Hello friends,
I will have the second Pfizer covid vaccine completed on Monday. Has anyone heard if this will be acceptable for entry into the country?

Congrats to you. I wish we could be so lucky.

The answer is NO, as of now anyway.

I expect it will happen eventually, but it will take a while.

You are very very lucky, I think. The only people here in RI that have gotten it are the prisoners, uses and the entire town of Central Falls. The reason stated for doing that entire town is that it's mostly no English speaking people who can't follow directions. Makes me and my 85 years old hubby wish we had committed a crime or were stupid enough to live in CF whose nickname is "cocanine capital of the USA>

Congrats, Beachlovers! You had the good sense to get vaccinated as soon it came available to you. Like Georgia stated above, I'm sure in time just 'proof of vaccination' will be all you will need to travel abroad. But, keep in mind that jury is still out regarding the degree of spread that can result from a vaccinated person. This is why mask wearing will likely be required within indoor settings and on the various types of transportation we use until mid-year. After vaccination, it will take roughly two weeks for our bodies to build up enough antibodies for full protection from severe disease, and eventually our T-cells and B-cells (lymphocytes) will finish the job and recognize this virus and destroy it should we come in contact with it again. So, no one who gets vaccinated should rush right off and travel, but instead give it a few weeks to build up in your system. And, although the media tends play this up the various types of SARS-Cov-2 variants and mutations will also be controlled by the vaccines now available. See you on SXM in 2021!

In Colorado, we put prisoners at the back of the schedule.

Travelers who have been vaccinated will eventually have more freedom to travel. But right now, no decisions have been made in the Caribbean regarding how to consider those vaccinated.

I would give it a month or two before changes are made to entry protocols.

I think that's how it should be.

👍

Except that you have guards and other prison staff susceptible to contracting COVID-19 from inmates and bringing that home to their families. Vaccinating everyone associated with correctional facilities is a far better plan than letting certain criminals out early because of COVID concerns.

The OFFICERS (not guards) and other prison staff are very susceptible since they are in close quarters with prisoners. And, the prisoners have no real way to quarantine. So, vaccinating prisoners seems like a good idea.
Remember, most of us can stay away from other people etc. That is not true in prisons.

Vaccinate the staff, inmates should not get priority.
Is the prison environment really any different than in schools?

Sometime around December 20, 2020 Governor DeSantis of Florida told the media that he was not going to step in line to get vaccinated. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/pol...21-7plwzwlzgnd3dhhur7tb2jsicu-story.html

Is is true you get an erection after the Pfizer vaccine?

My wife will not let me book a trip to SXM, until we get vaccinated. We are both over 65, but still cannot get a clear answer from the county health department as to when we can sign up.
I do like Florida's decision to let anyone over age 65 get in line. We live in Pennsylvania, and they are still working on vaccinations for the first group.

We also live in Pennsylvania, and so far the distribution plan for the state has been disappointing. My hope is by the end of next week or the following week the new administration will authorize and fund centralized vaccination centers like the ones we saw years ago when everyone got for the 'sugar cube' for the polio virus. Leaving distribution up to the states, and then turning it over to hospitals and medical centers was not going to be an effective plan. But the colleges and universities within the states should have the capacity to store the vaccines at the required temperatures, and for those lacking in freezer capacities large units would need to be shipped in. Trust me when I tell you that there is absolutely of shortage of vaccine being manufactured at the various Pfizer and Moderna plants around the world. All that's needed is a better distribution plan.

As for MotownTim, Pfizer could have knocked it out of the park by somehow combining their vaccine with the "little blue pill", and calling it "the little flu pill." It probably would have dramatically increased the number of men thinking about getting vaccinated to definitely getting vaccinated.

I don't mean to cry wolf, but one our leading epidemiologist here in Ontario said this today: "the immunization won't stop you from getting the virus; it stops you from getting sick from the virus. The body does not have a shield on the outside; the virus must get to the body so that the immunization can stop you from getting sick."

He went on to say that "distancing, masks and testing must continue even if you had both shots; they'll be here for a long time."

Leaves one to ponder!

Now that is very interesting RunbnernReader! Brilliant analysis of what happens when people are vaccinated. Herd immunity is something to look forward to.

Good point, RunnerReader. People who are vaccinated can still contract the virus and for a short duration potentially spread it to others, but the body's lymphocytes (B-cells and T-cells) will go into full attack mode and quickly neutralize the virus. At that point, transmission of the virus to others will become a non-event and the life cycle of the SARS-Cov-2 virus will eventually end (or be reduced to the point where it will not be a health risk to the general population). And, all of this concern about the different COVID variants makes for sensational journalism, but the vaccines developed thus far and those coming next month should have no problem neutralizing any present mutation to this virus.

I hope Carol and J.D. don't get upset with me with all this science, but with so many of us trying to plan our future visits to St. Martin some time in 2021, and because I'm privy to 'inside information' from my youngest son, I thought it would be helpful to share this information from him with those on this forum. It may help you plan accordingly. Our youngest son Andrew is a molecular biologist and field application scientist who was previously working with cell-based medicines and their potential treatment of brain cancer, especially glioblastoma, in California. But, last spring he was reassigned to work with COVID-19 research as his company had entered into collaboration agreements to work with many of the large bio tech and large pharmaceutical companies and universities both in the states and Canada. He has worked throughout the summer and fall with such companies as Eli Lilly, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and the University of British Columbia, among others. He's very patient with me when I ask him questions about his work, and some things he is not permitted to pass on to me, but through recent text messages regarding the topics above here's information you typically won't see on national news that you may find useful.

1. From the first vaccination of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, your body will begin to develop 'robust' antibodies 13 to 15 days after initial inoculation, and that will correspond with reducing your ability to transmit the virus. Should you get infected very shortly after you get vaccinated (i.e., 2 or 3 days), you will most likely be able to fully spread the virus. However, if you get infected 12 to 14 days after the first dose, your ability to spread the virus will be much less. Every day following that it will decrease more and more. Studies are still being conducted trying to exactly measure these factors, but it is now assumed that by 10 to 14 days after the second dose vaccinated individuals will not be a major contributing factor for virus spread. Of course, mask wearing and proper hand sanitation should be observed throughout this entire period.

2. As for the length of immunity, our lab has data from natural infections showing that almost 100% of individuals have strong immune responses eight months after their initial infection. We also know that the vaccines presently in use induce and even stronger immune response than natural infection, so it's likely that immunity from vaccines will last longer than one year, and perhaps even 2 to 3 years. But, to simplify things they will probably recommend a booster injection every year.

3. Finally, we have initial in vivo (testing on lab animals) evidence that the mutation N501Y in the spike protein RBD will have no effect on vaccine efficacy from a Science paper we published in September, 2020. The figures show high efficacy of a non-mutant subunit vaccine in mice challenged with the N501Y variant. That bodes incredibly well for our vaccination efforts.

What does all of his mean? Two things ... once my wife and I get our vaccinations we'll be coming to St. Maarten the following month. And, two, someday he's going to buy us second home in St. Maarten!

Thank you for that information SammyM

Thank-you Sammy for all of the SCIENCE based information. After all, that is what will save those of us lucky enough to survive this.

Thank you for this information!

Thank you Sammy, great information!

Again, Sammy comes through for us.

Thank you. Just trying to help. Starting to plan our November return!