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

tobefrank321

Hmmzis wrote: »

Bahrain is interesting here as well, they approved the Sinopharm vaccine in mid December and also are distributing the Pfizer/BioNTech one. While their case counts have increased in the last few weeks, mortality has dropped off.

There are lot of caveats here, as we don't know how many doses have actually been distributed and when, and to what demographics.

I think everyone is going to be watching Israel in the next few weeks as they're up to 14% of their population vaccinated with at least one dose.

UAE also have less deaths than you'd expect from their case numbers. But they test everything that moves and possibly have a lower population age profile.

I guess you'd have to compare deaths to before vaccine rollout.

Also there's no strong evidence yet that the vaccine prevents someone from being infected or infectious, so cases could remain high, but deaths and serious illness low.

The problem is covid is such an infectious diease it seems likely everyone is going to be infected sooner or later whereas with the flu, only about 20% are infected annually.

namloc1980

The HorsesMouth wrote: »

Massive big pharmas that produce other medicines that make profits for the companies. Why would they make a vaccine that would make zero profits when there are mulitple options of the same vaccine already developed. Anyways...i don't know why I'm arguing this point, it's that outlandish.

I'm waiting for someone to suggest that we nationalise some pharmaceutical factories and start lashing out vaccine (who knows what it would be made from and what research would be done).

marno21

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Has any been rolled out in Limerick and Kerry yet?

Yes nurses were vaccinated in UHL today

funnydoggy

A friend of mine got her vaccine today in the CUH. She's a student nurse and somewhat high risk so this was lovely to hear.

stephenjmcd

Vacination underway in Tallaght hospital today

https://twitter.com/ainemlynch/status/1346561068877963270?s=19

ACitizenErased

funnydoggy wrote: »

A friend of mine got her vaccine today in the CUH. She's a student nurse and somewhat high risk so this was lovely to hear.

I was reliably informed today that CUH is almost at 75% staff vaccination rate

funnydoggy

ACitizenErased wrote: »

I was reliably involved today that CUH is almost at 75% staff vaccination rate

Amazing. Well and truly on our way to recovery

Stheno

ACitizenErased wrote: »

I was reliably informed today that CUH is almost at 75% staff vaccination rate

Thats fantastic

stephenjmcd

On vaccine interval

https://twitter.com/DarrenEuronews/status/1346569177373536256?s=19

tobefrank321

Israel had 51 notified deaths today. Granted many of those deaths could have come from weeks ago, but it could take a while before notified deaths start to decline post vaccination. They have over 800 in icu which is also very high for their population size.

Gael23

What is the plan to vaccinate healthcare workers in the community such as GPs, Dentists, home care nurses etc?

Chris_5339762

ACitizenErased wrote: »

I was reliably informed today that CUH is almost at 75% staff vaccination rate

It'll be higher once my group get called. We have patient contact but are not considered frontline by management so back of the queue :rolleyes:

Bubbaclaus

Gael23 wrote: »

What is the plan to vaccinate healthcare workers in the community such as GPs, Dentists, home care nurses etc?

I'm aware of a number of GPs that are getting their first dose on Thursday.

WoollyRedHat

Up to 2000 people will be trained in the weeks ahead to administrate the vaccine, training is ongoing. That's a good start. Confirmation from Prof Karina Butler that we won't delay or hold back second doses at this point in time, we're not in a precarious situation as UK at the moment. She was very reassuring, will be a great addition to NPHET also.

Solar2021

Azatadine wrote: »

https://twitter.com/laoneill111/status/1346536628601434113?s=19

Encouraging news and all but its just a study and an opinion

Confident being the key word, I'm confident the sun will rise tomorrow

Porton Down and other BSL-3 labs have isolated them and are growing the variants and will have results in a few weeks

Results, being key word

I'd wait till then to be jumping around

marno21

Karina Butler being quizzed on Prime Time as to why Ireland isn't throwing caution to the wind and embarking on a giant experiment applying the Pfizer vaccine in a manner that is not recommended by the manufacturer.

A month ago we were hearing non stop about rushed vaccines and now those in charge are being asked why we're not ignoring manufacturers' recommendations and deploying them in an untested manner just because the clown show in the UK is. Christ above.

Delighted we're not going down this route. The people being vaccinated at the minute are THE most vulnerable and we need efficacy with them to be as close to the 95% as possible. No idea why we'd want it to be less. Thank the Lord we're doing it right first time around and not like the UK which could very possibly have to turn around in a few months time and explain why the vaccinated aren't as protected as those in other countries because they went on a solo run against the recommended dosing.

stephenjmcd

Negotiations underway with Pfizer & BioNTech to continue supply after the initial orders are fulfilled

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-eu-pfizer/eu-seeks-up-to-100-million-more-doses-of-pfizer-vaccine-in-new-deal-sources-idUSKBN29A1XJ

Deeper Blue

Solar2021 wrote: »

Encouraging news and all but its just a study and an opinion

Confident being the key word, I'm confident the sun will rise tomorrow

Porton Down and other BSL-3 labs have isolated them and are growing the variants and will have results in a few weeks

Results, being key word

I'd wait till then to be jumping around

So when an expert says the variant may be resistant to vaccines you take that as a certainty, yet when an expert says they're confident that it won't be you write it off?

marno21

El Sueño wrote: »

So when an expert says the variant may be resistant to vaccines you take that as a certainty, yet when an expert says they're confident that it won't be you write it off?

This whole pandemic has been "experts" getting media attention by outlining worst case scenarios and said media using these worst case scenarios to generate clicks online and frighten people.

Any time there's bad news about this virus the media are drooling over the news and it's wall to wall. Irish media seem to be particular fans of these bad stories.

I watched RTE this evening for a while and I found the theme to be overwhelmingly negative. This thread in boards is like it's in a parallel universe.

I don't know what they're going to do when we get back to normal.

Water John

Agree with two doses of Pfizer and Moderna being used, esp with the higher risk groups being vaccinated ATM. The only one I would consider going one dose and second 12 weeks later would be Oxford and used on lower risk groups.

Micky 32

El Sueño wrote: »

So when an expert says the variant may be resistant to vaccines you take that as a certainty, yet when an expert says they're confident that it won't be you write it off?

Pure misery merchant. When the narrative of the vaccine being resistant to the new strain wasn’t taken seriously on here the narrative changed to the UK were threatening more restrictions come next winter regardless.

I wonder if he’s putting himself under the 8pm to 8am curfew he proposes on another thread :rolleyes:

hmmm

I think this might be new information on Astra Zeneca?
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/949772/UKPAR_COVID_19_Vaccine_AstraZeneca_05.01.2021.pdf

Page 35 - Half-dose discounted, "not persuasive evidence of a real difference in VE between SD and LD, and the apparent difference is considered more likely to be the result of confounding factors, especially the dosing interval."

"For the subgroup with dosing interval 8-11 weeks, VE was 72.85%, 95% CI (43.45, 86.97), for the subgroup with dosing interval > 11 weeks, it was 81.90%, 95% CI (59.93, 91.90)"

Page 34 - "Exploratory analyses were conducted to investigate whether protective immunity was induced by the first dose and what the duration of protection was. The follow-up time began at 22 days after the first dose and was censored at the time of the second dose. Results
indicated that the first dose provided protective immunity at least until 12 weeks"

Page 33 - "The two cases of hospitalisation in the AZD1222 group occurred on days 1 and 10 post vaccination."

"Participants in the COV002 study had weekly self-swabs using the central NHS Pillar 2 testing mechanism. Analyses including asymptomatic cases demonstrated that the overall incidence of infections was decreased, not just the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19, thereby suggesting an effect on transmission as well."

(table shows infections were halved).

WoollyRedHat

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Up to 2000 people will be trained in the weeks ahead to administrate the vaccine, training is ongoing. That's a good start. Confirmation from Prof Karina Butler that we won't delay or hold back second doses at this point in time, we're not in a precarious situation as UK at the moment. She was very reassuring, will be a great addition to NPHET also.

From rough calculations, on the presumption we train up to 2000 people to administrate vaccinations in the first instance, working on the assumption that they can each vaccinate 32 people based on an 8-hr workday, on a 7 days a week schedule, we could vaccinate up to approx 252,000 a month, presuming supplies are uninterrupted.

Presumably we will continue to scale up training of personnel who can give vaccinations as vaccine supplies increase.

Stheno

hmmm wrote: »

I think this might be new information on Astra Zeneca?
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/949772/UKPAR_COVID_19_Vaccine_AstraZeneca_05.01.2021.pdf

Page 35 - Half-dose discounted, "not persuasive evidence of a real difference in VE between SD and LD, and the apparent difference is considered more likely to be the result of confounding factors, especially the dosing interval."

"For the subgroup with dosing interval 8-11 weeks, VE was 72.85%, 95% CI (43.45, 86.97), for the subgroup with dosing interval > 11 weeks, it was 81.90%, 95% CI (59.93, 91.90)"

Page 34 - "Exploratory analyses were conducted to investigate whether protective immunity was induced by the first dose and what the duration of protection was. The follow-up time began at 22 days after the first dose and was censored at the time of the second dose. Results
indicated that the first dose provided protective immunity at least until 12 weeks"

Page 33 - "The two cases of hospitalisation in the AZD1222 group occurred on days 1 and 10 post vaccination."

"Participants in the COV002 study had weekly self-swabs using the central NHS Pillar 2 testing mechanism. Analyses including asymptomatic cases demonstrated that the overall incidence of infections was decreased, not just the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19, thereby suggesting an effect on transmission as well."

(table shows infections were halved).

So if I've understood that right its not the half dose full dose that increased efficacy, it was leaving a longer gap between the.first and second.dose?

And as well as preventing severe illness infectections were halved?

dominatinMC

hmmm wrote: »

I think this might be new information on Astra Zeneca?
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/949772/UKPAR_COVID_19_Vaccine_AstraZeneca_05.01.2021.pdf

Page 35 - Half-dose discounted, "not persuasive evidence of a real difference in VE between SD and LD, and the apparent difference is considered more likely to be the result of confounding factors, especially the dosing interval."

"For the subgroup with dosing interval 8-11 weeks, VE was 72.85%, 95% CI (43.45, 86.97), for the subgroup with dosing interval > 11 weeks, it was 81.90%, 95% CI (59.93, 91.90)"

Page 34 - "Exploratory analyses were conducted to investigate whether protective immunity was induced by the first dose and what the duration of protection was. The follow-up time began at 22 days after the first dose and was censored at the time of the second dose. Results
indicated that the first dose provided protective immunity at least until 12 weeks"

Page 33 - "The two cases of hospitalisation in the AZD1222 group occurred on days 1 and 10 post vaccination."

"Participants in the COV002 study had weekly self-swabs using the central NHS Pillar 2 testing mechanism. Analyses including asymptomatic cases demonstrated that the overall incidence of infections was decreased, not just the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19, thereby suggesting an effect on transmission as well."

(table shows infections were halved).

If that transpires to be the case, it will be a brilliant outcome

WoollyRedHat

hmmm wrote: »

I think this might be new information on Astra Zeneca?
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/949772/UKPAR_COVID_19_Vaccine_AstraZeneca_05.01.2021.pdf

Page 35 - Half-dose discounted, "not persuasive evidence of a real difference in VE between SD and LD, and the apparent difference is considered more likely to be the result of confounding factors, especially the dosing interval."

"For the subgroup with dosing interval 8-11 weeks, VE was 72.85%, 95% CI (43.45, 86.97), for the subgroup with dosing interval > 11 weeks, it was 81.90%, 95% CI (59.93, 91.90)"

Page 34 - "Exploratory analyses were conducted to investigate whether protective immunity was induced by the first dose and what the duration of protection was. The follow-up time began at 22 days after the first dose and was censored at the time of the second dose. Results
indicated that the first dose provided protective immunity at least until 12 weeks"

Page 33 - "The two cases of hospitalisation in the AZD1222 group occurred on days 1 and 10 post vaccination."

"Participants in the COV002 study had weekly self-swabs using the central NHS Pillar 2 testing mechanism. Analyses including asymptomatic cases demonstrated that the overall incidence of infections was decreased, not just the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19, thereby suggesting an effect on transmission as well."

(table shows infections were halved).

Interesting, is that based on expanded US trials?

hmmm

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Interesting, is that based on expanded US trials?

It mentions UK, Brazil & South Africa trials, and was the data used by the UK regulator to grant authorisation. US trial data isn't mentioned.

WoollyRedHat

hmmm wrote: »

It mentions UK, Brazil & South Africa trials, and was the data used by the UK regulator to grant authorisation. US trial data isn't mentioned.

Thanks, presume EMA would also have been given this data?

hmmm

If they could do the same for Ireland that'd be great The best information is here, and the social media accounts of nurses and doctors.

https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1346570931293069319

Cluedo Monopoly

A pharmacist told me that even though he gives flu vaccines and has to do annual training on how to deliver vaccines, he has not been approached to help out with the Covid vaccines.