Vaccine Megathread - See OP for threadbans

Lumen wrote: »

It's only registration. The HSE still decide who gets appointments and in which order, right?

They could let everyone in the country register and it wouldn't bias the rollout.

This from the HSE

We're inviting people aged 59 to register from Tuesday 4 May.

If you are aged:

58 – register on Wednesday 5 May, or any time after
57 – register on Thursday 6 May, or any time after
56 – register on Friday 7 May, or any time after
55 – register on Saturday 8 May, or any time after

People aged 50 to 54 will be invited to register from Sunday 9 May.

We’re asking people to register on specific days to help us manage the demand. This will make it easier for everyone to register.

We will be assigning appointments by age so it doesn’t matter how quickly you register. You won't get your vaccine any sooner if you register earlier.

https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/rollout/

plodder wrote: »

RTE apparently. NIAC say all approved vaccines can be used for all adults.

https://rcpi-live-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NIAC-Recommendations-re-COVID-19-Vaccination-29.04.2021update-1.pdf

Beasty wrote: »

One of the things I'm unclear about is how long the various vaccines will be effective. Would, for example, getting the 2nd AZ jab 16 weeks later mean you don't need a booster for a similarly extended period (versus say J&J)

I don't think we have much in the way of long-term data. There's been some recent papers on both Covid infections and Moderna which appears to show reasonably long-lived protection is likely (years).
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2103916
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.27.21256207v1

I seem to remember (and can't find it) a recent study showed that AZ may offer better long-term protection than the mRNA vaccines.

LimerickGray wrote: »

What has happened with cohort 4 or 7. I’m 44 in cohort 4. I had an appointment for AZ 2 weeks ago but it was cancelled. I’ve not heard anything from mvc now since.
I spoke to consultant and he says it’s 1 way traffic with him and vax centre. He gets an auto mail every time he registers a patient in either cohort.
Incidentally my GP sent me mass mail email last Thursday to say they have been asked by hse to forward a list of high/very high (pardon my laughing). He seems to have registered me too.
What do I do? I emailed hselive and got an irreverent reply. Is there somewhere to check one’s status? It’s a pity that it’s being left to consultant or hospital or gp as they have no visibility of what happens after a recommendation is made.

You need to ring the mvc that you're registered in. I'd start by trying the number on the original appointment text. May not be right one they should be able to point you to the appropriate point of contact.

Happydays2020 wrote: »

https://rcpi-live-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NIAC-Recommendations-re-COVID-19-Vaccination-29.04.2021update-1.pdf

Thanks for that.

In circumstances where a two-dose mRNA vaccination schedule is not a feasible alternative for those aged18–49 years, the single dose COVID-19 vaccine Janssen® can be considered.

Sounds like the policy hasn't changed in effect.

Happydays2020 wrote: »

https://rcpi-live-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NIAC-Recommendations-re-COVID-19-Vaccination-29.04.2021update-1.pdf

I'm obviously not qualified to judge, but find it extraordinary that J&J was restricted to males over 50 just on the evidence presented. If it is acceptable to give it to everyone over 50, it was the same level of risk for males over 18. We are going to be delaying vaccinating younger people in June & July while what look like good vaccines sit in storage.

"On 23 April 2021, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in the US presented the evidence regarding TTS after COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen®. As of 21 April 2021, there were 15 confirmed TTS cases. The risk for TTS was estimated at 7 per million doses in females <50 years (highest in those aged 30 – 39 years) and <1 per million in females aged 50 and older and in males aged 18 years and older."

Happydays2020 wrote: »

I made that point the other day about males and was informed the evidence was not there. I am all for simplicity of it gets us there quicker but we may need to have a more bespoke approach to optimise the programme. Interesting that in Denmark it seems people can volunteer for Astra Zeneca and J&J.

And then we get told that this sort of thing will cause people to have increased confidence in the program by regulators restricting when vaccines can be used.

Do you know a single person who has increased confidence in AZ following the introduction of age limits?

The next big scandal in July/August will be when the EU ends up with millions of doses of AZ and J&J they can't use, and poorer countries refuse to take it because actions by EU regulators have increased vaccine hesitancy across the world.

Beasty wrote: »

There does seem to have been plenty of examples of people who have had this more than once. I'm guessing it may be as much down to the ability of an individual's immune system to offer protection from either having the antibodies from an infection or being protected by a vaccine, with some people having appropriate protection for much longer than others

I wouldn't say there has been a lot of people who have had it twice. Despite tens/hundreds of millions of infections from Covid, re-infections are still seen as something fairly unusual. We're told that if you do get it again it will likely be much milder.

We're told also that the immune system is staffed by antibodies which will naturally deplete over time, and the memory cells which can re-generate antibodies at short notice if required (and also have the ability to recognise variants). There's been a lot of focus on antibody levels as they are easy to measure, but no-one is quite sure what the memory cells will do although initial results are quite promising. Antibody levels will drop over time as there is little need for them to hang around. People who had infections from the original SARS still had memory t-cells 17 years later.

JPup wrote: »

I suspect when we get to June the age limit will be lowered again. Possibly for men over 35. Something like that. I don’t think they will let a big stockpile of J&J vaccines sit idle while many people are unvaccinated.

No way on earth will they have different gender based restrictions - the outcry from some cohort who’ll feel offended by it would be just too much. Might be worth it for the comic value all the same

Aren’t we ultimately going to end up with huge amounts of unused vaccines regardless, based on what we’ve ordered ?

IHME not as optimistic as they have been accused of being heretofore! Well, for some vaccines/variants anyway...



http://www.healthdata.org/covid/covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-summary


Edit: well, I guess just AZ jumped out at me, since that's what the parents will be getting. And most likely quite a few more of us..

Irish Times reports that the plan is to try and move through the over 50s at pace by offering every vaccine going and that people in their 40s could be offered AZ and J & J if no other vaccine is available at that point (which is allowed by NIAC).

Strazdas wrote: »

Irish Times reports that the plan is to try and move through the over 50s at pace by offering every vaccine going and that people in their 40s could be offered AZ and J & J if no other vaccine is available at that point (which is allowed by NIAC).

Seems very risky from a PR point of view. They’ll get absolutely crucified for that - effectively deliberately pushing AZ & J&J onto the cohorts that are more at risk from them (a minuscule risk I totally agree), and that the advice says should not get them, by playing with the words of NIAC.
I’ve said many times I’ll take any of them any day of the week and twice on Sunday, but objectively speaking surely the advice “if no other option available” would imply or suggest some element of surprise or logistical difficulty that allows occasional use, not carte blanche to plan to use that wording to dish them out.
Given any vaccine hesitancy is likely to be more in younger people, a woman in her 30s/40s who’s a bit scared of the clotting issue would be well p1ssed off that govt are planning to offer her those vaccines when they could easily plan not to. As someone might say, it’s a bit Irish.

NY Times are reporting here:
- FDA will authorise Pfizer for 12-15 year olds early next week.
- CDC will meet the day after (quicker than expected).
- "Normal gatherings" expected next year in secondary schools as a consequence.
- Fears of greater hesitancy in this group.
- Moderna expects results soon from its own clinical trial involving adolescents ages 12 to 17.