The Vaccine

I have reread my reply to Nonni53 and can see nothing snide in it.

trisher, I don't think it can be done by area, not now, when people move and travel everywhere.

It seems to me that we'll have a pretty long wait to get the vaccine anyway. First will be health workers and the elderly in care homes (quite rightly) followed by the very elderly in the community.

That leaves months of waiting for anyone under 80, doesn't it? I'd be first in the queue. Having mainly isolated since February, I can't wait to get out and about.

Any little worries about the vaccine (I have many allergies) are swamped by real concern about catching the virus!

I have read a very reassuring piece recently explaining how the Oxford vaccine has been produced so quickly.

There were a number of factors which sped up the process including the fact that they had been expecting and preparing for a pandemic so had made a start even before they had the genetic code to continue.

Funding wasn’t a problem, neither was recruiting enough volunteers for the trial.

It was also stressed that during normal vaccine trials, years go by when nothing is done, not because it actually takes years to produce.

The regulators have been following the trial at each stage so that should speed up the final stage.

It is all so reassuring and answered many of the questions about how it could have been produced so quickly.

I also get cross with all the fake scaremongering around what has been the most fantastic achievement.

I will most definitely have the vaccine when I am offered it.

I LOVE the traffic lights analogy. ?

The reason traffic lights go red is to let other vehicles just like you get their turn, not so that everyone can stand around for a while and decide if its safe to go on.

It has not been established whether any of the vaccines actually prevents transmission, so no area can be Covid-free (even if nobody ever entered the area from another). All we do know is that it has been shown to stop most people from developing serious symptoms, but that doesn't mean they're not infectious. The reason for prioritising over 70s is because they're in the age group who suffer symptoms the worst.

annsixty

Has everyone made up their minds about the vaccine yet?

I an 83 so in what is possibly the second group to be offered it.
I just cannot make a decision about whether or not to accept.

I have always had the flue jab, had pneumonia one and shingles, so why am I so undecided about this?

I have spoken to several friends in the same age group and they are all eager to go ahead, in fact one is champing at the bit and says he will be first in the queue.

Any thoughts ?

The main effect of vaccines is to protect other people; none are 100% effective so you need as many people to take them as possible to protect those for whom teh vaccine didn't work. The fact that they also protect you is a welcome side effect.

So, win-win really.

But it hasn't been established whether the vaccine does protect other people. The only beneficiary will be the person who is vaccinated.

growstuff

But it hasn't been established whether the vaccine does protect other people. The only beneficiary will be the person who is vaccinated.

The vaccine protects other people by reducing the incidence of the virus in the community and therefore reducing the chances of coming into contact with it.

I can't understand why Piers Corbyn hasn't been arrested as he seems to lead an anti-vax demo every weekend. Why not make a big example of him?. Perhaps because by arresting him he would then have an even bigger platform to spout forth his views? The best plan is to ignore these people, don't give them air space.

Trisher that analogy really isn't reassuring. Traffic lights are there for a reason, they only turn green if the way ahead is entirely safe

From Wikipedia:
Peter Openshaw FRCP FMedSci is an English clinician and scientist specialising in lung immunology, particularly defence against viral infections. He created the academic department of Respiratory Medicine and the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College and was elected President of the British Society for Immunology in 2014

If the traffic light analogy is good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.

Even when people are vaccinated we still need to follow the hands face space ventilate rules for a considerable amount of time. However I very much doubt that people will.

MayBee70

Even when people are vaccinated we still need to follow the hands face space ventilate rules for a considerable amount of time. However I very much doubt that people will.

Exactly! And I wish that everybody understood that. The vaccine will hopefully protect the person vaccinated from serious symptoms, but it won't protect other people and probably won't stop community transmission. The only way that will happen is if people continue to follow all the safe distancing rules.

Petera

growstuff

But it hasn't been established whether the vaccine does protect other people. The only beneficiary will be the person who is vaccinated.

The vaccine protects other people by reducing the incidence of the virus in the community and therefore reducing the chances of coming into contact with it.

No, it hasn't been established that it does that.

Trials have shown that people who are infected usually don't develop severe symptoms, but there have been no trials on whether those people are infectious in the first few days before they know they're infected and when they are most infectious. They could be wandering around infecting others without knowing they're a carrier.

DH spoke to someone today on the phone that has elderly relatives who caught COVID and they hadn’t left their flat for months and followed every guideline. All they can think is that they caught it via the heating/air con system in their block of flats. Things like that really freak me out.

It depends what kind of heating/air cons system it is and how often the filters are changed. Some systems have been shown to spread infection, eg on cruise ships.

Í do think that teachers and all staff at schools should be amongst the very first people eligible for vaccination. This emphasis on 'the old' worries me, and, it seems, as if - yet again - our young people at colleges and schools are being pushed aside.

"The old" are the ones most likely to die if they get the virus Franbern. The purpose of the vaccination is to save lives and relieve the pressure on hospitals, not decide whose life is most worthy of saving.

Franbern

Í do think that teachers and all staff at schools should be amongst the very first people eligible for vaccination. This emphasis on 'the old' worries me, and, it seems, as if - yet again - our young people at colleges and schools are being pushed aside.

It's a question of priorities. There aren't yet enough vaccines to go round the whole population - and certainly not enough people to administer them within a short time.

Young people aren't being pushed aside, but they're the least likely to suffer severe symptoms and the vaccine will probably not stop them from infecting other people.

Cross post Alegrias.

I don't think the limitations ofthe vaccine are beng publicised widely enough and I do think most people imagine that if they are vaccinated life will be exactly as it was pre-covid

Franbern

Í do think that teachers and all staff at schools should be amongst the very first people eligible for vaccination. This emphasis on 'the old' worries me, and, it seems, as if - yet again - our young people at colleges and schools are being pushed aside.

Well yes I’ve been wondering about teachers being vaccinated. They’re usually offered free flu jabs (I think) so shouldn’t they be somewhere in the priority list ?

Lucca

Franbern

Í do think that teachers and all staff at schools should be amongst the very first people eligible for vaccination. This emphasis on 'the old' worries me, and, it seems, as if - yet again - our young people at colleges and schools are being pushed aside.

Well yes I’ve been wondering about teachers being vaccinated. They’re usually offered free flu jabs (I think) so shouldn’t they be somewhere in the priority list ?

Just whistling in the wind, Growstuff, just whistling in the wind.....

Vaccines are very safe, and the reason so many people think there is a risk goes back to a doctor called Andrew Wakefield who was struck off in 2010 when the GMC found that he had been dishonest in his research, acted against his patients' best interests and mistreated children. I think he may have a personality disorder but my own personal feeling about MMR (measles mumps and rubella) vaccine is based on my own daughter being born with congenital rubella. There was no vaccine when I was young, so I got symptomless rubella without knowing it when I was pregnant. At her birth we were told she could be some or all of: blind, deaf, with mental defects, permanent heart disease, and infertile when she grew up, and we had to get her checked all the time as a baby, then for the next 20 years. It was a nightmare. So please, don't risk spreading any disease to others by not getting vaccinated - even if you don't care if you, yourself, live or die.

trisher

I don't think the limitations ofthe vaccine are beng publicised widely enough and I do think most people imagine that if they are vaccinated life will be exactly as it was pre-covid

I agree. Many people seem to think that if they have the jab, they won't catch Covid and can go about their business as normal without infecting anybody else.