When will this shit end?

[zahidf]

54 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

India's regulator have approved the oxford/AZ vaccine.

 

[Crazyfool01]

So what happened to the Oxford medicine that was just ready to drop into vials ? We are way short on the quantaties reported ready to go aren’t we ? 

[zahidf]

7 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

So what happened to the Oxford medicine that was just ready to drop into vials ? We are way short on the quantaties reported ready to go aren’t we ? 

4 million in vials ready to go once the batches are approved. 15 millions ready to put in vials. And then probably more Pfizer.

[DeanoL]

On 12/31/2020 at 10:34 AM, zahidf said:

Some of the stuff can be used. But the keeping people locked up in apartments at gunpoint is basically the main way they did it, and cutting down on all reporting on the issues.

They’re essentially having the same rules we do, they are just enforcing them

 

On 12/31/2020 at 11:41 AM, efcfanwirral said:

 

Problem with this is the same reason it actually would have been worse under Labour - the country is pro "freedom" so any attempts to lock down before there is overwhelming evidence that you definitely need to is going into the realms of authoritarian. For the Tories and their supporters, who make up the majority of this country, there needs to be numbers to support it 

If it'd been Labour trying to lock down in anticipation of something happening then compliance would've been too low and it could've been seen by many as the communists enacting the plan of control that they wanted to do anyway. This country was always a lost cause for stopping this virus because of the public. 

The stupidity and selfishness of many of the people in this country is why we are where we are. The majority don't believe in government control or being told what to do in any way, so no government could've stopped this without hugely authoritarian measures. The deaths and cases was inevitable here - lockdown too early and nobody complies and lock down hard too often and you'd probably end up with civil unrest and less restrictions overall. And those are the only options - we won't even accept proper quarantine of travellers so I dont know what chance we have in every day life 

Labour would have offered people money to isolate and I would posit as a nation we like free stuff more than freedom!

 

20 hours ago, RobertProsineckisLighter said:

No worries. I think it's too simplistic to think the government (as a collective)  didn't see increases coming with things like the return to university they would have seen it and they would have felt they could mitigate the risk due to the ages of those getting infected not increasing the pressure on the hospitals. Due to the demographics involved. 

The rationale behind eat out to help out was make hay whilst the sun shines - we don't know how many businesses have survived this long because of that scheme at the time that decision was made we coped with any increase it brought about. When you judge the decisions in the context of the time they were made they haven't been disastrous in the grand scheme of things (unlike the nursing home decision). 

A friend of mine is convinced his business would have gone under without the tiers because it allowed him some time to open and make some money to make some bills. Now he is back under Tier 4 he is worried for his businesses future again. He will not be alone. 

Personally I think the biggest mistake they have made lately has been London and the South East avoiding T3 after the November lock down why this decision was made we'll probably never know and how much of this increase down there now is actually attributed to the new strain. The way people move around the capital cannot have helped - but as I've said hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

To all intents and purposes the country is in a November style lockdown we will see in the next few weeks if it's harsh enough or not.

Obviously there are a few areas that aren't the majority of which have been under T3 restrictions for a long time. Does this show that T3 is in fact the balancing point between the economy and controling the virus? Are the tiers about right and it's just how we are allocating the tiers that needs refining?

Decisions are made at a point in time based on the information and the situation at that point in time. They are then judged in the context of what we know now, not what we knew then. 

I think it’s fair to say the government are balancing a number of priorities, including keeping people safe and the economy. Unfortunately one of the priorities they are also balancing is “how can we help our rich mates get richer from this?”

That’s the major problem. They will get some things wrong but have left themselves no margin for error by throwing money at their mates to do fuck all. 

[BobWillis]

8 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

So what happened to the Oxford medicine that was just ready to drop into vials ? We are way short on the quantaties reported ready to go aren’t we ? 

We’re short on the vials. AZ say they have 5 million doses ready to go. 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

8 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

So what happened to the Oxford medicine that was just ready to drop into vials ? We are way short on the quantaties reported ready to go aren’t we ? 

There are a million ready for Monday I think?

[Fuzzy Afro]

In other news, me and Miss Afro drank a litre of vodka between us last night. Feeling like a dog’s dinner today. 

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

There are a million ready for Monday I think?

Just seems like numbers are slipping maybe alcohol is still hitting me 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

Just now, crazyfool1 said:

Just seems like numbers are slipping maybe alcohol is still hitting me 

I think you’re right, looked into it and there are 4m doses ready but not enough glass vials, hopefully it’s something they can sort out as that would be mega frustrating if it’s what ends up holding it back!

The telegraph does say there are definitely now a million ready for Monday, though.

[Crazyfool01]

6 minutes ago, BobWillis said:

We’re short on the vials. AZ say they have 5 million doses ready to go. 

 

1 minute ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

I think you’re right, looked into it and there are 4m doses ready but not enough glass vials, hopefully it’s something they can sort out as that would be mega frustrating if it’s what ends up holding it back!

The telegraph does say there are definitely now a million ready for Monday, though.

Cheers 

[Lycra]

1 minute ago, crazyfool1 said:

Just seems like numbers are slipping maybe alcohol is still hitting me 

More like slipped! Huge numbers of doctors and nurses caring for covid patients still not been vaccinated.

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, Lycra said:

More like slipped! Huge numbers of doctors and nurses caring for covid patients still not been vaccinated.

Yep 😞  it’s horrid ... hopefully the next week should put a big dent in that 

[zahidf]

4 minutes ago, Lycra said:

More like slipped! Huge numbers of doctors and nurses caring for covid patients still not been vaccinated.

NHS staff starts with Oxford on Monday? 

[zahidf]

 

 

Going well in America 

[Guest]

My Gran is in her mid 90s and her care home said they aren’t getting any vaccine till February. They haven’t had a single case in their home so they reckon it’s because the government think they don’t need it. 

[zahidf]

 

[Toilet Duck]

36 minutes ago, Sasperella said:

Hi Lycra! I always appreciate reading posts from you, Toilet Duck and others with a bit more inside knowledge 🙂

I keep hearing people say "reinfection is incredibly rare", but surely it would be at the start of a pandemic? It seems kind of obvious that as immunity wears off over time, we could start seeing people who were infected at the beginning becoming reinfected. There is going to be little evidenc yet, but we do know that people can be reinfected...so presumably over time the number of cases will increase?

What people really mean when they say reinfection is rare is that symptomatic reinfection is (so far) rare (we really don’t know how many people get reinfected but remain asymptomatic). Given the repeated exposures to large viral loads frontline healthcare staff face, I’d be surprised if they didn’t get reinfected. But, as @Lycra says, at that point, you hope our immune response kicks in and stops it before it progresses to disease (and so far, our immunological memory looks robust out to 8 months and growing). Even those that get vaccinated can still pick it up, but again, the protection from the vaccine is intended to prevent it getting a foothold (Which is exactly what we see in the trial data). Our immune response is complex, lots of things influence how well it works (including the time of day and the time of year, your general well being, sleep, alcohol consumption, loads of things). Frontline healthcare staff are flat out and probably looking after their patients better than they are looking after themselves, so if anyone is going to get a second bout of COVID, it’ll be them. They were asked to go into harms way with inadequate PPE at the start of this, now they are being asked to deal with it without vaccination (I know it is coming, but as quickly as possible would be better!). 

[eFestivals]

45 minutes ago, zahidf said:

Tampon tax in the UK has been scrapped

Wayhey, the Brexit bonus!

[Simsy]

2 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

Wayhey, the Brexit bonus!

Yeah, just a shame we've screwed over the women who are still in the EU. From the guardian:

...in 2016 – under pressure from the then prime minister, David Cameron, the European parliament had voted unanimously to start the regulatory process to allow any EU country to abolish any tampon tax.

“That process has since gone cold, because we then left the EU and we were the ones pushing for it,” said Coryton. “So if anything, actually, Brexit has made it worse, because if we were to have stayed in the EU, then this piece of legislation would have gone through… then any EU member would be able to axe the tax, not just the UK.”

And from the same article:

Since 2015 the £15m funds the tampon tax has raised in the UK have been directed to women’s refuges and domestic abuse charities. “The tampon tax has long been a symbol of policymaking based around men’s needs, so removing VAT is symbolically important,”’ said Mary-Ann Stephenson of the Women’s Budget Group. “But the tampon tax money has been an important source of funding for the women’s sector – the government needs to be clear about what will replace it.”

[Sasperella]

31 minutes ago, Toilet Duck said:

What people really mean when they say reinfection is rare is that symptomatic reinfection is (so far) rare (we really don’t know how many people get reinfected but remain asymptomatic). Given the repeated exposures to large viral loads frontline healthcare staff face, I’d be surprised if they didn’t get reinfected. But, as @Lycra says, at that point, you hope our immune response kicks in and stops it before it progresses to disease (and so far, our immunological memory looks robust out to 8 months and growing). Even those that get vaccinated can still pick it up, but again, the protection from the vaccine is intended to prevent it getting a foothold (Which is exactly what we see in the trial data). Our immune response is complex, lots of things influence how well it works (including the time of day and the time of year, your general well being, sleep, alcohol consumption, loads of things). Frontline healthcare staff are flat out and probably looking after their patients better than they are looking after themselves, so if anyone is going to get a second bout of COVID, it’ll be them. They were asked to go into harms way with inadequate PPE at the start of this, now they are being asked to deal with it without vaccination (I know it is coming, but as quickly as possible would be better!). 

Ah thank you - of course, 'symptomatic reinfection'! This makes more sense now 🙂 

[steviewevie]

 

[Mr.Tease]

1 hour ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

I think you’re right, looked into it and there are 4m doses ready but not enough glass vials, hopefully it’s something they can sort out as that would be mega frustrating if it’s what ends up holding it back!

The telegraph does say there are definitely now a million ready for Monday, though.

Glass vials shortages was flagged as a possible issue regarding the challenges should a vaccine be found months ago (I remember reade the article) - you'd hope they'd have plenty of forewarning about this and have taken steps, but then again... 

[steviewevie]

 

[zahidf]

 

[steviewevie]

8 minutes ago, zahidf said:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/01/france-to-step-up-covid-jabs-after-claims-of-bowing-to-anti-vaxxers