I've decided not to go ahead with my 2nd dose of the AZ vaccine. I'm happy having the Pfizer - will this be allowed?

[Ashleys63]

I've just lost all confidence in the AZ vaccine and regret having it at all.
I know the risks are tiny etc etc but I want a vaccine without these associated risks.
I'm 56 so in one of the top groups but just feel so uneasy about it all now.

@toffeebutterpopcorn

I did get a DVT on a long haul flight when I was in my 20s. I knew it was a possibility.

I used to have compression socks or something because I knew they were a possibility.

Everything I have read confirms that the experts are not conflating the type of clot associated with AZ vaccine with DVT/VTE. It is specific to an immune response and is associated with low platelets, which is why it would be very unwise to take aspirin or any other type of anticoagulant or thromboprophylaxis. The MHRA are well aware of this too. IME the vaccine services are being very careful in seeking advice and following the latest procedures.

I really don’t get the arguments re. Mixing doses?! How can that be less “risky” than taking the same vaccine for second dose.
The U.K. media lost their minds back in January when the MHRA suggested this might be possible on rare occasions when the first dose was unknown.
Trials are ongoing and I hope all those advocating for it on here have volunteered to take part in the trials to help with this particular body of knowledge.

My friend had a Stoke and blood clot from covid the risk is very very small but looks like MSM have won by scaring people witless

@NichyNoo

SAGE professors were on the news at lunchtime saying that clots are associated with the first dose. So if you didn’t have that reaction to the first dose, then you will be fine with the second dose. They also said you can’t mix and match as the vaccines work differently and that the risk of a clot is the same as taking a long haul flight.

this

@toffeebutterpopcorn yes they’ve hardly done any 2nd doses in younger age groups since the safety signal pinged up. That’s why it’s a bit misleading to say this. Quite possibly there’ll be an immunicological reason why 2nd dose is fine if first was but I think they need to work out what’s going on first.

How can the Germans say there is no issue with mixing and matching vaccines when initially they would not approve AZ for over 65s due to lack of data?

I am actually pretty shocked as they have also spouted safety 1st.

(They probably are right and MHRA mentioned the same previously but surely they need to be consistent in what they say?)

@sashagabadon the trial in U.K. is >50’s unfortunately but yes I’m registered on the Trial list.

[quote Oaktree55]@sashagabadon the trial in U.K. is >50’s unfortunately but yes I’m registered on the Trial list.[/quote]
Well I’m sure they’ll do the younger years in due course too so hopefully you’ll be able to participate and we’ll all know if this is a good idea. Will you hold off your second jab in case your services are required by the trial team?

So if you have had the first dose with no serious problems, you have done the infinitesimally "risky" part. Therefore it would make no sense at all not to have the second.

Unless you think we are all being lied to. Which personally I don't.

@sashagabadon I don’t think there’ll be anymore trials. AZ is a dead duck. Once we’re over this emergency other vaccines will be used.

. All major clotting events have happened after the first AZ vaccine. It’s not proven, but it is looking like if you didn’t react to the first, you are very unlikely indeed to react to the second

But not as many 2nd doses have been given so surely not enough to compare

[quote Oaktree55]@sashagabadon I don’t think there’ll be anymore trials. AZ is a dead duck. Once we’re over this emergency other vaccines will be used.[/quote]
They'll rename it and carry on using - as they have in other countries.

They have little choice. It's a viable and effective vaccine* that has become the scapegoat for all sorts of misunderstandings as the world gets more educated on what a global pandemic actually is.

*and it should be expected that all of the other vaccines have their own issues, their risk profiles are less well publicised, but they do exist.

@CuriousaboutSamphire I disagree. Time will tell.

@Iamthesandstorm

Also a vaccine with no risks does not exist. .All medical procedures carry risk

This

Don't have it, your choice to increase your risk of covid if you want to. Did you see Prof JVT yesterday explain the greater risk of covid versus the tiny tiny risk of blood clots for your age group

With which bit @Oaktree55

It HAS been renamed in other countries

All other vaccines do have their own risk profiles, some emergent data looks quite scary. As another poster has suggested, look up Bells Palsy in Hong Kong?

And explain how the other issues with all of the other vaccines have not become such big, front page issues? I am not saying their is a conspiracy. Just that AZ was high profile from the start and became the hook upon which to hang all sorts of questions, doubts etc.

In about 6 months time there will be some far more definitive comparative data. I'll put my money on there being little in AZ to deserve all of this. I'll also put money on that being the case for any other vaccine that has been through the usual trials.

@CuriousaboutSamphire right want a fight do you? This vaccine is showing a far greater safety signal for events which carry a high mortality rate. Yes vaccines like this exist eg yellow fever but they’re limited in use to a safe age range.

I’m not prepared to bullshit my way through how AZ is ok. It’s a shit second rate vaccine we’re stuck with whilst other countries eg SA have ditched in favour of J&J.

Read up. If one person “at low risk” of Covid makes their own personal risk assessment and decides to wait for a better safer vaccine then my post is not in vain.

AZ has been a shit show from Day 1. Others may recall my username from last year.

Assess your individual risk. Some people will clearly benefit from taking it if they’re at risk of Covid complications.

I am sure the scientists have said that in years to come we will have much better vaccines than we do now, first generation vaccines will be superseded in time...I can’t believe people going on about AZ being second rate. It never needed to be perfect all it needed to be was safe and effective enough to get us out of this. I wonder how many people now grumbling about AZ being not good enough were in the “believe me, there will never be a vaccine” crew 6 months ago.

Woah!

Am I supposed to agree with you just so you don't get angry and post back crap like "Want a fight?"

Read up??

If one person is scared off having a vaccine will you take credit for that too?

It's not about being right or wrong. It's about posting data, facts and figures, reliable sources. About eplxopring what we know, not what someone feels about it!

I see this today. If you’re worried about the clotting after your second dose.

AZ has probably already saved hundreds if not thousands of lives in the U.K. alone.
If it didn’t exist and had never been invented we’d only have pzfizer now and would probably only have vaccinated the over 80’s by now leaving many vulnerable groups open to infection.
We’d probably still have cases in the 20-30,000 and the resulting deaths. Even if AZ is not the perfect vaccine, it’s done it’s job and we should be thankful.
53 people died from Covid just today. That number could have been 200 - 300. We’ll never know for sure.
The balance of risks is hugely in favour of AZ.

@sashagabadon wouldn’t say that if you were one of the family of the dead would you? It’s age dependent (probably). U.K. have hardly vaxxed any young with AZ all healthcare (or most) got Pfizer. Safety signal pinged in EU as they started with young.

I literally despair at this British support for AZ (and I’m white British). It’s nuts.

But what if you were one of the hundreds that didn’t catch Covid and lived?

@Oaktree55

I literally despair at this British support for AZ (and I’m white British). It’s nuts.

I don’t get why it bothers you so much the other way though. It’s an effective vaccine that real life shows it works. It’s irrelevant now if the trials weren’t conducted perfectively. Real world data has superseded the trials. Cases are dropping like stones in the U.K. and the link between cases and deaths has been broken. That’s a good thing surely? It shows the vaccine roll out is working. Have you been following the chile situation with sinovac? That’s more of a concern to me than AZ