Who's had the Covid vaccine? Anyone going to refuse it?

[ManyMinors]

In today's Mail : Lady Victoria Hervy is adamant that having a vaccine is a plot by Bill Gates to depopulate the world.

OHHHH KAAAAAAAH

Haha. She is exactly the sort of person whose opinion I would value when making important decisions

[irmscher]

Too many idiots on social media saying don't have the vaccine

[Admin]

Too many idiots on social media saying don't have the vaccine

You could have ended that sentence after the first six words...

[Owlsman]

You could have ended that sentence after the first six words...

....or even after the first 3 words

[Mick Lynch]

Too many idiots on social media saying don't have the vaccine

Without a shadow of a doubt and especially dangerous when it’s the cult of ‘celebrity’ with the wrong headed opinions. Im always amazed how many people take them seriously, and their opinions are always health, beauty and diet... never anything practical like bricklaying or how to hang a door. That says it all for me!

Me and the missus have been told to expect a call into the docs anytime from the 15th March as that’s when they will start our age group.

[jagnut66]

Glad you mentioned that.
Out of curiosity I looked up when I should expect a call; I fall into Group 8: 55 to 60 year olds, so can expect to hear something from the end of March into early April, if the existing schedule is maintained......
Apparently there could be some regional variations.
Best wishes,
Mike.

[pgp001]

56 to 59's are now being called in West Yorkshire and maybe the whole of the UK.

Go on the NHS website and put you details in, we did last week and myself 64 and my wife 58 both got the appointments on the same date and time.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavir ... ccination/

Phil P

[jagnut66]

Got my dates now: Sat 20th March for the first jab and then (all being well) Sat 5th June for the second one.
No letter (though the guy I spoke to asked if I'd received one...), they texted me and asked me to log on or call.
I rang them, simple process, no issues.
Best wishes,
Mike.

[geoberni]

Mrs and I are both in the 60-65 group, I had mine just over 2 weeks ago, she'd 16 months younger than me and hers was this afternoon. So that's the pace they're working at in my area.
Wasn't busy though, a constant stream of people, but still a quick turnaround. She had the Pfizer, same as me, so that includes a mandatory 15 minutes wait before you can leave the centre.
She said there was some guy behind her in the post-jab waiting area moaning he hadn't had time to read the leaflet before they jabbed him.
Well if he was that ruddy bothered. seeing as he clearly had a tongue in his head, why didn't he ask them to wait while he read it.
Idiot!

[Owlsman]

This 15 minute post-jab wait seems to be very much based on which vaccination centre or Health Authority you have, My wife had hers and was discharged immediately - she didn't even know which one she'd had 'till she rang her GP a few days later. I had mine a few days after my wife at a different centre and was advised to wait in my car for 15 minutes before setting off home. When I asked if that advice was because of vaccine manufacturer, the the nurse said it was given to everyone irrespective of Pfizer or OAZ jabs. We both had OAZ.

My older sister who lives 6 miles away but under a different HA had the Pfizer jab but was allowed to leave straight away. Other anecdotal 'evidence' from friends and family suggests similar random inconsistencies as far as any waiting time is concerned, also in the issue of cards confirming the date and type of vaccination. Some have had them, others not.

What's the general view on 'Vaccination passports'? Personally, I'm all for them but there again, I don't have a problem with ID cards. I might be a bit naïve but I suspect that the government, MI5, FBI, Google, Amazon, Nectar, Polit Bureau et al already have all the info they could possibly want on me, so let's have an ID card.......so I can check that it's correct.

[Nickol]

We both had our first jab last Saturday. TIP: if one of you gets an invitation, then ask if your other half can be done at the same time. Quite correctly, the doses are allocated to those most in need, but there are usually one or two "no shows", and if your other half is on a reserve list then he/she might get a short notice telephone call to attend for one of the unclaimed doses - much better than it going to waste! However, do not pester your local surgery, wait until you are invited, and note that this approach probably won't work if you use a web booking system for one of the major vaccination centres.

Vaccination is the way ahead, and the way out of lockdown. Get yours as soon as its offered to you.

I read the TIP with interest and an ironic smile. I cannot imagine this happening here in Germany with our burocracy. Even with no-shows, no-one would take such a decision locally without referring the matter to his/her boss who, more than likely would also refer ti to his boss.......nah, too risky for them to make such a decision, much easier to refuse and far less hassle to put the jar back in the fridge ........
I am also interested to read that most who have posted here in the Forum appear to have got Biontech version. At the moment here, pretty well only AstraZenica is being offered but even so the supply ( albeit much much cheaper than that supplied to UK apparantly) falls far short of demand.

[geoberni]

Nickol
We are being so efficient here that many places have a 'reserve list' they can call on if there is any vaccine left at the end of the day, such as their local Police or Fire Station, somewhere locally that has people working in the early evening.
Apparently, we are also getting 11 injections from a bottle marked as '10', because there is always a little extra and the actual amount used is so small each time.

The AstraZeneca is far cheaper to produce and is sold at 'cost', plus it has far easier transportation/storage requirements.
About 22.5 million people in the UK so far have had a first vaccine dose and more than one million have had a second.
The UK decision to increase the period between injections from 3 weeks to 12 weeks has really been borne out by the statistics, although many countries have stayed with the 3 week interval. I've read that Germany has now adopted the extended period as a good idea.

From the News here, it seems that both German and French Governments started the year trying to bad press the AstraZeneca vaccine, claiming lack of trial data for over 65s etc, to what reason who knows, it is politics after-all, but then did a U-Turn.
Unfortunately that delay has cost them dearly.

There's a good explanation of the 3 main vaccines, how they work, possible costs etc on this BBC news video:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av-embeds/56 ... d/p093wm4k

I don't know it it's accessible globally, I think it is.

[Nickol]

Thanks for theupdate and info.

Just a minor correction, it was not the Government itself that gave AstraZenica bad reviews but the interpretation of our media. I get some inside info from my step-son who is an Allgemeiner Mediziner ( GP I think with you) . Apparantly the Euro as well as the national Authorities were critical of AZ because insufficient studies had been done on over 65 aged groups and that is why it only had approval for those under the age barrier. Not surprising really given the record time that the vaccines have been developed. This has only in the last few days changed.
Some of the Media interpreted this as " reduced effectivness" even though leading Virenologists went out of their way to say that this was blatently untrue and even it were true, a reduction of effectivness is better than none at all. Unfortunately once people get an idea in their heads, it does not easily go away.
I do not know but I assume that in UK you have just as many , groups of people who exaggerate and emphasise the risks of Covid or any othe vaccine for that matter. They call themselves in German " Querdenker", lateral thinkers says my dictionary. Some weird types , right wing sympathisers etc attach themselves to this group.
What my doctor step son also says ( his wife is also a doctor at a Uni Klink and supports the concept) is that the long term effects of the AZ vaccine are totally unresearched, for obvious reasons. For people of my age ( over 65) it does not matter too much but for the young generation??
However, being the penny pinching society we are here, AZ is preferred! My step-son and wife by the way got both BionTech jabs. Both suffered a bit after the second and had a couple of days off work as a result.

[geoberni]

Thanks for that info Nickol
My wife and I have both had the Pfizer/Biontech, the next day I had the slightest of aches in the arm muscle, my wife has nothing after hers 2 days ago.

Google translate says " Querdenker" is 'lateral thinkers' but I found another translation site that gives the translation as 'Contrarian' which seems far more appropriate:

A contrarian is defined as a person who opposes or rejects popular opinion. ... Contrarians tend to have an unusually strong sense of self that allows them to be more vocal about their differing opinions.

Vaccine take up in the UK is very good so far, but we do have some problem areas.
We have a diverse range of reasons why people are not wanting to have the vaccine, they range from the 'Tinfoil hat wearers' who say the vaccine contains tracking devices designed by Bill Gates , to various ethnic/religious reasons in different ethnic communities.
This is because of targeted misinformation circulating among those communities, saying things like the vaccine contains beef, pork, non halal or non-kosher products or even that it's a targeted sterility drug designed to wipe out their particular community.
So all a load of Querdenkers !

Your Correction is interesting.

As reported over here on 28 Feb:

A senior German immunologist has urged his country to change its mind and start allowing over-65s to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
In a BBC interview, Carsten Watzl, head of the German Society for Immunology, predicted regulators would have to reverse their decision to not recommend the jab for older people.
He urged Angela Merkel to have the vaccine live on TV to prove it is safe.

Germany's vaccine commission is currently reviewing its recommendation.

Germany is one of several EU states that have expressed doubts over the efficacy of the vaccine in older people.
The EU's medical regulator approved the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for all age groups in January.
But the rollout was met by some public scepticism after regulators in countries including France, Germany and Italy recommended that it should not be used for people over 65. They citied insufficient data on its efficacy for older people.

German health authorities have so far used fewer than 300,000 of the 1.17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine the country has received.

[Nickol]

I doubt that Frau Merkel would do a live TV vaccination - she is not into US american style sensationalism, it is just not her style. Also she would be open to accusations of queue jumping as she is not yet 80.

It must be old news about the over 65s and AZ vaccine, it has already been given the go ahead - the question is whether over 65s will want it given all the negative press reports.

I am not sure if the figures of 300.000 to 1,7 mio doses is currect but it would surprise noone here if it is, given the very unwiedly burocracy that acconmpanies innoculations. Data Protection is a key word being used and authorities are petrified of a claim. So when in doubt do nothing and if you do nothing you do not make a mistake and if you do not make a mistake....you get promoted!

Edit - I read just now that Denmark and Norway, due to the death of a person after the AZ vaccine was given, have stopped further use of AZ pending furhter tests for the next 14 Days

[geoberni]

I read somewhere that the French bureaucracy requires a person to be seen by a Doctor to have it all explained and then they have a 4-5 day delay before they can get an appointment, and that's in a care home. Here a team arrives and does everyone in one visit.


This video shows how one of our main vaccination Hubs is set up, everyone pulling together with many volunteers doing the non medical work, such as welcoming people and guiding them through the centre.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQPuh3MxqHs

There are also hundreds of smaller ones in Sports Centres, Supermarkets etc
My wife and I went to out local Sports Centre.
There are a few different systems for contacting people, but where we are, it was simple as 1,2,3,4.
1 - get a text message to say you are now in the age range they are calling forward and you will soon get an appointment message.
2 - a day or so later you get a message giving you a personal link to a online book website.
3 - You use that link to a unique webpage for you, you confirm your details, and select an appointment which could be anything from 1-5 days away.
4 - Go for your appointment. From 'in' to 'out' taking about 20 minutes.

[Owlsman]

Hi Nickol - I follow events in Germany quite closely as I have a few connections in Sindelfingen via a 'Partnerstadt' arrangement but I also have a young(ish) German friend who was brought up in Dortmund (he was my university 'Gesprächspartner' about 5 years ago) and he asked me for advice as to whether I thought it was safe for his parents to have the OA-Z vaccine
He seemed to think that in the UK, we could choose which one we wanted when we arrived at the vaccination centre! I told him that, as far as I know, we just get what we're given. (See my earlier post about mine and my wife's jab experience). He was also very envious of our roll-out programme. After I told him that we had both had the OA-Z vaccine, he seemed to happy to allow his mum and dad to have it, if they were offered it.
Is there a general acceptance of the efficacy and safety of any of the available vaccines, by most Germans and is it the same for the communities of Turkish heritage?

[Nickol]

Hallo Owlsmann,

the short answer to your question is that I do not know. Our "problem" if that it can be called is that Germany is comprised of Federal States and they have responsibility for organising the impfzentrum etc within their areas. The central government ( the Bund) powers are largely limited to advising. You can imagine that to get consensus nationwide is difficult. At the moment About 6 mio people have the first jab and about 4 mio the second.
There are some hate mails / info going around which probably have their source in Russia that 75% of patients in intensive care are Moslem immigrants. Total blödsinn - poppycock.
But seeing as I and my Lady do not go anywhere, do not see anyone and only talk on the phone, my source of info is as good as yours. Also we have no idea when it will be our turn for the vaccines - for me it is not a problem but she is high risk.

You have to bear in mind that most German people are total hypocondriacs . Thus a lot of people I know only want BionTech Vaccine, partly becuse it is local and partly because it has no bad press. The British style of not worrying about it and being generally relaxed about the whole thing would make a lot of people here gasp in horror. But at the same time , that is perhaps why the death toll from covid in UK is so high.

There is a TV show called "Pleite, Pech und Panne" which shows humerous home made videos of things going wrong and accidents - this is the general impression we have of our organisation of the vaccine distribution plus the fact that some Government Abgeordnete ( MPS) have admitted getting a rake off for the import of the FFP Masks and have had to resign. There are two state elections this weekend - they are going to get a hammering.

[irmscher]

Covid will never go away but the vaccines will help to lessen the the effect it has on you .People who don't have the vaccine should be stopped from flying and leaving the country till vaccinated .

[geoberni]

Edit - I read just now that Denmark and Norway, due to the death of a person after the AZ vaccine was given, have stopped further use of AZ pending furhter tests for the next 14 Days

Those 2 countries seem to be ruled by a particular breed of weak leadership. From all reports I've seen, the occurrences of Blood Clots in vaccinated people is no different to the normal occurrence rate for the population.

The EU seems to be going from one vaccine crisis to another.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted, "More safe and effective vaccines are coming to the market"... based on what evidence?
The UK has administered more than 11 million doses of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccine, without recording any significant changes to any other instances, such as blood clots.

European vaccination rates: https://www.statista.com/statistics/119 ... y-country/