The Vaccine

None of the Covid vaccines is ready just yet. Oxford/Astra Zeneca is starting a completely new trial. The others don't yet have enough data. The hype about all of them has mainly come from the media and the excited public.

I'm not concerned about the safety. As I've stated all along, I'm concerned whether they'll do what has been promised. It seems like the licensing authorities are also concerned about efficacy..

I find it reassuring that there have been delays. It shows that safety and efficacy are being taken seriously.

No medical intervention is ever 100% safe, so people need to ask themselves what the alternative is. The alternative would be to stay home for ever or to venture out and risk (even if it's a small risk) catching Covid. For me, the risk of dying or being very seriously ill is quite high is higher than any risk from any vaccine, which have already been tested for safety on tens of thousands of people.

HSV is a virus and they still dont have a cure or a vaccine. I have it on my eyelids, have done for years at least 40+ years. Millions spent on research but no vaccine yet or a cure. Antiviral treatment helps. Can eventually cause blindness.
But they say they have this Covid vaccine ready in just under a year. Not long enough in trials for me yet. Too many things found with severe side effects, diclofenic, thalidomide, dog vaccine that created parvovirus, statins to name a few.
I'm very pro vaccine but worried about this one.

Yes I’m definitely having it, the sooner the better.

M0nica

quizqueen here is a referenc to the current influenza statistics. Published in the usual way they are published every other year assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/923246/National_Influenza_report_1_October_2020_week_40.pdf

Many of those who would have died of flu this winter may well have died already from COVID.

Already posted by trisher earlier. I find reading the full thread helps the discussion ?

quizqueen here is a referenc to the current influenza statistics. Published in the usual way they are published every other year assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/923246/National_Influenza_report_1_October_2020_week_40.pdf

Many of those who would have died of flu this winter may well have died already from COVID.

Just a little message to anti-vaccers: You're blocked from sending me PMs. Please go and spread your nonsense elsewhere.

trisher

MayBee70

Apologies if this has been asked before but what do those of you that don’t agree with the vaccine think we should do to get out of this pandemic and lead a normal life once more?

But the point is that even with the vaccine life will not be as it was before because no one knows how long the immunitygiven by the vaccine will last

Well, we won’t know that until we use it. The alternative being to carry on testing it on volunteers for another year or so, in which time many more people will die. Or suffer from long Covid.

Yes definitely. It’s the only we’re going to get this virus under control. We must trust medical scientists!

MayBee70

Apologies if this has been asked before but what do those of you that don’t agree with the vaccine think we should do to get out of this pandemic and lead a normal life once more?

But the point is that even with the vaccine life will not be as it was before because no one knows how long the immunitygiven by the vaccine will last

The polio vaccine took over 20 years to develop and there were quite a few incidents on the way including batches with simian virus, batches transmitting polio and other failures. In those days vaccines were sometimes tested on children in homes or institutions something no one would do now. Ultimately it was a battle well won but thinkng it happened overnight or easily is entirely false.

My husband used to go to the hospital gates each day to see if his mum was on the polio death list. She died at a relatively young age, possibly due to heart damage because of polio.

You're right, Callistemon. My DM had lost a school friend to diphtheria and knew someone who had polio in the 1940s, and so there was no doubt that I was going to get any immunisations going. The polio one was new at the time, but - amazingly - I'm still here. Vaccine technology has been on the go since the eighteenth century when Edward Jenner started it, and has been getting more sophisticated ever since.

As for thalidomide, it was tested on pregnant animals but not on humans, and so it was a bitter lesson in testing - you can't make assumptions from the results in one species to the results in another.

In other words, scientists are learning all the time, and I am very grateful for their efforts. I am looking forward to getting my life back, even if we will still have to cope with distancing and masks for some time, particularly if we have to work around perfectly fit people who enjoy a good conspiracy theory.

Apologies if this has been asked before but what do those of you that don’t agree with the vaccine think we should do to get out of this pandemic and lead a normal life once more?

Not in more (autocorrect)

In awe

Whitewavemark2

I do wonder if those refusing vaccine have ever received vaccination against other diseases, like polio, TB, etc?

If we're talking about older people on here, I expect they were children when they had those vaccinations and didn't have any choice.

There was no internet, no discussion and people did tend to be in more of those they thought knew more than them. Doctors were put on a pedestal in the 1950s.

Parents had seen the effects of polio or TB on children and were glad that there was a vaccine to prevent it in their own children.

Callistemon

I wonder if there will be fewer deaths from influenza this season because there has been a higher uptake of flu vaccine than in normal years.

Matt Hancock said last week in Parliament that they were seeing fewer flu and respiratory infections than they’d normally expect this time of year.

trisher You are right and many people will agree but, reading what a lot of people are saying on Fb, I can’t help wondering.

Tweedle24

Genuine question — I wonder how many of those saying they will not have the vaccine will have it when they realise that airlines are beginning to insist on it for their passengers (Qantas) and some countries will insist on proof of vaccination before being allowed entry? It might be a different story when they can’t have their holiday in the sun.

Wouldn't make the slightest dfference to me. I wouldn't know for certain when the other passengers had been vaccinated so if they still carried immunity or if a long period had elapsed and their immunity had run out. I wouldn't want to be enclosed in a tight space on the off chance everyone was OK.

We shouldn’t even really catch colds with no mixing, social distancing, masks, frequent hand washing etc (Those of us who can and will). Will be interesting to see what happens. Well not till after Christmas anyway!

I do wonder if those refusing vaccine have ever received vaccination against other diseases, like polio, TB, etc?

Genuine question — I wonder how many of those saying they will not have the vaccine will have it when they realise that airlines are beginning to insist on it for their passengers (Qantas) and some countries will insist on proof of vaccination before being allowed entry? It might be a different story when they can’t have their holiday in the sun.

Don’t forget that people are also isolating, social distancing etc, which means the flu virus has less chance to spread.

Yes, good point.

But Callistemon they're all scientists so interested in facts!

Don’t forget that people are also isolating, social distancing etc, which means the flu virus has less chance to spread.

That will certainly show up in the figures.

trisher

If you are interested in vaccines this is really informative. The length of time that it took to develop a vaccine after a virus was identified is interesting www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline#EVT_100774

You're taking a chance posting that trisher.

I shall be watching the reactions with interest.