Vaccine Megathread - See OP for threadbans

JTMan wrote: »

Irish Times update on the vaccine programme here.

Article also implies that NIAC might change the age restriction on AZ. It would be great news if AZ becomes available for 50+ and J&J for all.

Sanjuro wrote: »

This is incredibly frustrating. Whatever about an abundance of caution, if you have to make a decision that affects tens of thousands of people, I'd prefer they not drag their feet on it.

It’s not like they are waiting on more information. They are literally waiting on all other countries to make a decision so they can copy what the majority do

Vicxas wrote: »

NIAC, NPHET. 2 teams who have the Irish people by the balls

What the fcuk do we need NIAC for when NPHET are there more needless administration jobs for the boys bullsh1t

aisling86 wrote: »

Myself and my husband (in our 30s) both got vaccinated yesterday from gp. We would have fallen into cohort 4 a number of years ago for bmi but not anymore. It was absolutely jointed there absolutely fabulous to see so many people there. Another friend got a call from the same practice but she had only been to that gp twice about 3yrs ago. They seems to be absolutely flying through people in that practice vs the other gps in the town.

So you got the vaccine in the high risk category despite no longer being considered high risk? Correct me if I'm wrong

How come we never heard of NPHET and NIAC before covid ?
Why werent they banging their drums when people were left on trolleys in hospitals and waiting lists for years to get operations done by the HSE-never heard them trying to sort out one of the worst health services in the world

adam240610 wrote: »

So you got the vaccine in the high risk category despite no longer being considered high risk? Correct me if I'm wrong

Tbf nobody should refuse the vaccine on that basis. When offered, take it. It works better for everyone in the long run.

Pablo Escobar wrote: »

Tbf nobody should refuse the vaccine on that basis. When offered, take it. It works better for everyone in the long run.

Except for the person legitimately on the list who would have gotten the last dose that day.

Level 42 wrote: »

How come we never heard of NPHET and NIAC before covid ?
Why werent they banging their drums when people were left on trolleys in hospitals and waiting lists for years to get operations done by the HSE-never heard them trying to sort out one of the worst health services in the world

Well NIAC are the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, that’s got nothing to do with hospital waiting lists or trolleys!

NIAC’s work includes reviewing the development and availability of new vaccines and vaccine technologies, assessing licensed vaccines and developing immunisation guidelines for their use in Ireland. NIAC develops and disseminates the Immunisation Guidelines for Ireland and advocates for best immunisation practices.

The “ National Public Health Emergency Team for COVID-19” was only established in Jan 2020 to deal with Covid.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Public_Health_Emergency_Team

https://twitter.com/MichealMartinTD/status/1385875677484888072?s=19

Think they said 39000 on Thursday so thats 80000 in 2 days good to see.

JTMan wrote: »

Irish Times update on the vaccine programme here.

- Ireland is set to receive a large delivery of 165,000 AstraZeneca vaccines next week that had earlier been postponed until May.
- Expectation that NIAC will authorise J&J next week. Encouragement from Germany’s decision not to impose limits on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
- Continuing unease in Government at what one Minister described as the “lack of urgency” by NIAC. “If we’ve 40,000 [Johnson & Johnson doses] in the fridge, how can you ethically or morally justify not giving them out?”.
- Government will unveil the reopening measures next Thursday or Friday, after a special Cabinet meeting.

It's a pity this minister wouldn't show a bit of backbone and publically talk about it rather than whispering stuff to journalists. Put the questions to NIAC and they might speed up their act. But as pointed out by another posted, they're just waiting for other countries to make a decision and copying that, of course at the upper end of the scale to show 'an abundance of caution'. Thankfully the Germans put no age restriction so we might be alright.

It would also be great if the age limit for AZ was changed to 50 but it would a lot more work rearranging for the HSE. The problem an the moment with only 60-69 getting AZ is we can't afford to give this group anything but AZ as we need to use that supply. The supply from AZ is so uncertain that some of this group could end up waiting a while for a first dose while younger less at risk people will pass them out which would probably lead to more deaths than the age restrictions were supposed to protect.

I have issues with NIACs original decision on AZ and how they came to it. I don't think they should have been taking the current rate of infection in the country as a factor which is what they did, saying we've a relatively low rate at the moment. But the reason we have a low rate is because of very restrictive lockdown on us all year. This shouldn't be seen as something we can just stretch on any further than absolutely needs to be, it feels like it's forgotten by a lot of people just how harsh our restrictions are as we've been living with them so long people have become numb to it all.

Interesting WSJ podcast interview with Dr. Özlem Türeci who is the chief medical officer of BioNTech.

She says:
- It could be the case that boosters are needed once a year or every 18 months.
- First, we need to understand how long immunity lasts with the two shots.
- They see, and expect, a waning of immune responses after a period of time.
- More data needed to know when waning is at a level that people would benefit from a booster.
- Cancer mRNA Vaccines will not be preventative, they will be for those who already have cancer. The cancer mRNA Vaccines will be custom made for each individual. Patient with cancer gets a genetic reading and then BioNTech will send a highly-customised vaccine back 4-5 weeks later.
- She celebrated the BioNTech vaccine getting approval with tea

Does anyone know if the MVCs are running at the weekend?

revelman wrote: »

Does anyone know if the MVCs are running at the weekend?

I'm in the Helix now, my mother has an appointment here after signing up through the portal last week.

my ma is 67, registered her last week. Still awaiting appointment. She lives in Dublin 15

Jane1012 wrote: »

I registered my dad last weekend 66, still no appointment. Has anyone north or inner city Dublin received appointments yet in the over 65 category? I could easily drive him to any of the Dublin MVC’s but it seems you don’t get to specify that you can travel etc

The system gave no choices - just put in the details etc and then up pops awaiting appointment.

Its frustrating