Only other side effects really were some aches and very short headaches. All that's pretty much gone now.
The vaccines | vaxxed boosted unvaxxed? New poll
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
One for the stats fans.
We all love a league table or a graph telling a story. Sometimes that tells us that, "X is doing a better job of vaccinating its over 60s than Y." Sometimes it's comparing hospitalisations in the vaxxed versus hospitalisations in the unvaxxed. The trouble is that while a lot of countries know how many people they've vaxxed, they don't know how many people are unvaxxed.
A description of the issue and why it's a problem:
We all love a league table or a graph telling a story. Sometimes that tells us that, "X is doing a better job of vaccinating its over 60s than Y." Sometimes it's comparing hospitalisations in the vaxxed versus hospitalisations in the unvaxxed. The trouble is that while a lot of countries know how many people they've vaxxed, they don't know how many people are unvaxxed.
A description of the issue and why it's a problem:
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With production of some of the covid vaccines, like J&J, slow to build up, other vaccines like Novavax not delivering at all, and India (who were expected to be a big supplier to COVAX) having to focus on its internal needs rather than the export market - lots of the world are still waiting for vaccines.
COVAX/GAVI was expected to handle a lot of the global vaccine distribution but it simply hasn't received the vaccines to distribute.
A report on some of the vaccine producers who are stepping in:
COVAX/GAVI was expected to handle a lot of the global vaccine distribution but it simply hasn't received the vaccines to distribute.
A report on some of the vaccine producers who are stepping in:
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I was surprised to find out my 60 year old parents are getting their booster dose today 6 months after the first round. Is that really necessary when half the world is still waiting to start?
It depends who you listen to. There's evidence that it's really an essential third dose for some people - people with organ transplants, blood cancers and some other conditions, or who take medications that affect the immune response.
For others it may be unnecessary. In the UK they vaccinated the over 80s and some other high risk groups first. There's evidence that their protection is going down, and that the booster/third dose fixes it. If you only look at the vaccine as a method to stop people dying there's a case for stopping at that point.
Or you assume that the decline in performance in the over 80s, will become a decline for the over 70s etc etc once they get past that 6 to 8 month mark. In which case you carry on boosting all the over 50s before you get to that stage.
This approach also seems to have the advantage that with a big dose of fresh antibodies, you probably stop not just severe disease (hospitalisations and deaths) - you can stop infections (and further spread) and long covid etc.
Of course it's another impact on global rollout, the UK is going to use millions of doses to do it. In terms of lives saved, those doses could do more in under-vaccinated countries, but that's not generally how national public health authorities see their responsibilities.
Incidentally, the biggest boost in the UK in terms of cutting hospitalisations and deaths would be to vaccinate the unvaxxed. In particular it's worth fighting really hard to vax the unvaxxed over 60s. Success in getting those last few percent could make a big difference.
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BuT VacCiNeS Don’T StOp TRanNsMissiOn…
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Interesting article from the US taking about vaccine take-up and why a large number of people have remained unvaccinated.
The UK has some similarities. If we replace the words "no private health insurance" with the idea of groups that find it hard to trust (or get access to good quality) healthcare, then maybe even more similarities.
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The UK has some similarities. If we replace the words "no private health insurance" with the idea of groups that find it hard to trust (or get access to good quality) healthcare, then maybe even more similarities.
10 days ago my parents took 3rd shot, kinda unhapppy that they couldnt switch to non Sinofarm one, didnt want to be a smart ass and force the issue, their doctor kinda recommended sticking to Chinese one, so be it. Something might change if there is ever a need for 4th.
Good news that i am having some uncles/aunts coming around and finally they decided to get a shot, they want to pick between Pfizer and Moderna (If there is such option), asked me which one is better, i have no idea about it, so can anyone share some knowledge or experiences regarding those two.
Good news that i am having some uncles/aunts coming around and finally they decided to get a shot, they want to pick between Pfizer and Moderna (If there is such option), asked me which one is better, i have no idea about it, so can anyone share some knowledge or experiences regarding those two.
Pfizer was fine for me - arm ache the day after the first one, twelve hours of malaise the day after the second one. Absolutely nothing that should dissuade anyone from getting them.
Thank you.
Met up with 10-12 people from office, one of them tested positive 2 days later.. and passed it on to only 1 other person. All of us were double jabbed with AZ/Covishield and spent many hours indoors with the person who was originally positive.
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https://valneva.com/press-release/v...djuvanted-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-vla2001/
Cautiously excited - hopefully this assay validation thing won't hold up approval too long (looks nervously at Novavax)
edit: if anyone wants to dig around in the data, it's here: https://valneva.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021_10_18_CovCompare_Phase3_Results_Presentation.pdf
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I work in fundraising for one of the UN agencies, and we've raised a ridiculous amount this year off the back of COVAX. Reporting on it next year is going to be a bit of a conundrum.
Glad to hear of other countries trying to find their own internal solutions though. Just wish the imbalance of distribution between rich and poor countries didn't mean a potential 100m doses were going to go to waste.
Looks good. As late in the day as this and others like Novavax are arriving, there's still a massive job to do globally. Fridge storage vaccines are important, and so is having a range of vaccines available.
A real shame that it got so soundly rubbished by Javid etc. It's one thing saying that it will arrive too late to be useful to the UK, it's quite another to suggest that it won't get approval.
Just because the results are so striking...
Meanwhile on the booster rollout:
So it's not that England has decided to prioritise booster rollout.
England's rollout to the U18s is still crawling along. Looks like it'll need a major revamp to get it moving quickly enough to matter.Tweet
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Meanwhile on the booster rollout:
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So it's not that England has decided to prioritise booster rollout.
I am still considering if I should get a booster when I get the message, everywhere I read, interviews etc, they say it should only be for immunocompromised and elderly for now, younger healthy people should wait.
I believe FDA even doesn't recommend booster for younger healthy people.
I believe FDA even doesn't recommend booster for younger healthy people.
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I'm 43 in a few weeks, happy to murder a few elderly people if I can bump myself up the list for a booster.
Bring on the dead arm day.
Bring on the dead arm day.
Got my booster yesterday. Not nearly the same side effects as #2 which knocked me on my ass for 10 hours.
A nice piece of "anecdata" on boosters:
All the usual stuff applies. Just one person. We don't know how antibody levels equate to vaccine effectiveness or protection from serious illness. Real immune responses aren't just about circulating antibodies.
But, a really intriguing image that seems to show that the booster might actually be dose 3. All three doses were Pfizer.
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All the usual stuff applies. Just one person. We don't know how antibody levels equate to vaccine effectiveness or protection from serious illness. Real immune responses aren't just about circulating antibodies.
But, a really intriguing image that seems to show that the booster might actually be dose 3. All three doses were Pfizer.
Got my booster (3rd Pfizer) this afternoon and so far not even a sore arm.
edit: about 18 hours after the jab, my arm is sore. Just like the 1st two times.
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So in simple terms, why are cases skyrocketing? Is it a drop in effectiveness of the vaccines that were first given 6 months or so ago, or rose in variant cases that circumvent vaccine effectiveness?
I honestly can’t tell where we are anymore with so much mixed messaging in the media - is the “light at the end of the tunnel” flickering??
I honestly can’t tell where we are anymore with so much mixed messaging in the media - is the “light at the end of the tunnel” flickering??
In the UK, most of the cases are in the unvaccinated, particularly in under 18s who we've been slow to vaccinate, and under 12s who we aren't vaccinating.
If you mean why is it a problem for the NHS, that's a bit different. Even a very effective vaccine in a country with high case rates will mean a lot of vaccinated people catching covid, and some of them will get seriously ill.
People who had second doses more than 6 months ago (and some other people whose immune system didn't mount a strong response to the vaccine) are experiencing a loss in effectiveness. Delta is also a bit worse in terms of the vaccine protecting people from catching it, but not in terms of protecting people from serious illness. Combine the two factors, with high case rates and the most vulnerable groups are at increasing risk again.
The over 80s mostly got their second doses in January/February - 8 months ago now. So the booster is urgent for them and there are already some signs that their case rates are starting to fall as boosters get done. The over 70s mostly got dose 2 in April, so it's time for them to get this booster.
Case rates don't tell the full story. They just warn people how much danger is around. Hopefully the unvaxxed will take them as a prompt to get vaccinated, and the long time vaxxed will get boosters. There's evidence from Israel that boosted people get protection from infection and serious illness really quickly - which should mean fewer cases and a lot fewer serious cases.
A fascinating slide of how the cases have moved through the age groups (the left hand scale is % who test positive on a PCR test taken on a particular day at the request of ONS). You can see cases falling in the 18-30s as vaccines kick-in, rising sharply amongst the unvaxxed under 18s and wobbling around in the other older groups.
The "no weeing lane" reference is a swimming pool comment - you can't have a designated no weeing allowed lane in your swimming pool and not expect it to get some contamination from the other lanes
The vaccines though seem to be doing a pretty decent job despite that.
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The "no weeing lane" reference is a swimming pool comment - you can't have a designated no weeing allowed lane in your swimming pool and not expect it to get some contamination from the other lanes
The vaccines though seem to be doing a pretty decent job despite that.Another big vote for vaccine boosters - placebo controlled comparison trial this time:
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That’s seriously impressive. Would love to know where run/variants involved. Hopefully somewhere were delta dominant (although presume it’s dominant everywhere by now)
3rd dose instead of booster? Sure is looking more likely
The crazy thing about these results is that the “placebo” arm were vaccinated. So that efficacy is all above and beyond the protection you already have from being vaccinated.
Aren’t they the same thing?
Booster implies giving dose to replace efficacy lost since previous dose(s). These data imply that the third dose gives you far superior efficacy to anything ever achieved with previous doses i.e. the vaccine needs to be given three times to achieve optimal efficacy.
Which also potentially means we won’t see the same waning after dose 3 that we saw after 1/2. Might not need another shot for years (potentially ever)
That’s seriously impressive if I understand what it’s saying correctly!
Because, in simple terms, there is no sterile immunisation. Antibodies in your blood don't prevent an airborn virus to get into the mucous membrane of your upper respiratory tract and to continue spreading onto others from there. Or in Prof. Drosten's (Germany's Fauci if you don't know him) words (Google translated it from German, can't bother to do it manually, you get the gist):
IgA is Immunoglobulin A, antibodies in your mucous membranes that don't remain there for long.
Or as our health minister, Jens Spahn, said: "If we started testing vaccinated people, the pandemic would never end."
How long the "protection against a severe case" remains is unknown yet but rest assured, Covid jab will be a yearly jab like against the flu. There is no "double jab, maybe a booster if I'm old, and then I'm done with it forever." Israel is already preparing for a 4th jab:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ases-surge-israel-offers-a-lesson-in-boosters
Israel always a step ahead as they were among the first to vaccinate everyone. They already have over 40 % vaccinated with a third dose right now. We'll soon follow this winter and next winter we'll be at the 4th dose after Israel did the 5th. Etc.
Unless they come up with some new medication methods.
This may be a sign that this "brain school" might be a syphilitic brain.
Now I am even more reluctant to boost. Argh.
Risk of mRNA Covid booster causing heart inflammation in young adults continues to worry scientists, Dr. Ofer Levy says
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/15/hea...ntinues-to-worry-scientists-dr-levy-says.html
Risk of mRNA Covid booster causing heart inflammation in young adults continues to worry scientists, Dr. Ofer Levy says
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/15/hea...ntinues-to-worry-scientists-dr-levy-says.html
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I'm not being flippant but this is a genuine miracle of capitalism. A trend develops and in a few months it is commercialised and targeted to niche audiences using voluntarily-released private data and the correct culture war signifiers.
No (short-term, non-fundamental) will go unserved.
I was able to book one last night for December, which will be 6 months for me (Marche's open to bookings for all over-60s now). I know what you're saying about the inequities, but all we can do is go along with whatever's being offered to us where we live.
If us oldies don't get boosters, the countries that have it under control will slide down the ladder again.
That's not really saying there is a risk. Just that they know there was a risk in the first round and it might carry over to a booster. No evidence yet to suggest it will as young people haven't had it yet, might be the case that if you were fine first time you will also be fine for the booster.
The UK has been monitoring blood donors for S antibodies (you get these from vaccine or from infection) and N antibodies (infection) for a while. This chart gives an idea of what's happening to vaccine induced antibody levels across the community as the months pass.
A couple of things stand out. The majority of under 40s are in the 1000+ group right now. A lot of over 40s didn't get into the 1000+ group at all, and most are now below that level.
Usual caveats apply. Blood donors are more likely to be vaccinated than the population in general. We don't know what constitutes "enough" antibodies, and circulating antibodies are only part of the immune response (and are supposed to fall over time anyway) We do know that the effectiveness of the vaccine has started to wane amongst those who were vaccinated first.
Still - three doses look like they'll be a good thing for the over 40s.
For the under 40s? Wait and see really. Certainly, there will be a lot of scrutiny of the risks v benefits for that age group.
A couple of things stand out. The majority of under 40s are in the 1000+ group right now. A lot of over 40s didn't get into the 1000+ group at all, and most are now below that level.
Usual caveats apply. Blood donors are more likely to be vaccinated than the population in general. We don't know what constitutes "enough" antibodies, and circulating antibodies are only part of the immune response (and are supposed to fall over time anyway) We do know that the effectiveness of the vaccine has started to wane amongst those who were vaccinated first.
Still - three doses look like they'll be a good thing for the over 40s.
For the under 40s? Wait and see really. Certainly, there will be a lot of scrutiny of the risks v benefits for that age group.
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Novavax have finally filed for MHRA approval. It looks like they're asking for approval of the India factory (SII) only. If they get approval from the MHRA, it could be a boost to rollout in other countries if not in the UK. COVAX won't distribute vaccines that haven't had approval by one of the big regulators (like the CDC, EMA or MHRA).
It would be nice to think they've fixed their manufacturing problems now, but the fact that this admission cites the India factory suggest that they're still having problems with their assay procedures at the US and European plants.
It would be nice to think they've fixed their manufacturing problems now, but the fact that this admission cites the India factory suggest that they're still having problems with their assay procedures at the US and European plants.
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