The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Wasted AZ? Not sure about that - aren't they stopping production at the end of the year? I suppose we don't know what they plan to those left in stockpile or on shelves - donate to covax or neighbour countries?

 

[mviy]

Wasted AZ? Not sure about that - aren't they stopping production at the end of the year? I suppose we don't know what they plan to those left in stockpile or on shelves - donate to covax or neighbour countries?

As much as AZ is easier to distribute than Pfizer, collecting 100 or a 1000 doses here and there that are about to expire and distributing them overseas is not practical. Far better to have them go into arms as 3rd doses than be allowed to expire.

 

[Quickstatus]

non vaccinated may clog up precious public health resources for others who are ill from other reasons

Obesity, smoking and associated diseases clog up public health resources too but I don’t see weight mandates or smoking made illegal.

Covid is more lethal in an obese patient. Estimates are 2.5 million people die prematurely due to obesity and obesity related diseases. Covid deaths will be just a blip. Obesity deaths are year on year. It’s strange that when people die of Covid and they were obese, that the that death is reported as a Covid death rather than an obesity death

The obesity pandemic anyone?

 

[Quickstatus]

What's actually stopping anybody walking into a chemist to get a 3rd jab?

No
Some GP are also offering 3Jab

 

[DC3]

If they don't start letting people have a third AZ soon, many more will be wasted than otherwise would have been.

Yes. Where’s our 3rd shot? Waiting, waiting, ……..

 

[Quickstatus]

I sort wish I had AZ instead of fizer as the efficacy seems to last longer & better.

Add some perspective
PZ better in early stages than AZ but longer term AZ slightly better:
Complicated Study, (requiring a sound understanding statistical concepts). Go down to bottom to graph sections

Hint : odds and probability are not the same thing. Odds = ratio probability of something happening over probability of something not happening
So the study is looking at relative risk.
However you need to transfer that to actual risk.
Eg doing A makes the odds of catching X twice as much as doing B. However what if the actual risk of catching X by doing B is only 1:100000?. That means doing A makes the actual risk of catching X at double which is 1:50000.
At that actual rate, is it important ??enough?.

Don’t forget that in Austrlaia, only 0.6% of the population has been tested positive to Covid.
What is the actual risk of catching Covid when the population hits 80%?. A deep dive into the study will give some info about that.

Study does not extend to 6 months. And it may not be transferable to the Australian setting

What is interesting is the study suggests that a previous natural infection is a powerful immunological primer - much better than a 2Jab ever achieved. Unfortunately it did not have a study arm looking at the odds of catching Covid after a Covid infection compared with catching Covid after a 2Jab vax

My reading is that the risk of becoming Covid positive goes up by about 10% after 3 months with PZ going up a slightly faster
Older age groups are more at risk at any time after 2jab with any Vax than younger age groups. AZ for 35-64 age group about 25% more likely to be positive after 3 months then AZ 18-35 age group. But that does not suggest that a booster for older age reduces that risk difference - the study did not look at booster.

Again , translate to actual risk. If you go out tomorrow what is the chance you will pick up Covid.?. Add 10%. Is that significant? And then factor in a rising community Vax and Reff < 1

In Nsw 374 today became positive out of 8.2 mil. That’s about 0.005%. Add 10% that becomes 0.0055%. About 5.5 in 100000 chance compared with 5 in 100000 chance.

Going to get 3Jab may well be easier than ruminating over this paper. But I hope it puts the risk of waning Vax efficacy in some perspective.

 

[N860CR]

My pharmac_ gave me a hard no on a third jab… but I do wonder what they’d have said if I just walked in and asked for my first one. Is there no way to a pharmacist to check your record? Asking for a friend.

 

[jase05]

My pharmac_ gave me a hard no on a third jab… but I do wonder what they’d have said if I just walked in and asked for my first one. Is there no way to a pharmacist to check your record? Asking for a friend.

They can’t check your Medicare records.

 

[Quickstatus]

My pharmac_ gave me
…….Asking for a friend.

Me = friend?
If 3 no good then try subtracting one or more from story.

 

[N860CR]

Me = friend?
If 3 no good then try subtracting one or more from story.

That was the joke….

 

[Pushka]

Obesity, smoking and associated diseases clog up public health resources too but I don’t see weight mandates or smoking made illegal.

Covid is more lethal in an obese patient. Estimates are 2.5 million people die prematurely due to obesity and obesity related diseases. Covid deaths will be just a blip. Obesity deaths are year on year. It’s strange that when people die of Covid and they were obese, that the that death is reported as a Covid death rather than an obesity death

The obesity pandemic anyone?

I'm neither obese and have never smoked. Nor are any of my family. But with my health issues I'm very susceptible to Covid. It takes a lot more to reduce weight and stop smoking than have a simple vaccination.

However I agree on the obesity epidemic and just yesterday I was going to post in the chit chat thread that I just wished that sizes of everything food we buy were simply smaller because invariably they are much too big for say a lunchtime meal and invariably I throw a good half away. But many just chomp through them. And then there are health reasons for weight control but one that gets me is hypothyroidism, which Ive had for decades, and I'm thin. So much so the first GP I went to almost said my lab results were wrong because I was too thin to have it.

 

[Pushka]

My pharmac_ gave me a hard no on a third jab… but I do wonder what they’d have said if I just walked in and asked for my first one. Is there no way to a pharmacist to check your record? Asking for a friend.

Well, you could ask for moderna and truthfully say you haven't had the Moderna shot before.

Also asking for a friend. If two vaccinations of AZ, which would be better, AZ or Moderna? And I don't want to buy into any PZ AZ dispute.

 

[Lynda2475]

Az or Moderna

Moderna of course

If you get AZ it is a 3rd dose not a booster, currently no booster / variant modified formula in play from AZ. If you get an mrna it is a booster because different type, plus Aus has orders for newer moderna and pfizer variant tweaked formulas from Jan.

Boosters are given at 6-9 months post dose 2, 3rd doses for imuno compromised can be given by GP as soon as 4 weeks post dose 2.

 

[jakeseven7]

Well, you could ask for moderna and truthfully say you haven't had the Moderna shot before.

Also asking for a friend. If two vaccinations of AZ, which would be better, AZ or Moderna? And I don't want to buy into any PZ AZ dispute.

Lol two micro seconds later the medical experts answer thank goodness! Might be good to seek real advice

 

[Lynda2475]

And the one joke pony laughs at his unfunny post again, conveniently ignoring all the published studies which show mrna boosters are best.

 

[mviy]

Well, you could ask for moderna and truthfully say you haven't had the Moderna shot before.

Also asking for a friend. If two vaccinations of AZ, which would be better, AZ or Moderna? And I don't want to buy into any PZ AZ dispute.

If you've had two AZ without serious adverse effects, the chances of a serious adverse effect are even lower than after the second shot.

A third AZ taken 6 months or more after the 2nd leads to an even higher antibody level than after the 2nd dose.

A lot of AZ will probably end up being wasted if 3rd shots aren't approved soon, so if you want to get a 3rd dose from a pharmac_ before you're eligible that's what I'd be having to not be stopping someone from getting Moderna that hasn't yet had their first 2 doses.

If AZ is still available early next year a few of my friends who had their 2nd dose months before me will probably go and have a 3rd dose of it.

 

[Pushka]

having to not be stopping someone from getting Moderna that hasn't yet had their first 2 doses

That’s an excellent point.

 

[MooTime]

They can’t check your Medicare records.

Didn't work for me.....I just got back from a Terry White Chemist, they checked my Medicare records (so much for a chemist not being able to check your medicare records) They saw my 2 previous pfizer shots & said can't give a 3rd booster unless your imuno comprimised.

I just said that's an error blah blah.

Anyhow may give it another go next week at a stand alone 'lesser' type chemist where I got my flu jab. see how it goes.

 

[jase05]

Didn't work for me.....I just got back from a Terry White Chemist, they checked my Medicare records (so much for a chemist not being able to check your medicare records) They saw my 2 previous pfizer shots & said can't give a 3rd booster unless your imuno comprimised.

I just said that's an error blah blah.

Anyhow may give it another go next week at a stand alone 'lesser' type chemist where I got my flu jab. see how it goes.

Wow, I was assured that Pharmacies could not access records. I will let her know that, thanks.
They simply took my Medicare number and didn’t do any checks, others have said similar over here in SA.

 

[Pushka]

Wow, I was assured that Pharmacies could not access records. I will let her know that, thanks.
They simply took my Medicare number and didn’t do any checks, others have said similar over here in SA.

That was my understanding too. Just the hubs access it. Chemist Warehouse maybe?