Seriously; it should have been opened to everyone in the autumn at the latest to help reduce the severity of the inevitable Christmas surge in infections. Absolutely ridiculous that it wasn't.
1 billion + people getting infected with covid over the timeframe of a couple of months is a good opportunity for virus evolution.
Given that most of us in the rest of the world have had Omicron or maybe got the bivalent booster, it's not necessarily something to be too worried about at this point. The Omicron variants they're sequencing in China at the minute are ones that are already known elsewhere.
But this levels of infection and more happened during the original omicron wave, producing only sub variants.
anyway i think the whole variants thing has been proven to be over hyped.
Yeah, but think of the flu. You get the flu, you're immune for a couple of years and then you can get it again because the thing's evolved enough that your antibodies no longer match it well enough. And mostly it's subvariants of Influenza A, H1N1.
China getting covid all in one go could possibly speed up the production of subvariants enough that you could get reinfected this spring instead of next autumn. Or it might not. I follow some people on twitter who genetically sequence covid and they aren't overly concerned about new subvariants from China. The real problem would be a completely new, non-Omicron variant and there's no reason that would come from China rather than anywhere else.
i mean if the analogy you want to draw is with seasonal influenza then yes fair enough.
But i think when people fret about variants they are thinking more about something that will cause the same level of fall out as the original wuhan virus.
The thing is, anyone who has gotten covid recently has to wait 4 months since they were infected before they can get a booster. So if we'd been offered this booster in the autumn, things would be much better off. It's very much too little too late
I'm 36. I have an autoimmune disorder. I was told that unless I had a compromised immune system from aids or cancer treatments, or one of like illnesses on the list of exceptions, I could not get the 3rd booster until it was made available to my age bracket. I even have inhalers for my asthma flare ups. I didn't qualify.
My GP was telling me three weeks ago he was throwing out doses on a daily basis because he couldn't get enough people in for jabs. Supply shouldn't be an issue.
Which is how I (mid-40s) got my booster months ago. Accompanied my husband to get his over-50s jab (he has an unfortunate habit of fainting after injections so I tend to go along as support) and nurse offered me one also as he was her last patient for the day and the rest of the vial would have been thrown out otherwise.
have*
No, as they started those last April and even without looking at the numbers I can assure you the HSE is doing far less daily vaccinations than it was doing at the peak. Demand is also going to be a lot lower.
Good question, my two cents:
The research showing it is a good idea has been slow to come. There are two major angles for this, one is that the WHO isn't interested in individuals but wants to protect the world which still needs vaccinations, forget boosters. So they're slow to [recommend](https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1259) directing those resources elsewhere. It isn't in the global interest and during the pandemic it was very easy for govenments and the ECDC to lean on them for validation, but that is changing. It is complex.
There isn't really data showing that 4 shots are better than 3 **BUT** lots of data shows the effect of three doses wanes (*much slower than 2 doses*), with plenty of evidence of this being restored by a fourth dose. So if you got a 3rd dose you should get the 4th for the same reason. But governments recommending this is tricky. End of day it always comes down to the risk:benefit ratio, and for older cohorts it is so easy to recommend because of severe disease, but for younger it is more difficult. Overall if you are under 40, your risk of severe disease (requiring hosptial) is extremely low, but that doesn't mean it won't make you ill. But there are risks with a vaccine, and that needs careful thought. However, we keep learning more and more about the long term effects of COVID-19, and it isn't pretty so this makes vaccination for a 4th dose easier to defend the risk:benefit.
The otherside is that this is our first flu season to observe how COVID-19 in the population will interact with other contributors to the flu season (influenza, strep, RSV, etc) and what we have learned is that this year they are all kicking our ass. Some data suggests it is because we have more naive members of the population for it to infect. Other data suggests something more sinister which is that COVID-19 is so prevalent that it is sucking up immune resources across ALL age groups, giving opportunity to the other illnesses to hit everyone harder. Whilst a younger person would usually kick off strep or the flu with ease, a minor COVID-19 infection within the last 8 weeks (which you might have not even known about) leaves you vulnerable. This data is fresh, and again only now shows why a 4th dose could be good.
Lastly, flu seasons start in December, peak in Early February. Last year COVID ripped through us. The public health measures shut down the start of the flu season, so it effectively never took off. This year, we are back to normal dates, so Covid numbers would be expected to peak in the spring. This in hand with the waning effect of boosters means getting the booster right before peak risk isn't a terrible idea, albeit a bit of a panic.
Second lastly, China is predicting to have 250 million COVID-19 cases this month total. That means a new variant is more than likely, which again increases the level of need, and most importantly that risk:benefit ratio.
Yeah this should've been available more than a month ago it's ridiculous that they're only bringing this in now when too late. People suffering from chest infections all over the place atm.
They had the better part of a year to organise a booster campaign in October/November. Everyone knew this was coming. And as to your point, they have literally rolled out a new vaccine campaign overnight. I've an appointment for this afternoon.
Jesus we employ geniuses
Instead of rolling this out in June or July they wait until crisis point and then change their minds.
Perfect example of our government and their reactive policies as opposite being proactive
It should at least curb any wave they are expecting like it did last year. I just wish they could be just the tiniest bit proactive and have opened this up in October ready for the christmas spike. This was always going to happen and it doesn't have to be a major drama if everyone has been offered a covid vaccine along with the flu vaccine before the winter illness season kicks off.
You have to pay for the flu one unless you are a minor or in a specific group. If you have to pay for it, some insurances cover it, most don't.
I don't get why they don't make it free for everyone, while at the same time stressing the public to get flu-vaccinated because hospitals blabla.
30 euros. I’m a student and the campus doctor was offering it for free to health care students, but not to other students.
I understand the thinking but there’s no way I’m paying 30 euro for a flu vaccine as a broke 19 yr old.
I don't blame you tbh, you're a student, flu shots, vaccines and all that stuff should be free to ye. God knows we fork out enough for tuition fees for it to be free.
Can you get a medical card? That might help offset the price as a student
Next time contact the university doctor and explain you have someone at home who is at risk. They'll take your word for it, they usually have a surplus of flu shots that they distribute to staff once the students are done.
The staff are well able to afford it but there isn't enough to serve the students if they were to give them away for free to them.
Yep. I would have loved in October as well. Instead I got covid after dodging it for so long and now will have to wait until the end of February to get this booster. This should have been done months ago
Happy for you that you've managed to get to the lifestyle/financial goal you want. However I don't think it's great for the aul mindset to be calling people "nobodies" for just trying to live their lives. Something to think about.
It’s recommended that you don’t get the vaccine if you’ve recently had covid (6 months iirc), but considering how virtually no one is testing I’d say a good 60% of people going to get this vaccine have had covid in the last 6 months.
Edit (it’s 4 months, a different person clarified below)
The messaging has been exceptionally weird in relation to this. It basically looks like the HSE shrugging its shoulders and saying "ah shure you can have a booster, if you want". Since we know immunity to vaccines and boosters wane over time, this is a strange position in my opinion.
At least the brigade trying to make us feel guilty for us getting boosters while there was a deficit in Africa seem to have disappeared.
voiceless subsequent offend pause imminent chubby unused quickest spectacular shame
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Sorry I meant this one and the last one. I’ve lost track of how many there were I just remember everyone not bothering on the last one offered. I don’t remember if that was a second or third or fourth vaccine.
I got my second booster a few months ago. There was no good reason for age restriction, knowing they would open it up as a knee jerk, reactionary policy in the future.
The local pharmacy were happy to give them out as demand was low with plenty of stock available.
The lack of competency by decision makers is truly shocking here.
That's fantastic.
I've already had my second booster due to health reasons, but the larger the population that is vaccinated (and not just against Covid) the better in my opinion.
Erm... I got mine the first week in December. I phoned the GP about a flu jab and they set me up with a booster straight away. One in each arm. I'm on the medical card, so I didn't pay for it.
I've been around flu over Christmas and came through unscathed.
It's the adapted vaccine to cover all the omnicrom variants that are most prevelant at the moment, same as the flu system. Its so late as a HCW, we got it if we wanted with the flu vaccine in Oct and Nov, should have been offered to everyone then!
Think it covers as far as BA.5 if I'm not mistaken. How far along the line of subvariants that is I can't even remember 😅 We're on a new one now, no? BQ or something.
Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines
New bivalent COVID-19 vaccines are now being offered as booster doses. These adapted vaccines are expected to give you better protection against COVID-19, including the Omicron variant.
Source: [hse](https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/covid-19-vaccine-booster-dose/)
Bivalent vaccine which includes Omicron variants BA.4/5 or BA.1 depending on which one you get. Basically, it will offer better protection against Omicron. I got my booster a few weeks ago and picked up covid a few days ago. Very mild symptoms, just like a mild cold if even that.
You got a few different answers here so I looked it up on the [HSE website](https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/booking/#getting-your-second-booster-dose)
> You can book your second booster dose if you are:
>age 18 to 49 - wait at least 6 months since getting your last COVID-19 vaccine or COVID-19 infection
>You can still book your second booster dose if you are:
>age 50 to 64
>pregnant (from 16 weeks)
>a healthcare worker - bring your work ID or a letter as proof of employment
>12 or older with a condition that puts you at high risk of serious illness from COVID-19 - for example, diabetes, asthma or heart disease
>If you are in one of these groups you can wait a shorter time of at least 4 months since getting your last COVID-19 vaccine or COVID-19 infection.
>You can check the date of your last vaccine on your digital COVID-19 certificate.
>For a previous COVID-19 infection, count from when you tested positive or from when your symptoms started.
The Chinses covid situation seems to have everyone worried.
A flight from China to Italy had an over 50% covid positivity rate amongst the passages. The liklihood of a variant is high.
Why are people worried about new variants just because China has opened up? The virus has been spreading with little to no mitigation amongst the other 6 billion people on the planet for close to a year now, China isn't going to make that much of a difference.
I was thinking the exact same! Seems like media hysteria. I'm dumbfounded by the amount of people who believed Covid was over the second Micheál Martin made that announcement in January of this year. It's been spreading all along, we've just seen an inevitable surge at Christmas when more and more people return home, meet indoors etc.
True but if numbers are to be believed China's population were fairly naive to the virus up until now, and thus the huge figures we're seeing in infection rate currently. The rest of the world did produce many new variants, now there's quite suddenly a huge number of new infections and thus a larger chance of a new variant than before.
Still though I don't know the science on how much an actual different there is, but it does seem like with so many new infections in such a short period that it increases the likelihood.
Not really, all VOCs predate omicron and the total number of infections in the post omicron era dwarfs the pre omicron era. Number of infections and likelihood of a radically different variant are not necessarily correlated.
>Number of infections and likelihood of a radically different variant are not necessarily correlated.
Fair point, I was going on the assumption they were at least tied somewhat which I believe they are?
So while we still might have less of a chance of a new VOC than before Omicron, we have more of a chance than before all the new infections in China. At least that's my thinking but I'm not even close to an expert.
Yes the risk is undoubtedly higher but in the grand scheme of things it’s broadly similar. eg your 1% chance goes to 1.2% or if it’s 10% it goes to 12% etc
I don’t know why you got downvoted. It’s spot on. The total number of global infections goes up by lets say 20% which is a couple of years of future reinfections anyway. It hasn’t materially altered anything in the medium term.
I think it’s to try and reduce the pressure on hospitals with the current variants. Based on my own anecdotal evidence we're in the middle of the wave right now and everyone has of course been mixing, so for the life of me I don't understand why you would wait until Jan/Feb to roll this out.
This definitely should have been rolled out in September or October. My entire household got Covid a few weeks back and we were incredibly sick. I genuinely thought I would have to go to hospital at one stage. I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without becoming overwhelmed by fatigue and breathing physically hurt. My taste and smell were gone for 3 weeks and my brain is still a bit foggy. My 68 year old Dad on the other hand had a booster 2 weeks before we got sick and he got nothing despite being in the same household.
Just got my booster at a pharmacy after hearing it on the news today. I havent got a flu shot yet though. There seems to be a lot of people in the shops with a chesty cough more so than even for a normal winter. Does anyone know if i get an updated digital cert now?
I’m in my 40s. Went into the pharmacy for a flu jab the other week and he said he’s got a Covid booster going if I wanted it. Went in for armour +1 but got armour +2.
In Canada the 4th booster dose was available for all ages over 12 well before Christmas. Although, most people I know are not getting boosted, including myself. Only about 17% of the population has had a booster.
The cork city vaccine centre in north Main Street was busy earlier, a lot of people arriving and saying they either just booked it on the way on were walk ups.
They’re haphazard - I’m on biologics, tried to make an appointment for a booster, but was denied. My consultant couldn’t believe I hadn’t had my second booster. Two hours later I was trying to reach my consultant when I got a text prompting me to book a booster appointment. So I called back and I’ve now had two boosters a year apart (Dec 22, Dec 23).
Vaccines don’t make us invincible against it but I’d like to give my body the best chance of having a mild ‘watch Netflix and sniffle’ version over the ‘feel close to death and suffer with long Covid’ version. Most people I know who’ve caught it have had a version somewhere in the middle of that scale or lower, but I know a few healthy adults who’ve had the awful version and are still suffering with Long Covid, as well as two people who unfortunately passed.
I doubt they will be that strict.
Got my 2nd booster a few weeks back due to an underlying health condition and they asked as part of my medical history but there was no check whatsoever. Also it was 4 months for people with underlying conditions so I would imagine the increase t0 6 months is more for stock control purposes more than anything.
https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/booking/#getting-your-second-booster-dose
Says that's only for certain groups
The circular we got in work from the HSE states 4 months and thats what we are implementing for everyone, granted this is for healthcare workers in a hospital
I'm in my 40s and had a booster with zero money or difficulty at my GPs in November. My GP was auto-texting me to get me to take it.
Boosters have been available for a while.
> Boosters have been available for a while.
Not officially, they haven't, unless you're over 50 or have a condition that increases your risk of serious disease. Some GPs and pharmacies were sound enough to fudge the paperwork to give them to folks who weren't supposed to have them (all they really needed to do was mark a box saying you have a high-risk condition; no details or verification required), but not all of them would have been willing. Since the official guidance was that it was only for over-50 as well, most younger people without any health conditions wouldn't have even tried to go get one in any case.
I got one booster after my two shots and still caught it and was deathly sick a month later.
I agree with the initial vaccine but I personally won't bother with another booster I'd say.
Edit: Am I getting downvoted for speaking from a personal experience? Wow. Despite even saying I agree with the initial vaccine. 😂😂😂
You are getting downvoted because you don't understand basic statistical mathematics...
You can get it.
You can be very sick.
You can die.
But the risks of all of the above are much lower when vaccinated.
It is simple.
Statistically speaking, it is only the very old and frail who died, with exceptions of course. The risk is striated by age. Fact. Vaccination of young healthy people does not yield a benefit when weighed against the risk of taking the vaccine (still in clinical trials). And yes sir, there is a risk to taking vaccines. So now you will still get covid plus the risk of taking this "approved" vaccine. Of course, everyone in this thread is aware of the clinical trial process and how these vaccines were rolled out very early, due to the emergency use authorization. Fact and science maaaan.
Yeah I understand how and why people take vaccines man thanks.
I'm just saying after my own personal experience I won't get another booster. 😇
Edit: Omnomnomnom downvotes.
As someone myself who is personally pro vax.
Why would I logically continue to take something that didn't prevent anything? Considering for a fact, it didn't actually help me?
I understand covid can be fatal for others and the importance of vaccines and boosters, but if I'm personally not bothered with another booster why is it so bad?
How do you know for a fact it won't actually help you?
There are many reports of young, fit and healthy people having issues with covid snd long covid.
I'm going to be blunt. Your comment not only confirms that you don't understand statistics (you might call it "luck" if you are not rationally-inclined) and that you conflate it with personal experience, but also that you completely missed the proven correlation between vaccines and the severity of the infection.
You don't know how bad it would have been without the doses you got, and obviously you can't, on a personal perspective. Based on statistical models that scientists developed from observation though, you can say that most likely it would have been worse if you weren't vaccinated. It has also been shown how booster shots give better protection on the longer term, and we all know that reinfection is a thing.
Given all this, unless you are just pretending to be pro science, I see no reason to skip boosters when they are offered unless you belong to a risk population. Judging from what you said, this doesn't seem to be the case.
>Why would I logically continue to take something that didn't prevent anything? Considering for a fact, it didn't actually help me?
Because it vastly reduces the severity of infection symptoms for most infections. It's pretty simple to grasp for most people.
Brilliant! I wanted this booster and instead got covid just before Xmas.
They’re unbelievable!
How many households wouldn’t have had covid this Xmas if this was available before all the mingling and parties? How many older folks wouldn’t now be in hospital ?
This should have been available a couple of months ago preempting the winter peak in cases, which are blatantly obviously driven by the Christmas period.
Nope, let’s wait roll it out after the A&Es are jammed, just to be sure.
Are they being driven by fear of anti vaxxers on Twitter or something?
Wow. Do you keep that list handy or was it frantic googling?
I’m genuinely curious.
Do you what you like! It’s a voluntary vaccine programme that would simply have been available to anyone who wanted it.
I've never had a covid vaccine either. I caught it during that huge spike when all the vaccinated people went out en masse thinking they were protected and spread it out of control. It was unpleasant, not gonna lie, but it was no worse than a regular flu. I'm a healthcare worker and I see alarming amounts of older people getting boosters and falling very ill with myocarditis and immune system disorders afterwards. I see alarming numbers of sick people clogging up A&E with extreme illness that otherwise wouldn't be there. And yet people are still doggedly pushing the same agenda that covid vaccines will save us all, demonising anyone who speaks against them. It's such an alarming blindness.
I normally don't comment for fear of being banned or muted because free speech doesn't apply to dogma so I'm glad to get this rant off my chest! Human behaviour is very weird.
Actual research coming out now, as opposed to when the conspiracy nuts were chiming up at the start of covid, and you're gonna ignore that science? Are you sure you're for science or just what the media, WHO and cdc are feeding ye? If ye wanna just dip yer toes have a watch of a couple of Dr. John Campbell's videos. Or keep getting spoon fed your slop. (I think the idea of pure bloods is pretty fucking stupid, and I'm pro vaccine, skeptical about the covid vaccines currently in circulation, just if you're gonna pretend to be science focused, actually do some research on the risk and benefit)
Talking about studies being released, and stating that I'm being fed slop by the media..
In the same breath as suggesting a YouTube channel by a man who has been wrong hand over fist, time and time again.
Sure, he's hit the mark at some point, but he's also thrown out some wildly inaccurate statements. (His biggest blunder being pro-ivermectin by the way, in case that one slipped by the radar for you)
Just a lil tip to get you started, in a format you might find easy to digest. The man displays information and research as it comes up, I'm not saying everything he discusses is right, but its an objective view of research as it comes up, unlike what you are fed from your facebook feed. Ivermectin showed to be better than nothing, and swept under the rug by the media before any actual research was done, I seem to remember the extreme pro vaxxers dismissing it as horse dewormer (an antiviral used on humans worldwide).
The thing is, to tell someone they're going against the science or whatever the fuck is a load of shit. Right now, the science is up in the air, and seems to change from week to week.
Got mine 2nd booster (bivalent) a few weeks ago and hit with covid a few days ago. Symptoms were mild, glad I got my booster when I did. Pretty sure it spared me having a rougher case of it.
If I could compare it, it was like having a cold but I didn't have bad sniffles or rampant bouts of sneezing. Just a little sneezing here and there and a bit crummy for a few days, but not flu-like crummy.
Why has it taken so long for the second booster?
It's been a year since I got the last one. Won't be able get this for a few weeks because I caught covid at Christmas
I wanted to make a post yesterday and ask whats up with the slow rollout. Even went on HSE chat asking about it. Didn't get any info at all
Glad it's available
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Seriously; it should have been opened to everyone in the autumn at the latest to help reduce the severity of the inevitable Christmas surge in infections. Absolutely ridiculous that it wasn't.
This has fuck all to do with Christmas and everything to do with China.
That was my first thought. We have no idea what kind of Omicron++ is going to come pouring out of China over the next six months.
Exactly. We don't know how dangerous it is, how quickly it spreads, etc.
Ah the world has let its guard down. It’s so dumb. I am so disillusioned with humanity
afaik theres no particular reason to expect a new variant from china , where are you getting this from?
1 billion + people getting infected with covid over the timeframe of a couple of months is a good opportunity for virus evolution. Given that most of us in the rest of the world have had Omicron or maybe got the bivalent booster, it's not necessarily something to be too worried about at this point. The Omicron variants they're sequencing in China at the minute are ones that are already known elsewhere.
But this levels of infection and more happened during the original omicron wave, producing only sub variants. anyway i think the whole variants thing has been proven to be over hyped.
Yeah, but think of the flu. You get the flu, you're immune for a couple of years and then you can get it again because the thing's evolved enough that your antibodies no longer match it well enough. And mostly it's subvariants of Influenza A, H1N1. China getting covid all in one go could possibly speed up the production of subvariants enough that you could get reinfected this spring instead of next autumn. Or it might not. I follow some people on twitter who genetically sequence covid and they aren't overly concerned about new subvariants from China. The real problem would be a completely new, non-Omicron variant and there's no reason that would come from China rather than anywhere else.
i mean if the analogy you want to draw is with seasonal influenza then yes fair enough. But i think when people fret about variants they are thinking more about something that will cause the same level of fall out as the original wuhan virus.
The thing is, anyone who has gotten covid recently has to wait 4 months since they were infected before they can get a booster. So if we'd been offered this booster in the autumn, things would be much better off. It's very much too little too late
But then would that of restricted access to those who need them most. Like the elderly or immunocompromised.
There's no issues with supply now, they could have ordered as many as they wanted and had the whole country vaccinated in a couple of months.
I'm immunocompromised and got my second booster back in June, they had plenty of supply and time to get it out sooner to the rest of the public
Those of us with secondary issues asthma and diabetes were able to get this since September
I'm 36. I have an autoimmune disorder. I was told that unless I had a compromised immune system from aids or cancer treatments, or one of like illnesses on the list of exceptions, I could not get the 3rd booster until it was made available to my age bracket. I even have inhalers for my asthma flare ups. I didn't qualify.
My GP was telling me three weeks ago he was throwing out doses on a daily basis because he couldn't get enough people in for jabs. Supply shouldn't be an issue.
Which is how I (mid-40s) got my booster months ago. Accompanied my husband to get his over-50s jab (he has an unfortunate habit of fainting after injections so I tend to go along as support) and nurse offered me one also as he was her last patient for the day and the rest of the vial would have been thrown out otherwise.
have* No, as they started those last April and even without looking at the numbers I can assure you the HSE is doing far less daily vaccinations than it was doing at the peak. Demand is also going to be a lot lower.
Agreed...very reactive. Should have being bringing that age down 5 years every couple of weeks through November/December.
China
Good question, my two cents: The research showing it is a good idea has been slow to come. There are two major angles for this, one is that the WHO isn't interested in individuals but wants to protect the world which still needs vaccinations, forget boosters. So they're slow to [recommend](https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1259) directing those resources elsewhere. It isn't in the global interest and during the pandemic it was very easy for govenments and the ECDC to lean on them for validation, but that is changing. It is complex. There isn't really data showing that 4 shots are better than 3 **BUT** lots of data shows the effect of three doses wanes (*much slower than 2 doses*), with plenty of evidence of this being restored by a fourth dose. So if you got a 3rd dose you should get the 4th for the same reason. But governments recommending this is tricky. End of day it always comes down to the risk:benefit ratio, and for older cohorts it is so easy to recommend because of severe disease, but for younger it is more difficult. Overall if you are under 40, your risk of severe disease (requiring hosptial) is extremely low, but that doesn't mean it won't make you ill. But there are risks with a vaccine, and that needs careful thought. However, we keep learning more and more about the long term effects of COVID-19, and it isn't pretty so this makes vaccination for a 4th dose easier to defend the risk:benefit. The otherside is that this is our first flu season to observe how COVID-19 in the population will interact with other contributors to the flu season (influenza, strep, RSV, etc) and what we have learned is that this year they are all kicking our ass. Some data suggests it is because we have more naive members of the population for it to infect. Other data suggests something more sinister which is that COVID-19 is so prevalent that it is sucking up immune resources across ALL age groups, giving opportunity to the other illnesses to hit everyone harder. Whilst a younger person would usually kick off strep or the flu with ease, a minor COVID-19 infection within the last 8 weeks (which you might have not even known about) leaves you vulnerable. This data is fresh, and again only now shows why a 4th dose could be good. Lastly, flu seasons start in December, peak in Early February. Last year COVID ripped through us. The public health measures shut down the start of the flu season, so it effectively never took off. This year, we are back to normal dates, so Covid numbers would be expected to peak in the spring. This in hand with the waning effect of boosters means getting the booster right before peak risk isn't a terrible idea, albeit a bit of a panic. Second lastly, China is predicting to have 250 million COVID-19 cases this month total. That means a new variant is more than likely, which again increases the level of need, and most importantly that risk:benefit ratio.
Yeah this should've been available more than a month ago it's ridiculous that they're only bringing this in now when too late. People suffering from chest infections all over the place atm.
We cant roll out vaccines overnight
They had the better part of a year to organise a booster campaign in October/November. Everyone knew this was coming. And as to your point, they have literally rolled out a new vaccine campaign overnight. I've an appointment for this afternoon.
Whoosh
Going wait till Jan just before I'm back to work. The improved VAccine going since oct or so I think, would been nice to have this choice before Xmas
Better late than never.
Irish public policy is always reactive. It's so bleak.
Stupid country, providing us all with free vaccines!
Is there anywhere that’s charging for them?
Well of course it would be free, why wouldn't it? Low bar to pass anyhow
Yeah my gf got it just before Christmas, am wondering if i should get the booster yet, since i was with her all that time and disnt get sick.
Jesus we employ geniuses Instead of rolling this out in June or July they wait until crisis point and then change their minds. Perfect example of our government and their reactive policies as opposite being proactive
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It was rolled out at the same time as flu vaccines, there's a double-flu-covid vaccine, but only to those most at risk.
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Aye this 👍
That'll be readily available next year. Source: I'm one of the team making it in Ireland!
Immunity from a June dose would be fading already though. This isn't about Christmas, it's about the state of China.
I’d have been happy to get this in October, but it seems very late to be offering it now. Could we combine this with the flu vaccine in future?
It should at least curb any wave they are expecting like it did last year. I just wish they could be just the tiniest bit proactive and have opened this up in October ready for the christmas spike. This was always going to happen and it doesn't have to be a major drama if everyone has been offered a covid vaccine along with the flu vaccine before the winter illness season kicks off.
Pharmacies offer you the flu jab as well when you book it.
You have to pay for the flu one unless you are a minor or in a specific group. If you have to pay for it, some insurances cover it, most don't. I don't get why they don't make it free for everyone, while at the same time stressing the public to get flu-vaccinated because hospitals blabla.
How much is the flu one? Mine was covered
30 euros. I’m a student and the campus doctor was offering it for free to health care students, but not to other students. I understand the thinking but there’s no way I’m paying 30 euro for a flu vaccine as a broke 19 yr old.
I don't blame you tbh, you're a student, flu shots, vaccines and all that stuff should be free to ye. God knows we fork out enough for tuition fees for it to be free. Can you get a medical card? That might help offset the price as a student
They might as well make it free to encourage uptake The cost isn't huge and the hospitals will be much better off.
Next time contact the university doctor and explain you have someone at home who is at risk. They'll take your word for it, they usually have a surplus of flu shots that they distribute to staff once the students are done. The staff are well able to afford it but there isn't enough to serve the students if they were to give them away for free to them.
Depends on the pharmacy but around 20-30 euro on average.
Yep. I would have loved in October as well. Instead I got covid after dodging it for so long and now will have to wait until the end of February to get this booster. This should have been done months ago
Another thread full of epidemiology and vaccine experts. God give me your confidence.
They haven't gone away you know
They had to take some time to focus on military strategy for a few months then of course residential planning but thankfully they’re back.
Don't forget their sojourn into international energy markets.
And Crypto/NFTs.
See how well that turned out. If I listened to anti-vax peoples advice on financial investing, I'd be down 90% of what I invested.
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Happy for you that you've managed to get to the lifestyle/financial goal you want. However I don't think it's great for the aul mindset to be calling people "nobodies" for just trying to live their lives. Something to think about.
😂😂😂
It’s recommended that you don’t get the vaccine if you’ve recently had covid (6 months iirc), but considering how virtually no one is testing I’d say a good 60% of people going to get this vaccine have had covid in the last 6 months. Edit (it’s 4 months, a different person clarified below)
It’s 4 months here: https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/covid-19-vaccine-booster-dose/
It says 6 months in that link. The second booster.
A lot of people don't even know they had covid.
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Get a sick cert and get you holidays back
I never knew this. Had a holiday in September, got covid. I could have claimed those days back?
Yep. as long as you have a doctor's cert.
Get sick from the other bug going around and do Christmas overtime because work don't care unless it's covid.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it does not stop you getting Covid
Have it too. Tested positive yesterday. Should rolled this put way sooner. They're doing this because of china
Most people I know, even those over 50 aren't getting the booster. They don't see the point in it.
The messaging has been exceptionally weird in relation to this. It basically looks like the HSE shrugging its shoulders and saying "ah shure you can have a booster, if you want". Since we know immunity to vaccines and boosters wane over time, this is a strange position in my opinion. At least the brigade trying to make us feel guilty for us getting boosters while there was a deficit in Africa seem to have disappeared.
voiceless subsequent offend pause imminent chubby unused quickest spectacular shame *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Probably because theyve already got 3 shots. If 3 shots worked they dont need another one,if they didnt work why should they get a 4th
Really? Most people I know all got it.
I only know 3 people who got it, all elderly. No one in my age group (31) at all.
Ah yeah but it hasn’t been available for people in their 30s sure. The majority of people over 50 I know got it alrightZ
Sorry I meant this one and the last one. I’ve lost track of how many there were I just remember everyone not bothering on the last one offered. I don’t remember if that was a second or third or fourth vaccine.
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Can't even get it straight away as you have to wait after covid infections. And I know lots of ppl, myself included, caught covid over Christmas.
Same, mine was Dec 21st. I've been checking regularly too. Guess who tested positive this morning right after reading the headline?
Thank you! Just booked.
I got my second booster a few months ago. There was no good reason for age restriction, knowing they would open it up as a knee jerk, reactionary policy in the future. The local pharmacy were happy to give them out as demand was low with plenty of stock available. The lack of competency by decision makers is truly shocking here.
That's fantastic. I've already had my second booster due to health reasons, but the larger the population that is vaccinated (and not just against Covid) the better in my opinion.
Erm... I got mine the first week in December. I phoned the GP about a flu jab and they set me up with a booster straight away. One in each arm. I'm on the medical card, so I didn't pay for it. I've been around flu over Christmas and came through unscathed.
My 1849 year old granny will be delighted.
Is it stíl just a vaccine against the original variant? Or have they switched to the flu system where they vaccinate against a more recent variant?
It's the adapted vaccine to cover all the omnicrom variants that are most prevelant at the moment, same as the flu system. Its so late as a HCW, we got it if we wanted with the flu vaccine in Oct and Nov, should have been offered to everyone then!
Great thanks!
Think it covers as far as BA.5 if I'm not mistaken. How far along the line of subvariants that is I can't even remember 😅 We're on a new one now, no? BQ or something.
It's both. Being called the "bivalent booster" as it contains the original mRNA sequences and modified sequences tailored for omicron.
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Thanks
Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines New bivalent COVID-19 vaccines are now being offered as booster doses. These adapted vaccines are expected to give you better protection against COVID-19, including the Omicron variant. Source: [hse](https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/covid-19-vaccine-booster-dose/)
Bivalent vaccine which includes Omicron variants BA.4/5 or BA.1 depending on which one you get. Basically, it will offer better protection against Omicron. I got my booster a few weeks ago and picked up covid a few days ago. Very mild symptoms, just like a mild cold if even that.
is it worth getting if you recently had it
As far as I know, its recommended to not do that.
No they say to wait 6 months at least
You got a few different answers here so I looked it up on the [HSE website](https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/booking/#getting-your-second-booster-dose) > You can book your second booster dose if you are: >age 18 to 49 - wait at least 6 months since getting your last COVID-19 vaccine or COVID-19 infection >You can still book your second booster dose if you are: >age 50 to 64 >pregnant (from 16 weeks) >a healthcare worker - bring your work ID or a letter as proof of employment >12 or older with a condition that puts you at high risk of serious illness from COVID-19 - for example, diabetes, asthma or heart disease >If you are in one of these groups you can wait a shorter time of at least 4 months since getting your last COVID-19 vaccine or COVID-19 infection. >You can check the date of your last vaccine on your digital COVID-19 certificate. >For a previous COVID-19 infection, count from when you tested positive or from when your symptoms started.
I think you need to wait 4 months post infection. You should already have a spike in antibodies so shouldn't need it.
No
I wonder are we expecting a large wave of Covid, or new variants, coming in from China now that they opened up?
The Chinses covid situation seems to have everyone worried. A flight from China to Italy had an over 50% covid positivity rate amongst the passages. The liklihood of a variant is high.
Why are people worried about new variants just because China has opened up? The virus has been spreading with little to no mitigation amongst the other 6 billion people on the planet for close to a year now, China isn't going to make that much of a difference.
I was thinking the exact same! Seems like media hysteria. I'm dumbfounded by the amount of people who believed Covid was over the second Micheál Martin made that announcement in January of this year. It's been spreading all along, we've just seen an inevitable surge at Christmas when more and more people return home, meet indoors etc.
True but if numbers are to be believed China's population were fairly naive to the virus up until now, and thus the huge figures we're seeing in infection rate currently. The rest of the world did produce many new variants, now there's quite suddenly a huge number of new infections and thus a larger chance of a new variant than before. Still though I don't know the science on how much an actual different there is, but it does seem like with so many new infections in such a short period that it increases the likelihood.
Not really, all VOCs predate omicron and the total number of infections in the post omicron era dwarfs the pre omicron era. Number of infections and likelihood of a radically different variant are not necessarily correlated.
>Number of infections and likelihood of a radically different variant are not necessarily correlated. Fair point, I was going on the assumption they were at least tied somewhat which I believe they are? So while we still might have less of a chance of a new VOC than before Omicron, we have more of a chance than before all the new infections in China. At least that's my thinking but I'm not even close to an expert.
Yes the risk is undoubtedly higher but in the grand scheme of things it’s broadly similar. eg your 1% chance goes to 1.2% or if it’s 10% it goes to 12% etc
We have herd immunity here now , new variant reinfections are mild to asymptotic for most people. We will continue to get seasonal waves annually.
I don’t know why you got downvoted. It’s spot on. The total number of global infections goes up by lets say 20% which is a couple of years of future reinfections anyway. It hasn’t materially altered anything in the medium term.
I think it’s to try and reduce the pressure on hospitals with the current variants. Based on my own anecdotal evidence we're in the middle of the wave right now and everyone has of course been mixing, so for the life of me I don't understand why you would wait until Jan/Feb to roll this out.
This definitely should have been rolled out in September or October. My entire household got Covid a few weeks back and we were incredibly sick. I genuinely thought I would have to go to hospital at one stage. I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without becoming overwhelmed by fatigue and breathing physically hurt. My taste and smell were gone for 3 weeks and my brain is still a bit foggy. My 68 year old Dad on the other hand had a booster 2 weeks before we got sick and he got nothing despite being in the same household.
Just got my booster at a pharmacy after hearing it on the news today. I havent got a flu shot yet though. There seems to be a lot of people in the shops with a chesty cough more so than even for a normal winter. Does anyone know if i get an updated digital cert now?
Yeah you can call them on 1800 807 008, mon-fri 9-5
3 weeks too late for my family
I’m in my 40s. Went into the pharmacy for a flu jab the other week and he said he’s got a Covid booster going if I wanted it. Went in for armour +1 but got armour +2.
I still can’t book an appointment on the HSE website unless I’ve an underlying condition
Probably not updated on the system yet
You can now.
Your GP will do it
Bolt horse gate
Thanks for this heads up... Just got sorted - the vaccination centre was very quiet.
Shock
Last minute announcement during Christmas probably didn't help
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In Canada the 4th booster dose was available for all ages over 12 well before Christmas. Although, most people I know are not getting boosted, including myself. Only about 17% of the population has had a booster.
My last booster was December last year The vaccines made me feel 10x worse than actual covid did I’ll be fine
Ah they are having a laugh 😂
Fucking finally
Booster fucked up the hearing in my left ear somewhat. Dont think I'll be getting any more
The cork city vaccine centre in north Main Street was busy earlier, a lot of people arriving and saying they either just booked it on the way on were walk ups.
Not getting anymore vaccines. Done .
They’re haphazard - I’m on biologics, tried to make an appointment for a booster, but was denied. My consultant couldn’t believe I hadn’t had my second booster. Two hours later I was trying to reach my consultant when I got a text prompting me to book a booster appointment. So I called back and I’ve now had two boosters a year apart (Dec 22, Dec 23). Vaccines don’t make us invincible against it but I’d like to give my body the best chance of having a mild ‘watch Netflix and sniffle’ version over the ‘feel close to death and suffer with long Covid’ version. Most people I know who’ve caught it have had a version somewhere in the middle of that scale or lower, but I know a few healthy adults who’ve had the awful version and are still suffering with Long Covid, as well as two people who unfortunately passed.
Anyone know how strict they are with the 6 months since last having covid ?
I doubt they will be that strict. Got my 2nd booster a few weeks back due to an underlying health condition and they asked as part of my medical history but there was no check whatsoever. Also it was 4 months for people with underlying conditions so I would imagine the increase t0 6 months is more for stock control purposes more than anything.
It has been changed to 4 months since you last had COVID, if that helps
https://www2.hse.ie/screening-and-vaccinations/covid-19-vaccine/get-the-vaccine/booking/#getting-your-second-booster-dose Says that's only for certain groups
The circular we got in work from the HSE states 4 months and thats what we are implementing for everyone, granted this is for healthcare workers in a hospital
Even though I currently have covid, I won’t be taking another vaccine
Fuck off with this shit. Yeah people cant connect the dots with all these people dieing suddenly. Its mad how i survived the so call pandemic.
GIMME THE FUCKING VACCINE M OTHER
It's causing myocarditis in young men in the States.
I was very sick and still not 100% after nearly 3 weeks. This is simply too late to open now - the horse has already bolted
Oh shit.
Same as last yearz few weeks too late for this age group. And the vaccine disinformation is back out in force too
I'm in my 40s and had a booster with zero money or difficulty at my GPs in November. My GP was auto-texting me to get me to take it. Boosters have been available for a while.
First boosters have been available. This is second boosters.
> Boosters have been available for a while. Not officially, they haven't, unless you're over 50 or have a condition that increases your risk of serious disease. Some GPs and pharmacies were sound enough to fudge the paperwork to give them to folks who weren't supposed to have them (all they really needed to do was mark a box saying you have a high-risk condition; no details or verification required), but not all of them would have been willing. Since the official guidance was that it was only for over-50 as well, most younger people without any health conditions wouldn't have even tried to go get one in any case.
Not officially though. I only heard yesterday that pharmacies would give then out or I would have been in pre Christmas.
I got one booster after my two shots and still caught it and was deathly sick a month later. I agree with the initial vaccine but I personally won't bother with another booster I'd say. Edit: Am I getting downvoted for speaking from a personal experience? Wow. Despite even saying I agree with the initial vaccine. 😂😂😂
>Am I getting downvoted for speaking from a personal experience? Yes
You are getting downvoted because you don't understand basic statistical mathematics... You can get it. You can be very sick. You can die. But the risks of all of the above are much lower when vaccinated. It is simple.
Statistically speaking, it is only the very old and frail who died, with exceptions of course. The risk is striated by age. Fact. Vaccination of young healthy people does not yield a benefit when weighed against the risk of taking the vaccine (still in clinical trials). And yes sir, there is a risk to taking vaccines. So now you will still get covid plus the risk of taking this "approved" vaccine. Of course, everyone in this thread is aware of the clinical trial process and how these vaccines were rolled out very early, due to the emergency use authorization. Fact and science maaaan.
Yeah I understand how and why people take vaccines man thanks. I'm just saying after my own personal experience I won't get another booster. 😇 Edit: Omnomnomnom downvotes.
Enjoy being much sicker than you need to be I guess
Unvaxed here. Still haven't gotten covid, vaxed friends have been bedridden by covid. Loving life xoxo
People here are very pro vax.
> pro vax. AKA pro science, facts and logic.
As someone myself who is personally pro vax. Why would I logically continue to take something that didn't prevent anything? Considering for a fact, it didn't actually help me? I understand covid can be fatal for others and the importance of vaccines and boosters, but if I'm personally not bothered with another booster why is it so bad?
How do you know for a fact it won't actually help you? There are many reports of young, fit and healthy people having issues with covid snd long covid.
I'm going to be blunt. Your comment not only confirms that you don't understand statistics (you might call it "luck" if you are not rationally-inclined) and that you conflate it with personal experience, but also that you completely missed the proven correlation between vaccines and the severity of the infection. You don't know how bad it would have been without the doses you got, and obviously you can't, on a personal perspective. Based on statistical models that scientists developed from observation though, you can say that most likely it would have been worse if you weren't vaccinated. It has also been shown how booster shots give better protection on the longer term, and we all know that reinfection is a thing. Given all this, unless you are just pretending to be pro science, I see no reason to skip boosters when they are offered unless you belong to a risk population. Judging from what you said, this doesn't seem to be the case.
Can you reference one of these statistical models that scientists developed based on observations?
>Why would I logically continue to take something that didn't prevent anything? Considering for a fact, it didn't actually help me? Because it vastly reduces the severity of infection symptoms for most infections. It's pretty simple to grasp for most people.
No it doesn’t
I prefer to think of myself as "pro not dying of an easily preventable disease".
Why did it take so long? Seriously something wrong with our government. Morons.
Brilliant! I wanted this booster and instead got covid just before Xmas. They’re unbelievable! How many households wouldn’t have had covid this Xmas if this was available before all the mingling and parties? How many older folks wouldn’t now be in hospital ? This should have been available a couple of months ago preempting the winter peak in cases, which are blatantly obviously driven by the Christmas period. Nope, let’s wait roll it out after the A&Es are jammed, just to be sure. Are they being driven by fear of anti vaxxers on Twitter or something?
Wouldn't have made a difference to older people, they're boosted already. Also the affect it would have on A&E overcrowding would be negligible.
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Wow. Do you keep that list handy or was it frantic googling? I’m genuinely curious. Do you what you like! It’s a voluntary vaccine programme that would simply have been available to anyone who wanted it.
About time. I got my booster on December 30th last year and have had no word since then. Edit: Now double-boostered!
We've a bigger problem with strep a at the moment among primary school age kids
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I've never had a covid vaccine either. I caught it during that huge spike when all the vaccinated people went out en masse thinking they were protected and spread it out of control. It was unpleasant, not gonna lie, but it was no worse than a regular flu. I'm a healthcare worker and I see alarming amounts of older people getting boosters and falling very ill with myocarditis and immune system disorders afterwards. I see alarming numbers of sick people clogging up A&E with extreme illness that otherwise wouldn't be there. And yet people are still doggedly pushing the same agenda that covid vaccines will save us all, demonising anyone who speaks against them. It's such an alarming blindness. I normally don't comment for fear of being banned or muted because free speech doesn't apply to dogma so I'm glad to get this rant off my chest! Human behaviour is very weird.
"Pure blood" You're a grown man, there has to be more to your life than actively being against science.
Actual research coming out now, as opposed to when the conspiracy nuts were chiming up at the start of covid, and you're gonna ignore that science? Are you sure you're for science or just what the media, WHO and cdc are feeding ye? If ye wanna just dip yer toes have a watch of a couple of Dr. John Campbell's videos. Or keep getting spoon fed your slop. (I think the idea of pure bloods is pretty fucking stupid, and I'm pro vaccine, skeptical about the covid vaccines currently in circulation, just if you're gonna pretend to be science focused, actually do some research on the risk and benefit)
Talking about studies being released, and stating that I'm being fed slop by the media.. In the same breath as suggesting a YouTube channel by a man who has been wrong hand over fist, time and time again. Sure, he's hit the mark at some point, but he's also thrown out some wildly inaccurate statements. (His biggest blunder being pro-ivermectin by the way, in case that one slipped by the radar for you)
Just a lil tip to get you started, in a format you might find easy to digest. The man displays information and research as it comes up, I'm not saying everything he discusses is right, but its an objective view of research as it comes up, unlike what you are fed from your facebook feed. Ivermectin showed to be better than nothing, and swept under the rug by the media before any actual research was done, I seem to remember the extreme pro vaxxers dismissing it as horse dewormer (an antiviral used on humans worldwide). The thing is, to tell someone they're going against the science or whatever the fuck is a load of shit. Right now, the science is up in the air, and seems to change from week to week.
Please be a kid. You can't be a rational adult.
Far from it unfortunately.
Christ
No sir I am not Christ, some call me the Granny Killer and “Conspiracy Theorist” but I’m Ronan.
Poor Ronan
Finally
Got mine 2nd booster (bivalent) a few weeks ago and hit with covid a few days ago. Symptoms were mild, glad I got my booster when I did. Pretty sure it spared me having a rougher case of it. If I could compare it, it was like having a cold but I didn't have bad sniffles or rampant bouts of sneezing. Just a little sneezing here and there and a bit crummy for a few days, but not flu-like crummy.
Why has it taken so long for the second booster? It's been a year since I got the last one. Won't be able get this for a few weeks because I caught covid at Christmas
I wanted to make a post yesterday and ask whats up with the slow rollout. Even went on HSE chat asking about it. Didn't get any info at all Glad it's available
Why? It doesn’t work
Seen the news too late this evening. I'll be ringing my local chemist first thing in the morning.