Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 404 posts

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#241

Post by CivBase »

antientropic wrote: post #238
CivBase wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I read it. Literally the second line of my comment: > This marks the official rollout with general public availability (pending supply issues), so that's cool. It's just weird that the article refers to this dose in particular as a "historic event". Here's the line from the article I'm referring to: > Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, who witnessed the "historic moment", said: "We cou…

It's between quotes presumably because it is, you know, a quote. And the start of the first public vaccination campaign against COVID-19 legitimately seems like a historic moment. But we're just nitpicking language now.

Then who are they quoting?

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#242

Post by prawn »

CivBase wrote: post #222
shellac wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally first line of the article: > A UK grandmother has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.

Yes, I read it. Literally the second line of my comment: > This marks the official rollout with general public availability (pending supply issues), so that's cool. It's just weird that the article refers to this dose in particular as a "historic event". Here's the line from the article I'm referring to: > Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, who witnessed the "historic moment", said: "We cou…

It's likely that "historic moment" is quoted as Powis said those particular words.

The vaccines would be a current and global talking point. It's natural that the first post-testing vaccines would be a significant moment, that someone involved would feel it was of historic note, and that a publication would use that phrasing to accentuate the story's weight.

It's the/a major story on every news site I checked this evening.

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#243

Post by adwww »

dm319 wrote: post #180

I work here and was in clinic this morning. We had three eligible patients. One consented to it and is having the vaccine now. The other two declined. Not making a point, just a data point.

Interesting that you had three eligible patients - I wonder if that is repeated across the hospital, how many eligible inpatients are there likely to be out of each batch of vaccines?

It sounds like it might be a struggle to find enough people to give it to once each container is opened.

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#244

Post by acqq »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #232

This is not the first person receiving it. There had been clinical studies before. It's "just" the first person after the government put some stamps on it and made it a marketing event. (And yes, marketing the fact that it is safe and vaccination helps is good!)

She is indeed the first person to get the "vaccine." The material that those in the trials received is usually being referred to as a "vaccine candidate" because it haven't passed the trials and it isn't officially approved for anything but the trials. During the randomized trials, until the data are evaluated nobody is even supposed to know who received the tested substance and who received placebo. Many people in the trials received placebo and still became infected. Some died. Outside of trials, we know that one and half million people died while the development and the trials had to be done and there weren't no vaccines at all. And eventually, not all vaccine candidates pass all the trials.

So it is definitely an event of historical significance that should be celebrated. A lot had to be done right so that all of us can now talk about this.

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#246

Post by prawn »

CivBase wrote: post #241
antientropic wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's between quotes presumably because it is, you know, a quote. And the start of the first public vaccination campaign against COVID-19 legitimately seems like a historic moment. But we're just nitpicking language now.

Then who are they quoting?

Prof Stephen Powis - the guy mentioned in the same sentence.

You can see the convention continues in the very next paragraph:

"The second person vaccinated in Coventry was William Shakespeare, 81, from Warwickshire, who said he was "pleased" to be given the jab and hospital staff had been "wonderful"."

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#247

Post by standardUser »

SlateBlate wrote: post #59
mikepechadotcom wrote: post #32

I feel like mRNA vaccines have huge potential, but I am really, really concerned about potential side effects. Does anyone know which other helper-substances are inside the vaccine, besides the RNA?

Why is this comment getting downvoted? seems like a fair question. I've seen this now in several threads where even questioning side effects of the vaccine gets downvoted and looked down upon like they did something illegal. This is not HN I used to know.

There is a wealth of information available online about these vaccines. If someone comes along and says "I dunno, this thing that could end our civilization-altering event might be bad" is someone who has no real interest in the safety of the vaccine. If they did, they would not be trolling on HN, they would be reading and informing themselves.

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#248

Post by M2Ys4U »

dmurray wrote: post #189
hannob wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a tendency to highlight risks and sideeffects of this vaccine that is without any basis. It's reasonable to ask what the risks are, but unspecific ramblings about risks aren't helpful and it's unreasonable to highlight very hypothetical risks compared to the very real risks of getting Covid-19. Right now the risk issue seems pretty clearcut: There were no serious sideeffects in the trials. What gave me additi…

> It seems almost impossible that the vaccines pose a greater risk than the risk of not using them. While this is a reasonable conclusion from what we've read in the media, it's worth noting that this is at odds with the official opinions of the EMA and the FDA. They both believe more data is needed, or that the agencies need more time to analyze the data, before they can decree that the benefits most likely outweigh…

There's also a strong political reason for the US to not approve the vaccine as fast.

Fauci had to walk back[0] comments about the UK "rushing" the approval, stating

"The point that I was really trying to make [...] in the United States there is such a considerable amount of tension of pushing back on the credibility of the safety and of the efficacy that if we in the United States had done it as quickly as the UK did [...] that if we had for example had approved it yesterday or tomorrow there would have been push-back on an already scrutinising society that has really in some respects in the United States too much scepticism about the process."

[0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55177948

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#249

Post by adwww »

refurb wrote: post #119
checker659 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not NHS, but what’s stopping private companies from purchasing from pfizer at 10x markup and selling to willing customers?

I don't think private parties will have any access to vaccine for a while. Can you imagine the shit storm if some wealth person got vaccinated ahead of the doctors treating dying Covid patients. Ain't gonna happen.

It sounds like in some countries, the rich will be able to get the vaccine ahead of official channels - eg. https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/uae-team-emirates-...

Re: First person receives Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in UK

#250

Post by dm319 »

mchusma wrote: post #212
dm319 wrote: post #180

I work here and was in clinic this morning. We had three eligible patients. One consented to it and is having the vaccine now. The other two declined. Not making a point, just a data point.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing the anecdote. Seems odd to me you are asking people. Isn't there a line or something? My biggest concern with virus rollout is millions of doses sitting on shelves waiting for "high priority" people to get them (who refuse) while "low priority" people are still banned from getting.

No there's not a line, in this weather I don't think that'd be a good idea, and it'd likely be chaotic. These patients are attending hospital anyway for follow-up, so since they are here they are being vaccinated.
Post reply on HN