COVID

Talking on the radio about vaccine passports again. And then talking about all the people getting antsy for their vaccine, as the more people get vaccinated ,the less they want to wait. Especially if vaccine passports mean people can do more things than those not vaccinated!

Talking on the radio about vaccine passports again. And then talking about all the people getting antsy for their vaccine, as the more people get vaccinated ,the less they want to wait. Especially if vaccine passports mean people can do more things than those not vaccinated!

One thing (maybe the only thing) the UK has excelled at in this pandemic has been vaccines. They pumped about 7 times more money into vaccines than the whole of the EU, started building the first UK AstraZeneca production site in Oxford without planning permission in February last year and are vaccinating around 2.8 million people per week. (latest 7 day rolling average is 430,532/day).   My wife and I are in the 65-70 group which has 2.9m people in it so when they start on our group it should only take a week before we get our first dose. I believe they will hit their target of offering a vaccine to every adult before the end of the summer.

I think that by the time countries are in a position to require vaccine passports for visitors then the UK should be in a good position.

I had heard that worldwide about 20% of folks would turn down the offer of being vaccinated. Recently a survey has found that 25% of folks in the USA and 40% in France say they don't want the vaccine. So not sure how well vaccine passports will work if a large proportion of the population is unprepared to be vaccinated.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/04/covid-vaccine-refuse-france-germany-us-quarter

Nearly four in ten people in France, more than 25% of those in the US and 23% in Germany say they definitely or probably will not get vaccinated against Covid-19, according to a survey that underlines the challenge facing governments.

Hesitancy was markedly lower in Italy (12%), the UK (14%) and the Netherlands (17%), according to the seven-country survey, which revealed a close correlation between people’s reluctance to be vaccinated and their trust in central government.

There are serious issues with vaccine passports, especially as it will take until 2022 for some parts of the world to even receive the vaccines (since other more well off countries bought the majority of production capacity). Then add in the folks who just can't get it for disability/illness reasons, and that's a lot of exclusion and access barriers. I prefer the need for a quarantine when traveling and wearing masks until herd immunity has been achieved, although the hotel quarantine the UK is implementing is expensive and will likely keep people from being able to return home. (unless they have financial assistance for it? I haven't seen that mentioned but I also haven't dug too far.)

Nodding my head with you Margo

One thing (maybe the only thing) the UK has excelled at in this pandemic has been vaccines.

Because Boris played a masterstroke when he decided to give the job of the Vaccines Taskforce, to the private sector. 
Yet another one of the vaccines being developed, that she told the UK buy early (60 million doses) is now looking very good in trials. Manufactoring will take place in the north of England.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/novavax-publishes-positive-efficacy-data-for-its-covid-19-vaccine


Don't forget too that the UK has the MHRA, one of the best, if not the best, in the world, which enabled the UK to approve vaccines earlier than other countries.  The EU lost the UK's MHRA when they moved their EMA out of London, to Amsterdam. The skilled staff the EMA employed came from all EU countries, but the EU lost a lot of these skilled staff as they did not want to leave the UK. They could easily find a job with pharma companies, plus the MHRA was recruiting.

Also the UK is one of the world leaders in genomic sequencing.

Trump ordering vaccines for the US from last May, put the US ahead too for vaccines. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/health/novavax-coronavirus-vaccine-warp-speed.html

In case it helps anyone, unpaid carers have been added to group 6 for vaccinations but that was done quietly so it hasn't been mentioned in most articles. Even though our spouses get zero support for us being disabled until ILR, you can still register them as a carer at your GP. Mine just had an easy form on the website to fill out.

Here's an interesting article about the not so great parts that Boris had to accept to get the vaccination triumph.  As the article says, "Sorry, but the reality is a little more complex – and not quite such a stunning UK victory"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/feb/14/brexit-britain-eu-covid-vaccination-fiasco

Here's an interesting article about the not so great parts that Boris had to accept to get the vaccination triumph.  As the article says, "Sorry, but the reality is a little more complex – and not quite such a stunning UK victory"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/feb/14/brexit-britain-eu-covid-vaccination-fiasco

It made me laugh. Is this the French guy that wrote it? https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2585206/

You can read the facts of how the EU got is so wrong, in German papers such as Bild and Speigal, or watch some of the speeches in the European Parliament. Anyway, Germany purchased more vaccines just for Germany, so they will be ok.

The owners of German BioNTech, that developed the vaccine being produced by Pfizer, gave their take on  what the EU did wrong; made large purchases from the French company Sanofi, whose vaccine won't be ready until the end of 2021 at the earliest; thought they would get enough, had it under control, etc. That by the time the EU realised that many could not produce in time, the EU had left it too late to place orders with others.


https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/biontech-founders-tuereci-and-sahin-on-the-battle-against-covid-19-to-see-people-finally-benefitting-from-our-work-is-really-moving-a-41ce9633-5b27-4b9c-b1d7-1bf94c29aa43-amp

Quite a few decent papers, in a few countries, refer to this interview and those quotes.

It made me laugh. Is this the French guy that wrote it? https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2585206/

You can read the facts of how the EU got is so wrong, in German papers such as Bild and Speigal, or watch some of the speeches in the European Parliament. Anyway, Germany purchased more vaccines just for Germany, so they will be ok.

Here is the story from the German paper Bild, with the EU letter.
With this letter by Jens Spahn, the vaccine disaster in the EU began
https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-inland/with-this-letter-by-jens-spahn-the-vaccine-disaster-in-the-eu-begann-74736986.bild.html


The Guardian author compared Denmark to the UK , stating "with 2.87% of its population fully vaccinated" and the UK only .80% of the population: Denmark only has a population of 5.8 million.    That would be 166,400 ish(?) second vaccines and the UK has given second doses to 539,630 people (according to the figures today): a smaller percentage of the population than that of tiny Denmark, but a far greater amount of people.

As for the authors take on smaller EU countries getting the vaccine, the EU were so late ordering that they don't have enough vaccines.

Denmark leads the EU in vaccinations against the novel coronavirus thanks to a swift and smooth roll-out, and even more people would have got the jab if it had more available doses.

So far, 2.2 percent of Denmark's population of 5.8 million has been vaccinated since the campaign began on December 27.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-denmark-eu-covid-vaccinations-smooth.html



It's not hard to understand that the earlier contracts are getting their vaccines first; the UK, the US (with Trump's "warp speed" for vaccine orders), Israel and Canada. Unfortunately, it seems that Canada are not getting their vaccinations that should have been delivered from the EU producers. India seems to have offered to help them.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/11/world/canada-vaccine-rollout-failure/index.html

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-02-15/indias-serum-says-will-ship-astrazeneca-vaccine-to-canada-in-less-than-a-month

It made me laugh. Is this the French guy that wrote it? https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2585206/

You can read the facts of how the EU got is so wrong, in German papers such as Bild and Speigal, or watch some of the speeches in the European Parliament. Anyway, Germany purchased more vaccines just for Germany, so they will be ok.

Well spotted Sirius.  Not just French, but with a listing on IMDB he must have no idea what he's talking about.  You've proven your own credentials with yet another blistering ad hominem attack. 

Well spotted Sirius.  Not just French, but with a listing on IMDB he must have no idea what he's talking about.  You've proven your own credentials with yet another blistering ad hominem attack. 

Lets just ignore the fact that the article was full of holes and seemed to pander to the those who are not so bright.

Seeing that in England they would hope to abolish contact limits by June 21st. But I don't even know if we'll be vaccinated by then. This has always been a big fear of mine! That they'll lift things and I won't be protected. I know people with allergies who can't get the vaccine yet are also worried. I know we can't live in a bubble forever, I just wanted to make sure that I have a vaccine before I am forced to interact again!

Seeing that in England they would hope to abolish contact limits by June 21st. But I don't even know if we'll be vaccinated by then. This has always been a big fear of mine! That they'll lift things and I won't be protected. I know people with allergies who can't get the vaccine yet are also worried. I know we can't live in a bubble forever, I just wanted to make sure that I have a vaccine before I am forced to interact again!

I don’t think you will be forced to interact with anyone. By April everyone over 50 will have been vaccinated and they will be most of the way through the rest of the adult population by June 21st. Remember that this is just a plan and there are many ways if might fail or be delayed including a significant slow down in vaccinations.

Vaccine schedule shown below

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55045639