Re: We're all doomed! Doomed I say- the Corona virus thread for panicking in!

[halfwise]

Unless Biden pulls off a miracle in this country I don't expect to get it until summer. In the 2 weeks since the vaccine became available they got 1% of the population. I expect the pace would pick up regardless, but even if they increase the rate by a factor of 10 that's still only 20%/month.

[Mrs Figg]

I reckon as soon as Biden takes over that this is the very first thing he does before the ink dries.

[halfwise]

Yes he will, but it's trickier to guide an arrow once it's in flight.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{Seems the mix and match story about UK vaccines is not accurate-

'The editor of the British Medical Journal has asked the New York Times to correct an article that claims UK guidelines allow two Covid-19 vaccines to be mixed.
Fiona Godlee said there was no such recommendation to mix and match.
She said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) does not make any recommendation to mix and match.
Dr Mary Ramsay, Public Health England's head of immunisations, said: "We do not recommend mixing the Covid-19 vaccines - if your first dose is the Pfizer vaccine you should not be given the AstraZeneca vaccine for your second dose and vice versa."

It seems the confusion arose from the following-

'on the "extremely rare occasions" where the same vaccine is unavailable or it is unknown which jab the patient received, it is "better to give a second dose of another vaccine than not at all".' }}

[Mrs Figg]

I think the government has deliberately put out ambiguous messages because they don't have enough doses and think that people wont ask which one they have had.

[halfwise]

Ah yes, in the hamster wheel that vaccinations are sure to become it will be easy for people to lose sight of which one they got.

[Lancebloke]

The last message I saw was not ambiguous at all. It said doses would not be mixed.

The whole 12 week thing has been a u-turn though. That is more about the amount of doses that they have and giving as many people most of the protection rather than half that number the full possible protection.

[Mrs Figg]

and that isn't confusing for your average punter?

[Lancebloke]

Time for actual lockdown 2.0! 6 weeks to stay at home (not that I went anywhere anyway).

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Yup back in lockdown here too.

Though noticeable difference in how our relative countries leaders announced it.

Stugeon told Scotland by talking for 95 minutes, explaining why it was necessary aspect by aspect, how long they felt it might need to go on for, what schemes were in place to help buisnesses and individuals affected and about schools, gave the scientific advice she was acting on, spoke of plans for the speed of vaccine rollout, and voiced her own frustrations at having to take these actions again but why they were necessary, and then took open questions from journalists.

Boris told England by speaking for 8 rambling minutes and buggering off. }}

[Mrs Figg]

He also forgot to mention the 22 billion pound track and trace system. Odd that isn't it. I wonder where 22 billion quid have gone, is it offshore? its yet another scandal to add to the rest.

[halfwise]

Does it actually take 95 minutes to explain this a population already familiar with this kind of thing, or did that include question and answer?

[Pettytyrant101]

{{Includes taking press questions, and getting the science boffins to explain things and why they recommneded what they did.
Boris finally held a proper press brefing this evening, lasted about half an hour.}}

[Lancebloke]

At this point Petty, I just needed to know how long for and what the rules were. We have had enough briefings on what is going on and had been expected for a while so anything more than that and I would have turned it off!

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ I like Sturgeons manner of going about it, I suspect why we have far less anti-vaxxers and ant-mask folk up here- we arent just told 'you have to do this' she gives us all the information she is given to base her decisions on, then explains why she has choosen to take her decisions based on that. Its all very clearly laid out and usually hard to argue about. Folk can hear what she is hearing for themselves and weigh it  up against her decisions.
I think its working to actually pull our country bit more together, as a personal anicdote to that half my own family are staunch Unionists and voted No at the referendum, they are no fans of the SNP and nor were they of Sturgeon (or 'Wee Nippy' as the Unionist side usually try to belittle her as) yet that half of my family tune in every briefing to hear what Sturgeon has to say, its become a national thing to check in the afternoon to see what Sturgeon is telling us today about the situation, and seems to work across party lines as we're all in same shit boat on this one.}}

[Lancebloke]

I am not sure if you have less anti-vaxxers as a percentage of people than anywhere else. There always seem to be a number of conspiracy leaning people that always manage to make the situation fit their paranoia.

Sturgeon is speaking.... see, getting ready for Bill Gates' New World Order right to our face.

Sturgeon not speaking... see, hiding that they are getting ready for Bill Gates' New World Order.

Also... its NASA's fault.

I have definitely seen an argument between two Scottish people about this (which also included lots of independence/unionist related vitriol)!!!

They didn't mention NASA this time.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Oh Im not saying we dont have our nutjobs, of course we do, but if you look at polling youll see that compliance is high, favourability towards how she has conducted herself is high, peoples trust in the information the government is giving is high.
Those same polls show the exact opposite when applied to Westminster.
And that is solely down I think to how each has approached and handled the issue of informing and dealing with the public aspect, as if you look at numbers of cases, deaths, and the implimentaion of lockdowns and teir systems there isnt really a huge difference in actual approach. Sturgeon has been stricter in lockdowns, gone into them earlier- but all that has meant is she has spared her government making the sort of last minute u-turns Boris has- such as recently Boris insisiting schools would reopen on time after hols same as usual, then two days later putting schools into lockdown. It looks incompetent, even though there is no differecne here between Scotland and England, our schools are closed in both places, but Sturgeon never promised to keep them open in the first place. So her government instantly looks more competent.}}

[Mrs Figg]

I think Surgeon's strength is learning from mistakes and owning up to them and apologising. People respect that. After the exams mess she hasn't had to U-turn because she listened and learned. Johnson and his cabal of incompetent fools are incapable of learning from their mistakes. They never apologise or even remotely accept they have cocked anything up. For them everything is 'world-beating'. Every day there is a new U-turn, a new scandal, a new cock up. Among the very worst is Williamson, why on earth has he still got a job.

[halfwise]

I just found out that Perth locked down its borders swiftly and has been covid free for nearly a year - no masks, pubs bustling, etc.

Hope you're enjoying life, Chris! (do you even know what Zoom is?)

[Lancebloke]

I hope the South Africa thing about their new variant is just the media and others over reacting.

They were calling in to question whether current vaccines would work against it as it was reinfecting people who had an older variety.

We were already seeing reinfections and knew that anti-bodies (not sure about T cells) waned quite quickly with just a natural response so that does not surprise me. Question is whether the body has to respond like it has never seen the virus before or if there is still some element that helps from its previous "training."

[azriel]

[Lancebloke]

Apparently 2.4 million people vaccinated so far with 2-300k having 2 doses.

Good progress I think but need many more to start getting this under control. 1 month to cover the 4 priority groups looks ambitious!

Hopefully we will start seeing it in the numbers soon. Currently seeing the Christmas spike I think.

[Mrs Figg]

Things are slow here in Europe as we dont have the AstraZeneca jab approved yet, its pretty slow everywhere and achingly frustrating. January is going to be the toughest month and maybe into the middle of February. After that the roll out should be a lot smoother and quicker. I think Israel is doing a good job but if it doesn't vaccinate the Palestinians as well it might come back to bite them in the ass.

[halfwise]

Not vaccinating the Palestinians? That only works if they double the height and thickness of their Trump style wall.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Quick update on folk I know who have got vaccinated- no one has reported anything worse to me than sore arm and headaches. My Dad got his yesterday (he works in the local hospital) and says he feels fine. }}