Will you be taking a booster?

Real Donald Trump

This question goes out those who took the 2 jabs? Will you you take it to get back to normality? Or are you sick of the government moving the goalposts constantly?

Peregrinus

Pretty much by definition, the people who got vaccinated the first time around will be open to getting boosters - if they were anti-vax they wouldn't be vaccinated in the first place.

I don't get the comment about the "government moving the goalposts constantly". That suggests that the government originally promised that vaccination would provide lifetime or indefinite protection, but I don't recall the government - or, for that matter, anyone - ever saying that.

Covid-19 is a novel disease, and the treatments for it and vaccinations against it are necessarily also novel, which means information and understanding is still advancing, and will for some time to come. So of course advice about how to guard against it and how to treat it will evolve in response to accumulating experience and understanding. You'd have to be fairly thick not to grasp this, and it would be perverse to regard this as "the government constantly moving the goalposts".

Pappacharlie

Yes I certainly will!

Real Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184211#Comment_118184211

TBF the government said this was the way out of this in past if everyone got vaccinated and with the highest uptake of vaccines questions need to be asked.

Hillmanhunter1

Got my booster jab 2 days ago.

If I need an annual jab I'll get one.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184220#Comment_118184220

This still isn't making a lot of sense. Vaccines against other Coronavirus diseases - e.g. the flu - do need to be regularly repeated; why assume a vaccine for Covid-19 would be any different? I don't think saying that vaccination is the way out of this ever implied that vaccination would be one-off and would never need to be repeated.

Hypothetically, we may yet develop a vaccine in which a single administration provides years or decades of protection and, if and when we do, great. In the meantime, "vaccination is the way out of this" doesn't mean that we shouldn't get boosters. On the contrary, it means that we should.

SupplyandDemandZone

That's a definite no from me.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184236#Comment_118184236

No surprise there then

Gael23

Not if more restrictions come in g

SortingYouOut

Reluctantly i'll probably have to when they decide to redefine the term 'fully vaccinated'.

I'd rather there was a conversation being had about bringing a vaccine on board that actually works though, these pfizer vaccines are a joke and anyone who thinks that they're effective looking at the winter we have ahead of us is delusional.

Allinall

I'll get one for health reasons, if recommended.

Nothing to do with government/ restrictions/ conspiracy theories etc.

I probably will but in some ways I’m reluctant. I have no issue with taking a booster (s), my issue is no matter how many boosters we take it feels like we will forever be in this cycle of opening up then / tightening restrictions. Possibly naively, I felt by the majority taking vaccines we could somewhat move on, unfortunately it’s hard to see that in this country anytime soon.

A no for now. Same with husband.

We both got our two jabs and definitely not anti vax.

But we don't really know what protection it will offer or for how long.

Still have good protection from first two jabs for this winter.

Maybe going into next winter I'd consider another if they're shown to be successful.

For now, I'll wait.

titan18

Atm, it'd be a no. I'd be looking to wait to see do these actually work for more than 5 months before taking it again.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184233#Comment_118184233

This still isn't making a lot of sense. Vaccines against other Coronavirus diseases - e.g. the flu - do need to be regularly repeated;

Well, here we are dealing with this pox nearly two years on and you still hear stuff like the above. Typed with a lack of irony regarding sense and claiming others might be fairly thick in their own way.

Influenza is not from the family of coronaviruses and the reason why yearly vaccines are rolled out is quite different. The flu viruses mutate rapidly to evade the immune system, so while you may be immune to last years batch cooked up in chicken farms and pig pens, you may not be immune to this years. Hence a tweaked vaccine is required. Coronaviruses are more stable, the problem is they're better at evading the immune system and immunity isn't retained for as long, or at least it's not with the current crop of vaccines. Hence boosters.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184310#Comment_118184310

Rather selfish.

If everyone had that attitude, where would we be?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184314#Comment_118184314

Don't think it's selfish at all. It's the sensible choice imo.

We don't know if these boosters are the silver bullet. Or will it be the 4th boosters or new vaccines entirely?

At some stage, individuals need to assess their own risk and what they're comfortable complying with.

Supercell

Stick it in me yesterday, first two didnt kill me despite all the bollix about titers or whatever having us all dead six months later.

I dont want to be one of those poor buggers in the ICU or hopitalised at all for that matter nevermind the whole loosing taste and smell thing.

A few seconds to get it done, why not?

titan18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184314#Comment_118184314

I mean if some are cool getting vaccinated twice a year for the rest of their lives, fine, but I'm not. If something isn't working, why would you do it.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058218510/will-you-be-taking-a-booster

First of all it’s not the government moving the goalposts, they react to a changing situation and second of all we will never go back to the old normal, just like we can’t go back to the 70s or the 80s. In a couple of years it’s likely that 19 will be nothing more than an inconvenience, but it is also likely that there will be a 20 or a 21 or even more. Welcome to the new normal. In my opinion it’s highly lightly you will catch this or a similar one in the coming years.

So the question to you since you started it, how sick do you want to get, are you comfortable with being hospitalized or dying from it? We don’t know what the long term impact of catching the virus is nor what the long term impact of the vaccine is. What we do know is that taking the vaccine is highly likely to increase your chances of being around to find out!

I want to be around to find out, so of course I’ll go for the buster.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184323#Comment_118184323

A regular flu shot is every year. Other shots for other things might be every few years. Originally the vaccine for covid was to be two shots but that was for the original strain. Now it's 3 shots. I don't see the problem.

"Why would you do it?" I would do it to stay alive or stay out of hospital. I would do it, to be able to have a normal life.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184323#Comment_118184323

You'd only do it if in fact it was working. Obviously if it provides no protection at all, there's no point in taking it. If it provides protection for six months, then there's an obvious benefit to taking it every six months or so.

Are you going to refuse to refill your car when it turns out that one tank of petrol doesn't last for the lifetime of the car? Is lubrication useless because you have to change the oil from time to time?

It would be interesting to do a poll with ages included.

If you're a healthy 30/40 year old, the risk of hospitalisation is miniscule, then less again with 2 jabs.

If the vaccine doesn't prevent transmission, I just don't understand why I'd get it. It doesn't help myself or anyone else.

Cloudio9

Israel don't consider you fully vaccinated if it's more than 6 months since 2nd dose so won't be a surprise if we go same direction. Main motivation for me to get it would be to facilitate international travel.

fits

I would but I’d like to see vaccines made available for vulnerable people in other countries first. But if offered it I will take it not least because illness and isolating is very disruptive.

eggy81

Kind of torn. Don’t want to lose liberties or spread this thing around to vulnerable people. On the other hand I got second jab on 27 July and wasn’t 100% again until middle of September. Still getting bouts of tinnitus which I never suffered before getting it. I don’t quite trust that they’re perfectly safe long term. Rightly or wrongly. It’s just how I’m feeling about them. I’ll see what way it’s lying when it gets closer to my time for booster.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184259#Comment_118184259

The pfizer vaccine works well enough and it clearly gives protection from serious illness and death and has reduced the number of casualties from this pox. That's not in any sort of reasonable doubt. The problem is immunity seems to wane after a few months. A while back J&J released results of their various trials including a six month South African trial which showed their vaccine held up well over time and against Delta. One of their announcements here.

Today’s newly announced studies reinforce the ability of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to help protect the health of people globally,” said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer at Johnson & Johnson. “We believe that our vaccine offers durable protection against COVID-19 and elicits neutralizing activity against the Delta variant. This adds to the robust body of clinical data supporting our single-shot vaccine’s ability to protect against multiple variants of concern.” “Current data for the eight months studied so far show that the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong neutralizing antibody response that does not wane; rather, we observe an improvement over time. In addition, we observe a persistent and particularly robust, durable cellular immune response,”

Then a couple of weeks after Pfizer was going on about boosters J&J came along and said oh yeah boosters sound good. Which is it lads? I happily got the J&J and won't be getting a booster from the current crop of vaccines, especially not the mRNA versions. I will certainly reconsider a booster when better vaccines come along and that's highly likely. Research is ongoing into other vaccine angles which show much longer term immunity and against the family of coronaviruses. EG it's been found that those who survived SARS and got a Covid vaccine had the best long term immunity against pretty much any coronavirus, even ones that may jump to humans.

Though I am surprised at one thing; we've been mass vaccinating people in the middle of active disease using a particular spike protein with "leaky" vaccines in that while they reduce transmission they certainly don't reduce it as much as we would like, which is a very strong evolutionary pressure on the virus to mutate around that and we haven't seen that so far.

SupplyandDemandZone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184241#Comment_118184241

Absolutely. Up to each individual to make their own choice. I respect your's 😊

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184338#Comment_118184338

For people under 45, just don't think the argument 'do it to stay out of hospital ' holds any weight.

Chances of ending up in hospital are so so low, plus there's very good protection in the first 2 jabs.

I don't think the experts know enough yet . It appears like a desperate scramble and a fingers crossed this works situation.

titan18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184338#Comment_118184338

I must have missed where taking a flu shot was necessary to engage in society. There's a big difference between willingly taking a vaccine as you want to (I've taken the flu vaccine before) and being coerced into getting one like we are now. Until people actually go no, and the vaccine becomes an opt in like the flu vaccine, we'll constantly have that.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184319#Comment_118184319

No booster: Potential to die horribly from a preventable disease. Wander around asymptomatic for awhile, infecting people you think you might care about, though I question that line of thinking from someone that won't take the vaccine or the booster. Long-term Covid possibility with life limiting conditions.

Booster. Greatly reduced likelihood of dying horribly from preventable disease. Don't wander around asymptomatically infecting people you contact, including those you think you might care about. Greatly reduced likelihood of long Covid.

So, how is not taking the booster the 'sensible' choice?

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184233#Comment_118184233

The vast majority of people don't get flu jabs and there's likely to be a level of complacency and to some extent indifference about boosters. There are already anecdotal reports of it taking longer to persuade people to get another jab, hair appointments getting in the way says the CMO. We are not going to get anywhere near 93% on boosters, especially with far younger healthier people who statistically at least at risk from COVID. An overall booster total of over 70% will be good. It should be high in older and more at risk groups but it would not be surprising at all to find it at 50% or under for some younger cohorts.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184382#Comment_118184382

Your assuming here that the only or primary benefit of taking the vaccine is keeping yourself out of hospital. But this is to miss the whole point about vaccination against infectious disease; it's primarily done not to keep you out of hospital or to confer any particular benefit on you, but to confer benefits on other people; to protect them from becoming infected by contact with you.

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184417#Comment_118184417

People think in different ways, this is just one way to look at things.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184382#Comment_118184382

There is two ways of looking about the vaccine. I'm young & healthy so I'm alright Jack or I a concerned about the risk I bring to my family home. My mother, father etc. Plenty of otherwise healthy under 40s ended up in hospital & even ICU from covid. Some have dies too. Youngest I can remember was a 15 year old in the last few months. I'm not willing to be one that puts pressure on our health system. I don't want people with other ailments not to get the treatment they need just because I didn't want a jab.

Here's the thing, if you took two doses of the vaccine, what is the issue taking a 3rd or 4th. Now all of a sudden to be afraid of a vaccine you took twice? Vaccine passports are being updated. Last dose will have to be within the last 6 months to have a valid passport that will scan. If you don't get 3rd shot by March or so then you will not have a valid passport for eating, drinking indoors or possibly flying out of the country.

I went to Egypt for holiday a few years ago. We got every vaccine recommended by the doctor. We were to go to Peru last year & again had all the recommended shots. Unfortunately the trip has been cancelled till the madness ends

bucketybuck

Well I'm not concerned about covid myself, so thats not a factor for me.

And the vaccine doesn't prevent transmission, so I still have to avoid people anyway.

And if the two jabs I have aren't working then what is the point of a 3rd?

And do I have any respect for the NPHET government or engagement with what they are doing? Absolutely not.

2+2 = Shove your booster.

CrowdedHouse

I'll take it when I'm offered although I think I'd prefer another dose of Astra rather than a different one, but that's not going to happen.

The J Stands for Jay

Got the booster a few weeks ago. WiFi has not improved. Getting a Covid test today as a close contact. Hopefully the booster has worked.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184432#Comment_118184432

I was recently reading and article that says the astra zeneca vaccine is only effective for 96 days. Not great.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184423#Comment_118184423

This isn't really a matter of "different ways to look at things". It's objectively true that vaccination confers a measure of protection on people who are, for whatever reason, not themselves vaccinated; that's how herd immunity works. Whether the individual being vaccinated knows or cares about this doesn't change the objective fact.

Someone who approaches the question of whether to be vaccinated purely in terms of the benefits it confers on them is implicitly saying that they do not care about, or do not accept responsibility for, the consequences their choice may have for other people. That is, as you say, one way to look at things, but I'm sure we can agree that it's not a particularly admirable way. It's pretty selfish.

If the question becomes whether the government should encourage or require people to be vaccinated, then obviously the government is primarily concerned with the benefits of vaccination for the community at large. So they should definitely be taking account both of the protection conferred on the person who is vaccinated, and on the protection conferred on everyone around them. It would be bizarre to suggest otherwise.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184439#Comment_118184439

the vaccine doesnt stop you from catching the virus, if it did then there would be no need for boosters and we'd be out of this whole mess

it greatly reduces the risk of you getting very ill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184417#Comment_118184417

No you're wrong there.

I also want to see the statitistcs on transmission reduction and efficacy.

I'm not worried about being hospitalised or dying.

So transmission will be the key metric in my decision

titan18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184466#Comment_118184466

I mean it probably has some effect on transmission but it looks like it's pretty negible tbh so that protecting others doesn't really apply. It's doing a good job of protecting hospitalisations, for a while anyway, so at that point it really should be opt in so that the vulnerable can take it and anyone else who wants it.

shesty

I will probably take this one, but I am very sceptical about how long it will remain effective for.And if it starts becoming a booster every 6 months or so, I'll be questioning that.

the kelt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184426#Comment_118184426

But just because your vaccinated doesnt mean you wont bring the virus home!

Less likely but that percentage difference in spreading the virus if vaxed or not vaxed seems to be lessening all the time so the idea that you arent spreading it by being vaccinated is... well... The viral load for unvaxxed and vaxxed is the same at its peak only unvaxxed spend a slightly longer time at their peak

Our health service has been under pressure for decades,

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/this-is-the-winter-our-health-system-will-finally-collapse-1.3264817

So what have we done since 2017, or actually since early 2020 in our hospitals?

Ive no issue with vaccinations, will probably get the booster but my head is screaming at me, whats the point? Im still going to spread this disease by living normally and im not going to get sick from this, ive had it.

If anything a booster is wasted on me, still going to spread it, not going to get sick or need hospital so again, whats the point?

Having said that i probably will get it because we seem to be happy to welcome apartheid rather than question why and ask the hard questions of those who have spent billions of euros of our money for decades but still run a third world country health service whilst earning mouth wateringly huge salaries of their own!

"decent health service!!! nah just stick that jab in your arm there now if you want to have a cup of coffee and shut up!"

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184492#Comment_118184492

This, it appears to have a minimal enough effect on transmission.And we know we can't eradicate it, so really you are just taking a booster to protect yourself, it doesn't really contribute to herd immunity

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058218510/will-you-be-taking-a-booster

No, I'll take my chances with Covid. A few friends and colleagues have had Covid and I was more ill from each jabs than than any of them were from this "deadly" disease.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184426#Comment_118184426

I'm interested in the stats and the science.

I'll make my decisions based on those.

I won't be taking part in a vaccine merry go round without sufficient evidence to back it up.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184508#Comment_118184508

Having Covid doesn't mean you won't get it again.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118184491#Comment_118184491

tl;dr: vaccinated are much less likely to transmit.

Long read: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/the-vaccinated-arent-just-as-likely-to-spread-covid/620161/

"I'm not worried..." bollocks. Go read any of the death-from-covid sites out there, would you want that? Versus taking a vaccine? If you're not worried, your heads in the sand (or worse, you're a lying anti-vaxxer)