Does the Astra Zeneca vaccine work?

Yes it definitely works, if it didn’t there would be thousands of people in the UK in hospital right now.

Of course it works. (I deleted the swear word)

I don't know what Dame Sarah Gilbert thinks of all this, all that effort she and her team put in to have a vaccine that is over 90% effective and people are saying "oh it doesn't work"

I used the screenshot rather than go to the PHE source data because this is clearer. I think Casdon is more conciliatory than me

Casdon is right, it has done a wonderful job here. Cases may be rising, but hospitalisations and deaths are barely moving, the vaccines have broken the link, and the majority of the over 50s had the Astra Zeneca jab.

Yes it does work. I got my antibodies tested and found that I have the highest level of protection despite being immunosuppressed.

Alegrias1

Of course it works. (I deleted the swear word)

I don't know what Dame Sarah Gilbert thinks of all this, all that effort she and her team put in to have a vaccine that is over 90% effective and people are saying "oh it doesn't work"

I used the screenshot rather than go to the PHE source data because this is clearer. I think Casdon is more conciliatory than me

Thanks for that. Sister in Germany has AZ, only getting her second one on Sunday, and she is 70. Must say the EU knee jerk reaction to this has caused much harm and huge delays in the world vaccination programme. That is from her perspective and her German friends.

Sure does. As my nephew who is a doctor in one of the current infection hotspots will tell you!

Infection rising, hospital admissions stable, deaths very low.

Given that he was dealing with many daily deaths before the vaccine, he thinks it’s a miracle.

My friends family had the Indian variant recently (as in a few weeks ago) Her husband had 2 AZ vaccines and is immune supressed and only had covid symptoms very very mildly. She had only recently had one vaccine but said she felt like she had a very bad cold. Another friends husband had unknown variant of covid and she had also had 2 AZ vaccines and didn't catch it all. Same in my cousins house, so basing it on people I know I think it must work

shysal

Yes it does work. I got my antibodies tested and found that I have the highest level of protection despite being immunosuppressed.

How do you get your antibodies tested?

Chestnut

shysal

Yes it does work. I got my antibodies tested and found that I have the highest level of protection despite being immunosuppressed.

How do you get your antibodies tested?

It's a trial but some keyworkers are tested too www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/antibody-testing-to-check-if-youve-had-coronavirus/

I think there is more than enough evidence to show that it really does work.

Chestnut, I paid for a home testing kit from Lloyd's Pharmacy.
onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com/uk/coronavirus-covid-19-testing/covid-19-antibody-test-kit

Yes, of course it works. Ask the people doubting it to provide the evidence it doesn't work. Proper peer revewed papers in accredited medical journals, not some charlatans social media site.

Is this because EU won’t let us in if we have had the AZ vaccine made in India? There is nothing wrong with the Indian one before anyone panics.

25Avalon

Is this because EU won’t let us in if we have had the AZ vaccine made in India? There is nothing wrong with the Indian one before anyone panics.

Fake news. Whole other thread on the topic. Scaremongering by the Telegraph.

Who'd a thunk it?

Alegrias it’s in all the papers. It is because some batches of the Indian manufacture have not yet been approved by the EMA.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57628123.amp

nanna8 yes of course it works I m afraid the scaremongering has been because for once in our life U.K. got something right
Not much we do get right but this one we did and of course other scientists and other countries need a reason and something to blame as to why they are behind
Have it with good will it will protect you

My DD, who lives in Australia, and works in the care industry, was told before her vaccination that the only one available was the AZ one, and “you could die from it” (the jab).

She went ahead regardless!

I think she said they are not offering it to under 60’s there now, but that could be certain states, I don’t know for definite. She is 46.

Their vaccination programmes seems very hit and miss, not ordered enough from the sound of it.

It definitely works I've been having monthly antibody tests as part of the ONS survey and pre vaccination had no antibodies, since the first vaccine I've shown antibodies. I'm now fully vaccinated and still being tested monthly.

Thank you all so much for your comments. I just wish people here could hear this. They have really been very negative about it and as they have totally stuffed up getting any other vaccine people are not being vaccinated. The younger ones are waiting for Pfizer but we haven’t got much of that at all. It is appalling and frustrating and god help those who have family overseas or are stuck in another country because they are clamping down again on numbers allowed to travel.

This is why there is a reluctance, nanna8 and I have been hearing about this for some time:

The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Omar Khorshid, says he does not endorse the prime minister’s announcement that anyone under 40 can receive the AstraZeneca vaccine from their GP, adding it took him by surprise.

The advice from the independent Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation – that Pfizer is the preferred vaccine for under-60s due to an increased risk of rare clotting events linked to the AstraZeneca jab – is unchanged.

“It took us by surprise, and it’s hard to know how to take that announcement because I think it’s going to be a limited number of people to take it up, given that they would be going against the expert Atagi recommendation,” Khorshid told Guardian Australia on Tuesday.

“Our recommendation is still really for patients to follow the Atagi advice. Be patient and have the Atagi-recommended vaccine when it’s available. I am certainly still backing the expert advice at this stage.”

Atagi comprises independent infectious diseases physicians, microbiologists, epidemiologists, public health nurses, GPs and consumer representatives. Its advice states there is “a higher risk and observed severity of thrombosis [clotting] and thrombocytopenia [low platelet count] syndrome related to the use of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine observed in Australia in the 50-59 year old age group than reported internationally and initially estimated in Australia”.

Guardian Australia

Many Australians are waiting for alternative vaccines to become available.

nanna8 your Government needs to try to obtain alternative vaccines asap because when a body like ATAGI advises against younger people having the AZ vaccine, then people will of course become reluctant to have it.

25Avalon

Alegrias it’s in all the papers. It is because some batches of the Indian manufacture have not yet been approved by the EMA.

and apparently people who received those batches will not be considered as double vaccinated for travelling.

25Avalon

Alegrias it’s in all the papers. It is because some batches of the Indian manufacture have not yet been approved by the EMA.

as I understand it, the EU is only approving batches that they have received a part of. As they didn't get any part of those batches, they won't approve them. I voted to stay but I think the EU have made a spiteful dog's breakfast of the vaccine roll out.