COVID-19: Vaccine and testing procedures Megathread Part 2 [Mod Warning - Post #1]

gmisk

RTE news : Over 70s should get Pfizer, Moderna vaccines - HSE

http://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0203/1194849-covid-vaccines-ireland

Astrazeneca not for over 70s.

Gael23

HSE have now directed that over 70s are to get Pfizer vaccine. I guess this means the rollout plan needs to be redrawn

titan18

Russman wrote: »

That's going to be a nightmare, wasn't there a story about a batch of vaccine having to be binned in Germany because someone took it upstairs and that journey ruined it ?

We'll likely end up binning doses if they try and do pfizer in GPs i'd say. Guaranteed something will go wrong. Might be nearly better to have central locations that elderly go to to get it. Obviously not ideal outside the cities, but will be safer and allow rollout to go smoother imo.

ACitizenErased

Expected, not necessarily a bad thing just makes distribution a tad harder. Question is now whether they start vaccinating younger people earlier given AZ is arriving next week.

titan18

ACitizenErased wrote: »

Expected, not necessarily a bad thing just makes distribution a tad harder. Question is now whether they start vaccinating younger people earlier given AZ is arriving next week.

Should finish off any people in groups 2,4 and 6 with it first and then see where we are. Maybe more data will come out on it by the time we're done those and we can do the over 65s then.

Van.Bosch

Gael23 wrote: »

HSE have now directed that over 70s are to get Pfizer vaccine. I guess this means the rollout plan needs to be redrawn

Yeah - 65-70 will start next week now??

seamus

The mass vaccination centres will have to be used for the over-70s so. I can't see any way that GPs could do it.

It's not that big a deal tbh. Local HSE areas co-ordinate with local GPs, set up a pop-up mass vaccination centre and every GP within a local radius schedules their patients to attend that centre.

It just means the over-70s might end up being pushed back again while lower priority groups continue apace.

The June timeline isn't threatened by this, but there's zero hope of level 1 or 2 restrictions after Easter IMHO. We won't be eating in restaurants till May at least.

Gael23

How will this affect the timeline for vaccinating the over 70s?

Gael23

seamus wrote: »

The June timeline isn't threatened by this, but there's zero hope of level 1 or 2 restrictions after Easter IMHO. We won't be eating in restaurants till May at least.

If the inter county travel restriction goes that’s ok

seamus

Gael23 wrote: »

How will this affect the timeline for vaccinating the over 70s?

IMHO, if we can manage to start vaccinating the over-70s by the end of the month we'll be doing well. They were supposed to start in a week or two, but I seriously doubt they'll be able to manage this through GPs alone.

What they may do is ask patients (and their GPs) to asses their ability to attend the GP clinic or a mass vaccination centre. Those who can go to the MVC will get Pfizer, those who can only get to the GP (or who may require a home visit), get the easier to handle Moderna.

stephenjmcd

seamus wrote: »

IMHO, if we can manage to start vaccinating the over-70s by the end of the month we'll be doing well. They were supposed to start in a week or two, but I seriously doubt they'll be able to manage this through GPs alone.

What they may do is ask patients (and their GPs) to asses their ability to attend the GP clinic or a mass vaccination centre. Those who can go to the MVC will get Pfizer, those who can only get to the GP (or who may require a home visit), get the easier to handle Moderna.

To be fair Pfizer can also be stored at fridge temperature. Once taken from cold storage it can be placed in a GPs fridge at 2-8 degrees for 5 days. Its doable alright, MVC would be easier but it could be done in a GP surgery

eigrod

seamus wrote: »

The mass vaccination centres will have to be used for the over-70s so. I can't see any way that GPs could do it.

It's not that big a deal tbh. Local HSE areas co-ordinate with local GPs, set up a pop-up mass vaccination centre and every GP within a local radius schedules their patients to attend that centre.

It just means the over-70s might end up being pushed back again while lower priority groups continue apace.

The June timeline isn't threatened by this, but there's zero hope of level 1 or 2 restrictions after Easter IMHO. We won't be eating in restaurants till May at least.

Hopefully most GPs have prepared as well as this one

https://twitter.com/knutmoe/status/1356691919938682882?s=21

hynesie08

We'll still be vaccinating the same amount right? Just not in a set group pattern, so it's not a massive setback,or am I missing something obvious?

josip

bodhrandude wrote: »

My brother messaged me from Scotland today he is due to get his vaccine on 10th February, he is 64 with no underlying conditions. Just wondering when we'll get to category 7 over here which is my group, I'm 55 with underlying conditions.

In lieu of anything more accurate, I use the SBB infographic from Jan for projections.
200,000 doses in Jan instead of 250,000 projected so we're a little behind right now, but I think increased Feb and March supplies will compensate for that.
So I'd be guessing April for a high risk 18-64 year old.

SusanC10

So which Group gets the AZ now ?
Aged 65-69 ?

is_that_so

seamus wrote: »

IMHO, if we can manage to start vaccinating the over-70s by the end of the month we'll be doing well. They were supposed to start in a week or two, but I seriously doubt they'll be able to manage this through GPs alone.

What they may do is ask patients (and their GPs) to asses their ability to attend the GP clinic or a mass vaccination centre. Those who can go to the MVC will get Pfizer, those who can only get to the GP (or who may require a home visit), get the easier to handle Moderna.

GP/flu' network can do 75,000-80,000 a week according to Leo. That's about 5 weeks and there is talk of including dentists as well in the rollout. We may see some MVCs but can't see them all up and running, just yet.

is_that_so

SusanC10 wrote: »

So which Group gets the AZ now ?
Aged 65-69 ?

Yeah, the under 70s with the two we have for the older groups.

iamwhoiam

seamus wrote: »

IMHO, if we can manage to start vaccinating the over-70s by the end of the month we'll be doing well. They were supposed to start in a week or two, but I seriously doubt they'll be able to manage this through GPs alone.

What they may do is ask patients (and their GPs) to asses their ability to attend the GP clinic or a mass vaccination centre. Those who can go to the MVC will get Pfizer, those who can only get to the GP (or who may require a home visit), get the easier to handle Moderna.

Yes there would be many over 70 who could drive or be driven to a centre

seamus

eigrod wrote: »

Hopefully most GPs have prepared as well as this one

https://twitter.com/knutmoe/status/1356691919938682882?s=21

is_that_so wrote: »

GP/flu' network can do 75,000-80,000 a week according to Leo. That's about 5 weeks and there is talk of including dentists as well in the rollout. We may see some MVCs but can't see them all up and running, just yet.

Ye might be right, maybe I'm not giving GPs enough credit, and they can in fact handle the Pfizer one just fine.

hynesie08 wrote: »

We'll still be vaccinating the same amount right? Just not in a set group pattern, so it's not a massive setback,or am I missing something obvious?

Yeah. What it will probably mean is that the over-70s end up taking a little longer to vaccinate, but on balance some groups that weren't due to start until March/April will get vaccinated a bit sooner, like the 65+ and high-risk 18-64 year olds.

My mother in law won't be happy with this, she considers British-made stuff to be the pinnacle of quality. It'll annoy her that she won't be offered the Oxford one

Multipass

gmisk wrote: »

RTE news : Over 70s should get Pfizer, Moderna vaccines - HSE

http://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0203/1194849-covid-vaccines-ireland

Astrazeneca not for over 70s.

Wow, that news could be death for some. Any vaccine now would be better than a great one someday.

is_that_so

Multipass wrote: »

Wow, that news could be death for some. Any vaccine now would be better than a great one someday.

Well, if they are already sick with COVID they can't get it anyway for up to 4 weeks.

Multipass

is_that_so wrote: »

Well, if they are already sick with COVID they can't get it anyway for up to 4 weeks.

What about those who aren’t sick, it’s a race against time to vaccinate before they do.

is_that_so

Multipass wrote: »

What about those who aren’t sick, it’s a race against time to vaccinate before they do.

I wouldn't say that. They just need to keep doing what they've been doing. They'll still have to wait for the over 85s to be done first.

Deenie78

I'm personally delighted with this news, while I would have been happy for my parents to get any vaccination I feel a lot more confident with them getting Pfizer or Moderna. Doesn't help with my impatience that it might take slightly longer, but I'll cope with that

For those of you who mentioned they like Luke O'Neill - check out Stephanie Preissner's Basically podcast - she had a good chat with him yesterday about where we're at with vaccines, etc. He just always manages to make me feel like it's all going to be okay!

iamwhoiam

Multipass wrote: »

Wow, that news could be death for some. Any vaccine now would be better than a great one someday.

They will be getting a vaccine just not Az

stephenjmcd

NIAC have given the go ahead for over 70s to be vaccinated using AZ.

https://twitter.com/RCPI_news/status/1356982876840034304?s=19

The report is available but headlines are:
Recommendation 1
Any currently authorised COVID-19 vaccine can be given to adults of all ages, including those aged
70 and older

Recommendation 2
Vaccination of those aged 70 and older should not be delayed. Where practicable and timely, those aged 70 and older should be given an mRNA vaccine.

Dosing schedule

Recommendation 3
For those aged 65 and older, a 2-dose schedule of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca® administered
at an interval of 4 - 6 weeks is recommended

Recommendation 4
For those less than 65 years of age, a 2-dose schedule of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca®
administered at an interval of 4 - 12 weeks is recommended

These recommendations are based on current data and are subject to ongoing review.

josip

GPs will be reluctant to lose any of the vaccination fee pie to MVCs.

They'll find a way to handle BioNTech.

is_that_so

stephenjmcd wrote: »

NIAC have given the go ahead for over 70s to be vaccinated using AZ.

https://twitter.com/RCPI_news/status/1356982876840034304?s=19

The report is available but headlines are:
Recommendation 1
Any currently authorised COVID-19 vaccine can be given to adults of all ages, including those aged
70 and older

Recommendation 2
Vaccination of those aged 70 and older should not be delayed. Where practicable and timely, those aged 70 and older should be given an mRNA vaccine.

Dosing schedule

Recommendation 3
For those aged 65 and older, a 2-dose schedule of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca® administered
at an interval of 4 - 6 weeks is recommended

Recommendation 4
For those less than 65 years of age, a 2-dose schedule of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca®
administered at an interval of 4 - 12 weeks is recommended

These recommendations are based on current data and are subject to ongoing review.

This is from Colm Henry

However, HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry told RTÉ's News at One the view is that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines afford greater protection for older people.

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0203/1194849-covid-vaccines-ireland/

Multipass

iamwhoiam wrote: »

They will be getting a vaccine just not Az

When? All of a sudden time doesn’t matter. When they could catch this at any moment. I’m confused why anyone would think this is good news... unless they’re in the next category down and happy to be jumping up the queue.

stephenjmcd

is_that_so wrote: »

This is from Colm Henry



https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0203/1194849-covid-vaccines-ireland/

Yup but NIAC Recommendation has just been released in the last few minutes