Tag Archives: vaccine

medical news

Annual COVID vaccine? Sure thing!

If the nation’s medical pros are right that we’re going to be consigned to getting annual vaccines to fend off the COVID virus, well, I’m all for it.

I keep hearing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the president’s team of medical advisers are telling us that the virus won’t be exterminated, that we might have to get the vaccines each year. We do it with the flu, correct?

If that’s the case, then I am totally OK with that.

My wife and I this week obtained our second booster vaccine. We went to our CVS pharmacy in Princeton, Texas. We were in and out in just a few minutes. The nurse who stuck the needles into our arms was pleasant. Why, she even told us we didn’t have to wait 15 minutes in case of ill effect from the vaccine; “I just have to advise you,” she said.

This appears to be in our future. Whether it’s a long-term routine remains to be determined. Whether it’s long term, medium term or short term doesn’t bother me in the least.

We are both prepared to do what our government says it will take to protect us against the virus.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

COVID cases falling everywhere except …

U.S. health officials report good news on the fight to curb infection, hospitalization and death from the COVID-19 pandemic virus.

It is that infection rates are falling in 49 of the 50 American states. Which state is the anomaly? Alabama. Oh, there’s also this: Alabama has the lowest vaccination rate of any state in the Union.

Hmm. What does that tell you? It tells me that vaccines are doing their job. It tells me that those who refuse to be vaccinated are putting themselves, their loved ones and their friends at potentially dire peril from the virus.

I have several good friends in Alabama, so I am going to send good thoughts to them and their families. As for those who refuse to heed the wisdom passed down by the medical experts about the efficacy of the vaccines, well, I hope they don’t get unduly sickened by a preventable disease.

The nation is beginning to reap the reward of vaccines that were fast-tracked in 2020 and that are now establishing their value against a virus that has killed nearly 900,000 Americans.

There might never be a day when the COVID-19 virus is eradicated. At the very least we are going to have to learn to live with it, deal with it and protect ourselves and our loved ones against its infection.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

POTUS praises ex-POTUS

President Biden today did something worthy of a word of praise, as it shows a largeness of spirit that too often was missing from his immediate predecessor.

Biden today offered a word of praise to Donald J. Trump for getting a booster shot — and admitting to it — and for the development of the vaccines that are protecting 200 million or so Americans from the killer COVID-19 virus and its assorted variants.

Imagine the former POTUS doing such a thing. I know. It wouldn’t happen. It won’t happen.

Biden’s magnanimous spirit comes in the heat of a contentious political climate. His immediate predecessor keeps spewing The Big Lie about “rampant voter fraud” in the 2020 election and yet the man who defeated him in that election found a moment today to toss a bouquet at the former POTUS.

It might that President Biden has an ulterior motive. He well could be appealing to that base of Trump cultists who refuse to get vaccinated. It might be that he is seeking to soften their foolish resistance to the vaccine. Whatever it takes … you know?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Oh, Sarah … shut up!

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Oh, my. Sarah “Barracuda” Palin had been MIA for a while. Then she shows up again to sputter absolute nonsense about the COVID-19 vaccine.

She said she would be vaccinated “over my dead body.” What the hell? I mean, she’s already come down with the virus. I don’t recall if she got sick from it. Frankly, I hope not. I hope she has made a full recovery. I also wish she would keep her trap shut when talking about the vaccine. Indeed, the “over my dead body” statement very well could become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, given that the vast majority of people who are dying from the virus are, um, unvaccinated. Don’t misunderstand me: I do not want that to happen to her; I am just stating what I know to be the truth.

She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about. The 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee and former half-term Alaska governor is an anti-vaxxer.

She said her kids won’t be vaccinated, either. Doesn’t this dimwit understand she is putting her kids in jeopardy? Well, several of the young Palins are adults now, so they can decide for themselves what to do. My guess is that they’re following Mom down the path of foolishness and recklessness.

I just kind of wish now that Sarah Palin would just slink back into the shadows.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Trump gets booed for … being vaccinated? Huh?

Can it really be that Donald J. Trump’s political base is populated by utter morons, people who actually boo their hero when he tells ’em he received a booster shot to fend off the COVID virus?

Yep, looks like it’s so.

Trump ventured to downtown Dallas on Sunday, along with Bill O’Reilly. They staged some sort of rally at the American Airlines Center. The crowd reportedly was fairly sparse. Trump, though, revealed while answering a question from O’Reilly that he received a booster shot in addition to his vaccination.

Many in the crowd booed their hero!

What the … ?

O’Reilly sought to dismiss the boo birds as a small portion of the gathering at the AAC. Still, it makes me wonder about these individuals. Oh, well. They do seem to mirror the mindlessness of their cult leader.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Not your call, Okie National Guard

Let’s look briefly at an astonishing defiance of the commander in chief, OK?

The Oklahoma National Guard command has declared that its soldiers do not have to adhere to Defense Department requirements for vaccination against the COVID-19 virus.

This is a seriously wrong-headed call.

The National Guard is part of the U.S. military apparatus. Thus, it is under the command of — here it comes — the commander in chief, the president of the United States of America. The current commander in chief, President Biden, has declared that members of the military are required to be vaccinated against the virus, unless they have a valid military of religious exemption.

The commander in chief, therefore, has issued a lawful order. Those who serve the commander in chief are obligated under military law to obey such orders or else face the consequences.

The Oklahoma National Guard, accordingly, is seeking to disobey that lawful order.

It won’t work.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Sports news

Aaron Rodgers’s white lie still stings

We won’t call Aaron Rodgers’s deception about being “immunized” instead of vaccinated against the COVID 19 virus a “little white lie.”

It goes beyond little white lie status. Let’s just call it a lie.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback is continuing to pay the price in deserved recrimination for his refusal to tell the truth — to the public — about whether he had taken the vaccine. He had taken instead some sort of cocktail of drugs that included Ivermectin, the medicine prescribed for livestock as a de-worming agent. Yeah, yeah … I get that he was prescribed by a doctor who reportedly gave him some sort of “human form” of the agent that supposedly works against the virus.

He didn’t say that. All he said was that he is “immunized.”

My beef with Rodgers — who until now I had grown to admire as a Hall of Fame-quality QB — is that his moronic reaction to the blowback suggests he doesn’t get it. He won’t take ownership of the mistake he made in lying about his vaccination status.

Rodgers now becomes what politicians like to refer to as a “distraction.” His teammates are distracted by the furor over this matter. So are the fans and the media.

This damn story won’t go away. I am not sure it should go away until Rodgers’s comes clean and owns the controversy he has created.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Just when you think you know someone …

… They toss a curve ball at you.

Here’s a case in point. A friend of ours informed me this week that she has avoided being vaccinated against the killer COVID 19 virus. Why? Because two members of her family — who happen to be medical professionals — have expressed “concern” about the vaccines being offered.

Hmm. I asked: What are the concerns? My friend said she didn’t know the particulars, just that her family members/medical pros said they didn’t know all there is to know about them.

So she has refused to take the vaccine.

OK. I then informed her that my bride and I have been fully vaccinated. We have taken the booster shots, too. We have zero qualms about the vaccines being developed by the Big Pharma firms.

I will admit to being taken aback by my friend’s reluctance. She and her husband both have been stricken with the virus. They got ill, but not terribly so. They recovered. They are now functioning fully, getting out and doing whatever it is they do.

I just have decided I am going to keep my distance for the foreseeable future. Maybe beyond.

Meanwhile, I will continue to trust the medical experts who tell us the vaccines are working and that any spikes in COVID cases involve those who have not been vaccinated against the virus.

I also will pray for our friends’ good health.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Cruz makes ass of himself … again

(Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Ted Cruz doesn’t have many pieces of legislation with his name on it. He does, though, have a remarkable ability to make an ass of himself.

Such as his most recent foray into the dumbass/dipsh** blind alley.

The Texas Republican U.S. senator decided that Big Bird is a commie and that he shouldn’t be touting the mandates requiring vaccines to battle the COVID-19 virus.

Earth to the Cruz Missile: Big Bird is a fictitious character, part of the PBS family of critters that entertains youngsters all across the nation.

Of course, this is the guy who decided to jet off to Cancun while Texans were freezing to death this past February; yeah, he came back home when the fecal matter hit the fan. The damage was done.

Now this clown has taken on Big Bird? Is this guy serious?

Don’t answer that. I know that he isn’t. He is a horse’s backside.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, medical news

Vaccines make me smug

2 Comments

I am feeling a bit smug these days.

It’s all because of the vaccines I have received. Both doses of the anti-COVID vaccine have been injected into my left arm. I also have received the booster shot. They’re all Pfizer medications.

So, I am fully vaccinated … and then some!

It’s the smugness I am resisting with all my might. I am still masking up when I walk into strange indoor venues. This afternoon, for example, we walked into a church lobby to cast our votes for Princeton city council, school board and Texas constitutional amendment issues. We didn’t see masks on too many other voters but, by golly, we are taking no chances.

We keep hearing about “fully vaccinated” individuals testing positive for the COVID virus. Neither of us wants that to occur in our house. So, we are taking measures to avoid exposure to a potentially killer virus.

Still, the smugness I am feeling is a tough obstacle to overcome.

I will stay vigilant against the virus. Smugness be damned!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com