Covid-19 vaccine thread

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

it takes a pandemic to convince some people to wash their hands.

Mother in law takes hand washing as a personal insult.

 

[Ashiri]

The hand-washing thing should be simply automatic for everyone. I'm disturbed that, even today, it takes a pandemic to convince some people to wash their hands.

More disturbed that some are still not washing hands.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Israel has so far dosed over 523000 people with the Biontech vaccine twice.

From all these people only 544 catched up the virus, mean were infected. 3 had a mild form of the illness then, 4 a more severe one, 15 went to hospital for observation.

Nobody died from the disease.

https://www.zeit.de/wissen/gesundheit/2021-02/biontech-impfstoff-wirksamkeit-studie-israel-corona-impfung-virusvarianten?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-de-DE

 

[Innula Zenovka]

New Covid variant with potentially worrying mutations found in UK

Researchers say 32 cases of B1525 in Britain, with other cases in countries including Denmark, US and Australia

www.theguardian.com

Looks like mass annual revaccination programmes are going to be the new normal for the foreseeable future.

ETA: Covid-19 is going to provide an interesting question for the Intelligent Design folks -- I mean, here we have a virus demonstrably mutating and evolving in real time, as various strains reproduce themselves more or less successfully.

How's that happening? Or is it all Bill Gates, the Chinese, and some very advanced nano-technology? (And Soros and the international zionist conspiracy, of course)?

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Looks like mass annual revaccination programmes are going to be the new normal for the foreseeable future.

And an eventual certainty it puts my butthead in laws in the ground. I feel filthily ambivalent about this.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

So, again, people younger than me -locally- can get the vaccine, but spouse and I still can't get it.

 

[Roxanne Blue]

FYI to any friend who may soon need a mammogram; either get it before the vaccine or wait at least six weeks after. Latest advice from my gynecologist because lymph node reactions may confuse or distort the mammogram.

 

[Free]

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Zero is a number?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Ursula von der Leyen’s vaccine disaster has ruined UK ties, says senior MEP

Europe’s most prominent federalist has accused Ursula von der Leyen of overseeing a “diplomatic disaster” that has wrecked relations between the EU and Britain.Guy Verhofstadt, the senior liberal MEP

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link because paywall

Europe’s most prominent federalist has accused Ursula von der Leyen of overseeing a “diplomatic disaster” that has wrecked relations between the EU and Britain.

Guy Verhofstadt, the senior liberal MEP and former Belgian prime minister, attacked the European Commission president for making the EU’s vaccines “fiasco” worse with panicked measures.

Proposals personally driven by the leader of the European Commission to reintroduce a hard Irish border as part of export restrictions last month have, he said, poisoned relations with Britain and undermined years of work.

 

[Sid]

Zero is a number?

It is nothing, but a number.

 

[Sid]

Ursula von der Leyen’s vaccine disaster has ruined UK ties, says senior MEP

Europe’s most prominent federalist has accused Ursula von der Leyen of overseeing a “diplomatic disaster” that has wrecked relations between the EU and Britain.Guy Verhofstadt, the senior liberal MEP

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link because paywall

But her e-mails.

She made a mistake. Took it back swiftly. Apologized.
What is there more to do?

'Strangely' only still a topic in the British press.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

But her e-mails.

She made a mistake. Took it back swiftly. Apologized.
What is there more to do?

'Strangely' only still a topic in the British press.

Seems to be a topic, still, for Guy Verhofstadt at least.

I think all anyone can now do is recognise that her and the Commission's judgment and competence are now as distrusted in the UK, by former Leave and Remain supporters alike, as must be Boris Johnson and his government by the EU, and that the initial misjudgment and missteps in the EU's vaccine procurement policy seem to be creating serious tensions within the EU.

Jean-Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier always seemed, at least to Brits, to be safe pairs of hands, even though we may have disliked them as negotiating partners, and the realisation that, for once, Boris Johnson was one of the adults in the room has shaken people's confidence a lot.

Brexit was never going to end on January 1 this year -- all that represented was the start of a new phase in the process, since the existing relationships are still there, and changing and adapting to the new conditions, as they always will.

Britain's departure from the EU will inevitably mean change and destabilization within the Union, since one of the largest economies has just left, and is no longer a brake/restraining influence on, or obstacle to, various other forces in the Union. Combined with the disruption caused both directly by Covid, and indirectly by its economic and social consequences, that's bound to lead to somewhat unpredictable and potentially volatile outcomes.

How confident, for example, can we be that Macron will still be President of France after next year's elections? Reasonably so, I hope, but a lot of things had happened by the end of 2016 that I wasn't expecting in February 2015, and vaccine nationalism might easily become a potent disruptive force in France and elsewhere.

Basically, the EU and the UK are stuck with each other, one way or another, and we have to find a way to make the relationship work as things evolve, because we're never going to be rid of each other, no matter how much some people both sides of the channel might wish it were otherwise.

 

[Sid]

Basically, the EU and the UK are stuck with each other, one way or another, and we have to find a way to make the relationship work as things evolve, because we're never going to be rid of each other, no matter how much some people both sides of the channel might wish it were otherwise.

I totally agree with that, but the UK side still playing the "but her E-mail" card over doesn't really help.
To find a MEP or two on any subject with the same views as you favor or disagree with is easy for a newspaper or politician.
There are hundreds of them, so all flavors are represented I guess.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I totally agree with that, but the UK side still playing the "but her E-mail" card over doesn't really help.
To find a MEP or two on any subject with the same views as you favor or disagree with is easy for a newspaper or politician.
There are hundreds of them, so all flavors are represented I guess.

I'm sorry, Sid, but this doesn't look anything like "but her email" if you're British or Irish.

It looks like that only to people who aren't familiar with how dangerous a topic the Irish border is, in that it could so easily wreck the whole peace process, and the fact that the Commission blundered into such dangerous territory by neglecting to consult one of the parties most directly affected -- the Republic of Ireland, who would have prevented all this, had they heard about the decision before it was taken -- has certainly shocked me, since it's brought home to me the fact that the EU's current leadership is capable of the kind of missteps that previously I'd associated only with Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.

Obviously that's now history, and she's not going to make the same mistake twice, but the fact she's capable of making such a hasty and ill-judged move in the first place doesn't fill me with confidence in the future, any more than does Johnson's track record give me a great deal of confidence in his abilities.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I think that, until we change society, women will always have a problem where any mistake becomes a witch hunt, even if they own up to it and fix it.

Also, yeah, sure, right.... there was a plan... only give it to republicans.

 

[Sid]

Yes, we know about the situation with the Irish border. Ireland is an EU member, the UK was one. It was all over the news when the Orange marches took place, when there were terrorist attacks, Ian Paisley was a very familiar face on the European news shows, the IRA well known, etc.

But we had this all in the Brexit thread already.
So I deleted the rest of what I posted this afternoon in this post.

It is best that we agree to disagree on this one.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Ethnicity and poverty are Covid risk factors, new Oxford modelling tool shows

Campaigners demand black, Asian and minority ethnic groups have higher priority for vaccination

www.theguardian.com

Ethnicity and deprivation have for the first time been recognised as risk factors for severe Covid in new modelling, which will lead to nearly 2 million more people in England being advised to shield and 800,000 being fast-tracked for vaccines.

The risk analysis tool, commissioned by the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, from a team at Oxford University, takes into account a multiplicity of health conditions and circumstances that increase people’s likelihood of death, from obesity and severe mental health problems to homelessness.

The announcement prompted renewed calls from campaigners for black, Asian and minority ethnic groups to have higher priority for vaccination.

 

[Stora]

World's first human trials given green light in UK

Healthy, young volunteers will be infected with coronavirus to test vaccines and treatments in the world's first Covid-19 "human challenge" study, which will take place in the UK.
The study, which has received ethics approval, will start in the next few weeks and recruit 90 people aged 18-30.
They will be exposed to the virus in a safe and controlled environment while medics monitor their health.
The UK has given doses of a Covid vaccine to more than 15 million people.
Human challenge studies have played a vital role in pushing the development of treatments for a number of diseases, including malaria, typhoid, cholera and flu.

Covid-19: World's first human trials given green light in UK

 

[Romana]

So, again, people younger than me -locally- can get the vaccine, but spouse and I still can't get it.

As of this week I'm eligible, but there's nowhere I can get an appointment. Pharmacies are still only allowed to give it to 65+, which I'm not yet.
The state sites are booked up except for the ones hundreds of miles away.
My brother assures me that there will be me vaccine and more locations soon. I hope he's right.
I'm glad he, being a doctor, got his, at least.