Everything that I have read says something like “it is not known whether the vaccines reduce transmission of the virus (because that was not checked in the trials)”. Note that this is different from saying that “the vaccines do not reduce transmission of the virus” that it may be misinterpreted as.
Regarding getting COVID-19 twice, it appears that immunity from natural infection is rather variable, and that while most recovered patients have some immunity, some do not have enough to avoid a second infection. Different strains, particularly B.1.351 “South Africa”, may also be different enough to more easily evade immunity from either natural infection or vaccine.
Regarding vaccines for those with autoimmune disorders (@Bromfield2: like Graves), one of my kids has type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disorder, and her doc is a researcher. He has expressed concerns about vaccines and she is talking with him next week to see what she should do. He told her it was just as well that she is not first in line.
Any vaccine works by stimulating the immune system. If you have an autoimmune disorder, stoking the immune system may increase autoimmune activity as well. (When I had cancer, my autoimmune disease flared because my immune system was fighting the tumor: it was a tip off that something was wrong.)
Not in Colorado. Governor signed a bill disallowing the admin fee. I don’t know if they are even asking for insurance info. They cannot ask for ID or proof of citizenship, but I think they can ask for proof of age or proof you are a medical worker.
My nephew signed up my mother at a hospital system that she doesn’t use, and I know he didn’t have her medicare info. She’s going tomorrow, in a car drive thru, and they sent a bar code to use to check in. I don’t think they’ll ask for insurance info to bill because the instructions didn’t say to bring it.
If you mean under 18, your child isn’t a candidate for the vaccine yet anyway but there haven’t been any problems yet with almost 100 millions vaccine doses worldwide (including 100s of thousands and probably millions in that group who had autoimmune diseases given how common they are). There are certainly concerns about the effectiveness in immunosuppressed patients and there will be rare reactions to the vaccine. We’re exposed to innumerable antigens every day, even if we have autoimmune disorders, and covid still represents a real threat to most of us so vaccination is still important for patients with autoimmune diseases.
My kid is in her 30’s and I was repeating what her researcher MD told her. I have read of one serious autoimmune episode (no platelets) that resulted in a death shortly after the vaccine but causation has not been established, and that is one in millions. Still, one month ago, my kid’s MD was advising to wait. Advice will most likely be different this month now that more vaccines have been given.
At 30, she is likely pretty low risk but is tough to call covid safe for anyone. Yes, the physician who died of ITP was a pretty scary story but ITP isn’t all that rare and there’s no certainty that it was related to his vaccind. Of course there may be small risks when 100 million doses are given but things are still being tracked pretty closely (the CDC texts me daily and I’m a week past my 2nd Pfizer dose). The vaccines look like the greatest breakthrough since the moon landing so far.
My kid has multiple risks with COVID but her state has now prioritized by age. I don’t understand the reason for the debate here but am not continuing it beyond to say there were some legitimate reasons for some people’s MD’s to advise waiting, at least at first.
Also note that in the recent Novavax study results from South Africa, they said this: “Novavax also noted that they were seeing people infected with B.1.351 who had already been infected with the earlier strains.”
Obviously that is concerning, and as I said on the inside medicine thread, the longer we can’t control this virus the more likely it is that additional strains will develop, including some that people can get again and/or new strains that the vaccines don’t cover at all. (Novavax and JNJ seem to be about 50% effective against the South African variant right now which is good, but not great)
Pfizer’s vaccine is approved for ages 16+, and they will be submitting data for 12-15 year olds to FDA soon, as their ongoing trial has fully recruited that age group as of last week.
From my understanding, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were not tested with either the U.K. or South African variants so the lower efficacy of J&J or Novavax could be explained since they were.
But even with lower efficacy, the vaccines showed that with a vaccine, you should have a less lethal version of the virus if contracted.
I think we should continue to try and explain that also. As many others have. Definitely agreeing with you @Mwfan1921, so you know
They both have had patients with the SA variant in their trials, but we don’t have all the data yet. Here is a good summary, and where the quote from previous post comes from:
I will get the vaccine. Not only to protect myself, but to protect the people who CANNOT get the vaccine.
To people who say it is no big deal for a 25 year old to get COVID or people who say they will risk getting COVID - do you not care if you transmit it to someone who cannot get the vaccine? Someone who would likely get very ill or die if they contracted COVID?
Please think beyond yourselves.
At this point, I think I will take the (rare) risk of a long term issue with the vaccine over the risk of short or long term issues with contracting COVID.
The cause of many/most autoimmune diseases esp the rare ones are often not fully known. There can be unknown triggers. So when combined with vaccines you can get unexpected results. It’s not possible to have a large subset of folks in placebo blind studies with rare or even more common auto immune diseases. So no one knows how moderna/pfizer or any other vaccine will work on an auto immune patient.
People who have auto immune diseases recognize that reactions and “flares” are unique to them. Hence, the reluctance for auto immune folks to dive into taking anything unnecessary ( vaccine, new meds etc) for the most part.
I think most will wait and take it much later.
Do you think that might be due to those folks already having had Covid? In some areas in our state, there are towns which were hit hard from the beginning and got it in strong waves. These happen to be a demographic where most don’t work from home and a higher % of minorities. I could see many thinking they have immunity.
Groups high in vaccine hesitancy (“wait and see”) include age 18-29, Black adults, Hispanic adults, and urban residents. Groups high in vaccine reluctance (will not get it, or get it only if required) include Republicans, rural residents, and essential non-health workers.
Groups most enthusiastic about getting the vaccine include age 65+, Democrats, and health care workers.
This survey did not mention Asian adults, but other surveys indicate that Asian adults are more enthusiastic about getting the vaccine than those of other racial or ethnic groups.
My local govt seems to be much worse. We got an email stating we should begin giving 200 shots/week for the next several weeks. I signed up immediately expecting to be bumped to the back of the list behind police, fire, etc. My co-worker (similar job description) signed up several days later and was told she was #276 on the list. We have 1200 employees. I called and was told I am in the first 200 and should get an email last Friday or Monday to schedule mine this week. No email Friday so I am hoping it will actually happen.
But still - that’s <25% that have signed up. I am not surprised that it would be low, but I didn’t expect it to be THAT low. A survey last month showed 1/3 would get it, 1/3 would not and 1/3 was unsure. Of course, nobody (except police) wears masks in my building and inside dining restaurants have been packed for months. And our daily case rate per capita is 2-3x the state average. So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
