Boosters

It seems to be very hit and miss. My sister has special needs and is very high risk. She still doesn't have her Booster. Her GP is saying that he is not doing that cohort. He says that he has referred her to a MVC. Nothing from HSE yet. Helpline no help. She is on waiting lists with a few local pharmacies.

My daughter , cohort 7 was offered one in an MCV last week .She couldnt go and has tried to get a new appointment now for a week . She text NEW as a reply but it keeps saying " wrong pathway " or something

Im confused about this whole booster set up.

For 50-59 age group do they just have to wait for a text message to come for their booster or can they just walk in and get them? Or do they need to register anywhere first?

Same question for 40-49 age group?

Everyone I know is totally confused about boosters at the moment.

You’ll get a text to go to a centre. Once your group is live, most pharmacies will book you in as well too. The only issue with pharmacies is that they have a limited supply on hand (for instance my local boots has 40 appointments this weekend, so they probably only got 8 vials). They’ve had that trend for the last few weeks as well too.

I was very annoyed at the Taoiseachs bizzare comments in the Dail yesterday, claiming 90,000 not showing up for boosters when it's patently obvious it's the HE'S booking and notification systems that are at fault. Whilst I'm not doubting some hesitancy it's just extraordinary the Taoiseach could stand up in the Dail and make such absurd comments. Loads of people reporting notifications despite already getting booster and just as many stating when they try and cancel HSE appointments they couldn't.

The messaging also all over the place , Still , despite NPHET being gagged. I was flabbergasted at the announcement only Moderna to be offered for Boosters followed by it's expiry date approaching fast , WTF kind signal/ message is that sending out .😳

I got my Pfizer booster last Sat at my GP'S surgery, thankfully.

This really annoyed me too tbh.

My sister who has special needs and very high risk still hasn't got a Booster. GP won't do it so referred to MVC. Rang helpline. Told wait for Appointment. No appointment yet. My Mum drove her to nearest MVC but refused as not over 60. Rang various pharmacies and now eventually has appointment end of next week.

All these wasted appointments when lots of people would happily take them

City Hall, Cork

Booster vaccination clinics

You must wait at least 5 months after your second vaccine dose before you can get your booster.

If you had the single-dose Janssen vaccine, you must wait at least 3 months.

Over 50 year olds

• Saturday 11 December, 9am to 4pm
• Sunday 12 December, 9am to 4pm

healthcare workers over 30 years old only, till 16th (incl.)

healthcare workers under 30 years old only on 17th

Downside it is Moderna

And the majority of Pharmacies (i checked) for alternative options are booked out till after Xmas.

Looks like there's talk in the UK of reinstating the Valneva order they cancelled a couple of months ago.

Valneva are currently testing against Omicron but have stated that "as opposed to the vaccines that target only the spike protein of the virus, its whole-virus inactivated vaccine is based on the full SARS-CoV-2 virus envelope with a potential for a broader immune response." Which sounds like they're expecting their candidate to hold up better against Omicrom than Pfizer's 41-fold drop in neutralisation. Remains to be seen.

In any case I predict that making Valneva available by choice would also mop up a lot of people who are hesitant of taking mRNA vaccines, which anyone claiming interest in improving vaccine coverage should welcome.

I'd be willing to pay for it, tbh, and donate the rest of the vial to anyone else who preferred a more "traditional" vaccine.

I think we already have some on order, or rather have some assigned through the EU procurement. I'm not sure of that though and the last I saw was delivery due for Q3&4 of 2022. By which time, if Omicron proves to be as transmissible (and mild) as you might optimistically presume from the current data, it might be pointless.

At this stage, they should be letting private companies get involved. Let people choose their booster vaccine and the time of when they get it without having to queue in City West or wherever outside for hours, if they are short on time but can afford the vaccine.

I think we will delay it so. At least pfizer have come out and said how they think their vaccine handles omicron. Have heard nothing about Moderna, so could potentially be a waste of a booster time getting that one.

Having never been vaccine hesitant in our lives, we are now.

The reason being that only pfizer have come out and published test results of how well their booster works.

But thats pfizer x 3 shots.

There is nothing about how pfizer x2 plus moderna booster works, And also nothing about how moderna x 3 works against omicron.

It definitly feels like "Get whatever you can into them lads". So if i am taking a punt on which vaccine booster they give me, im just not that confident in the science and the experts anymore.

Anyone have any lins to how well the pfizer x 2 plus morderna booster performs? Might change my mind.

The HSE have lost the plot completely.

They've opened boosters ot 50+ people without finishing off the 60+ cohort. I received a text last night about the importance of getting a booster, and no doubt hundreds of thousands of others did also, and telling people they could go to walk in centres. But today you hear announcements on the radio to tell people to stop going to the UCD centre as it was jammed, which is hardly surprising as it is the only centre on the south side of Dublin. The text I received did not give any indication that I would be offered an appointment.

This is a chaotic way to do things. The text should say something like we will offer you an appointment within 10 days, but if you wish you can also go to the walk in centres or the pharmacies. Then some people would just await the appointment and some would go to the walk ins, but the queues would be manageable and people would know roughly when their appointment would be.

I fail to see why this is such a mess, they had a reasonable plan in the summer and several months to improve their systems in the meantime.

"I think we have decided we are not taking a booster unless its Pfizer."

This is unscientific, if anything heterogeneous vaccination gives better results than than having 3 of the exact same type and Moderna gives slightly better results than Pfizer in many studies. Clearly Pfizer produced a study about Omicron and Pfizer, they are hardly likely to produce a study testing a competitor's vaccine!

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/mixing-pfizer-astraz-covid-19-shots-with-moderna-gives-better-immune-response-uk-2021-12-06/