Compulsory Vaccinations now being required by a major U.K. based cruise line for 2021.

[ShropshireCritic]

Hot of the BBC news site just posted this evening in the U.K. stating that a major U.K. based cruise line will make it compulsory that all passengers will have to be vaccinated in advance when it restarts cruises in May this year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55738918

 

This is an excellent move that will give much needed confidence to get the cruising industry restarted.

There will obviously be lots of debate as to how this will be evidenced on a global basis, but with Biden expected to rejoin the WHO hopefully the WHO can reinvent the previous methods like those ‘Yellow Certificates’ that people of my generation used to allow keep in our passports as evidence of vaccination against diseases like Yellow Fellow, Polio, Cholera to name but a few.

 

This is a game changer and will hope be followed by RSS.

[mj_holiday]

Yellow vaccine booklets are still given out to document other vaccines needed to cross borders. A more modern way would probably be more efficient.   I am glad this is being done and probably will be picked up by other cruise lines.

[Got2Cruise]

UK must be further along in the vaccines if they think this can begun in May of this year. 

[mrlevin]

3 minutes ago, Got2Cruise said:

UK must be further along in the vaccines if they think this can begun in May of this year. 

 

They only need enough to fill the ship.  As for the crew, any of these cruise companies can purchase vaccine on the open market; there are no export controls on them.

[flossie009]

5 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

UK must be further along in the vaccines if they think this can begun in May of this year. 

Unfortunately I fear that Saga, the cruise line involved in this news story, is being over optimistic in its predictions.

 

It is highly unlikely that anyone under the age of 65 in the UK will have had their 2 jabs in time for a cruise in May.

Also it is unlikely that travel restrictions will have been lifted or that  ports will be open to passenger carrying cruise ships.

 

I hope I am proved wrong.

[casbar777]

Well I am 63 and have had my first pfizer jab in the UK (frontline NHS), but there is a 12 week wait for the second jab, assuming stocks last. And when you get your jab, you get a piece of card, with your name written on it and the batch number, date, etc of the first jab, that isn't going to prove anything, you could knock up the same card on a printer and fill it out yourself :) 

[phillipahain]

Frontline NHS staff at 63 may well have had 1st Covid jab but many over 75s in the country sure have not ....all are being told 12 to 14 weeks for 2nd jab so add on another 3 weeks for the immunuty to build from that 2nd jab ...dont forget alcohol interferes with producing antibodies ...i cannot see how anyone who hoped to go on a cruise in May or June can possibly do it 

[pappy1022]

13 hours ago, casbar777 said:

Well I am 63 and have had my first pfizer jab in the UK (frontline NHS), but there is a 12 week wait for the second jab, assuming stocks last. And when you get your jab, you get a piece of card, with your name written on it and the batch number, date, etc of the first jab, that isn't going to prove anything, you could knock up the same card on a printer and fill it out yourself :) 

12 weeks? Pfizer has recommended the 2nd dose within 21 days or so.That is what has been tested and proven. I wonder what value it will be to get the 2nd dose in week 12. 

[SusieQft]

1 hour ago, pappy1022 said:

12 weeks? Pfizer has recommended the 2nd dose within 21 days or so.That is what has been tested and proven. I wonder what value it will be to get the 2nd dose in week 12. 

Since they did not test it, we don't know.  It might be worse, or it might even work better that way.  Without a study, we have no idea.

[casbar777]

The deputy chair of the committee that provided the advice to delay the second dose was on the News this morning. He said the Pfizer vaccine was the same technology as the Moderna vaccine and that has been tested with a longer second dose time line. So they are assuming the Pfizer will be the same. The strap line being trotted out in the UK is, if you have two grandparents, would you rather only vaccinate one and leave one at risk or give a level of protection to both of them. Think the big problem with the 12 week wait, is supply and already the Government is talking about 12 weeks will be dependant on supply, so it wouldn't surprise me if the second jab wasn't even at 12 weeks. Generally if the Government are starting to brief this supply issue out, then they are getting us all used to the fact 🙂 This doesn't impact the Oxford jab as they know the second jab can be delayed as it was looked at in the trial.

[pappy1022]

So many unknowns about the vaccines. “They” say that the first jab of Pfizer and Moderna might be 40%-50% effective but that isn’t scientifically proven. Oxford’s efficacy rate is 70% with both jabs. The real issue is supply and demand so governments need to make the tough choices of who gets the vaccines and when. We need to follow the science and in this case the science strongly recommended 2 doses 21-28 days apart. If we vary from that scientific analysis then the outcomes are unknown and we might wind up in a worse situation than taking the slow and steady approach to get our people vaccinated. As far as choosing between grandma and grandpa, why don’t we get them full protection and delay some of the other people getting their vaccines. There are no easy choices but we have to make them. I cringe at changing the scientific approach that was tested and hoping for the best. 

[ronrick1943]

Agree, as supplies build I think we'll all get are shots on time.  If J&J is approved that will open  a lot of the Pfizer & Moderna for those getting the 2nd shot on time. 

[SusieQft]

11 hours ago, casbar777 said:

He said the Pfizer vaccine was the same technology as the Moderna vaccine and that has been tested with a longer second dose time line.

The only reports on this that I can find refer to some studied cases where the Oxford/AstraZeneca second dose was delayed, but Pfizer did not study it.  I have never seen anything about Moderna studying delay of the second dose.  If you have a source for that information, I would be very interested to read it.

 

Different vaccines that require two doses have different dosing schedules.  For example, the Shingrex vaccine second dose is to be given between 2 and 6 months after the first.  The Hepatitis B vaccine has a variety of dosing schedules, but the one that (I think) is most common is for 3 shots at 0, 1, and 6 months.  At some point in the past, studies were done that resulted in these recommendations.  I don't know the details of those studies, but if a different schedule was not studied, then we do not know if it would give the same result, better, or worse. 

 

I don't know what factual basis went into selecting the 3-4 week interval for the second dose in the Pfizer and Moderna studies.  Maybe they chose the minimum time they thought would be effective to get things moving as fast as possible.  Maybe they even thought that a longer interval would be more effective, but they knew it would prolong the study that much more, and time was/is of the essence here.  Other than that, as far as I can see, the choice of the interval may have been totally arbitrary, not necessarily "scientific."

 

In  order for "science" to say that the second dose of the mRNA vaccines has to be at 3-4 weeks, and 12 weeks or longer is bad, there would need to be a study providing evidence to that effect.  We do not have that.  We have a single experiment showing that 3-4 weeks is good, not scientific proof that other dosing schedules are bad.  Those studies would take more time and money, and we don't have time right now to do them.  Right now we just need to stop COVID as soon as possible.

[SWFLAOK]

On 1/23/2021 at 7:12 PM, pappy1022 said:

12 weeks? Pfizer has recommended the 2nd dose within 21 days or so.That is what has been tested and proven. I wonder what value it will be to get the 2nd dose in week 12. 

When we received our Moderna vaccine, we were told that any time between 28 days (it's a week more than Pfizer, which was only offered to hospital workers in our area) and 6 months after our first dose. We weren't promised a second dose where we received our first dose, but hope we'll find one before our September Regent cruise.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

22 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

When we received our Moderna vaccine, we were told that any time between 28 days (it's a week more than Pfizer, which was only offered to hospital workers in our area) and 6 months after our first dose. We weren't promised a second dose where we received our first dose, but hope we'll find one before our September Regent cruise.

We received our first dose last week and, at that time, the second dose was scheduled for us.
All of our friends, here in Florida, New York and New  Jersey had the second dose scheduled when they received their first. 
I have not heard about anyone receiving their first dose, without the second scheduled at that time. 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Bellaggio Cruisers

[SWFLAOK]

Just now, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

We received our first dose last week and, at that time, the second dose was scheduled for us. All of our friends, here in Florida, New York and New  Jersey had the second dose scheduled when tbey received their first. 

Are you and all of your friends front line hospital workers? New York and New Jersey weren't even giving the vaccine to anyone other than that until this past week.

And it's certainly been easier in SW Florida for hospital workers and their friends and family,  as well as patients of hospital associated physicians to receive the vaccine.

We received our first dose of the vaccine last week by scheduling an appointment online through Collier County, and were told when we received it that they could not promise a second dose.

Apparently, you were able to find a better source of the vaccine. Wish we could have been eligible for that as well.

From what we've heard from our friends and neighbors in Florida (where we're year round residents), other than hospital workers, the only ones who have been contacted for a second dose are those that stood in line outside in the middle of the night at a Lee County site, and they waited 6 to 8 hours to receive their first dose. After doing that in their 70's, I think they deserve to be scheduled for a second dose.

 

[SusieQft]

Some people in Nevada have been refused the vaccine even if they have an appointment.  And others are having their appointments rescheduled, due to less supply than anticipated when the appointments were made.  The same could happen anywhere, since right now it is too hard to predict the supply.

 

That is great if you have an appointment for your second dose, but keep in mind that things can change to delay it.  Optimism has its merits, but I would not bet too much on future appointments at this point.  Florida does seem to be doing a much better job than Nevada, though.

[casbar777]

12 hours ago, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

We received our first dose last week and, at that time, the second dose was scheduled for us.
All of our friends, here in Florida, New York and New  Jersey had the second dose scheduled when they received their first. 
I have not heard about anyone receiving their first dose, without the second scheduled at that time. 

Different in the UK, in our Hospital, Front line have all received their first dose, but no second doses are scheduled, the UK Government following the theory that more people with one dose is better than a few with two. So that is the strategy they are following. What the blow back will be when it's approaching 12 weeks and no second doses due to supply who knows. As has been pointed out, there has been no studies as to what happens if the Pfizer jab is delayed. I don't have the detail of the Moderna study around a longer delay, it was trotted out at a Government briefing, so must be true - right 🙂

[pingpong1]

12 hours ago, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

We received our first dose last week and, at that time, the second dose was scheduled for us.
 

Hi Sheila - Our "first jab" will be this coming Saturday (at 5:30AM - Yikes!).  Did you or DH encounter any "side effects", that were more significant or troubling than the typical sore arm or perhaps a headache?  Just wondering?  We're "brave little soldiers" ourselves, so we'll just keep the Tylenol handy!  😉  

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

1 hour ago, pingpong1 said:

Hi Sheila - Our "first jab" will be this coming Saturday (at 5:30AM - Yikes!).  Did you or DH encounter any "side effects", that were more significant or troubling than the typical sore arm or perhaps a headache?  Just wondering?  We're "brave little soldiers" ourselves, so we'll just keep the Tylenol handy!  😉  

We were fine except for sore arm for about 36 hours. Nothing else. Easy Peasy.....

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

14 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

Are you and all of your friends front line hospital workers? New York and New Jersey weren't even giving the vaccine to anyone other than that until this past week.

And it's certainly been easier in SW Florida for hospital workers and their friends and family,  as well as patients of hospital associated physicians to receive the vaccine.

We received our first dose of the vaccine last week by scheduling an appointment online through Collier County, and were told when we received it that they could not promise a second dose.

Apparently, you were able to find a better source of the vaccine. Wish we could have been eligible for that as well.

From what we've heard from our friends and neighbors in Florida (where we're year round residents), other than hospital workers, the only ones who have been contacted for a second dose are those that stood in line outside in the middle of the night at a Lee County site, and they waited 6 to 8 hours to receive their first dose. After doing that in their 70's, I think they deserve to be scheduled for a second dose.

 

We are Florida residents. Herb and I  are in our 80’s.Our  Second dose is scheduled for Friday February 5th. It was scheduled when we got our first dose. 
My brother lives in New York City. He is 78. He and his wife received their first dose last weekend and second dose was scheduled at that time. 
Friends  in New New Jersey have been scheduled for their first dose this week. 

[Dolebludger]

My wife and I got our first Pfizer shots last Friday. Colorado is finished with medical personnel and first responders, and has moved on to folks 70 and over, like us. We were given white cards stating we had the first jab and are scheduled for the Second three weeks later. My question is, will a card like that be proof of vaccination, or will some other proof be required?

 

After seeing the lines of people waiting fo a shot for hours (sometimes days) in other areas, we were surprised at the efficiency of the procedure here. The whole thing took less than an hour, including the drive to the clinic and back.

[Got2Cruise]

Such good news reading about some receiving the shots. In my Mom’s case, she received her first dose at one of the NYC mega centers. She made it by the skin of her teeth. The next day all the appointments were cancelled because they ran out of doses. No second dose was scheduled at the center, one need to go online yourself to schedule.   Luckily 2nd dose appointments were available but one had to hunt for them, and they were all past the 28 recommended days. Hers is 35 days. 
 

Good vibes for all to receive their second dose as scheduled. 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

California making headway finally, we got our first shots recently, two weeks after registering with our county scheduling website.  They say we will get notified two weeks later to set up an appointment fir the second dose at three weeks.

 

We are just plain-vanilla 65-70 retirees 🙂

 

And for you American youngsters:

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/29/there-will-be-enough-covid-vaccines-for-the-entire-us-adult-population-by-june-doctor-says.html

[pappy1022]

On 1/25/2021 at 8:45 AM, pingpong1 said:

Hi Sheila - Our "first jab" will be this coming Saturday (at 5:30AM - Yikes!).  Did you or DH encounter any "side effects", that were more significant or troubling than the typical sore arm or perhaps a headache?  Just wondering?  We're "brave little soldiers" ourselves, so we'll just keep the Tylenol handy!  😉  

The first jab is easy for most people. The 2nd shot is more likely  to create symptoms such as fever, chills,. Body aches etc. but that’s a good sign that your body is properly responding. I’ve had my first shot, Moderna, and just a little sore where the shot was applied. My wife, a nurse, has had both shots of Pfizer and the first shot was just some soreness. The second shot brought a fever of 101, docs aches, etc.after about 12 hours and lasted about 12-18 hours and then she was fine