I hope that is true. The school email said that they were reacting to guidance that was issued to schools last night. If the gossip you have heard is true, then it further highlights the craziness.
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Not sure if already mentioned but Moderna’s vaccine has just been cleared for use in the UK. Expected to be available from Spring. Do we now have enough supply to ramp up delivery?
I think Government have set a target of vaccinating 2m people by mid Feb. Starmer is calling for a ramping up on that figure. One would assume if the doses are available, it should be relatively easy for pressure to be applied to the government. Likewise - one would think ramping up delivery would be in the government’s best interest - unlike as you have hinted there is still a belief in herd immunity in government.
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It’s a bit more than that…
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Fuck.
How many arseholes are still saying it’s just the flu and they won’t be taking the Bill Gates vaccine?
Fuckwits.
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I honestly don’t think they’ll pay a blind bit of notice to this.
All fake
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Thank fuck for that we can all go to the pub tonight.
This is interesting to me. There are experts and politicans in Germany/the EU who think the UK delay of doses is a good idea that should be copied, while I’ve also heard some stark warnings about it. It does seem like a bit of a gamble, but who knows… Opinions on that?
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Well, we know that one dose provides some immunity, but to get the full effect you need the second dose. So the tradeoff is fairly clear. You can provide some protection to 2x the number of people over the same time interval, which should save a number of lives. On the other hand, you are significantly increasing the exposure of the virus to the vaccine at less than optimal levels of effectiveness, giving any subsequent mutation that emerges that is resistant to the vaccines that much better of a chance to survive and spread.
I can understand the motivation, but it seems to me to be one of those situations where the escape is across a rickety bridge. If everyone runs, the bridge might not hold.
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All the experts I’ve heard talk about the delayed second dose think it’s an appropriate and intelligent strategy, to try and get as much immunity/resistance to as many people as possible quickly. I do wonder about the AstraZeneca one though, given that’s half a dose first up followed by a larger booster, right?
2million/week. We’re almost at 2million (total who have received the first dose) now.
2million/week is a reasonable aim, I wouldn’t want to see it any less. That should see large proportion of immunity/resistance by end of May.
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Delayed 2nd doses is madness. If it’s not done in a concerted organised fashion with the logistics necessary it could become a complete waste of time.
Hang on a minute.
What the actual fuck? They’re still open??? This is insane.
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Religious freedom, innit.
Can’t upset the religious types can we? Never mind the pandemic.
Not that I think the UK has handled Covid in any way but a disastrous way, but it is still different for AU. They do not have the incredibly entwined economy that the UK has to the same degree and they have always had an incredibly strict policy regarding biological organisms coming into their continent. Airport security in AU is rather different when it comes to such matters, as they put a very high priority on protecting their fauna from foreign organisms. AU is far more isolated compared to the UK.
So, while the UK has handled Covid atrociously, I don’t think one should actually make a direct comparison with AU and NZ due to different starting points.
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Outside the UK, there seems to be rather more criticism (which we have heard before in this whole ordeal). The WHO strongly suggests that any delay longer than six weeks between doses not be contemplated. The US FDA has shot down the idea completely. Broadly speaking, the epidemiologists seem to think it is a great idea. Immunologists appear to be split, and virologists are nervous.
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Until now it took 6 to 7 years to trial a vaccine before receiving final approval.
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Very disturbing.
In Norway, where we have far less infection, mosques and prayer houses have been the worst when it comes to super spreader events. In places of relatively high infection, they are all closed. I am genuinely shocked that religious temples are still allowed to be open in London. That it criminal by the government in my view and they should ideally pay a political cost for such incompetence since it kills an unknown amount of people. To kill even a single person by negligence is bad but can be forgiven if it’s mistakes etc., but this is systemic and highly illogical and someone should have acted ages ago.
Every religious person is able, in times of crisis, to pray at home. No one needs a temple every week.
All fair points and having lived in Australia I’m aware of the damage that non native species can do there and rightly so the their attitude towards protecting it.
To me, I found the story interesting because it illustrates a completely different political attitude to this virus. In my mind there was no reason why the UK couldn’t have done similar but it chose a different route and I’d strongly argue the incorrect one.
I prefer the solution that follows logic rather than… I don’t actually know what strategy we’ve followed.
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