The Covid thread

[fazersharp]

Queen Ursula VDL appears be have made a laughing stock of herself. Critizing the UK for insufficient testing of the Oxford/Zeneca vac, then demanding that the EU isnt getting enough of it. If ever we should find ourselves with a surplus, I reckon we should help out the Commonwealth first

Oxford University designed the vaccine. AstraZeneca who are responsible for manufacture and testing, is a Swedish/UK company. A large part of the testing was carried out in Brazil and South Africa. Much of the Commonwealth, such as Australia and New Zealand hasn't needed to start vaccination, as they properly closed their borders early, rather than leaving it until the last minute.

Which brings me to something that occurred to me with the likes of Australia and new zealand largely successfully kept covid out of the country but then what - this virus and its mutations is here for ever. Are they going to be locked in their country for ever whilst the rest of the world has achieved heard immunity. This virus is going to mutate and mutate possibly into something massively more deadly than now and those populations have had no exposure to the original form and therefore have no pre existing immunity - however small it may be         

[agricola]

I believe that those two nations are more self sufficient, but will still have to vaccinate their populations at some point. Large land mass and small population id guess would be easier to control and manage any outbreak

[mtread]

You're not allowed into New Zealand with mud on your shoes. I'd imagine their entry requirements for Covid-19 will be very tough.

[fazersharp]

You're not allowed into New Zealand with mud on your shoes.

Is that because the whole country has just had a new carpet 

[mtread]

Reminds me of the joke about the police radioing in, having found a wife who had shot her husband for walking on her mopped floor. 'Have you arrested her?' says base. 'No, the floor's still wet'.

[fazersharp]

Reminds me of the joke about the police radioing in, having found a wife who had shot her husband for walking on her mopped floor. 'Have you arrested her?' says base. 'No, the floor's still wet'.

[agricola]

Reminds me of the joke about the police radioing in, having found a wife who had shot her husband for walking on her mopped floor. 'Have you arrested her?' says base. 'No, the floor's still wet'.

 

[agricola]

The death toll now stands at well over 100,000, now exceeds the number of civilian deaths in world war two of 70,000. Opening up after the first lockdown has proved to be an absolute disaster that will tkae us years to recover from. On a more cheery note, I reckon Ill get my shot sometime in summer (assuming Im still here)

[fazersharp]

I see today in the news its starting to come out about the side effects that I have been telling you about for weeks. But they are playing them down- calling them "mild" and saying 1 in 10. That is not my mates experience or their workmates It was 60% of them having side effects and needing between 1 and 2 days off work then out of that 60% about half needed up to 7 days off work. Symptoms worse than any flu they have ever had.
Just like I said the old uns seem to be totally untouched by any side effects and  as more and more younger get the vax these stories will come out more and more.

 Yes feeling like shit for a week and having a week off work is better than being dead.

[agricola]

I see today in the news its starting to come out about the side effects that I have been telling you about for weeks. But they are playing them down- calling them "mild" and saying 1 in 10. That is not my mates experience or their workmates It was 60% of them having side effects and needing between 1 and 2 days off work then out of that 60% about half needed up to 7 days off work. Symptoms worse than any flu they have ever had.
Just like I said the old uns seem to be totally untouched by any side effects and  as more and more younger get the vax these stories will come out more and more.

 Yes feeling like shit for a week and having a week off work is better than being dead.

As sais in previous posts, the development time for vaccines is typically around 10 years or so. Faced with potential masisve death tolls and economic impacts, govermnets and biotech companies have drastically shortened the development time of the Covid vaccine. Its inevitable something has to give, starting with the govt absolving the companies of any future liabilities for side effects. The backlog of work for the NHS will keep it at full stretch for years to come. Makes you realise just how fragile our existence as a species is

[fazersharp]

Here's something that doesn't add up, now that more younger people are getting the Oxford A-Z vaccine and reports of side affects are starting to be reported. WE are told "what that means is your body is creating an immune response. Now, that is what you want." Great. so by that rational why then is there no side effects in the over 65s - no side effects = no immune response ?.
 From my understanding of the review in the Lancet the Ox A-Z was only tested on 224 participants over over 70. And in total only 5 cases occurred in those participants older than 55 years of age. They state "Vaccine efficacy in older age groups could not be assessed but will be determined, if sufficient data are available, in a future analysis after more cases have accrued."
This from the BBC--
  The issue for some European regulators is that they think not enough of the AZ trial participants aged over 65 caught the virus to make conclusions on the vaccine's effectiveness. This is because only two of the 660 people in that age group were infected.
 It seems to me that boris is either taking a big gamble that the vax works as well on the old as the younger groups or is using the older groups as an extended trial to find out. Perhaps the gamble will pay off in stemming the amount of older ones dying from covid - something that has continually been blamed on boris and is I think a massive incentive for boris to push it out to the over 65s.

[agricola]

I've had my invitation from the NHS to a arrange for my vaccination arrive today. Earlier than I anticipated. I also did something that I never believed I would ever do last week, and paid for some private medical treatment, to relieve a painful reoccurring condition that has been getting worse and could have led to permanent a disablement. I had inquired and flagged this up last Sept with the NHS, but didn't really expect anything to happen until the backlog clears, so I bit the bullet and stumped up the readies

[Grahamm]

I've just checked the Calculator and I'm now due for my jab sometime after mid-April, so just a couple of months or so to wait...

[Oldgit]

Had me jab yesterday (pfizer) all ok.

[agricola]

I've had my invitation from the NHS to a arrange for my vaccination arrive today. Earlier than I anticipated. I also did something that I never believed I would ever do last week, and paid for some private medical treatment, to relieve a painful reoccurring condition that has been getting worse and could have led to permanent a disablement. I had inquired and flagged this up last Sept with the NHS, but didn't really expect anything to happen until the backlog clears, so I bit the bullet and stumped up the readies

Checked onto the NHS website last night, got in this morning at 9.25. So quick. Website was simple and worked fine, turned up at the site, very well organised and efficient, in and out in 15 minutes. 2nd shot in May. And a bonus, the private treatment appears to be working

[fazersharp]

I've had my invitation from the NHS to a arrange for my vaccination arrive today. Earlier than I anticipated. I also did something that I never believed I would ever do last week, and paid for some private medical treatment, to relieve a painful reoccurring condition that has been getting worse and could have led to permanent a disablement. I had inquired and flagged this up last Sept with the NHS, but didn't really expect anything to happen until the backlog clears, so I bit the bullet and stumped up the readies

Checked onto the NHS website last night, got in this morning at 9.25. So quick. Website was simple and worked fine, turned up at the site, very well organised and efficient, in and out in 15 minutes. 2nd shot in May. And a bonus, the private treatment appears to be working

From all accounts the whole process is very slick and efficient.
 I have a feeling that there are going to be issues with the second jab rollout. There is such a massive push from the gov to hit the target of 15M that all stops have been pulled out, to date less than 500,000 have had their second jab. I cannot see the second phase rollout to lower age groups continuing at the same pace as they rush to give the second dose before 12 weeks. Wouldn't surprise me if the 12 weeks gets pushed back "after new data shows its ok" 
 I don't think that any targets have even been announced for the next group vax.       

[darrsi]

Got a text at 4.35pm on Thursday from my doctors, had the Pfizer jab at 7.30pm the same day.
Bit of a dull pain in the arm on Saturday, a bit like if someone had just stuck a needle in you 
Other than that, nothing else to report!

Had a choice of 3 venues, and a lot of time spots in each to choose from. I chose Barnet FC where they were doing it, and it was all extremely well organised...apart from one thing.
AFTER the jab, they handed me a 4 page A4 size leaflet to read which was all about the vaccine. One of the first sentences, which was repeated later on as well, was "Read this leaflet BEFORE having the vaccine".
There may have been something in there that could affect your decision to have it done, like an allergy for example, so i did think that was a bit wrong.

[fazersharp]

Here it is in PDF form on the gov website -- why don't they publish this in all the media media outlets so people can read it before they get jabbed. For some reason someone somewhere has decided it would be best not to.
Patient Information leaflet of Pfizer Biotech Link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948518/Information_for_UK_recipients_on_PfizerBioNTech.pdf

[darrsi]

Here it is in PDF form on the gov website -- why don't they publish this in all the media media outlets so people can read it before they get jabbed. For some reason someone somewhere has decided it would be best not to.
Patient Information leaflet of Pfizer Biotech Link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948518/Information_for_UK_recipients_on_PfizerBioNTech.pdf

Don't know if it's a genuine oversight, or them just being a bit sloppy and forgot to give me it beforehand?
Everything else appeared to be really well organised.

[Dudeofrude]

Will be more interesting to see how the numbers continue after today. They have met their 15m target but I'm guessing it's going downhill from here onwards. The cuts will start soon, the waiting times extended, operating hours reduced etc etc
I just hope it's enough to get us out of this foccing lockdown 😴

[fazersharp]

I just don't think we are ever going to be able to keep up with mutations - new vax- mutation - new vax and by then some sort of heard immunity will of been reached and only the vulnerable will bother getting RE- vaccinated every 6 months.

[darrsi]

I just don't think we are ever going to be able to keep up with mutations - new vax- mutation - new vax and by then some sort of heard immunity will of been reached and only the vulnerable will bother getting RE- vaccinated every 6 months.

Exactly the same as flu or the common cold then!
No big deal.

[BBROWN1664]

Exactly the same as flu or the common cold then!
No big deal.

There is only a limited number of flu variants that they decide upon each year. Which one shall we release this year?

In other words, which vaccine have we got too may of and need to shift

[fazersharp]

Getting a little suspicious now - keep hearing "we don't yet know the effect the vaccines have on transmission"  just heard zad the vaccine minister say it again. 2 months and 15M arms jabbed and they still cannot tell us if the vaccine prevents transmission of covid or not. Yes there were positive noises about it being made a couple of weeks ago but its all gone quiet since.     

[darrsi]

Exactly the same as flu or the common cold then!
No big deal.

There is only a limited number of flu variants that they decide upon each year. Which one shall we release this year?

In other words, which vaccine have we got too may of and need to shift

It's very difficult to catch "full" flu. I've only had it twice in 50 years, and most certainly don't recommend it.
But remember, we never hid from it at all, like never!
No extra hand washing, no distancing and no mask wearing, it was always a hand up and a polite "Don't give me your cold please".


There are something like 200 viruses that give similar symptoms of the common cold, that's why we've never been able to pin that down to sort "it" out, because you never know which version you've got.


Read an interesting article yesterday that explained that the Spanish Flu never went away, it just went dormant. It basically said that every person who has had the flu ever since then up to now has had a mutated version of that same virus.