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Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

reuters.com

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Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#221

Post by DanBC »

nickcotter wrote: post #152

Good news but still a long way to go. How's it going to be rolled out? Here in the UK we have tried and failed to get a regular flu jab (our GPs have run out of a very small supply and the pharmacies don't have any to sell) and I'm not optimistic about our chances of getting this next year or whenever it arrives.

Can I check: are you in the priority group for flu jabs?

Because GPs (in England, I don't know about the other nations) should have enough stock. They are prioritising higher need first, and then the expanded programme later in the year, and then anyone else who wants one after that.

If you're not priority need you can try a pharmacist.

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#222

Post by dtech »

digitalice wrote: post #218

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the vaccine that killed a test subject? https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/volunteer-astraze...

A person who got the vaccine died; "vaccine killed a test subject" is quite misleading.

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#223

Post by anoncake »

warp wrote: post #120
gadders wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the low fatality rate for COVID, wouldn't you just want to concentrate vaccination on those most at risk? i.e. the elderly, people with underlying conditions etc. You don't need to eradicate the virus, just stop it affecting the most vulnerable. Everybody else can then carry on as normal (albeit with a slight chance of getting a nasty flu-like illness).

There some risk of permanent or long lasting damage even if you do not die from the virus. (So it is more risky than just a nasty flu). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Covid

There is evidence that recovery sometimes takes more than a few weeks, but none for permanent damage (except in rare cases). The risk is overblown.

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#224

Post by anoncake »

ulfw wrote: post #109
karma_fountain wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is good news if true, but we are rushing the trials of a new vaccine and then potentially going to give it to a large number of people. What if the vaccine has long term negative effects?

What if Covid-19 has long term negative effects?

What if there's a teapot orbiting the sun?

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#225

Post by anoncake »

OJFord wrote: post #130
cheph wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> leaves long-lasting damage to the body (in particular, but not limited to, the brain). In what percentage of people who get COVID-19 is there long-lasting damage to the body? What other conditions did the people who get long-lasting damage to the body have? How does these numbers compare with other diseases? Would appreciate citations.

Nobody had it long enough ago to answer that. SARS-CoV-1 ( 1 ) patients have suffered years afterwards, see e.g. this article from 2010: https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2010/09/02/sars...

SARS was 20 times as deadly as Covid.

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#226

Post by dtech »

celticninja wrote: post #74
rimliu wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is immunity from infection questionable? We had 43 million cases and about a dozen or so reinfections. Not sure if confirmed reinfections reach the double digits yet.

Read the papers on it, antibody tests in people who have previously tested positive for covid have found little or no antibodies in tests taken 3 months after infection. So it appears as if there is a limited/short term immunity after initial infection. The vaccine appears to produce a much stronger immune response, such that antibodies can be identified in tests some time after the vaccination. You can get limited i…

antibodies disapear quickly, but the B-memory cells that produce them are still in the body ready to be mobilized.

"Common cold" and "flu" is not 1 virus, but hundreds of different viruses which is why you get them repeatedly. You do build immunity though. It's why children always have a cold and adults a lot less common.

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#227

Post by ck425 »

nickcotter wrote: post #152

Good news but still a long way to go. How's it going to be rolled out? Here in the UK we have tried and failed to get a regular flu jab (our GPs have run out of a very small supply and the pharmacies don't have any to sell) and I'm not optimistic about our chances of getting this next year or whenever it arrives.

I'm not sure if I can share details but there is emergency vaccine work going on in the UK. The NHS has been using the winter flu vaccines this year as a way to test systems for future rollouts, such as a covid vaccine.

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#228

Post by mikepurvis »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #194
benlumen wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you might be surprised. The government knows that this is the silver bullet they need to rescue the economy from oblivion. I’m expecting that once this thing is ready there’ll be a logistical effort for the history books to roll it out. See what they can do with the military involved, like the nightingales.

Sad to say, given how testing, lockdown, etc. has proceeded, I'm losing confidence that most western governments are capable of any "logistical efforts for the history books" at this point. I heard a lot of bluster about testing here in Ontario in the spring, but here we are in the fall with rationing of tests again.

Testing in Waterloo Region was really good over the summer— minimal wait times, multiple drive-in sites, results turned around in 24-36hrs. I think they just failed to account for the bump that would come from school starting and people wanting to get tested in advance of Thanksgiving.

I think the "military involved" piece is key, especially if you're talking about the US. It's maybe a bit trite at this point, but a lot of comparisons were made about the stark contrast in how quickly a national response mobilized in response to BLM protests vs the pandemic. The basic takeaway being: executive priorities matter, and even Trump has made it clear on a number of occasions that getting the vaccine out is important to him.

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#229

Post by uhtred »

komali2 wrote: post #220
leemcalilly wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not corrupt. It’s money well spent. The benefits to us all are most likely more valuable than anything we’ve spent on vaccine research. Government balance sheets also probably come out ahead on that investment given that the alternative is an economy with a raging pandemic and resulting lower tax base. Then there is the logistical effort of manufacturing the vaccine at the scale and speed required. There are…

> What is the alternative? We create a government agency that specializes in manufacturing and distributing pharma products? Yes. Why don't you think that would work?

It's laughable that you're getting downvoted. Socialist. /S

Re: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old and young

#230

Post by anoncake »

henearkr wrote: post #40
cheph wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a virus with bad long-term effects on the body. In what percentage of people who get COVID-19 are there bad long-term effects? What other conditions did the people get bad long term effects have? How does these numbers compare with other diseases? Would appreciate citations.

Damage to the heart, the brain, even for mild or asymptotic cases. My references are previous posts on HN or on phys.org as you can easily search it. As you said there are scarce data yet, but the risks are scary. In these conditions, it's obvious one should avoid relying on a herd immunity induced by the virus.

Exactly. There is scarce data. If after almost a year there is still no evidence of long-term damage, it's reasonable to assume there is none.
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