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.
DixieDean said:
Do we have any idea when the NHS website will allow the under 40's to book their booster? After that press conference the other day, I thought it would have happened for the 30-39 age group, by now.
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No news so far. They're worried about accidentally crowding out the 6 months+ groups and the over 60s in general. My guess is they'll stick with the booking system for now until the pre-Christmas slots are all booked. Then you'll see it change, assuming they are going to do everyone by the end of January, which isn't an unrealistic assumption.

You can get an idea of where they're currently at from the graph below. Roughly 19m boosters have already been done and they're expected to add quite a lot of new capacity this week.

FFh5FPyXMAQMg-x
 
Anyone know if it is still 28 days from a positive test before you can have the booster? I've looked but not found anything recent.
 
Booked the booster for 20th of December, 5 months and 20 days after getting the second dose. I feel like the omnicron updated likely won’t be ready till April-May, so better to take another Pfizer now.
 
If I understand correctly, ICU occupancy by age group and vaccination status.



jojojo said:
Yesterday I had my sixth covid jab in 13 months. Kind of.

Back in November 2020, I had my first Novavax clinical trial vaccine, followed by a second Novavax three weeks later.

In April 2021, I had another pair of jabs - in what's called a crossover trial. Basically that means I got two placebo jabs. Whereas the group that got placebos in November, got two actual Novavax jabs in April. This allowed them to get more safety data, and it gave them two groups to monitor for efficacy waning and performance against variants.

Sadly, due to manufacturing problems on the scale-up (basically inconsistent yields/concentrations between batches) Novavax still aren't approved by the MHRA, EMA, CDC etc. Novavax should have been producing hundreds of millions of doses/month by now with a lot of them scheduled to go to COVAX - so far they've shipped 20m.

So, bad news for the world. But bad news for me as well. No, I didn't have an adverse reaction to the vaccine and I didn't catch covid, so not that bad. Unfortunately during that happy lowering of travel restrictions in Europe, I still couldn't travel! I was ok to go to Spain as they accepted PCR tests or vac status but not to the places I actually wanted/needed to visit - Ireland and Germany - where I would have needed not just the test, but to quarantine on arrival.

So in October I had my fifth jab, this time a Pfizer - which could be classified as a booster (if Novavax got approved) or a dose 1. Yesterday I had dose 2 of Pfizer. In a couple of weeks time I may be officially vaccinated.

Only thing is... Will my two Pfizer's on the NHS app (one of them labelled as "booster" - the other as dose 2) plus one Novavax (the other Novavax vanished from the app as soon as I had this second Pfizer) actually work when it comes to border controls? I'm sure it should, if anyone takes the time to consider it, but what if the, "computer says no." Will Novavax eventually getting approval make the situation better/worse? Who knows.

TLDR - when you go on a clinical trial for something that matters to the world - you also have to trial disparate computer app updates, border controls, manufacturing protocols, multiple boosters and your patience.

@lynchie how are you doing? Are they recommending boosters, alternate vaccines for you now?
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I'm sorry you had to go through all that trouble. For what it's worth, thank you for your contribution.
 
The Cat said:
Anyone know if it is still 28 days from a positive test before you can have the booster? I've looked but not found anything recent.
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It is, I rang my drs to rebook mine on Friday because of it
 
berbatrick said:
I have a small scheduling issue.
Booster vaccine (Moderna) is scheduled for the 8th, I'm going out on holiday on the 22nd- more than 14 days. All great!

But, I just got told I have a (really important) interview on 9th morning. Worried about having a vaccine fever for it.

The earliest reschedule for the booster shot is on the 15th. Only 7 days before travel. So, is there any worthwhile protection that soon after taking the booster?
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Yes. Protection from boosters kicks in quickly. Quicker than after second dose. You’ll have decent protection by the 22nd.

Side effects worse with the booster too. There’s a big chance of you feeling like shite warmed up the day after. Not a good idea to get boosted right before your interview.
 
Pogue Mahone said:


Any chance we could catch a fecking break at some point? Thanks.
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Quite a few caveats are attached to that thread. This criticism also seems valid:


Basically, as the case numbers in unvaccinated population come down, the case numbers in the vaccinated population have pretty much bottomed out, so the relative effectiveness between the two groups will appear to drop.
 
lynchie said:
Quite a few caveats are attached to that thread. This criticism also seems valid:


Basically, as the case numbers in unvaccinated population come down, the case numbers in the vaccinated population have pretty much bottomed out, so the relative effectiveness between the two groups will appear to drop.
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Ah. Makes sense. Good.
 
First in vitro assessment of omicron vs Pfizer (read whole thread).



Not good news. But not terrible news either. Vaccines likely to give much less protection than they do against delta but should give reasonable protection after booster.

tl;dr. Get your booster asap!
 
lynchie said:
Fingers crossed anyway! I'm also hoping my long-game of inactivated vaccine followed by mRNA booster this Friday makes me invincible to Covid for at least the next year.
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I think the point is your own immune system (T cells, whatever) will make you practically invincible. If you mean you hope you don't catch covid (Delta, Omicron or the next variant of concern) then that's a pointless pipe dream. You, me and nearly most people will be catching it at least once but it will more than likely be asymptomatically.

Edit: a booster is necessary to reach that level of immunity and mine is coming up in 2 more sleeps. :drool:
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Yes. Protection from boosters kicks in quickly. Quicker than after second dose. You’ll have decent protection by the 22nd.

Side effects worse with the booster too. There’s a big chance of you feeling like shite warmed up the day after. Not a good idea to get boosted right before your interview.
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My son got his Pfizer booster yesterday and he was hit almost straight away and felt like you say the day after. Still trained today but I suspect that is because he has a big national team training camp as soon as he finally gets home next week. So he wants to be fully fit and would otherwise have taken the day off.
 
Arrrghhh ... goddamit ... the timing is so unfortunate for me. I am hoping to take my first holiday in 2 years within 2 weeks from now. And I won't qualify for a booster until at least 1+ months from now.

This is so frustrating .... The Omicron has come in at the perfect timing to become a raging fire by year end and screw up my holiday. Goddamit. (Selfish, I know, but I just needed to rant. Please excuse my selfishness)
 
tombombadil said:
Arrrghhh ... goddamit ... the timing is so unfortunate for me. I am hoping to take my first holiday in 2 years within 2 weeks from now. And I won't qualify for a booster until at least 1+ months from now.

This is so frustrating .... The Omicron has come in at the perfect timing to become a raging fire by year end and screw up my holiday. Goddamit. (Selfish, I know, but I just needed to rant. Please excuse my selfishness)
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looking forward to vacation/holidays after not having one for 2 years isn't selfish at all, pandemic or not

sucks for you, I feel that
 
The Taurean said:
When is the booster being given in the UK? Strictly after 6 months?
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Vaccination sites with doctors present can give boosters to over 40s after 5 months. The booking system is about to change to let over 40s make earlier bookings (at three months). Apparently some London sites in particular are pretty flexible about it - but most of the country they aren't.

The intention is that they'll bring the age down to 18+ and the gap down to three months. But they don't have the capacity for that to happen overnight. That change may happen to the booking system on the 13th December, but that doesn't mean everyone will be able to get a booking that week. Intention is to roll them all out before the end of January.

Basically they want the "boosted for Christmas" slots to be taken mostly by over 40s, care/NHS staff, clinically at risk groups.
 
stw2022 said:
I think they reduced it to 5 months after second jab
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Cheers.
jojojo said:
Vaccination sites with doctors present can give boosters to over 40s after 5 months. The booking system is about to change to let over 40s make earlier bookings (at three months). Apparently some London sites in particular are pretty flexible about it - but most of the country they aren't.

The intention is that they'll bring the age down to 18+ and the gap down to three months. But they don't have the capacity for that to happen overnight. That change may happen to the booking system on the 13th December, but that doesn't mean everyone will be able to get a booking that week. Intention is to roll them all out before the end of January.

Basically they want the "boosted for Christmas" slots to be taken mostly by over 40s, care/NHS staff, clinically at risk groups.
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Trying to understand how the duration is being defined for booster at 3 months.
How long immunity from booster would be deemed sufficient then?
 
The Taurean said:
Cheers.

Trying to understand how the duration is being defined for booster at 3 months.
How long immunity from booster would be deemed sufficient then?
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No one knows how long the boosters will last for. The circulating antibodies will fall but the T and B cells who are waiting for the next infection are better than we've seen previously. Those may be ready to keep us safe from serious disease for much longer even if they aren't fast enough to stop the initial infection.

More important though - the vaccine scientists are saying that it looks like we should stop thinking about them as boosters and start talking about them as third doses. We're now waiting for news on whether those third doses can stop Omicron infection before you can pass it on (as they do for Delta in almost everyone) , or if they just help you to kill it quicker and keep the disease from becoming severe.
 
In the UK, if you're over 40 and 3 months past your second jab you can now book online. If you've already got a booking, you may be able to bring it forward as additional slots have been released.

As often happens when the system updates, it's not working for everyone (the patient record database behind it is updating as well) and the message on the front screen may not be telling the truth. If it doesn't work for you now, it probably will in a few hours time.

 
jojojo said:
No one knows how long the boosters will last for. The circulating antibodies will fall but the T and B cells who are waiting for the next infection are better than we've seen previously. Those may be ready to keep us safe from serious disease for much longer even if they aren't fast enough to stop the initial infection.

More important though - the vaccine scientists are saying that it looks like we should stop thinking about them as boosters and start talking about them as third doses. We're now waiting for news on whether those third doses can stop Omicron infection before you can pass it on (as they do for Delta in almost everyone) , or if they just help you to kill it quicker and keep the disease from becoming severe.
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Thanks for detailed response. More details for omicron with vaccines should become available around mid to late December.
Hopefully 2022 would result in broad worldwide vaccine immunity and not a more stronger variant.
 
This is disappointing


Gotta hope those memory cells continue to do the job
 
Dumbstar said:
I think the point is your own immune system (T cells, whatever) will make you practically invincible. If you mean you hope you don't catch covid (Delta, Omicron or the next variant of concern) then that's a pointless pipe dream. You, me and nearly most people will be catching it at least once but it will more than likely be asymptomatically.

Edit: a booster is necessary to reach that level of immunity and mine is coming up in 2 more sleeps. :drool:
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Yeah, not really being serious. We're getting this thing at some point. Looks like boosters give us a short-term improvement, and immune memory hopefully protects us from things getting really bad, which sounds increasingly like how we manage flu to me. The big hope I guess has to be that the proportion needing hospital treatment reduces over time with repeated exposure, so we don't get a permanent healthcare crisis.
 
Don't quite understand line regarding booster for omicron variant - we simply don't know
Messaging should be directed towards delta as being predominant and still is/can be a bitch - especially in unvaxxed but also for double jabbed to catch/spread to immunocompromised.
In vitro studies not great for omicron sure but lot of uncertainty regarding how this will translate to real world efficacy (or not) + protection against severe disease (or not) or whether new variant is severe as well and how it will play out. I'd rather still be going into this post-omicron stage of the pandemic with as many boosted in the populations or not.
 
Wolverine said:
Don't quite understand line regarding booster for omicron variant - we simply don't know
Messaging should be directed towards delta as being predominant and still is/can be a bitch - especially in unvaxxed but also for double jabbed to catch/spread to immunocompromised.
In vitro studies not great for omicron sure but lot of uncertainty regarding how this will translate to real world efficacy (or not) + protection against severe disease (or not) or whether new variant is severe as well and how it will play out. I'd rather still be going into this post-omicron stage of the pandemic with as many boosted in the populations or not.
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Absolutely right. I think the hope was/is that the booster will stop some infections completely, and stop some infections early. It may pan out or not.

The thing that makes them more hopeful than just the high level of circulating antibodies though is that the T and B cells look better (in quantity and variety) following a booster. That suggests a strong protective effect for most people even if they do get infected.

We will have to wait and see how it plays out of course. Real world effectiveness is what matters and we'll get a lot of data on that over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile boosters now, for sure, will reduce infections with Delta, and that should give us a little more room to deal with Omicron without crashing the health service overnight.
 
Pfizer's first lab results on the vaccine, the booster and omicron.

 
Interesting to hear about development of omicron specific vaccine by pfizer, wonder how long after March 21 can they get it through regulatory bodies for approval
Might increasingly look like it will be needed
Fortunately we have seen with booster vaccine that vast majority of people still have faith in vaccine efficacy and safety (despite anti vaxx noise) and logistics firmly in place now too
 
Had my booster yesterday morning (Moderna) and feel pretty rough. My Fitbit says my skin level temp was 2.4C above baseline, my sleep quality was 35/100 and daily readiness score is 10/100. Sounds about right. In the middle of the night my head felt like it was getting squeezed in a vice but it's a bit better this morning. Relieved to have it done and out of the way as next week I'm flying for the first time in 2.5 years.
 
DixieDean said:
Do we have any idea when the NHS website will allow the under 40's to book their booster? After that press conference the other day, I thought it would have happened for the 30-39 age group, by now.
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Not sure if still relevant, but worth checking with walk-in vaccine centres. I'm in the 30s age group but was able to get my booster at a hospital in London who are boosting anyone over 18. They were even administering to those with less than 6 months between jabs.

Bit conflicted getting it early, but as it was Pfizer (early expiry), and they were encouraging people to queue for one, I thought why not!
 
Pretty shocking that only 62.6% of people have been vaccinated, 1322 people is a reasonable large sample.

The United Forum is testament to the number of idiots on here, but, come on, nearly 40% not vaccinated yet?

Can people update their vote, if they have not already done so?
 
Sassy Colin said:
Pretty shocking that only 62.6% of people have been vaccinated, 1322 people is a reasonable large sample.

The United Forum is testament to the number of idiots on here, but, come on, nearly 40% not vaccinated yet?

Can people update their vote, if they have not already done so?
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People haven't updated for sure. Add the "When it's approved/available for my age/risk group" as they would have had a vaccine by now and it's up to 84% (unless most of them are under 12....).
 
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