Is now my only chance to have the vaccine?

[Maddimoo]

I’ve had my first dose of AZ but have decided against my second dose.

I don’t want to remain partially vaccinated but am aware mixing vaccines is not yet approved (UK)
If it were I would happily accept a different one.

Does anyone know where this leaves me? Will I always just have to remain partially vaccinated?

What about if there’s boosters, will I not qualify because I’ve only had one dose?

@dustybooks

The British Society for Immunology - who I think might know something about it.

But basically because you know what 'dose someone has had, therefore the immune response is more predictable.

With natural exposure, the viral load you ate exposed to, may not be enough to trigger a lasting immune response.

There is a much larger report you can read that is linked to in the link I put above.

Where a patient does not return for a second dose, they will not start a new regime. They will be offered the same second dose at any time afterwards.

Exceptionally they can be given an alternative vaccine if, it has been clinically approved, the first vaccine is not available or is unknown.

The most likely outcome for the OP will be offer of second dose AZ before the final booster is offered. Because they will still be due their second dose and AZ will be available.

The 3rd booster will not just be Pfizer.

@Maze76

How are people confidently saying that two does will protect against new variants? From what i understand, the scientists are holding their breath as odds are a variant will emerge for which the vaccine will have no affect.

I'm guessing that scientists aren't sitting twiddling their thumbs and holding their breath, they are in their labs doing science to research and model and predict how effective the various vaccines are against the variants we know of.

What do you mean by odds are? That could be literally be anything, I think you may be misunderstanding that term, it doesn't imply anything about how likely something is, simply that there isn't any certainty. Obviously there is a chance this could happen.

@Elys3

If you wait longer for the booster than 12 weeks you will have to start afresh anyway

Not true. We never 'restart' vaccine courses

I'd be surprised if you couldn't catch up later. I had MMR as an adult because I didn't have it as a child (but could have done - I don't think you can get it if it wasn't offered when you were a child). I did have to push a bit to get it - the surgery's first response was the rather bizarre, "Why do you want it?!" but I did get it.

@WaterBottle123

I hope this thread is a wind up. People simply cannot be this dim or selfish

What’s dim or selfish about it? People have bodily autonomy. I wouldn’t have a second dose of AZ either had I been given the first one. Some people may be happy to take the risk, I’m not. Accept it.

I was in the same case, under 40 but had a 1st dose of AZ early March.
I decided to have the 2nd AZ dose as

• mixing vaccines seem way riskier (and that was not even an option)
• I couldn’t see the Govt offering me 2 doses of Pfizer before a long long time. First they’ll go over everybody else in their 30s/20s, 1st and 2nd doses, then boosters for older people and at risk. So realistically nothing for me until Sept/Oct at the earliest.

So basically the choice was have the 2nd dose of AZ or stay half vaccinated.

@WaterBottle123

I hope this thread is a wind up. People simply cannot be this dim or selfish

@WaterBottle123

What exactly is dim / selfish about this?!

@Dustyboots

It's generally accepted that vaccines produce a better immune response than natural infection.

This is not true at all! Where do you get this idea from?

Research such as this, showing antibodies 10* higher from vaccine than natural infection: www.contagionlive.com/view/immune-response-from-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-is-more-robust-than-natural-infection.

"Personally I dislike the term 'partially vaccinated'. You've been vaccinated and hopefully that will have given you a good level of immunity. Perhaps talk it over with your GP?"

The vaccine is a two shot deal. You are not vaccinated if you've only had one shot. One shot of either vaccine only offers 30% protection against the new variant. Are you happy with that?

These threads are honestly getting ridiculous.

I've had my second AZ today- I'm 33. Feel very very lucky to live somewhere where a safe and effective vaccine available to me.

This professor of Haematology is skeptical that there have been any real cases of blood clot following second dose.
Worth a read.
twitter.com/ProfMakris/status/1400555283013935105

Appreciate that there is fear regathe risk of blood clots, but it has to be put in context of other risks of blood clots.

Does anyone know how it compares to the risk of blood clots from going on the pill or from long haul flights? Are they all similar?

@hemhem

Appreciate that there is fear regathe risk of blood clots, but it has to be put in context of other risks of blood clots.

Does anyone know how it compares to the risk of blood clots from going on the pill or from long haul flights? Are they all similar?

@hemhem it's been a long time since I was on the pill, I remember it was a higher chance if you were overweight and my doctor wouldn't prescribe the pill for women over a certain BMI but unsure of current guidelines.

The thing that worries me about the vaccine blood clot link is they haven't said (or Iv missed it) what the reason is for some people reacting badly, my 48 year old fit healthy neighbour is seriously ill following clots then a stroke which they know the vaccine caused 'thicker blood' her partner said but unsure why. If it's a simple if your overweight your more at risk you can weigh up the risks but for me it's the unknown that's stopping me getting second dose. (I had awful side effects with my 1st aswell, much worse than my symptoms when I had Covid)

I guess its too early to say for sure why some reactions happen. There's always an unknown element with any vaccine, like some children have anaphylactic reactions to their childhood jabs, while others are fine. The scare stories in the 80s around the MMR vaccine have now been largely debunked as far as I know, but at the time it understandably put loads of people off. Unfortunately now we have a good % of an adult population at risk of severe illness from measles.

There are too many people with relatives and friends who’ve had strokes and nearly died from this vaccine. People talk of it as if it’s just a normal daily occurrence now. These people are not even being counted in the blood clotting list as they haven’t died.

How is this in any way acceptable?

Clinical trials exploring mixed AZ/Pfizer vaccination are currently ongoing. Short-term safety data are already published (they seem to be about as safe as not mixing vaccines) www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673621011156?via%3Dihub

The efficacy data are currently awaited. There is some precedent here however, in that prime-boost strategies involving different vaccines have been shown to be more effective than their non-mixed equivalents (i think). There's certainly no good evidence suggesting this strategy is unsafe, although probably best to spread the doses over a few weeks/months to be sure.

Despite all of this, I would recommend having a second AZ vaccine now and then having some sort of variant booster whenever this becomes available. There is no evidence suggesting that receiving AZ now should preclude receiving a pfizer variant booster later.

This is arrant nonsense. Evidence?
Every adverse reaction to the vaccines is recorded, not just the deaths.

@Maddimoo

It is both dim and selfish to refuse a vaccine that carries less risk than getting in a car and yet can help end this pandemic.

We all have a duty to get vaccinated. All of us.

Here's a comparison

I've never smoked. I don't drive a car and I've never taken the pill either.

[quote WaterBottle123]@Maddimoo

It is both dim and selfish to refuse a vaccine that carries less risk than getting in a car and yet can help end this pandemic.

We all have a duty to get vaccinated. All of us.
[/quote]
And do other people have a duty to not become obese, not to smoke, not to take drugs or alcohol to protect their health? Or is the duty to protect their health only on me?

[quote WaterBottle123]@Maddimoo

It is both dim and selfish to refuse a vaccine that carries less risk than getting in a car and yet can help end this pandemic.

We all have a duty to get vaccinated. All of us.
[/quote]
No, there is no duty on anyone. We don’t live in North Korea. People can make informed choices about what they want to do with their bodies.

@Maddimoo
What age group are you. If 18-49 years, reassuringly there have been no reported cases of VITT from the second dose in that age group out of 2.7 million doses. See image from latest report.
This is taken from the latest MHRA yellow card reporting
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting
This report is published every Thursday - how far are you from the 2nd dose being due? You could keep monitoring this report for more reassurance on your second dose