A HOLLYWOOD legend joining folk-dancers from Asturias and showing off her fancy footwork in the street is not a scene your average Oviedo resident witnesses during his or her weekly shop. Even though their northern...
How well do Covid vaccines really work? New strategy launched this week
15/11/2021
RESIDENTS vaccinated against Covid-19 with the single-dose Janssen, or Johnson & Johnson formula will be called from this week for a booster using a Pfizer or Moderna, national health authorities have confirmed.
Most regions are now working through residents aged 70 and over who have had a double-dose jab – mostly Pfizer, but also Moderna and in some cases AstraZeneca – giving them a third dose at the same time as their usual annual winter influenza vaccine.
A few expect to wait until they have finished the 'flu and third Covid jabs before starting on a back-up RNA-messenger dose for those who have had the Janssen, a type designed originally only to need one injection.
This means their two will be the equivalent of a third dose for those who have had one of the other types, which needed two initially.
Third doses for the under-70s, except where they are immune-compromised, are not part of the health service's plan for the foreseeable future, but this may change depending upon how the virus evolves over the winter.
About 1.9 million people were given the single-dose Janssen instead of one of the double-dose formulae, for various reasons.
Initially, it was kept for the over-70s, although the majority of those were, in the end, given the Pfizer instead; it was later used on the over-40s, and mainly for convenience.
Janssen vaccine given to homeless, casual workers, offshore workers...
Those who received the Johnson & Johnson formula included the homeless, casual temporary workers who may not be in the country for more than a few months, undocumented migrants who were not registered as living in a specific place and did not have residence, those with very severe autism or other serious mental health issues that meant the vaccine process could be highly distressing for them, leaving them at risk of major agitation episodes, children in care homes, adults and children on psychiatric wards or in prison, disabled people in 'halfway houses' or residential care, people who were bedridden or totally disabled and who would have difficulty accessing a vaccine centre, fishermen who typically work offshore for very long periods, Spanish residents or citizens on overseas aid missions, and anyone else with the type of job that meant they may be out of the country for extended lengths of time and unavailable for when a second dose was required.
Health authorities are aiming to get to all those who have had the single-dose formula within approximately three months of their initial jab.
The reason is largely to increase protection after it has been found that the levels provided by the Janssen were significantly lower than the RNA-messenger types – although, even then, much higher than vaccines in general against other conditions, including the 'flu jab, tend to be.
Levels of protection
Ministry of health figures show that the Moderna, an RNA-messenger (RNAm) offers the highest level of protection against infection at all (87%) and infection with symptoms (89%), followed by the Pfizer, also an RNAm, at 77% and 78% respectively.
The AstraZeneca, an adenovirus jab – where a viral particle is introduced into the body inside a vector, or 'carrier' -. provides 68% protection against infection per se, including asymptomatic infection, and against infection with symptoms, whilst in the case of the Janssen, these levels are 64% and 56% respectively.
For all the double-dose formulae, protection against infection severe enough to need hospital admission is over 95%, falling to 86% for the Janssen, and in excess of 95% for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against the risk of Covid severe enough to cause death.
Figures for the latter for the AstraZeneca and Janssen are not clear – they are said to be very high, but still slightly lower than for the other two.
Coordinator for the Covid-19 Vaccination Technical Working Group, Aurora Limia, assured these figures in no way hinted that any of the vaccines 'did not work' or that 'one was much better than another'.
Even 'lower-protection' jabs 'extremely effective'
“We're talking about a context in which we've been using vaccines that are very, very effective indeed,” she stresses.
“When we started to discuss what we were expecting from a future Covid vaccine, we were hoping against hope that we'd be able to produce something that offered at least 30% protection and, in our wildest dreams, over 50% protection.
“These are vaccines that are highly effective, even though some have been found to be very slightly less so than others.
“One of the main reasons why we consider it important for those who have had the Janssen to have an RNAm booster is that, according to the research we've published ourselves and what we've seen in print, a mixed vaccine strategy means those who receive it are even better protected.”
She said the aim was to 'avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and transmission'.
“The vaccines reduce the likelihood of infecting others, too. Not by 100%, or even by 90%, but there is, indeed, a notable reduction in how infectious a person is when they are properly and fully vaccinated.”
Although the husband-and-wife team who created the Pfizer jab – the first in the world to be completely developed and hitting the shelves around the same time as the AstraZeneca – insisted from day one that anyone vaccinated with their formula 'would not be infectious', this has long been a grey area; the initial idea of the global vaccine roll-out was to get the entire adult population jabbed so that, even if all of them caught Covid the very next day, they would not be ill with it, meaning that, in theory, infecting each other would merely be academic.
But Aurora Limia's assurances largely clear up this doubt – that the vaccines, as well as protecting the person immunised, reduces the risk of their infecting others – and could be the push needed for those who have been reluctant to get jabbed to go for it.
Spain has been using the Pfizer and Moderna almost exclusively in the past few months, and neither of these have produced any documented life-threatening or life-limiting side-effects – those that do occur vary in severity, lasting from 24 hours to about 10 days, with some finding they can carry on with life more or less immediately and others having to take a few days off work, but in all known cases these effects have been temporary and bearable.
With this in mind, and the knowledge that the vaccine carries a very high probability of protecting others who come into contact with them from becoming infected, those who are nervous about taking up the jab are likely to be persuaded.
Different strategies by region
Spain has fully immunised around 90% of residents aged 12 and over, or about 80% of the national population as a whole, and well over a million are estimated to have been given a third dose.
Andalucía, Cantabria and the Basque Country had already started giving boosters to those who have had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine before this week, and Murcia and La Rioja had started tracing and contacting theirs in order to summon them for another dose.
Extremadura and the Balearic Islands say they have the full list of names and contact details already to hand, whilst the Canary Islands and Catalunya are visiting homeless shelters and getting charities and social services on board to trace those of no fixed address.
Madrid and Galicia are starting on the prisoner population and then those who can be easily contacted, whilst Castilla y León intends to wait until it has treble-jabbed those due for their influenza vaccine before seeking out residents who have had the Janssen.
Related Topics
RESIDENTS vaccinated against Covid-19 with the single-dose Janssen, or Johnson & Johnson formula will be called from this week for a booster using a Pfizer or Moderna, national health authorities have confirmed.
Most regions are now working through residents aged 70 and over who have had a double-dose jab – mostly Pfizer, but also Moderna and in some cases AstraZeneca – giving them a third dose at the same time as their usual annual winter influenza vaccine.
A few expect to wait until they have finished the 'flu and third Covid jabs before starting on a back-up RNA-messenger dose for those who have had the Janssen, a type designed originally only to need one injection.
This means their two will be the equivalent of a third dose for those who have had one of the other types, which needed two initially.
Third doses for the under-70s, except where they are immune-compromised, are not part of the health service's plan for the foreseeable future, but this may change depending upon how the virus evolves over the winter.
About 1.9 million people were given the single-dose Janssen instead of one of the double-dose formulae, for various reasons.
Initially, it was kept for the over-70s, although the majority of those were, in the end, given the Pfizer instead; it was later used on the over-40s, and mainly for convenience.
Janssen vaccine given to homeless, casual workers, offshore workers...
Those who received the Johnson & Johnson formula included the homeless, casual temporary workers who may not be in the country for more than a few months, undocumented migrants who were not registered as living in a specific place and did not have residence, those with very severe autism or other serious mental health issues that meant the vaccine process could be highly distressing for them, leaving them at risk of major agitation episodes, children in care homes, adults and children on psychiatric wards or in prison, disabled people in 'halfway houses' or residential care, people who were bedridden or totally disabled and who would have difficulty accessing a vaccine centre, fishermen who typically work offshore for very long periods, Spanish residents or citizens on overseas aid missions, and anyone else with the type of job that meant they may be out of the country for extended lengths of time and unavailable for when a second dose was required.
Health authorities are aiming to get to all those who have had the single-dose formula within approximately three months of their initial jab.
The reason is largely to increase protection after it has been found that the levels provided by the Janssen were significantly lower than the RNA-messenger types – although, even then, much higher than vaccines in general against other conditions, including the 'flu jab, tend to be.
Levels of protection
Ministry of health figures show that the Moderna, an RNA-messenger (RNAm) offers the highest level of protection against infection at all (87%) and infection with symptoms (89%), followed by the Pfizer, also an RNAm, at 77% and 78% respectively.
The AstraZeneca, an adenovirus jab – where a viral particle is introduced into the body inside a vector, or 'carrier' -. provides 68% protection against infection per se, including asymptomatic infection, and against infection with symptoms, whilst in the case of the Janssen, these levels are 64% and 56% respectively.
For all the double-dose formulae, protection against infection severe enough to need hospital admission is over 95%, falling to 86% for the Janssen, and in excess of 95% for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against the risk of Covid severe enough to cause death.
Figures for the latter for the AstraZeneca and Janssen are not clear – they are said to be very high, but still slightly lower than for the other two.
Coordinator for the Covid-19 Vaccination Technical Working Group, Aurora Limia, assured these figures in no way hinted that any of the vaccines 'did not work' or that 'one was much better than another'.
Even 'lower-protection' jabs 'extremely effective'
“We're talking about a context in which we've been using vaccines that are very, very effective indeed,” she stresses.
“When we started to discuss what we were expecting from a future Covid vaccine, we were hoping against hope that we'd be able to produce something that offered at least 30% protection and, in our wildest dreams, over 50% protection.
“These are vaccines that are highly effective, even though some have been found to be very slightly less so than others.
“One of the main reasons why we consider it important for those who have had the Janssen to have an RNAm booster is that, according to the research we've published ourselves and what we've seen in print, a mixed vaccine strategy means those who receive it are even better protected.”
She said the aim was to 'avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and transmission'.
“The vaccines reduce the likelihood of infecting others, too. Not by 100%, or even by 90%, but there is, indeed, a notable reduction in how infectious a person is when they are properly and fully vaccinated.”
Although the husband-and-wife team who created the Pfizer jab – the first in the world to be completely developed and hitting the shelves around the same time as the AstraZeneca – insisted from day one that anyone vaccinated with their formula 'would not be infectious', this has long been a grey area; the initial idea of the global vaccine roll-out was to get the entire adult population jabbed so that, even if all of them caught Covid the very next day, they would not be ill with it, meaning that, in theory, infecting each other would merely be academic.
But Aurora Limia's assurances largely clear up this doubt – that the vaccines, as well as protecting the person immunised, reduces the risk of their infecting others – and could be the push needed for those who have been reluctant to get jabbed to go for it.
Spain has been using the Pfizer and Moderna almost exclusively in the past few months, and neither of these have produced any documented life-threatening or life-limiting side-effects – those that do occur vary in severity, lasting from 24 hours to about 10 days, with some finding they can carry on with life more or less immediately and others having to take a few days off work, but in all known cases these effects have been temporary and bearable.
With this in mind, and the knowledge that the vaccine carries a very high probability of protecting others who come into contact with them from becoming infected, those who are nervous about taking up the jab are likely to be persuaded.
Different strategies by region
Spain has fully immunised around 90% of residents aged 12 and over, or about 80% of the national population as a whole, and well over a million are estimated to have been given a third dose.
Andalucía, Cantabria and the Basque Country had already started giving boosters to those who have had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine before this week, and Murcia and La Rioja had started tracing and contacting theirs in order to summon them for another dose.
Extremadura and the Balearic Islands say they have the full list of names and contact details already to hand, whilst the Canary Islands and Catalunya are visiting homeless shelters and getting charities and social services on board to trace those of no fixed address.
Madrid and Galicia are starting on the prisoner population and then those who can be easily contacted, whilst Castilla y León intends to wait until it has treble-jabbed those due for their influenza vaccine before seeking out residents who have had the Janssen.
Related Topics
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