No AZ for under 40s to be looked at again?

[Suranjeep]

Can’t these lot make their minds up? Just seen this news story that says if they need to speed up the rollout they’ll potentially go back to offering the Under 40 the AZ vaccine.

news.sky.com/story/over-35s-to-be-offered-jabs-in-coming-days-as-government-urges-those-eligible-to-come-forward-12307885

See the text about half way down.

And they wonder why people are getting annoyed with all this backtracking over everything.

Govt needs to improve the comms around this. It's not the risk of AZ vaccine that's changing, it's the benefit.

The risk of clots is more significant Than the risk of under 40's being critically ill with Covid *while Covid rates in the population at large are low"

An increase in Covid rates means an increased possibility of critical illness, possibly tipping the seesaw back in favour of having an AZ vaccine.

But yes, many people will just hear "it's safe, then it's not safe, now it is safe??" and be bewildered

We're so bad at understanding and communicating risk in this country, through decades of poor curriculums and poor government priorities. @strawberrie had it nailed, the absolute risk isn't changing, the relative benefit is.

I think they’ve already done the damage. Although that was started by mainland Europe.

If they went back to offering AZ to under 40s, I suspect many would not go/book or walk out of their appointments.

It does not help matters than in general, people have little trust in our present Govt to present the facts clearly and to act in the best interests of regular people, rather than their cronies.

I just think we need to offer a £1m prize if you get a blood clot.

Under 40's will be offered a choice.
This was announced on the same day Germany announced they'll
offer it to everybody.

No point telling them to make their minds up, when it's an everchanging situation. As virus rates decline, there is lower risk of anyone catching it, and time for younger people to wait til alternative choices of vaccine are available. If they go up, that balance alters, and there will come a point where AZ is recommended for all ages to get them vaccinated as quickly as possible, because the prevalence of covid is so high that even younger people are at greater risk of catching it and reacting badly or getting long covid. There wouldn't be time in that situation to wait around for the months that it might take to get enough alternative vaccines for everyone.

They always said it was provisional and dependent on infection rates.

The damage is done, I think a lot of under 40s will likely refuse astrazeneca.

@strawberrie

Govt needs to improve the comms around this. It's not the risk of AZ vaccine that's changing, it's the benefit.

The risk of clots is more significant Than the risk of under 40's being critically ill with Covid *while Covid rates in the population at large are low"

An increase in Covid rates means an increased possibility of critical illness, possibly tipping the seesaw back in favour of having an AZ vaccine.

But yes, many people will just hear "it's safe, then it's not safe, now it is safe??" and be bewildered

I think it’s too late for that. Even if people logically understand it, there will be a psychological barrier to going to get a jab for definite that you were told not to last week, as opposed to taking a risk with covid that you may not get. I understand the risk calculations take into account chance of catching it, hence the change, but still I think that’s a big barrier for government messaging to overcome.

I think they should open it up so that people under 40 who are happy to get AZ (because aside from the dramatics on mn I’m quite sure there’s a fair few people in real life who would do so) can do so, but continue to let under 40’s choose an alternative if they wish. I think the press/communication has been awful over the clotting risk and as a result many people will now be too scared to take it.

At the moment, they seem to be not letting those under 40 have AZ - cancelling appointments etc.

What perhaps they may do, is suggest to offer those under 40 a choice rather than a refusal - let them take AZ if they wish, but be allowed to still request an alternative if they are not comfortable.

This would prevent a drop in vaccine uptake. If those in their 40s are unhappy to take AZ, how are those in their 30s going to feel, having already been told the risk is higher.

Anyway, they said it’s not necessary at the moment but could change in the future. I wouldn’t panic just yet.