Other countries offering choice of vaccine

[doireallyneedaname]

I have relatives in Cyprus who are able to choose with vaccine they’d like - AZ or Pfizer.

They have been given an appointment for next week and told that they will be told beforehand which vaccine they are having, and if they want the other they can reschedule for that one.

I just read a news article which seems to confirm this.

Appreciate the population is minuscule compared to the UK and many other countries but given the recent news re AZ efficacy against the SA strain (which I believe will likely be the same against further mutations) - I can’t help but wish we’d order more Pfizer and give people the choice.

"Hardly. The NHS have worked really hard to bring the level of success we have.

The government have actually worked against it."

The NHS had the foresight to buy enough supply to vaccinate 15 million people in 69 days did they? Without the government they'd be jabbing with fresh air.

Got to love any attempt to bash the government. 🙄

Thanks MRex I'm stuck indoors with a dog with a gippy tummy. I'm not really this patient 😊

And ageist to boot! What joy!

It means stop twisting, flouncing so much, you are only highlighting the paucity of your stance!

Look, if you wanted a real discussion you have had plenty of opportunities here. Many posters upthread, me included, started by offering information to try to reduce whatever anxieties you might have had about the differences in efficacy between the vaccines.

You ignored all of that and simply berated posters for disagreeing with you.

Similarly with understanding the complex science. You have made some mis statements, maybe read an article that did the same; you've mistaken research terminology and refused to acknowledge it; taken a number if posters to task for disagreeing with you or maybe taking the thread in a different direction.

I shouldn't be bothered by it but I find deliberate bastardisation of science to be particularly irritating.

You've had so much good will, careful explanation and continued debate. What are you doing with it all? Why?

I haven't seen you offer any information Curious
Last time I looked you were opining that there was not enough data to draw firm conclusions.
Your posts seem to provide rather more heat than light

I think OP you are loosing the argument, I don’t think you have been bullied, you’re using that to hide behind as you don’t have the evidence to back up your argument. It’s your choice to wait for Pfizer, I think most people on here will be glad on any authorised vaccine that has been signed off not only by the UK medical profession also EMA and WHO.

MrsMB that might be because I am not the one using poor science to make my point. I'm one of a number if posters who have tried to explain, discuss, converse with OP.

And, as I have said from the start I find anyone who deliberately obfuscates the issues with vaccines infuriating.

The current situation is crap enough without someone, anyone, choosing to misinterpret and, after having had their error explained by people with more knowledge (see way back upthread) makes a further choice not continue with disinformation.

Save your ire for those who seek to make a difficult situation worse.

My parents, 81 and 74, were really pleased to receive AZ because they were concerned about supply of second dose had they been offered Pfizer (which they still would have taken, obviously).

@Baileysforchristmas I don’t have the evidence to back up Pfizer being more effective than AZ? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have that evidence too.

Serum tests are different than the real life tests, there simply has not been an equivalent real life Pfizer SA variant study. I explained that on page 3, after I went through your initial issues on page 1 and explained the things not addressed in the AZ SA variant study such as T-cells.

Maybe this, easily written with a question and answer format.

www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/question-choices-pfizer-vaccine-leader-confronting-new-coronavirus-variants

Early interim data; data in the lab; new variants and ongoing research.

Is this the data you are referring to?

It's impossible to respond when you consistently refuse to say what you have actually read or heard.

@MRex You don’t need to explain anything to me, thanks. I’m fully aware that in vitro is not a replacement for in vivo.

@MRex however, that is still extremely promising. Significantly more promising than the 22% AZ efficacy against SA. And you could say both studies are comparable since both have their flaws. I still know which one I’d choose.

I think we established what you'd have about 500 posts ago

22%? What changed?

How is a 6.5 fold reduction in titres "extremely promising"? We simply don't know at the moment what % Pfizer would get if they did a similar trial, we can hope it works really well but we don't know. It doesn't matter how often you insist there is data, if Pfizer hasn't run a trial then that data cannot exist.

What we do know is that ALL the vaccines work really well against the Kent variant, and there's a high chance that they all prevent severe disease from any varusjt. Kent is our present troublemaker, so we need to get everyone jabbed asap, while funding ALL these manufacturers to work on great E484K boosters.

Why are you still going on about choice? You haven't got, and won't have, a choice in this country.

Perhaps you can fly to Greece in the summer and choose the Pfizer one then?

Imagine how annoying it must be being Israeli and living here at the moment

OP is just being obtuse. I can understand a debate around if there was unlimited choice and all things being equal, which vaccine would you take. However apparently OP thinks science is similar to mystic meg powers of foresight that we (in fact any nation globally!) should have predicted which vaccine would a) even work) b) be more efficacious and c) indeed predict new variant strains we’re not even aware of.

I've read the whole thread and there are some brilliant, calm posters on here. God knows you needed to be....

OP doesn't seem to grasp the fact that all these vaccines were pre-ordered last year, early last year, even if we wanted to we can't just go back into the shop and change our order. Great job the UK did too given the circumstances, I like that we will have a good selection of vaccines and yes if possible give Pfizer to more vulnerable and the rest of us are more than happy with AZ. I'd be over the moon to be offered any of them tbh. Obtuse is a good description.

Interestingly there is another thread going right now with someone saying they are being offered a choice between Pfizer & AZ when booking, and in fact there are several appointment days available for Pfizer and only one day for AZ.

@minchinfin 😉

Why are you still going on about choice? You haven't got, and won't have, a choice in this country

But you do, sort of. You can choose not to have the one on offer, and hope that later you can have a choice of the preferred one.
Also, a person who say has a choice of three vaccination centers[happened to someone I know], can go to the one who has their preferred choice[not sure if there were different choices at each center or not].

@doireallyneedaname

Interestingly there is another thread going right now with someone saying they are being offered a choice between Pfizer & AZ when booking, and in fact there are several appointment days available for Pfizer and only one day for AZ.

And? As has been said quite a few times, some places, sometimes can offer a choice, whether via difference of venues or foreknowledge of deliveries.

But as has also been explained, that isn't everywhere or every when!

The facts still remain, spurious science aside, taking the one that is offered is the best course of action.

Prevaricating over a choice you may never be offered because of ill informed fears and anxieties is still not the best thing to do!

@CuriousaboutSamphire Yesterday it was declared on this thread that one would NEVER be offered a choice in this country 🙄