#Vaccine Awareness

[thewellnesscenterpharmacy]

When considering your health as an adult, staying up-to-date with vaccinations is crucial. At the medical shop in Old Bridge, New Jersey, our dedicated staff is ready to guide you through the options and updates in adult vaccinations. Many people overlook the necessity of continuing vaccinations into adulthood, but these are essential for maintaining long-term health and preventing outbreaks of diseases that are easily avoidable with the right immunizations.

[snarltoothed]

huh, cool

[lalalychee]

i'm gonna give away where i work with this status lol but i feel like way more people need to be aware of what the national immunization survey is.

the national immunization survey is a survey conducted on behalf of the CDC via phone. it's the CDC's primary source of immunization data in the country, and it's been going on since 1994. random phone numbers are called to make sure that people from all backgrounds are being fairly represented, so it's a totally random deal if you're selected to participate. i know there's a ton of weird scam calls out there, but if you get a call from someone about an immunization survey and the caller ID says CDC NATL IMMUN, it's 100% legitimate.

you can read more information about it on the CDC's website.

even if you have never been vaccinated, are against vaccinations, etc, your response is important so the survey results aren't biased and so your voice is also heard. the survey is not trying to convince anyone to get vaccinated; it's just collecting numbers. it's also about more than just covid vaccinations. (like i said, the survey has been conducted since 1994, so it far predates covid.)

even if you don't want to participate, please don't be mean to the interviewer who called you. we're just trying to make a living. you would not believe the things we get called, and it's so beyond unacceptable. literally all you have to do is ask the interviewer to remove you from the list. you have to say those exact words and then we'll leave you alone. please for the love of god stop cussing us out. just say take me off the list. it's that easy.

tl;dr if you get a call from the CDC about a survey, it's NOT a spam call. be nice. we're tired.

[unknowablea]

da hye really went from "i will leave you" to "i will leave for you" just to make her third 180 and finally decide to stay instead of running

[androidboy]

me & my boss had a lil talk today and we think we’re gonna do a trial run of me working a 5 day work week 🙏

trial run for whether it’s sustainable for shop finances and whether it’s sustainable for my chronic illness. might even do somewhat of a lagged night shift which would be helpful because id actually be able to get shit done life-wise before starting after noon

[feral-ass-raccoon]

had a conversation with @xxxprogamer69xxx earlier today so i'll throw this out to y'all:

if your child has strep by all means give them tea w/ honey! yes that will work and help the sore throat!! no it will not get rid of the bacteria!!!! please get them antibiotics!!!!!!! we have medical science for a reason folks please just vaccinate your children it's not hard. no it doesn't cause Autism or Gay. yes it will keep them from dying of The Plague. no the juniper berry and sage mix you made as a "natural organic cure-all" will not fix the infected scrape. please.

[rowanthestrange]

Zoomies. (Sound on for comedic squeaky toy noises)

[sinni-ok-sessi]

oooh I'm going to be so vaccinated this winter

(though insert rant here about charging people to get vaccinated. mass vaccination is such an obvious social good that it baffles me every time when there are barriers to it)

[gumjrop]

The Weather

Amid the CDC’s COVID-minimizing and dangerous rollback to isolation guidance, a new Pew Research poll shows that 27% of Americans are very or somewhat concerned that they will get COVID and require hospitalization, and 40% (nearly half) of Americans are very or somewhat concerned that they will unwittingly spread COVID to others. This number rises substantially for low income brackets, and Black, Hispanic, and Asian adults. Concern about hospitalization was highest in adults with a high school education or less. Despite efforts by the CDC, the Biden Administration, and corporate media to downplay the public’s concern about COVID, these numbers show that a substantial proportion of Americans care about protecting one another.

A popular program providing free rapid antigen tests through the USPS ended on March 9, 2024. Despite the limitations of rapid antigen tests, these home tests continue to be a vital way to quickly identify COVID cases, both to prevent further onward spread as well as to identify the need for treatment with Paxlovid. You can use our letter campaign to let your elected officials know we still need free rapid home tests.

COVID wastewater levels are decreasing, with no states registering “Very High” levels as of 3/15/2024. Eight states are currently at “High” and 15 are at “Moderate” levels of SARS-CoV-2 detected in wastewater.

Wastewater levels show a downward trend in the provisional data (gray shaded area) in all regions. The national wastewater levels are overall indicated as “Low.” Lower wastewater activity is an indication of lower overall viral spread, which is certainly a good thing. However, the “Low” designation is not a representation of low risk in our day-to-day lives, and continued masking and multilayered precautions continue to be necessary to protect ourselves and our communities. State and local trends can also provide additional information, where available.

A recent Axios article highlights the expanding broad utility of wastewater testing for COVID and other infectious diseases, as well as the uncertain footing of the funding and infrastructure for this essential surveillance tool. We encourage you to write your elected officials to let them know you want to keep and expand wastewater testing in your area and nationally.

Wins

On March 13, the People’s CDC hosted a press conference to push back on the CDC’s elimination of COVID isolation guidance and demand accountability to the public (watch the video or read the press release). The online publication (pre-proof) of the People’s CDC External Review in the peer-reviewed scientific journal American Journal of Preventive Medicine Focus was also announced, which is an important authoritative resource highlighting both shortcomings of the CDC’s approach and recommendations for a more transparent, effective, and equitable pandemic response going forward. The full External Review report can be found on the People’s CDC website.

March 15 was Long COVID Awareness Day, and Senator Bernie Sanders along with six cosponsors (Tim Kaine, Edward Markey, John Hickenlooper, Tina Smith, Robert Casey, and Tammy Baldwin) introduced Resolution 590 to formally recognize March 15 as Long COVID Awareness Day. You can ask your senators to support this resolution using this letter campaign. Senator Sanders released a video promising legislation to increase funding for Long COVID research and clinical care, as well as emphasizing the importance of prevention, including vaccination and masking. For more info on Long COVID Awareness Day, see the “Long COVID” section below.

When we make our voices heard, whether with the press, with scientific publications, or with elected officials, we win.

Variants

In the CDC’s most recent Nowcast predictions, JN.1 continues to be the most prevalent variant in the United States (86.5%), with a predicted decrease in JN.1 and sublineage JN.1.13 increasing (9.5%).

Vaccines

The CDC has recommended spring boosters for people age 65 and older, at least 4 months after the previous updated dose. As of 3/2/2024, only about 42.4% of adults age 65 and older had gotten an updated vaccine, and many who were vaccinated in the fall may not realize they are eligible for another dose. 

In addition to the spring boosters recommended for people aged 65 and older, immunocompromised people are eligible for more frequent vaccination. The CDC states, “You can self-attest to your moderately or severely immunocompromised status, which means you do not need any documentation of your status to receive COVID-19 vaccines you might be eligible to receive.”

As a reminder, the currently available COVID vaccine formulations (2023-2024, first available in fall 2023) are effective against the JN.1 variant, with about 54% protection against symptomatic disease. For people of all ages, immunity wanes after 6 months, and, although current eligibility is more limited, we continue to support access to vaccination at least every 6 months for all ages.

If you have not received one of the updated COVID vaccines released last Fall, you can use this tool to find local vaccine providers that are Bridge Access Participants. The Bridge program is currently available through December 31, 2024. 

COVID in Kids

In a recent report in the CDC’s MMWR publication, cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) in 2023 were highlighted. MIS-C is an inflammatory response to a COVID infection that usually occurs 2-6 weeks following an infection. MIS-C may be serious and can affect the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal tract. Although rates of MIS-C have slowed since 2020-2021, 112 cases were reported in 2023, with 82.1% of those occurring in unvaccinated children. Among cases in vaccinated children, 60% occurred in children who had not received a booster within the last year. As of 3/2/2024, only about 13.5% of eligible children aged 6 months to 17 years have received a 2023-2024 COVID vaccine. More info on Long COVID in kids is presented below under “Long COVID.” 

It is clear that kids need protection from COVID, and current efforts are inadequate. We demand that public health authorities take action to protect our children. You can find more information to support protecting kids in our Urgency of Equity toolkit.

Long COVID

March 15 marked the second annual International Long Covid Awareness Day. Across the globe, Long Covid survivors, their allies, and the community fight for increased research, treatment, and visibility for people living with Long Covid. 

Searching #LongCovidAwarenessDay on most social media platforms will connect you to posts from people all over the world describing their experience navigating their ongoing symptoms while trying to educate others about the barriers they face in seeking accessible and effective treatments.

Up to 5.8 million children in the US may be affected by Long COVID. A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that vaccination reduces the risk of Long COVID in children by about 40%. 

Take Action

Super Tuesday has come and gone with nominees in most parties now established for races at the local, state, and national level later this year on November 5th.

People’s CDC wants to remind you that regardless of the outcomes of these elections, we must always continue to organize and fight back against the state’s abandonment of science in favor of corporate interests.

We urge you to use and share our letter campaign demanding that elected officials renew and expand programs to provide free Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs). You can also continue to urge elected officials to support maintaining and extending COVID isolation guidance via our letter campaign. Over 13,000 letters have already been sent, and you can use the same template to send follow up letters.

Whether it’s joining a local mutual aid organization or fighting for increased accessibility measures (required masking, improved air quality, and multilayered precautions) in groups you are already part of, your actions can make your communities safer for all people.

[hlurz]

I'm making this poll because when I realized that not everyone has those marks on both arms because of the BCG vaccine I lost my mind

If you don't know what I'm talking about, have a little picture of my arm for reference..

If you want to reblog tagging where are you from, it would be great for my curiosity!

[smile-files]

today i'm going home so i can get my flu shot and vote with my family... hopefully both go well

[clementiens]

i got covid ;-;

[parallelmonarch]

This is my very first post on Tumblr. I wanted to start off my page by introducing you to my fur baby, who has since crossed the rainbow bridge. I wanted to spread awareness about the potential disease that took his life. Note that I am not a veterinarian and the diagnosis was never confirmed.

On September 2nd, 2024, I met Geralt at my uncle’s house while we were drafting for our fantasy football league. I have three cats, a dog, and a turtle. I wasn’t originally going to take this little guy home. However, you see the cute pic of him snuggled up? That’s him on my chest the day we met, he came to me on his own volition. He climbed onto my chest and fell right asleep, in that moment, I knew he was meant to be my baby.

I had Geralt for ten days.

On September 12th, it was a normal morning. He slept with me as usual, he screamed at me for not giving him attention. He was just fine, acting like a kitten. The only thing he had going on was diarrhea, which I treated him for worms, and I figured it might’ve been him adjusting to the new food as well. Other than that, he was a normal kitten. I got up to take a bath around 11 in the morning, and when I returned I couldn’t find him. I asked my partner where he was and he told me he got up and hid in a corner between the wall and my dresser. I found him, laying limp. It wasn’t unusual for him to hide in that corner, but he was face-down. I picked him up, thinking he was just sleeping. He meowed at me, and I gently set him down on the bed, but then I noticed something out of the ordinary. He was paralyzed in his rear legs. I thought maybe it was small, so I called the vet and the told me it wasn’t a life or death situation and they would get back to me to get him in later that day after their staff meeting. Quickly after, he became fully paralyzed, and I called my brother crying because I had no money to help him. So my brother came over and we rushed him to the shelter to see if he was stable enough to go to the hospital the next city over. They said he wouldn’t make the drive and they suggested we take him to the hospital down the road. So we rushed there, where the doctors were all on lunch. I begged them to give him oxygen because at the shelter, his paralysis improved, he was gaining motion again. At the shelter, they tested him for Feline Panleukopenia Virus (FPV), which to put it simply is “parvo” in cats. It affects the nervous system and gastrointestinal lining. He came back negative, but they told me that even if the results were negative there was still a possibility he had it. I gave this info to the vet hospital we took him to. They told us to sit down and wait for the doctor to come back from lunch, so we did. Not very long after, my poor boy opened his mouth wide and started gasping for air. I was already hysterical, but it made me even more when I saw the state he was in. He was actively dying in my arms. The vet tech ran out to grab the vet in the parking lot, where she rushed in and they took him to the back. Moments later, the doctor came back and told me the odds of him living weren’t good. I begged her to do what she could, but she explained to me he was so dehydrated that it was beyond a clinical level. She said she could try to give him IV fluids and corn syrup on his gums to raise his blood sugar, and send us to the hospital in the next city. But, she didn’t think he would make the 45 minute drive. She said the best course of action was to euthanize him because she guessed he had a 1% survival and life-saving efforts would just prolong any potential suffering. I at first refused and told her I wanted to try the fluids and the corn syrup, but she brought me back to reality that even trying those, he wasn’t going to survive. I made the selfless decision and gave them permission to put him to sleep without any tests ran, without any effort. When I said my goodbyes, he was dying in front of me, he was barely conscious. I was screaming and crying, apologizing to him, and telling the vet tech I didn’t do this to him, I got him that way. I was irrational and confused and didn’t know what to do. My brother tried comforting me and saying it wasn’t my fault. They guessed he was born with FPV because his mother wasn’t vaccinated, so he contracted it through utero.

At 1:18 pm, my beautiful boy crossed over the rainbow bridge. I kissed his face and scratched his ears, while he peacefully ran into my late Nana’s arms in the afterlife. My brother said in his last moments, he used all the strength he had left in him to lean into me when I gave him kisses and all the lovin’s he could ask for. He died loved that day, but he also took a piece of my heart and soul with him.

We took him home to my mom’s garden where I tucked him in the ground after cradling him, cherishing my last moments with his physical body.He was tucked in my favorite shirt, just like I would with our blue blanket every night so that he would have me with him for eternity.

Since then, I have been broken to pieces and trying to find answers of what caused him to abruptly be sick. I’ve researched and researched and it was no comfort. I just want closure.

I miss my baby boy, and people think it’s weird I’m grieving a pet like I would a human, but Geralt was special in some way I can’t put my finger on.

As much as this pains me, this post is intended to remember my sweet boy. I also intend to spread awareness on why it is important to vaccinate your pets. I will never know for certain what he was sick with, it could have been completely different than what the vets thought. But please vaccinate your pets and seek medical treatment for them if they have persistent diarrhea and it’s the only symptom. His dehydration was a contributing factor despite how much water he drank. Diarrhea may seem like a small fix or make you assume worms like me. If I had sought out veterinary advise as soon as I took my boy home, I believe he would still be with me today.

Please research feline panleukopenia virus. With Geralt, he didn’t present symptoms of whatever his illness was until it was too late. Always get your babies tested and vaccinated because if you don’t think something like this can happen to you, your chances are greater than there is with vaccinated pets.

To my Geralt, I know you lived a short life and I like to think you picked me to live your last days full of love and comfort. I’m sorry couldn’t do more to save you, I will forever regret the things I never got to do for you. I will always wonder what life would be like if you stayed with me. But I know wherever you are, Nana is taking good care of you and I know you’re by my side in spirit. I miss you so much, my beautiful boy. I love you and I can’t wait until we meet again, for now I will live with you in my heart and I know you’ll be waiting on the other side of the rainbow bridge for me. ❤️🌈🐾

[thepastisalreadywritten]

By Sarah Kuta

September 20, 2023

Tetris is one of the world’s best-selling video games and even the subject of a recent film — but the beloved 1980s digital puzzle may also help improve your mental health.

More specifically, psychologists are studying whether playing Tetris can help reduce the number of flashbacks or intrusive memories people have after a traumatic experience, such as sexual assault, a car accident, combat, a natural disaster, or a difficult childbirth.

Most people — roughly 70 percent — have had some traumatic experience in their lives.

But only a small fraction of the population, around 4 percent, will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a diagnosable psychological issue with symptoms ranging from sleep disturbances to self-destructive behaviors.

But whether trauma leads to full-blown PTSD or not, painful memories can spring to mind without warning.

Flashbacks are not only emotionally distressing, but they can also make it difficult to concentrate, which can lead to problems at work or school.

These intrusive memories often pop up as a picture or a short movie in our mind’s eye.

Against this backdrop, British psychologist Emily Holmes wondered if she could reduce the number of flashbacks people had by giving their brains a competing image to focus on shortly after they experienced trauma, while their memories were still forming.

The painful recollection would still exist, it just wouldn’t intrude as often.

“The human mind isn’t like a video camera — it doesn’t just immediately record everything we’ve experienced,” says Emily Holmes, a psychology professor at Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University in Sweden.

“It actually takes some time, possibly hours, before a memory gets solidified into mind. What we were interested in was: Is there something we can do as the memory is still consolidating that would help it not become a flashback?”

A ‘cognitive vaccine’

Her team began testing an array of visuospatial tasks that involve generating or manipulating images in the mind’s eye, such as imagining a constellation or tapping out a complex pattern.

One day, a student suggested they try a video game — and Tetris became the obvious answer.

“It involves colors, it involves space because you’re having to move blocks around to complete lines and, critically, it requires you to rotate the shapes in your mind’s eye,” Holmes says.

“You really have to use your mental imagery skills because you’re trying to fit the blocks into the right place.”

They started to experiment with Tetris — first, in the lab, by showing participants a traumatic film and, later, in the real world, by meeting with people in hospital emergency departments who’d just been in car accidents.

In both settings, people who played Tetris within hours of the trauma experienced significantly fewer flashbacks over the course of the next week compared to those who didn’t.

(58 percent fewer in the film study, and 62 percent fewer in the car accident study)

Based on the promising results of this proactive, preventative approach — which Holmes describes as being like a “cognitive vaccine” — they next turned their attention to established memories.

“The reality is, we’re not going to be able to get to most people within a few hours of a traumatic event occurring,” she says.

“People can have intrusive memories for years or decades, so clearly we need to do something for those older memories.”

In one study, Holmes’ team asked people receiving treatment for PTSD to focus on a specific flashback while playing Tetris for 25 minutes once a week for several weeks.

By the end of the experiment, participants saw a 64 percent reduction in the number of times that specific memory popped up, as well as an 11 percent reduction in memories they hadn’t targeted.

In another study, they worked with intensive care unit nurses who had established intrusive memories — including many that were more than three months old — of traumatic events from the COVID-19 pandemic.

After four weeks, nurses who played Tetris experienced one-tenth the number of intrusive memories compared to those who did not play.

They also reported improvements in other symptoms, such as insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

Overall, nurses who played Tetris saw a 73 to 78 percent reduction in flashbacks.

As Holmes points out, there’s probably nothing special about Tetris specifically.

She suspects any task with high visuospatial demands — like drawing, doing a jigsaw puzzle, or making mosaics — might achieve similar results.

However, tasks that are verbally distracting, like doing a crossword or reading, probably wouldn’t work as well.

Tetris as a coping tool

Importantly, in their experiments, researchers aren’t just handing over a Game Boy and telling people to start playing Tetris.

Rather, they first ask participants to call to mind a particularly bad piece of a memory, called a hotspot.

Then, during gameplay, they instruct patients to mentally rotate the shapes, called tetrominoes, in their mind’s eye before they fall into the field of play.

They also ensure participants play Tetris for a sufficient length of time, usually between 10 and 20 minutes.

So far, all of their work has involved this procedure, which the researchers suspect is important to achieving results.

“Historically, intrusive memories of trauma are quite difficult to treat because they’re stuck in your mind for a reason — your brain’s gone into red alert and is trying to keep you safe,” says Holmes.

“They’re just really tricky things to alter. So if you’re just playing a game, it may help take your mind off things or reduce distress, but it might not help stop the flashbacks from intruding in the future.”

Still, playing Tetris on your own, without following the research procedure, likely won’t hurt you — and it may even help you feel better.

Canadian therapist Morgan Pomells recommends it to her clients as a coping tool for soothing feelings of anxiety or hyperarousal.

She doesn’t use Tetris during therapy sessions but, rather, suggests it as a potential option for moments when distressing memories or mental images arise during daily life.

“It’s one of the tools in the toolbox,” she says.

“A lot of people find it to be really helpful, especially people who have a really visual element to some of the symptoms they experience.

Turning to Tetris and being able to really sink into that game, even just for a couple minutes, allows them to feel a little safer and it really quiets their minds.

And when they resurface, they’re in a calmer state and actually able to take stock of their surroundings.”

However, Pomells cautions, Tetris or any other type of coping tool is not a substitute for seeing a therapist.

Holmes echoes that sentiment, adding that people who are suffering from flashbacks should first seek evidence-based treatment from a healthcare provider.

While Tetris may eventually become an evidence-based treatment itself, right now, researchers are still in the early stages of gathering clinical evidence.

“This is more of a journey of curiosity,” says Holmes.

Additional clinical studies are underway now. In the future, researchers also hope to test the long-term effects of Tetris on flashbacks, as well as understand what’s actually happening in the brain.

More broadly, they want to see if Tetris is effective at reducing intrusive memories related to other conditions beyond trauma, such as substance abuse disorders and depression.

“Mental images can haunt people in a variety of forms and I think it’s a real scientific challenge of the future,” says Holmes.

“It’s like being a physicist some centuries ago. We’ve just started to see the stars and planets, now we’ve got to go explore them.”

Tetris is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer.

It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the appropriation of the rights in the late 1980s.

After a significant period of publication by Nintendo, the rights reverted to Pajitnov in 1996, who co-founded the Tetris Company with Henk Rogers to manage licensing.

—

Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov (born April 16, 1955) is a Russian computer engineer and video game designer who is best known for creating, designing, and developing Tetris in 1985 while working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre under the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (now the Russian Academy of Sciences).

[immediatebreakfast]

"I trust her feeling ill may not be from that unlucky prick of the safety-pin. I looked at her throat just now as she lay asleep, and the tiny wounds seem not to have healed."

Mmmmmmmm, I wonder what was the state of tetanus diagnosis in victorian england at this time. Because, at the eyes of a doctor who would only see this with a rational mind like Mina, it could be a possible explanation