AstraZeneca vaccine

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UK-with-kids
Posts: 228
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:55 am
Location: Oxbridge, UK

AstraZeneca vaccine

Post by UK-with-kids »

With this topic I am trying to open a discussion on a very specific topic. I hope I am not falling foul of any forum rules, and I politely request that nobody makes any political comments, as tempting as that may be :?

There was another thread on this subject which has now been locked. I think it was only locked because it was in the now closed down Politics section instead of the Health section, I assume not because it was too controversial. Here it is: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=11949

As I said in that thread, I have been nervous about getting the AstraZeneca vaccine. It's the only one available to somebody in their 40s in the UK, despite being banned for this age group in many countries. In fact, since that other discussion, the UK Government decided that under 40s should only be given the Moderna vaccine. I think this is because the risk/benefit cut-over point is perceived to be at around age 40 - i.e. the risk of side effects like blood clotting are higher than the risks from catching the diseases in those under 40. For a fit and healthy 40-something like me, the break-even risk point is probably closer to my age. Added to which, catching the virus is much more within my control than the risks from getting the vaccine.

A further development is that I have a close friend who is the same age as me and who has just become seriously ill 10 days after receiving the vaccine. Like me, her kids are still young and the whole situation is terrifying. Yes, this is an anecdote, and there are millions of anecdotes of others who have safely received the vaccine. As well as this, there is the convincing data that shows that complications are very rare, although in this case the doctors refuse to consider any link, so I guess that wouldn't find its way into the data?

In that other thread Henrik said:
All this is full of anecdotes and emotions. I've seen a close family member go through weeks of induced coma and machine breathing because of COVID and a year later a close co-worker die from (most probably) complications from AZ. So it's emotionally complicated.
I just wonder if anybody else knows of similar incidents happening from their personal experience. I already knew one lady who went into a coma and never woke up again after having one of the vaccines (not 100% sure if it was AstraZeneca) but as she was quite old and had other conditions, I put it down to coincidence. The current illness of my friend has happened to a much younger and previously healthy person. I really don't have a massive social circle, so to know of these two cases, I'm starting to get really fearful about being vaccinated at all. It would be nice to get a sense of real world data points rather than relying on official statistics. For example, if nobody on this forum has heard of any similar incidents then it would suggest that it's unlikely there is anything to worry about.

chenda
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Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:17 pm
Location: Nether Wallop

Re: AstraZeneca vaccine

Post by chenda »

The risk, if it even exists, is so small that it's just not worth worrying about. You're far more likely to die from covid (or be hit by a car) even as a healthy 40 year old.

If it reassures you, I'm under 40 and had the astra-zeneca as did many of my colleagues who were younger. Aside from a day or two of feeling rubbish none of us had any problems, fwiw. It also feels great knowing I'm protected and can travel abroad and no longer have to sanitise door handles 😁

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