The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[Lynda2475]

Looking at NSW the second doses for 12-15yos seems to have been stick on 78% for over 2 months now, wonder why this age group has a much lower uptake than 16+?

The 12-15 cohort is a tiny percentage of the population, so does not really impact the overall percentage for 12+ but as other states dont report this cohort separately it is hard to tell if this is just a NSW issue or broader.

Uptake for 5-11s seems to be progressing ok, in fact numbers mirror booster uptake in the 18+.

 

[andye]

Looking at NSW the second doses for 12-15yos seems to have been stick on 78% for over 2 months now, wonder why this age group has a much lower uptake than 16+?

The 12-15 cohort is a tiny percentage of the population, so does not really impact the overall percentage for 12+ but as other states dont report this cohort separately it is hard to tell if this is just a NSW issue or broader.

Uptake for 5-11s seems to be progressing ok, in fact numbers mirror booster uptake in the 18+.

The 16+ age includes people (60+, 70+, 80+) who are at high risk of poor outcomes whereas 11-15 year olds are much less likely to. Adults may need to be vaccinated to go to work and attend leisure activities.
There will always be a cohort of parents who are scared of adverse effects and in their minds, the risk/benefit to their child is not persuasive. There will also be patents who are time poor or disorganised.
I suspect the 5-11 will plateau round about the same.

The vax rates for age 16-29 is under 90%-suspect mostly due to the perception of personal risk (and maybe a less settled lifestyle)

 

[Lynda2475]

Yes but the gap between first doses and second doses for 12-15s has been widening.

There is almost a 5% difference in Jan and Feb whereas at start of Dec the difference was only 3%, so it seems in addition to not enough 12-15s getting a first dose, fewer are returning for the second dose.

Seems odd that the parents (likely in the 30-45 cohort) would get vaxed but not get their kids vaxed, especially given higher rates for other routine vaccinations like MMR.

 

[andye]

Yes but the gap between first doses and second doses for 12-15s has been widening.

There is almost a 5% difference in Jan and Feb whereas at start of Dec the difference was only 3%, so it seems in addition to not enough 12-15s getting a first dose, fewer are returning for the second dose.

Seems of that the parents (likely in the 30-45 cohort) would get vaxed but not get their kids vaxed, especially given higher rates for other routine vaccinations like MMR.

A lot of children caught covid over that time. Maybe some are waiting a few weeks for second doses

 

[mviy]

16-17 year-olds can now get a booster.

A decision on mandating the booster is expected in the next few weeks.

 

[Croupier]

Maybe people are waking up and doing there own research rather than listening to the MSM.

 

[MrMatureGuy]

Im one of those waiting for Novavax - call me paranoid, but I much prefer the old style protein vaccines.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Ignoring the above...

I wonder what sort of ethical discussions are happening in public health about the mandating of boosters and what the future may look like. It's pretty obvious that boosting every 3 months is not going to be possible/affordable/reasonable/doable and with questionable efficacy the further down the line you go.

 

[jakeseven7]

Maybe people are waking up and doing there own research rather than listening to the MSM.

New clinical trial or RWE analysis? Will their "own research" be peer reviewed?

 

[drron]

New clinical trial or RWE analysis? Will their "own research" be peer reviewed?

Well a lot in the media still calling for lockdowns. But credible researchers say minimal affect on the pandemic but major costs in other health areas plus the economy.
A new paper from John Hopkins -

https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/iae/files/2022/01/A-Literature-Review-and-Meta-Analysis-of-the-Effects-of-Lockdowns-on-COVID-19-Mortality.pdf

Which comes to the same conclusion as a well researched and respected 2006 study with influenza.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.552.1109&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

[mviy]

Ignoring the above...

I wonder what sort of ethical discussions are happening in public health about the mandating of boosters and what the future may look like. It's pretty obvious that boosting every 3 months is not going to be possible/affordable/reasonable/doable and with questionable efficacy the further down the line you go.

The hope would be that better vaccines come along that provide protection for longer. It's clear that the current vaccines don't provide enough protection for long enough against getting infected or transmitting omicron.

 

[Lynda2475]

Yet with a death rate of 0.1% for Omicron current vaccines are doing enough that 99.9% of people who get Omicron recover.

 

[mviy]

The thing is though that some people still refuse to get vaccinated. So if we want to take the burden off the hospitals we need to find a way to have vaccines that remain effective at stopping infection and/or transmission so that we don't get out of control transmission of the virus.

Mandating a booster of the current vaccines every 3 months isn't a viable long term strategy.

 

[Lynda2475]

Mandating a booster of the current vaccines every 3 months isn't a viable long term strategy.

I doubt that will happen.

We need variant tweaked booster available from May (for this flu season, should there be one, we haven't had one last 2 years), and then should be able to go to annual variant tweaked jab from April 2023.

It seems pretty pointless to get a 4th dose of any vaccine which was created for the original 2020 strain. A booster that does better against omicron may.

 

[Lynda2475]

Analysis piece re booster uptake by age cohort:

Why aren't eligible Australians lining up for a booster?

More than a third of older Australians most vulnerable to serious COVID-19 infections are yet to get boosted. Nearly half of them have been eligible for a third dose for at least a month. Casey Briggs explains what's going on.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Pushka]

I am wondering where this vaccination mandate is going. In SA a double vaxxed person was refused permission to see his son who had died two days ago, in the city morgue to say goodbye. He had not been triple vaccinated. His distress was awful to listen to. And another story of a couple who could not be with their seven year old while undergoing assessments in hospital for an injured leg because she was not double vaxxed, which was impossible. Her parents were triple vaxxed. I don't think we are in a humane space right now.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

I am wondering where this vaccination mandate is going. In SA a double vaxxed person was refused permission to see his son who had died two days ago, in the city morgue to say goodbye. He had not been triple vaccinated. His distress was awful to listen to. And another story of a couple who could not be with their seven year old while undergoing assessments in hospital for an injured leg because she was not double vaxxed, which was impossible. Her parents were triple vaxxed. I don't think we are in a humane space right now.

The leaders are using vaccines as a crutch.

While vaccines work to prevent serious illness, it doesn't seem that the effectiveness of triple vax (vs two dose) is particularly high for transmission or infection for Omicron.

Or may be I got the wrong end of the stick when reading some of the articles posted by medics on the various threads.

 

[Pushka]

The leaders are using vaccines as a crutch.

While vaccines work to prevent serious illness, it doesn't seem that the effectiveness of triple vax (vs two dose) is particularly high for transmission or infection for Omicron.

Or may be I got the wrong end of the stick when reading some of the articles posted by medics on the various threads.

Agree re the effectiveness in restricting spread. Son and DIL triple vaxxed, both tested positive four weeks ago. Similar story with interstate work colleagues today, triple vaxxed and tested positive. None of them were seriously ill. Exec Assistant triple vaxxed, tested positive three weeks ago. All were extremely careful, wore masks etc. It just concerns me now that decisions that are being made are extremely divisive and the 'abundance of caution' is wearing very thin.

 

[drron]

The leaders are using vaccines as a crutch.

While vaccines work to prevent serious illness, it doesn't seem that the effectiveness of triple vax (vs two dose) is particularly high for transmission or infection for Omicron.

Or may be I got the wrong end of the stick when reading some of the articles posted by medics on the various threads.

Yes the Danish study of close household cases of omicron found chance of getting infected with triple vaxxed 25% ,unvaxxed 29% and 1 or 2 shots 32%.

 

[mviy]

Things are looking on track for about this time next week for booster rates to be approaching 50%.