<p>I’m going to guess that the Ebola vaccine is going to become available soon. What will be the protocol with respect to it? Will everyone in the US be able to get it?</p>
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No, I don’t. The point is to slow down transmission from the places where the disease is out of control. If it gets to that point in Belgium, then it’s every man for himself. As Lasma so rightly pointed out, we need to get help to Africa and stop it there using every possible resource. Simultaneously, we need to slow down the movement out of the hot zones (no one is saying it can be stopped completely) so that we can be more prepared here and so that our resources there aren’t spread quite so thin. It’s just silly to say that slowing things down isn’t better than chaos.</p>
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<p>zooser, did you read the paragraph I quoted above? And why wouldn’t the president appoint someone he is personally familiar with–someone he or his close advisors can vouch for? </p>
<p>“As Lasma so rightly pointed out, we need to get help to Africa and stop it there using every possible resource.”</p>
<p>And a travel ban will make that much more difficult and will not stop people from getting out of those countries. Just ask Frugal Doctor who has actually been in West Africa. </p>
<p>People are probably surprised about the appointment mostly because they expected it to be someone qualified similarly to a Surgeon General, since that is what most who were complaining seemed to be saying was needed.</p>
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I did read that and I have been familiar with him for years. He may be a fine communicator, but of course this appointment is political. Whether that is necessarily is a bad thing will be known in hindsight.</p>
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<p>That’s what I was afriad of. </p>
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<p>The problem is that fixating on the short term stopgap (not just here; the congressional hearing yesterday was exactly the same thing) distracts from the actual solution. We are justifiably outraged that people who are being monitored are still travelling. Why are we not just as outraged at how slow the developed world has been to respond to the crisis in West Africa? Why are we not demanding that our government and others send the massive resources that will now be necessary to stop it there? Why are politicians not crying out for the public to donate to DWB et al? </p>
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Of course it won’t. I live in the same town as Little Liberia. As I posted earlier, my daughter has been involved in and won awards from the Liberian community. We will certainly get the supplies, resources and personnel in as soon as a plan is ready. The president was right to send in troops and the national guard. Completely and utterly correct. And one more time. Slow. Not stop. You are the one using the word “stop.” I certainly am not.</p>
<p>Las Ma, If so, you can institute a short term solution on condition or in conjunction with a long term solution. It’s not a solution to insist that we give up short term solutions since we will lose attention given to a long term problem. That’s really holding up the public hostages.</p>
<p>Sitting here listening to nurses calling in to radio. They are all saying they have had no training, there are no adequate hazmat suits available and they gave not been prepared for the potential arrival of an Ebola patient. </p>
<p>They laughed when told that Frieden said that our hospitals are prepared. They are not. </p>
<p>Here is a great graphic on the spread of Ebola outside of West Africa. Except for Duncan all Ebola patients outside of West Africa were health care workers or missionaries in West Africa or HCW treating those patients. So there has been ONE case of a West African with Ebola outside of the hot zone in the whole world! ONE! </p>
<p><a href=“How Many Ebola Patients Have Been Treated Outside of Africa? - The New York Times”>How Many Ebola Patients Have Been Treated Outside of Africa? - The New York Times;
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<p>The cynical side of me (the side I try to stifle) is nodding…especially the part about America’s Got Talent. Sometimes it seems like people LIKE to get all panicky about the crisis of the day (and I agree, Ebola is a crisis, although I’m not sure how much is real and how much is hysteria. I know we’re not supposed to use that word, but it fits.)</p>
<p>Tatin, They can’t be. See post #1182 by samiamy. The gas mask that comes with the suit has to be individually fitted. If anyone thinks that can be done in a general hospital, they are not in this world.</p>
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<p>zooser, every appointment a politician makes is, by nature, “political.” I guess I am not cynical enough to think that the president would care more about scoring a few political points than choosing someone whose actions may literally affect the lives of millions of people.</p>
<p>BTW, this business about opposing a travel ban because it would “hurt their feelings” – total red herring. No one is saying that.</p>
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<p>Aren’t we judgemental? Unless you are productive, you don’t deserve peace of mind? Who’s arrogant now? It’s a bit like a nobel laureate telling his wife, My times are so much more precious than yours so you should do all house chores. Schmuck.</p>
<p>I don’t think most Americans were panicked at all about Ebola within our borders when Brantly and Writebol came back. It was only when an infected civilian from Liberia was able to enter so easily that it became a huge concern. </p>
<p>I just watched most of the press conference by Dr. Fauci and the rest of the NIH team. Very impressive. One thing he made clear was that the reason they use the suits with built-in respirators is not because they think the respirator is necessary to stop infection, but because they are the suits that offer full protection to the entire body.</p>
<p>Bay, you are absolutely right. Given the Keystone Cops response to the Duncan situation, I shudder to think what this country would be like with 10 or 100. The Brantly and Writebol cases were under control. Now the sense is that all this is out of control. </p>
<p>The information is conflicting. No one was putting the HCW into isolation. They are traveling all over. The proper equipment and training is not in place for HCWs. It is a total mess.</p>