Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK • Hacker News Board

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

#101

Post by DanBC » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:53 AM UTC

jakozaur wrote: post #19

In terms of rollout. UK is the ideal country to be the first: 1. Heavily impacted by Covid-19. 2. Centralised health care system makes it easier to compare results and efficiency. E.g. it's UK which figured out that dexamethasone is efficient against Covid https://www.who.int/news/item/16-06-2020-who-welcomes-prelim... 3. Developed country with great logistics.

> Developed country with great logistics.

Please don't under-estimate our ability to fuck this up, probably by giving the distribution contracts to a crony.

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

#102

Post by rimliu » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:54 AM UTC

mns wrote: post #27

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…

So, have you stopped beating your wife?

See, I "just asked a question".

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

#103

Post by DanBC » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:55 AM UTC

newguy1234 wrote: post #76

vertis wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from hospital workers they're likely to be pretty high on the list, if my understanding is correct.

Heard it was something like this: 1. Long-term care residents/staff 2. Hospital workers 3. Anyone 85+ years old.

Hospital workers are likely to be first. https://twitter.com/HSJEditor/status/1334042232182235139?s=2...

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

#104

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:55 AM UTC

samcheng wrote: post #65

WanderPanda wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happy beta testing to all Brits then!

The 'beta' test already happened. Tens of thousands of people have proven it safe and effective. Haven't you been following the news? Selfishly, I guess we should be happy that there is an anti-vaxxer sentiment; it means the rest of us will get our vaccines faster.

[deleted]

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

#105

Post by 1241rtfasfasf » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:55 AM UTC

ijidak wrote: post #83

> It is a new type called an mRNA vaccine...An mRNA vaccine has never been approved for use in humans before, although people have received them in clinical trials. Wait... This doesn't scare anybody? Why has this not been approved before? Would an mRNA vaccine be approved under less pressing circumstances...?

Seems like the mRNA technique is pretty new and simply hasn't been used for anything else before.

The approval processes are still the same, just without the years-long idle cycles that usually slow things down. The end result will be good as any other vaccine you might get.

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

#106

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:55 AM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #101

jakozaur wrote: post #19

In terms of rollout. UK is the ideal country to be the first: 1. Heavily impacted by Covid-19. 2. Centralised health care system makes it easier to compare results and efficiency. E.g. it's UK which figured out that dexamethasone is efficient against Covid https://www.who.int/news/item/16-06-2020-who-welcomes-prelim... 3. Developed country with great logistics.

> Developed country with great logistics. Please don't under-estimate our ability to fuck this up, probably by giving the distribution contracts to a crony.

[deleted]

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

#107

Post by apsec112 » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:55 AM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #101

jakozaur wrote: post #19

In terms of rollout. UK is the ideal country to be the first: 1. Heavily impacted by Covid-19. 2. Centralised health care system makes it easier to compare results and efficiency. E.g. it's UK which figured out that dexamethasone is efficient against Covid https://www.who.int/news/item/16-06-2020-who-welcomes-prelim... 3. Developed country with great logistics.

> Developed country with great logistics. Please don't under-estimate our ability to fuck this up, probably by giving the distribution contracts to a crony.

I'm sure the UK is in the top twenty countries in the world for logistics infrastructure. It's easy to read news stories about your country messing things up, and quietly not read foreign-language media about poorer countries messing things up a lot more by comparison, and get a biased perspective.

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

#108

Post by ac29 » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:55 AM UTC

ijidak wrote: post #83

> It is a new type called an mRNA vaccine...An mRNA vaccine has never been approved for use in humans before, although people have received them in clinical trials. Wait... This doesn't scare anybody? Why has this not been approved before? Would an mRNA vaccine be approved under less pressing circumstances...?

> Wait... This doesn't scare anybody?

Not really. mRNA starts to degrade within minutes of injection, and lasts maybe at most a few days in your body. It cant turn back into DNA, so once its gone, it can no longer have any effect on you.

> Why has this not been approved before?

Its a relatively new technology that took a lot of work and money to make a stable, effective vaccine with. Its also relatively expensive to manufacture.

> Would an mRNA vaccine be approved under less pressing circumstances...?

Yes, though these almost certainly were approved faster than other vaccines would be because of the pressing nature of things.

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

#109

Post by gwd » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:56 AM UTC

headmelted wrote: post #89

shusson wrote: post #71

Out of curiosity, how do people on HN rate the risk of long term side-effects?

That's a question for someone who's heavily schooled on mRNA vaccines and/or a practitioner involved in the trials for this particular vaccine. Not that I have a problem with your asking the question, I just don't think an opinion poll on a tech board is going to yield an accurate prediction of what to expect.

> I just don't think an opinion poll on a tech board is going to yield an accurate prediction of what to expect.

I'm pretty sure they were hoping to be answered by someone heavily schooled in mRNA vaccines and/or a practitioner involved in the trials for this particular vaccine. On this particular "tech board", there's a reasonable chance of getting a response from those kinds of experts.

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

#110

Post by alxmng » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:56 AM UTC

shusson wrote: post #71

Out of curiosity, how do people on HN rate the risk of long term side-effects?

The only potential long-term risk I wonder about is antibody dependent enhancement [1] for future variants of the virus. But, that has nothing to do with whether the vaccine uses mRNA or an attenuated virus. Those involved in making a vaccine are very much aware of this issue and design vaccines to avoid it.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody-dependent_enhanceme...