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

271–280 of 404 posts

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

#271

Post by dragontamer »

iso1631 wrote: post #57
wrinkl3 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but for how long? Unless Australia is willing to keep screening all arrivals and containing outbreaks indefinitely, Covid is gonna start circulating there at some point.

Require proof of vaccine to come to Austraila. Native population mostly vaccinated. Even if someone did manage to get in with covid, it might not spread particularly easily. Sure covid will probably continue to exist, just like H1N1 exists

> Sure covid will probably continue to exist, just like H1N1 exists

Flu immunity only lasts 6 months.

COVID immunity seems to already be longer than Flu / H1N1 immunity.

Now if COVID immunity is only 1-year or 2-years, then yes, it will flare up over time. But if COVID immunity is like 5 years or 10 years, then we can pretty much forget-about-it after the vaccine.

No one knows how long the immunity is, aside from lasting longer than any test so far.

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

#272

Post by tgb »

ghaff wrote: post #187
briefcomment wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But comments above state that the vaccine doesn't effect spread. If that's true, then vaccinating everyone would not address any of those points.

It hasn't been proven to affect spread (because that wasn't tested for). But it's generally assumed it does to at least a degree.

It's also much harder to test spread. You'd have to do repeated follow-up of all participants with frequent testing. When you have 40,000 participants, that's a significant concern. Trials like these are called "large, simple trials" since at that scale it's impractical to have a complicated study design at that scale. In addition to the pure expense, it's difficult to comply consistently with the protocol if it's complicated and you need to implement it at dozens or hundreds of sites. And recruiting people becomes harder and harder as you need additional follow-up, and attrition is higher (and likely biased: you're more likely to take your test if you think you might be sick).

So it's entirely reasonable to just study symptomatic cases in these trials.

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

#273

Post by bserge »

ceejayoz wrote: post #265
bserge wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've stated this is my worry with the BioNTech/Fosun vaccine - transporting it safely to Eastern Europe. They can't seem to transport frozen fish properly, I really hope they keep that vaccine in proper conditions, otherwise it'll be rendered useless...

It's likely the chain of custody for fish and critical medical supplies will be somewhat different.

I can only hope so. They could very well outsource it to the usual transportation companies, and there isn't much accountability tbh.

Oh well, if this one doesn't work, perhaps we can try again with the Oxford vaccine heh

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

#274

Post by dm319 »

adwww wrote: post #243
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.

These were patients attending for another reason. It's a large teaching hospital (1250 beds) with many patients attending for outpatients every day, so I'm sure there will be plenty of eligible patients to give the vaccine to.

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

#275

Post by dm319 »

acqq wrote: post #233
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.

The news report that both the first (Margaret Keenan, 90) and the second person (William Shakespeare, 81) were vaccinated at the same "University Hospital, Coventry." So it's not that only one person was vaccinated there? Are you reporting only about the people you're directly in charge of, three of which where eligible, and one accepted, but still there were more vaccinated today there?

Yes, these were patients attending my clinic for other reasons. At any one time there are obviously several clinics running - I suspect the hospital will announce how many in total have been vaccinated at the end of the day.

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

#276

Post by iso1631 »

dragontamer wrote: post #271
iso1631 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Require proof of vaccine to come to Austraila. Native population mostly vaccinated. Even if someone did manage to get in with covid, it might not spread particularly easily. Sure covid will probably continue to exist, just like H1N1 exists

> Sure covid will probably continue to exist, just like H1N1 exists Flu immunity only lasts 6 months. COVID immunity seems to already be longer than Flu / H1N1 immunity. Now if COVID immunity is only 1-year or 2-years, then yes, it will flare up over time. But if COVID immunity is like 5 years or 10 years, then we can pretty much forget-about-it after the vaccine. No one knows how long the immunity is, aside from las…

We still haven't eradicated measles despite a vaccine giving lifelong immunity so I suspect covid won't be eradicated any time soon. It won't be a problem for the vast majority of people either though

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

#277

Post by ceejayoz »

bserge wrote: post #273
ceejayoz wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's likely the chain of custody for fish and critical medical supplies will be somewhat different.

I can only hope so. They could very well outsource it to the usual transportation companies, and there isn't much accountability tbh. Oh well, if this one doesn't work, perhaps we can try again with the Oxford vaccine heh

It travels in purpose-built shipping containers, so it shouldn't really matter what the trucker does.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-vaccine-pfizer-distributi...

> In order to get around that, Pfizer has developed specially built deep-freeze "suitcases" that can be tightly sealed and shipped even in non-refrigerated trucks.

https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/pfizer-designed-n... indicates they can hold temperature for ten days.

They'll likely include seals and simple sensors to detect temperature excursions; for example, my daughter's growth hormone comes with a little piece of plastic that turns permanently pink if it's not stored at the right temperature for a few minutes.

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

#278

Post by sollewitt »

briefcomment wrote: post #98
ck2 wrote: post #14

Good luck to the average person getting it in the USA before March. Even with half the population refusing it because the anti-vax people might be even more crazy than the anti-maskers. Which makes you wonder which country will have covid longest.

Can someone explain why it’s not enough to just vaccinate people who want to get vaccinated? Doesn’t that cover everyone who wants to avoid covid19?

IIUC, you want to vaccinate everyone to get actual herd immunity as quickly as possible so the virus can't spread before it has mutated into different strains.

The more of the population unvaccinated, the larger population available for new strains to generate in, the higher probability of multiple strains.

It's not guaranteed the current vaccines inoculate against new strains, so you could be right back at square one next winter, with a new virulent strain.

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

#279

Post by defertoreptar »

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.

I'd guess that people will be the most apprehensive at the very beginning but then will be more open to it as it goes along.

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

#280

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN