I've Been Vaccinated (No Politics Please)

[hdrolfe]

More areas in Ontario are moving to 70+ so my parents are finally eligible!! I've sent them messages already telling them to get their appointments. I'm sure they are annoyed by me but if they are vaccinated, they are "safe".

And I am on the Claritin train with all the other allergy sufferers. Ah spring... love the warming temperatures, hate the extra sneezing. And the "do I have covid or is it just allergies?" worries that pop up.

 

[pigletto]

My son has pretty severe seasonal allergies and has been fine so far but his bad season is late summer into autumn . However my dog was itching like crazy and back on his allergy meds . He also takes reactine . Poor guy is as allergic to pollen as my child is to ragweed !

 

[ottawamom]

Ah the good old days when we knew that our symptoms at this time of the year were just allergies and not a cold or flu or Covid. Vaccines can't come fast enough.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Ah the good old days when we knew that our symptoms at this time of the year were just allergies and not a cold or flu or Covid. Vaccines can't come fast enough.

Yep. Little man had stuffy nose offf and on and then woke with a sore throat but in order for older sister to go to school he needed to be tested . He seems a little better at the moment

 

[pigletto]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/astrazeneca-under-55-1.5968128
Canadian immunization committee will be recommending Astra Zeneca be paused again for more research. It would appear that all reported incidents of blood clotting were in women under 50 so for now it will only be given to Canadians older than 55. Details are in linked article.
( I felt this was relevant in this thread as it relates directly to people getting their vaccines ).

 

[bababear_50]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/astrazeneca-under-55-1.5968128
Canadian immunization committee will be recommending Astra Zeneca be paused again for more research. It would appear that all reported incidents of blood clotting were in women under 50 so for now it will only be given to Canadians older than 55. Details are in linked article.
( I felt this was relevant in this thread as it relates directly to people getting their vaccines ).

Thanks for posting
The information regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine is constantly evolving.
Hugs
Mel

 

[pigletto]

I just posted this in another thread but for anyone who needs some rational , positive , measurable Covid news , this family doc in the Guelph area has a blog and she’s great and this made me feel so much better . Onward we go friends .. we ARE getting there .
http://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/2021/03/hope-is-on-horizon.html?m=1

 

[von Monster]

Here's the most current Lay Brief from the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table (take a look at the members page if you have any doubt as to the qualification of the people writing this).

https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/sci...astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccination-lay-summary/
A Couple of points of interest of I'm pulling directly unedited from the brief; VIPIT stands for Vaccine-Induced Prothrombotic Immune Thrombocytopenia which is the working name for the clots:

• VIPIT is very rare
• most of the cases from Europe have occurred in women under age 55 – but many of these countries used more of their initial AstraZeneca vaccine supply in women under age 55
• You should speak to a health care professional if you have unusual or severe symptoms after any COVID-19 vaccine
• VIPIT seems to be rare, occurring in anywhere from 1 in every 125,000 to 1 in 1 million people
• Keep in mind that COVID-19 has killed over 15,000 Canadians
• about 1 in 100 Canadians who get COVID-19 end up needing intensive care
• 1 in 5 Canadians who are hospitalized with COVID-19 develop blood clots

A quick google shows roughly a 1:50 or 2% chance of dying from COVID-19 in Canada (not that high at this point as the majority of the fatalities happened early on in LTC and the elderly/infirm but that's the overall). Compare that along with the non-lay article showing treatment options (the doctors reference) for anyone eligible for AZ and on the fence.

 

[damo]

Interesting that the Pfizer vaccine has also been flagged for the same blood clot issue, but there has been no publicity over it.

The publicly available information on the AstraZeneca vaccine lists a total of 35 cases of thrombocytopenia reported on “Yellow Cards” in the UK up to 8th March 2021. This is a very small proportion of the yellow card reports which total over 54,000 in the context of nearly 10 million vaccinations delivered. For the Pfizer vaccine there are a total of 22 reports of thrombocytopenia out of 33,000 reports and well over 10 million vaccination doses. It is clear that the proportion of reports for this bleeding disorder is not different in the two vaccines.

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/...ed-the-use-of-the-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine/

 

[wdwmom3]

Another thing to put this whole blood clot thing in perspective. Blood clots are a known risk of birth control pills. And millions of women still decide to take birth control pills every day. Many medications we don’t even give a second thought to carry various remote risks. It’s about weighing the pros and cons.

 

[von Monster]

Interesting that the Pfizer vaccine has also been flagged for the same blood clot issue, but there has been no publicity over it.

The publicly available information on the AstraZeneca vaccine lists a total of 35 cases of thrombocytopenia reported on “Yellow Cards” in the UK up to 8th March 2021. This is a very small proportion of the yellow card reports which total over 54,000 in the context of nearly 10 million vaccinations delivered. For the Pfizer vaccine there are a total of 22 reports of thrombocytopenia out of 33,000 reports and well over 10 million vaccination doses. It is clear that the proportion of reports for this bleeding disorder is not different in the two vaccines.

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/...ed-the-use-of-the-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine/

Somehow the media has decided that the AZ/Oxford vaccine isn't as good as the others and has decided to magnify every issue it has. It doesn't help that AZ has done itself no favors with its issues in the EU and mishandling of the trials, leading to member states deciding to both attack the company and then the vaccine (An example of Macron calling it 'useless' to start) when shortages were realised.

Another interesting datapoint is that AZ/O is reportedly $4USD/shot vs. Pfizer/BioNTech at $20USD/shot and Moderna at $37USD/shot.

https://www.statista.com/chart/23658/reported-cost-per-dose-of-covid-19-vaccines/

Another thing to put this whole blood clot thing in perspective. Blood clots are a known risk of birth control pills. And millions of women still decide to take birth control pills every day. Many medications we don’t even give a second thought to carry various remote risks. It’s about weighing the pros and cons.

Agreed. We're making a mountain out of a molehill so to speak. It essentially comes down to 1:125,000-1,000,000 chance of a blood clot, or 1:100 serious complications requiring hospitalization or worse.

 

[pangyal]

Another thing to put this whole blood clot thing in perspective. Blood clots are a known risk of birth control pills. And millions of women still decide to take birth control pills every day. Many medications we don’t even give a second thought to carry various remote risks. It’s about weighing the pros and cons.

I was thinking about that earlier today, and was also musing about the possibility that the (very few) women who got the blood clots were also taking BC. Just a thought.

 

[wdwmom3]

I was thinking about that earlier today, and was also musing about the possibility that the (very few) women who got the blood clots were also taking BC. Just a thought.

That is actually very interesting. While the blood clot thing made me think of birth control I had not thought about what if it’s the 2 things together.

 

[ottawamom]

Or from a slightly older perspective, what if you're on hormone replacement therapy. Is it the estrogen connection?

 

[Disneylover99]

I was thinking about that earlier today, and was also musing about the possibility that the (very few) women who got the blood clots were also taking BC. Just a thought.

And maybe they’re not seeing the blood clots as much in older people, because many are on blood thinners, which reduce the risk of blood clots.

 

[damo]

This article gives a pretty good explanation of possible reasons for the clotting ... https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14496...astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-causes-blood-clots/

 

[ottawamom]

And maybe they’re not seeing the blood clots as much in older people, because many are on blood thinners, which reduce the risk of blood clots.

The trials done by Astrazenica were not done with many people over the age of 55. They have data on people under 55 but very little data on those in the 55-64 range.

Reference see top of page 4 in linked document.

 

[bankr63]

So in a selfish way, I'm please for my cohort at the AZ news. So not good for under 50, not good for over 65. Yay for the 51-64 (my) cohort. Pull out the AZ vial, I've got my sleeve rolled up and ready to go. With a one in a million chance of developing blood clots, and a one in 4 million chance of dying (actually IRL a lot lower odds for both as I am male and outside the group of concern), I'm liking those odds over my COVID odds.

Compared to the odds for COVID vaccination, I'm less likely to die. if vaccine is 80% effective, then out of 100 vaccinated and exposed only 20 people will get sick, if that same vaccine is 95% effective at preventing serious illness/hospitalization then only 2 will be seriously ill. If the vaccine is 100% positive at preventing death, then none will die. I like zeroing in on that none will die number. I will take the AZ odds for clot to get the 'will not die from COVID' odds.

 

[quandrea]

So in a selfish way, I'm please for my cohort at the AZ news. So not good for under 50, not good for over 65. Yay for the 51-64 (my) cohort. Pull out the AZ vial, I've got my sleeve rolled up and ready to go. With a one in a million chance of developing blood clots, and a one in 4 million chance of dying (actually IRL a lot lower odds for both as I am male and outside the group of concern), I'm liking those odds over my COVID odds.

Compared to the odds for COVID vaccination, I'm less likely to die. if vaccine is 80% effective, then out of 100 vaccinated and exposed only 20 people will get sick, if that same vaccine is 95% effective at preventing serious illness/hospitalization then only 2 will be seriously ill. If the vaccine is 100% positive at preventing death, then none will die. I like zeroing in on that none will die number. I will take the AZ odds for clot to get the 'will not die from COVID' odds.

I’m in the “at risk” cohort and I’d take the AZ shot today. I like those odds.

 

[hdrolfe]

I’m in the “at risk” cohort and I’d take the AZ shot today. I like those odds.

Me too...