Vaccination misinformation

Of course I hope that there will be some kind of vaccine. I just get a bit cross when we read headlines about some breakthrough being imminent, only for hopes to be dashed yet again. The reality is that there's unlikely to be anything for many months or years.

Meanwhile, we have to manage the situation we're in and I agree with others about the measures we need to take. Like many others, I'm vulnerable and really want to avoid risk wherever possible.

I'm not cowering behind my sofa nor am I going to brush it all off and say "what will be is what will be" and ignore the risks. As individuals we can't control much, but we do have some control over our owns actions. Like many others, I choose not put myself at risk and I don't want to put others at risk either.

This is the wrong thread, but I get cross when I read about people saying stuff like "we can't go on like this forever" and "we need to get business/education restarted". Yes, all are true, but not at any price.

T-cells also decline with age which is the major factor in response to Covid-19 and death rates.

Furret
You must have seen/heard/read the same things I’ve seen. T-call immunity appears to be very important re finding both immunity in individuals and a vaccine.
Also antibodies are often not seen or apparently developed in patients of Covid19 but they may have good immunity via their T-cell immunity. It’s all new, scientists are working very hard to give us a vaccine. I hope they’ll succeed.

I don’t think a vaccine based on stimulating an antibody immune response will be effective. There is evidence emerging that even people who have had the virus may not show long term immunity - possibly only months.

More promising is T-cell immunity.

I think we must remain positive and believe that a vaccine will be found. Scientists all over the world are working on this so surely something will be discovered to combat this scourge on our society. I'm a glass half full type of person though.

We all need to take notice of these local outbreaks, packing and picking operations, these are young people, living and working in close quarters. Pretty much the same as the cruise ship epidemics, if there is enough virus circulating for long enough nobody is safe.

We are going to need to keep our distance and wear masks for a long time yet!.

Well said Franbern while not shielding as such, I've been very careful throughout till today when I ventured into shops. Left disappointed and worried about having been too close to people. Masks still not mandatory in shops let's hope they'll be soon.

Srry first sentence should have read 'treatment and care for those with the more virulent attacks has improved enormously. So much more knowledge about this treatment and care, and that is the way to go.

On another note, a caller to James O'Brien this morning suggested that the people less likely to obey the rules and to wear masks etc were more likely to be Brexiteers. Par for the course, given that the right wing in America refuse to wear masks because it affects their freedom of choice!

I am not expecting a vaccine for some time (if ever). However, there is no doubt that the treatment and care of those with the more virulent attack of it.

We seem to have forgotten that the reason for the original lockdown was far more to do with giving the hospitals and the (underfunded, and under-resourced) NHS a period to try to be able to cope with the large number of cases. To a large degree this was successful.

The downside of that lockdown will be felt probably for decades, in the downturn in the economy and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and the mental health problems which result form this and and also from the lockdown itself.

I made the decision that whatever life I had left I intended to live it as fully as possible. Obviously, take some sensible precautions - but have continued with my weekly Sainsbury shop, gone out most days, never went OTT with washing down my shopping or stripping off all my clothes each time I returned home. Did and still do lots of hand washing.

I am very concerned about the number of people I see on sites such as GN who are now very scared to leave their homes. Agrophobia seems to be taking hold - they say that it takes all their courage to walk to the end of their road and cannot wait to rush back to the 'safety of indoors;. This is not just people who have been Shielded, but others older people. They rely on others working - for their food supplies, their utilities, everything. And, they live in fear about their own adult children who are at work. Not a good way to live at all.

Yes, I think cases will increase in winter, along with all the other normal winter illnesses and deaths which occur every year.

we are perhaps, fortunate that this particular virus, although it appears to be highly infectious is not very high on morbitity. Just think what would have happend if it had been Sars, etc.

Yes, we will learn to live with this as we also have learned to live with influenza, cancer, and strokes and heart attacks.

A scientist from King's College was on Channel 4 News this evening talking about the possibility of a vaccine and also antibodies.

She said that the protection from antibodies varies depending upon how sick the individual has been. So, those who have been very sick will have longer lasting antibodies compared with those who were not very ill. She also warned about trying to get the illness in order to get the antibodies! (she said that with a smile, but was serious).

This virus seems to mutate more quickly than normal flu so it's possible that if/when there is a vaccine, the immunity will not last as long as that provided by the flu virus.

Last week, a study suggested that 30 per cent of Swedes have built up immunity to the virus. It would help explain why Covid-19 has been fizzling out in Sweden.

I wonder if encountering small amounts of the virus could help build up a tolerance.
So if we are using all the precautions, it could still be circulating but far fewer people would become very ill.

Even if that's right, tho, I guess older people and those with existing illnesses would still be very vulnerable.

Also the acute worry I suffered about my daughter and her husband has lifted. The danger is always there, but there is sufficient PPE, their care homes are now Covid19 free, and the local Covid19 hub is closed.
However one son and daughter in law are now going back to work, so I’m a bit worried about that.

I saw that too growstuff but then again, the immunity could be jump started once the person comes into contact with the infection again. The truth is that we just don’t know. The scientists don’t know either but are working very hard on finding vaccines and treatments. I really want to be optimistic. I have suffered from depression previously and still take medication to ward it off. I found the weeks of complete lockdown difficult and depressing, even though I felt reassured by the lockdown. It was the absence of my real life that made me depressed. Mornings were difficult, which is common in depression. Since I’ve ventured out more, taking precautions wherever necessary, my mood has lifted. This is why I must try to be positive, and to see an end to all this somewhere in the future.

Immunity to Covid-19 could be lost in months, UK study suggests.

Exclusive: King’s College London team found steep drops in patients’ antibody levels three months after infection.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/12/immunity-to-covid-19-could-be-lost-in-months-uk-study-suggests

Hetty58

The Oxford vaccine is already undergoing initial testing. It is a new type, unlike (therefore incomparable with) most existing vaccinations - and if it's effective it will be available from early next year:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53061288

The key word is if. The fact is that none of the scientists know that their vaccines will be effective.

We haven't even got over the first spike.

Given that there is unlikely to be a vaccine any time soon, the government needs a different strategy. It needs to be pro-active in preventing spread. If that means locking down early and hard where it's needed, that's what it should do.

In the long run, lock down is less damaging to the economy than doing nothing.

Just how soon and how effective a vaccine is going to be is very uncertain, we have seen how damaging to the economy a 3 month lock down has been. Whatever mistakes have been made is in the past, the government will not want to return to a full lockdown although local restrictions are likely.

It’s likely a second spike next winter will be allowed to run its course but restricted in its spread by mandatory PPE and social distancing.

Quite honestly I’m shocked that anyone expects a vaccine so quickly after still not having one for the common cold

Summerlove As I said upthread, the common cold is caused by several different types of virus and that’s why there isn’t a vaccine against it.
As for safety, why should a vaccine against COVID be any less safe than the flu vaccine that most of us have each year?
The flu vaccine is new & different every year because different strains of flu appear every year.
The trials aren’t just about safety, I think they’re mainly about efficacy.
I have put my name down - in the event of being invited to take part, I’m confident that there would be a full & proper consent process which would explain any anticipated dangers.
Having not been able to contribute so far to the efforts to control the pandemic, apart from strictly observing lockdown, I’d be glad to help a vaccination trial.

The Oxford vaccine is already undergoing initial testing. It is a new type, unlike (therefore incomparable with) most existing vaccinations - and if it's effective it will be available from early next year:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53061288

Esspee

Do you feel that the government needs to be more honest about the possibility of a vaccine being discovered?
I feel so sorry for the people shielding who jump on every press release indicating it is only a matter of time before our scientists discover a vaccine, yet have no idea that after 50 years of research no vaccine has been created for any coronavirus, some much more deadly that the one that is causing the present pandemic?

Quite honestly I’m shocked that anyone expects a vaccine so quickly after still not having one for the common cold.

I’m shocked how many would take one tomorrow if produced!

I’m very pro vaccination, but these things take time and many trials!

I’m honestly shocked how few people seem to know this.

I’m not placing all of my eggs in the basket of a vaccine but scientific progress is being made on all sorts of fronts so who knows what the future holds?

In the meantime, I take the measures we are told to take, in order to keep me & mine safe.

Esspee

Do you feel that the government needs to be more honest about the possibility of a vaccine being discovered?
I feel so sorry for the people shielding who jump on every press release indicating it is only a matter of time before our scientists discover a vaccine, yet have no idea that after 50 years of research no vaccine has been created for any coronavirus, some much more deadly that the one that is causing the present pandemic?

Yes.

SueDonim

Are you suggesting that because I have hope that I am incautious and irresponsible, Growstuff? . It is possible to be all of these things at the same time.

No, but I'm realistic about a vaccine and I don't hold out any hope at all that will be one available in the near future. Hope doesn't really have much meaning.

Are you suggesting that because I have hope that I am incautious and irresponsible, Growstuff? . It is possible to be all of these things at the same time.