In talks for 4th booster..

[Maddymorphosis]

According to the DM and other sources, Israel and Germany have already announced this.

Ffs.. then the 5th at Easter, 6th in summer and so on?

Are people really willing to get vaccinated every few months ?

My DH in the UK is already booked in for a 4th jab as his primary course was 3 and then it will be a booster.

@Booklover3

I’ve had the first two. I decided to pause the third. I’m not ruling out ever getting a booster. Just not for the moment.

Yeah me too. I had my second dose just over 3 months ago so fairly recently in the grand scheme of things. Not getting a booster at the moment but I’m not totally ruling it out in the future. I’m also not happy to be taking up a slot that could be used by someone vulnerable.

@LynetteScavo

Ongoing vaccinations are one thing, but at the moment it's three times a year. This is something that people aren't used to, and just having the vaccine administered is very stressful for some.

Bring on the possibility of one vaccine per year!

It isn't three times a year, that is the initial course. There is no suggestion that boosters will be required with such frequency.

Most vaccines require an initial course of injections closer together followed by a booster after a longer interval. Some require ongoing boosters, others the risk is low enough after a certain number of doses not to have more.

Think about the vaccine course that babies and pre-school age kids have. We aren't used to starting a vaccine course in adulthood here because we have a great system for babies.

Hepatitis B, TBE and Rabies vaccines all require 3 initial doses but most UK residents don't need these.

Obviously viruses that mutate rapidly like flu or SARS require more frequent vaccine as a vaccine that is effective against one variant doesn't necessarily provide full protection against all variants.

Very happy to get vaccinated every few months if that helps me and others stay well, reduce the likeihood of mutations etc. As others have said we're lucky that we have access to the vaccines and regular boosters at all and I'm grateful.

I’m also not happy to be taking up a slot that could be used by someone vulnerable.

If you are eligible for the booster - get it. You are doing no one else any favours by leaving yourself more vulnerable and there is no shortage of booster spaces now.

[quote Bavarois]**@Lifeisnteasy* But it isn’t getting us out of this hellish situation is it? That’s the point.*

But it is beginning to. This December has been a lot better than last December (admittedly I'm in Scotland where Sturgeon more or less barricaded us in the house from September - April), hospital admissions and deaths are reduced, even without lockdown. People seem to expect a magic bullet. Within 12 months of this disease being recognised, and within 9 months of a pandemic being declared, we had a vaccine developed, produced and rolled out. That is amazing. We are so lucky to live in this time and in this country.[/quote]
Yes, I agree. The progres we've made in a short space of time has been amazing. Getting out of a pandemic was always going to be gradual, a bit of a slog, and not necessarily linear. It baffles me that anyone expected any different. But it seems that many were under the impression that vaccines were an instantaneous magic wand for everything to go Back To Normal.

I’m it getting another booster until they have a clue of what’s going on

We’ve been told that we have to have that booster with no info on whether it was necessary. As it turns out, vaccine efficacy is down (so you will have symptoms of you get covid) but the vaccine still has the same efficacy for hospitalisation and deaths.
If I Had known that, I wouldnt have got it

Now they are talking about a pan vaccine. Great. I’ll get it when they can prove 1- it’s working and 2- it’s effect doesn’t disappear within3 months.

The idea of a 4th jab of the same thing just doesn’t make sense.

@gannett people think that be aise that’s what they have been told.
Doesnt matter that ‘if people had thought about it abit’ bla-bla-bla. It has been repeated again and again whilst people who are unvaccinated have been demonised.
So yes now people associate vaccinated = no restriction. Like it was during the summer

@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon actually Pfizer has said that much.
Saying that we will need regular boosters. I suspect they are dreaming of at least a yearly habillé they do fir the flu
Countries like Germany have already planned the 4th dose.

So yes, all in the pipelines already

@todaysdilemma The boosters are not pointless. There is plenty of data to show that they reduce hospitalisations and deaths.

@Lifeisnteasy Not getting the booster isn't going to help things, is it. The problem has been partly the government messaging - all that bollocks about freedom day making people think it was all over (when anyone with half a braincell knew it wasn't), and partly that this is an ever-evolving situation. No-one knew the vaccine effectiveness would drop like it did, but thank goodness we do know that a booster brings the levels back up. No-one knew we would get a massively contagious variant at Christmas (though plenty predicted it).

This isn't going to be over quickly, unfortunately. We will be dealing with the effects of Covid as it waxes and wanes for years to come, though no-one really knows how long. Things are immeasurably better because of the vaccines and boosters - and we are so, so lucky to have access to them - but there isn't going to be one day when BANG, we're back in 2019. But in time, it will fade. Look how much better this Christmas already is than last.

We’re in a pandemic and vaccines are keeping the vast majority of us safe. I’ll take as many vaccines as are needed to get us out of the pandemic.
It will absolutely settle down to annual jabs, and possibly only for the vulnerable. That’s how it will work - almost every reputable scientist says so!

[quote LostForIdeas]@gannett people think that be aise that’s what they have been told.
Doesnt matter that ‘if people had thought about it abit’ bla-bla-bla. It has been repeated again and again whilst people who are unvaccinated have been demonised.
So yes now people associate vaccinated = no restriction. Like it was during the summer[/quote]
Told by whom? Everything I've read about the development and rollout of the vaccines has been open about how it is likely to work (ie multiple and ongoing boosters). I also learned about how vaccines work at school. Wikipedia is also free and useful. If you don't read beyond the headlines a lot of life must come as a surprise when it happens.

The issue for me is the vaccine effectiveness.

Saying that people should get a booster because the vaccine effectiveness has dropped is wrong.
Everyone understands that it means you are as well protected so will have higher rates of hospitalisations and deaths. What they mean is that people will get symptoms rather than being asymptomatic
That’s not the same thing.

[quote LostForIdeas]@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon actually Pfizer has said that much.
Saying that we will need regular boosters. I suspect they are dreaming of at least a yearly habillé they do fir the flu
Countries like Germany have already planned the 4th dose.

So yes, all in the pipelines already[/quote]
@LostForIdeas

Once a year yes, but not three times a year as the post I was responding to suggested.

I think once a year like flu was what many expected.

@gannett, government messaging, media?
Very few people have access to the thoughts of researchers.

Just look at the government message this summer
Vaccination= freedom=no more restriction, freedom day because we’ve decoupled number of cases as number of deaths etc etc

@DSGR

We’re in a pandemic and vaccines are keeping the vast majority of us safe. I’ll take as many vaccines as are needed to get us out of the pandemic. It will absolutely settle down to annual jabs, and possibly only for the vulnerable. That’s how it will work - almost every reputable scientist says so!

The vast majority of people aren’t at any serious risk from covid.

@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon if Germany goes ahead with a 4th injection, that would have been 4 jabs a year. Not two to start the immunity and a booster later on (usually a year+).

[quote LostForIdeas]@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon if Germany goes ahead with a 4th injection, that would have been 4 jabs a year. Not two to start the immunity and a booster later on (usually a year+).[/quote]
I don't believe that they are planning 4 doses a year every year though are they.

I'd get it. BUT I'd also be worrying about how these ongoing booster campaigns are going to be managed. It can't go on being something that effectively diverts resources from GPs surgeries and means that their other work gets pushed back. There needs to be something like an independent National Vaccination Service

Not getting the booster isn't going to help things, is it.

It’ll help me. It’s always ‘just’ do this, and ‘just’ do that. It’s the cumulative effect of all of these ‘just’s, versus the risk of covid to your average individual, which is very small. I do not believe that after 2 years of restrictions and being jabbed 3 times, anyone ‘owes’ society or ‘the public’ anything.

It’s like the needy neighbour threads on here. Nobody minds doing one or two benevolent things for a relative stranger, but once that becomes a weekly thing, it all adds up and becomes an unreasonable expectation & a pain. Sure you could say it’s ‘just 5 minutes’ but when that is against a backdrop of many other ‘5 minute’ favours, everyone says to stop doing it.

Enough is enough now. We need to start prioritising children and ourselves.

[quote TulipsGarden]@todaysdilemma The boosters are not pointless. There is plenty of data to show that they reduce hospitalisations and deaths.

@Lifeisnteasy Not getting the booster isn't going to help things, is it. The problem has been partly the government messaging - all that bollocks about freedom day making people think it was all over (when anyone with half a braincell knew it wasn't), and partly that this is an ever-evolving situation. No-one knew the vaccine effectiveness would drop like it did, but thank goodness we do know that a booster brings the levels back up. No-one knew we would get a massively contagious variant at Christmas (though plenty predicted it).

This isn't going to be over quickly, unfortunately. We will be dealing with the effects of Covid as it waxes and wanes for years to come, though no-one really knows how long. Things are immeasurably better because of the vaccines and boosters - and we are so, so lucky to have access to them - but there isn't going to be one day when BANG, we're back in 2019. But in time, it will fade. Look how much better this Christmas already is than last.[/quote]
www.who.int/news/item/22-12-2021-interim-statement-on-booster-doses-for-covid-19-vaccination---update-22-december-2021

Well, the WHO director has called for a moratorium on booster vaccines on healthy adults till end 2021 to counter the fact most of the world has not yet had their first vaccine. And the pandemic won't stop until most people are vaccinated with first doses rather than a small % being quadruple dosed. He also notes that sufficient data is not yet available to determine whether a booster programme is needed and notes much more evidence is needed on how/when/why to implement such a programme than is currently available. Boosters of course are useful, are they necessary for everyone and how frequently - no one knows yet.

The summary being - for most people the initial vaccine doses + herd immunity is more than enough to counteract milder variants. And omicron is not severe enough to warrant the need for 2 additional boosters in healthy low risk adults. If there's a deadly variant that needs a booster, sure. For omicron, no.

I think I'll listen to him rather than Chris Whitty. Pandemic by its nature is global, not contained to the UK. So just hyper boosting everyone here is pretty pointless at combatting a pandemic.

[quote LostForIdeas]@gannett, government messaging, media?
Very few people have access to the thoughts of researchers.

Just look at the government message this summer
Vaccination= freedom=no more restriction, freedom day because we’ve decoupled number of cases as number of deaths etc etc[/quote]
Eh? Everyone has access to basic knowledge about how vaccinations work if they have access to the internet. It was also taught in school.

I don’t think it will always be like this in terms of 4 or more vaccines for covid every year. It’s only this way now because it was/is such a new unknown virus and scientists and trying to keep up to speed with it. Eventually we will end up with a strain of covid that is dominant and doesn’t mutate so dramatically like it has done with omnicron. Eventually it will probably be on vaccine a year like the flu.
Personally, I applaud the scientists that are constantly trying to keep a step ahead of covid and it’s ever changing variants.

As long as it is an offer and not a mandate. People can vaccinate themselves as much as they want to. Many people won’t put up with this but each to their own.

@Roussette

I do think though that covid passports will have to show booster top ups eventually

It does already.

We're due to travel end january and the travel pass shows the three.

Yes I know that, I have worded it wrong. I am talking about will we be considered 'unvaxxed' if we don't take booster no.3/4/5/6 ect.. and stopped form travelling/entering places. Will our two initial vaccines that we happily had be considered not 'up to date'