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RosieG

Is the Astro Zeneca vaccine DOA? Why would I ask such a question?

"SOUTH AFRICA PAUSES ASTRO ZENECA VACCINE ROLLOUT AFTER STUDY SHOWS IT OFFERS LESS PROTECTION AGAINST VARIANT."


It was developed BEFORE the new more dangerous strain had mutated. Now that new strain is spreading around the globe so what happens to the Astro Zeneca vaccine? Would YOU want to take it?

Posted - February 8, 2021
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Responses


  • 3719
    I'd think I'd still take it because the risk of something like that happening will always be present. The various vaccine manufacturers are doing what they can to keep up.

    A speaker on the news this evening explained what happens is that as a virus reproduces, its RNA (DNA in more advanced organisms) frequently makes small mistakes. Most are of no consequence but occasionally one proves to be a successful mutation from the virus' point of view.

    (This happens in all organisms, because the RNA and DNA molecules are large and complicated assemblies of 4 elements. )  
      February 8, 2021 11:57 AM MST
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  • 113301
    So you would also take any subsequent vaccines to combat all the other mutations? That South Africa version so far is the deadliest and it spreads twice as fast as the original. All the more reason to hermitize the rest of our lives as much as possible. I think it's not so hard for us loners but it must be really hard for the people who need people. Thank you for your reply Durdle! :)
      February 9, 2021 1:32 AM MST
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  • 3719
    I thought the South African version was more infective, but not more dangerous. It is more resistant to vaccines developed so far, but unfortunately that is the problem with most virii.

    The problem with saying , "Oh I'll wait" is that you'd never be vaccinated, but do think you have a very good point about being hermetic. And I am one who needs people, as member of various clubs and societies, and with relatives living near me.

    There was a thought-provoking question from a listener to the BBC Radio Four programme More Or Less, today. This is a magazine programme that examines widely-quoted statistics and surveys, probing the accuracy of the reporting and publicity as that can be good or low and misrepresentative (much more commonly through ignorance, than wilfully).

    A listener had asked the volume of Covid-19 virii in the world. Tim Harford, the programme's anchor-man, passed it on to two micro-biologists.

    They took the approximate typical virus load in an affected person, multiplied that by known infections; then multiplied that by the volume of one virus; which is just an RNA molecule wrapped in protein.

    They calculated different virus counts sounded so far apart,  by a factor of a thousand, that you thought something was widely wrong. However both gave physical volumes quite close together. Basically, if you could collect all the Covid virii that have stopped the world and put them in one pot, the pot would be no larger than a wine-glass or drinks can...

    This result was so startling that it was even reported on the News!  


      February 10, 2021 2:19 PM MST
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  • 113301
    I expect the discovery process is ongoing so we wait and see. Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply Durdle! :)
      February 11, 2021 3:55 AM MST
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  • 3719
    Something I have just remembered that has just been found about the South African "study". It was carried out on a fairly small number of young, fit people; and has not yet even been peer-reviewed, so what I suspect here is politicians acting from low understanding anyway, on a piece of rather poor research.
      February 10, 2021 2:23 PM MST
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  • 113301
    What I read is that the Astra Zeneca has virtually NO effect on the dangerous fast-spreading virus. Virtually almost entirely NIL. If true then why use it? Thank you for your reply Durdle! :)
      February 11, 2021 3:53 AM MST
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  • 3719
    I don't know how effective or otherwise it actually is against particular strains, but that doesn't make it completely useless.

    It is not only the Oxford / Astra-Zeneca vaccine either. The new strains are resistant to other vaccines too. Unfortunately it's how virii survive.  
      February 13, 2021 11:17 AM MST
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  • 113301
    I think more vaccines will be available soon. Hopefully they can keep up with variants that seem to expand geometrically. Amazing in a very bad way. Thank you for your reply Durdle! :)
      February 23, 2021 6:51 AM MST
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