Vaccine reluctance & General COVID Discussion

I agree with you. The title is vaccine reluctance. I was being the devil’s advocate for sake of the argument.

@debb922, your comments are legit. My brother is saying much of that. I don’t want to pressure him-imagine if he had a vaccine injury, yikes. I can see his perspective, too. I just hope he changes his mind. He is already a pretty big hermit.

But if they don’t know how long it lasts, then how do they know it lasts 3 months? Love to see definitive info on any aspect with tested unbiased results. That’s not likely.

Honestly, I hope it lasts more than a year at least since it seems like it’s going to take a year before everyone who wants to be vaccinated is vaccinated.

What is even more confusing is that they also say that, even if you’re vaccinated, if you’ve been exposed you can be a virus carrier and still infect others, even if you yourself won’t get sick.

Moderna followed the trial recipients for 9 weeks post vaccine #2 and reported on those results, so the feds have at least ~63 days of hard data. Of course, they are continuing to follow those in the initial trial. Another report is dated November 25, which was 28 days, so adding two more months of data…moderna/feds have at least 3 months of data from trial participants as of Jan 25, and we’ll have 4 months as of Feb 25.

(Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of health care workers who were jabbed in December, so their experience is being followed as well; more data points, but lagging time frame…)

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It means that the trials have been following the people for 3 months or so, so that they know that it lasts 3 months, but not how long after that.

It is unknown whether the vaccine affects asymptomatic transmission, because that was not checked in the trials. While some experts believe it is likely that the vaccine substantially reduces asymptomatic transmission, that is unproven, so these recommendations are based on the worst case caution, even though the worst case is thought to be unlikely.

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Good to know. I find the mismatch in stories from official sources offputting. But I’m willing to read anything that’s new.
Glad they are following recipients with data.

Wouldn’t the “worst case” caution be a recommendation TO quarantine of exposed (even if vaccinated)?

Yes.

Presumably, you are referring to the CDC’s recent change in recommendation that those who have received full vaccination or recovered from COVID-19 within the last three months should not feel that they have to quarantine:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/quarantine.html

That looks like a mix of “worst case caution” with respect to the length of immunity (the three months since vaccination or recovery from COVID-19), and a “probable case” recommendation based on the probable case that vaccine or recovery from COVID-19 substantially reduces asymptomatic transmission (at least within the three month time frame).

AstraZeneca claims that its vaccine reduces asymptomatic transmission by two thirds in its trials, but that vaccine has not been approved or made available yet. Moderna and Pfizer are studying the matter for their vaccines.

Would you rather Medical/science experts have taken a year - nearly to 2022 - before releasing any vaccines to the public to have a better idea how long they last? That would of course mean months to a year more of being totally locked down ?

We asked for an effective vaccine and got one in less than one year from development to being injected into arms. For this we earn the privilege of beginning vaccinations and relieving lock down with the caveat that we don’t know how long it is effective for - because we can jump time.

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Well I cancelled my second Pfizer shot. Pfizer says one shot is effective and I have already had COVID plus a Pfizer shot. Someone else can get their first shot now.

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My sister won’t get it and I assume her husband won’t either and probably her one daughter who is about 25. Her son has to since he’s in med school and will be working in hospitals this year. To be honest, we don’t talk a lot about much related to Covid. She thinks it’s not a big deal. Ironically she panicked for a while this winter when her daughter was exposed. She has a daughter on the spectrum and lived through all the Jenny McCarthy rants about vaccines and I think she’s vaccine hesitate overall. She doesn’t get the flu shot. We also had a brother who died of ALS. He was ex-military and the military says one explanation for the higher than normal incidence of ALS in Gulf War vets is vaccines some were given.

I spoke with her this week and asked if her son was vaccinated and she just said, “Probably”. When I told her my daughter got hers this week she was basically just silent.

I will say that after I got my first shot and went down for 24 hours, my spouse was like…yea, no …I’m good, no need to revisit COVID (we both had and recovered from COVID).

If the latest studies are true, immunity from natural infection of COVID-19 is variable, with some getting very little immunity and being vulnerable to reinfection, particularly with new variants.

However, one vaccine dose after recovery from natural infection was found to result in very strong immune response, although it tended to come with greater annoying effects.

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well, baby steps here. 79 yr old mom relented and got it this week. 80 yr dad took her and looked around. he’s had it, and thinks he’s immune. But i’m glad he went with her. He really liked seeing the national guard members helping. (he’s ex-national guard). . . . so here’s hoping he’ll reconsider down the line.

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I got appointments for my first and second shots, Didn’t expect to get one for two months but hit the lottery. I am a little nervous, especially since I have lupus and various allergies. But overall happy. I do understand "reluctance: but hope we get the majority of the population to have some level of immunity one way or the other.

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Which hospital system is requiring it? It’s still optional in all I know about (but I don’t know about all of them). My med school lad and his peers have already had it or are scheduled for it, but it was voluntary. Those still scheduled for it were away when slots opened and were frustrated to have been left behind - far behind since my guy already has had both. We dropped everything and took time off to drive him there and back for his first one as soon as he found out he could sign up.

I guess I’m not sure it was mandatory. It might just be that HE saw it as mandatory if he’s going to be in hospitals. I get most of my news about this stuff from my mother since my sister and I have avoid most conversations about covid because we see things very differently and we aren’t changing each other’s mind.

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Maybe the medical school student wanted it and told his anti-vaxxer mother that it was mandatory for him to shut down any arguments from her?

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Very likely. I thought it was interesting when I asked if he’d gotten it she said, “probably”. In other words, he’s not really sharing that with her. He wouldn’t deny it, but it’s likely not something he’d call home to share either (vs. my daughter who was texting us the whole time she was in line to get her shot).