Will you have a 3rd ‘booster’ jab?

[chveik]

always best to follow what the crank says

[flotemysost]

Even in the real world, I know people that have had health problems they've not had before after getting the jabs (who knows if they are connected).

Well I'm not denying that - as I've said, I seem to be one of those people, and it hasn't been fun! I'm just a bit concerned by how many people seem to prefer taking their chances on a virus which basically only exists in order to find new hosts to live off and doesn't give a shit about how it affects you, vs. a vaccine which although relatively new, was at least designed with a specific purpose in mind (which isn't to kill or harm its host), and has been tested on humans. I dunno, maybe I'd feel differently if I knew for a fact I'd had covid recently but even then, do we know exactly how long immunity would last?

Also as mentioned plenty of people seem to have experienced that particular symptom after getting covid, too. The effects of mRNA vaccines on people with menstrual cycles do seem to be pretty woefully researched and communicated, unsurprisingly, but I'd say the same re: covid - I just worry that it's getting woven into an "evil vaccines" narrative when in fact it seems more likely that it's an immune response reaction and there should possibly be a bit more detailed reassurance offered around this.

I'm also wary of using phrases like "very low risk group" re: covid, as a lot of those calculations seem to be made by looking at the likelihood of dying - I know plenty of (young, healthy) people who would be classed as low-risk, who were still pretty unwell from getting covid last year (pre-vaccine), and although they didn't contribute to the stats of hospitalisations or deaths, are still dealing with long-term physical and mental effects months later. Admittedly the specific friend I was talking about in my previous post was completely asymptomatic AFAIK (she had to get a routine PCR for work travel and it came back positive), but what's to say there might not be a future variant that hits her harder if she's still unvaccinated further down the line?

Agree with Cloud re: shaming being unnecessary and counterproductive, and I'm certainly not trying to be unsympathetic to my friend's hesitancy given that it's not at all an unreasonable thing to be worried about. I suppose I just worry that the more (reasonable, non anti-vaxxer) people are hesitant for longer, alongside relaxed restrictions etc. this thing's gonna run rampant again.

[Ferris]

when they don't last forever, they don't completely stop you from getting covid or spreading it

Looking at simple data sets, unvaccinated people get cases at a rate of anywhere from 8x to 50x the rate of fully vaccinated people. Similarly, unvaccinated people end up in hospital at 25x to 100x the rate of fully vaccinated people. Taking the low bound of both figures then halving it for absolutely no reason just to prove a point, your chances could be 200x better of getting a case and having that case be serious by being vaccinated than not.

Simple datasets don't tell you everything though. These numbers are mitigated by the fact that most unvaccinated people are young (and are likely mixing with more people at work/public transit etc so their case rates would be higher and their outcomes better due to age vs the vaccinated), so I'd argue the data skews in favour of the unvaccinated and probably undervalues the efficacy of the vaccines.

It's not as simple as saying "oh well you can still get it!"

Yeah, you can but from the numbers it looks like your healthcare outcomes are improved by several orders of magnitude as a result of getting a vaccine. Personally I'm getting every jab someone recommends - why would I not?

[Ferris]

To add - people are just inherently bad at calculating probability for all sorts of reasons. It isn't something that inherently makes sense and anyway oh it'll never happen to me.

I found this a bit of an eye-opener, scraping data from a study done back in Q2 2020 (so back when the higher-viral load delta variant was only a twinkle in some malicious RNA's eye). I have about a 1/40 chance of going to hospital if I get this based on age and BMI etc. Not bad really, considering, but why would I want to take those odds when I can significantly stack the deck in my favour?

https://riskcalc.org/COVID19Hospitalization/

And for anyone who thinks a ~2% mortality rate is nothing, what else do you regularly expose yourself to that comes close? "Fancy going to watch the Villa? 840 people at the match will die in the stands but I like our chances".

Long story short - it is entirely reasonable for people to have health concerns and I'd never be rude to someone who was hesitant for whatever reason as long as it was in good faith, but from a strictly covid point of view you should absolutely take the vaccine if it is an option for you (as it is for the vast majority of people).

[mothman]

Even in the real world, I know people that have had health problems they've not had before after getting the jabs

We don't know them though, they go to a different school.

[Drygate]

To add - people are just inherently bad at calculating probability for all sorts of reasons. It isn't something that inherently makes sense and anyway oh it'll never happen to me.

I found this a bit of an eye-opener, scraping data from a study done back in Q2 2020 (so back when the higher-viral load delta variant was only a twinkle in some malicious RNA's eye). I have about a 1/40 chance of going to hospital if I get this based on age and BMI etc. Not bad really, considering, but why would I want to take those odds when I can significantly stack the deck in my favour?

https://riskcalc.org/COVID19Hospitalization/

And for anyone who thinks a ~2% mortality rate is nothing, what else do you regularly expose yourself to that comes close? "Fancy going to watch the Villa? 840 people at the match will die in the stands but I like our chances".

Long story short - it is entirely reasonable for people to have health concerns and I'd never be rude to someone who was hesitant for whatever reason as long as it was in good faith, but from a strictly covid point of view you should absolutely take the vaccine if it is an option for you (as it is for the vast majority of people).

Yeah, that is true. I do agree. Shame that calculator doesn't do prediction of death.

[Mister Six]

Not sure I will. I'm double AZ but had some nasty side effects that I'm still struggling with, it's put me right off having anymore of it injected into me.
I may change my mind but right now I'm in the no more camp.
I'm aged 52 and three quarters.

Don't really understand this. Surely the side-effects of Covid are going to be substantially worse? And the point of the third jab is that it's actually necessary to avoid getting full Covid, otherwise governments would save a load of money by just not bothering?

[vanilla.coffee]

Don't really understand this. Surely the side-effects of Covid are going to be substantially worse? And the point of the third jab is that it's actually necessary to avoid getting full Covid, otherwise governments would save a load of money by just not bothering?

Did you read my post on page 2 explaining why I'm a little reticent?

[Drygate]

Don't really understand this. Surely the side-effects of Covid are going to be substantially worse? And the point of the third jab is that it's actually necessary to avoid getting full Covid, otherwise governments would save a load of money by just not bothering?

Why would the side-effects of covid be worse? Lots of people are asymptomatic with covid, and there's no connection between your reaction to the vaccine and what would happen if you had covid (or how well you're protected).  The "side-effects" are either your immune system reacting or an allergy to the vaccine.

The third jab is necessary in some people but not everyone. Not everyone has waning protection after the second jab. There are anti body tests that tell you if you still have vaccine-induced anti bodies (they also detect the anti bodies from a covid infection). I know there's more to protection than anti bodies.

[Mister Six]

Did you read my post on page 2 explaining why I'm a little reticent?

Sorry, I missed that, somehow.[nb]I'm an idiot.[/nb] I still think the risk of contracting a potentially fatal disease is worse, though.

Why would the side-effects of covid be worse? Lots of people are asymptomatic with covid, and there's no connection between your reaction to the vaccine and what would happen if you had covid (or how well you're protected).  The "side-effects" are either your immune system reacting or an allergy to the vaccine.

Okay, the potential side effects, then. Which include death.

[flotemysost]

https://riskcalc.org/COVID19Hospitalization/

Just had a look at this - 1% chance of hospitalisation for me apparently (though it jumps up to 2.8% if I change Race from "Other" to "Asian", which is still hilariously vague).

Not to say that these kind of tools don't have their value, but I'd be worried if individuals were basing significant decisions on these calculator thingies (I'm guessing some people must have done, or at least flaunted them as supposed proof that most people don't need to bother getting vaccinated, as a certain poster here did a few times).

[HamishMacbeth]

I'll be getting it here. Immune compromised partner, and both sides of the family absolutely saturated with anti-vaxxers, got to take as much immunity as we can get.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Vaccine side effects are rare (e.g. of about 2.5 million people vaccinated in Ireland, about 400 reported experiencing heart palpitations following the vaccine) but they are real and I don't think it's helpful to tell someone who experienced an alarming side effect after the vaccine that oh it's not necessarily connected, COVID would be worse etc. Anybody who does experience a side effect beyond localised pain and tiredness after the vaccine, read the information leaflet on the vaccine and if it says "do not get a second dose if you experienced such a side effect", don't get a second dose.

If you haven't been vaccinated at all yet and you're wary about the side effects, please remember that the chances of a serious side effect are vanishingly rare. However, do read the leaflet, it will advise you of what allergens are in the vaccine and any medical conditions/history which would put you at risk of serious side effects.

[QDRPHNC]

Yep, when he was very young, my kid was one of the unlucky few who had a massive allergic reaction to one of his vaccines. It was absolutely horrible, he was spontaneously bruising all over and he came this close to needing a full blood transfusion. Worst few days of my life.

[H-O-W-L]

fuck i had zero side effects (pfizer). might have been a placebo for all i know

They actually gave you an injection of Tizer. Experimental reintroduction to the UK market.

[jamiefairlie]

always best to follow what the crank says

Fandabby Dozy?

[Icehaven]

I'll definitely have it as only having one jab appeared to work for me. My partner had symptoms and tested positive a week before I was due to have my second one so I took a PCR test the same day, we isolated for 10 days and I had my second jab a week later than planned. My PCR was negative, I never had any symptoms and I tested negative again after the 10 days so either I just didn't catch it despite sharing a house with it or the first jab worked.

[canadagoose]

Just had a look at this - 1% chance of hospitalisation for me apparently (though it jumps up to 2.8% if I change Race from "Other" to "Asian", which is still hilariously vague).

Not to say that these kind of tools don't have their value, but I'd be worried if individuals were basing significant decisions on these calculator thingies (I'm guessing some people must have done, or at least flaunted them as supposed proof that most people don't need to bother getting vaccinated, as a certain poster here did a few times).

I'm on 4%. Dunno what that means in terms of a booster.

[madhair60]

had my 3rd dose today along with flu jab and feel like shit now tbh

[shiftwork2]

Pfizer 3 and the flu jab for me too today.  Uptake high around the hospital. This'll be the deal for the foreseeable I guess.

[Ferris]

Is the third jab just for these Pfizer cunts or will us Moderna lads get a go?

[shiftwork2]

* Retrieves jibber jabber from the bin *

People aged 50 or over, health and social care workers and younger people at risk.  The NHS will contact you when it is your turn.

You will be given a booster dose of either Pfizer or Moderna.  AZ may be an option if this is the vaccine you had for the first 2 doses.  You will be offered the right vaccine for you which may the same or different from the vaccines that you had before.

So looks like you can go again with any of them.

As I think I've already stated I was on the fence about doing this but the Trust is pushing it along with the flu jab, which i used to do out of duty more than fear of the flu's impact on my own health.

[olliebean]

You will be given a booster dose of either Pfizer or Moderna.  AZ may be an option if this is the vaccine you had for the first 2 doses.  You will be offered the right vaccine for you which may the same or different from the vaccines that you had before.

That doesn't sound particularly like "you will be offered the right vaccine for you." It sounds more like "you will be offered the right one if we happen to have it, otherwise you'll get whatever we've got."

[shiftwork2]

Agreed, it's an out.  Or a tacit admission that the m-rna vaccines are preferred.  But I'm not sure it really matters.  At some point there were studies looking at the not-unreasonable idea that there may be an advantage from mixing vaccines.

[Ferris]

The Canadian vaccine program was just 2 doses of vaccine regardless of what it was. The in laws had AZ + Pfizer, wife had Pfizer + Moderna, I got 2x Moderna because I just took whatever they were handing out fastest.

Probably will be a ball ache for international travel unless everyone else agrees to accept that "fuck it whatever we have will do" approach, so I'm assuming it'll be standard at some point.

[olliebean]

I'm assuming, as well, that they don't really know as yet which permutations give the best long-term protection, and probably won't until at least several months into the booster programme.

[shiftwork2]

The Canadian vaccine program was just 2 doses of vaccine regardless of what it was. The in laws had AZ + Pfizer, wife had Pfizer + Moderna, I got 2x Moderna because I just took whatever they were handing out fastest.

That's quite different to having an alternative booster freshening things up.  My gut instinct would certainly prefer having the validated two-of-the-same to do the heavy lifting, then whatever afterwards as a sort of wild card.

[Ferris]

That's quite different to having an alternative booster freshening things up.  My gut instinct would certainly prefer having the validated two-of-the-same to do the heavy lifting, then whatever afterwards as a sort of wild card.

You got to live a little, take some insane risks for no reason, give everyone whatever jab you have lying about.

He who dares mate, he who dares.

[jamiefairlie]

The Canadian vaccine program was just 2 doses of vaccine regardless of what it was. The in laws had AZ + Pfizer, wife had Pfizer + Moderna, I got 2x Moderna because I just took whatever they were handing out fastest.

Probably will be a ball ache for international travel unless everyone else agrees to accept that "fuck it whatever we have will do" approach, so I'm assuming it'll be standard at some point.

They got rid of AZ pretty early though.

[Ferris]

They got rid of AZ pretty early though.

That's why only the oldies had it. They pushed to the front of the queue and got a crappy vaccine which should teach them a lesson lmao