Vaccine doesn’t stop you getting covid

[Dodie66]

Not sure if heard professor Van Tam correctly
Did he say that the vaccine only prevents serious illness and doesn’t stop you getting the virus? Also they don’t know if it stops you transmitting it to somebody else so we still can’t mix.
I thought once you had the vaccine that you would be able to mix

Wow Lots of posts with lots of information.
I didn’t realise so much of the info so thankyou all

JVT said that they don't know about transmission, so ask him again in a couple of months. He said that the scientists are testing this right now, but they don't know about transmission.
I like JVT, he tells the truth, in a clear easy to understand way.

@itchyfinger

I'm very confused. When the vaccine was first announced we were told that its efficacy was based on how many people got covid during the trials vs those who had the placebo. But now we are being told that it doesnt prevent you getting it or transmission.

Also doesnt it kind of blow the whole 'herd immunity' theory around vaccines out of the water? If you can still get the disease and still transmit it then herd immunity doesnt exist?

I don't think they will actually aim for herd immunity - just reducing serious illness for the more vulnerable.

Most of us will probably get the Oxford vaccine, which is max. 62% effective after 2nd jab.

However, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has decided to give the priming dose of either the Oxford or the Pfizer and then delay the booster until 12 weeks. Neither trial was designed with this dosing regimen, though the Oxford one used an interval of between 6 and 12 weeks - the longer intervals were in subjects who were recruited to receive booster doses retrospectively, hence the delay.
There seems, therefore, no evidence on which to base this decision.
It has been made so that more people can receive at least one dose and thus achieve some immunity. However, in the trials, a single dose of either vaccine achieved only about 52% effectiveness. This gap also introduces increased room for blunders - running out of vaccine, people lost to follow up etc. as well as another three months plus of inadequate protection for vulnerable recipients.

There are so many limitations to all of these trials that it is premature to be at all certain that any vaccine can prevent severe disease. We also have no idea yet how long any useful immunity will last. Vaccinating the whole world will be necessary to achieve suppression. It is likely that long before the first round of vaccinations is finished revaccination of the first cohort will be required.

This may be the beginning of the beginning of the end. It is not a passport to normality.

blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/12/09/the-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-efficacy-data

Of the 11,636 people in the trial (eligible for inclusion in the analysis, the vast majority of which were under 55), 101 in the non vaccine group had coronavirus symptoms confirmed by PCR test, 10 were hospitalised and 1 died. In the vaccine group, 31 had symptoms, none were hospitalised and none died. Nearly one quarter of those who contracted the virus and had symptoms, had been vaccinated but no one who was vaccinated was seriously ill.

There were 69 asymptomatic cases.