Contents
Some people in Poland resign from taking the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This is the case with all available preparations. One of such people is the reader of MedTvoiLokony, here we are talking about AstraZeneka. What are the risks of incomplete vaccination, especially when facing the threat of the Delta variant?
- There are almost 12 million fully vaccinated people in Poland
- However, there is a large group that has dropped the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine
- Some of them did it for fear of possible ailments, some think that one dose is enough
- One dose of the two-dose preparation gives too little resistance to the delta variant that threatens us
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
“I am one of the unvaccinated”
«I am one of unvaccinated and I would like to draw your attention to an aspect – common to me and quite a large group of my friends who have an identical situation and approach to the subject. I am 35 years old and I am over 12 weeks of the first dose of AstraZeneca (so my window for the second dose has already passed) »- a reader writes to us.
“I applied for the first dose of the AZ vaccine when no one wanted the vaccine – the first reports of” thromboembolic events “after this particular vaccine began to appear in the media, which left vaccinations at vaccination sites and no applicants. Why did I get vaccinated?
Because I trusted information from the European Medicines Agency saying that there is NO connection between the administration of the vaccine and the occurrence of a thrombotic disease.
A few days after I got the vaccine, the EMA changed its position – the new one was that there was no evidence, but this link ‘is possible’.
I was then fed up with a lot of fear and started following reports about the vaccine – both from Poland and other countries, and from the EMA, and the CDC regarding a similar JJ vaccine.
I have the impression that there are two parallel realities – Poland vs the rest of the world.
What turned out during these 3 months (I will describe the topic very briefly and only selected threads).
– that now the official position of the EMA is that AstraZeneca can cause thrombotic disease, especially in younger people. Many countries decided to abandon it altogether (e.g. Norway, Denmark), others – limited its use – only for people above a certain age threshold (e.g. Canada or Australia – which have great offices for monitoring the drug market)
- COVID-19 despite the vaccine. When can this happen, is it dangerous? The doctor explains
– that the EMA itself changed its risk / benefit assessment and from the documents on their website it is clear that when we are not at the peak of the covid wave, the risk of adopting a vaccine for young people is greater (!) Than dying from COVID-19
– that many countries allow patients – esp. young people – to receive the second dose of the mRNA vaccine (after the first dose of AZ) precisely so as not to risk human health when there is no such necessity (it was justified at the peak of the wave and when there was a shortage of other vaccines)
– that citizens who want or need to take a second dose of AZ are informed in detail about possible side effects and the risks associated with it – silence in Poland
– that there is a loud debate in many countries about the safety of this ALE vaccine and – very importantly – also about the treatment of vaccine-induced thrombosis (VITT) – which makes patients feel safer – that when they hit them – doctors they will know how to help them and thus will have a lower chance of dying or, for example, amputating a leg after a blood clot
- Also check: Why do I need booster doses of vaccines? [WE EXPLAIN]
– that everyone in the UK is aware that at the moment practically nothing is known about how often and with what course the thrombotic disease will occur after the second dose – the current data are optimistic – they say that the risk is lower than after the first dose, BUT the local office of MHRA says straightforward – we have too little data = there is not enough time from the start of the second doses, so the risk factor will probably increase. Additionally, now only the elderly get 2 doses of AZ, so the data is inadequate for the young
I am writing this because I think that there is a large group that took the first dose of AZ, but the second – in the present, good epidemic situation – simply will not.
The risk is unprofitable at this point – according to the EMA data.
So if we want to fight for the largest possible vaccination of the population, I think it is worth the government to look at this problem – and consider, for example, the possibility of accepting – esp. by younger ones – as a second dose of mRNA vaccine – as is the case in many countries, such as Canada, Australia or Germany (Angela Merkel did so yesterday).
If the argument against this is the lack of such EMA recommendation – let patients have such a possibility with written consent, that they act at their own risk »- our reader writes.
Mixing vaccines against COVID-19
Medonet asked the Ministry of Health about the possibility of changing the vaccine with the second dose in April. «No recommendations suggest that vaccines can be mixed. There is no information about the possibility of mixing vaccines in terms of the specificity of their characteristics as products and their mechanisms of action»- that was the answer.
«From my point of view and based on the discussions at the Medical Council, we do not foresee mixing vaccines for the time being, because it is a kind of experiment and I think it would be difficult to justify it in terms of the characteristics of medicinal products, i.e. the recommendations given by manufacturers, because they clearly do not refer to the issue of vaccine mixing »- said the Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, a few days later in the Polish Radio Three.
- Delta is the most dangerous variant of the coronavirus. When will it peak and stop mutating?
The position of the Ministry of Health has not changed since then. And it looks like the problem will fix itself as vaccinations with the first dose of AstraZeneca were recently stopped.
Vaccinations – they did not come forward for the second dose
In May, we wrote about the fact that some (10-15 percent) teachers vaccinated with AstraZeneca gave up the second dose of the vaccine. The reason was the symptoms that appeared after taking the first dose.
– I know that some teachers do not want to vaccinate. They write about it in their groups. They say that after the first dose they felt very bad, they had a fever after 40 degrees C or bone pain and they don’t want to go through it again. One friend said that she got vaccinated with one dose, she was safe and that’s enough for her – said a teacher from one of Lublin’s schools.
This approach is unacceptable to doctors or virologists. – I always ask this question: would someone prefer to have flu-like symptoms with a fever for a day or two, or potentially, after being infected with SARS-CoV-2, rub against a respirator — said virologist Dr. Tomasz Dzieciatkowski in an interview with Medonet.
- Dr. Dzieiątkowski about the AstraZeneca vaccine: it’s better to have a fever for two days than to be exposed to COVID-19
Anyway, abandoning the second dose of vaccination does not only apply to AstraZeneka. And even this preparation to the smallest extent. The data published in May by the Ministry of Health showed that among those who did not show up for the second dose, Pfizer had the most to do.
The ministry officially spoke then about 9 thousand. 240 failures to appear on the second date. 7 people did not come for the second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. 644 people. In the case of the Moderny preparation, it was 1 thousand. 40 people, and 556 people did not come for the second dose of AstraZeneka.
I am unvaccinated – what is the risk of it?
Taking one dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, in the case of two-dose preparations, obviously provides less protection against infection than in the case of full vaccination.
How does it look in numbers? The effectiveness after one dose, based on clinical trials, was 69%. in the case of the preparation Pfizer and 60 percent. after receiving AstraZeneca. The second dose increased this effectiveness to 95 and 82 percent, respectively.
- See also: More and more cases of the delta variant in Poland, but it is still in the minority
The effectiveness of vaccines in real conditions turned out to be slightly different than declared by the producers. In the case of the Alpha variant (British), the effectiveness of the Pfizer preparation in protection against infection after one dose was 58%, based on research carried out in Izeael, and 96% after two.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was effective – according to various studies – 50-53 percent. after one dose and 66-74 percent. after two.
So it seems that with AstraZeneca there is not such a significant difference between the protection obtained after one and two doses. However, of course, we will always urge you to take both doses.
Unvaccination and the Delta variant
These numbers, however, look completely different in the case of the currently most dangerous variant, i.e. the Delta. In Poland, few cases of this strain have been found so far, but with time there will be more and more of them. And only full vaccination will give us effective protection against infection.
A recent British study found that two doses of Pfizer protected 79% against Delta infection. AstraZeneca provides protection at the level of 60%. The effectiveness after one dose is very low. Pfizer protects 36% and AstraZeneca only 30%.
- Which vaccines protect against the Delta variant? [WE CHECK]
There can be only one conclusion: both doses of the preparation must be taken.
«Some of the people vaccinated with one dose believe that they did everything they could and one dose is also effective. This is very tricky. Perhaps, in the context of the first variants, one dose might not be sufficient, but it is stable and neutralizing, i.e. killing the virus. As for the Delta variant, with one dose this is a problem. These people have old knowledge and think they are safe. This is very tricky. As for the new Delta variant, you have to get vaccinated with two doses »- said Bartosz Fiałek recently in an interview with WP.
«The Delta variant affects younger and younger age groups. Because these groups are either not fully vaccinated or not at all »- added Fiałek.
This may interest you:
- Delta variant in Poland. What do you need to know about him?
- The number of infections in Israel is increasing. Will the restrictions come back a week after they are lifted?
- Prof. Pyrć: more and more cases of the delta variant in Poland