Vaccine Megathread No 2 - Read OP before posting

One Dose of J.&J. Vaccine Is Ineffective Against Delta, Study Suggests

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/health/coronavirus-johnson-vaccine-delta.amp.html

Yeah contradictions galore. Hard to know what to think. I would imagine anyone 35 and under who got j&j will be good anyway. Maybe a booster for over 50s eventually. Who knows.

Just something on this vaccine cert for nightclubs and crowded places... Can they do something like this here?

I guess they already have with indoor dining. But where does this leave other workplaces?

Did we get a huge delivery of Pfizer in the last week I wonder? A 29 year old friend says she has received three different offers of a Pfizer vaccine this week (two GPs and a MVC).

I would necessarily be convinced low take up among 25-29 year olds is the reason the over 18s portal has opened so quickly. Take up has been very high among most other age cohorts.

We must be nearly done with first dose vaccines to the ones who want them? Definitely by the end of the month.

Pfizer dose 2 done and dusted with the GP this morning. In and out in 20 minutes.

Steady stream heading in of all ages really , 50/50 it seemed between dose 1 and dose 2

Has anyone managed to get a second dose early? I’m due to travel three weeks from dose 1 so I could get it. Reading on HSE website anything from 17 days is a valid dose (Pfizer)

Adult population in Ireland: 3.763 millions

First doses + JJ given as of 20th July: 2.822 + 0.167 millions -> Share of adults with 1 dose is already above 79%. We'll have 82% by the end of the week

Which is a compliment to our programme

My 'beef' with the vaccination strategy chosen by the HSE for one specific cohort of the general population - those aged 60-69, is that it was a poor strategy, given the supposed additional health implications for anyone over 60 contracting the virus. It left citizens in this age group only partially vaccinated whilst the HSE was running ahead with full vaccination for those in their 50s, 40s and 30s. Who thought this was a good idea?

One swallow never made a summer, but in my case anyway I caught the virus (likely Delta variant going by symptoms) over last week or so. I hadn't received my second AZ jab due to the HSE plan. In this same time frame, our daughter in her 20s is off for vaccination today.

Surely you can see a problem with a planned vaccination strategy based on health outcomes with such obvious disparity.

You're welcome to your opinion, which you've trotted out repeatedly, but it's not unarguably right since the alternatives would have been:

• give AZ to younger people who are more at risk (although it's a tiny risk) of dangerous side-effects, or
• dump the AZ and leave hundreds of thousands of people unprotected as they waited for mRNA vaccines

Yes those would have been valid alternative strategies and personally I would have been in a favour of a strategy that vaccinated those above 18 working upwards first, once health care staff and very vulnerable were catered for.

But that was not the stated criteria from the HSE, they clearly laid out that the vaccination strategy for the general population would be be based on age working downwards. In this regard their chosen application of AZ was poor - it left the very people who they indicated as 'more at risk' as only partially vaccinated. Several prominent public figures were warning about this in June and urging use of mRNA vaccines as second doses in order to plug this gap.

It really depends on your viewpoint as to why you'd want to be vaccinated. Being in my 60s I'd have preferred to be fully vaccinated as quickly as possible due to potential health implications of catching Covid. Many younger people are less concerned about that but want vaccination as soon as possible so as to get 'vaccination certificates'.

If we didn't want to waste AZ vaccine, a better strategy might have been to given all the public a choice of vaccine.

So hang on you would have advocated for an 18 up rollout once the very vulnerable were done? The age based roll out has protected people based on vulnerability to severe illness and prevented negative outcomes. At the time NIAC rules prevented AZ being rolled out to younger cohorts anyway. What you propose would have significantly slowed down the vaccination programme and actually seen more older people (50-60s) also getting AZ while the 18 plus got Pfizer.

The strategy implemented is based on risk and ease of roll out. The most complex groups were the non age based groups (4&7) and this caused issues. Age and risk of severe illness from underlying health issues was the morally correct decision in terms of rolling out vaccines. If AZ wasnt given to the 50 -70 year olds we would have probably 450,000 less people fully vaxxed(900,000 doses). I am in my 30s and got AZ, work in a patient facing role and had no issues waiting 12 weeks despite my likelyhood of contracting Covid being significantly higher as at the time, one dose offered good protection. By the time Delta took hold here, vast majority of second doses had been delivered.