Vaccines don’t work for everyone

[Castlepeak]

Somehow this news seems to have escaped some people’s notice.

Many of the people most at risk from Covid are showing no reaction to the Covid vaccine. You can find this news in a small article on your news source of choice, but most people don’t seem to be paying it much attention. Even our extended family didn’t notice and one of them was a living organ donor for DH.

So as restrictions relax, our world is becoming smaller. We have to be more cautious than ever. The vaccine helps, but rates aren’t nearly high enough. As mask restrictions and social distancing rules drop it makes it harder and harder to leave the house.

I’m not asking the world to stop for us. I know things are going to re-open and it’s just going to be dangerous. I’m just asking people to have a little perspective. Maybe think about other people before you rant and say some very callous things.

The medically fragile aren’t all bed bound people in care homes. We are active, employed people living full lives. We have spouses and children. We engage in mystery hobbies that must not be named on mumsnet. We just happen to have to deal with the extra burden of medical problems at the same time.

@PastMyBestBeforeDate

Tealights tbf I pay tax but all of it (and a fair bit more) pays for my treatment!

It's swings and roundabouts. Some people's treatment will be cheap out of patent drugs - but they will be paying huge sums for a non CEV's child birth, pre and post natal care, and education, for example.

We are all - CEV and CV included - members of the same society. And we don't exist in a vacuum. There are knock on effects. Like the PP whose dc needs her father to stay safe. Other dc will rely on the family income brought home by the full time working CEV parent/s. There are psychological as well as financial impacts (and the two are very often interlinked).

And also many CEV or CV will have paid tax for years before becoming vulnerable. Their money is good enough to take, so must their lives be given reasonable protection.

:) Tealights I'm massively underpaid in the public sector so I am happy that I probably do, overall, break even. DH can cover the schooling costs

As in the tax for state schooling that is!

It is a real worry. Dh is immunosuppressed and has now had both doses of the vaccine but who knows how effective it will be? I've also had both doses but having 2dc still at school and me working in the NHS, the worry still hasn't gone away.
DS and I do the lateral flow tests each week, gives us a wee bit of reassurance. Still can't shake off the general fear of dh catching covid and being v I'll with it.

I thought immunosuppressed people didn't get vaccinated? I'm obviously wrong!

Covid has from the start been something that lots of people don't get any symptoms for. They've been pressing that point all along. Asymptomatic.

So stands to reason the vaccine will also not lead to a reaction in a lot of people.

@NiceGerbil yep we get vaccinated! Well, most. Obviously depends on the condition
I'm CEV due to being immunocompromised, covid isn't the risk as such but I can't fight any infection so if I got pneumonia, that's the issue
I know blood cancer uk are doing a lot of research into vaccine efficiency on people with blood cancers/disorders so I've been following their FB page for updates

Latest post from them

I think most people do know that the vaccine doesn’t work for everyone. There will always be a proportion who it doesn’t work for, same as every other vaccine. But we have to open up, we can’t keep restrictions.

@Overthebow

I think most people do know that the vaccine doesn’t work for everyone. There will always be a proportion who it doesn’t work for, same as every other vaccine. But we have to open up, we can’t keep restrictions.

And you will note that I did not argue against that. I simply asked people to be aware that it isn’t as easy for all of us.

I have two friends who have not developed any antibodies after having the vaccine. One has an auto immune disorder and the other is receiving treatment for blood cancer. Both have been shielding pretty much continuously since the start of lockdown. They are waiting for the majority of the population to be vaccinated before venturing out into the world. One is doctor and the other is a biochemist. They both know exactly what the risks are.

@NiceGerbil it's live vaccines that are a problem if you're immunosuppressed. The covid vaccines aren't live.

Nobody said they were 100% effective. High 90's is very effective.

Not developing antibodies doesn’t mean the vaccine doesn’t work on them though.

Sorry - what is the point of this thread title? If vaccines do not work for some people then it is all the more important that as many people as possible for whom they do work do get vaccinated.

Saying vaccines don’t work encourages some people to think they won’t bother then.

Fwiw I am cev and I really don’t think the world should shut down for me. That’s supremely selfish. It’s a bugger but frankly it’s not just covid that can get a person. Were you hiding in the house in 2018? Because there were nasty viruses about then. I know, I got one and spent six weeks in hospital. It’s not just covid, covid, covid.

@patchysmum

so are people saying if you do not have a reaction to the vaccine it has not worked?

No, not at all. There is no correlation bw having a reaction and protection

@User135644

Nobody said they were 100% effective. High 90's is very effective.

That is why people need to understand. Not effective may not mean much for healthy people. But it means whole a lot more for those who vaccine isn't effective. The vaccine isn't just about stop individual people getting seriously ill, it's about suppressing transmission so those who can't have protection can be protected too.

Recently what we all hear is "all the elderly and vulnerable has been vaccinated so why can't we drop all the restrictions?" from vocal few who are against any measures and precautions.

Sadly it doesn't work like that, and we all need to understand those who we need to protect is just like us healthy people, have kids and families, have relatively normal life, and by us doing a bit and careful, their everyday life can be way easier.

By us healthy people doing what we can, like wearing mask, sd, getting vaccine, we can protect others who can't help themselves because of no faults of their own to survive this pandemic unharmed.

Exactly rogue.

Roguetomato articulated this much better than me.

Yes good post Rogue

OP - this is why my teenagers decided to get vaccinated. They're very very unlikely to get sick from Covid, but they have friends who are immunocompromised who they want to protect.

DD1 had a friend at university who recently had a heart transplant - she wanted to protect her.

DD2 babysits for a family where the mum has been receiving cancer treatment. She wanted to protect her.

Herd immunity is really important.

Thank you for clarifying on your second post, OP, because I hadn’t a clue about what you meant to begin with.

I agree: those of us who are likely to develop immunity and other benefits of the vaccine need to get vaccinated, and carry on with mask wearing, sensible distancing etc.

To prevent infection , but also to prevent further variants.