyone's talking about, and in the end... I managed to come out with one next week!! Very pleased!
Yeah, it's the luck of the draw. 
One trick is that if you're having trouble via the website, is to do it via phone. Ours is done via our local health unit anyway, rather than through the Ontario portal.
One trick is that if you're having trouble via the website, is to do it via phone. Ours is done via our local health unit anyway, rather than through the Ontario portal.
Ours is actually done through our local health unit too, if you go with them. Unfortunately, they only book a month out at a time, and they had no slots open at all. When I went back today, I ended up trying a bunch of different pharmacies, and ended up getting the appointment at one that, while not the closest, is not that far away! Overall, I think it worked out well, and I'm happy!
This will be my first time getting my COVID shot at a pharmacy. My first two were at the health unit's main vaccination site. But I've had my flu shot at the pharmacy for a few years now, so hopefully all is good!
This will be my first time getting my COVID shot at a pharmacy. My first two were at the health unit's main vaccination site. But I've had my flu shot at the pharmacy for a few years now, so hopefully all is good!
An interesting article regarding another approach with this Omicron variant. Food for thought.