This tweet reminded me of the post below from @Cologne-Liverpool
Hope he’s doing OK, haven’t seen him for quite a few weeks.
https://mobile.twitter.com/JamesWard73/status/1368637516086132743
1 Like
This is presumably a Brexit trade deal related move? I didn’t see the UK jump to offer other countries such as Thailand any vaccines when their supplies were reduced to satisfy the EU demands…
3 Likes
Well might be correct. Australia is one of the largest economy in the world afterall. And I was asking after Brexit that, on top of their historical links, UK, Aust, NZ and Canada might find an unlikely trade bloc appealing linking 3 of the world’s largest economies and with plenty of similarities.
2 Likes
Which economies are you positioning as “3 of the world’s largest”? The UK has already made a request to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership so this may be part of that. UK exercising some “soft power” which, historically, it has been extremely effective at.
1 Like
Uk, Canada and Australia. Plus NZ. Its quite loose in terms of geography but there might be some synergies like education sector they can use as a bigger bloc.
1 Like
COVID and population are intrinsically linked. Some examples?
USA population Density
USA COVID cases
France Population Density
France COVID cases
Nice little time lapse showing density overlaid with COVID cases in India
In the UK, almost all the population centres voted Labour:
England-Wales Population density:
England-Wales COVID :
In short, Conservatives or at least those who voted Conservative for Brexit, all live out in the boonies while Labour make up the cities.
As for Germany, its a bit of an enigma. COVID cases:
Sure, COVID cases certainly follow the metropolitan centres, but that is dwarfed by what has happened in Saxony. How many nations around the world have a true right-wing political party like this though? There is certainly a correlation between AfD and COVID given that population density or population centres are not significantly in play there.
2 Likes
Hi all, I gather there has been a fair amount of discussion of comparing the various vaccines to help make decisions on which one to take should you have a decision. I wont tell anyone how to make their decisions, but I would caution doing this by simply comparing the published efficacy rate obtained from the pivotal trials. Efficacy in a trial is a complicated metric that is defined differently in every study and obtained in different contexts across the various studies. I’m not saying one is not better than they others, but you simply cannot take the reported efficacy values of each and use that as an apples to apples comparison.
The reality is the trial data for the main 4 in use in the US, UK, and EU is considerably better than we had any right to hope for when the trials started, and the real world data is in many ways even more encouraging (e.g. effect on transmission, J&J’s success against the variants). As such, the vast majority of people should simply take whichever vaccine they are able to access the soonest.
Hope everyone is well 
10 Likes
It’s ok mate. We all understand you’ve been working very hard trying to help produce 50 billion vaccines to help save mankind.
1 Like
Welcome back, I missed you; (creep, creep 
)
Yes I was reading that if/when Sanofi get to trails again they will probably have to compare efficacity against vaccined peoples ‘antibody’ levels. Which really is an enormous difference to what the vaccines we are using now had available and used.
1 Like
The problem is I don’t think any countries are allowing their citizens to choose what vaccines to take at this point of time, isnt it? At best, countries will allow citizens to not take the vaccine but if you choose to take it, you cannot choose the brand. Maybe when the supply exceeds the demand, consumer choice can happen but for now, don’t think that will happen in the short term.
1 Like
Well, as you say, you can choose not to take it and many in the EU are choosing not to take the AstraZeneca vaccine.
1 Like
But is AZ the only vaccine approved now in those EU countries? I thought Pfizer is available already? Or you mean at the point of the injection when they are informed that its AZ, they changed their mind?
1 Like
Until recently citizens in some countries/states (eg Berlin) could choose.
Its also the union bodies (France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain). Because ordinary citizens have not wanted the AZ vaccine. It has been offered to doctors, teachers, police forces. These Unions have said they do not want their staff to have these vaccines. They don’t want what they perceive as a second rate vaccine.
Therefore roll out for high risk people has also been hindered. Many preferring to get vaccinated with general public so that they can instead get the Pfizer vaccine.
https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1368572532912250880?s=20
2 Likes
Can’t say I can understand their sentiments which might be valid in their opinions of course. Its unfortunate that politics has thrown a shade on the vaccines, not just AZ of course, but also like on vaccines created by countries like China or Russia. Whatever it is, I hope this shit is on the right path to recovery for all of us.
2 Likes
Unfortunately, after a steady fall in worldwide new cases since early January, we have an upwards trend again, since roughly two weeks. New variants kicking in for good?
1 Like
Grim. I honestly haven’t been looking of late.
Where are new cases rising the most?
1 Like
In the EU, cases in France are high. Also, cases in Italy are on the rise again and even Germany is showing worrying signs of an uptick.
2 Likes
Many sites in the US are offering a choice as long as supplies last, but I think the bigger application of my point is as Kopstar and ISMF allude to…being eligible for one vaccine now and declining it in favour of waiting to get access to a different one is a decision that it difficult to justify from an individual level (where all you care about is how the vaccination affects you) or a public health level (where the collective effort is needed to stamp down on transmission).
3 Likes
I know for some, this will sound like dictatorship but in Singapore, like alot of countries, the government says vaccination is not compulsory but for anyone who decides against it (except those medically not cleared to take it), cannot choose consequences like having more travel inconveniences etc. For anyone who decides to exercise their freedom to choose basically says to the government and the rest ‘I fuck care about the rest of people’ and that to me means the government needs to differentiate between these people and the rest when it comes to “life returning to normal” actions like no quarantine for travel etc
3 Likes
As long as someone gets it now, without delay caused by another rejecting it, then there should be no impact on the collective effort.
1 Like