Im not convinced the covid vaccine will make any difference!

What the vaccine will afford me is a degree of peace of mind. I'm absolutely with teacheranne. Can't wait to be offered, and take up mine. Obviously I will continue to practise all the safeguards but I know I will have a huge degree of inner contentment and that means a lot to me.

The vaccine seems to be our only way out of this pandemic to my way of thinking. The poor NHS is so badly stretched now, it is absolutely terrifying. Yes, we’ll still have to be very careful for some time yet with the precautions we’ve been following, but the vaccine seems to be our only hope. Surely we want some normality restored, to see our friends and family, to go about our daily lives, to not have this constant worry. We cannot go on like this, the NHS cannot go on like this, the economy cannot go on like this. The situation right now is dire, of nightmare proportions. So many deaths, so many life-changing health conditions (long COVID). So many other health conditions going untreated. COVID is a modern-day plague. My arm is more than ready! I’m in my 60’s, so the vaccine will be a few more weeks (or even months?!) away, but i’m waiting patiently! To the doubters amongst you, please seriously reconsider having the vaccine. What other choices you we have?

The two doses provide a much higher level of protection than the annual flu vaccines do - at least 90% compared to about 60% for flu vaccines.

Like the flu vaccines, it will need to be updated and an annual vaccination may be required. The first wave of the Spanish flu was not as deadly as the second wave which had mutated.

If the bulk of the population is vaccinated by autumn, will just be about time for flu jabs again, then possible annual doses of Covid vaccine again.

The NHS will constantly be vaccinating all year round at this rate.

It’ll be interesting how things go in Israel given that they’re way ahead of everyone else in vaccinating the entire population.

I've lost faith in the vaccine. They're wasting their money and giving a false sense of security.

ExD

I've lost faith in the vaccine. They're wasting their money and giving a false sense of security.

How can you lose faith in something that is hardly yet under way?

How do you know it is a waste of money? Will it cost more than COVID has cost us - not just the economy but lives?

Why will it be a false sense of security?
Do you have the flu vaccine? Do you take out house insurance, travel insurance? You still have to take care even if you do those things.

And who are they. Government, scientists, the NHS?

ExD

I've lost faith in the vaccine. They're wasting their money and giving a false sense of security.

Will you be refusing yours, then?
I hope you let them know so that someone else can move up the list.

Just an anecdote, but I know someone who had covid last March. He was very recently tested (I assume with the antigen test) and still has antibodies 9 months later.

Whereas my SiL had covid, also in March, and has just had it again.

Surely it's best to be a little optimistic.... There is every chance that the vaccine will offer some protection, which is better than nothing.

Genty One concern I do have is the long term effects of this 'rushed' vaccine! No one knows if this vaccine will cause any side effects in years to come.

How many times does this have to be explained? And how long do you want to wait? 5 years? 10 years?

I’m another who can’t wait Kim19!
?

An extended family member, aged 95y and totally self caring, had his second Pfizer jab 10 days ago. Great news! As he said, strangely he got his before Prince Philip and he’s even older!

I am willing to take that chance! I don't want to die of old age while being stuck in Lockdown!! If we are given a chance of going out and about again, I will grab it with both hands for as long as I can! If the vaccine causes me problems I'll just have to get on with it!!

The vaccine is only as good as the virus it's protecting. I remember reading an article based on the 'flu vaccine in 2019 which said that it hadn't worked against the strain of 'flu doing its rounds at the time. Viruses are changeing all the time.

But the vaccines can be altered quite quickly to account for new variants. Just a matter of weeks I believe. We can’t look on the vaccine as the be all and end all of this pandemic, just another weapon in our war against it. Going forward we need to re appraise a lot of things, one of them being our relationship with animals as there will be more of these viruses in the future. By that I don’t mean having family pets etc but animal husbandry, the hunting and eating of wild animals etc.

Sparklefizz

Genty One concern I do have is the long term effects of this 'rushed' vaccine! No one knows if this vaccine will cause any side effects in years to come.

How many times does this have to be explained? And how long do you want to wait? 5 years? 10 years?

Also I’d be inclined to think the long term effects of Covid would be much worse.

Plus as honey rose says , what else do you suggest ExD?

I am deeply concerned that while the manufacturers tested their vaccines on a two jabs three weeks apart regime the govt. is attempting to alter the schedule without any research being done. Surely this is completely unethical in the medical sense.

The Covid virus can’t be compared with the flu virus EllanVannin, because there are a large number of flu viruses circulating worldwide, so each year the content of the vaccine is adapted to match the strain that is the most prevalent elsewhere at the time of development in the world - typically the UK vaccine is based on the experience in Australia in their winter before ours. Usually the predictions are not too far off, but some years the vaccine that is developed doesn’t match the strain of flu that is prevalent in the UK.
At the moment, because Covid 19 is a new virus, and is being studied worldwide for mutations, we will know quickly when a mutation that doesn’t respond to the vaccination develops, the scientists are already predicting what that might be and working on the vaccines to counteract.

ExD

I've lost faith in the vaccine. They're wasting their money and giving a false sense of security.

On what evidence do you base this??

Ok Ext. Shall we just scrap the vaccination programme completely and save some money?See how the rest of the pandemic pans out.
Such negativity.I for one count my blessings to live in a country with amazing scientists ,the offer of free vaccination and a system that may not be perfect but is a hell of a lot better than many.Someone I know from South Africa thinks there's a lot of moaning minnies in this country.She says try living with their lockdown restrictions,and health care.

Do you honestly believe what you have written Genty ?

We have two vaccines so far both of which have performed extremely well in trials but you decide to discount all that work done by scientists.

Negative comments like that are not helpful at all when we should be doing all we can to encourage everyone to have the vaccine when it’s offered.

I’m sure you know that no vaccine is 100% effective but these two at 70 and 90% is pretty good.

To quote my daughter after reading her this post.... “ oh well, let’s all go out and die then”.

Esspee

I am deeply concerned that while the manufacturers tested their vaccines on a two jabs three weeks apart regime the govt. is attempting to alter the schedule without any research being done. Surely this is completely unethical *in the medical sense.*

I've just answered this very same post from you Esspee on another thread. The answer hasn't changed. Here we are:

That is incorrect. Pfizer presented their results showing what happened when you are give two doses around 3 weeks apart. They have said that they did not carry out experimentation on any longer gap. That doesn't mean it doesn't work

The JCVI, who are senior scientists with knowledge of immunology and public health, looked at these tests in light of all the other vaccines that have ever been developed in the history of the world. A longer gap is generally more effective, and certainly not less. They do what they always do - looked at trial results and decided how to act on them.

The Government aren't changing anything. Just forget the ""unethical" argument, its just wrong.