Vaccine Megathread - See OP for threadbans

ACitizenErased

I'm not sure what the craic is with 4/7 tbh. I was told in the past by the GP I qualified for 7 and as of last week I don't qualify for some reason. Whatever's going on, I do not know.

Turtwig

LimerickGray wrote: »

What has happened with cohort 4 or 7. I’m 44 in cohort 4. I had an appointment for AZ 2 weeks ago but it was cancelled. I’ve not heard anything from mvc now since.
I spoke to consultant and he says it’s 1 way traffic with him and vax centre. He gets an auto mail every time he registers a patient in either cohort.
Incidentally my GP sent me mass mail email last Thursday to say they have been asked by hse to forward a list of high/very high (pardon my laughing). He seems to have registered me too.
What do I do? I emailed hselive and got an irreverent reply. Is there somewhere to check one’s status? It’s a pity that it’s being left to consultant or hospital or gp as they have no visibility of what happens after a recommendation is made.

You need to ring the mvc that you're registered in. I'd start by trying the number on the original appointment text. May not be right one they should be able to point you to the appropriate point of contact.

Beasty

hmmm wrote: »

I don't think we have much in the way of long-term data. There's been some recent papers on both Covid infections and Moderna which appears to show reasonably long-lived protection is likely (years).
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2103916
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.27.21256207v1

I seem to remember (and can't find it) a recent study showed that AZ may offer better long-term protection than the mRNA vaccines.

And there is never a guarantee of protection from infection even when fully vaccinated. The effectiveness of the vaccines will tail off over time, but they have not been around long enough to properly evaluate that.

There does seem to have been plenty of examples of people who have had this more than once. I'm guessing it may be as much down to the ability of an individual's immune system to offer protection from either having the antibodies from an infection or being protected by a vaccine, with some people having appropriate protection for much longer than others

It may be a case of getting boosters every year and some may need it more often than that

plodder

Happydays2020 wrote: »

https://rcpi-live-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NIAC-Recommendations-re-COVID-19-Vaccination-29.04.2021update-1.pdf

Thanks for that.

In circumstances where a two-dose mRNA vaccination schedule is not a feasible alternative for those aged18–49 years, the single dose COVID-19 vaccine Janssen® can be considered.

Sounds like the policy hasn't changed in effect.

fritzelly

When going for the vaccine what questions do they ask you?

Beasty

Just on the various cohorts, these are supposedly set out here

My reading of that is that Under 65s go into Cohort 9 (unless they are in a cohort higher up the list)

However the Vaccine stats page includes at Cohort 5 - "All people aged 60-69 years"

LimerickGray

Turtwig wrote: »

You need to ring the mvc that you're registered in. I'd start by trying the number on the original appointment text. May not be right one they should be able to point you to the appropriate point of contact.

The number on the text is 1850 24 18 50 but they said Friday that they only give advice about the centres and such and have no role in appointments or allocations. They don’t know who is.

hmmm

Happydays2020 wrote: »

https://rcpi-live-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NIAC-Recommendations-re-COVID-19-Vaccination-29.04.2021update-1.pdf

I'm obviously not qualified to judge, but find it extraordinary that J&J was restricted to males over 50 just on the evidence presented. If it is acceptable to give it to everyone over 50, it was the same level of risk for males over 18. We are going to be delaying vaccinating younger people in June & July while what look like good vaccines sit in storage.

"On 23 April 2021, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in the US presented the evidence regarding TTS after COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen®. As of 21 April 2021, there were 15 confirmed TTS cases. The risk for TTS was estimated at 7 per million doses in females <50 years (highest in those aged 30 – 39 years) and <1 per million in females aged 50 and older and in males aged 18 years and older."

Happydays2020

hmmm wrote: »

I'm obviously not qualified to judge, but find it extraordinary that J&J was restricted to males over 50 just on the evidence presented. If it is acceptable to give it to everyone over 50, it was the same level of risk for males over 18. We are going to be delaying vaccinating younger people in June & July while what look like good vaccines sit in storage.

"On 23 April 2021, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in the US presented the evidence regarding TTS after COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen®. As of 21 April 2021, there were 15 confirmed TTS cases. The risk for TTS was estimated at 7 per million doses in females <50 years (highest in those aged 30 – 39 years) and <1 per million in females aged 50 and older and in males aged 18 years and older."

I made that point the other day about males and was informed the evidence was not there. I am all for simplicity of it gets us there quicker but we may need to have a more bespoke approach to optimise the programme. Interesting that in Denmark it seems people can volunteer for Astra Zeneca and J&J.

hmmm

Happydays2020 wrote: »

I made that point the other day about males and was informed the evidence was not there. I am all for simplicity of it gets us there quicker but we may need to have a more bespoke approach to optimise the programme. Interesting that in Denmark it seems people can volunteer for Astra Zeneca and J&J.

And then we get told that this sort of thing will cause people to have increased confidence in the program by regulators restricting when vaccines can be used.

Do you know a single person who has increased confidence in AZ following the introduction of age limits?

The next big scandal in July/August will be when the EU ends up with millions of doses of AZ and J&J they can't use, and poorer countries refuse to take it because actions by EU regulators have increased vaccine hesitancy across the world.

Klonker

Has anyone in Offaly gotten a vaccine date confirmation yet?

My father yesterday over 2 weeks ago by phone and still no vaccine date text received. The vaccination centre in Tullamore only opens tomorrow but it sounds like most people receive their texts after a couple of days.

hmmm

Beasty wrote: »

There does seem to have been plenty of examples of people who have had this more than once. I'm guessing it may be as much down to the ability of an individual's immune system to offer protection from either having the antibodies from an infection or being protected by a vaccine, with some people having appropriate protection for much longer than others

I wouldn't say there has been a lot of people who have had it twice. Despite tens/hundreds of millions of infections from Covid, re-infections are still seen as something fairly unusual. We're told that if you do get it again it will likely be much milder.

We're told also that the immune system is staffed by antibodies which will naturally deplete over time, and the memory cells which can re-generate antibodies at short notice if required (and also have the ability to recognise variants). There's been a lot of focus on antibody levels as they are easy to measure, but no-one is quite sure what the memory cells will do although initial results are quite promising. Antibody levels will drop over time as there is little need for them to hang around. People who had infections from the original SARS still had memory t-cells 17 years later.

JPup

hmmm wrote: »

I'm obviously not qualified to judge, but find it extraordinary that J&J was restricted to males over 50 just on the evidence presented. If it is acceptable to give it to everyone over 50, it was the same level of risk for males over 18. We are going to be delaying vaccinating younger people in June & July while what look like good vaccines sit in storage.

"On 23 April 2021, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in the US presented the evidence regarding TTS after COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen®. As of 21 April 2021, there were 15 confirmed TTS cases. The risk for TTS was estimated at 7 per million doses in females <50 years (highest in those aged 30 – 39 years) and <1 per million in females aged 50 and older and in males aged 18 years and older."

I suspect when we get to June the age limit will be lowered again. Possibly for men over 35. Something like that. I don’t think they will let a big stockpile of J&J vaccines sit idle while many people are unvaccinated.

Russman

JPup wrote: »

I suspect when we get to June the age limit will be lowered again. Possibly for men over 35. Something like that. I don’t think they will let a big stockpile of J&J vaccines sit idle while many people are unvaccinated.

No way on earth will they have different gender based restrictions - the outcry from some cohort who’ll feel offended by it would be just too much. Might be worth it for the comic value all the same

Aren’t we ultimately going to end up with huge amounts of unused vaccines regardless, based on what we’ve ordered ?

Valhallapt

Russman wrote: »

Aren’t we ultimately going to end up with huge amounts of unused vaccines regardless, based on what we’ve ordered ?

Yes but hopefully after everyone has been vaccinated

Ficheall

IHME not as optimistic as they have been accused of being heretofore! Well, for some vaccines/variants anyway...



http://www.healthdata.org/covid/covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-summary


Edit: well, I guess just AZ jumped out at me, since that's what the parents will be getting. And most likely quite a few more of us..

delly

Beasty wrote: »

I don't know, for example, how this would work for a vaccine passport. Don't all of the 2 dose vaccines claim something like 80% effectiveness after the first, with significantly reduced potential symptoms?

Someone posted an info graphic a while back with comparisons of effectiveness and they do all differ somewhat after the first dose.

Strazdas

Irish Times reports that the plan is to try and move through the over 50s at pace by offering every vaccine going and that people in their 40s could be offered AZ and J & J if no other vaccine is available at that point (which is allowed by NIAC).

Overheal

Had to share, the gobsmacking idiocy of this Darwin Award nominee

family member is on her death bed from covid, asked what it would take for him to get it - "hmmmmmmmmmm....."

Russman

Strazdas wrote: »

Irish Times reports that the plan is to try and move through the over 50s at pace by offering every vaccine going and that people in their 40s could be offered AZ and J & J if no other vaccine is available at that point (which is allowed by NIAC).

Seems very risky from a PR point of view. They’ll get absolutely crucified for that - effectively deliberately pushing AZ & J&J onto the cohorts that are more at risk from them (a minuscule risk I totally agree), and that the advice says should not get them, by playing with the words of NIAC.
I’ve said many times I’ll take any of them any day of the week and twice on Sunday, but objectively speaking surely the advice “if no other option available” would imply or suggest some element of surprise or logistical difficulty that allows occasional use, not carte blanche to plan to use that wording to dish them out.
Given any vaccine hesitancy is likely to be more in younger people, a woman in her 30s/40s who’s a bit scared of the clotting issue would be well p1ssed off that govt are planning to offer her those vaccines when they could easily plan not to. As someone might say, it’s a bit Irish.

Tyrone212

Who T.F says a bit Irish.

JTMan

NY Times are reporting here:
- FDA will authorise Pfizer for 12-15 year olds early next week.
- CDC will meet the day after (quicker than expected).
- "Normal gatherings" expected next year in secondary schools as a consequence.
- Fears of greater hesitancy in this group.
- Moderna expects results soon from its own clinical trial involving adolescents ages 12 to 17.

JPup

Tyrone212 wrote: »

Who T.F says a bit Irish.

It’s a commonly used phrase to be fair.

Pandiculation

JPup wrote: »

It’s a commonly used phrase to be fair.

Mostly by 1970s standup comedians who made a living on paddywhackery and mother in law jokes, but I digress.

SJFly

If the Irish times article is accurate, I think that's a reasonable plan. The only difficulty I see is that if the J&J supplies arrive late June, it is likely that over 40s could be finished by then too. On the other hand, this plan will let us burn through a lot more AZ than previously expected so hopefully things can still be kept on track.

Happydays2020

SJFly wrote: »

If the Irish times article is accurate, I think that's a reasonable plan. The only difficulty I see is that if the J&J supplies arrive late June, it is likely that over 40s could be finished by then too. On the other hand, this plan will let us burn through a lot more AZ than previously expected so hopefully things can still be kept on track.

It is a plan alright but we will not know if it is reasonable until we will hit the 30’s age group and whether at that time there will be push back on the vaccines offered. Or if there are some issues with AZ or J&J in the <50 age group (optics vs managed risk). I will take anything offered but that is not the case for everyone.

Irish Stones

revelman wrote: »

All the approved vaccines are 100% effective in preventing hospitalisation and death from COVID.

Is it "preventing hospitalisation AND death" or is it "preventing hospitalisation AND/OR death"?

There have been a few cases of people in my country who received both shots of Pfizer, and about 3 to 4 weeks later they ended up in a hospital, in the ICU, and one of them seems unresponsive to all treatments.
So maybe it isn't 100% effective?

Pandiculation

The problem with this is the difficulty we all have in making risk assessments based on this kind of data, and what might happen if you get a few prominent cases of clots.

I don’t think Ireland is all that vaccine hesitant, but given some countries like Denmark, have dropped it entirely, I think they’ll be an uphill battle on the PR front with this.

JPup

Irish Stones wrote: »

Is it "preventing hospitalisation AND death" or is it "preventing hospitalisation AND/OR death"?

There have been a few cases of people in my country who received both shots of Pfizer, and about 3 to 4 weeks later they ended up in a hospital, in the ICU, and one of them seems unresponsive to all treatments.
So maybe it isn't 100% effective?

I think when people quote 100% in such circumstances you can take it to mean effectively 100% or 100% rounded to the nearest whole number. When you are giving a vaccine to tens of millions of people there will always be some unfortunate few who are the exceptions.

munchkin_utd

JPup wrote: »

I think when people quote 100% in such circumstances you can take it to mean effectively 100% or 100% rounded to the nearest whole number. When you are giving a vaccine to tens of millions of people there will always be some unfortunate few who are the exceptions.

indeed, but if everyone is vaccinated then the virus stops being spread so those who potentially might have a weaker protection dont get infected anyhow.