The vaccines | vaxxed boosted unvaxxed? New poll

How's your immunity looking? Had covid - vote twice - vax status and then again for infection status

  • Vaxxed but no booster

  • Boostered

  • Still waiting in queue for first vaccine dose

  • Won't get vaxxed (unless I have to for travel/work etc)

  • Past infection with covid + I've been vaccinated

  • Past infection with covid - I've not been vaccinated


Results are only viewable after voting.
3 days since my second BioNtech shot, absolutely no side effects (and didn’t have any after my first one too). To be fair, I never had side effects after any vaccine.
 
At an individual level they give you decent protection. Certainly against severe illness. The real kick in the balls is that the delta variant is so contagious the vaccines are significantly less effective against transmission. Which means the much talked about “herd immunity” is pretty much off the table now. In Israel they had almost eradicated the virus just by vaccinating adults. Now they’re vaccinating young children and case numbers are still rising.

Is the herd immunity gone gone ?
There must be some stage when it happens?
 
Is the herd immunity gone gone ?
There must be some stage when it happens?

I’m honestly not sure. As well as being much more contagious, the new variants seem better able to reinfect people who caught previous variants.

If you need 80% of the population immune for herd immunity, while vaccines are only partially effective at preventing transmission and prior infection doesn’t give great protection either then it looks like we’re pissing in the wind. And that’s based on the delta variant. Feck knows what curveballs are on the way with future variants. I remember when the alpha (uk) variant seemed like the worst possible plot twist and now it seems pretty tame.

The good news is that the vaccines do give excellent protection. In a fully vaccinated population this thing really does become the “bad flu” that covidiots have been pretending it is all along. I’d say the chances of getting rid of it altogether are slim to none but the chances of it becoming no more of a worry than new strains of flu are pretty high.
 
I’m honestly not sure. As well as being much more contagious, the new variants seem better able to reinfect people who caught previous variants.

If you need 80% of the population immune for herd immunity, while vaccines are only partially effective at preventing transmission and prior infection doesn’t give great protection either then it looks like we’re pissing in the wind. And that’s based on the delta variant. Feck knows what curveballs are on the way with future variants. I remember when the alpha (uk) variant seemed like the worst possible plot twist and now it seems pretty tame.

The good news is that the vaccines do give excellent protection. In a fully vaccinated population this thing really does become the “bad flu” that covidiots have been pretending it is all along. I’d say the chances of getting rid of it altogether are slim to none but the chances of it becoming no more of a worry than new strains of flu are pretty high.

Thanks. So much flip flopping with vaccine and variant it is confusing for us non medical types.

We are probably looking another 6 months of restrictions until everyone is vaccinated?
Then what about kids ? Are we jabbing them?
 
Me too. That's because I'm on a vaccine trial and was double jabbed with the still unapproved vaccine - Novavax.

I'm trying not to get too wound up about it, but I am wound up about it. I do think the AZ issue will soon be sorted, but Novavax is still in the realms of ???.

I could have had a real one back in February, but the NIHR asked me to stay in the trial because it should have approval in April. On April Fools Day, at a follow-up checkup, I was told it was "any time now" - I suspect the date should have been a warning to me :lol:

Your predicament with Novavax has made the front page of the BBC today. It getting press may hopefully force something to be done about it quicker I guess.

Covid: Call to let Novavax volunteers have second vaccine - BBC News
 
Your predicament with Novavax has made the front page of the BBC today. It getting press may hopefully force something to be done about it quicker I guess.

Covid: Call to let Novavax volunteers have second vaccine - BBC News
It's a funny situation to be in. It's not really anyone's fault - except for Novavax management maybe. They didn't have the capacity to ramp up production and their attempts to subcontract the work have gone really slowly.

However they must have known in March that approval was still months away - yet they went ahead with a crossover trial (placebo recipients get real jab, vaccinated get placebo) in April.

Some of the participants had already left by the trial by then, but the rest of us stuck around either because we knew we'd already been vaccinated, or we believed the NIHR wouldn't have let the crossover take place unless approval was imminent.

Since then, other trialists have left - simply by lying when asked the question about trials and previous jabs, relying on the fact that a lot of GP records weren't up to date - and therefore getting an approved vaccine. In essence they've started their own unregulated clinical trial on the effect of having 4 jabs in a few months.

The only blame I place on NIHR/NHS is allowing the crossover trial to go ahead. The UK government has come up with a concession for us - so we get a green tick on our NHS app but it states that it's for use in England only and is as the result of an exemption not a vaccination. Useless for foreign travel and all it really means is that we can't get approved jabs.

Still, one day maybe Novavax will actually make some of the billions of doses they've sold. They're supposed to be one of the major GAVI/Covax suppliers - but so far they've delivered nothing (outside the trials) and they've not even filed for approvals.
 
Your predicament with Novavax has made the front page of the BBC today. It getting press may hopefully force something to be done about it quicker I guess.

Covid: Call to let Novavax volunteers have second vaccine - BBC News
Almost forgot :lol:

The NIHR/MHRA are still adding Novavax trialists this time in the form of people who had a first dose of AZ or an mRNA vaccine and who got a second dose of Novavax - again not a combination suitable for foreign travel in particular. Hopefully that means that they've thought of a way forward (or are expecting Novavax approval :drool: ) rather than they've caught another set of mugs.
 
Almost forgot :lol:

The NIHR/MHRA are still adding Novavax trialists this time in the form of people who had a first dose of AZ or an mRNA vaccine and who got a second dose of Novavax - again not a combination suitable for foreign travel in particular. Hopefully that means that they've thought of a way forward (or are expecting Novavax approval :drool: ) rather than they've caught another set of mugs.
@jojojo, no good deed goes unpunished!
 
I'm getting my first shot on Wednesday (Moderna). Anyone know if the side effects are more common on the 2nd shot for Moderna like they seem to be for Biontech?
(And sorry if this has been discussed previously, I've not kept up with the thread)
Me and the wife both got Moderna and both told that 2nd would be worse. Both of us got the side effects for about 2 days then grand
 
Some signs that PHE are getting worried about areas taking the rules into their own hands and giving second jabs at 4 weeks. Looks like supply is the limiting factor again and that they're worried about running low on first dose Pfizer due to second doses going out early. London, in particular, seems to be a concern as vaccination rates are low. Incidentally for anyone wondering, if you are under 30, and you've had a first dose of Pfizer, some protection kicks in very fast (a couple of weeks) so they reckon they can knock the case rate down faster if they can get more people vaxxed, rather than if they get more of the younger ones double vaxxed.

Manchester and surroundings pop-up clinics this weekend:


My guess is that after 7 tonight, they'll rapidly jab anything with an arm and shut up shop.

If you're elsewhere in the UK, try searching on twitter - a lot of sites are using #GrabAJab as a twitter tag.

If you're looking for an early second dose, it's probably a case of do you feel lucky as it will be entirely down to local conditions.

Also a general booking link if that suits you better:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coron...rus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/
 
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Me and the wife both got Moderna and both told that 2nd would be worse. Both of us got the side effects for about 2 days then grand
Thanks! I had my first on Wednesday with very little side effect, arm was a bit sore until yesterday but not really a bother. Hopefully the 2nd will go as swimmingly but I won't schedule anything for the following 2 days just in case.
 
Thanks! I had my first on Wednesday with very little side effect, arm was a bit sore until yesterday but not really a bother. Hopefully the 2nd will go as swimmingly but I won't schedule anything for the following 2 days just in case.
Probably wise. At very least I’ll expect being very tired
 
Managed to move my second jab forward three weeks which is decent! August 4th now instead of the 28th.
 
Vaccinations are slowing right down in Italy now.

A lot are delaying the first dose so the second dose doesn't fall during August holidays, and we still have 2.5 million over 60s refusing to get it.
 
Interesting story about the varied approaches and perspectives on vaccines for immunocompromised folks. I’ve got someone in the extended family who’s got both vaccines but has been given some loose advice that it might not work, so is naturally a bit anxious. Not sure what the right answer is but I’m sure she’d appreciate a targeted approach like everyone else in her situation. I figure this applies to some other folks so might be worth sharing.
Since April, health care providers in France have routinely given a third dose of a two-dose vaccine to people with certain immune conditions. The number of organ transplant recipients who had antibodies increased to 68 percent four weeks after the third dose from 40 percent after the second dose, one team of French researchers recently reported.

But in the United States, there is no concerted effort by federal agencies or vaccine manufacturers to test this approach, leaving people with low immunity with more questions than answers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health in fact recommend even against testing to find out who is protected. And academic scientists are stymied by the rules that limit access to the vaccines.

“There should be already a national study looking at post-transplant patients getting booster shots,” said Dr. Balazs Halmos, an oncologist at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, who led a study showing that some cancer patients did not respond to the vaccines. “It shouldn’t be our little team here in the Bronx trying to figure this out.”

An estimated 5 percent of the population is considered to be immunocompromised. The list of causes is long: some cancers, organ transplants, chronic liver disease, kidney failure and dialysis, and drugs like Rituxan, steroids and methotrexate, which are taken by roughly five million people for disorders from rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis to some forms of cancer.

“These are the people being left behind,” said Dr. Jose U. Scher, a rheumatologist at NYU Langone Health who led a study of methotrexate’s effect on the vaccines.

The third-dose approach has widespread support among researchers because there is clear precedent. Immunocompromised people are given booster doses of vaccines for hepatitis B and influenza, for example.

Several studies have indicated that a third coronavirus vaccine dose might succeed in patients who did not have detectable antibodies after the first or second dose. But research has lagged.

Moderna is gearing up to test a third dose in 120 organ transplant recipients, and Pfizer — which produces some immunosuppressant medications — is planning a study of 180 adults and 180 children with an immune condition.

The N.I.H. is recruiting 400 immunocompromised people for a trial that would track their levels of antibodies and immune cells for up to 24 months, but has no trials looking at a third dose.

“It takes time, unfortunately, especially as a government agency,” said Emily Ricotta, an epidemiologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “We have to go through a lot of regulatory and approval processes to do these sorts of projects.”

Also a quick snippet from Fauci on the impact of vaccines:
Dr. Fauci said that 99.2 percent of Covid-related deaths in June occurred among unvaccinated people. “It’s really sad and tragic that most of all of these are avoidable and preventable,” he said

I know we’re still in the implementation phase where it’s all about getting them in people’s arms, and there’s a lot of focus on the risks that still lie ahead, but it’ll be cool when we get a chance to take a step back and celebrate how unbelievably effective this medical intervention was. They nailed it.
 
Had my second dose last week Monday. No side effects. The first one, I felt like shit.
 
Just on the UK Pfizer second dose thing, it's believed to be a supply timing issue. Basically they don't want to run out of first doses for anyone, anywhere in the country. That means keeping tabs on the rollout of the second doses.

Broadly speaking, it's thought we've now done about 19.5m first doses of Pfizer - from a supply of 40m total in the UK. They've also got some Moderna. They don't want to turn anyone away from getting a first jab at a Pfizer or Moderna site which means keeping a bit of a local first dose buffer.

They get more Pfizer sometime in August so there's no shortage, but there will be if everyone (rather than some people in some areas and risk groups) gets their second jab in July.

Incidentally there are several reasons why the supply timing had become tight:
Very high and very fast take-up and distribution of jabs throughout the rollout.
Trying to accelerate the schedule (it originally suggested over 18s would be offered first jabs by end of July)
Not using AZ with the under 40s
Novavax not arriving on time.

So the mixed picture is just the health authorities trying to juggle a best fit on supplies when cases are rising.
 
People I know in the UK who've gotten Pfizer/Moderna are saying that's impossible and they're being told to just wait the eight weeks.

He might have had it booked at the initial 12 week gap and moved it forward. I’m stuck at 8 weeks too.
 
People I know in the UK who've gotten Pfizer/Moderna are saying that's impossible and they're being told to just wait the eight weeks.
I got my first Pfizer jab on the 3rd June and the 2nd on the 29th June at the same medical centre. I'm not sure how that will effect me going forward as I thought it would be an 8 week gap in between.
 
Had my first Moderna vaccine today. Weird process, seemed apocalyptic walking in the centre and having military vaccinate me.
 
Had my first shot (Pfizer) on June 12th with no problems other than a sore arm for a couple of days. Had my second shot on Saturday evening. Next morning, i was feeling a bit fatigued and, later in the afternoon, i had the symptoms of a mild hangover. No fever at all, just a minor headache and occasionally some nausea. I feel fine today.
 
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So I've just rebooked and brought forward my second jab to Friday which is exactly 8 weeks after the first one (Pfizer).

Came back from holiday and a mate of mine said he's already had his second (also Pfizer) which would have been only 4 weeks since he had the first. Is that sensible? I thought there was an 8 week gap for a reason?
 
Had my first shot (Pfizer) on June 12th with no problems other than a sore arm for a couple of days. Had my second shot on Saturday evening. Next morning, i was feeling a bit fatigued and, since the afternoon, i had the symptoms of a mild hangover. No fever at all, just a minor headache and occasionally some nausea. I feel fine today.

That's not even 4 weeks!?
 
That's not even 4 weeks!?

Thats 3 weeks, which is the minimum time frame it is licensed for and what pfizer recommends. Most countries have been doing it for 3-6 weeks.

The UK took a public health decision to prolong the dosing interval to get on top of what was at the time a terrible situation. An informed decision, taken with lots of factors in mind but a bit of a leap regardless.
 
I thought there was an 8 week gap for a reason?
I thought the minimum was 3 weeks but could be extended, e.g. the standard procedure in Belgium is 5 weeks for Pfizer and Moderna (and 8 or 12 weeks for AZ).
 
Thats 3 weeks, which is the minimum time frame it is licensed for and what pfizer recommends. Most countries have been doing it for 3-6 weeks.

The UK took a public health decision to prolong the dosing interval to get on top of what was at the time a terrible situation. An informed decision, taken with lots of factors in mind but a bit of a leap regardless.

Ah ok, I see. Doesn't exactly help promote trust though with all the mixed messages...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-57682233

Interestingly when I rebooked online it didn't offer me anything in advance of the 8 weeks but it seems those that have had them after 4 are the ones who've been directly contacted by their doctors surgery. Again, mixed messaging.
 
That's not even 4 weeks!?

You're in the UK? The different gaps between doses is mostly down to availability (or so they're telling us). Here (in Greece) it's 21 days for the Pfizer vaccine, 28 days for Moderna and 8(!) weeks for the AstraZeneca one. That's how you can choose the vaccine you want, by selecting the dates on the platform. But it's been reported that we've been receiving more m-RNA vaccines (and Johnson) for quite some time now (due to a fallout between UK and the EU), thus the 8-week period between doses for the AstraZeneca.
 
Looks to me, and I’m no doctor or scientist, but no one really knows. It’s all been a massive mess, I’ve had the two vaccines now but it hasn’t filled me with confidence the more I see reported.

while I’m in this thread I may aswell have a little moan at the word jab. Have injections or vaccines always been referred to as jabs? Hearing someone’s been double jabbed or someone saying I’ve had my jab just doesn’t seem right to me, it’s all I hear now, jab this jab that, but again, what do I know.
 
You're in the UK? The different gaps between doses is mostly down to availability (or so they're telling us). Here (in Greece) it's 21 days for the Pfizer vaccine, 28 days for Moderna and 8(!) weeks for the AstraZeneca one. That's how you can choose the vaccine you want, by selecting the dates on the platform. But it's been reported that we've been receiving more m-RNA vaccines (and Johnson) for quite some time now (due to a fallout between UK and the EU), thus the 8-week period between doses for the AstraZeneca.

Ah, you're not in the UK. Fair play then, you're probably not under the governance of a bunch of feckless criminal toffs. Lucky you.
 
Looks to me, and I’m no doctor or scientist, but no one really knows. It’s all been a massive mess, I’ve had the two vaccines now but it hasn’t filled me with confidence the more I see reported.

while I’m in this thread I may aswell have a little moan at the word jab. Have injections or vaccines always been referred to as jabs? Hearing someone’s been double jabbed or someone saying I’ve had my jab just doesn’t seem right to me, it’s all I hear now, jab this jab that, but again, what do I know.

Jabs has been used at least as long as the 33 years I’ve been alive
 
Ah ok, I see. Doesn't exactly help promote trust though with all the mixed messages...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-57682233

Interestingly when I rebooked online it didn't offer me anything in advance of the 8 weeks but it seems those that have had them after 4 are the ones who've been directly contacted by their doctors surgery. Again, mixed messaging.

Youre right, it doesn't and I think its quite irresponsible for that Prof to word it in that way. I assume (or would hope) his thinking is that we still want to keep it at 8 weeks from a PH perspective which is fine if thats what you want to do but don't give a message which isn't how the company itself or indeed most of the world is using it.

To be totally honest, what seems to be happening is that the Government is outlining a national approach (which is fair enough) and locally, some public health authorities/ GPs are not as keen to follow thr advice and want to vaccinate as many people with both jabs as possible.

This kind of mirrors the initial move to 8-12 weeks, when quite a few trusts and GPs were very unhappy with this sudden switch and continued to do 3 weeks until the higher ups came down on them hard.
 
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