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Quote:

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave (Post 34730236)

... the bivalent jabs from Moderna and Pfizer should - on paper at least - do the trick with them.

I have lost track a bit where we are with jabs.

I'm 42, with no special conditions. Had 3 jabs with the last in Dec 2021.

My understanding is the the current/bivalent rollout is for over 50's. Are there plans to extend this out?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akoz (Post 34731710)

I have lost track a bit where we are with jabs...

I lost track quite some time ago, and just went along to every appointment I was sent. That's how I ended up getting six and subsequently becoming a subject of great interest to all the research staff at the Royal Free and getting enrolled in various antibody studies. :D

Strangely, I haven't yet been invited to have a booster this autumn. But that's because my new local health board is so useless that we effectively have no health service in the Vale: I might have to go to Scotland to get one, as I did the last time I needed to see a GP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akoz (Post 34731710)

I have lost track a bit where we are with jabs.
...
My understanding is the the current/bivalent rollout is for over 50's. Are there plans to extend this out?

I think vaccine news has been somewhat drowned out in the last couple of months by the new PM, the death of the sovereign, the 'fiscal event', and the even newer PM. It would certainly be interesting to know what the thinking is behind the vaccine strategy is for the future - the 'Green Book' from September 2022 contains the following information about the autumn booster campaign on page 32-33:

Quote:

The autumn booster campaign 2022
Following on from the spring campaign, the JCVI has recommended a move to regular, planned and targeted boosting as the most important strategy to control COVID-19. For the 2022 autumn booster programme, the primary objective is to augment immunity in those at higher risk from COVID-19 and thereby optimise protection against severe COVID- 19, specifically hospitalisation and death, over winter 2022/23.
The following groups should be offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine in the autumn of 2022:

residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults
frontline health and social care workers
all adults aged 50 years and over
persons aged 5 to 49 years in a clinical risk group, as set out in Tables 3 and 4
persons aged 5 to 49 years who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression (as defined in Tables 3 and 4)
persons aged 16 to 49 years who are carers (as defined in Table 3).

The booster should ideally be offered from September, allowing a minimum of three months from the previous dose. The programme should prioritise delivery to those aged over 75 years and in care homes for older adults but recognising the need for operational flexibility based on the likely delivery models. The aim should be to complete the campaign before December to provide additional protection in time for the expected winter peak of other seasonal vviruses. Mop-up opportunities should then be offered up to the end of January.

Someone in the eligible groups above who has received a full course of primary vaccination (two or three doses) but has not received a booster before September 2022, may be given the autumn booster in the campaign provided there is at least three months from the previous dose. Additional doses are not then required. Children in high risk groups who turn five years of age after August 2022 will become eligible for primary vaccination and can also receive a booster during the autumn programme, provided there is at least three months since their second (or third) primary dose.

JCVI considered evidence around the differences in neutralising antibody after the bivalent vaccines compared to the original boosters. The committee considered that the improvement in neutralising antibody levels were modest and likely to translate to only small improvements in protection against the BA.1 strain, with no clear advantage against other variants. This marginally improved protection against one variant was considered insufficient to justify any substantial delay in offering boosters to those at highest risk. On this basis the committee concluded that Moderna or Pfizer BioNTech bivalent vaccine should be offered in the autumn booster programme, but only if the supply was sufficient to avoid delays in the planned implementation timetable. Individuals should be clearly advised that boosting is required to ensure timely protection over the winter, and therefore to accept whichever booster vaccine they were offered. Otherwise, the vaccines offered should follow the age-appropriate advice for reinforcing doses as outlined below.

I don't know whether [MENTION=262802]corporate-wage-slave[/MENTION] is able to offer any insights into longer term thinking.

Here in Germany - STIKO, the German standing committee on vaccination, has similar recommendations for who should be prioritised, but there seems to be plenty of capacity in the system and nothing preventing people in younger age groups from registering via their Hausarzt or a vaccination centre.

In my case, although I don't qualify by age, I was recently able to get a fourth dose (second booster). I am glad about this, as over winter I hope to visit close family members who have neurological and immune conditions that put them in the higher risk groups.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Misco60 (Post 34732103)

Maybe they think you've had enough to be getting on with and don't need a booster Misco60 ;) Due to my day job I needed to get some extra vaccinations in late 2020 and through 2021. Add that to the flu jab and 4 covid jabs, and I've been feeling a bit like a pin-cushion lately... but I'm glad to be alive in an age where science is able to offer significant protection against a range of diseases that not so long ago killed millions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akoz (Post 34731710)

You appear to be up to date with your jabs, as things stand. The description of categories under the current campaign has been helpfully listed by squawk and it seems you're not on the list. The back story here is that the current variants and the first set of jabs and boosters have now dissolved the problem side of COVID for most people under 50 so the benefit of the bivalent isn't clear cut at this point. You may go down with something for a few days but it won't be anything like as bad as the first surges when there was no vaccine protection. It may change in a few weeks if more positive data on the bivalents comes in, if there is unused stock, if there is another surge of cases. But there is now a bit of a pattern on the surges emerging and if that pattern continues we will be in a good place for at least the next few months. Under the NHS we tend not to do the "well you can have it if you want it", that's not the way we operate (and in a personal capacity I disagree with that approach) since the jab is essentially a prescription and either it's prescribed or it is not.

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. In the week ending 24 October 2022:

One in 35 people in England had Covid (last week one in 30)
One in 40 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 35)
One in 30 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 35)
One in 35 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 35)

Covid is back in the house. My other half woke up this morning with a hoarse voice. A few more sneezes than usual throughout the day.

I didn’t think of Covid until later today. LTF shows a faint line. I wonder if it’s a sign of a very early stage or of the tail end. My test was negative and I’m asymptomatic. First and last time we had Covid was in the first half of April.

We have a trip to Italy planned in 10 days time, so let’s see how this whole thing evolves.

My guess is the start. It's rare for people to have those symptoms but then be at the end. I would expect it not to last 10 days, if you have one of the current list of common variants.

Quote:

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave (Post 34737968)

My guess is the start. It's rare for people to have those symptoms but then be at the end. I would expect it not to last 10 days, if you have one of the current list of common variants.

If I don’t catch it or if I catch it very soon, then our chances of being able to go to BLQ are quite high!

Here is the delayed data from yesterday. The situation continues to look good, which should put us in a good position through winter. This time last year we were seeing ten times the number of cases.

England cases 3,564 (4,615 last Monday) - down 26.1% week on week
England deaths down 30.2% week on week
Patients admitted in England 598 (630 on the 31st)
Patients in hospital in England 5,647 (7,296 on the 3rd)
Patients in ventilation beds 150 (175 on the 26th)
Vaccinated up to and including 30th October 2022:
First dose: 45,335,692
Second dose: 42,814,637
Booster: 33,761,279
The autumn boosters are running at over 160,000 per day now and have reached 55.1% of the over 50s. 75% of over 70's are now boosted.

BA.5 accounts for 60.6% of cases, BA.4 0.6% and others 38.2%.

Today's weekly data from the ONS survey. In the week ending 1 November 2022:

One in 40 people in England had Covid (last week one in 35)
One in 40 in Wales had Covid (last week one in 40)
One in 45 in Northern Ireland had Covid (last week one in 30)
One in 50 in Scotland had Covid (last week one in 35)

According to the ONS data infections are dropping in the the nations and all age ranges, especially school age children.

I finally received my appointment for the autumn booster... 7 pm on a Saturday evening, at a vaccination centre two miles from the nearest public transport. :rolleyes:

The health board helpline told me that it was a take-it-or-leave-it invitation, and that I was not permitted to choose my own slot, but I discovered that I was able to change both the appointment time and location using the main NHS website. It's a complete shambles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Misco60 (Post 34750538)

two miles from the nearest public transport

Your location on FT says Vale of Glamorgan, I think it's a fair description :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveS (Post 34750154)

I do hope this means it’s peaked before winter proper.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Internaut (Post 34750618)

I do hope this means it’s peaked before winter proper.

Yes it does look like the peak was a month ago. Back then I think we all would have known someone that had it or had caught it ourselves as I did. Right now I don't know of anyone in my circle that has it. There were some reports a few weeks back that modelling (not from Imperial) predicted a peak in January. If it does come, hopefully it will be a bump rather than a peak!