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AstraZeneca efficacy...or lack of

A slightly older friend, and his wife, who had AZ first two doses, report being 'floored' by the Pfizer booster for about a week.
Another similar aged couple reported no issues with the Pfizer booster after AZ first doses.
Go figure..as our 'Mericun cousins say...

I have my booster booked for Thursday.

The much vaunted 'drop in' booster clinics are not appearing here in the North west. They either offer only 12-15 jabs, or boosters by appointment only.

Mrs Mull never did get the text invite, but I sent her the link to the NHS which I got from someone else and she finally managed to book for 18th Nov.

It is.. to use medical terminology.., a Monumental **** Up.... Though I do appreciate that we are far better protected than much of the World. But again.. much of the World doesn't have the same llevel of denial and sheer idiocy which we witness here on a daily basis.. led bravely by our ****wit of a PM.
 
Our GP surgery contacted us by text a few days before 180 days were up, and we were booked in for our boosters a few days after the 180 day period. They handled the recent flu jabs in a friendly and efficient manner. I understand that they were carrying out around 1000 flu jabs a day.
 
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Mullardman said:
A slightly older friend, and his wife, who had AZ first two doses, report being 'floored' by the Pfizer booster for about a week.
Another similar aged couple reported no issues with the Pfizer booster after AZ first doses.
Go figure..as our 'Mericun cousins say...

I have my booster booked for Thursday.

The much vaunted 'drop in' booster clinics are not appearing here in the North west. They either offer only 12-15 jabs, or boosters by appointment only.

Mrs Mull never did get the text invite, but I sent her the link to the NHS which I got from someone else and she finally managed to book for 18th Nov.

It is.. to use medical terminology.., a Monumental **** Up.... Though I do appreciate that we are far better protected than much of the World. But again.. much of the World doesn't have the same llevel of denial and sheer idiocy which we witness here on a daily basis.. led bravely by our ****wit of a PM.
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Not sure I agree with monumental **** up, basic general background government incompetence probably. Pretty much everyone who wants it gets it, the messaging is off sometimes but as you found, it is possible to request and if you qualify you get an appointment. There are not enough drop in centres yet. As state organised programs goes, it is working surprisingly well IMO. Not perfect by any means but not a monumental **** up. I also appreciate my location, the SE is privileged but my brother in Derby and friends in the NW were also boostered easily.
 
Had my Pfizer booster a week ago.
Arm hurt during and after which is unusual for me as I get stabbed a lot on a monthly basis.
Wasn't exactly local but not very far either.
Was a bit early so sat in the car until my time and watched as maskless people wandered around and about and in and out of the pharmacy alongside the jab centre so was a bit disconcerting for me.
No I don't (and havent) got out much as I shielded for 18 months for starters.
 
Had my booster yesterday - Pfizer, as were the original two. I received an email and a text about booking it from the NHS on the first working day after my six months was up. I was given a huge choice of places to attend - chose the nearest, which is a fifteen minute walk away (and near a secondhand record shop!).

Mick
 
Posted elsewhere on here.

Had my Flu and booster (Pfizer) last Friday, the nurse told me they were only using the Pfizer, my first two were AZ.

The NHS staff could not have been nicer, they were run off their feet however the queue was not that long but it was lunch time, then again it is the Borders of Scotland so not like in a city.

No after effects, knew I had been jabbed next day but only if I touched the area and on a scale out of a 100 I would think ranked maybe 3 or 4 , so no real issues.

Cannot praise the NHS enough, I know other places are very busy so differences will always occur, however better to get something rather than be like other countries and have no hope.

We should thank ourselves we have the NHS and the vaccine and just accept that sometimes not every time things will go 100% right.
 
There's a lot of crap spouted about the efficacy of the AZ vaccine. Yes it protects less against symptomatic infection than the Mrna vaccines and slightly less against hospitalisation and death and that's in vulnerable age groups and those with underlying health conditions. Other than that it's still a very good vaccine. You can check efficacy rates in detail in the Public Health England report of the 9th September.

Interestingly the Canadians found the AZ vaccine equally effective as the MRNA vaccines when the first two doses were spaced out over 16 weeks. We always knew AZ benefited from longer gaps between doses and this seems to confirm it.

If i had had a choice of vaccine I would have gone for Moderna which is a more than triple strength version of the Pfizer, so it's hardly surprising it's efficacy against serious illness and death is holding up so well. Even the booster, which is half the strength the normal dose is more powerful than a full Pfizer. Unfortunately Moderna is pretty thin on the ground in the UK so i'll probably be getting the Pfizer booster after two AZ doses.
 
the heretic said:
There's a lot of crap spouted about the efficacy of the AZ vaccine. Yes it protects less against symptomatic infection than the Mrna vaccines and slightly less against hospitalisation and death and that's in vulnerable age groups and those with underlying health conditions. Other than that it's still a very good vaccine. You can check efficacy rates in detail in the Public Health England report of the 9th September.

Interestingly the Canadians found the AZ vaccine equally effective as the MRNA vaccines when the first two doses were spaced out over 16 weeks. We always knew AZ benefited from longer gaps between doses and this seems to confirm it.

If i had had a choice of vaccine I would have gone for Moderna which is a more than triple strength version of the Pfizer, so it's hardly surprising it's efficacy against serious illness and death is holding up so well. Even the booster, which is half the strength the normal dose is more powerful than a full Pfizer. Unfortunately Moderna is pretty thin on the ground in the UK so i'll probably be getting the Pfizer booster after two AZ doses.
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Why are the govt not using AZ for boosters then over vastly more expensive vaccines?
 
Bob McC said:
Why are the govt not using AZ for boosters then over vastly more expensive vaccines?
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It may be something to do with the fact that the body may become resistant over time to repeated vaccinations via viral vector vaccines. Many scientists believe MRNA technology is a superior carrier for priming the immune system.

The Moderna is extremely expensive which is perhaps the reason few doses were ordered in the first place.
 
davidlf said:
Our GP surgery contacted us by text a few days before 180 days were up, and we were booked in for our boosters a few days after the 180 day period. They handled the recent flu jabs in a friendly and efficient manner. I understand that they were carrying out around 1000 flu jabs a day.
Click to expand...

My GP surgery, good as it is, has had no involvement in the Covid Vaccination Programme, although they deal with the Flu jab very efficiently. By the time I was contacted by the NHS I was at about 190 days and had already booked a Booster. I will be at 195 days when I get it.

cutting42 said:
Not sure I agree with monumental **** up, basic general background government incompetence probably. Pretty much everyone who wants it gets it, the messaging is off sometimes but as you found, it is possible to request and if you qualify you get an appointment. There are not enough drop in centres yet. As state organised programs goes, it is working surprisingly well IMO.
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I'm commenting on the marked difference between the original, very well organised vaccination programme, and the chaotic, inconsistent and patchy Booster programme.

Wolfmancatsup said:
I received an email and a text about booking it from the NHS on the first working day after my six months was up.
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This is precisely the point I am making. I had heard nothing at about 189 days and only got booked for day 195 by searching the NHS app for info. I would have thought that the 'how to book' info would be front and centre on the NHS app.., especially as Govt. still seems to think that people need encouraging to book, but it is buried and has to be searched for. Furthermore, it asks for your email addy and in both my and Mrs Mull's case refused to see our email addys as 'valid'. You don't actually need your email in order to book.. but this failure to recognise email addresses is just another frustration.
I can see no valid reason why some people were getting prompts to book before, or 'dead on', their 180 days, while others are rolling on for another couple of weeks before hearing and even then finding they cannot book earier than a couple of weeks hence.
All of these points qualify it as a 'cock-up' in my book. That said, I have nothing but respect for the NHS staff, volunteers etc.. who are actually delivering the jabs.
 
the heretic said:
There's a lot of crap spouted about the efficacy of the AZ vaccine. Yes it protects less against symptomatic infection than the Mrna vaccines and slightly less against hospitalisation and death and that's in vulnerable age groups and those with underlying health conditions. Other than that it's still a very good vaccine. You can check efficacy rates in detail in the Public Health England report of the 9th September.

Interestingly the Canadians found the AZ vaccine equally effective as the MRNA vaccines when the first two doses were spaced out over 16 weeks. We always knew AZ benefited from longer gaps between doses and this seems to confirm it.
Click to expand...
Malaysia found AZ more effective than Pfizer, but the statistics are suspect as many AZ recipients were younger or less exposed than the Pfizer group. The UK has the opposite issue as most home visit vaccinations were AZ.
It is incredibly hard to compare matching groups.
The decision to use Pfizer as the booster in the UK has run into the cold chain logistics challenge in rural areas, why many surgeries cannot use it.
 
the heretic said:
The Moderna is extremely expensive which is perhaps the reason few doses were ordered in the first place.
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the US government paid $25 per shot for moderna and $20 for Pfizer. If you account for the longer duration effectiveness of moderna I think it is better value than pfizer, and certainly not extremely expensive.
Moderna is a much smaller company and has not been able to ramp up production like pfizer - I think this is the reason that it's rare outside of the US.

My second moderna shot made me pretty sick - couple of days in bed, under the weather for a week, but I'm glad to have had it. The company HQ is only about 10 miles from where I live - I'm not sure if that had a bearing on its very high availability here.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moderna-cuts-full-forecast-covid-110637520.html

There's no doubt that the AZ vaccine is much cheaper than both pfizer and moderna, though, and AZ is to be praised for making it so.

Just to put the vaccine cost into perspective our local pharmacy (CVS) charged my health insurance $45 per shot just to inject it into me - that does not count the $25 for the moderna vaccine since that was paid by the US government. $45 to put a needle in an arm - US healthcare is so f*ck*d.
 
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