Several European nations suspend use of Astra-Zeneca vaccine

[OftenWrong]

1 hour ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

I would take AZ today if I could. The benefits far outweigh the risks for me. I do understand why governments are concerned by VIPIT, a potentially fatal condition that seems to be caused by the vaccine, and would want to protect healthy young people from it. Any time I get in a car I’m taking on risk. Life is full of such decisions but we don’t consider most of them. 

Yep, life is full of risks. You have to weigh these factors carefully, since the cure can also harm.

That is why I never get excited for example, when I hear about a disease that has 99.8% chance of survival.

[SpankyMcFarland]

1 hour ago, OftenWrong said:

Yep, life is full of risks. You have to weigh these factors carefully, since the cure can also harm.

That is why I never get excited for example, when I hear about a disease that has 99.8% chance of survival.

That’s not Covid’s risk for me. Don’t forget morbidity either. 

[OftenWrong]

17 hours ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

That’s not Covid’s risk for me. Don’t forget morbidity either. 

The lowest survival statistic I have seen by age is 95%. That is right on par with many other infectuous diseases, IE the flu.

As I have mentioned here before, the death rate among elderly for all causes combined, is 100%. Finally everyone must die. It's a tragedy.

[OftenWrong]

Canadians are being given Astrazenica against their will.

The Regina resident is waiting for surgery and required a vaccine for the procedure — one she's been waiting for since last October. She made an appointment online for vaccinations for her and her husband at the Evraz Place immunization site in Regina, which, based on previous Saskatchewan Health Authority information, she believed was offering the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. But just before she was set to receive the shot, the nurse informed Koskie she and her husband would be getting the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine instead.

Koskie says she ended up receiving the shot out of necessity, but the experience left her feeling let down by the government. "My concern is that it's been very underhanded," she said, adding the experience left her feeling appalled. "I was so upset with the disrespect."

Link

 

From the Canadian government website:

"The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine showed an effectiveness of about 62% in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease beginning 2 weeks after the second dose."
Astrazenica Covid Vaccine: What you should know

 

Good enough for the Candians?

[myata]

This brings out an important imv question, one of those that we may notice or just walk by. Where and to whom the responsibility of the public experts and officials is, and should be and should it be made clear without any possibility of confusion and misunderstanding?

Let's take the above example. It is not confirmed (big font) at this time but still a possibility that a certain combination of individual factors could increase the risk of adverse effects of the vaccine. Routinely we hear that "benefits outweigh risk" however we don't hear that that statement applies to the society as a whole and not on the individual level, for each and every individual.

So whose responsibility would it be to explain to the hypothetical individual above, otherwise healthy and with low risk of severe outcome that there could be a non-trivial risk of a serious adverse effect? Of course, this isn't really specific to Covid and everyone should do their homework but not everybody can do that well and given the time and pressure the issue can be real.

[SpankyMcFarland]

4 hours ago, OftenWrong said:

The lowest survival statistic I have seen by age is 95%. That is right on par with many other infectuous diseases, IE the flu.

As I have mentioned here before, the death rate among elderly for all causes combined, is 100%. Finally everyone must die. It's a tragedy.

You still think Covid is the same as the flu? 

Edited April 11, 2021 by SpankyMcFarland

[Aristides]

5 hours ago, OftenWrong said:

Canadians are being given Astrazenica against their will.

The Regina resident is waiting for surgery and required a vaccine for the procedure — one she's been waiting for since last October. She made an appointment online for vaccinations for her and her husband at the Evraz Place immunization site in Regina, which, based on previous Saskatchewan Health Authority information, she believed was offering the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. But just before she was set to receive the shot, the nurse informed Koskie she and her husband would be getting the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine instead.

Koskie says she ended up receiving the shot out of necessity, but the experience left her feeling let down by the government. "My concern is that it's been very underhanded," she said, adding the experience left her feeling appalled. "I was so upset with the disrespect."

Link

 

From the Canadian government website:

"The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine showed an effectiveness of about 62% in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease beginning 2 weeks after the second dose."
Astrazenica Covid Vaccine: What you should know

 

Good enough for the Candians?

Rising to 90% if doses given 2.5 to 3 months apart.

[OftenWrong]

7 hours ago, Aristides said:

Rising to 90% if doses given 2.5 to 3 months apart.

That is not what is says. This information is from the government of Canada. Stop lying.

 

[OftenWrong]

9 hours ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

You still think Covid is the same as the flu? 

Statistical survival rates are right on par with influenza, yes.

[Aristides]

9 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

That is not what is says. This information is from the government of Canada. Stop lying.

 

The recommended time between doses for AstraZeneca is now 12 weeks in the UK.

[Aristides]

16 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

Statistical survival rates are right on par with influenza, yes.

The flu kills between 2000 and 8000 a year in Canada with no precautions. In spite of all the precautions and restrictions, Covid has killed 23,000. If nothing else that should tell you Covid is one hell of a lot more infectious than the flu.

[OftenWrong]

6 minutes ago, Aristides said:

The flu kills between 2000 and 8000 a year in Canada with no precautions. In spite of all the precautions and restrictions, Covid has killed 23,000. If nothing else that should tell you Covid is one hell of a lot more infectious than the flu.

I don't accept the data at face value because:

- We have never counted and tested people for the flu as we've done now. It's extremely likely we were always under-counting.

- We hear that at least 50% of people who test positive have no symptoms. They represent a whole new paradigm for counting people with infections. They never would have been counted before covid.
"It's extremely likely we were always under-counting."

- Many eldery who died in nursing homes before were never given autopsies to see if they died from a virus.
"It's extremely likely we were always under-counting."

[OftenWrong]

22 minutes ago, Aristides said:

The recommended time between doses for AstraZeneca is now 12 weeks in the UK.

Canada is at 16 weeks, and we know why that is. In Germany it is 3-4 weeks. What matters is science, not political gambling because we screwed up and don't have enough sauce.

[Aristides]

13 hours ago, OftenWrong said:

Canada is at 16 weeks, and we know why that is. In Germany it is 3-4 weeks. What matters is science, not political gambling because we screwed up and don't have enough sauce.

It is science.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2021-03-11/covid-19-vaccines-astrazeneca-doses-efficacy-rate/13202050

 

it also gives some credence to Canada's decision to go 16 weeks between shots but that could change as new data arrives.

Edited April 12, 2021 by Aristides

[OftenWrong]

1 hour ago, Aristides said:

It is science.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2021-03-11/covid-19-vaccines-astrazeneca-doses-efficacy-rate/13202050

 

it also gives some credence to Canada's decision to go 16 weeks between shots but that could change as new data arrives.

Youll have to take that up with the government of Canada if you have issues about their guidelines. Send them a note complaining that the efficacy rate on their web site is too low.

Let me know when they get back on that. I will go and edit my post.

[Aristides]

3 hours ago, OftenWrong said:

Youll have to take that up with the government of Canada if you have issues about their guidelines. Send them a note complaining that the efficacy rate on their web site is too low.

Let me know when they get back on that. I will go and edit my post.

Did the government of Canada do studies? Have they done any clinical studies of these vaccines on their own? I don't know of any.

[SpankyMcFarland]

I’m getting my AZ vaccine on Monday. 

[SpankyMcFarland]

And Angela is getting it on Friday.

[myata]

The deficit of openness and honesty is not conductive to genuine and reasonable efforts. If one wouldn't want to think that it was intended for some weird and obscure reason, by the method of exclusion there remains only one conclusion: that bureaucracy simply forgot, have neither skills nor intent to speak to the society in a clear; open; and honest manner. And it's not a good start for neither: achieving the stated goals of the bureaucracy (though it can still reward itself with $20K monthly salaries); for the interests and well-being of the society.

[OftenWrong]

There have been 222 cases of atypical thrombosis in the EU so far. The number keeps going up. And that's just in the EU. We need to monitor this with a bar graph, or something.

[Aristides]

Active cases in the UK are 7% of what they were on Feb 1. Mostly because of AZ.

[myata]

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine showed an effectiveness of about 62% in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease beginning 2 weeks after the second dose. Health Canada

UK just completed vaccination of priority groups (50+ and vulnerable) with the first dose. Minus two weeks it was less. Could it have had such a dramatic effect? In summer 2020 cases went down to single digits in a matter of a month. Good if you know. But it'll need more to prove than a single coincidence.

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by myata

[Aristides]

1 hour ago, myata said:

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine showed an effectiveness of about 62% in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease beginning 2 weeks after the second dose. Health Canada

UK just completed vaccination of priority groups (50+ and vulnerable) with the first dose. Minus two weeks it was less. Could it have had such a dramatic effect? In summer 2020 cases went down to single digits in a matter of a month. Good if you know. But it'll need more to prove than a single coincidence.

 

32 million Brits have had at least one dose. Why are our numbers going up and theirs going down at the same time?

[myata]

19 minutes ago, Aristides said:

32 million Brits have had at least one dose. Why are our numbers going up and theirs going down at the same time?

As of today, and vaccine comes into full effect two weeks after the second dose. There may not be a simple and obvious explanation to a complex phenomenon; a cycle can move up and down according to its internal, possibly complex, dynamics; the cycle there may have started at different moment and have different parameters; there isn't enough data for a confident conclusion; a coincidence does not mean cause. It is possible that it could be an early result of vaccination. Or it could be a coincidence, like last summer's sharp drop in cases clearly having nothing to do with the bumbled policy response.

[Aristides]

All the vaccines have shown they have at least 80% of their effectiveness two weeks after the first dose. What is in question is how long it lasts without a second dose.

when you vaccinate over 50% of your population and get a dramatic drop in infections, hospitalizations and deaths, that is not a coincidence.

Last spring our cases didn’t peak until May, the UK’s started a steep decline in February while ours are still going up. The UK decline had nothing to do with summer coming.

Edited April 16, 2021 by Aristides