Would you get one of the first vaccines if it meant you could travel internationally?

[joe]

The Pfizer vaccine is proving to be as effective as was demonstrated in the clinical trials. Now that over 160,000 full doses have been administered in Israel, and there has been a follow-up of rates of infection during the 10 days after the second dose, the results are clear and impressive. This is the first major global controlled examination outside of the clinical tests.

From the article :
"Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is showing 92 percent effectiveness in Israel"
"Only 31 out of 163,000 Israelis vaccinated ..... caught coronavirus in their first 10 days of full-strength protection"
"In an equivalent sample of unvaccinated Israelis, some 6,437 were diagnosed in the same timeframe."

Vaccine found 92% effective in Israel, in first controlled result outside trials

Only 31 out of 163,000 fully vaccinated Maccabi members caught virus, indicating Pfizer shots living up to expectations; expert: Results 'well within expected standard deviation'

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Pauline]

Great news about Pfizer. Steve gets his first dose tomorrow. The NHS sent him a text today for vaccination tomorrow. We’ve gone from “maybe we will get the vaccine” last March to very happy that one of us is getting it tomorrow.

 

[joe]

Great news about Pfizer.

Yes, but remember that there is still no data with regards the duration of immunity conferred by the vaccine. So caution is needed in any case. It will take more months to determine what influences re-infection, and if the mutations of the virus will entail getting additional "booster" or new shots over time, like with the flu.

 

[wco81]

The EU approved the AZ vaccine for deployment.

Meanwhile Novavax released the results of their UK and South African trials. Good news is very good efficacy vs. the original covid strain and almost as good efficacy vs. the UK strain but the bad news is only about 49% efficacy vs. the South African strain.

It may be the case that all the vaccines have much lower efficacy vs. the South African strain.

Novavax still has US trials going so they probably won't be applying for EUA to the US FDA but they are expected to apply for EUA with the UK agency.

J&J reported their US trial results. Good efficacy but not as good as Pfizer and Moderna, however better than the AZ vaccine.

They may be applying for EUA with the FDA soon.

There's a good chance that people who haven't been vaccinated yet may only get vaccinated with the AZ or the J&J this spring. But maybe they can get one of the other vaccines in the summer.

Or there may be updated booster vaccines which target the new mutant strains, though it's not clear if the FDA and other agencies will require a full set of trials, meaning these vaccines for new strains may not be ready for about another year.

 

[Alpinista]

Received my first shot this morning. Actually had two opportunities to do so -- one as being 75+ in my county of residence; the second (the one I used) as being an employee of a neighboring county's public school system -- my retirement job as a baseball coach. My wife is 65+ and is registered, but not yet scheduled, in our home county. She is in the next priority group down.

My originally scheduled vaccination was canceled due to distribution problems, but then rescheduled for a date actually earlier than the first attempt.

Was initially excited about the Iceland decision, but then saw that Americans are not on the approved list (note difficulty here of not making a political statement as to why we're in such a bad state of infection, transmission, and vaccination).

Our early May cruise to Alaska was canceled due to concerns over being admitted to Canada to embark and also due to concerns over being able to get off the ship for anything beyond limited activities at the ports. Next up is our late May trip to Germany and Italy -- I was never a fan of multi-episode TV series -- ready for the resolution of all the doubt.

 

[Pauline]

Steve had his first shot here in the UK. He is in the 70+ group that they are doing now. They were giving the Pfizer or Oxford vaccines. He got the Pfizer. He had no choice. The nurse asked several questions about allergies, epi pens and blood thinning drugs and maybe that makes the decision. Now let’s see if they do the second dose in 12 weeks.

I am in the next age group so should get my text and letter notification in a few weeks.

In the UK they are saying to plan a staycation this summer. I’ve read that everything in Cornwall is booked! We have reservations for Switzerland in late August/September but I hope we can do another Europe trip before that.

 

[joe]

Now let’s see if they do the second dose in 12 weeks.

Isn't the "correct" interval between doses 3 weeks (21 days)? Is this a compromise because of lack of vaccines in the UK?

 

[wco81]

Isn't the "correct" interval between doses 3 weeks (21 days)? Is this a compromise because of lack of vaccines in the UK?

The theory is the the first shot gives people some immunity, enough to possibly stop the outbreak.

It's really experimenting with the population but seems like a choice made out of desperation.

 

[Pauline]

Isn't the "correct" interval between doses 3 weeks (21 days)? Is this a compromise because of lack of vaccines in the UK?

Yes, they are experimenting with us! Things are bad here with the new variant and today they announced cases of the South Africa variant and are doing mass testing in the areas where it was found. The government took the decision to focus on first dose to more people.

From what I understand we have plenty of vaccine but they want to roll it out more quickly to more people. I think once everyone 70 and over are vaccinated with first dose at least, they may think we have hit the most vulnerable (the 70+ group includes people of any age with underlying conditions and all healthcare workers).

 

[wco81]

Yeah Israel has plenty of people hospitalized after just one shot of the Pfizer but very little after two shots and about a week of time for the immune response to build up.

Still, it's almost been about a month since UK instituted this policy so we'll have to see if their infection rates go down a lot.

 

[joe]

Israel has plenty of people hospitalized after just one shot of the Pfizer but very little after two shots and about a week of time for the immune response to build up.

Yes, that's true. But caution is still needed despite the excellent results. Experts are warning that the data could be skewed because of several factors, one of them being that the elderly are still not back to their pre-Covid routine :

Israel Covid vaccine data shows extremely low rate of infections

Only 0.04% of people caught virus a week after second dose and 0.002% needed hospital treatment

www.theguardian.com

From the article :

“When you vaccinate nationwide, there’s lots of confounders,” said Eran Segal, a computational biologist at the Weizmann Institute. “This is not a trial. That’s the problem. We should be very cautious.”

"Vaccine data could be influenced by both the lockdown, which may decrease infections, and the British variant, which likely has the opposite effect, in confusing and contrasting ways."

"Meanwhile, the first people to receive the vaccine mostly come from vulnerable populations, who may have been more likely to take precautions, which also could skew the data. Preliminary research might show different results at different times as the number of people being vaccinated is continually changing, and hospitalisation usually occurs days after infection."

"While acknowledging the limitations of data coming out of Israel, Segal does see possible hope in one potential indicator – the percentage of people over 60 who have become critically ill. As a fraction of the total population, that group, which has largely been vaccinated, is decreasing, a trend not seen during previous lockdowns when inoculations were unavailable."

 

[Colo]

Well it has been a strange few months. I retired on 15 December, and that night I spent the night in hospital. I had a bad case of bronchitis, that end up in a very nasty lung infection of some type. Believe me - one does not want to be in the hospital these days. Of course everyone thought (knew) it was COVID, but it was not. I made the mistake in the emergency room of saying my chest hurt when I took a deep breath. Then the medical staff went down the heart attack rabbit hole.

6 weeks later and long story short - I am finally feeling much better, but because of the issue with my lungs I was able to get round one of the vaccine (Moderna) at age 64. Second shot schedule for mid-February. I almost feel guilty for getting the shot, but thankful at the same time. My wife also 64 volunteers at a free clinic for migrant workers so she too has received shot one.

As for travel - I will wait until the country(s) welcome us without conditions. We do not need to complicate their road to recovery.

Stay safe and get the shot when possible.

 

[joe]

Stay well and good health to you, Colo.

 

[Tim W]

Yes, they are experimenting with us!

I agree! This has caused major friction at the hospital where I work. Most Drs, but nearly all virologists/epidemiologists and Immunologists are "somewhat annoyed" that thr manufacturers instructions are being ignored. As was pointed out by one irate medic - if he deliberately used medication 9 weeks out of date, he would face losing his job.

My second dose is scheduled for exactly 12 weeks less one day after the first.

I remain slightly sceptical that this being done a) to make the government look better or b) to allow the cheaper AZ vaccine to be given as a second dose - Pfizer is somewhere around 5x more expensive (this has been ruled out at the moment until trials on volunteers are complete) , but the "Well, it might be even more effective" story is already being circulated.

That said, I do fully understand, if the single dose does give around 60% immunity, and if reports that even that dramatically reduces the fatality rate are true, then you do need to protect as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

 

[wco81]

Oxford did release data this week showing that long gaps between shots doesn't hurt immune response.

But durability of the response may be hindered if too long a period lapses between shots or if there isn't a second shot.

 

[Pauline]

I retired on 15 December,

In reading your post and focusing on your illness I missed that you have retired! Congratulations! You’ll have some time to rest up while the world opens up again and then you can do more traveling! And more photography!

That lung infection sounds nasty, but thankfully it wasn’t Covid.

 

[JustTravel]

We have no plans to travel anytime soon, although, we received our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine today. We are scheduled to get the second dose exactly three weeks from today.

 

[MaryP]

I received my second Modena shot yesterday, my husband received his second Pfizer shot last week. Sore arms in the injection areas were our only reactions. We will not travel until it is safe, but hope that won't be too long as we are in our late seventies now. I don't know how much longer we will be comfortable with our independent travel style, unfortunately we are not a fan of tours of any kind.
Mary-Pace

 

[joe]

Some encouraging signs that the vaccinated are less likely to transmit the virus :

Vaccinated people less likely to transmit coronavirus, Israeli study suggests

Nation's largest testing lab publishes research showing older group's viral load fell compared to younger cohort once most Israelis 60+ had received Pfizer-BioNTech shot

www.timesofisrael.com

“We checked the early December and late December [data], but the viral load among 60-plus hadn’t changed,” said Erlich, a professor of computational biology at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. “And we saw the same when we checked in early January. But suddenly, during the last two weeks in January, which is when many 60-plus Israelis had finished vaccination, viral loads for this age group dropped.”

 

[aap519]

Interesting covid article I saw today:

Op-Ed: Forget Second COVID Vaccine Doses for Now​

— It's far more important to get first doses to as many people as possible.​

Opinion | Op-Ed: Forget Second COVID Vaccine Doses for Now

It's far more important to get first doses to as many people as possible

www.medpagetoday.com