Anyone else regretting their choice to get vaccinated?

[onthetracks]

I had my first vaccine 4 weeks ago (AZ)
I was really put off my having it and didn’t feel 100% happy, but since I’m clinically vulnerable to Covid and I also look after my elderly grandmother who is Clinically extremely l vulnerable, i thought it was the right thing to do.

Since having the vaccine I read no end of negative reports, side effects, blood clots and now deaths.

I’m terrified that I’m going to develop a blood clot and die.

I know this may sound irrational, which is surprising for me as I’m usually able to rationalise things.
But I can’t help feeling that it’s all been a bit rushed.
We’re all so desperate for normal life that we’ve jumped at the chance to be injected with something that we don’t actually know is safe.

Only now that millions of people are having the vaccine are we being alerted to adverse effects.

I’m really starting to regret that I’ve had the vaccine and I honestly don’t think I will go for my 2nd jab. 😣

@Zilla1

So not mandatory then.

I hadn't realised being (sub-consciously?) terrified was the driver for trying to help some people understand the probability of dying from CVST from AZ vaccination was massively less than the probability of dying from COVID. I'm not sure dragging in the probability of an independent event, being run over by a car, helps your argument, except to demonstrate a fairly loose understanding of risk and probability.

yes mandatory unless you get money that grows on trees never leaving your house or travelling anywhere living in a broom cupboard where you will need no vaccine passport.

The reality is most younger people aren't shaking in terror of covid, they are prepared to take reasonable steps to keep the vulnerable safe not injecting substances in their body which may /may not cause side effects

I am a 49 year old asthmatic autoimmune teacher. The risk to me of NOT taking it was large.
The risk of blood clots is LESS than I would have being on the pill. By a long way.

@MRex I think people are concerned about the risk in a specific age group though. If, for example, all those cases were found to have occurred in women under the age of 50 then you would want to look at how many doses were given to women under 50, rather than looking at the doses given to all age groups.

@bumbleymummy - yes, I agree that both would be helpful to know; I'd go further and want age + sex (5yr band) with CVST, plus days post vaccination, plus number in that age + sex band vaccinated with AZ. It sounds like MHRA are including it in their assessment, and should surely be a Whitty/Vallance question at the next briefing.

Well I agree young people are not shaking in terror of COVID though whether they are or not will absolutely not change the relative risk of dying from catching COVID and the enormously smaller risk from CVST from the AZ vaccine.

FWIW, I expect the families of the admittedly relatively few young people in my practice population already dead or permanently disabled from COVID would have wished they'd had access to the AZ vaccine more quickly.

OP Have you ever been on the Pill?
Looked at the side effects of Paracetamol ?

The risk of the AZ is really not much different to either of those drugs

@Zilla1

Well I agree young people are not shaking in terror of COVID though whether they are or not will absolutely not change the relative risk of dying from catching COVID and the enormously smaller risk from CVST from the AZ vaccine.

FWIW, I expect the families of the admittedly relatively few young people in my practice population already dead or permanently disabled from COVID would have wished they'd had access to the AZ vaccine more quickly.

Bearing in mind the number of young people dead from covid could fit into 1 school hall size room in a population of 70 million, its amazing how many people on here claim to know them. It's strange how we are prepared to destroy the futures of millions of children for a tiny number with underlying health issue that pass away with covid that are lower than the suicide rate of children during lockdown yet over 3 million children starve to death globally every year and I cant recall a single thread on them or probably 2nd thought given from the vast majority of posters.. ah well

@YellowPurple

OP Have you ever been on the Pill? Looked at the side effects of Paracetamol ?

The risk of the AZ is really not much different to either of those drugs

@YellowPurple

Nope, never been on the pill.

Yes, I’ve taken paracetamol.

Not read anything about blood cots though.

I try and deal in fact not assertion. We've had one young COVID death and three life changing outcomes. I'd need to check if those are what would be expected based on the size of our practice population. BTW, only one had underlying health issues but don't let that change young beliefs.

Regarding suicide rates, they've been lower in our practice population during lockdown than normal. I suppose anyone can assert they will be higher over time. Or lower.

Is the destruction of the futures of the millions of children you assert from vaccination or from economic effects?

I had 2 doses of pfzier (last one more than 3 weeks ago) I am chuffed to bits.

@onthetracks - check the rare side effects of paracetamol:
www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-57595/paracetamol-oral/details/list-sideeffects.

OP, the last time I looked, I think hundreds die of paracetamol toxicity in the UK each year though I think the statistics are mixed as it includes suicides and I've not seen statistics for unintentional toxicity recently. The suicide dimension is interesting as the reduction in pack size appeared to reduce the numbers of 'successful' suicides. It seems the action of having to pop out individual tablets and to buy several packets deterred some suicides which might indicate how tightly balanced the decision is for some people under stress.

@MRex

Nice summary yesterday from some scientists assessing the MHRA reports: www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-latest-weekly-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting-following-covid-19-vaccination-published-by-the-mhra-including-updated-numbers-of-cerebral-venous-sinus-thrombosis-cvst-and-other/

Dr Peter English explains the possible impact of reporting bias really well:
“The report found that there were 22 reports of CVST out of a total of 18.1 million doses of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca given. That’s about 1.2 cases per million doses given. Given that the background rate of CVST – at least according to this reference – is one case per 3-4 million adults per year, that is very close to background rates, and is far from being strong evidence of causality.

“It is hard to postulate a mechanism by which a vaccine could cause this particular clotting disorder, but not many other clotting disorders.

“There are many rare conditions, so, just by chance, you would expect to find an excess – more cases than you would expect – for some of them if you compare two large groups of people.

“You only know if there is an excess in adverse incidence reporting, such as the UK Yellow Card system or the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), if you know the background rate of the condition.3With rare conditions, especially when, like CVST, they are hard to diagnose, this can be a challenge.

“Once a condition becomes associated in people’s minds – regardless of whether the exposure (in this case, vaccination) actually causes the condition – doctors are more likely to look out for the condition in people who’ve had the exposure; and to ask about the exposure in people who have had the condition. This can causereporting bias, with the condition being diagnosed or suspected, and reported, in more people who’ve had the vaccine, just because it’s being looked for, and with more assiduous questioning about vaccination in those in whom the condition is diagnosed. Remember, it is a“difficult diagnosis”, suggesting it may often be missed, and if you look for it more carefully in one group than another, you are likely to find more cases in the group where you look more carefully."

Good post

No, I'm over the moon! And will feel even better after the second one.

1 in every 10,000 mothers will die in childbirth - for UK pregnancies.

Are people really filled with dread every time someone they know is pregnant?

For 11m people vaccinated, 25have had the cerebral sinus clotting problem.
For the same number of the general population in a 3 month period, 14 would have had it.
For those on the contraceptive pill (combined) 105 would have had it.
So the vaccine may slightly increase the risk, but not nearly as much as other things we put in our bodies.

For other clotting problems 5 have been reported, which is lower than general population numbers.

Posted too soon!
Not sure if figures help you, but I always like to have a frame of reference.

@Zilla1

I try and deal in fact not assertion. We've had one young COVID death and three life changing outcomes. I'd need to check if those are what would be expected based on the size of our practice population. BTW, only one had underlying health issues but don't let that change young beliefs.

Regarding suicide rates, they've been lower in our practice population during lockdown than normal. I suppose anyone can assert they will be higher over time. Or lower.

Is the destruction of the futures of the millions of children you assert from vaccination or from economic effects?

Well facts coming from someone on an anonymous forum talking about practices which could be anywhere that can't be verified implying anyone can assert something is pot calling the kettle.

The fact you think that children who have suffered socially, academically, materially with many households relying on foodbanks needs to be questioned is indicative of your obsession over covid neglecting everything else. I notice you don't bother talking about the thousands of people who have dropped dead with missed operations and the NHS grinding to a half for many

This was last summer so the deaths will probably have increased significantly due to the ridiculous lockdowns and draconian covid measures.. take your blinkers off

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/29/lockdown-has-killed-21000-people-say-experts/

@MRex
That Science Media Centre reaction report to the MHRA yellow card reporting was an interesting read - thank you. A tad concerning that no incidents have been recorded after Pfizer jabs though. I do wonder if we had immediate access in volume to Pfizer that it would possibly be a recommendation to not use AZ in the lower age groups?

Absolutely not regretting it.

Two weeks tomorrow for me, I had a lot of side effects but still don't regret it. Getting Covid scares me way more.

@TJ17

Could be anything dusty, maybe go see your GP who is medically trained.

GP asked me to report it as side effects.

Science Media Centre also had responses to the AZ / blood clot paper:

www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-preprint-looking-at-blood-clotting-events-following-vaccination-with-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine/?cli_action=1617450310.303

“As far as I can see, it provides no evidence of a causal link. The conclusion that “The AZD1222 vaccine is associated with development of a prothrombotic disorder” Is completely unsupported by their findings. In my opinion this research is not of high quality and is completely unable to say whether or not the vaccine causes clotting.”

All medications, vaccines, medical procedures, driving your car, climbing your own stairs, eating slightly out of date food, going swimming......... carry a certain level of risk.
Please work on putting these anxieties into perspective. The chances of being seriously ill from COVID are pretty small, the chances of being seriously ill from the vaccine are infinitesimally tiny.