Not sure if centralized government-run vaccination management is working very well

|

Not sure if centralized government-run vaccination management is working very well … 💉

Planned economies often fail, because government often fails to take in market signals and adequately compensate market players to preform to their maximum output. I fear the same is happening with the COVID-19 vaccine — without price and demand signals, vaccines are being wasted and not distributed in a timely fashion to the public, in convenient locations close to home.

Imagine if the COVID-19 vaccine was distributed in a hands-off, no government interaction process. No priority groups. The vaccine was available for whoever wanted it, willing to pay the price to get it. Doctors offices and pharmacies could give it out to anyone that showed up in line and paid a price, possibly a few hundred or thousand dollars for expedited service. Rather then the current system, where the government is deciding who gets the vaccine and who doesn’t from distant, centralized distribution facilities, often far away from home. The current system is sluggish and badly run, because it’s run by the government, rather then individual healthcare providers and pharmacies obtaining their own vaccination supply through their ordinary channels.

It is true that the wealthy probably would get vaccinated first under a free-market system. But is that a bad thing? A shot in the arm is a shot in the arm, and it’s helping to slow the spread of the virus and save lives. If people are willing to pay a lot of money to get vaccinated first, then they will encourage fast uptake of the vaccine. Even under the current government-run system, wealthier people are paying hundreds of dollars to travel to government-run clinics to get their vaccine before their peers. It would be a lot more convenient for people if those who wanted to go first, just paid a higher rate — rather then traveling a long distance for a government clinic.

It’s not to say that the poor should not be vaccinated. Certainly, there should be clinics for the poor, and the government should purchase vaccines for them. If people are in a rush, and want to wait in line rather then pay extra, then that should be an option. Employers should provide vaccines for their workers at workplace, to provide a convenient way to get them in a timely way. But those in a rush to get a vaccine because of their health or else-wise, should be able to go to their doctor, maybe pay a little extra to ensure expedited delivery of the vaccine.

February 15, 2021 Morning

|

Good morning! Happy Snowy Presidents Day 👴 or as Mr. NOAA calls it, Washington’s Birthday! They don’t celebrate President’s Day in the Federal Government. They only changed Abraham’s Birthday to Martin Luther King Day. New York though celebrates President’s Day, and all the good car steals that the advertisers want you know about. 🚗 We blow them out, and not just out of our tailpipes with our electric cars, say the screaming dealers on the tele. 📺 Two weeks to March 🌨 . There is hope. Snow flurries and 20 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There are 8 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around noontime. 🌡️

My allergies are pretty bad this morning 👃🏻 so I skipped my morning and evening walks 🚶🏻 but I’m still debating on my plans for today. I do want to spend some time reading 📖 and working on various projects.

For Washington’s Birthday in the words of federales, it will snow, mainly after noon. Cloudy 🌨, with a high of 26 degrees at 3pm. Nine degrees below normal. North wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. A year ago, we had sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 28 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 2006. 9 inches of snow fell back in 1894.❄

Not sure what my plans for today look like. 💭 It would be nice to go for a walk 🚶 or maybe skiing, but I don’t really want to drive somewhere and then get stuck driving home in the ice and snow. I was thinking skiing the rail trail, but that’s a bit of a walk, if I want to haul my skis there and strap them on when I get there. ⛷ If the snow starts early enough, I could ski there if the sidewalks were covered with enough snow, but not right now certainly. Too deep to walk the rail trail for sure.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 34.8° from the due south horizon (-36° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:48 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (247°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (254°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:28 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 1 seconds with dusk around 5:56 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the southwest (232°) at an altitude of 37° from the horizon, 250,578 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:30 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 with temperatures around 25 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 10 hours and 36 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 42 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will snow before midnight, then snow and sleet between midnight and 2am, then sleet after 2am. 🌨 Low of 25 degrees at 6pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 11th. North wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. In 2020, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1943.

Cool this weekend with temperatures running 7 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. 😃 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 28. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 30. Typical average high for the weekend is 36 degrees.

🌹🌻🌼Only 33 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until March 🌨 when the sun will be setting at 5:45 pm with dusk at 6:13 pm. On that day in 2020, we had mostly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 37 and 17 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 39 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 2017.