Covid-19 vaccines and vaccinations

On Saturday, the Vietnamese authorities revealed they had discovered a “very dangerous” new coronavirus variant that combined mutations first found in India and the UK, and which spreads quickly by air.

Local experts say that although the full genomic sequence of Vietnam's potential hybrid was still unclear, initial reports on the ground were worrying.





https://twitter.com/TelGlobalHealth/status/1399759325254590468
 
Mij said:
On Saturday, the Vietnamese authorities revealed they had discovered a “very dangerous” new coronavirus variant that combined mutations first found in India and the UK, and which spreads quickly by air.

Local experts say that although the full genomic sequence of Vietnam's potential hybrid was still unclear, initial reports on the ground were worrying.
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Oh good, that's just what we need :rolleyes:
 
Not specific to Covid, and I'm wondering whether (and where) I should actually start a new thread, but I watched much of the Channel 4 documentary "The Anti-Vax Conspiracy" tonight with mounting concern: the anti-vax movement seems to be a lot more powerful and widespread (as well as anti-science) than I had realised, has had a huge boost due to Covid, and is targeting, among others, ethnic minorities by playing on their concerns and fears. It was suggested that it even has enough momentum to prevent the fight against Covid from succeeding :(

For those who can (and want to) watch it, the All4 link is here, available for 30 days:

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-anti-vax-conspiracy

It was also quite enlightening on a number of other fronts, and I now have a better understanding of why *we* in the ME community are struggling to make progress, as well.
 
This was taken from the BBC today
Scotland should focus on the "huge gap" in global vaccine rollout before vaccinating teenagers, a public health expert has said.

Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, said she hoped the UK would "step up" to donate vaccines to poorer countries.

It comes after the UK regulator approved use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children aged 12-15 on Friday. But the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is yet to give its advice on the vaccine use for children.

Prof Bauld told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show that a decision to vaccinate teenagers in Scotland could be "controversial" globally.

"[With] the huge gap in the vaccine rollout around the world, many people, including some of my colleagues, are saying let's not press ahead with this," she said.

"Let's focus on helping out low and middle-income countries. So we wait to see what the decision is."

She also said vaccinating the rest of the world could help protect against the emergence of new variants.
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Can someone explain why it would be controversial to vaccinate teenagers in Scotland and why would vaccinating the rest of the world protect against variants,( more than vaccinating teenagers in Scotland).
 
Mij said:
An infectious disease doctor explained how it's very important to get the surge down in India because it will create new variants that our current vaccines won't protect us from. He compared the differences between Ebola and COVID respiratory-type viruses. and how Ebola deaths were more immediate so it prevented spread, unlike COVID where the virus spreads like wild fire to infect as many people as possible, and that it could put us back to square one.
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@BurnA

Our situation in Canada is a little different than the UK. We have limited vaccines available and need to vaccinate the most vulnerable (seniors and immune compromised) with second jabs first before 12 yr olds. We only have 7% of our population immunized with second doses.
 
Mij said:
@BurnA

Our situation in Canada is a little different than the UK. We have limited vaccines available and need to vaccinate the most vulnerable (seniors and immune compromised) with second jabs first before 12 yr olds. We only have 7% of our population immunized with second doses.
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Our vaccine supply has improved significantly over the past few weeks. Here in BC they are now vaccinating ages 12 and up. Also for those of us who are seniors or are medically vulnerable we can now register for our second shot. I'm booked for July 1st.
 
BurnA said:
This was taken from the BBC today


Can someone explain why it would be controversial to vaccinate teenagers in Scotland and why would vaccinating the rest of the world protect against variants,( more than vaccinating teenagers in Scotland).
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It makes sense to me to be vaccinating the teens as they are the ones more likely to be in contact with someone with covid.
 
TigerLilea said:
It makes sense to me to be vaccinating the teens as they are the ones more likely to be in contact with someone with covid.
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My point from BurnA post was that we should donate/share more of our vaccines with underdeveloped/poorer countries and not vaccination our 12 yr olds right now.

India has 1.2 billion people, and with new variants developing, we will be back at square one if we don't contain the transmission. New variants are a lot more transmissible now.
 
Mij said:
My point from BurnA post was that we should donate/share more of our vaccines with underdeveloped/poorer countries and not vaccination our 12 yr olds right now.

India has 1.2 billion people, and with new variants developing, we will be back at square one if we don't contain the transmission. New variants are a lot more transmissible now.
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But I don't see why then teens need to be the ones who miss out.
I understand that the whole world needs vaccines and before everyone gets vaccinated we are all at some level of risk.
But that logic applied when they were vaccinating the 20 Yr olds, 30 yr olds etc.
Now it seems they are becoming conscientious just when it's time to vaccinate teenagers?

I understand that variants might develop more in a country with greater incidence, but if the world's teenagers are going to remain unvaccinated surely they represent a big a risk also.
 
@BurnA

Are you aware that over 80% of vaccines have been allocated to richer countries? There is a fundamental injustice here.


Canada dipped into the COVAX supply which is for undeveloped countries. This week a direct cash commitment was doubled to COVAX to help buy COVID-19 vaccines for the global sharing program — but it isn't sending any doses, despite pleas from officials for help.

The 12 yr old can wait imo.
 
I think the point is in countries where almost all the adult population has been vaccinated there will be far less spread of the virus, so that reduces the chances of everyone unvaccinated including children of catching the virus, and with smaller numbers of cases there's more chance of test trace and isolate working to reduce spread further.

Whereas in countries where there is very little vaccination so far, the virus can spread massively, as has happened in India, and more dangerous variants arise which will inevitably spread all over the world. So it's vital more vaccine is distributed to countries with very little as soon as possible for the sake of their people and the whole world.
 
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Trish said:
I think the point is in countries where almost all the adult population has been vaccinated there will be far less spread of the virus, so that reduces the chances of everyone unvaccinated including children of catching the virus, and with smaller numbers of cases there's more chance of test tracce and isolate working to reduce spread further.
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Thanks. But when we talk of herd immunity my understanding was that the herd is a cross sectional % of the entire population.

There are roughly 20% under 18, and all this age category attend school and play sports etc. together. So the virus would run rampant in this age group. I don't see how it would be slowed down eneough just because adults have been vaccinated.

I think it would be very hard to keep schools open without vaccinating teenagers.
 
This comes down to questions of is one life worth more than another, and which countries are best equipped to meet the challenges of variants in my opinion. The U.K is a wealthy country, with the resources to develop a range of strategies, not just vaccine use, to meet the challenge of variants if (eta - if/when!) they arise here. We should, if we are competent, be able to respond with advantages that the vast majority of countries in the world don’t have, to a better level than they could.

For example should my healthy 20something year old children with no children of their own be vaccinated before a grandmother and sole provider looking after her orphaned grandchildren in a poor country? There is a horrible narrative of sharp elbows and entitlement around vaccines. I’m ashamed of it.

Richer more powerful countries are free to do as they want, just as they always have done, but we shouldn’t think the poorer countries don’t see who we are.

edit to last sentence to soften my tone a bit. It’s a difficult area and many opinions on it. I’m glad it’s not me making the decisions.
 
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Mij said:
India has 1.2 billion people, and with new variants developing, we will be back at square one if we don't contain the transmission. New variants are a lot more transmissible now.
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India could make more than enough doses, not only for themselves but for other countries - if not for the fact that the corporations who own the intellectual property have decided to maximise profit and only grant exclusive licenses (Serum Institute of India) nor not grant licenses at all because there is no money to be made.
 
Snow Leopard said:
India could make more than enough doses, not only for themselves but for other countries - if not for the fact that the corporations who own the intellectual property have decided to maximise profit and only grant exclusive licenses (Serum Institute of India) nor not grant licenses at all because there is no money to be made.
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I hadn't realised it was that bad. Oh dear. What a world we live in.
 
Snow Leopard said:
India could make more than enough doses, not only for themselves but for other countries - if not for the fact that the corporations who own the intellectual property have decided to maximise profit and only grant exclusive licenses (Serum Institute of India) nor not grant licenses at all because there is no money to be made.
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I won't get into politics, but PM Modi failed the people of India and now they need urgent help.

In early March PM Modi assured PM Trudeau that they would do their best to support Canada's vaccination efforts. We were desperate. We temporarily suspended the AZ vaccines and they were sitting in fridges. Now Canada has decided to extend the expiration dates for second jabs of AZ. I hardly find that noble when India is dealing with a catastrophe.
 
Getting my first dose of vaccine tomorrow. Pfizer.

My GP surgery texted me yesterday to invite me to come for the vaccine. I was planning to wait a bit, because as a housebound person I'm at much less risk than others in my age group, but since the GP surgery has got the doses, it would make no sense to not get it whilst they're offering it.
 
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