Omg my social media feeds are going crazy!

[november90]

Literally everyone posting about refusing the boosters now after he back and forth with restrictions and the government breaking the rules etc! I can't believe it!
Anyone else seeing the same thing?
I wonder if it is like this in other countries who have reintroduced restrictions etc.

This is not my view btw, I'm happy to take my booster but obviously very annoyed with new restrictions too. So hope my sons Nativity isn't cancelled :(

@SecretKeeper1

A nice picture showing why ^of course^ there are more infections in the vaccinated than the unvaccinated. Hope it helps those struggling with basic maths:

I love this but it will never get through to many

Along with the repeated vaccines don’t STOP covid spread, as if the fact that they greatly REDUCE chances of infection is meaningless

[quote onewayanother]@nordica I'm sure under 40's can book their booster [/quote]
no, daughter's partner [39]got as far as getting his arm out and wasn't allowed it the other day

@Nat6999

I'm ECV, had my second AZ in May but haven't been offered my third jab yet even though I have had loads of NHS letters telling me to get my jab. The reason is I'm housebound & have to go on a waiting list, they have told me it could be February before I get it & then I presume I have to have a booster as well.

@Nat6999

That's appalling.

Househound, particularly CEV and CV, should be prioritised. They must realise that housebound doesn't equal hermit? So many will need regular visits from carers and/or medical appointments. Not to mention the importance of social interaction of seeing family and friends.

I'm sorry you've been left waiting. This shouldn't be happening and I do hope it's sorted out far sooner than February!

@LemonSwan

I'm sorry you've been left without clearer information. It's really not fair that pregnant women, who have understandable concerns, aren't getting clear and consistent advice.

I hope you can find some help from an informed HCP with your decision over timing - and wishing you all the best with everything.

In case it's some reassurance, although my cousin was hospitalised it wasn't icu. And her beautiful ds is doing very well now

Haven't seen anything like this. Most of my friends are reasonably intelligent, though.

Not getting a booster to spite the government...I mean, you'd have to be pretty thick really. Get it or don't get it, but ffs, have a vaguely logical reason for your decision.

@Emilyontmoor agreed. Asia must think we are completely nuts!
Anyone mentioning Sweden or Denmark/Belgium/Netherlands as bastions of where it all went right with their no restrictions has no idea, those countries have been / are in a terrible state. But UK trumps them all, sadly. There is no ‘fantastic plan’ around herd immunity. UK has the worst death rate and case rate since the summer and has weirdly normalised 1000 deaths a week.

@tulips27

A lot will be paid troll farms in Russia/similar who have been trying to undermine our efforts all along.

Give your flipping head a wobble love!!

I'm actually really angry at some of the attitudes here. 3 doses of Pfizer gives you significant protection against getting really sick. 2 doses doesn't. If that takes pressure off our hospitals and GPs is that not worth it? It's not about being able to live normally or being able to travel, it's about saving lives by making sure the nhs has capacity. Discussing with my husband who supports NHS databases and has the figures and by not having the booster he says is just delaying normality and we're a long way off that yet.

Err what????

Pandemics in the main last for 3 years because by then the population has herd immunity. Vaccines are vital in getting us there. I can't believe how stupidly people are responding to this!

Yeah we have the most corrupt and ignorant government I've known in my lifetime, but get the jab. It's no more risky than any other jab (I know cos I went temporarily blind after a hay-fever vaccine at the age of 16!) and will get us out of restrictions more quickly.

Fgs, some commentary are as stupid as the conspiracy theorists that add shade to the vaccines....!

Being 100% clear, not getting vaccinated will do nothing expect send us backwards!

I think that is the problem hallygore.

People were told that 2 doses were enough to prevent severe illness and to achieve herd immunity if we reach about 75% coverage.

Now it's 3 doses with talk of waning within 6 months and herd immunity not achievable.

It's understandable that people are re-evaluating.

People who do not want to take endless boosters will be reluctant to have a 3rd jab when we aren't being firmly reassured that it will be the last.

I don't think there is a great deal of public support for mass vaccination with twice yearly or even yearly covid vaccines.

Dibbydoos

We aren't going to achieve herd immunity with the current vaccines. If we were we would be there now.

I don't know how high vaccination levels are in the UK but I live in France where we are having a surge of cases despite high levels of vaccination and covid passes. I just checked the government app and it says that 88.6% of the population over 12 years old is fully vaccinated. Note that they say fully vaccinated.

I think the best we can hope for is that the vaccines allow enough people to get covid but not be too sick with it and then their natural immunity will contribute to herd immunity.

We will never achieve herd immunity as long as we don’t send vaccines to other countries. We can continue jabbing the rich countries that by the time you’ve finished another variant will have emerged in a country where there the vaccination numbers are low because rich countries have hoarded the vaccines. I can get vaccinated every 3 months that immunity will wean and won’t be as good for the next variant. We’ve to accept that variants will emerge and that
As long as every single person in the world has had accessed to a vaccine we won’t be over with this.

@Beachcomber

I think that is the problem hallygore.

People were told that 2 doses were enough to prevent severe illness and to achieve herd immunity if we reach about 75% coverage.

Now it's 3 doses with talk of waning within 6 months and herd immunity not achievable.

It's understandable that people are re-evaluating.

People who do not want to take endless boosters will be reluctant to have a 3rd jab when we aren't being firmly reassured that it will be the last.

I don't think there is a great deal of public support for mass vaccination with twice yearly or even yearly covid vaccines.

Bollocks. It was discussed during the vaccine development phases that it was likely we would need boosters, whether that be annually, four monthly, at some point.

75% was never going to be enough.

Whiny people who don't want boosters are cutting their noses off to spite their faces.

I had my booster nearly two weeks ago now - i was v happy to have it to increase my chances of not getting it or reducing covid symptoms.
I hate the govt but support the nhs - I don’t want to die or be admitted to hospital.
I live a ‘normal’ life and have not personally cancelled anything- I will be very upset if there’s another lockdown though - for many reasons.

@milkyaqua

Then why have we been referring to people with 2 doses as "fully vaccinated“??

To me fully vaccinated means fully vaccinated.

And I think one could argue that the Pfizer booster isn't a booster, it is a 3rd dose. It's exactly the same as doses 1 and 2.

For all those posters going on about having childhood vaccines etc, those vaccines weren’t suggested as a way to freedom and back to normality. It wasn’t a requirement to show that you had been vaccinated against childhood illnesses before entering shops etc which is the way this is going.
I’ve had my 2 vaccines, DS1 who is 16 has had his. DS2 is 11 and not entitled yet but he most likely won’t be having it.
I was incredibly ill after my vaccines, I coped with it as I honestly thought it would be it. I’m not prepared to make myself ill (far sicker than I was with Covid, before my vaccinations) for 2 weeks every 6 months to protect myself from something I have already had. The whole thing is utter madness. Yes vaccination the vulnerable with boosters but not people who don’t need it.

@hallygore

I'm actually really angry at some of the attitudes here. 3 doses of Pfizer gives you significant protection against getting really sick. 2 doses doesn't. If that takes pressure off our hospitals and GPs is that not worth it? It's not about being able to live normally or being able to travel, it's about saving lives by making sure the nhs has capacity. Discussing with my husband who supports NHS databases and has the figures and by not having the booster he says is just delaying normality and we're a long way off that yet.

Can under 40s even get one yet? Lots of people bleating about it but I haven’t been offered one 🤷‍♀️. And then what will it be, 6 monthly vaccines? I suspect a growing number of people who were happy to have two aren’t going to want to do this in perpetuity.

[quote Beachcomber]@milkyaqua

Then why have we been referring to people with 2 doses as "fully vaccinated“??

To me fully vaccinated means fully vaccinated.

And I think one could argue that the Pfizer booster isn't a booster, it is a 3rd dose. It's exactly the same as doses 1 and 2.[/quote]
The deal was we would need two doses of a vaccine to be get maximum immunity. It was known there would be some waning in immunity, at the time of vaccine development, but not known how soon or how often a booster would be needed. As data and information on each vaccine type's waning has come into clearer focus, it was apparent we would need a six month booster, not an annual one or two-yearly one. And as more contagious variants have emerged, like omnicron, the timing has been brought forward.

I certainly remember some experts saying back in 2020 it was possible we would need a shot every four months, or it could be every two or four years.

OK

Which sounds to me like we have just vaccinated most of the population without having any real strategy or data on which to base one.

Which I guess can be justified as we are in a pandemic but you can't blame people for re-evaluating their compliance as the situation evolves.

Is the plan really to have covid vaccines for everyone every 4 months or so?

Has that been tested for safety (or even efficacy)?

No, it was just all the unknowns then in 2020 when the four months was suggested as a possibility. I think once things settle down, we might have an annual shot like the flu vaccine. But that is just my thoughts; it could be every two years, who knows.

I really do think there has been (a) an incredible co-operative feat worldwide to have so many vaccine candidates and then so many vaccines to choose from and (b) these decisions are data-based and as more data comes in, scheduling changes, and there is nothing shifty in that. People are trying to save lives and prevent undue suffering.

Eu has bought more Pfizer’s for 2022 and 2023 than the ones Eu used in total during 2021…1.8bn

1. They’re for them to be donated
2. They are only for the vulnerable like the flu one
3. They’re for the Europeans to be vaccinated every few months …

To be Honest when I saw that the Eu was buying millions of vaccines for 2023 I knew we’d need to be getting jabs every now and again. Uk is not going not to give jabs if Eu or USA are doing it

ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2548

@Beachcomber

I think that is the problem hallygore.

People were told that 2 doses were enough to prevent severe illness and to achieve herd immunity if we reach about 75% coverage.

Now it's 3 doses with talk of waning within 6 months and herd immunity not achievable.

It's understandable that people are re-evaluating.

People who do not want to take endless boosters will be reluctant to have a 3rd jab when we aren't being firmly reassured that it will be the last.

I don't think there is a great deal of public support for mass vaccination with twice yearly or even yearly covid vaccines.

Yes, and if people have had two doses and then been infected and recovered then they are probably less likely to get their booster - right now at least.

Can under 40s even get one yet? Lots of people bleating about it but I haven’t been offered one 🤷‍♀️

Exactly. It gets so boring seeing all the screeching of ‘get your booster’, on here, in the media, from the government etc.
I would if I had been offered one 🤷🏻‍♀️.

For anyone saying they're not bothering with the booster - is the purpose not for the 'greater good? I e. To protect yourself AND anyone else with whom you come into contact? For instance if you carry the virus, don't show symptoms, but could potentially pass it on to others.