Pirate's Cove

Wait, I thought all these uber-Leftist states loved them some big, centralized government? No? They have to have their own review and approval of COVID vaccines? It’s almost like these people think themselves not part of the United States. Perhaps I’ve missed something in the news, but, I haven’t seen North Carolina or any other state run their own approval scheme, accepting FDA approval

COVID-19 vaccine clears key hurdle in California and across much of the West

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech cleared another hurdle in California on Sunday when a working group of scientists and experts endorsed its safety.

The group, representing the states of California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, reviewed the vaccine separately from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which had issued emergency-use authorization on Friday. The group made its recommendation to the governors of the four states Sunday morning, officials said in a news release.

The move paved the way for vaccines to be distributed across the state. Officials expect the first shipments to arrive as soon as Monday, with more to follow later this month and in January.

“With shipments of the vaccine soon on their way to California,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement, “we are working hand-in-hand with local public health officials to get the vaccine out to the first phase of recipients.”

So, what if this panel wasn’t in line with the FDA, and didn’t give their full approval? Would that mean that the four Modern Socialist states wouldn’t take the vaccines for distribution?

News of the group’s recommendation came as conditions continued to deteriorate at California’s hospitals. There were 13,047 COVID-19 patients as of Saturday, according to data released by the state on Sunday. That’s a nearly sixfold increase from two months ago, when there were 2,226 patients.

Weird how this paradise of Listen To The Science is having such a tough time, eh? The San Francisco area is devastated, as is the whole of Los Angeles (the county, not the city). Southern California is bad, and it’s now starting to hit the suburbs.

Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington, said the review by the four states should help assure residents of the region.

“It was crucial that the Western states had their own independent review of the vaccine,” Inslee said in a statement, “so we can have additional confidence on its safety and efficacy before we start administering to the people of our states.”

The FDA isn’t good enough for Jay? Or is it that the loopy Modern Socialists who say to Trust The Science need even more government to approve the use of the vaccines so that these people take it when available?

Meanwhile, only 4 million out of 40 million Californians signed for for the COVID exposure alert system. I’m guessing they don’t really like Government tracking their own lives, just those of Someone Else.

And in Germany

(The Telegraph) Germany is set to enter a strict lockdown from Wednesday onwards due to the “exponential growth” in coronavirus cases, with restrictions on private gatherings and the closure of shops and schools.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made the announcement in Berlin on Sunday after a consultation with state leaders, saying “we are forced to act and we are acting now”.

“With increasing mobility and additional contacts in the pre-Christmas period, Germany is now in exponential growth of infection numbers,” she said.

Mrs Merkel conceded that Germany’s so-called ‘lockdown light’, which began in November, has “not done enough” to curb rising infection rates across the country.

Germany was another nation which was authoritarian in its response in the late winter through spring, with mandates and closures and masks and stuff, and the people Comply (whether they want to or not), with law enforcement forcing compliance. Yet, they’re having a big resurgence.