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

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

#651

Post by teh_infallible » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:52 PM UTC

johnisgood wrote: post #594

dragonwriter wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Drinking a lot of alcohol and getting into a car is a choice. Not taking a vaccine and interacting with other people is also a choice. > they also show sleep deprivation is worse than alcohol for driving, but that's not illegal Drowsy driving is difficult to prove, but generally held to be within the coverage of reckless driving laws. Some jurisdictions have expressly included coverage of it, as well, at least in t…

Taking a rushed vaccine with God knows what long-term effects is not going to be a choice. Have fun with it. You are playing Russian roulette that I do not wish to play. In majority of the cases COVID-19 is not lethal at all, there should be no mandatory vaccines, especially not when we have no knowledge of its long-term effects and so on and so on. If you want you can take the Chinese or Russian vaccine. I do not wa…

You can’t argue with propaganda. Questioning vaccine safety on a “big tech” forum is wrongthink.

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

#652

Post by johnisgood » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:52 PM UTC

tinus_hn wrote: post #596

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are actually familiar with their processes, you could critique them and tell us where they could be improved. It doesn’t sound like you are, though.

So enlighten us! As far as I can tell it’s a bunch of scientists reading the report. There’s a reasonable procedure involving asking questions, responses, waiting, but it takes over a year. So it’s been shortened. The report is about 15000 people who got the vaccine and didn’t get seriously ill. There’s nothing to judge on that you can seriously do in 20 days, in that time frame you can only look at the basics and th…

I have been exposed to COVID-19 and I had no symptoms. They said I am immune for 6 months. :)

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

#653

Post by codeulike » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:55 PM UTC

breatheoften wrote: post #640

Another risk factor that I doubt anyone is considering -- if the vaccine is rolled out and ends up not being effective (if vaccinated populations still die from covid at more or less same rate once the vaccinated population becomes sufficiently large) -- then this could lead to a real, long term, and very unfortunate surge in anti-vaxxers ability to persuade people not to take good vaccines that are proven to be effe…

I wouldn't worry about it. There's still plenty of positive evidence for vaccines from the last 100 years. A mistake with a covid vaccine wouldn't change that.

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

#654

Post by oxfordmale » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:56 PM UTC

SubiculumCode wrote: post #125

Toenex wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect the bulk of the population will receive the 'Oxford' vaccine. It's still going through the approval process but the UK has ordered more of it. I believe the Pfizer vaccine is targeted to front line workers and the clinical vulnerable.

Why? The 'Oxford' vaccine has been pretty shaky. Edit: source: https://www.wired.com/story/the-astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-da...

Ignoring the 90% that is was based on a population below 55, a 70% efficacy is still a success for the Oxford vaccine, as it can be stored in a regular fridge. This makes distribution outside health settings much easier. I would happily take the Oxford vaccine if it was offered to me.

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

#655

Post by teh_infallible » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 8:58 PM UTC

OnlyMortal wrote: post #564

elif wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's his point. A decade ago, the comments on this site were 99% relevent, solid technical feedback and analysis. The top post being layperson speculation with a joke response topping it bears a much stronger resemblance to reddit than to hn's origin.

Do you remember Slashdot? Maybe Ars Technica, before it sold out?

Ars Technica was great before it became an online shopping catalog

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

#656

Post by codeulike » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 9:00 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #329

There are two challenges I haven't seen talked about a lot. 1. I expect that there will be a lot of people who think that once they get the shot, they can immediately stop wearing masks and practicing social distancing. The rollout to the general public will need to be combined with extensive efforts to make sure people know that it takes time for a vaccine to actually provide protection. In the case of this one, it…

In the UK, I think they're likely to recommend masks and social distancing for everyone until a large proportion of the population are vaccinated. And that will take a long time.

Why a Covid vaccine doesn't mean the end of face masks yet

The Guardian, 20th Nov

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/12/covid-...

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

#657

Post by garmaine » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 9:00 PM UTC

fuoqi wrote: post #602

garmaine wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safety tests were already completed and approved by regulators months ago. The Phase 3 trials are efficacy trials to show that the vaccine gives immunity. Certainly we learned more about the safety of the vaccines from Phase 3 data, but we already knew that adverse immediate reactions would be very rare. What's ridiculous about this situation is that the regulatory authorities are not willing to weigh against the ben…

>Only Russia and China went ahead with early vaccination I don't know about China, but mass vaccination have not started in Russia yet. It will begin only from the next week starting with medical personnel and teachers. Effectively the Russian vaccine has only finished phase 3 trials (based on 40k volunteers) relatively recently.

Which is what I've described: early vaccination, not mass vaccination.

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

#658

Post by totony » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

codeulike wrote: post #653

breatheoften wrote: post #640

Another risk factor that I doubt anyone is considering -- if the vaccine is rolled out and ends up not being effective (if vaccinated populations still die from covid at more or less same rate once the vaccinated population becomes sufficiently large) -- then this could lead to a real, long term, and very unfortunate surge in anti-vaxxers ability to persuade people not to take good vaccines that are proven to be effe…

I wouldn't worry about it. There's still plenty of positive evidence for vaccines from the last 100 years. A mistake with a covid vaccine wouldn't change that.

You have to take the social context into account too.

There seems to be a surge in anti-anti-vaxxer sentiment (any skepticism being met with strong resistance). If the vaccine were to fail after that much hype I believe it'd be a concern for worry. (Not that I think it's likely to "fail" in obvious way, just defending OP)

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

#659

Post by simonbarker87 » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 9:04 PM UTC

avgDev wrote: post #631

simonbarker87 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 85 year old grandparents are excited, they get to hold their great grand children again. They’d be first in line if they could be.

Oof my grandfather is 2000 miles away and 82. I am hoping we can visit him in 2021 safely, so he can meet his great grand child.

I hope you can soon

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

#660

Post by dane-pgp » Wed, Dec 02, 2020, 9:07 PM UTC

alexchamberlain wrote: post #628

teeray wrote: post #581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the UK is an archipelago?

To continue the pedantry, the archipelago is called The British Isles.

While you're right that it is called that (by many), some people object to it:

> In Ireland, the term "British Isles" is controversial, and there are objections to its usage. The Government of Ireland does not officially recognise the term, and its embassy in London discourages its use. Britain and Ireland is used as an alternative description, and Atlantic Archipelago has also seen limited use in academia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles