Sigh "Your appointment with Rexall Drugstore has been cancelled. Reason for Cancellation: Vaccine shortage. We'll notify you when more vaccines become available." So close...

New mask mandate relaxation in the US. Fair enough, I'd say, given the evidence of vastly decreased if not nulified transmission even among the vaccinated who are infected.

Also of note, B.1.617 variant is doing a rough number on the Indian "underclass" in places like Bahrain and the Maldives. Seems to spread faster than the SA and perhaps even the UK variant. That's vaccine apartheid for you, and a clear example of how immunity can be heterogeneusly distributed.

The idea that a global vaccination effort would happen was always naive, and I doubt that anyone actually expected anything else to happen than what we see now. The whole thread through the pandemic has been money first, lives second.

I got a new appointment, now next Thursday for Pfizer or Moderna. They opened up the at risk booking for everyone 40 and older. I'm not going to say no to the privilege of getting the vaccine 'early' as I'm sure we'll open back up too soon as all the previous times.

What surprised me is that masks are already gone from US tv shows for the past couple weeks, large audiences are back. It seems covid is done and over with in the US. Not sure if that's smart 'messaging'. Cases continue to go down at least, yet 35 thousand new cases and over 800 deaths yesterday, that's far from over.

Oh wait, Doug smartened up
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-extends-stay-at-home-order-for-an-additional-two-weeks-1.5426030
We're not opening back up too soon for a change! (Not that anyone actually stays at home, but at risk places are still closed)

Roughly a month later, data in Israel looks like this:

Fully vaccinated: 58.8%
1st dose: 62.7%

Barely any progress.

The United Arab Emirates will overtake Israel in about a week becoming the new leader in this race (when ignoring countries with a pop. under 1m).
They don't seem to be slowing down at all.

Weekly update.

In total 4.99 million new cases were reported last week (down from 5.53 million) bringing the total to 162,520,846
Another 87,554 deaths were reported as well (down from 90,010) bringing that total to 3,370,773

USA and Europe are both declining, going the right way albeit slowly

The continents


Asia reported 3.11 million new cases (down from 3.47 million) and 39,012 more deaths (up from 37,454)
South America reported 840k new cases (up from 817K) and 23,875 more deaths (down from 25,747)
Europe reported 625K new cases (down from 743K) and 15,154 more deaths (down from 16,974)
North America reported 359K new cases (down from 432K) and 7,534 more deaths (down from 7,697)
Africa reported 59.0K new cases (down from 60.3K) and 1,963 more deaths (down from 2,123)
Oceania reported 2,214 new cases (up from 791) and 16 deaths (15 last week)

Corners of the world

India reported 2.49 million new cases (down from 2.73 million) and 27,964 more deaths (up from 26,430)
Brazil reported 434K new cases (up from 421K) and 13,392 more deaths (down from 15,106)
USA reported 245K new cases (down from 315K) and 4,403 more deaths (down from 4,856)
Iran reported 105K new cases (down from 128K) and 2,192 more deaths (down from 2,483)
Canada reported 45.2K new cases (down from 53.7K) and 340 deaths (310 last week)
Japan reported 44.6K new cases (up from 34.2K) and 666 deaths (395 last week)
South Africa reported 16.1K new cases (up from 11.1K) and 437 deaths (337 last week)
South Korea reported 4,336 new cases (up from 4,037) and 33 deaths (32 last week)
Australia reported 64 new cases (92 last week) no deaths

Europe in detail

Denmark rose a little bit, the rest is either holding steady or declining.

Japan is still rising and South Africa is starting to climb as well. Deaths in India should start declining next week.

Got a little lucky today. Both me and my wife got our first shot with Biontech.

I'm not part of any priority group so I'm quite happy.
Shout out to the two people who couldn't make it today so we could get the shots instead.

I got Pfizer today. They ramped up the scale here, doing about 2 to 4 per minute where I went. All very organized, different halls for registration, vaccination and sitting area, 15 minute wait before checking out. 8 check in stations, 15 vaccination stations, 2 checkout stations. Maybe more as some people got send to a different part of the building.

On the way back, my music started to sound a lot better, clouds were glowing, pink elephants dancing along the road. Nah, no effect but it's only been an hour. The tetanus shot had more effect right after. Follow up shot is in September, they're trying to get a first dose to everyone by then end of summer.

GF got the vaccine here today. Not our age group still but she has juvenile arthritis so yeah. Surprisingly there's actually not a lot of people showing up during the comorbidities stage to get their shots so I hope they continue age-based vaccination soon.

Weekly update. The downward trend continues overall, Africa and South America are rising slightly

In total 3.94 million new cases were reported last week (down from 4.99 million) bringing the total to 166,463,478
Also another 86,648 deaths were reported (slightly down from 87,554) to a casualty total of 3,457,421

Cases in Europe and the USA are going down at a good pace, oddly deaths are not going down as fast in the USA

The continents

Asia reported 2.49 million new cases (down from 3.11 million) and 39,940 more deaths (slightly up from 39,012)
South America reported 938K new cases (up from 840K) and 25,784 more deaths (up from 23,875)
Europe reported 502K new cases (down from 625K) and 12,311 more deaths (down from 15,154)
  (There was a correction. Totals between weeks compared only increases case count by 144K)
North America reported 302K new cases (down from 359K) and 6,453 more deaths (down from 7,534)
Africa reported 65.2K new cases (up from 59.0K) and 2,142 more deaths (up from 1,963)
Oceania reported 1,321 new cases (down from 2,214) and 18 deaths (16 last week)

Corners of the world

India reported 1.91 million new cases (down from 2.49 million) and 29,279 more deaths (up from 27,964)
Brazil reported 455K new cases (slightly up from 434K) and 13,742 more deaths (slightly up from 13,392)
USA reported 198K new cases (down from 245K) and 4,094 more deaths (down from 4,403)
Iran reported 83.7K new cases (down from 105K) and 1,761 more deaths (down from 2,192)
South Africa reported 55.7K new cases (slightly up from 55.1K) and 595 deaths (437 last week)
Japan reported 38.6K new cases (down from 44.6K) and 791 deaths (666 last week)
Canada reported 33.7K new cases (down from 45.2K) and 293 deaths (340 last week)
South Korea reported 4,298 new cases (4,336 last week) and 29 deaths (33 last week)
Australia reported 42 new cases (64 last week) no deaths

Europe in detail

Bunching up together, not in any hurry to get rid of the virus.

As long as the vaccines work, those that want to get rid of it will get that option sooner or later. However vaccination rates in the USA are already dropping sharply, while just under half of the population has received their first shot so far


Canada just overtook the USA when it comes to administering first doses (far behind when it comes to second doses though) after a record Thursday, 158,524 vacinations in Ontario in a single day. Target is end of June to get a first dose to all eligible, but I expect we'll soon run into the same problem, people not showing up / not willing to get the vaccine.