As of Monday, Palo Alto is requiring masks in all city facilities. A better step would be to require vaccine passports to enter city facilities. At this point, there is no excuse for anybody over 12 not to be vaccinated, except in extremely rate medical circumstances

Mask up people. So simple. vaccine passports not so much in favor for that. But if its required then it is what it is.

It would help immensely if the FDA gave FULL approval to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines - without it, it’s going to be hard to mandate. These are still unfortunately only in emergency approval status.

This seems to account for a good chunk of anti-vaxer hesitancy who regard the vaccines as just “experimental treatments.”

@PA Community Advocate full approval is likely to take until January of February.

Realistically, the City of Palo Alto, and Palo Alto Unified School District should heed the advice of county health officers, and implement mandatory vaccination for their employees. We (and our kids) don't have a choice about interacting them, and it would do a lot ot know that they're vaccinated.

Web Link

Vaccine manufacturers are granted immunity from liability for adverse side effects... until 2024.
FDA can't be sued for granting emergency use authorization to COVID vaccines.
Employers can't be held accountable if they mandate inoculation as a condition of employment.

Again extremely pro-vax, but when anti-vaxers read Fr0hickey‘s breakdown of how the system is designed to protect Big Pharma, the FDA, and employers — can you really blame them for being skeptical?

Personally I really struggled for months to understand their vaccine hesitations, but they have a number of valid points. Let’s be respectful and hear them out.

This nation’s covid struggles has made it clear that the world is not always black and white. The good guy vs bad guy narratives have been proven to be too simplistic.

It is important to remember that the sick are now most likely to be the unvaccinated. We are very well vaccinated in SCC, so where are these numbers coming from?

Are the unvaccinated having big interactions and passing the virus on to each other (as one tv doctor/specialist suggests), or are they passing on the virus in grocery stores and workplaces.

I have downloaded the app on my phone which should be pinging every time I come into contact with someone who has had a recent positive Covid test. I have not received one ping. Reading about the UK, there is a pingdemic of their trace app and people are staying away from work or school because of the pings. Is our app not working, or are the positive cases just not mixing with the rest of us?

Pinging apps should be going crazy if the virus is really circulating in SCC.

The app is not working...be safe out there.

The FDA is a scientific body. They have a standard for testing pharmaceuticals for acceptable safety. People who are waiting for approval ARE following the science.

Stating that the FDA should fully approve just to boost immunization rates is the exact reverse of science because you are assuming the conclusion.

About full FDA approval. I think it possible that the balance of the approval work that the FDA needs to do is not about the substance of the vaccine or how it is distributed and administered in an emergency situation, but about the labeling, instructions, packaging, and storage/shelf-life that are critical considerations when the vaccine is released for general, non-emergency distribution. If my understanding about that is correct, it is time for the messaging to improve so that those among us who are wary of the vaccine might reconsider their decision knowing that the vaccine is safe to receive.

Plea to the unvaccinated: please reconsider. We are in an emergency situation. Getting vaccinated will provide needed protection for yourself and others.