When will it be known if the vaccines stops transmissions?

[MerinoFroggie]

Currently it's not known if vaccine stops transmission of the virus. When will it be known?

It will be a very hard bitter pill to swallow if it turns out the vaccine stops transmissions of the virus and thousands of precious vaccine is going to older people in homes that don't move about in the population and they are less likely to transmit.

Oh wow!!

Perhaps they shouldn’t have it then? Never mind tons of them in the old peoples homes were obliterated in the first wave.

Get a grip.

It will be a very hard bitter pill to swallow if it turns out the vaccine stops transmissions of the virus and thousands of precious vaccine is going to older people in homes that don't move about in the population and they are less likely to transmit

I don’t think so, priorities have been decided with the goal of preventing hospital admissions not preventing transmission so that will still be achieved.

I’m not sure what the parameters would be to detect early signs of reduced transmission:

But they do move in a population, just not of schools and supermarkets. They have care staff, agency staff, hospital transport, housekeeping, District nurses, chiropodists, visiting dentists/Opticians.

Well if care home residents have it and it does stop transmission then the workers will be safe?

What’s the issue op?

I'm pretty sure the prioritisation would be the same whether it stops transmission or not...

These vaccines are basically the miracle juice that will save us all. Early in the pandemic, we thought they'd be impossible to make or would take ten years. Now we have them, and of course people are fighting because their miracle juice is coming a few weeks later than someone else's.

Predictable, but endlessly depressing.

How will plummeting death rates and reduced hospitalisations be a bitter pill?

@MorrisZapp, I’ve had the same thought a few times. There was every possibility we would be in this situation today without a vaccine never mind the three the UK has approved and others already in use globally. It’s an utterly staggering achievement for those who’ve developed them.

Keeps my spirits up knowing that we’re doing much better than we could have been even if it had birthed new squabbles.

Well Israel is doing really well vaccinating their population.
In about 3 weeks time they will probably have over 20% of their population fully vaccinated.
So pretty soon we should see the effects of this.
Maybe within 3 weeks or so.

@MorrisZapp

These vaccines are basically the miracle juice that will save us all. Early in the pandemic, we thought they'd be impossible to make or would take ten years. Now we have them, and of course people are fighting because their miracle juice is coming a few weeks later than someone else's.

Predictable, but endlessly depressing.

I wish it were a matter of week. For most under 50 it will be months, maybe even a year according to online calculators. Our kids will be back at school and we will be expected back in busy places long before we are vaccinated due to economic requirements. I think it is OK to wish for the vaccine without at the same time wishing death on the elderly and vulnerable. No-one know how their body will react to Covid-19. Many people under 50 are being hospitalised with it, and unfortunately some are dying. It is not a black and white situation. The priority list is actually about reducing deaths, not infections or even particularly hospitalisations.

I don't think reducing deaths is an unreasonable goal?
Honestly there's no perfect solution here. Yes unfortunately some under 50s die from it, which is why clinically extremely vulnerable are also prioritised, to try to reduce this.
If we vaccinated all under 50s first to try to cover the unlucky few non vulnerable who may unfortunately die then there would still be older people dying by the hundreds (or sadly more) daily.
Of all the things that have been mismanaged in this pandemic, I don't think the vaccine prioritisation is one of them.