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Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

heraldscotland.com

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Re: Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

#21

Post by NovaJehovah »

jimbokun wrote: post #16
NovaJehovah wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that more interesting? Reducing severity is just as important as reducing transmission, if not more important. If we could sufficiently reduce (or eliminate) severe cases and deaths, it wouldn't matter how contagious it was. Common colds are highly transmissible, but no one worries about them much since they very rarely cause severe illness.

It's very important until universal vaccination is achieved.

Well obviously it would be great if they significantly reduce transmission as well. But even if they don't, vaccines could still effectively end the pandemic if they reduce severity enough.

It's stupid to imply that drastically reducing severity isn't a big win.

Re: Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

#22

Post by ageitgey »

kuu wrote: post #3

If I'm not wrong, UK is only giving the first dose for now. I feel glad and relieve that with only one dose it is working. There seems to be a light at the end of this tunnel :)

The UK is giving both doses. It's just that they are spacing them out at 12 weeks instead of 3-4 weeks. The idea is that this gives more at-risk people substantial protection more quickly.

Re: Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

#23

Post by ceejayoz »

Balero wrote: post #20
Zariel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check the data yourself, https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations Most people I know who have a vaccine have had 2 doses

OP is correct, the link you've posted shows that around 600,000 have had 2 doses, and over 15 million have had 1. The UK is pushing to get all 'at risk' people one dose (around 49% of people getting the vaccine) as a priority, with the second dose following within 12 weeks.

That's 600,000 times OP is incorrect.

Re: Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

#24

Post by ageitgey »

stavros wrote: post #15
kop316 wrote: post #11

"By the fourth week after receiving the initial dose, the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines were shown to reduce the risk of hospitalisation from Covid-19 by up to 85 per cent and 94 per cent, respectively. Among those aged 80 years and over - one of the highest risk groups - vaccination was associated with an 81 per cent reduction in hospitalisation risk in the fourth week, when the results for both vaccines we…

The AZ vaccine is more effective than the BioNTech one? That's extremely interesting.

I wouldn't read too much into that small difference. This study wasn't really designed to show which one works better. The bigger takeaway is that both show significant protection even with just one dose (which presumably rises after the second dose).

Re: Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

#26

Post by dragonwriter »

ageitgey wrote: post #22
kuu wrote: post #3

If I'm not wrong, UK is only giving the first dose for now. I feel glad and relieve that with only one dose it is working. There seems to be a light at the end of this tunnel :)

The UK is giving both doses. It's just that they are spacing them out at 12 weeks instead of 3-4 weeks. The idea is that this gives more at-risk people substantial protection more quickly.

> The UK is giving both doses. It's just that they are spacing them out at 12 weeks instead of 3-4 weeks.

Are they doing that for all vaccines, or just the Oxford/AstraZeneca one? Because that appears to be the recommended and most effective interval for the Oxford vaccine, but not for the others. (Note that the mix of vaccines approved for use differs considerably from country to country; Oxford/AstraZeneca is not in use on the US, only Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech.

Re: Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

#27

Post by rcpt »

JCM9 wrote: post #19

Data is very encouraging. Presently this battle is essentially a race between the current vaccines (which data indicates are very effective against current strains) and eventual variants that will make the current vaccines less effective (or in the worst case ineffective). The mutations aren’t really a question of if just when. Vaccine data on some new strains is concerning and potentially an early warning of things…

there's no race. If this virus can mutate into something that renders the vaccine ineffective it will. Brazil and Mexico and the rest of the developing world will give it ample opportunity no matter how quickly we roll out the current drugs. It took decades to hunt down smallpox.

Re: Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

#29

Post by jjcon »

rcpt wrote: post #27
JCM9 wrote: post #19

Data is very encouraging. Presently this battle is essentially a race between the current vaccines (which data indicates are very effective against current strains) and eventual variants that will make the current vaccines less effective (or in the worst case ineffective). The mutations aren’t really a question of if just when. Vaccine data on some new strains is concerning and potentially an early warning of things…

there's no race. If this virus can mutate into something that renders the vaccine ineffective it will. Brazil and Mexico and the rest of the developing world will give it ample opportunity no matter how quickly we roll out the current drugs. It took decades to hunt down smallpox.

Isn’t it almost certainly the case that the ‘unstoppable’ thing it turns in to will basically be more akin to a general cold though? The thing that makes this virus deadly is also the thing we are coding against in the vaccine.

Re: Covid vaccination linked to 'substantial reduction' in hospital admissions

#30

Post by tengbretson »

carbocation wrote: post #17
tus89 wrote: post #6

More interesting to know does it lead to a significant drop in transmission?

I don't mean to imply that this is your intention at all, but it's a false choice. Both questions are interesting; no need to set them up as if they were in tension with one another.

It actually can put them in tension. If the vaccine only stops symptoms it can remove the selective pressure to be less deadly and can actually cause the virus to evolve to be more deadly overall.

If this is the situation we are in, then it would make the most sense to only vaccinate the most vulnerable, and not vaccinate the bulk of the population in order to keep the virus selected for survival + transmissibility.

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