Will you take the Coronavirus Vaccine?

[Tony Baloney]

For a vaccine to work and provide "herd immunity" there is a responsibility on every one who can do so to take it to protect those who can't and who need that herd immunity.


Theralizumab and Thalidomide cast a long shadow and at a time when the focus is on how much money can be made and the Regulatory Authorities are "streamlining" approvals and circumventing standard processes I would have reservations until the long term safety data was available.

Processes are being streamlined but the manufacturer still has to demonstrate safety and efficacy in a Phase III trial and some of the vaccines are at this point already. I'm not sure what is being circumvented but agree that the Phase III trial will no doubt be much shorter than standard.

[sid waddell]

You'd think most of us would have overcome our fear of needles when we reached adulthood. Well, actually that's true, most of us have, but some haven't.

Hopefully they don't have to visit the dentist any time soon.

[RadioGAAGAA]

but for the Vaccine to be truly effective I think it will need 70odd% take up

Yes, no, kinda, sorta. The risk is not uniform across the population, both in terms of COVID and long term ramifications.

As has been pointed out many times by others, those most at risk are 50+ years old.

If they all get vaccinated, say, 35% of the population, added to the ~5% that already have had it and your at ~40% of population having immunity of some degree.

Its then a balancing act, we can say pretty surely that the average child/young adult under the age of 20 is probably more at risk of an unknown long term side-effect of the vaccine than of serious complications with actually contracting COVID (of course there will be exceptions for sickly).

If they vaccinated all down to 25 year olds, you'd have 70% coverage. Those left would be most able to fight it off and also most exposed if a long term problem did exist with the vaccine.

There is no informed call, the testing phase is simply too compressed unfortunately.

[Capt Pat]

I have mixed feelings about this. I have a medical condition that makes me more at risk to a bad dose if I catch covid. So I should be first in the queue to get it. On the other hand I don't want to be a guinea pig for this new vaccine. Let the Brits be the guinea pigs I say.

[tyssam5]

I live in the states so if it was one from here I honestly dunno..... a U.K one maybe... Something that the Swiss and Germans are taking - sign me right up.

[lenny]

I have mixed feelings about this. I have a medical condition that makes me more at risk to a bad dose if I catch covid. So I should be first in the queue to get it. On the other hand I don't want to be a guinea pig for this new vaccine. Let the Brits be the guinea pigs I say.

Heard a virologist on the radio talking about it. He said of course there is a small risk with taking the vaccine but the risk is much smaller than getting a bad dose of COVID-19. On balance he would have no hesitation in getting the vaccine and tbh neither would I. The Oxford vaccine was originally worked on for MERS so they have been working on it for years.

[armaghniac]

I have mixed feelings about this. I have a medical condition that makes me more at risk to a bad dose if I catch covid. So I should be first in the queue to get it. On the other hand I don't want to be a guinea pig for this new vaccine. Let the Brits be the guinea pigs I say.

Heard a virologist on the radio talking about it. He said of course there is a small risk with taking the vaccine but the risk is much smaller than getting a bad dose of COVID-19. On balance he would have no hesitation in getting the vaccine and tbh neither would I. The Oxford vaccine was originally worked on for MERS so they have been working on it for years.

The delivery mechanism for the Oxford (and some of the other viruses) has been around for years and well tested, so the only new element is the Covid part. This vaccine will be tested on 100,000 people, it would be much discussed if one of those died, but even in that age range a couple of dozen would die if they got Covid and others would have significant problems.

The main problem with the anti vax crowd is that they can freeload on everyone else, so if this vaccine is successfully tested then people need to be required to have it to go to schools or workplaces, play GAA etc, unless they have a clear medical (and not Facebook) basis for not doing so.

[Milltown Row2]

I'm all for vaccines and have had them all bar the flu jab, my kids would have all the vaccines also.

The reason why I'm in no rush is that there are millions of people in a worse off condition than me and they need it first, the other reason is its been designed quicker than normal, which in one way is great if you are in the shielding group or have underlying conditions.

So if everyone else has the vaccine then me not having it wont be a concern because they have been vaccinated

I'll get it when its required

[Itchy]

It highly unlikely we will all be asked to take the vaccine in one go. The sheer volume of vaccines that will be needed mean that it will be drip fed to those most needy and the likes of me probably wont ever get offered one. However, in a fantasy world where there were 7 billion vaccines available tomorrow and I was asked to take one, then yes I would. To say no is to say I dont give a f**k about anyone else.

[five points]

The similarly rushed swine flu vaccine didn't work out so well. https://www.narcolepsy.org.uk/resources/pandemrix-narcolepsy#:~:text=On%209%20February%202017%2C%20the,swine%20flu%20vaccination%20in%202009.

[bennydorano]

The resources thrown at Covid19 Vaccine are unprecedented, I'm not sure it's comparable to anything just because it's of the same name. I think the world is generally of the opinion that it's worth the risk as well.

[armaghniac]

The similarly rushed swine flu vaccine didn't work out so well. https://www.narcolepsy.org.uk/resources/pandemrix-narcolepsy#:~:text=On%209%20February%202017%2C%20the,swine%20flu%20vaccination%20in%202009.

Yes, but let's not lose a sense of proportion. One in 55,000 had problems with that virus, in Covid19 teenagers died in China at 100 times that rate (1 in 555) Now Covid death rates will improve, so that the rate might be only 20 times, but 20 times the chance of death as against an illness from the vaccine would be excellent odds and no doubt the vaccine people learned from that experience.  By the time younger people get offered a Covid vaccine there will have been a large part of the Earth's population before them to test it.

The resources thrown at Covid19 Vaccine are unprecedented, I'm not sure it's comparable to anything just because it's of the same name. I think the world is generally of the opinion that it's worth the risk as well.

There has never been as much data collected about anything, owing to its widespread nature and better data collection.

[five points]

The similarly rushed swine flu vaccine didn't work out so well. https://www.narcolepsy.org.uk/resources/pandemrix-narcolepsy#:~:text=On%209%20February%202017%2C%20the,swine%20flu%20vaccination%20in%202009.

Yes, but let's not lose a sense of proportion. One in 55,000 had problems with that virus, in Covid19 teenagers died in China at 100 times that rate (1 in 555)

Our family GP refused to prescribe pandremix. If a Covid19 vaccine blights the lives of 1 in 55,000 of the billions who will end up using it, the world will be facing another health disaster.

[armaghniac]

The similarly rushed swine flu vaccine didn't work out so well. https://www.narcolepsy.org.uk/resources/pandemrix-narcolepsy#:~:text=On%209%20February%202017%2C%20the,swine%20flu%20vaccination%20in%202009.

Yes, but let's not lose a sense of proportion. One in 55,000 had problems with that virus, in Covid19 teenagers died in China at 100 times that rate (1 in 555)

Our family GP refused to prescribe pandremix. If a Covid19 vaccine blights the lives of 1 in 55,000 of the billions who will end up using it, the world will be facing another health disaster.

So you prefer if 100 times as many died from Covid19?

[five points]

The similarly rushed swine flu vaccine didn't work out so well. https://www.narcolepsy.org.uk/resources/pandemrix-narcolepsy#:~:text=On%209%20February%202017%2C%20the,swine%20flu%20vaccination%20in%202009.

Yes, but let's not lose a sense of proportion. One in 55,000 had problems with that virus, in Covid19 teenagers died in China at 100 times that rate (1 in 555)

Our family GP refused to prescribe pandremix. If a Covid19 vaccine blights the lives of 1 in 55,000 of the billions who will end up using it, the world will be facing another health disaster.

So you prefer if 100 times as many died from Covid19?

False equivalence. Care to back up your claim that 1 in 555 Chinese teens died from Covid 19?