Vaccine Megathread - See OP for threadbans

JTMan wrote: »

More on the Pfizer booster comments in the FT here.

- Likely third dose somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination.
- White House has said "current thinking is that certainly those who are more vulnerable may have to go first".
- “Protection goes down by time but still in the six months it’s extremely, extremely high,” said Pfizer.

Looks like we will be having another vaccination programme starting with the most vulnerable again but this time with a single shoot and it might occur towards the end of this year.

Nothing new in that.

They're still monitoring the trial participants and will for a long time. I believe every 6 months is the check in time with them for anti body levels etc

It's all very fluid, still lots of "coulds" , "maybes" etc. Nobody knows anything for certain. After 6 months protection levels are still as it says extremely high there isn't much drop at all looking at the studies that have been done, if they stay that high in the trial participants it's unlikely we'd need another rollout by year end, next year is possible.

Should it become yearly it's possible it might only be for vulnerable age groups also.

CDC will meet on 23 April to consider J&J. Hence, pause might be for at least another week.

Fauci has said that he hopes the decision will be "soon".

However, NY Times journalist says "the J&J pause now looks indefinite".

https://twitter.com/SherylNYT/status/1382872399901773826

JTMan wrote: »

Yeah, true that there is a lot of guessing and nobody knows for certain but the booster picture is gradually getting clearer. The While House are planning for boosters. The EU are planning significant additional purchases too. Timeframes are now starting to emerge and planning in the US has reached the level of who will get it first. Top US experts are predicting boosters will happen.

Nobody is saying they won't happen but current protection levels don't support the theory of by year end. They'd need to take a rapid drop between 6 & 12 months.

Annual may well become a thing but there's going to be a big difference between the length of protection in an elderly vulnerable person & those in the younger age groups.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Paul Reid has been reported as saying they won't be starting general population under 60 until June. I'm not sure he knows what's going on half the time though.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/under-60s-must-wait-until-june-for-covid-19-vaccination-says-hse-1.4538488

Coming back to this, the Independent running it as the main headline, interesting to note that its only them running it as a headline.

Anyway I've had a read through it and to be honest Paul Reid would have been better off saying nothing. Firstly he says it was always their intention for June but that the new rollout plan changed things. Well if its always been June I don't see how this new plan changed things if its still June.

Secondly it's caveated with the usual, maybes, ifs and buts. J&J brings it all forward again and he says it himself & they still need to clarify the additional Pfizer supply he said they don't know when they'll arrive.

He'd been as well to say look this is the next 4 weeks, it's over 60s & the medically vulnerable and have said nothing more after that, by opening his mouth with so many caveats he's given 2 of the worst journalists in the Independent (Eilish O’Regan and Gabija Gataveckaitė) a headline to run with.

For all he knows the plan could change again with J&J & I'd expect it to.

Micky 32 wrote: »

Jesus, will we ever escape this doom and gloom threat of lockdowns in this country unless one emmigrates. Is there actually anything to look forward to???? Do the f*****g vaccines work or not??

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/health/taoiseach-says-he-cant-be-definitive-there-wont-be-another-lockdown-next-winter-40318747.html

Even posing that question is an exercise in futility. Nothing is certain. At the start of this pandemic, if you'd asked anyone if they were certain there'd be a vaccine, nobody could have said yes. In fact, the answer would probably have been a no. If you pose the question "are you certain a meteor won't hit the earth and wipe us all out," you can't say with certainty "no." Or yes. I hate MM, but I can't blame him for his answer. It's a no win situation when you're asked that kind of question.

JTMan wrote: »

More on the Pfizer booster comments in the FT here.

- Likely third dose somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination.
- White House has said "current thinking is that certainly those who are more vulnerable may have to go first".
- “Protection goes down by time but still in the six months it’s extremely, extremely high,” said Pfizer.

Looks like we will be having another vaccination programme starting with the most vulnerable again but this time with a single shoot and it might occur towards the end of this year.

One should also exercise caution when a CEO is looking for more sales! It's unknown, just as whether it'll be like a flu jab approach or a full scale programme is unknown.

stephenjmcd wrote: »

Nothing new in that.

They're still monitoring the trial participants and will for a long time. I believe every 6 months is the check in time with them for anti body levels etc

It's all very fluid, still lots of "coulds" , "maybes" etc. Nobody knows anything for certain. After 6 months protection levels are still as it says extremely high there isn't much drop at all looking at the studies that have been done, if they stay that high in the trial participants it's unlikely we'd need another rollout by year end, next year is possible.

Should it become yearly it's possible it might only be for vulnerable age groups also.

Ultimately, I don't think many (if any) will have an issue with taking a booster. If society is open and we are back to normal (more or less), taking an annual shot to ensure continuation of normailty will be a very small price to pay. And, similar to the flu jab, early indicators appears to suggest that it will be vulnerable and older cohorts who will be the priority.

dominatinMC wrote: »

Ultimately, I don't think many (if any) will have an issue with taking a booster. If society is open and we are back to normal (more or less), taking an annual shot to ensure continuation of normailty will be a very small price to pay. And, similar to the flu jab, early indicators appears to suggest that it will be vulnerable and older cohorts who will be the priority.

There's no issue with a booster and its worth talking about and preparing for in the future. I have issue though with the speculation regarding timelines v protection levels. Protection levels holding very strong at least 6 months in (for Pfizer I'm referencing), would take an almighty drop in efficiency to require a 3rd jab in the 6 month timeframe that some news outlets report.

Many variables still ultimately at play and I believe it'll become like the flu shot for the older and vulnerable

dominatinMC wrote: »

Agree completely. Whilst it is good to see the EU being proactive in ordering next-gen vaccines/boosters, I think some have seen the headline and assumed current vaccines are going to be ineffective by years end and that everyone will need a booster. That remains to be seen and, based on the emerging evidence, I would even say unlikely for the moment.

Yeah, agree. And even if there are variants, there is so much research going in to these at the moment, they can presumably adjust the vaccines to counteract most of the variants. I think the Valneva vaccine does something different in that it hits the underlying protein, rather than the spike (which I understand is the variant piece). Which will mean it is effective against every variant.

Apologies if I got the last part wrong, I am not a pharmacist

Zipppy wrote: »

Anyone know if there's a hotline number to contact HSE regards vacination that was cancelled this week because of the AZ shambles?
Was due yesterday, cancelled by text, under 60 with underlying illness.
A friend who in same boat except over 60 got text for new appointment on Tues next...
Anyone I can contact to enquire?
TIA

HSE Live?

https://www2.hse.ie/services/contact-the-hse/contact-the-hse.html

JacksonHeightsOwn wrote: »

I'm not a naysayer or being naive regarding needing boosters.

But don't forget these big pharma companies will all want us to get a booster, at the end of the day, they exist to make money. So the more needles in arms, the more money they make.

The head of the jenner institute, the Irish guy, was on a podcast with Luke O'Neill recently and he reckoned only the vulnerable would need boosters,

In fairness to the Pfizer CEO he said we needed to start "planning" for annual boosters, he wasn't definitive that we would need one.

Pfizer have been superb throughout this, and they are obviously pretty good at thinking ahead. If we do need annual boosters, we don't want to repeat the slow ramp-up we've had this year.

Even if we don't need one for a few years, the West should seriously look at investing into mass mRNA manufacturing facilities to help the rest of the world during Covid, and prepare for whatever pandemic hits us in the future.

Said it a few months back re boosters, I genuinely wouldn’t mind a monthly top up to get out of this crap.

Eventually if they can reduce transmission then the virus might just die out. If not the vaccines mean it becomes manageable.

Great to see such positivity about things. Covid numbers, vaccines, all going the right way.
We'll be out of this by the end of the summer, if not sooner.
Great thread - keep the good news coming.
Happy Friday.

Yeah we need to plan with the assumption for boosters. Last thing we want is to impose additional restrictions in winter due to a vaccination bottleneck. If they're not needed Happy days.

Would love to be positive and have just had one dose of the vaccine no one wants about two weeks ago and so far so good!

However, we had a"meaningful xmas" that proved meaningless! We are still paying for that four months later! Some decision that was!

There is too much talk of opening this, opening that again at the moment , the case numbers and deaths are high still no matter what way it is spun. I want things back to normal ASAP believe me and I don't think I could stomach being told to go back to another lockdown in October

However, as so few have been vaccinated here I don't think we can think of intercounty travel and other things like shops/pubs open until at least 80% have two doses . Virus will just rip through us again otherwise.

I would rather be cautious and then open up hopefully by Aug/Sept and stay open.