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.

I'd be concerned that giving people a choice would slow down the number of people able to be vaccinated. If my understanding of the process on the day as my mum told me about when being vaccinated is broadly correct.

@HelloThereMeHearties What a load of nonsense. The things I have stated are true, just because they don’t suit your narrative doesn’t make them false.

I feel this would be dangerous.
The general public are not scientists, we haven't developed the vaccines, we aren't doing the research or studies into their development
There's already far too much mis information online about the vaccines which are putting people off having them... Allowing people to make completely on a whim choices unfounded on any scientific / medical background is not a clever idea...

Should I "educate myself", OP? Am I trusting the MSM too much?

And, nice swerve of the actual expert on this thread...

@HelloThereMeHearties Errr....

Pfizer 95%
Moderna 90%
Sputnik 91%
Novovax 83%
AZ 70-80%

Stop kidding yourselves on to feel better.

Are we sheeples, OP?

NB: I would happily take part in a trial that mixed the vaccines (eg, Pfizer for 1st dose, AZ for 2nd or vv).

There is such a trial, but it's for over 50's only and also I think England only. Someone posted a link to it the other day...

@HelloThereMeHearties I think you’re embarrassing yourself if I’m honest.

@OpheliasCrayon

I feel this would be dangerous. The general public are not scientists, we haven't developed the vaccines, we aren't doing the research or studies into their development There's already far too much mis information online about the vaccines which are putting people off having them... Allowing people to make completely on a whim choices unfounded on any scientific / medical background is not a clever idea...

But people aren’t being given the vaccine best for them..they are being given the one available at the time. Why shouldn’t they be able to choose which one they book in for?

And excuse me for not just blindly accepting that the government will do what is best for me. They weren’t doing what was best for me when they were forcing clinically vulnerable people to send their children into ‘Covid safe’ schools under threats of fines even though their children were doing fine at home. I shall be doing whatever I can in the future to ensure that I do what is best for me. And if that involves booking in for a jab and refusing it when I get there because I don’t think the oxford vaccine is good enough then I shall do so. If they let me have a choice when booking in i wouldn’t have to waste a slot.

@CrackOpenTheGin Agreed. We aren’t doing what’s “best” for people - we are doing what we can with what we have available right now.

[quote riveted1]@doireallyneedaname

Have you seen all the data? Considered all the caveats, methodology, application to different clinical settings? Understood that this an emerging situation and thought about long term implications? Realised that it is not just about you as an individual but instead involves the entire population?

I’m assuming the answers are no. As I have said upthead, I’m an epidemiologist and fully aware that I am not in a position to decide better than experts who have access to all this info and networks of colleagues.

You’re basing these statements on assumptions and newspaper headlines[/quote]
Cooee, OP! Just wanted to bring your attention to this post again, because you seem to have missed it?

@HelloThereMeHearties No, I read it, no change in opinion here I’m afraid.

By the way, I’m a rocket scientist.

[quote doireallyneedaname]@HelloThereMeHearties No, I read it, no change in opinion here I’m afraid.

By the way, I’m a rocket scientist.[/quote]
Well that explains it!

By the way, I’m a rocket scientist

And do you often ask epidemiologists to advise you in your work?

@HelloThereMeHearties Grow up.

"Grow up"

Ah, the perennial reply of someone who is definitely, definitely winning the argument

@CrackOpenTheGin do you trust everyone to be able to make the right choice, and also if people are given a choice, trust that more misinformation won't be spread. I don't doubt that you can make a good choice for yourself but I'm not sure everyone can?

@HelloThereMeHearties except there’s no argument here, just facts you don’t like 🙄

[quote OpheliasCrayon]@CrackOpenTheGin do you trust everyone to be able to make the right choice, and also if people are given a choice, trust that more misinformation won't be spread. I don't doubt that you can make a good choice for yourself but I'm not sure everyone can?[/quote]
If they stated which vaccine was bailable at booking then most people would just book a slot at a place near to them at a time to suit them. Those that want to be more picky can be. Simple. I’m sick to death of this country pandering to the lowest common denominator.

I’ve thought from the start that the Oxford trial and data was a bit of a shambles. People accidentally being given them wrong dose and at the wrong intervals. That’s no way to run a trial. And I don’t want any part of it.

It's not about being completely safe, it's about being safer.

There are two things that will protect us as individuals from Covid:
(i) being vaccinated ourselves - reduces risk of serious illness and death.
(ii) other people being vaccinated - reduces transmission risk and risk of health services being overloaded.

While I can understand why individually people may have a preference for Pfizer rather than AZ (because there is some evidence that it increases (i) - protection against serious illness and death), refusing to be vaccinated because your preference cannot be accommodated is a very silly decision since you won't have any protection in the meantime until you can obtain the Pfizer jab. And encouraging others to refuse is very foolish too since it risks increasing general transmission rates, which will put you as an individual at greater risk anyway.

Far better for everyone if we stick a jab in as many arms as possible and then go back afterwards and see if certain groups should be offered Pfizer on top of AZ or as a booster shot. Like someone said above, it's not "one shot and you're out". It's about protecting as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

So why did WHO and EMA approve it if the trials were a shambles?

But having the oxford jab won’t benefit be at all. I still won’t feel safe enough to pop to the shop or let my children go back to school. If I have the Pfizer jab I will.

@Baileysforchristmas

So why did WHO and EMA approve it if the trials were a shambles?

Well, clearly they didn't have the in-depth knowledge and expertise that a random MN poster has

Also, this makes no sense. Unless there is a medical reason someone must have one or the other, the only difference is efficacy. It’s not “dangerous” to allow people to choose an approved vaccine (serious medical issues aside)