Covid Vaccine Updates and General Discussion About Vaccines

[GoofGoof]

Canada will now get 84 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by September, enough to vaccinate 42 million people (Canada's population is about 38 million, including children under 16).

Good news. I am also hopeful that as manufacturing continues to ramp up and improve the doses come even faster. We’ve seen Pfizer and Moderna already move up their US delivery dates several times and it seems like they have more improvements in the works. Really a good story.

 

[correcaminos]

My daughter just enrolled in, and received the first Novovax shot for a vaccine trial here in FL!

Huge thanks for your daughter enrolling in the trial! It's truly important to do!

I appreciate that. And trust me, I see both sides too! I fully plan to try and convince my coworkers to get the JnJ vaccine if that's what offered to us. We're all sick to death of the pandemic and I completely understand why someone turning down a shot that can help end it sooner would seem like a selfish and inexplicable move.

For the record, I think a move like this would be better recieved if it's advertised as a temporary vaccine workers can get before another becomes available in the summer. I'm not sure if they would need to do studies to make sure the vaccines wouldn't negatively react with each other first; if they do then that approach wouldn't work. But if they don't I think advertising that way would make it seem less like we're getting the "worse" shot (even though it's not worse where it really matters!) and more like we're being offered a mini vaccine to keep us protected until we can get the others.

Absolutely! I think how it's spun will help out. I also wouldn't bat an eye at any kind of incentive offered to sweeten the deal. I do believe they are doing studies that mix vaccines right now so we'll see how that works.

Really a smarter thing is to play up 100% reduction in severe cases for both. Both types have a chance of catching the virus, but one is a bit better than the other. No matter all keep one from really getting ill. Make sure some paid time off is given and maybe you can sell it better too.

Like I said here if my husband was offered J&J tomorrow he'd do it. I kind of wish he could get it in March so we could see family in FL we haven't seen in person since 2019

 

[GoofGoof]

This pretty much sums up the recent discussion on which vaccine to get and good advice from people much more knowledgeable than me:

Almost every day, we get the same questions from family, friends, and strangers who happen to find our emails: Which COVID-19 vaccine should I get? Should I wait to get the “best” vaccine?

Johnson & Johnson has followed Moderna and Pfizer with an application to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization of its vaccine. Novavax and AstraZeneca might not be far behind. Not surprisingly, people are concerned about getting the “wrong” vaccine when they hear that some are 66% effective while others reduce infections by 95%.

Our advice is simple: Take whatever vaccine is offered to you. Right now, all of the vaccines are the “best.” This is what we’re doing for ourselves.

The varying “effectiveness” rates miss the most important point: The vaccines were all 100% effective in the vaccine trials in stopping hospitalizations and death. Waiting for a more effective vaccine is actually the worst thing you can do to lower your risk of getting severely ill and dying of COVID-19.

No death or serious illness in 7 trials​

We do not vaccinate to prevent a minor case of the sniffles. The reason we have vaccines is to prevent severe disease and death caused by infections. The polio vaccine prevents paralysis. The measles vaccine prevents pneumonia, brain infections and blindness. Annual influenza vaccines prevent pneumonia, sepsis and heart attacks. If COVID-19 only caused a cold, we would not have bothered to develop vaccines for it. While there are many mild cases of COVID-19, about a fifth of infections result in severe disease, and nearly 1% of infected people die. For older people and those with underlying health problems, the risk of death can be anywhere from 10 to several hundred times higher.

All seven COVID-19 vaccines that have completed large efficacy trials — Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and Sinovac — appear to be 100% effective for serious complications. Not one vaccinated person has gotten sick enough to require hospitalization. Not a single vaccinated person has died of COVID-19.

Take whatever COVID vaccine you can get. All of them stop death and hospitalization.

Waiting for a more effective vaccine is actually the worst thing you can do to lower your risk of getting severely ill and dying of COVID-19.

www.yahoo.com

 

[GoofGoof]

Outside of the 3 we talk about most here’s a small update on AstraZenneca and Novavax:

AstraZenneca expects US trial results by end of March possibly adding another weapon to the arsenal.

Coronavirus update: AstraZeneca expects Phase 3 results soon; WHO warns against vaccine nationalism

AstraZeneca is nearing the end of its Phase 3 trials in the U.S., as it ramps up production of vaccine doses globally.

www.yahoo.com

Novavax CEO in talks with FDA on potentially approving their Covid vaccine using the trial results from the UK trial. The FDA hasn’t commented but they did authorize companies to submit trial results from other countries so its not against the rules.

Could Novavax Win U.S. Authorization for Its COVID Vaccine Sooner Than Expected?

Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) recently reported very good results from a late-stage study conducted in the United Kingdom of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The company's CEO wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider emergency use authorization for the vaccine based

www.nasdaq.com

 

[FutureCEO]

Shot two has worse side effects than shot 1. Moderna

 

[correcaminos]

Outside of the 3 we talk about most here’s a small update on AstraZenneca and Novavax:

AstraZenneca expects US trial results by end of March possibly adding another weapon to the arsenal.

Coronavirus update: AstraZeneca expects Phase 3 results soon; WHO warns against vaccine nationalism

AstraZeneca is nearing the end of its Phase 3 trials in the U.S., as it ramps up production of vaccine doses globally.

www.yahoo.com

Novavax CEO in talks with FDA on potentially approving their Covid vaccine using the trial results from the UK trial. The FDA hasn’t commented but they did authorize companies to submit trial results from other countries so its not against the rules.

Could Novavax Win U.S. Authorization for Its COVID Vaccine Sooner Than Expected?

Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) recently reported very good results from a late-stage study conducted in the United Kingdom of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The company's CEO wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider emergency use authorization for the vaccine based

www.nasdaq.com

This all will be interesting to watch. As time goes on potentially trials could be harder to get info if infections decrease anyway. Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were "lucky" in that they were done as cases were rising, not falling (that sounds awful but please take it from ability to get results and not happy about uptick in cases).

I worry about AZ-Oxford still but any help and reduction of severity is good.

 

[Heppenheimer]

This all will be interesting to watch. As time goes on potentially trials could be harder to get info if infections decrease anyway. Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were "lucky" in that they were done as cases were rising, not falling (that sounds awful but please take it from ability to get results and not happy about uptick in cases).

I worry about AZ-Oxford still but any help and reduction of severity is good.

This is why I worry that it may become much harder to test the vaccines on young children... although falling numbers are definately a good thing, even if it means the on-going trials take much longer to reach statistical significance.

 

[GoofGoof]

This is why I worry that it may become much harder to test the vaccines on young children... although falling numbers are definately a good thing, even if it means the on-going trials take much longer to reach statistical significance.

I think they should start the younger children trial now. At least Pfizer should. By the time you sign up enough kids and get started the 12-16 trial should be done. My 11 year old is ready and willing to sign up. He found out you get paid Oxford has kicked off their trial for kids 6-17. I think it makes a lot of sense to have every school aged kid vaccinated by the start of the next school year. There is some evidence that kids don’t get infected or spread the virus as easily as adults but that’s not proven out yet. We know they don’t get as sick but in the quest for real herd immunity we can’t leave 60M kids on the sidelines and hope to succeed.

The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine will soon be tested on children as young as 6

It's the first vaccine research to be carried out in children so young, following Pfizer and Moderna's trials on children aged 12 and over.

news.yahoo.com

 

[correcaminos]

I think they should start the younger children trial now. At least Pfizer should. By the time you sign up enough kids and get started the 12-16 trial should be done. My 11 year old is ready and willing to sign up. He found out you get paid Oxford has kicked off their trial for kids 6-17. I think it makes a lot of sense to have every school aged kid vaccinated by the start of the next school year. There is some evidence that kids don’t get infected or spread the virus as easily as adults but that’s not proven out yet. We know they don’t get as sick but in the quest for real herd immunity we can’t leave 60M kids on the sidelines and hope to succeed.

The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine will soon be tested on children as young as 6

It's the first vaccine research to be carried out in children so young, following Pfizer and Moderna's trials on children aged 12 and over.

news.yahoo.com

I think it is great your kid is willing. Please know how time consuming it is though. My child could not have done the 4 hour or even 2 hour visits with his school schedule. We seriously considered it here but with all the time off in addition to real fears it is not easy for kids. Maybe they allowed for weekends but they didn't in early fall here.

 

[GoofGoof]

I think it is great your kid is willing. Please know how time consuming it is though. My child could not have done the 4 hour or even 2 hour visits with his school schedule. We seriously considered it here but with all the time off in addition to real fears it is not easy for kids. Maybe they allowed for weekends but they didn't in early fall here.

It would have to be close by because it’s multiple visits too. Moderna didn’t do any of their trials anywhere near us. I think they may do the Pfizer one out of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. CHOP has satellite sites near us or we could drive into Philly if that’s where it is. I do need to get all of the details before he could sign up but if he gets out of a few days of school that may just make him want to do it more

 

[correcaminos]

It would have to be close by because it’s multiple visits too. Moderna didn’t do any of their trials anywhere near us. I think they may do the Pfizer one out of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. CHOP has satellite sites near us or we could drive into Philly if that’s where it is. I do need to get all of the details before he could sign up but if he gets out of a few days of school that may just make him want to do it more

Ours was local but on the other side of the city so that added time for me over an hour. I wish I didn't have to travel as far as I did, but was glad to. The Oxford/AZ trial I could have biked to on a nice day. But they called about 4 months too late. Our Pfizer/BioNTech was done out of a research lab that just runs trials. Oxford/AZ was with Ohio State.

With being in a hybrid schedule we worried he would miss in person days which really he did not want to. Then we switched to EDL so zooms all day and that was just a crazy time. Not discouraging, but being realistic. I know not even adults could handle the time to do it (my husband could not with his line of work)

Big kudos though to all who even think about joining. It's really a tough decision to make and even being willing means a lot!

 

[OrlandoRising]

Again, please don't come after me telling me to just get what I can or else I'm being selfish. I already plan to. But I know how my coworkers feel, and they're tired of being told how important they are and having people acknowledge how much risk they're putting themselves in, then turning around and saying "Eh, you're not *that* at risk. You don't need hazard pay. You don't need the better vaccine. Just stop complaining!"

Yes, it would be better to just take the vaccine. But I think people need to listen to *why* essential workers might rebel against being offered the JnJ vaccine instead of just jumping to they're selfish.

My intention was not to "come after you," but add some nuance to the discussion about what vaccine to get. These are all fair questions to ask, and I wish there was more emphasis on how the Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J vaccines appear to be fully effective against hospitalization and death from COVID-19, rather than the topline efficacy rate which can vary based on the primary endpoint of a clinical trial. (And I say that being a reporter myself).

 

[DeletedAccount55555]

I wonder how many of those places will find it worthwhile to open at 10%? You also require a negative PCR test so that may limit people's interest and also adds to the effort that needs to be put in to reopen.

Why wouldn't they? 10% capacity and the revenue it can generate is still better than zero.

 

[danlb_2000]

Why wouldn't they? 10% capacity and the revenue it can generate is still better than zero, especially if they can charge more than usual for those tickets, and stadiums and arenas rely heavily on hourly/seasonal workers. They can very easily staff accordingly based on their lowered attendance.

At 10% you could still end up in a situation where it costs more to open the venue then the revenue you could make. Sporting events might be feasible since some of these are already running, just without spectators, but concerts and other evens might not be worthwhile.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

This pretty much sums up the recent discussion on which vaccine to get and good advice from people much more knowledgeable than me:

Take whatever COVID vaccine you can get. All of them stop death and hospitalization.

Waiting for a more effective vaccine is actually the worst thing you can do to lower your risk of getting severely ill and dying of COVID-19.

www.yahoo.com

The only preference for a vaccine I have is JnJ, simply because it's easier to schedule 1 appointment and not have to deal with making two, or taking additional time off of work to recover from any potential side effects after each dose.

But realistically, I'd take any one of them.

 

[GoofGoof]

The only preference for a vaccine I have is JnJ, simply because it's easier to schedule 1 appointment and not have to deal with making two, or taking additional time off of work to recover from any potential side effects after each dose.

But realistically, I'd take any one of them.

I think that’s fair. It’s definitely easier to only go once and you also get protection a full month earlier. I would take whatever vaccine was offered to me personally too but everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have no issue with people choosing to wait for the brand they prefer. I would have a big problem if the government decided not to use anything other than Pfizer and Moderna because they are perceived to be “better”. We need to use all the tools at our disposal and move as quickly as possible.

 

[Shouldigo12]

My intention was not to "come after you," but add some nuance to the discussion about what vaccine to get. These are all fair questions to ask, and I wish there was more emphasis on how the Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J vaccines appear to be fully effective against hospitalization and death from COVID-19, rather than the topline efficacy rate which can vary based on the primary endpoint of a clinical trial. (And I say that being a reporter myself).

I wasn't speaking to any person in particular with that statement, I was just trying to make it clear that I, personally, will take any vaccine offered and think others should too.

 

[drizgirl]

In a perfect world, I probably would have a preference, both for myself and my husband, and for our kids. But I think anyone who refuses the one available to put in their arm that day is a little nuts. At least for the near future.

 

[CastAStone]

Something I have been wondering.... We know these vaccines have received emergency approval, but what does the FDA need to see to move them to full approval?

At 21:20 on this week’s “This Week in Virology” podcast, one of the members of the FDA Advisory Panel who made the recommendation on the EUAs talks about exactly why an EUA and not an approval for these vaccines, and what’s missing from a full approval. The TLDL is long term efficacy.

Episode name is “With vaccines, Offit is on it”. I think it’s worth the listen.

 

[Chipster]

Shot two has worse side effects than shot 1. Moderna

I have had both shots (Moderna) with no side effects. My friends were all over the map with side effects - some in the first shot and the second shot ranging from a headache to knocked them out for 2 days,.