To be weary of the vaccines?

[PunkyPirate]

Will you be getting it?

Will you be allowing your children to get it?

I'm curious to peoples responses as my social media seems to be full of posts from people mocking those who will get the vaccine.

I'm by no means an anti Vaxer. Myself and my children have had all vaccinations and have the flu jab yearly. My only worry is that not enough is known about the long term side effects.

Put it this way I am glad I am not one of the first inline to get it

I really can't see this being "waved through", I really can't

We can only hope not, Sunshinegirl, and I agree the situation's pretty well unprecedented
Trouble is, so is the media driven hyperbole and sheer panic that's built up, and neither are useful things to have as drivers of anything

The MHRA are not exactly noted for haste and lack of attention to detail...

@Puzzledandpissedoff

But the scientists at the regulators actually understand the situation because it's their job. The press scrutiny will be unprecedented. If anyone has any sort of reaction at all within 3 months of the vaccine the papers will be full of it, you can see the headlines now.

All of the regulators operating independently would all have to wave it through. That could only happen with determined effort not just negligence combined with a bit of pressure.

Trouble is, so is the media driven hyperbole and sheer panic that's built up

Three patients on my ward died on Wednesday. The hospital had to open an overflow covid ward to cope with demand, we don't have enough ITU capacity and no private areas for people to die in peace, they die in the bay with the other patients watching helplessly (the ones who are conscious anyway).

Anyone saying this kind of thing hasn't worked in a hospital. I didn't work in one for the first wave and was a little naive how terrible it is. Now I just want it to end, the doctors and nurses are physically and mentally exhausted.

I really hope the people being contrarians online do not have to have the pleasure of being hospitalised with covid. They'd soon change their minds.

I think it is important to question everything. However the research behind these seem pretty sound with high technologies in place and I trust our medical systems and the FDA enough to take this vaccine over what covid has done.

If anyone has any sort of reaction at all within 3 months of the vaccine the papers will be full of it, you can see the headlines now

Sadly the irresponsible media will probably do it anyway; all it'll take is for a few very frail elders to die soon after being vaccinated and they'll be full of "the jab killed my granny!!!"

As for the regulators, we can only hope that trust isn't misplaced

As for the regulators, we can only hope that trust isn't misplaced

Why would it be misplaced? It would take every regulatory body in the world to be in on some sort of massive plot to allow the vaccine to market it they weren't 100% convinced by the trial data.

I won't be getting it [......] I'm more bothered by lockdowns than I am by Covid

Having the vaccine isn't going to magically return life back to normal.

I would love to know what these sort of people think our exit strategy is, if not a vaccine.

I think of the situation a bit like this; if I wanted to fly to Paris and I had a normal amount of money, I would hit the flights websites and see what was available at local airports with national carriers. If I had a shit ton of money, I could find a private charter plane and be there as soon as I wanted. Money makes all the difference.

I liked the analogy from one of the couple behind the Pfizer vaccine- he said it was like driving across London with the streets completely clear, all the traffic lights green, compared with normally when you spend hours waiting for lights and queuing.

I will be having whichever one I am offered, I am in a vulnerable group. My arm is ready and waiting!

Marvellous news today!

@AtiaoftheJulii

I won't be getting it [......] I'm more bothered by lockdowns than I am by Covid

Having the vaccine isn't going to magically return life back to normal.

I would love to know what these sort of people think our exit strategy is, if not a vaccine.

The Pandemic is largely over, we're approaching or even beyond the HIT.

Vaccines are good in that they'll force a psychological change in the general public and hopefully everything gets back to normal, but their actual medical effect has come far too late. They'll portect the elderly against small localised future outbreaks, but that's about it.

Just for laughs, I went and googled AstraZeneca nonprofit expiry.

AstraZenca’s pledge was not that they would provide the vaccine at cost indefinitely, only that they would do so during the pandemic. That doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.

One of their manufacturing agreements with a Brazilian company states that the arrangement will end on 1st July 2021, unless AstraZeneca acting in good faith believes that the pandemic is still ongoing.

In total they have capacity to manufacture 3bn doses by the end of 2021. We thought that would mean enough to vaccinate 1.5bn people, but with today’s news on dosing it’s more like 2bn. And with other vaccines likely to come on stream as well, a significant proportion of the world’s population could have been vaccinated by 1st July 2021. So it is highly likely that the pandemic could effectively be over by then.... but if it isn’t, the implication is that Astra Zeneca will extend the period during which they supply the vaccine at cost.

Good for them, I say.

And afterwards - when COVID-19 is endemic but circulating at low levels, and we still need vaccines to give to new humans and to damp down localised flare ups among people who bought into to microchip conspiracy theories or were irrationally anxious about having a “new, rushed, untested” vaccine, AZ will still manufacture the vaccine and supply it at a profit. Like they do with every other pharmacological product they make.

I don’t see a problem here.

I too am nervous that the press will be scouring the country, nay, the world, to find one person who has had a sore toe from the vaccine. Then there will be dramatic scare stories emblazoned everywhere.

I think the press has behaved shamefully during this pandemic, and I include television in this too. Of course no one wants the airbrushed Pollyanna version of events, but the desperate search for any young, healthy victim and relentlessly and salaciously seizing on bad news has not done the collective mental wellbeing of the country any good.

The renewed faith in science is great, but it's kind of exasperating seeing so many people who suddenly think they're actual scientists and it's ok to go around calling people thick because they read a couple of articles on how a double-blind study works and what B cells and T cells do. There's been plenty of misinformation on this thread, including from those who think they're above the "ill-educated".

@SingANewSongChickenTikka

Absolutely I will get it. The vaccines have (and will) go through completely appropriate safety testing. Yes that has been short circuited due to necessity. Much of the extended time for other vaccines is the necessity to apply for funding, participants, staffing etc. The speed with which these vaccines are coming through are a testament to what can be achieved through (almost) unlimited will and funding to achieve an aim.

Yup!

That and nothing else!

I will be getting it do will DH and all adult children. My elderly in-laws too. I honestly think anyone who does not want it, and life to go back to normal, must be nuts. Without the vaccine life won't get back to normal and the economy will be wrecked and our children will pick up the burden.

I think the press has behaved shamefully during this pandemic, and I include television in this too. Of course no one wants the airbrushed Pollyanna version of events, but the desperate search for any young, healthy victim and relentlessly and salaciously seizing on bad news has not done the collective mental wellbeing of the country any good

I couldn't agree more

Social media too - like any tool it's a wonderful thing in many ways, but it also adds to the ramping-up of everything to a ridiculous degree

I would love to know what these sort of people think our exit strategy is, if not a vaccine

Why not @ me then to ask, given this is one of the things I've said?

We don't know enough about this virus, or the unapproved (as yet) vaccine, to know how this will affect humanity going forward. You will have those that want it, and those that don't. Those that are unable to have it like the pregnant and the breastfeeding.
This sort of person isn't nieve to think life will go back to normal just because there is a virus. Having freedom passes etc - that isn't normal is it? 1.3 million still died of TB in 2019, and the flu kills hundreds of thousands every year, both of which have a vaccine. Who's to say c19 isn't going to mutate like the flu?
So no, I don't know what the exit strategy is, but I do think this rejoicing in the vaccine isn't right, as life will not be normal. How can it.

No I won’t get it, nor will my children or any of the family for that matter except my sister in law.

No, not wary based on what have read and heard. Though contacts I know a bit about the process and how this has managed to be speeded up due to combined efforts and increased funding, and the fact that they weren't starting from scratch.

I've also had Covid and over six weeks later I've had my first day back at work, after being rather poorly, including a hospital stay and now have long term complications and will most likely need to take medication for life as a result.

I'm clinically vulnerable and already have an annual flu jab. My work place is fairly high risk - school where there is no social distancing, no masks, etc and it's where I almost certainly caught Covid. No one can guarantee I have immunity from it, if I do for how long and if I could catch it again.

I can't do this again. To be honest, with my (newly acquired due to Covid) blood pressure and heart rate complications, I'm not sure my body would react to it all over again and starting in an even worse position.

I'll take any vaccine they're offering me as soon as it possible. If it was possible to pay for it to have it sooner I would do so.

Dh and 18y Dd are both happy to have it. Neither are vulnerable but neither want it, not want to risk passing it on to others who are more vulnerable.

Those who won't have it, and aren't likely to be medically 'exempt' from having it,

Would you change your mind if it became a requirement before you could do something?

Such as travel abroad?
Join a members only club such as a gym or a singing group?

Or would you expect to be able to go about life as normal (ore Covid normal) without it?

@feelingverylazytoday

The Oxford Vaccine has been trialled on children since the beginning No it hasn't. There are no plans to offer vaccines to under 18s currently in the UK. No I'm not wary or weary, OP. I will be having it myself at the earliest opportunity - probably late January, and my 2 adult children who live with me will be having it when it's offered to them.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-52760871

It has indeed had children involved in the testing process.

However at present children are not on the testing list, probably as they are less likely to become seriously ill with Covid. That isn't to say they won't be in the future, probably starting with those who are vulnerable.

I would love to know what these sort of people think our exit strategy is, if not a vaccine.

Enough people gaining immunity through natural infection. For the majority of people, the IFR is well below 0.01%. BMJ link Younger/low risk people contracting the disease and having it mildly/asymptomatically, gaining immunity and therefore contributing to overall herd immunity. Oxford finds that immunity from infection lasts at least 6 months More at risk/elderly people can choose to have the vaccine, protecting themselves and contributing to herd immunity that way. It’s a joint approach that doesn’t require everyone in the country to be vaccinated.

I agree with the PP that the vaccine will probably change the psychology a bit and things will start to move back towards normal. I don’t think a huge proportion of the U.K. will need to be vaccinated for that to happen.