The COVID Vaccination Thread (2 Viewers)

[Mysto]

I had Covid-19 in November, so I don't know that a vaccine will benefit me all that much right now. I'm willing to wait a few months.

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Sorry to hear that, hopefully you're OK now. What I've heard it that getting Covid only protects for 3-6 months generally and that the vaccine will last longer and is recommended even for those that had Covid.

 

[Malcolm R]

Even with the vaccine, people still need to follow guidelines about masks and social distancing until the virus is mostly gone from the population.

It's not currently known for sure if the vaccine prevents you from contracting the virus. It may just reduce its ability to be damaging to your body. You may still be able to become infected with the virus and still spread it around even after you've been vaccinated.

[SELF EDIT: Above is edited to make it less definitive. As Leo noted below, it's not really known for sure yet how well the vaccines affect transmission vs. infection. Until it is studied more, however, following the usual precautions seems to be recommended by health experts even for those who have been vaccinated.]

 

[DaveF]

Sorry to hear that, hopefully you're OK now. What I've heard it that getting Covid only protects for 3-6 months generally and that the vaccine will last longer and is recommended even for those that had Covid.

Latest study is 8+ months. 3-6 months is looking outdated, very conservative from this Summer.

Reportedly, vaccination is more consistent than outcome from getting sick. I think the recommendation will be everyone get vaccinated, even if you were confirmed sick with COVID-19. But in this present time of very limited distribution of vaccines, I don't know what experts are recommending or requesting.

 

[LeoA]

The vaccine does not prevent you from contracting the virus, it just reduces its ability to be damaging to your body. You can still become infected with the virus and still spread it around even after you've been vaccinated.

It was my understanding that they don't yet know one way or another at this time, which is one reason why they're encouraging individuals to continue to take precautions for now after completing the vaccination process until it's better understood.

Moderna's preliminary data for instance that they submitted to the FDA for emergency approval last month, showed that its vaccine prevented 2/3's of all infections (And something like 94% of severe cases with symptoms).

 

[Malcolm R]

It was my understanding that they don't yet know one way or another at this time, which is one reason why they're encouraging individuals to continue to take precautions for now after completing the vaccination process until it's better understood.

Moderna's preliminary data for instance that they submitted to the FDA for emergency approval last month, showed that its vaccine prevented 2/3's of all infections (And something like 94% of severe cases with symptoms).

You're probably right. Below is from a FAQ on vaccines at CNN. I'll modify my post a bit.

Question: If vaccines prevent people from getting *sick* with coronavirus, can they also prevent people from *carrying* the virus and infecting others?

Answer: “So far, we can’t say for sure,” CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said.

But Moderna says its vaccine may be able to prevent infection and transmission.

“Both the vaccines – both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines – have been shown to be efficacious and very safe in the clinical trials that have been conducted to date,” said Dr. Rick Bright, a member of president-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus advisory board.

“What Moderna did … is they took some extra samples, or test swabs, from the subject in the clinical trial between the first and second dose of vaccine. Remember, they give you two doses, and after four weeks they get that second dose of vaccine,” Bright said.

“They looked at these samples, and they found out that more people who received the placebo dose got infected from the coronavirus than the people who get the vaccine dose. That means the first dose of vaccine actually could be offering some level of protection against infection – not just protection from severe illness,” he said.

“So if this plays out in a larger study, in a larger analysis, it could be very compelling to show that these vaccines could have impact over this protection of infection.”

Both Bright and the FDA said it’s not yet clear whether the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine prevents people from infecting others.

“Most vaccines that protect from viral illnesses also reduce transmission of the virus that causes the disease by those who are vaccinated,” the FDA said. “While it is hoped this will be the case, the scientific community does not yet know if the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine will reduce such transmission.”

 

[Mysto]

Even with the vaccine, people still need to follow guidelines about masks and social distancing until the virus is mostly gone from the population.

It's not currently known for sure if the vaccine prevents you from contracting the virus. It may just reduce its ability to be damaging to your body. You may still be able to become infected with the virus and still spread it around even after you've been vaccinated.

[SELF EDIT: Above is edited to make it less definitive. As Leo noted below, it's not really known for sure yet how well the vaccines affect transmission vs. infection. Until it is studied more, however, following the usual precautions seems to be recommended by health experts even for those who have been vaccinated.]

We have the second shot in 3 weeks and then 2 weeks waiting period. After that we will be wearing masks and keeping distance but at least will start to go out a bit. Up until now we have been staying in place and we have been pretty strict. We even have our groceries delivered.
Any freedom at all will be a blessing.

 

[John Dirk]

and then a two week more waiting period.

We have the second shot in 3 weeks and then 2 weeks waiting period.

What is the 2nd waiting period for? Is this just a Pfizer thing?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The effects of the vaccine aren’t instant; it takes the body a while to learn to fight off the virus after receiving the vaccine and that’s believed to be the time it takes.

 

[jayembee]

From what I can gather on the local news, I should be up for a vaccination sometime in March. I was thinking earlier, but it doesn't help that each group is divided into sub-groups. But I'm not all that concerned. I've managed to get this far without catching Covid (I'm neither reckless nor overly cautious when running around on errands).

I seem to be an outlier: I'm 67, overweight (I don't like to think of myself as obese, but I'm sure I am), tend to the sedentary. And my immune system isn't what it should be: I've had breast cancer (yes, I'm male) -- once 12 years ago, a second (non-metastisized) time 3 years ago. Was on chemo the first time; still taking an oral drug. But all that said, I'm in surprisingly good health. I've very rarely gotten sick my whole life long. I've even recently had an echocardiogram (I've recently gotten swelling in my legs -- most likely lymphedema -- and my doctor needed to rule out congestive heart failure) and my heart looks fine.

I have an appointment with my oncologist next month, and I'll be asking her whether I'm good for a faster track for vaccination. My wife is 55, so she probably won't be up for one until May at the earliest.

I've been getting the flu vaccine every year since I turned 60 (I get the "senior dose" now), and in the last couple of years I'd also had the pneumonia shots (2), Hep A (2 doses), ShingVax (2 doses). My reactions to all of them have (with one exception) been a sore arm around the injection site for a couple of days. The one exception was to the flu shot a couple of years ago (and only this one time) where I felt like I had the actual flu for 2-3 days. I expect the Covid vaccine won't be any worse than these others.

 

[John Dirk]

The effects of the vaccine aren’t instant; it takes the body a while to learn to fight off the virus after receiving the vaccine and that’s believed to be the time it takes.

Interesting. I hadn't heard this until now. Maybe they will mention it after I receive my 2nd shot. I do hope the information is carefully disseminated as it might otherwise lead folks to believe they no longer need to practice social distancing and wear masks.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Interesting. I hadn't heard this until now. Maybe they will mention it after I receive my 2nd shot. I do hope the information is carefully disseminated as it might otherwise lead folks to believe they no longer need to practice social distancing and wear masks.

That’s true of all vaccines. If you get a flu shot or a measles shot, it doesn’t begin protecting you the second you get it; it takes a little while for your body to use that vaccine to learn how to defend against a potential invader. It’s why, for instance, the State Department recommends advance vaccination if you plan to visit an area that still has a disease that’s been eradicated in the U.S.

This is by no means a perfect analogy, but think of it like taking a pill for a headache or allergies; they work relative quickly but your body still needs to absorb the medicine before it can begin to work it’s magic.

My mom (a hospital nurse) showed me the paperwork from her hospital when she got the vaccine, a handout from Pfizer, and it’s stated pretty clearly that the vaccine takes a couple weeks to offer maximum protection, that it’s unknown at this point if vaccinated people can still carry and spread the disease, and that masks and social distancing should still be practiced. Hopefully everyone getting it is getting a similar bit of guidance.

 

[TonyD]

My wife gets her second shot next week.
Works pediatric intensive care.
It’s a huge relief for us that at least she can get the vaccine.

up until the last two years I never had a flu shot but now I’m 56 and have got one the last 2 years including this year.

Frankly I can’t believe anyone could be so selfish as to refuse to get this vaccine unless it’s due to a medical reason that you can’t get it.

Anyway I wish I could get this vaccine now.
My job is GrubHub and Uber Eats, DoorDash to help get some extra money into the house and what I see and what I’m exposed to sometimes is mind boggling.

Restaurant and food delivery people should be right near the top of the list.

 

[LeoA]

Hopefully this isn't treading too far away from the purpose of this thread (feel free to delete it if it goes a bit too far), but a lot of it is confusion and fear rather than selfishness. The extent of my COVID vaccination experience so far for instance has been explaining to my mother a few days ago after she had read claims about it online, that you can't catch COVID-19 from any of the currently approved vaccines.

I don't know if she saw misinformation claiming otherwise or had read about some instances where the vaccine simply wasn't effective for the individual or they had caught it before the vaccine was able to do its job. But at least she now understands that she doesn't have to fear catching COVID-19 from the shot meant to protect her.

Hopefully accurate public service announcements will be popping up everywhere as the vaccination process gets into gear to help explain this stuff. As it stands, people have to seek this information out themselves and that isn't going to help the many people that have fears about the rapid speed of these vaccines.

They already have doubts and many like my mother have mistaken ideas on the facts that have them fearing these vaccines, so they may not seriously invest some effort and time into learning about it on their own.

 

[Mysto]

I ran across a health professional last week that told me she wasn't going to get the vaccine. She said she wanted to wait to make sure it was safe. My question was "how long is that?" Shall we all hunker in place for the next year, or two years, or 5 years? We have pretty good data on the short term safety. Of course we don't know if there are any effects in the long term (no data) but there is nothing to suggest this will be any different than any other vaccine.
My second day - a little soreness but that's all in less you count the fact that Bill Gates now talks to me in my sleep
It's time to kill these myths and move along - when we all get the shots we can go back to living.

 

[Martin Dew]

Too late for me. I got Covid before Christmas.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Too late for me. I got Covid before Christmas.

I'm so sorry, Martin!

 

[Robert Harris]

John,

Appreciate you creating this thread - an unusual topic for HTF.

Not certain when I'll get one, and do need to, but am needle averse...

Unless someone offers me stickers or balloons.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

We used to get cookies when we donated blood at Lockheed. Vaccination needles are much smaller.

Wait until you need a coronary angiogram with catheters run up into your heart. I thought mine was somewhat annoying.

 

[John Dirk]

Frankly I can’t believe anyone could be so selfish as to refuse to get this vaccine unless it’s due to a medical reason that you can’t get it.

Hopefully this isn't treading too far away from the purpose of this thread (feel free to delete it if it goes a bit too far), but a lot of it is confusion and fear rather than selfishness.

That's what I've heard as well discussing with family and friends. People are simply afraid and uneducated regarding the vaccine. I would have passed on it myself had I not understood the potential risk I could pose to others, even while remaining asymptomatic.

Too late for me. I got Covid before Christmas.

Sorry to hear that, Martin but I know you'll be fine. The Universe simply cannot do without your insightful reviews.

Unless someone offers me stickers or balloons.

I got a sticker [included in post #1] but I did suggest these be upgraded to lollypops.

 

[John Dirk]

My mom (a hospital nurse) showed me the paperwork from her hospital when she got the vaccine, a handout from Pfizer, and it’s stated pretty clearly that the vaccine takes a couple weeks to offer maximum protection, that it’s unknown at this point if vaccinated people can still carry and spread the disease, and that masks and social distancing should still be practiced.

I reviewed my paperwork and there is no mention of these items other than a statement saying the vaccine "may not protect everyone." Again, this makes sense to me as no actual protection has been administered until after the 2nd shot. I would expect the summary of that visit to be accordingly different.