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Do you have questions about a Covid 19 Vaccine?

Pharmacy news

30-07-2021

I’m Mitch Timms, pharmacist at Berwick Pharmacy and we are seeing first hand how interested many of our patients are in getting their Covid 19 vaccine. Lots of questions so here are a few of them with my answers. Please come into our our pharmacies at Berwick and Eden Rise if you need further information. Both pharmacies have been accredited to administer the Covid 19 vaccine (at this stage just the Astra Zeneca) and we are waiting now for the official starting date. You’ll be able to make a vaccination booking on our websites (Berwick Pharmacy or Eden Rise Pharmacy).

I’ll answer a few common questions in this post, beginning with the older ones.

1. COVID-19 is just like a cold or flu, why do we need to keep our distance and wear masks when we will recover in a few days?

Symptoms: Whilst the symptoms of COVID-19 present similiar to the cold or flu, it spreads much more rapidly, therefore higher portions of the population are infected, including out most vulnerable (the elderly), who are more likely to have severe symptoms, hospitalisations and die from COVID-19

2. Social distance and Masks: Whilst there is some evidence to suggest COVID-19 can be transmitted via air, the majority of transmissions is through droplets in the air, these are droplets that an infected patient expells from their mouth and nose can travel up to ~1 metre, this is why 1.5m distancing helps prevent transmission. Masks aid by trapping the droplets in the mask fibres and reducing the chance of transmission

3. I’ve been told to quarantine for 14 days, but I feel fine, why do I need to isolate if I don’t have any symptoms?

Whilst you don’t currently feel sick, you may become symptomatic in the next 11-12 days post exposure to COVID-19.

Some people don’t get symptoms, or only have mild symptoms, whilst they are still infectious, this can be passed on through fleeting contact with anyone else. Staying home for 14 days protects everyone, including your closest friends and family.

4. The vaccines have been rapidly produced, they have not been properly tested!

The vaccines have gone through the standard testing and clinical trial phases as any new medicine or vaccine must go through. Most of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines have used technology that was being used for other diseases. For example, the Astra Zeneca vaccine is a reutilised technology that was in production for SARS (SARS -COV-1), considering COVID-19 is SARS-COV-2, it is not a big leap adapting the vaccine.

The clinical trials have not been rushed, in fact, the clinical trials of these vaccines have incorporated greater numbers of participants in the studies, therefore the progression from Phase 1 trials to phase 2 trials then on to phase 3 trials could be accelerated. Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials were able to overlap because of the worldwide health crisis, but no shortcut was made in the evaluation of safety, optimum dosage or efficacy.

A cloth face mask needs to be washed after each use in order to do its job properly

Our Pharmacy Services

That means popping it in the wash with detergent and the rest of your laundry or running a bucket of hot soapy water and washing it by hand.

Cloth masks need to be dry to work effectively, so hang your mask out in the sun (if possible) or lay it flat on a clothes rack to dry.

Always wash your hands straight away after handling a used face mask, and remember: disposable masks cannot be washed or reused. They are made for one wear only, so put them in the bin after use.

The best Covid vaccine is the one you can get right now

Health & Wellness

Author: Natasha Yates

Assistant Professor, General Practice, Bond University

Reprinted from The Conversation

If you are 18 or older, and in an area where there is a COVID-19 outbreak, the best vaccine for you is the one you can get right now. That possibly means you should get the AstraZeneca vaccine, as Pfizer is still in short supply.

This updated advice was given by ATAGI (the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation), the government’s expert vaccine advisory body, on July 24. Why would it change to recommending either AstraZeneca or Pfizer, after months of preferring Pfizer for younger people?

More young people are being hospitalised, in ICU and dying during this current outbreak in Australia, where the Delta strain is dominating.

Whether this is a function of the Delta strain being more dangerous to young people, or because older people are (as a group) more likely to be protected by already being vaccinated, remains a subject of debate.

There is little argument, however, that the Delta strain is more infectious, which is why we want to vaccinate our population as quickly as possible.

So if you are 18 or older and have not been vaccinated yet, you may be asking whether getting an AstraZeneca vaccine right now is the right thing for you to do. To answer this we need to consider the benefits and risks of the AstraZeneca vaccination.

What do vaccines achieve?

When thinking about what any COVID-19 vaccine should achieve, there is an order of priority.

First, it should stop people who catch COVID-19 from dying.

Second, it should reduce risk of severe disease (symptoms bad enough to need ICU treatment).

Third, hospitalisations should go down.

It’s Red Nose Day on Friday 13th August

Health Weeks

Red Nose Day is major fundraising and awareness campaign for Red Nose. The First Red Nose Day was held in 1988 in Australia and since then it has become a beloved day for Australians to get silly and fundraise to help save little lives and support families.