Are vaccines the light at the end of the tunnel?

[kearney]

1 minute ago, TeeRick said:

I think now that cruise lines will be involved in arranging vaccines for their crew and staff and also port workers.  The cruise lines should also put pressure or even a requirement that the local tours that they arrange have local tour operators having a vaccine too.  I would hope that the Caribbean islands that have agreed to home port ships or have ship visits will make it a priority to get their citizens vaccinated.  There is also timing.  J&J vaccine takes 6 weeks from the shot.  The Pfizer vaccine takes 8 weeks from the first shot.  The Moderna vaccine takes 10 weeks from the first shot.  These times are the definition of "fully vaccinated" from the USA CDC perspective.  So crew members on ships like Millennium sailing in early June need to be vaccinated by now (May) for even the J&J vaccine.

I agree that J&J vaccine makes the most sense... one and done...plus less time till full effect. I did not realize that it took 8 weeks for full effect of J&J.. I just assumed the two weeks that we hear following the second shot of the others. I wonder how long it will take to get the ships up to snuff for passengers.. I suspect that passenger cabins, on many ships, have not been touched in..what .. a year? While running air might keep mold from forming... but still... they will need a deep cleaning.... Also, repair work on items that have not been tended to while ships essentially empty.. So it could take more than two weeks just to get the ships in the shape passengers expect.

 

I am so excited about the prospect of sailing again...but feel the need to temper that excitement with a sense that things like the Indians mutation...could bring things to a grinding halt. Not to take away from the tragedy in India... I am just talking US cruising. The situation in India is a disaster on such a massive scale that it is almost incomprehensible...  I am glad that we are sending vaccines...but they will need much more support in terms of PPE. I hope we learn soon if the vaccines are effective against this new and perhaps more deadly variant. We have had many crew in the past from India and I pray for them and their country.

[TeeRick]

13 minutes ago, kearney said:

I agree that J&J vaccine makes the most sense... one and done...plus less time till full effect. I did not realize that it took 8 weeks for full effect of J&J.. I just assumed the two weeks that we hear following the second shot of the others. I wonder how long it will take to get the ships up to snuff for passengers.. I suspect that passenger cabins, on many ships, have not been touched in..what .. a year? While running air might keep mold from forming... but still... they will need a deep cleaning.... Also, repair work on items that have not been tended to while ships essentially empty.. So it could take more than two weeks just to get the ships in the shape passengers expect.

 

I am so excited about the prospect of sailing again...but feel the need to temper that excitement with a sense that things like the Indians mutation...could bring things to a grinding halt. Not to take away from the tragedy in India... I am just talking US cruising. The situation in India is a disaster on such a massive scale that it is almost incomprehensible...  I am glad that we are sending vaccines...but they will need much more support in terms of PPE. I hope we learn soon if the vaccines are effective against this new and perhaps more deadly variant. We have had many crew in the past from India and I pray for them and their country.

If you go back to my post I said 6 weeks for J&J.  Sorry.  It is presumably 85% efficacy after 4 weeks.  But the CDC says you are fully vaccinated with J&J only 2 weeks after the shot.  So for crew purposes they could get J&J and be considered vaccinated at two weeks.  See this recent White House press briefing and comments from Dr. Walensky of the CDC.

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/04/27/press-briefing-by-white-house-covid-19-response-team-and-public-health-officials-32/

Edited May 2, 2021 by TeeRick

[Homosassa]

23 hours ago, TeeRick said:

I thank you for your opinion on this.  Reading these executive orders makes my brain hurt.  I'd rather read a scientific article.  Simpler to understand.  The bottom line is that political posturing aside, the state of FL will not act as an impediment to tourism and cruising.

You're welcome.

 

As you have probably picked up on by now, my training and work experience has me in the unique position of both reading and understanding the various scientific articles and clinical data and reading and understanding the various regulations and proposed laws.

 

There are posters on here that are well qualified to explain the science so I have stuck to regulatory procedures and regulations.

 

 

[Jeremiah1212]

On 4/30/2021 at 5:37 PM, K.T.B. said:

 

Here's the thing though, on most ships, 5% of the passengers is about 100 people approximately.  Sounds to me they're taking the kids under 16 into account.  I might be wrong, it's just how it looks to me.

 

I'm interested in the clarification and application on this one. I can see three scenarios particularly with the 95% passenger number.

 

Is the 5% window a technicality to avoid saying all passengers must be vaccinated?

To specifically allow a set number of minors who don't qualify for vaccine?

Or to allow breathing room for the small portion of people who may show up at the pier without the proper documentation? 

 

Saying they can allow 50 unvaccinated adults out of 1000 passengers seems creates a lot of work determining who those 50 people are. Do they even have 50 interested? Saying 50 passengers younger than 16/18 makes is a little easier but definitely still not a clean cut process. 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Jeremiah1212

[Homosassa]

15 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

 

Maybe the Miami, Tampa and Ft Lauderdale port authorities will follow Port Canaveral's lead and setup vaccination sites for both their port workers and those crew members sitting on ships near their respective ports. Next week should be an interesting week with hopefully all kinds of good news moving things forward to the start of cruising out of US ports around mid July. 🤞

 

Port Canaveral becomes first U.S. port to start vaccinating cruise crews (floridatoday.com)

 

 

There are FEMA mass vaccination sites in Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tampa. They will remain open until May 26.

 

The site here in Tampa has no lines for the vaccination.

 

Hopefully, any crew or port worker will be able to obtain vaccinations at those sites if on site locations are not made available at the ports.

 

 

I

[Homosassa]

7 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

I'm interested in the clarification and application on this one. I can see three scenarios particularly with the 95% passenger number.

 

Is the 5% window a technicality to avoid saying all passengers must be vaccinated?

To specifically allow a set number of minors who don't qualify for vaccine?

Or to allow breathing room for the small portion of people who may show up at the pier without the proper documentation? 

 

Saying they can allow 50 unvaccinated adults out of 1000 passengers seems creates a lot of work determining who those 50 people are. Do they even have 50 interested? Saying 50 passengers younger than 16/18 makes it a little easier but definitely still not a clean cut process. 

Besides children, there are adults who can not obtain the vaccine because of health reasons.

 

Hopefully, they will be treated as special needs with the documentation of their reason for being medically exempt being submitted before the cruise.

 

Of course, that raises the question that of their condition is so fragile that a vaccination is a problem, should they be cruising?

 

[TeeRick]

A simple vaccine tracker in the USA.  Go to the drop down menu and click on your state.

 

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/health/us-covid-vaccinations/

[larry_s_taco]

Other than an allergy to a component, what medical condition would prevent someone from taking the vaccine?  From what I've been reading they are actually recommending the vaccines for those that are immunocompromised.  

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Homosassa said:

 

There are FEMA mass vaccination sites in Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tampa. They will remain open until May 26.

 

The site here in Tampa has no lines for the vaccination.

 

Hopefully, any crew or port worker will be able to obtain vaccinations at those sites if on site locations are not made available at the ports.

 

From the way this article reads, PortMiami has also opened up a pop-up clinic.

 

This effort follows the pop-up vaccination clinic hosted earlier this week serving PortMiami employees and all members of the community.

 

PortMiami begins cruise ship crew vaccination (seatrade-cruise.com)

 

It will also be interesting to watch which ships start to moved towards the applicable Florida ports in the next month or so to possibly get their crew vaccinated. For example I noticed the Edge is on the move from its Antigua location it's been at for awhile.

 

Cruise Ship Tracker, Itineraries, Schedules, Deck Plans - CruiseMapper

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[mayleeman]

@TeeRick We were told Pfizer was 5 weeks total: 3 weeks between shots, then 2 weeks more. Did they change that somewhere?

[Homosassa]

50 minutes ago, larry_s_taco said:

Other than an allergy to a component, what medical condition would prevent someone from taking the vaccine?  From what I've been reading they are actually recommending the vaccines for those that are immunocompromised.  

I don't know what other reasons there may be.

 

That is why I hope that documentation of the condition would be required and weed out those who are claiming no vaccinations  due to some personal belief.

 

People are certainly entitled to their decisions based on personal beliefs. They, however, should also recognize that there may be consequences to their convictions.

 

[TeeRick]

9 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

@TeeRick We were told Pfizer was 5 weeks total: 3 weeks between shots, then 2 weeks more. Did they change that somewhere?

No I just cannot do simple math this morning.  And I did not even drink last night!  You are absolutely correct.  Sorry!😀  Likewise Moderna is 6 weeks total.  

Edited May 2, 2021 by TeeRick

[kearney]

I went on Youtube to find a member of the Royal Caribbean crew who had been posting updates.. here is a link to his latest video...interesting to here a view from a member of the crew Chris Wong video log

[wrk2cruise]

Has something changed with the "fully vaccinated" timing.   I was told 2 weeks after my second Moderna shot which was 4 weeks after my initial shot so 6 weeks total.    Is there a link to something different.  Curious as I'm currently 3 weeks after my second shot.

 

It also says 2 weeks after the 1 shot J&J so that would be 2 weeks.

 

Here is what I found on the CDC site

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/second-shot.html

[Homosassa]

18 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Has something changed with the "fully vaccinated" timing.   I was told 2 weeks after my second Moderna shot which was 4 weeks after my initial shot so 6 weeks total.    Is there a link to something different.  Curious as I'm currently 3 weeks after my second shot.

 

It also says 2 weeks after the 1 shot J&J so that would be 2 weeks.

 

Here is what I found on the CDC site

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/second-shot.html

No, nothing has changed.

 

Two weeks after your second shot, your immune system has reacted to the booster and there is an effective level of immunity. However, the level continues to rise and the maximum level of immunity is reached four weeks after the second shot.

[4774Papa]

7 hours ago, TeeRick said:

If you go back to my post I said 6 weeks for J&J.  Sorry.  It is presumably 85% efficacy after 4 weeks.  But the CDC says you are fully vaccinated with J&J only 2 weeks after the shot.  So for crew purposes they could get J&J and be considered vaccinated at two weeks.  See this recent White House press briefing and comments from Dr. Walensky of the CDC.

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/04/27/press-briefing-by-white-house-covid-19-response-team-and-public-health-officials-32/

Regarding maximum efficacy for pfizer vaccine, I was told that maximum after first shot was two weeks and maximum after sencond shot (3  weeks after first shot) was one week later.

[hcat]

We had our second Moderna shot in Feb 2021, and are  cruising in Jan 2022

( hopefully) from Port Ev. We plan to be  in Fl at that time and awhile before the cruise date..

 

With Moderna, when will we need a booster to maintain max immunity, and  do  folks think it will it be easier to obtain than the initial ones ? ( hopefully at a pharmacy vs a mass drive through).. Hosp where we got our shots is no longer giving them...

 

How soon before the cruise would a booster be required.?  Or will they just accept the 2 shots we already had?

 

When would we have to test?

 

Seems a bit complicated to time things out.

[cangelmd]

8 minutes ago, hcat said:

We had our second Moderna shot in Feb 2021, and are  cruising in Jan 2022

( hopefully) from Port Ev. We plan to be  in Fl at that time and awhile before the cruise date..

 

With Moderna, when will we need a booster to maintain max immunity, and  do  folks think it will it be easier to obtain than the initial ones ? ( hopefully at a pharmacy vs a mass drive through).. Hosp where we got our shots is no longer giving them...

 

How soon before the cruise would a booster be required.?  Or will they just accept the 2 shots we already had?

 

When would we have to test?

 

Seems a bit complicated to time things out.

Chat, no one really knows -  don’t know that the Pfizer and Moderna researchers who ran the trials truly KNOW. My sort of educated opinion is that a booster will be recommended out of an abundance of caution if nothing else. If a variant comes along that significantly escapes the original vaccine, that will require some reformulation that is not exactly a true booster. That may or may not require yet another shot - depends on how the timing works out and if the variant actually surfaces.

As for availability, that’s too far out of my knowledge to speculate- but if it is a true booster with only slight tweaks, I think you will be able to get one fairly easily. The distribution should be somewhat similar to this year - if for no other reason than that’s the order that people’s immunity will wane.

[TeeRick]

32 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

Chat, no one really knows -  don’t know that the Pfizer and Moderna researchers who ran the trials truly KNOW. My sort of educated opinion is that a booster will be recommended out of an abundance of caution if nothing else. If a variant comes along that significantly escapes the original vaccine, that will require some reformulation that is not exactly a true booster. That may or may not require yet another shot - depends on how the timing works out and if the variant actually surfaces.

As for availability, that’s too far out of my knowledge to speculate- but if it is a true booster with only slight tweaks, I think you will be able to get one fairly easily. The distribution should be somewhat similar to this year - if for no other reason than that’s the order that people’s immunity will wane.

It is also a possibility that it will be determined that if a booster is necessary - then it might just be any manufacturer's booster vaccine.  This mix and match of vaccines will be tried I am sure.  So maybe  you are not locked in to the brand you originally had.  This will be determined by immunity studies.  So that might make it much easier to find a booster shot when required.  When you get your yearly influenza vaccine do you care who made it ?  Or what you had last year?

[Covepointcruiser]

After speaking to my DR., he said there is a COVID vaccine for everyone.   He does not know of a condition that would prevent anyone over 16 of receiving at least one of the types of vaccines.

Folks without the vaccine should not be able to travel on ships.

[hcat]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

It is also a possibility that it will be determined that if a booster is necessary - then it might just be any manufacturer's booster vaccine.  This mix and match of vaccines will be tried I am sure.  So maybe  you are not locked in to the brand you originally had.  This will be determined by immunity studies.  So that might make it much easier to find a booster shot when required.  When you get your yearly influenza vaccine do you care who made it ?  Or what you had last year?

Thanks Cangel md and Tee Rick.

 

Was not so easy to get the shots in Fla. We lucked out by going to our old neighborhood..out in the coutryside,.  By appt, no crowds and good med supervision for dh allergies.  

 

We want to stick with Moderna...def no J and J

 

When we get our annual  flu shots, our pharmacist does explain what  strains were covered past yr and what is expected to work presently.  Mostly over our heads but we appreciate his being thorough.

[cangelmd]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Thanks Cangel md and Tee Rick.

 

Was not so easy to get the shots in Fla. We lucked out by going to our old neighborhood..out in the coutryside,.  By appt, no crowds and good med supervision for dh allergies.  

 

We want to stick with Moderna...def no J and J

 

When we get our annual  flu shots, our pharmacist does explain what  strains were covered past yr and what is expected to work presently.  Mostly over our heads but we appreciate his being thorough.

Keep an open mind Hcat, there might prove to be an advantage/improved immunity from getting a booster from a different manufacturer.

[TeeRick]

22 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

From the way this article reads, PortMiami has also opened up a pop-up clinic.

 

This effort follows the pop-up vaccination clinic hosted earlier this week serving PortMiami employees and all members of the community.

 

PortMiami begins cruise ship crew vaccination (seatrade-cruise.com)

 

It will also be interesting to watch which ships start to moved towards the applicable Florida ports in the next month or so to possibly get their crew vaccinated. For example I noticed the Edge is on the move from its Antigua location it's been at for awhile.

 

Cruise Ship Tracker, Itineraries, Schedules, Deck Plans - CruiseMapper

 

Ken the article mentions the ports of Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston all vaccinating crew and workers.  What about Fort Lauderdale?  Have you seen anything on this key port? 

Edited May 3, 2021 by TeeRick

[TeeRick]

21 hours ago, kearney said:

I went on Youtube to find a member of the Royal Caribbean crew who had been posting updates.. here is a link to his latest video...interesting to here a view from a member of the crew Chris Wong video log

Thanks for posting.  I always enjoy his videos and appreciate his honest point of view.

[LGW59]

45 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Thanks for posting.  I always enjoy his videos and appreciate his honest point of view.

I also enjoy Chris’ vlog, he is so positive and eager to get back to work!