Yep whichever way it would all help revive our economy…
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Something I cannot understand is why would not Government make it really prohibitive and difficult for people to at a whim leave the country for leisure travels. Sure you can go for a holiday on the ski mountains, you can go for a beach holiday etc, but before you leave, you are subjected to swab tests and you need to buy travel insurance up to a certain amount. When you come back, you need to be quarantined at your own costs at Stay In facilities for 14 days and if you are infected with Covid, you will bear the full cost of hospitalization and treatment and not eligible for subsidies. I know this might sound overbearing for some, but if education and communication worked for some sections of the community, many things would not have come to this stage.
And also those who talked about domestic tourism, you guys are right, its so obvious that you wonder what governments are doing. In Singapore where I can drive around the island in an hour, where a plane leaves Singapore airspace within 30 seconds of taking off, I wished there was domestic tourism like what UK would have and if this is not the best time to promote domestic tourism, I don’t know when that would be. Even in Singapore where I might think its futile but the government are giving free tourism credits for Singaporeans to book tickets to local sights or local tours etc just to try to do something. There is just so much that the European countries can do to promote domestic tourism.
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In the UK it’s a combination of a useless government with a libertarian twist and their arm behind their backs being held by thick back benchers that believe in economy over public health.
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Personally, I don’t think that the UK would respond by banning the export of crucial Pfizer components. We’ve got good supply coming on line very soon anyway (in addition to AZ, there’s Moderna as from next month) but importantly 180 million doses of Novavax is being made in Middlesbrough and the VMIC comes online this summer.
In the circumstances the UK are almost certain to use such an opportunity to show to large pharma that it’s a reliable partner, which will make it even more attractive than it already is for future investment.
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Fucking hell in one day it takes the Netherlands 3 to 4 weeks.
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Look on the bright side: you’ve got nicer beer.
Oh wait… 
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Well, I’m sure we have but that is not an accomplishment to brag about compared to your piss-warm ale… 
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Better fridges?
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Just watched the 4pm need and saw that there are many more cases of serious illness in healthy 30-55yo in Brazil suffering from the P.1 variant. That’s a serious worry. I saw a couple of days ago that Oxford are reporting that their vaccine offers some level of protection, as opposed to the S.A variant, so that’s some good news.
And for the bad news?
It still protects against serious illness and death though, and that’s the main thing.
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That is what I understood as well. I can’t quite understand why this is not being pointed out specifically as it is still providing significant protection against serious and life threatening illness. From my understanding as well we are never going to completely eradicate the virus and it’s going to be with us indefinitely in some sort of variant so if we’re protecting from serious illness and death with hospitals not being able to cope to where people might get it but be able to shake it off like how flu has become then surely that’s a huge step forward in being able to get our lives back and moving on. I’d personally wouldn’t mind getting the vaccine knowing that if I do contract the virus then I am more than likely to shake it off without getting seriously ill.
This is probably an oversimplification but just by the general math alone; between 1 and 2 percent die from the virus so if AZ has an 80% effectiveness from serious illness and death then thats a major drop from that 1-2 percent to 0.2 - 0.4%? I’m really not sure why AZ is getting such pelters for literally everything when Covid has pummeled the world into submission over the past year.
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The issue with the AstraZeneca vaccine for tackling the SA variant is that it’s not as good at reducing the load placed on hospital admissions as Pfizer and, in particular, Moderna. So whilst it should still prevent deaths the pressure on the hospitals may see them struggle with other illnesses. So ideally you’d target Pfizer and Moderna at SA variant hotspots although AstraZeneca will still absolutely save thousands of lives among those populations.
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I’m not sure there is evidence of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 preventing serious disease from the B.1.351 variant, at least not from this trial data. The Janssen vaccine? Sure. But not for the AZ vaccine yet:
The median age of the participants was 30 years, 56.5% identified as male, and the racial distribution included 70.5% Black Africans, 12.8% Whites, and 14.9% identifying as mixed race.
All 42 cases of Covid-19 were graded as mild (15 vaccine recipients and 17 placebo recipients) or moderate (4 vaccine recipients and 6 placebo recipients); there were no cases of severe disease or hospitalization in either group.
In addition, the demographic and clinical profile of the enrolled participants contributed to the absence of severe Covid-19 cases; hence, the trial findings are inconclusive with respect to whether the ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine may protect against severe Covid-19 caused by infection with the B.1.351 variant.
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Exactly what I’m watching now 
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Ultimately what it boils down to is companies manufacture vaccines not nations. The EU has not exported a single vaccine. Pharma companies have.
UK negotiated with AstraZeneca
EU negotiated with AstraZeneca
Dates are important. Because May 2020 it was well publicised that UK had secured a deal with AstraZeneca. It’s was quite clear a deal that gave UK priority. It was even on the UK government website that this funding gave Uk priority. Interviews with those from AZ and Oxford.
The EU vaccination procurement scheme was not formed till June 2020. They negotiated their deal late August 2020.
It’s revisionism the claims EU did not know about UK priority . Given the EU contract clearly accounts for this. 5.1 and initial doses to be produced in the EU. Not the EU and UK as per 5.4.
Given the US were always going to use executive orders for US priority. As they had been widely criticised for for PPE and various drugs. The UK had already guaranteed priority for AZ vaccine before EU procurement group had even formed. This was the backdrop the EU had to negotiate its contracts.
Not ideal but the reality. A reality known about from day 1 of formation. This means it could have been planned and accounted for. From bargaining chip in Brexit, to identifying or ensuring more manufacturing sites in the EU. To negotiating different deals with other vaccine suppliers.
Blocking vaccine exports is a result of poor planning and a last resort of earlier failures that lead to this point.
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