Are vaccines the light at the end of the tunnel?

[LGW59]

5 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

 

OK by me

[wrk2cruise]

There was a bit on the news today about Ticketmaster considering requiring proof of vaccination or a neg covid test to attend concerts in the future.

[driftychick]

I for one will have the vaccine when it is available.  As I understand it it is 2 shots about 28 days apart.  I am fine if the vaccine needs to be administered yearly like the current flu vaccines.   I just want to be able to get back to some sort of normal where we can travel again.  I don't even mind if I have to wear a mask when in large crowds,  I also do realize that this will be ongoing until we reach the so called "herd immunity" stage.  

[terrydtx]

5 hours ago, driftychick said:

I for one will have the vaccine when it is available.  As I understand it it is 2 shots about 28 days apart.  I am fine if the vaccine needs to be administered yearly like the current flu vaccines.   I just want to be able to get back to some sort of normal where we can travel again.  I don't even mind if I have to wear a mask when in large crowds,  I also do realize that this will be ongoing until we reach the so called "herd immunity" stage.  

I will be doing the same. I am 70 years old and the care giver for my 93 year old father in Assisted living. In order to visit my dad currently, I have to have a weekly Covid rapid test and stay negative. I retired this year ang my wife and I have plans to travel extensively the nest 10 or so years. This year we canceled one cruise and two land trips, which I do not want to repeat next year.

[TeeRick]

More great News!!!  Moderna mRNA vaccine reported to have 95% efficacy in Phase 3.  Now we have two vaccines with 90+ % effectiveness.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54902908

[terrydtx]

56 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

More great News!!!  Moderna mRNA vaccine reported to have 95% efficacy in Phase 3.  Now we have two vaccines with 90+ % effectiveness.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54902908

The 94.5% efficacy was achieved with only one injection not 2 like some others, this is even better news as more may now get the vaccine.

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The 94.5% efficacy was achieved with only one injection not 2 like some others, this is even better news as more may now get the vaccine.

Uh, that's not what I read in the article or what been previously reported:

 

"The trial involved 30,000 people in the US with half being given two doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart. The rest had dummy injections."

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Uh, that's not what I read in the article or what been previously reported:

 

"The trial involved 30,000 people in the US with half being given two doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart. The rest had dummy injections."

It is indeed 2 doses apparently 28 days apart.  US government purchased 100 million doses as part of Warp Speed program.

 

[VitaminSea53]

But the advantage of the Moderna vaccine is that it doesn’t need to be held at the Super Cold temps in transit. That’s a plus!

[TeeRick]

I am just glad the world now has at least two efficacious vaccines.  One shot, two shots, transit, storage not sure I really care at this point.   This is a huge advance for mankind.

[K.T.B.]

On 11/13/2020 at 9:42 AM, K.T.B. said:

This Sunday night on MSNBC, there's a show that might interest people.  It's called On Assignment with Richard Engel.  It's titled "The Race for the Vaccine".  It starts at 10:00 PM EST/9:00 PM CST.

 

I'm watching this right now.  Amazing how quickly this has moved.  If you can find it replaying, I recommend watching this.

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Uh, that's not what I read in the article or what been previously reported:

 

"The trial involved 30,000 people in the US with half being given two doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart. The rest had dummy injections."

I apologize for the miss information, but one of the major news channels was reporting this morning that only one injection was used. After reading what is in the article I see you are right, 2 injections were needed. That is what I get for believing what is on the news.

[TeeRick]

5 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I apologize for the miss information, but one of the major news channels was reporting this morning that only one injection was used. After reading what is in the article I see you are right, 2 injections were needed. That is what I get for believing what is on the news.

HaHaHa.  Just come to Cruise Critic to get the truth!

[norn iron]

59 minutes ago, VitaminSea53 said:

But the advantage of the Moderna vaccine is that it doesn’t need to be held at the Super Cold temps in transit. That’s a plus!

It's good for four weeks in a fridge. 👍

[TeeRick]

Here is a good general article explaining the need for the ultralow storage temperatures.  Kind of simplistic with the M&M candy analogy but interesting.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/17/935563377/why-does-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-need-to-be-kept-colder-than-antarctica

 

Also the latest update and timelines for introducing COVID vaccines in the population from Moncef Slaoui.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/16/935554943/we-can-get-back-to-normal-chief-science-adviser-responds-to-vaccine-news

[mimbecky]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Also the latest update and timelines for introducing COVID vaccines in the population from Moncef Slaoui.

 

Being at the bottom of the list (aka June ish) I am hoping for more good news soon from AstraZeneca and Johnson/Johnson so maybe this can get bumped up.  I am canceling our May cruise today....but holding out hope for out August one.

 

M 

[TeeRick]

Yes we have one in August too (Norway).  I am really hoping that one is a go !

[TeeRick]

The Pfizer BioNTech COVID vaccine has finalized their data.  It jumped from 90% efficacy to now 95% efficacy.  No safety issues of concern.  Biggest adverse event was some fatigue.  They will apply to the FDA for Emergency Use Authorization reportedly on Friday of this week.  Over 40,000 subjects have received their second dose and have been followed for two additional months as the FDA required.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/health/pfizer-coronavirus-vaccine-safety/index.html

[Ken the cruiser]

Here is an interesting NBC news article discussing what happens next regarding the EUA approval process.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-vaccines-could-be-available-end-december-here-s-what-n1248135?cid=eml_nbn_20201118

[TeeRick]

11 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here is an interesting NBC news article discussing what happens next regarding the EUA approval process.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-vaccines-could-be-available-end-december-here-s-what-n1248135?cid=eml_nbn_20201118

Thanks Ken.  I sure hope they continue moving this EUA as fast as they can with the detailed reviews needed.  The current virus surge is awful so these vaccines are needed now.  Just to get some critical health care workers immunized in December would be incredibly helpful.

[K.T.B.]

Breaking news:

 

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-submit-emergency-use-authorization

[Ken the cruiser]

Just saw this in an updated CNN report on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine EUA application. Here's hoping all goes well in their meeting on Dec 10th!

What happens next

The FDA said Friday it has scheduled a meeting of its outside advisory panel to discuss Pfizer and BioNTech's application for emergency use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine for December 10.

A source close to the process told CNN this week the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee could make a decision at the end of the meeting about whether to issue an EUA.

[mimbecky]

3 hours ago, UnorigionalName said:

It's just completely unknown at this point, and I see little reason for the doom and gloom worst case scenario.

There would be no doom and gloom if everyone who wanted the vaccine was able to get it right away.  With some of us having to wait for 6 months, surely you can understand the concern.  

If the vaccinated population is naïve and therefore lax because they think (or are being told) they are not able to transmit the virus, it could continue to be very problematic.

Hopefully, they can't transmit, but it would be beneficial for the general population to be aware of this possible scenario.

[ABoatNerd]

12 hours ago, UnorigionalName said:

 

No, that is the wrong assessment.

 

The correct assessment is that the data shows the vaccines eliminate ~95% of symptomatic infections, and MAY eliminate a higher % of deaths from COVID (prelim data).

 

How infectious a vaccinated person is is completely unknown.  Instead of "vaccine will not stop the virus" It's more "unknown how much vaccine decreases transmissibility"  It may be no change it may be it increases it by some hitherto unknown mechanism, or it may be completely decreases it to effectively 0.  There is a chance it can completely stop the transmission.  But the point is that it is currently UNKNOWN.

 

But I don't see why people have such extreme pessimism.  From our experience from other vaccines, even if it's possible to get asymptomatically infected after vaccination, there's no reason to expect it to be of the same level of transmissibility.   

 

It's just completely unknown at this point, and I see little reason for the doom and gloom worst case scenario.

 

Just focus on one step at a time. Vaccine to save lives first, then see about what activities we can do later.

 

Thank you for your post!

It does support my notion that we do not know if a vaccine will stop the spread of this virus. 

This is the point - the public believes it will - ie everyone gets a vaccine and we can all go back cruising heard this many times on the CC boards.

 

Someone needs to be straight with the public about the vaccine(s) - what will it really accomplish with 100% accuracy, what it might do with X% accuracy etc.

 

Bottom line everyone I know believes the vaccine will totally eliminate this virus.

 

[TeeRick]

The key going forward is public messaging and education on these vaccines.  The general public is confused about Clinical Efficacy vs. the concept of real world Effectiveness but the CDC already released a statement on this yesterday.  Clearly these vaccines have much higher efficacy than anyone of us ever hoped for when these trials started.  We should be elated! But there is all this confusion already starting here on these boards and elsewhere because the trials could not actually measure virus transmission.  Its been stated very well by some of you what this actually means but still getting pushback here and even disbelief. This then all boils down to Effectiveness once the vaccines are out there in the world.  A vaccine with high Effectiveness will significantly reduce or eliminate COVID symptoms and deaths.  A vaccine with high Effectiveness will protect against transmission or reduce it greatly to a point of stopping the pandemic.  This is the most important thing to care about.  If I get vaccinated and don't have to worry about morbidity and mortality from COVID, then I am very happy.  We all should be.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/effectiveness.html