Covid-19 vaccines and vaccinations

Trish said:
It may all change now that the government has asked GP's to put off other work in order to join back in doing the boosters to try to get them done at a higher rate.
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From talking with a friend who lives in Oxfordshire, because the Omicron variant is doubling every two days in the UK, it sounds like the gov't is in panic mode now trying to get everyone to get their booster shots.
 
InitialConditions said:
I am thoroughly confused about the booster roll-out.

I was put in Group 6 back at the start of the year and had my second dose in early May. I only got a text about booking my booster last Friday—7 months after my second dose.

Have they got rid of the groups now and are just rolling out the booster in age order?
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I think they must have, because I got bumped up a couple of levels for the first two due to being a carer, but didn't get an invitation to book a booster until 7 months after my second jab.

BTW, a bit of information in relation to vaccines, boosters and Omicron (as we know at the moment):

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coro...d-professor/ar-AARLDzZ?ocid=ASUDHP&li=AAnZ9Ug
 
Wits_End said:
I think they must have, because I got bumped up a couple of levels for the first two due to being a carer, but didn't get an invitation to book a booster until 7 months after my second jab.

BTW, a bit of information in relation to vaccines, boosters and Omicron (as we know at the moment):

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coro...d-professor/ar-AARLDzZ?ocid=ASUDHP&li=AAnZ9Ug
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Really struggle with booster efficiency being touted as 70 to 75% if you have had AZ for both previous jags. Could be much lower
 
Rapid Response:
Evidence does not justify mandatory vaccines

https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2957/rr-1

..some quotes...

As doctors and health professionals, many of whom work in the NHS, we would like to express our opposition to anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination being mandated for any group of people, including health and care workers.

Results from the randomised vaccine trials published so far suggested the vaccines were effective in reducing symptomatic infections for a few weeks. The average duration of follow-up for people in the first report from the Pfizer trial, on which licensing was based, was only 46 days, for example.

The recent report on data from people who had been in the trial for up to 6 months revealed that the mean total duration of follow-up for the primary outcome of the double-blind trial was 3.6 months for those who received the vaccine and 3.5 months for those allocated to placebo.

This suggests either that effects of vaccines wear off quickly, and/or that some bias crept into original trial procedures, possibly due to unblinding caused by vaccine reactions [6] or other procedural irregularities.

More alarmingly, third and fourth ‘booster’ shots have not been tested in any randomised trials, and other data on the efficacy and safety of administering further doses are scanty.

Long-term harms will be difficult to detect due to the short duration of the randomised trials, and will only become apparent in coming years.

and there is little data on adverse effects of booster shots, which is significant since there have long been safety concerns about repeated exposure to mRNA technology.
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Vaccines don't cause autoimmunity much anyway. And millions of people have been vaccinated and nothing significant reported. People with autoimmune disease are particularly likely to suffer if not vaccinated.

The piece is ill-informed. Interesting to see that the first author is a psychiatrist and that Peter Gotzsche is included.
 
A more general question: When vaccines were developed and tested in studies, did they know back then we will need boosters/third jabs?

The first time I remember this came up in the media was this summer with data from Israel.

Before that my impression was 2 jabs and you're done.

Got my 3rd today and wondering for how often this is going to be repeated...
 
Leila said:
A more general question: When vaccines were developed and tested in studies, did they know back then we will need boosters/third jabs?

The first time I remember this came up in the media was this summer with data from Israel.

Before that my impression was 2 jabs and you're done.

Got my 3rd today and wondering for how often this is going to be repeated...
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EDIT see @Trish comments below - I've had my booster and I pre-booked it to get the slot immediately I was eligible. OK this time it looks like a booster will (at a population level) work but generally I'm concerned that new variants will simply make a vaccine ineffective. New variants seem to be arriving at an alarming rate and I'm not convinced we can keep up (even in the wealthier countries).

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The efficacy of the vaccine, against the original variant e.g. after 1 year, seems to be pretty academic, since the new variant is highly transmissible in people vaccinated against the original variant. So, we seem to be in a cycle of needing new vaccines - I'm just hoping that the window doesn't drop to a point where the system can't keep up or that a new variant is highly transmissible and causes severe illness.

There's a theory that new strains may emerge in people who are vaccinated and immunocompromised (e.g. due to HIV); the virus isn't dealt with effectively and it keeps evolving, in the host, until it gets a combination which beats the vaccine.

Sort of highlights @Jonathan Edwards point that elimination is the way to go - New Zealand.
 
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Our experts are saying the same thing, Corona might become like the flu where vulnerable people are recommended to get a jab every year to be protected from the current circulting mutation.

I'm wondering more about if this was foreseeable during the initial studies. I'm a complete layman and maybe that was clear to everyone who is more educated on the subject.

The message that I got here in Germany though up until summer in the media (by experts) was that you're "done" after two. Not to get sterilizing immunity, but to be protected enough so the pandamic will finally get to a flu like endemic.

So I'm wondering if they just didnt know better at that time or left that out for "PR" reasons.
 
Leila said:
Our experts are saying the same thing, Corona might become like the flu where vulnerable people are recommended to get a jab every year to be protected from the current circulting mutation.
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Yea the 1918 influenza pandemic was another influenza but it took a hell of a toll. I wonder if the models these guys are working from really have enough data --- the global transmission rates are so high this virus has the opportunity to check out a lot of combinations (variants).

Leila said:
I'm a complete layman
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I am too; I check out Independent Sage on Friday's - @Snow Leopard is my go to person. Still the fact that I consult reputable source doesn't mean I learn!
 
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