Worried about AZ vaccine - advice please

[BCBG]

So I had the AZ vaccine yesterday - (underlying autoimmune conditions) at GP. No option given and to be fair I wasn't expecting one. But since then I have read - here on MN as well as several other sources - that the efficacy of the AZ vaccine is substantially below the others and that's before you take the variants into account. For some reason this has made me really anxious which is not like me - I feel as though I've been given a cheap alternative with the associated risk of still getting ill - and even moderate covid would potentially be very bad news for me I know that it isn't a reasonable or sensible view but I am still surprised about how upset I feel - and some of the comments on the other thread about 'superior' vaccines has not helped. If there are any medical professionals reading this please could they let me know their thoughts? I also appreciate that there is nothing I can do about it now/should just be grateful I have had the vaccine etc etc, and truly I am. Have no idea why I feel upset tbh.

To be fair, I probably should have said " none of the vaccines currently in use in the UK..." as I don't know about others outside UK.

It’s great news that you’ve been vaccinated. I know there has been a lot of media coverage about this but remember sensationalism sells. The AZ vaccination is still thought to provide protection against serious illness and death even with the new variants so you’re in a much better position than you were. The supply chain for AZ also seems to be more stable too. We are at such an early stage that I think there will constantly be pros and cons of each vaccination being discussed but all of them seem to provide good protection against serious illness and hospitalisation which is the important thing. I’m really pleased that as soon as your first dose has had time to take effect that you’ll be so much better protected. Try and step away from reading too much about each. If I was given the choice I honestly don’t know which I’d choose but I’ll be so happy to eventually have one. Try not to worry and focus instead on how amazing it is that we now have vaccinations and are starting to turn a corner.

Thanks for the reassurance from me too. The BBC and other media seem determined to do a hatchet job on AZ (and in fact anything remotely positive). I wonder if they would actually be pleased if things never improved... And I agree that if AZ was so crap, why would the Europeans have been getting their knickers in a twist about not getting it? Surely they would have been cackling smugly about our stupidity rather than getting so irate?

I would love to have been able to get the Pfizer vaccine, but only because I have links to a country in Southern Africa, and hope to get out there as soon as it's allowed.

But I went ahead with my AZ vaccine anyway. Because the important thing is not to get seriously ill with the virus, wherever I might catch it.

I looked up the definitions of mild and moderate Covid (which theoretically the AZ might let through if I'm really unlucky) and they were very reassuringly non-problematic.

So I've given my head a wobble, as MN would put it, because the important thing is that the vaccine I've had should prevent me dying from it, or being so ill that my daughters have to worry .

have you read any facts about it?

A single standard dose of vaccine provides 76% protection overall against symptomatic covid-19, rising to 82.4% after a second dose in (as long as the dosing interval is 12 weeks or more). A single dose also provides 67% protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection which should have a substantial impact on transmission. You are protected from 22 days after a single dose of the vaccine. There is an extremely high level of protection against severe disease and death after a single dose - all the cases of severe disease & death were in the placebo wing of the trial - that is 100% efficacy against covid death!

I like Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, epidemiologist, take on the argument regarding different vaccines....
The best vaccine is the one that’s in your arm

I think everyone I know so far who's had the vaccine, has had the Oxford AZ. Including my parents. So I presume it's the main one in the UK?
I was really pleased that my CEV dad had it. As I think the Pfizer is less good for people with penicillin allergy which he has.
I probably won't get my vaccine till the summer (lowest priority group) and so it's very likely to be the AZ too. I'll be more than happy to have it. Probably my preference in fact, as it sounds more stable. You've not drawn the short straw OP, don't worry. Pros & cons to each of the vaccines I reckon...

@BCBG

By cheap I meant only that it is less than £2 a dose as opposed to £10 or more - which has to play a part in cash strapped thinking

The low price - which is not-for-profit - was a deliberate choice by the team who pioneered the research and development of the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine. You should be proud of their philanthropic philosophy!

Well the others are experimental new technologies. Rna vaccines. I think it's fine OP.

@BIWI good point and I am. Actually that also highlights just how negative a spin some of the analysis has carried.

This thread makes me feel awful. I posted the thread about having a choice, but I posted it because my family abroad have been given one.

Please understand that those are just my feelings, and I don’t believe AZ to be a cheap, “it will do” job.

If you’ve read through that thread then you’ll know my feelings on the subject, but what’s also true is that right now you are gaining protection against the Covid that is a problem here, today. That’s fabulous. For me, I have many more months to go until I’m eligible so by that point things might look very different.

I am so sorry if that thread upset you.

@doireallyneedaname thanks I guess it's just an anxious time for everyone - and maybe like a PP said, time to give my head a wobble and stay away from all the coverage of this. Yes, we are incredibly fortunate that the rollout is proceeding as it is, best just concentrate on that.

@JassyRadlett : No!, because I can't do links on this gadget, but, Gov.UK document, "What to expect after your Covid 19 vaccination", says it.
JVT in one of his briefings says it.
That's why, despite being vaccinated, we still have to adhere to "the rules".
There have also been cases reported of people who have contracted it, but only experienced mild illness, post vaccination.

This is not correct. Those documents, and people, have said that we don’t know whether it stops transmission, not that it definitely doesn’t. The most recent data suggests a significant drop in transmission.

To quote JVT from late January, which is I think what you’re referring to:

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam stressed that scientists "do not yet know the impact of the vaccine on transmission".

Prof Van-Tam said "no vaccine has ever been" 100% effective, so there is no guaranteed protection.

It is possible to contract the virus in the two- to three-week period after receiving a jab, he said - and it is "better" to allow "at least three weeks" for an immune response to fully develop in older people.

"Even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give Covid-19 to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue," Prof Van-Tam said.

"If you change your behaviour you could still be spreading the virus, keeping the number of cases high and putting others at risk who also need their vaccine but are further down the queue."

He’s quoted a few days later saying there is “ not yet data on the extent to which vaccines will reduce transmission at this point in time”

The gov.uk doc you mention says: “We do not yet know whether it will stop you from catching and passing on the virus, but we do expect it to reduce this risk.”

That is quite different to saying ‘the vaccine won’t stop you getting it.’ There is no evidence to support that statement that I’ve seen.

It is really, really important that people have accurate information about the vaccine and that ‘may not’ (based on insufficient data’ isn’t conflated with ‘will not’.

Sorry for the derail OP - there is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation out there about transmission after vaccine and I’m really hoping it doesn’t dissuade people from getting the vaccine.

Today there is news that the Pfizer vaccine is also less effective against the SA variant, so I guess this puts both vaccines on an equal footing.

@IrmaFayLear

Today there is news that the Pfizer vaccine is also less effective against the SA variant, so I guess this puts both vaccines on an equal footing.

Equal in that both are still highly likely to protect against severe disease and hospitalization (though not rigorously proven). But mild symptoms may still occur. A vaccine in your arm is still well worth having from any approved supplier.

Hopefully this will be as well disseminated as the AZ info was. Then the many scared, worried across Europe can regain some equilibrium and take whatever they are offered.

Which should, in turn, take pressure off South African supply, allowing more research to be done on their dominant variant!

Absolutely, but this might spike the guns of the “my vaccine’s better than yours na-na-na-na-na” people, or even worse the head tilt, “you had that one? Oh, that’s a shame” f*ers.

We can hope... But maybe not whilst holding our breath!

I feel completely opposite, I'd rather have the AZ one, as I'm anxious about Pfizer. Their PR isn't the best.

I think you should read this OP.

www.statnews.com/2021/02/17/the-myth-of-good-and-bad-covid-vaccines-why-false-perceptions-overlook-facts-and-could-breed-resentment/

@IrmaFayLear

Absolutely, but this might spike the guns of the “my vaccine’s better than yours na-na-na-na-na” people, or even worse the head tilt, “you had that one? Oh, that’s a shame” f*ers.

💖💖💖 this was our village shop today, by the way.

Honestly? On the first day that I was able to book an appointment, I did think about waiting to see if I could find out how to get the Pfizer one instead (due to me hopefully going out to southern Africa later in the year).
But then I thought that all I'd be doing was taking the risk that I'd get Covid in the time between when I could get AZ (the next day) and Pfizer (who knows when?)

Pfizer is going to be running short this month while the factory is being extended, so putting your vaccination off in the hope of getting that or one of the newer ones means a few weeks or months more of a risk. It risks actually dying or getting hospitalised in that time.

AZ might mean that you have a chance of getting mild Covid, but it protects against severe illness and death every bit as well as Pfizer. Going unvaccinated for a few weeks makes no sense when you look at it that way. Your family would be devastated if you got it seriously or dies simply because you'd risked waiting for a 'better' one.

While waiting in the queue for my vaccine the volunteer was saying to everyone ‘it’s the phizer one’ as if they’d won the jackpot

When she said it to me I said I hope it’s not as I can’t have it!

As a retired HCP due to illness I felt this was reinforcing this rubbish but didn’t feel able to feed it back. Fortunately as soon as I flagged my condition they fetched an Astra Zeneca vaccine no problem

As others have said, they are all good vaccines and unless you have a specific problem that prevents you having one then take whatever’s offered and be safe