Are 2nd doses of Pfizer vaccine being cancelled?

[UntamedWisteria]

Has anyone got any authoritative information on this? A link to a reliable source?

I think Matt Hancock mentioned this, and have seen stuff on Twitter about it. But nothing rock solid.

My parents (in their 80s) were due to get their 2nd dose next week. They will be devastated if it's cancelled. I know they have said they will start by only giving the Oxford vaccines as a single dose, but it's not clear what happens to those who've already had their first Pfizer dose.

Thanks.

I thought all medicines approved by the FDA (is it?) are approved for use AS TRIALLED. You can't fucking just go rogue. It wasn't approved for use based on 1 dose. It was approved for use based on TWO doses 21 days apart!
They're not fucking using it in the way it was approved! Therefore, the approval for use is null and fucking void!!!!!

And what will you do with that information?

Does it not cross your mind that the people making the decision might know more than you?

I'll want them interrogated in a court of law.

ObliviouslyIgnorant the FDA is in America.

It crosses my mind that Pfizer-Biontech trialled a drug and got it through authorisation based on TWO doses 21 days apart.
It crosses my mind that some idiot somewhere has decided to ignore that approval and devise a different regime (not approved or trialled even).
It crosses my mind that whoever made this decision should fucking stand up and be counted and called into question for their lunacy!

@borageforager

ObliviouslyIgnorant the FDA is in America.

Well whatever the UK equivalent is.

I don't know much about vaccines. But I do know that if you quit antibiotics after say 2 days, the disease can grow resistant to the bacteria and come back even worse!

Can anyone who knows something explain whether vaccines work in the same way?

can grow resistant to the bacteria

should read can grow resistant to the antibiotic

So what if those half vaccinated now manage to incubate an even worse strain of this virus?

@ObliviouslyIgnorant

I don't know much about vaccines. But I do know that if you quit antibiotics after say 2 days, the disease can grow resistant to the bacteria and come back even worse!

Can anyone who knows something explain whether vaccines work in the same way?

Vaccines work in a different way.

I think the issue is whether the government's new plan would save more lives overall? Or whether they would give inadequate cover to all these vulnerable people? And cause more deaths?

@ObliviouslyIgnorant

I don't know much about vaccines. But I do know that if you quit antibiotics after say 2 days, the disease can grow resistant to the bacteria and come back even worse!

Can anyone who knows something explain whether vaccines work in the same way?

May be worth educating yourself then before you burst your spleen? No, vaccines do not work in the same way as antibiotics.

My rudimentary knowledge of infections from A level biology is that when initially attacked by an antibiotic, a bacteria will mutate to survive - perhaps not on purpose, but by accident and evolution. So if you don't kill the fucker off before it gets time to mutate, you're scuppered! Which is why all antibiotics come with the warning 'do not discontinue even if symptoms improve' or something similar.

Please tell me this is totally different for vaccines?

May be worth educating yourself then before you burst your spleen? No, vaccines do not work in the same way as antibiotics.

Well could you maybe burst your spleen and explain to a layperson how the hell this is different? How they can use it in a way that was neither trialled nor approved?

May be worth educating yourself then before you burst your spleen? No, vaccines do not work in the same way as antibiotics.

And could you burst your spleen a little further to explain why Pfizer-Biontech didn't just send one dose for approval?

@ObliviouslyIgnorant

And what will you do with that information?

Does it not cross your mind that the people making the decision might know more than you?

I'll want them interrogated in a court of law.

Why? For what purpose?

Your reaction seems a bit OTT for someone who by their own admission knows fuck all

Why? Because I am losing my mind after 9 months of sheer hell.

My husband has his 2nd dose booked for 12 Jan. Expecting it to be cancelled. I'm very surprised that a decision has been made with no clinical evidence. And that people got their 1st dose fully expecting their regime to follow the evidence. It is the whole point of clinical trials and we are going against the available evidence.

Your reaction seems a bit OTT for someone who by their own admission knows fuck all

If you know fuck all more, can you please share with the rest of us plebs?

Let’s not forget a key aspect of the vaccine isn’t to prevent the disease, it’s to prevent the disease resulting in serious illness/hospitalisation.

Even with 1 dose of the Oxford vaccine no one had to be hospitalised with Covid. That is the goal at the moment. Not disease eradication.

For a government which claims to "Follow the Science" this seems to be an abject failure. In this case, it is "actively choose to go against the Science".

@Scottishgirl85

My husband has his 2nd dose booked for 12 Jan. Expecting it to be cancelled. I'm very surprised that a decision has been made with no clinical evidence. And that people got their 1st dose fully expecting their regime to follow the evidence. It is the whole point of clinical trials and we are going against the available evidence.

Well quite! Who authorises them to go against the authorisation of the vaccine?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/948517/InformationnforHealthcareeProfessionalsonnPfizerBioNTech.pdf

www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-from-the-uk-chief-medical-officers-on-the-prioritisation-of-first-doses-of-covid-19-vaccines

www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4978
NB- The BMJs reasonable objection is primarily based on the logistics and organisational challenge of rebooking patients, not lack of efficacy of one dose.

Someone nailed it earlier on- it is about ensuring more people are protected to a significant extent rather than a smaller number to a maximum extent. Even once vaccinated they have given no guarantee that an individual cannot still 'carry' the virus to someone else and have also not said that once vaccinated it's a free for all with behaviour and adherence to the Tier rules. Yes it's frustrating and confusing for elderly relatives but this is about the bigger picture.
The more people initially vaccinated the safer we all are (sooner) and the safer the NHS is. It is not a scientific conspiracy.

@ObliviouslyIgnorant

Why? Because I am losing my mind after 9 months of sheer hell.

And presumably the CMOs have decided that hell will come to an end sooner doing the vaccines this way.

As I say, I'm just a layperson, but how would you like it if your doctor told you that it was ok to take 4 paracetamol instead of 2?

@ObliviouslyIgnorant

Your reaction seems a bit OTT for someone who by their own admission knows fuck all

If you know fuck all more, can you please share with the rest of us plebs?

I haven’t said that I do and ranting and raving for people’s names and wanting to interrogate them in a court of law.

And presumably the CMOs have decided that hell will come to an end sooner doing the vaccines this way.

And you believe them? After this year? Do you always do what the government tells you like a good little unquestioning girl?