Will you get a Covid vaccine if one becomes available in 2021?

[armaghniac]

So, once again, what's your problem with O'Neill?

EG has no problem with O'Neill, he thinks that I do.
I disagree with O'Neill that a pause of a few days is not an appropriate thing to do to investigate these incidents. This is a not technical scientific question but one of public policy.

[Lar Naparka]

So, once again, what's your problem with O'Neill?

EG has no problem with O'Neill, he thinks that I do.
I disagree with O'Neill that a pause of a few days is not an appropriate thing to do to investigate these incidents. This is a not technical scientific question but one of public policy.

Jaysus, I was worried for a while! 
And yes, I understand where you are coming from but I still think Merkel, Macron et all had ulterior (ie political) motives when they backed the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

[Evil Genius]

So, once again, what's your problem with O'Neill?

EG has no problem with O'Neill, he thinks that I do.
I disagree with O'Neill that a pause of a few days is not an appropriate thing to do to investigate these incidents. This is a not technical scientific question but one of public policy.

Jaysus, I was worried for a while! 
And yes, I understand where you are coming from but I still think Merkel, Macron et all had ulterior (ie political) motives when they backed the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Yes, on this at least(!) 'Armaghniac' has got it right: I do agree with O'Neill and do fear that both Macron and Merckel are more interested in the Politics than the Science - they've both got elections coming up, after all.

In particular, they are both trying to impress on the electorate that they take the public's safety very seriously by eg pausing the AZ vaccine. Which on the face of it seems reasonable, except that by constantly talking about safety and side-effects etc, it actually spooks people rather than reassuring them. (For example, if I asked you to think of any animal you like except an elephant, the first one you'd think of would be...   an elephant!)

Now fair enough if they genuinely believed there was a significant risk - anyone can miscalculate, even experienced operators like those two. But when their own advisers and the EMA and the WHO were telling them not to pause the roll-out, that prioritising of the political optics over the science on so serious a matter was shamefully inexcusable (imo).

Worse still, leaders in other, smaller countries like ROI will have been very reluctant to go against their example, or break with EU solidarity, meaning that the consequences of their miscalculation and politicking migrated far beyond their own borders.

Leading to this situation from as far back as a month ago:

Germany's Covid vaccine stocks unused because people don't want AstraZeneca jab

Incorrect claims about jab, including by French president Emmanuel Macron, are 'major problem', expert says

More than a million people in Germany are being left at risk of Covid because a "psychological problem" means stockpiles of AstraZeneca jabs are not being used, a leading vaccine expert has revealed.

Professor Thomas Mertens, who chairs Germany's Standing Commission on Vaccination which advises the government, admitted there was a "problem" persuading people to have the Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs due to flawed perceptions about its efficacy.

"We have about 1.4 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in store and only about 240,000 have been given to the people," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We are working quite hard on this point and try to convince the people to accept the vaccine and really to gain the trust in the vaccine in the population.

"But as you may know this is some kind of psychological problem too and it will unfortunately take a little bit of time to reach this goal."
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/germans-covid-astrazeneca-oxford-vaccine-b921196.html

[trailer]

The EU whinging about vaccines and them not administering them and undermining the AZ jab is just f**king baffling. The EU has many many pros but it is shit at some things and this is one such example.

[Rossfan]

National Governments are in charge of the administering.

[Evil Genius]

Meanwhile the evidence continues to pile up - even as AZ stocks are piling up in fridges across the continent...

Covid vaccine: US trial of AstraZeneca jab confirms safety

Results from the long-awaited US trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine are out and confirm that the shot is both safe and highly effective.

More than 32,000 volunteers took part, mostly in America, but also in Chile and Peru.

The vaccine was 79% effective at stopping symptomatic Covid disease and 100% effective at preventing people from falling seriously ill.

And there were no safety issues regarding blood clots.
More here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56479462

This comes on the back of this investigation:

AstraZeneca: UK and EU clot reviews confirm safety of vaccine

There is no evidence the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine causes blood clots, say UK and EU regulators after a "thorough and careful review".

The MHRA and the EMA say people can have confidence in the vaccine's benefits and should get immunised, despite some countries pausing use.
More here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56447367

In particular, put these two findings side by side:

"In the UK, five cases of cerebral sinus vein thrombosis (CSVT), among 11 million people who have received the vaccine, occurred in men aged between 19 and 59. One of these was fatal.

CSVT can occur naturally and no link to the vaccine has been established. The patients also had low blood platelet counts - cells involved with clotting.

Covid infection can make clots more likely."

and

"The vaccine was 79% effective at stopping symptomatic Covid disease and 100% effective at preventing people from falling seriously ill."

One fatality amongst 11 million vaccinated people, which may not even have been due to the vaccine, versus 100% protection from falling seriously ill from covid.

And still some morons continue to point to an infinitesimally tiny, and as yet unproven, "risk" from taking the vaccine... 

[trailer]

National Governments are in charge of the administering.

Ok

[bennydorano]

As of 19th March ROI has administered 129,000 AZ vaccines, cost $3-4 each, compared to over 0.5m of Pfizer @ $20 a pop. The EU currently has an estimated 13m AZ vaccines unused in storage across various countries.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/covid-19-vaccine-tracker-what-s-available-in-the-republic-of-ireland-and-what-else-is-coming-1.4481095?mode=amp#how%20many%20vaccinated

[trailer]

As of 19th March ROI has administered 129 AZ vaccines, cost $3-4 each, compared to over 0.5m of Pfizer @ $20 a pop. The EU currently has an estimated 13m AZ vaccines unused in storage across various countries.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/covid-19-vaccine-tracker-what-s-available-in-the-republic-of-ireland-and-what-else-is-coming-1.4481095?mode=amp#how%20many%20vaccinated

Laughable

[GetOverTheBar]

ROI and the EU not covering itself in glory on this topic I'm afraid.

[Rossfan]

129,000 AZ as of last Friday
https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/pages/vaccinations

But sure don't ket the truth get in the way.

[bennydorano]

Apologies, dodgy Irish Times presentation of data.

[Evil Genius]

129,000 AZ as of last Friday
https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/pages/vaccinations

But sure don't ket the truth get in the way.

By your figures, ROI had administered 668,529 vaccine doses as of 19 March.

As of 18 March, NI had administered 713,392:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56463948

And as you will know, the population of ROI is nearly 2 1/2 x times that of NI.

"Ain't that the truth!"

Btw, it gives me no pleasure to note that our neighbours are lagging behind, and not just because of the danger of cross-border transmission. For whether it's eg the UK's lamentable performance coping with the virus in 2020, or ROI's in administering the vaccine in 2021, both led/are leading to avoidable severe illness and the death of ordinary people.

[armaghniac]

Apologies, dodgy Irish Times presentation of data.

Maybe, but you were willing to believe that the number was only 129, which suggested a rather odd predisposition.

And the inclusion of the cost in this is completely misleading, I expect the low price of these is why they haven't bothered to produce enough.
Better to have a vaccine that costs more but you can get it than a cheap one where the producer reneges on their orders.

[bennydorano]

Apologies, dodgy Irish Times presentation of data.

Maybe, but you were willing to believe that the number was only 129, which suggested a rather odd predisposition.

And the inclusion of the cost in this is completely misleading, I expect the low price of these is why they haven't bothered to produce enough.
Better to have a vaccine that costs more but you can get it than a cheap one where the producer reneges on their orders.

Are you not the same boy who was lauding the EU for not paying over the odds for contracts while the UK gambled to get early (yet more expensive deals) - and now there's a clear correlation between early action and actual delivery of product, do you still think it's laudable?