Sir, – Prof Kingston Mills summarises the latest research on vaccination effectiveness, which anyone waiting for their second dose of AstraZeneca would be wise to read carefully ("Ireland's testing and vaccination policies must be reviewed urgently", Opinion & Analysis, June 22nd).
I fall into the 60 to 69 age group earmarked for AstraZeneca. By the time I received my first dose in May, it was already clear that mRNA vaccines offered superior protection and I would have much preferred to be offered Pfizer or Moderna.
Six weeks later, many of my friends in their fifties have been fully vaccinated with two doses of these gold standard mRNA vaccines.
My feeling of unease has increased, along with a growing anxiety that, as an older person, I am to be left less protected than my younger friends and family members, and much more vulnerable to the dangerous Delta variant now taking over in Britain and Northern Ireland.
Prof Mills references current research in England which reaffirms vaccine effectiveness of nearly 90 per cent against the Delta variant with mRNAs, as opposed to just under 60 per cent with AstraZeneca.
I call upon the authorities to change our vaccination policy (as a growing list of other countries are doing) and offer the AstraZeneca cohort a second dose of Pfizer or Moderna – or at least the choice. – Yours, etc,
ALICE LUCE,
Dublin 6.