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?
Why? He's not a medical Dr. He's got a PhD in education, it's embarrassing to pass yourself as a "Doctor" if you're not an MD.
Disagree
I've just 'recovered' (barely any symptoms but positive pcr) from covid. Got the first two shots over the summer. Probably wasn't going to get the booster unless I absolutely had to anyway (family wedding in April there'd be war if I missed over no covid cert) so luckily I'll now be able to avail of a recovery cert for the first half of the year at least. No booster for me!
Your housemate isn't in the clear yet, they could still be in the incubation period as it's less than four days since they had contact with you.
They ought to be isolating or at least testing immediately before meeting anyone.
Two or three people I know have tested positive on day four or five after contact. All boosted, one also with a prior infection.
Antigen tests are really dodgy on days 3-5 when the viral load is on a step incline. They're a better tool for detecting the end of infectiousness than the start.
That's my anecdotes anyway. Hope you get better soon.
I had my 2nd jab in June. Due to not being able to drive and being in a rural area I wasn't able to access the booster before the holidays, and planned to get it ASAP in the new year.
Unfortunately despite not socializing at all over the holidays I got covid symptoms Sunday night tested positive on antigen test monday morning.
The other person in my house was away for the weekend and returned on Sunday. We ate dinner sitting next to each other on the couch Sunday evening (just hours before I got symptoms - my throat got scratchy about 10 pm).
They had the booster 2 weeks ago and have no symptoms yet and tested negative this morning on antigen test. Also where I work most of the other people had the booster and none of them have come down with it, and I probably caught it from a customer at work unless I got it at the grocery store as I haven't been anywhere else.
You can make of that what you will, it's certainly no scientific study but IMO it seems getting the booster would have been possibly beneficial and I regret not pushing myself to make the appointment I had which was a whole county over and would have taken me all day 9 hrs in total between back and forth on the bus plus a taxi and waiting around but the ones around me who were close contacts with me that were boosted didnt get it and I did.
Astrazenica is feck all use vs Omicron it seems anyway after a few months according to articles and that's what i had. The dose i got this week felt exactly like the side effects of the 1st jab.
Wouldn't be worried about the safety of it, but 4 months is very short from the time of the second dose. There is evidence that the initial vaccines should have been a 3 course regime anyway, but probably worth doing a bit of your own research rather than feeling pressured. It's going to have to be annual at some point, so think what makes sense to fit into that (if you think you're likely to get a booster/flu jab in the future anyway).
For what it's worth, effectiveness against omicron with a 3rd dose appears high.
I am really on the fence about the booster. I am late 20s, 4 months double jabbed with Pfizer. Some of my family members getting very upset that I've not booked the booster. I really am a little worried about it, I've taken a lot of vaccines before for various illnesses so that is not the issue. The issue is, none of them require a shot every 3 months. Also, as far as I can see I am healthy, not invincible, but I am double jabbed. Id happily take another vaccine next year, but 3 months? I'm 70-30 not taking it at the moment. Might speak to a GP to convince me.
In the end I'll be forced to take it for travel for work but 9 months is even a bit better than 3.
That's partly because the carefully developed moderation support tools got binned in the "upgrade". Mods are operating with one hand tied behind their backs.
Boards is almost unmoderated for the last 6 months or so, which hasn't helped.
The result is many threads turn into unreadable crap.
One can only presume because the government took fright due to time of year and also wanting to keep up with our EU neighbours. Also there are vaccine stocks to use up and might as well be deployed now. It's very hard for individual citizens to make an informed decision now with the lack of clear information/ profiles on just who is actually ending up in hospital beds/ ICU. Just do as we say, seems to be the mantra.
The last official figure I can find are from the hspc reports. The last report only goes as far as December 4. Was expecting an updated one to be released the last few days ( released every two weeks now after the change in report style in November).
No sign of the updated report yet but id imagine it will surely be released by the end of this week.
A detailed icu report was released yesterday but does not include vaccination break down. It does begin from the same date as the other reports so I am hoping they haven't changed again.
Frustratingly, the older report style was easier to read, was released weekly, and they were just one week out of date on the information.
The new style reports are released every two weeks and are two weeks out of date. If the next one is not released until Friday then it will be three weeks out of date.
It's not just about deaths. It has never been just about the deaths. Where's your age breakdown for those who ended up in ICU? Hospital?
The boosters started pre-Omicron, where there was evidence of vaccines reducing transmission of previous variants such as Alpha and delta. Omicron picture is still emerging.
Some people received only a single dose of J&J vaccine for example, they may be more in need of boosting v Omicron than those who got double dose of mRNA. Ditto for those who received AZ early in the rollout.
Omicron may be less severe, but given how much more transmissible it is a numbers game. More people will get infected, and this creates a compound impact in transmission. Some small % of them will need hospital care among the under 80s \ no conditions cohort. The boosters are about reducing that % even further, and potentially having some impact on cases and transmission. It's a marginal gain for most people though, rather than the big jump in protection for vaccinated v unvaccinated.
No live data AFAIK. Usually there is a summary at the weekly live-streamed HSE COVID briefings (e.g. from Dec 16)
HSPC also provide reports:
Headine figures: Risk of severe outcomes during the month of November 2021
-unvaccinated individuals were 4 times more likely to be hospitalised with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 than fully vaccinated individuals
-unvaccinated individuals were 11 times more likely to be admitted to ICU with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 than fully vaccinated individuals
More recent UK data shows unvaccinated remain at significantly higher risk of severe disease/hospitalisation/ICU:
This in the Irish Times today -
"Of all deaths in the pandemic, 84.5 per cent had underlying conditions, according to the report. Four out of every 10 deaths were in people aged 85 years and over; eight deaths were in people aged under 25."
We have learned that Omnicron is less severe than previous variants. So why boosters for people under about 80 with no underlying health conditions?
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/total-fatalities-with-covid-19-among-healthcare-workers-reaches-20-1.4769397
Ireland almost the highests vaxed country in the World and certainly in the EU and yet has the highest Covid infection rates. Go figure!
Why do so few people in Ireland ask questions, why does everyone fight for places in the booster queue, complacently, acceptingly .... without stopping for one minute and asking "WHY?" What is this going to achieve? Why are we the guinea pigs, being vaccinated and boosted 3 times within one year (and most will also accept a 4th booster without question!) ..... to protect a crumbling and unfit for purpose health service? It it no longer acceptable to call people out as the dirty selfish unvaxed simply because they question the narrative that has gone on for 2 years ! People need to think about their health and the health consequences to their children without being called names. Vaccine passports aren't worth the paper they are written on anymore. The antigen test for returning to Ireland (even if you're triple vaccinated) needs to be scrapped. Most people are carrying around this virus now whether they know it or not.
(I am vaccinated but not getting boosted, not at this stage when 1 in 2 will get Omicron in the next month regardless)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ireland-worst-covid-infections-western-europe-hvfrqfr80
Are there any live figures or sources for numbers of those that are in ICU that are unvaccinated, double vaxxed but not boosted or triple vaxxed?
There was a big media trend here Oct/Nov/Dec with claims of how unvaccinated were clogging up space in ICUs, testimonies for angry and frustrated health care workers etc. This seems to have almost completely stopped in the media as I’m guessing it doesn’t suit the narrative anymore. If it was the case where did the media sources get the figures and are they available now?
Thanks for that. I didn't know there was a vaccine available :)
Get the shingles vaccine when you can. Unfortunately Shingrix isn't available in Ireland, but there's Zostervax.
I'm still waiting to go for the booster because I got shingles (first time) before Christmas and want to wait until that's completely cleared up. I suspect that I actually had covid in the run up to Christmas but was asymptomatic, which brought on shingles as I've heard of several people with the same issue. I was also around 4 people who turned out had covid over Xmas including my husband who I was sharing a bed with and didn't pick it up, so that leads me to believe I already had it.
Not being a vaccine snob, but I really don't want to get the Moderna if I can avoid it with work and two young kids, I just can't 'be sick'. The experiences of some on here sound unpleasant with it.
So I'll probably try to wait until March in case I did have covid and for the shingles to properly clear.
Had a moderna booster this morning feel a bit nasty in the last hour or so and am on my way home with a book to read to try and relax was very easy getting it done booked on line and 10 ahead of me at registration.
I dont think I will. I have had covid so cant actually get my booster yet anyway.
That being said I want to live my life and if I have to get it in order to be able to travel to the countries I want to travel too then I will end up getting it. But otherwise, if I can travel with Neg PCR then I wont get bother.
To be honest I don’t really see what the issue is. It’s the choice of 4 vaccines all created around the same time with about the same testing.
A lot of research also suggests mixing vaccines promotes a better resilience against variants and a higher immune response full stop.
When it comes down to needing a booster to go on holidays or to the pub, vaccine snobbery or whatever it is will go out the window and the complaint will then be ‘why have I to wait a week for an appointment’
The missus is 29 and booked online for the mvc because she couldn't make the day for walk ins but she got an appointment for the next day
Nothing in my eyes.......... but I'm reading here and heard from others that they would have preferred a choice in what they have injected into them. Is that not an important principle in public health?
Why would we do that when we’ve plenty of arms to put them in? What is wrong with Moderna in your eyes?
Hmm.. well could have moved these 'short dated' vaccines elsewhere, could we not? What's the point in stockpiling, just promotes the idea that we may as well use them up as see them go to waste.
Retired Nurse. Though he is a Dr by way of academic achievement, he is not a medical Dr. He should really make that clear to viewers.
A bit of research will show you he also has been shown to have spread misinformation about ivermectin and heart problems related to Covid.
A family member got booster last week that way.
Some MVCs allow to book an appointment slot also.
Am 43, just went to a walk in centre. The HSE Twitter feed is good for keeping an eye on queue lengths. I was in and out in 20 minutes.
To be fair, there’s still plenty of countries around the world that have had the bare minimum of vaccines. If we were picky then how many vaccines would expire and therefore be wasted.
I wanted Pfizer over Moderna as I’m after 2 Pfizer’s already but I wasn’t about to turn down Moderna just ‘because’.
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