It will be 5 vaccines in the UK soon.. then what?

[notevenat20]

Once we have Oxford, Pfizer, Janssen, Novavax and Moderna which seems likely by Easter, what on Earth is the NHS going to give us? Which would you take?

@atomt

Sounds like they all happily do the main thing - prevent serious illness and deaths.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the specific efficacy numbers as it's not a guarantee of anything on an individual level.

Exactly

I'll take what I'm given but over time NICE will no doubt make a decision on which we want supply of long term based on efficiency and cost and probably ability to respond to new variants.

There are 3 or 4 different flu jabs given each year. Do you ask which one of those?
I don't.

Dh is having his first jab on Monday, I would prefer that he had the AZ vaccine as I am a bit worried about there being a problem with Pfizer being available from Belgium with the EU saying that they may block doses leaving the EU.

Really doesn't matter. It's all about getting to herd immunity, either with people catching it or being vaccinated. No vaccination is 100% guaranteed, so whichever a person has, they're protected by everyone else having the jab too. The more people who've had covid, whether they've been vaccinated or not (i.e. less severe), the nearer we are to herd immunity. I'd have any of them in a heart beat.

I don't want a choice which one, I'd just like to be able to get one within walking distance (my GP and two pharmacies are under 10 minutes walk away).

I'll be grateful to get one.
I'll let experts work out whether certain cohorts should get one or another. Perhaps younger people at low risk anyway should have the slightly less effective vaccines. As long as the decision making is driven by pragmatism, not cronyism, I'll be happy.

Well I've had my first the Pfizer jab
Now just wondering if I'll manage to get my second dose and whether there will e supply issues or if we will be offered a different one instead depending on what happens

I would like novavax too if I had a choice. Which I’m sure I won’t. I’d also like to wait until the summer tbh. Then I’d feel protected next winter. If I had a vax now, I’d be protected during the summer when cases are low, and would feel more vulnerable in Dec/Jan2022.

However my gp surgery is so chaotic that I’ll be lucky to get anything by 2024 !!

given absolute choice I'd go for novavax as I was in the trial - i might have had it already but suspect it was the placebo (I will find out later this year and am somewhere near the bottom of the list currently).

As things stand now I'd go for AZ over Pfizer given a choice because it may be more effective with the 12 dose gap. Unlikely with Pfizer.

They don't all work in the same way (someone smarter than me explained it to me ) so actually having different ones might be beneficial.

I'd take any but I'm young-ish and low risk

It is impossible to compare vaccines. It is not a simple case of comparing % efficacy. The trials have all been conducted differently with different population and endpoints.
The janssen trial didn't include mild cases, only moderate and severe. The aim should be to prevent severe illness, hospitalisation and death. The janssen one is 87% for preventing severe disease, 100% for preventing hospitalisation and deaths.

*85% for severe disease

I work with an infectious disease specialist. He recommends Moderna if you can get it. I'll take any.

Allergies probably preclude me from having the Pfizer. Glad there are alternatives, although I don't relish the prospect of having any of them.

@CeeJay81

I'd take any of them but these newer ones have done trials with the newer variants including the South African one, so could actually be better. Although Pfizer and AZ have good efficacy, they haven't been tested against these variants, so there are def positive aspects to these 2 new ones.

They may have been tested against the new variants but they weren’t developed for the new variants, which I think puts a slightly different slant on what we can expect of the “older” vaccines. All positive news in my view.

I'd take any as the stats for my age group are not concerning - I'd happily take my chances with the virus. But I will take a vax to be able to travel and do other normal things again.

I don’t mind

Literally anything that allows me to have a life again

I’d even pay handsomely for it

Let the ‘least effective’ one be sold privately, people will snap your hands off

@notevenat20

All of those except AZ I mean to say

Why not the Oxford vaccine?

Because I don’t think it’s been tested as well as the others, they’re having to run a new trial in the US and it’s efficacy isn’t the best.

@Therarestone

There are 3 or 4 different flu jabs given each year. Do you ask which one of those? I don't.

No, but we’re much better informed about all this stuff now. I’ll be asking more questions about my flu jab next time round

I'm on the Janssen two does trial, it will be interesting to see how the results of this trial compare with the one dose. I had my second dose today.

Dose...

They may have been tested against the new variants but they weren’t developed for the new variants, which I think puts a slightly different slant on what we can expect of the “older” vaccines.

Yes, indeed. Lab tests show the Pfizer and Modern vaccines should still have good efficacy against the new variants and in the 'real world' they may turn out to be 'better' than those whose trials were done when the new variants were prevalent. (Although as pp says, it's too simplistic just to compare efficacy numbers.) The MRNA vaccines are relatively easy to tweak for the new variants too.

@thefemaleJoshLyman - I just had my first dose on the Janssen two dose trial yesterday