Worried that the Covid vaccine won’t work on obese people

[SoscaredforJan]

So, after the news this morning about AZ trialling a new antibody concoction that is supposed to give immediate protection against Covid I began to research is as my dad is having chemo and has been told that his body might not respond to a vaccine sufficiently.

I could not find where you could sign up for the trial in uk (does anyone know how I can sign him up?) but I did find the sign up for the same trial in America. It recommended it for people with HIV, cancer and obese people.

Obviously I’m trying to get my weight down but it’s a long process and I’m worried that the vaccine I am waiting desperately for will be useless for me. If I wasn’t depressed yesterday I am today.

So my question is does anyone know if they have trialled any of the vaccines on obese people and did they work?

@TwilightSkies

I think generally vaccines don’t work as well on obese people as they do on those of a healthy weight. Not sure why the COVID one would be any different. That’s not to say it wont work, just maybe not as well we hope. Keep trying to lose weight and build your immune system up as much as you can in the meantime.

Where is the evidence for this statement

More of a concern that vaccines generally don't work well with people age 70+ & the AstraZeneca vaccine didn't work extremely well with people in that age group, either.

Re the Oxford vaccine, my understanding is that the 62% effectiveness is when only one dose is given. When a half dose is given followed by a full dose later (which is what they are going to do) the effeiveness is around 95%.

And try to stay positive OP. What I think gets forgotten sometimes is there is a 98% survival rate from covid. (Probably higher if mild/asymptomatic cases are going undetected.) Unfortunately, the news doesn't announce numbers recovered in the data so it's easy to lose sight of this.

I'm sorry that you are having to go through this OP.

Well done for beginning a healthy eating regime, I know how tricky this can be.

It is noticeable that some people have replied to say they are unsure, some people have said they think the vaccine will work and that obese people have been part of the trial, and one person has said the vaccine is likely to be as effective on obese people. But you have taken that one latter reply to heart over all the others- most likely because you are feeling so anxious and it's the last thing you wanted to read.

Please do remember that you almost always get a range of answers on Mumsnet and sometimes it's hard to decide which is correct.

The worst thing you could do for your own general health is let this anxiety derail your efforts at eating more Healthily. I know this is easier said than done, but if you can be kind to yourself and keep moving forward then you are on the right track. If you slip up, remember you are only human, put it behind you and crack on.

@Atinytrolley

Re the Oxford vaccine, my understanding is that the 62% effectiveness is when only one dose is given. When a half dose is given followed by a full dose later (which is what they are going to do) the effeiveness is around 95%.

I think they are going to have to go with the 62% dose until they have more data on the 90+ one.

@Atinytrolley

Re the Oxford vaccine, my understanding is that the 62% effectiveness is when only one dose is given. When a half dose is given followed by a full dose later (which is what they are going to do) the effeiveness is around 95%.

Has how that works been fully understood, and is that the dosing regime that has been put to,MHRA?

Bit of cross posting there!

I wonder if effective dose is a reason MHRA needs time to fully,p consider the AZ vaccine. Especially as it's the first vaccine of this type to be proposed for use in humans, and they need more care and very consistent data with novel tech.

Can someone explain to me... if a dose is 95% effective does it mean I still have a 5% chance of gettingn it fully, ie bad enough to potentially die. Or that it will be reduced 95% in strength so may get say 5% dose of covid? If that makes any sense

both/either I reckon RSC. 95% chance it will protect you 'in some way'

I found this [https://www.labmate-online.com/news/laboratory-products/3/breaking-news/what-does-95-efficacy-actually-mean/53921]

Infection rates of a vaccinated group of patients are compared to infection rates of an unvaccinated group.

The level of efficacy is found by calculating the reduction in attack rate (AR) between the vaccinated (ARV) and unvaccinated (ARU) groups. The percentage of ARV to ARU is known as the risk ratio (RR), with lower values reflecting better performance.

To calculate vaccine efficacy the RR is deduced from a value of one, then expressed as a percentage. So, an RR of 5% translates to an efficacy rate of 95%.

So it's quite complicated!

@SoscaredforJan @AnguaResurgam
It's been reported that they have now submitted both regimes to MHRA who have been doing a rolling review of all the research to speed up the process.

There's some good reports on BBC website, ITVhub and Oxford Vaccine Group website for more info.