Phase 3: The young (30 and under)
Phase 4: Everyone else

Do you know the reasoning behind prioritising the young?  They are the most social age group, so if the idea is to achieve general immunity, it makes sense.  On the other side, the illness severity for this age groups seems to be similar to the seasonal flu, against which this age group generally doesn't vaccinate.

Do you know the reasoning behind prioritising the young? They are the most social age group, so if the idea is to achieve general immunity, it makes sense. 

I'm not certain of the federal government's reasoning, but if I had to guess or give my own reasoning, I think it's exactly what you said.

I think that more people aged 30-65 are able to limit their exposure by working from home, whereas we want to keep children in schools and maintain their interactions for healthy social development. Unfortunately we have seen repeatedly that schools and universities act as amplification points for the virus, and although children are at low (but nonzero) risk of severe illness, they can still transmit the virus to their parents who may be at higher risk. So by immunizing children first, it may allow schools and universities to function safely in person while also reducing risk to parents and teachers, and thus help protect two populations at once.

Many of these states aren't too into wearing masks either.

Maybe, but it's not the reason.  It's more failure to avoid situations where masks might make a difference.  It's now 06:20 Saturday morning, and I'm about to go to the grocery store to do the shopping for at least a week.  That's way more effective than a masks.

Belgium's deaths appear to have peaked around November 12th

Still early to tell.  Belgium's reported cases have been very high recently.

Yes I am avoiding the crowds too....and actually getting most of my groceries delivered.  It is interesting that here in NY the infection rate is still around 3% even though it's so densely populated.  When I tell outsiders this they think NY has herd immunity lol.

Who should get it first, and how many?

In the US the plan (as I've seen it presented thus far) appears to be:

Phase 1: Emergency responders and health care workers
Phase 2a: Those with multiple high risk factors
Phase 2b: The elderly (65 and up)
Phase 3: The young (30 and under)
Phase 4: Everyone else

It looks like Phase 1 may just be a few weeks away and 20 million vaccines will be ready before New Years so Phase 1 may happen before the end of December.
As for the rest, Dr Fauci estimated that the general public may have access to the vaccine by March or April.  But a problem is that only around 40% of people said they would actually take the vaccine.  Mistrust seems to be higher among the minority communities who didn't have a proportional presence during the vaccine trials and historical misdeeds are being brought up (like the Tuskeegee Experiments.)  We need to find a way to convince more people to take the vaccine when it becomes widely available.

Didn't the 1918 pandemic also have three waves?

COVID-19 thus far seems to have a seasonal cycle just like 1918's H1N1, which is not terribly surprising. But it's also important to recognize that these waves are not simply due to factors outside of our control, but rather a combination of factors which include and influence human behavior. Colder weather brings more people indoors where airborne transmission becomes more significant, but the effect of different mitigation efforts is also important and can be seen when we take a more nuanced approach and compare different locations over time, which is true both in 1918 and today.

I remember reading about this comparison!  The ironic thing is San Francisco faired very poorly during the 1918 Pandemic and is doing the best in the US this time around, as far as large cities are concerned.

Some finds for Covid-19 by health authorities in Norway (data from 1 June through 30 November):

Mortality rate by age:
0-39: 0.0022%
40-59: 0.020%
60-69: 0.18%
70-79: 0.91%
80+: 4.0%
All: 0.12%

About 90% of the Covid-19 related deaths have been in the 70+ age group.

They note: 73,000 have been infected (estimated), 728 people have been hospitalised, 107 received intensive care, 85 died.  For comparison, a typical flu outbreak for 5-6 weeks causes about 5000 hospitalisations, including 200 who receive intensive care and about 1000 excessive deaths.



This doesn't mean that Covid-19 is significantly less dangerous than the flu, but that the containment efforts work.  Still, it seems to me that this raises a valid question whether the restrictions have been excessive.

Percent of wages currently subsidized by governments due to COVID:

Japan: 100% for small businesses; 80% for large firms

Netherlands: Up to 90%

Norway: Up to 90%

Germany: Up to 87%

France: Up to 84%

Italy: 80%

United Kingdom: Up to 80%

Canada: Up to 75%

United States: 0%

The above is pretty disgusting; subsidization is considered a bad word in the US unless it's the rich and powerful who are being subsidized and is a major reason the US is quickly turning into a cesspool of despair.

Not sure where those numbers are from, but in Norway I think it's up to 80% if low pay, less if you earn more.  This is regardless of covid-19 if you lose your job, but the duration has been temporarily extended from half a year to almost a year because of covid-19.  Beyond that period other options exist to cover basic needs. The US choice is the odd one in the western world, but that, and to pay less in taxes than most others, is what people in the US has decided.

Not sure where those numbers are from, but in Norway I think it's up to 80% if low pay, less if you earn more.  This is regardless of covid-19 if you lose your job, but the duration has been temporarily extended from half a year to almost a year because of covid-19.  Beyond that period other options exist to cover basic needs. The US choice is the odd one in the western world, but that, and to pay less in taxes than most others, is what people in the US has decided.

Yes but they/we dont realize we pay more in other ways (the extreme cost of prescription drugs and hospital costs) subsidizing the rich (specifically the fossil fuel cartels, big pharma and corn industries, the military-industrial complex, police militarization, etc. etc.)  Mid you live in one of the best countries on the entire planet.  The amount of debt carried in the US is horrendous and you already know about the unhealthy diet (which comes from the fact that a large percentage of people cant afford healthy food and eat cheaper unhealthy processed food.)

I've seen the "healthy food" is too expensive argument many times, but really?  Healthy food doesn't need to be anything fancy.  In fact, one healthy bit in this is not to eat too much, which naturally makes things cheaper.  Sounds to me like a convenient excuse for not bothering to prepare and eat better (not necessarily tastier) food.  I'm often in the US and both healthy and less healthy food seem fairly inexpensive to me (compared to home).

They might be a bit ignorant of whats considered healthy, I've never understood why people like eating out so much rather than eating at home, which is usually much healthier and you have much more control over what you're eating.  Look at what's going on explained by these links:

https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/f ... sity-rates

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 144522.htm

To me healthy means reasonably varied and a quantity matching your activity level.  Which does not exclude junk food, unless a single junk food meal matches your activity level so it becomes the single meal of the day.

Around here junk food is what increases the chances for developing diabetes, obesity or hypertension.  I have to be careful of what I eat since both my parents had hypertension.  Our medical organizations have issued statements asking people to limit their consumption of processed food to lower risks of diabetes type 2 which have skyrocketed even among the very young (a new phenomenon since 2000) as well as the extreme rates of obesity and heart disease (the number one killer), and all of those are pre-existing conditions (we have about 50% with these conditions).  Fast food and soda should be avoided like the plague.

This is an interactive chart that may help figure out where in the vaccine order someone is:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... eline.html

The current scope of the third wave in the US. (source: NYTimes)