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Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

bbc.com

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Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#21

Post by concerned_user »

orobinson wrote: post #8

Amazing that people will be getting vaccinated against coronavirus before the year is out. Is there any evidence of whether these vaccines prevent transmission of the virus yet? Or so far do we just know that they protect the person who is vaccinated?

It is planned that it requires 6 weeks to acquire immunity with 2 shots (4 weeks apart) of this vaccine. Realistic outcome if enough people get vaccinated should be that spring/summer wave of covid is suppressed or at least death rate and amount of severe cases will be much lower.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#22

Post by peterburkimsher »

I'm really glad that this brings hope into a dark season.

People are already rewriting Christmas carols: "wipe the halls with sanitizer, falalalala lalalala 'Til we get the cure from Pfizer falalalala lalalala"

https://etcanada.com/news/712874/chris-stapleton-wants-every...

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#23

Post by pmoriarty »

qz2 wrote: post #2

Does anyone have any non-press infested material about this vaccine? As far as I’m aware this is the first roll out of an mRNA based vaccine. While I’m no anti vaccination idiot I’d like to understand the risks to some degree.

My go-to resource for educated COVID-19 coverage has been This Week in Virology[1], which usually has between 4 and 6 virologists reporting and analyzing COVID-19-related news every week.

I've kind of OD'ed on COVID-19 news myself, so haven't listened to them for a while and don't know if they've commented on this vaccine yet, but they probably will, and for a thorough, educated, hype-free analysis, there's no better place I can think of to go to than TWiV.

[1] - https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#24

Post by b112 »

vore wrote: post #6
qz2 wrote: post #2

Does anyone have any non-press infested material about this vaccine? As far as I’m aware this is the first roll out of an mRNA based vaccine. While I’m no anti vaccination idiot I’d like to understand the risks to some degree.

With regards to mRNA, mRNA is a fragile molecule that is quickly broken down inside the body after injection, so there's unlikely to be much long term risk with mRNA itself.

An immediate "but if it breaks down fast, how can it do anything?" thought springs to mind.

I know what you mean is "not dormant and doing something for months/years", but at the same time, if it can initiate a modification of immune response, it can do "other things".

I believe we must take the utmost of care at this juncture, and make sure assurances are not construed as in a poor light.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#25

Post by Arkhaine_kupo »

waihtis wrote: post #20

Not sure why the posts asking for vaccine risks are getting downvoted. Pandemrix, the vaccine for swine flu, caused a notable amount of narcolepsy cases in recipients here in FIN (notable here meaning the amount of yearly cases spiked by 3-4x) and as with anything that's taken quick to market there has to be some risk of overlooking some tail events somewhere. It's not an anti-vaccine attitude, just healthy skepticis…

Healthy skepticism belong in peer-reviews, in revisions of medical journals. Skepticism in the public space fosters anti-vaccine sentiments, adds to the already growing anti-vax movements and puts in risk the vulnerable in our society as they require shielding and for the rest of us to do our part.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#26

Post by adrianN »

_Microft wrote: post #12
adrianN wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany is planning to start vaccinations in December too, it's probably a matter of days before the vaccine gets approval in Germany.

I read that the approval process might take until end of December and that first vaccinations for people at risk and system-relevant groups was expected for beginning of January. Source (german): "Bund und Länder stellen sich darauf ein, dass "bei bestmöglichem Verlauf" noch im Dezember mit ersten Impfstoff-Lieferungen gerechnet werden kann. Gesundheitsminister Jens Spahn sagte heute im Deutschlandfunk, dass Anfang J…

I see, your information is more up to date than mine.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#27

Post by mns »

waihtis wrote: post #20

Not sure why the posts asking for vaccine risks are getting downvoted. Pandemrix, the vaccine for swine flu, caused a notable amount of narcolepsy cases in recipients here in FIN (notable here meaning the amount of yearly cases spiked by 3-4x) and as with anything that's taken quick to market there has to be some risk of overlooking some tail events somewhere. It's not an anti-vaccine attitude, just healthy skepticis…

Because the entire subject is so politicised and polarised that even daring to ask a question that might go against the current might get you labeled as a right wing science denier racist (based on the country, different labels might apply).

Edit: it's funny that the comment above gets downvoted just for asking a question. Great world we live in. We didn't learn anything from the past. Blaming and shaming gay people in the AIDS epidemic, some previous hastily released vaccines that caused the anti vaccine current to gain momentum (just look in the nordics at the current willingness to get a COVID vaccine, something like 1 in 4 maybe)

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#28

Post by PureParadigm »

qz2 wrote: post #2

Does anyone have any non-press infested material about this vaccine? As far as I’m aware this is the first roll out of an mRNA based vaccine. While I’m no anti vaccination idiot I’d like to understand the risks to some degree.

Wikipedia [1] has an overview of mRNA vaccines, including a summary of some potential side-effects/risks. For more technical details, this review of mRNA vaccines [2] appears to be a decent place to start.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_vaccine [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5906799/

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#29

Post by hashmush »

waihtis wrote: post #20

Not sure why the posts asking for vaccine risks are getting downvoted. Pandemrix, the vaccine for swine flu, caused a notable amount of narcolepsy cases in recipients here in FIN (notable here meaning the amount of yearly cases spiked by 3-4x) and as with anything that's taken quick to market there has to be some risk of overlooking some tail events somewhere. It's not an anti-vaccine attitude, just healthy skepticis…

Same in Sweden. Currently, 26% stated[1] that they do not want to be vaccinated. The issues with the swine flu vaccine are still fresh in our collective memory.

[1] survey done on November 19 by Novus

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#30

Post by makomk »

chrisvxd wrote: post #9
_Microft wrote: post #5

How did they approve it that fast? Is the approval process so different and so much more efficient than the one in the EU or USA? Was it extremely rushed to make sure to get doses before they have to compete with other countries for limited supply? I'm pretty curious now. Let's hope for the best, i.e. a good vaccine, a good process and no trust problems, the latter because at least it feels rushed.

My understanding is that they've been carrying out a rolling evaluation that has been going on for the duration of the trials, which has helped accelerate the normal process. Having said that, I believe the EMA (EU) also carried out a rolling evaluation, so I'm not sure what the differences are there.

The UK has put a lot of effort into speeding up the roll-out of these vaccinations in general. Enough that it basically leaked the fact some kind of Covid vaccine was coming a few weeks in advance because so many people were involved in the pre-planning and the timescale was so aggressive.
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