petemcewan

A close friend of mine, who is 65, has payed for a MMR vaccination(£45). The vaccination was administered at Superdrug in London. He explained to me that there was some evidence that the MMR vax gave some protection against Cov-19. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682214000051 Furthermore ,he explained that he wasn't going to wait around until his GP called him for vaccination,"To damn slow.Better some protection now. It's worth a punt". If Superdrug can dish out all kinds of vaccines. Will they be dishing out Covid -19 vax ?

This is worth getting your head around-just to keep one sane. Now that we have another variant-there will possible be more. This is what we find. BioNTec says they can make a vaccine against Cov variant in six weeks. Now that is good news. https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-the-new-variant-of-sars-cov-2/?cli_action=1608748040.476 https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2020/12/22/pfizer-biontech-moderna-test-vaccines-against-new-covid-19-variant-spreading-across-uk/?sh=f54062816a34 https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19/

A thing to watch out for is the theory that the varient(s) are a consequence of treatments and vaccine. To early to tell ,re ,vaccines. Varients brewing up in immune compromised people! It's all theory.There's no scientific proof of any of it. The "News" keeps rolling out all these Profs ,Dr's ,Epidemiologists and god knows who. All spouting "authoritatively" their own pet theories. Who are they? Where have they come from? Who cares? IT's DOING ME HEAD IN !

Abbyedges Couldn't agree with you more. Maybe get the BioNTech- first dose -out to as many people as possible-then follow up later.

Melthebell This is for you. https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-how-media-coverage-of-epidemics-often-stokes-fear-and-panic-131844 Timely,honest communication from a source an audience deems credible is essential to containing fear during a Pandemic. It's the alarming tone used in media coverage that unnerves me. Stay well and enjoy you Christmas and New Year.

Janie48. Thanks, I love that song-and I sing it at the top of my lungs. Have a safe Christmas and New Year. 2021 has got to be better than 2020.

Another media campaign of frightening the B Jesus out of everybody. Variations happen all the time, this is nothing new. New strains are tracked and vaccines can be updated - especially mRNA vaccines. As it goes, there is no need for mass panic about this particular variation. There is no evidence that any Cov-19 therapeutics has given rise to the mutation.Fears have been expressed about the effectiveness of the current vaccines. Peddling the notion that they won't work is scaremongering.In addition, what's not helpful, is having one of the country's most senior politicians,telling everybody we're put of control. Get some giddy up in the vaccination programme.

El Cid You may find this interesting. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867420308175#bib3 Especially Para 3 in the Main Text. I'm holding onto this: Taken from the link you provided.

Enntee Thank you for that direction. How on earth did UCL miss that one ?

Home Open Access News Health & Social Care News Open Access News Health & Social Care News COVID-19 mutation does not make virus more infectious November 25, 2020 © Sdecoret "Researchers at University College London (UCL) have found that COVID-19 mutations do not make the virus more likely to spread, as previously feared There are currently 12,706 COVID-19 mutations. But none of them seem to make the virus more infectious. First and corresponding author Dr Lucy van Dorp (UCL Genetics Institute) said: “The number of SARS-CoV-2 genomes being generated for scientific research is staggering. We realised early on in the pandemic that we needed new approaches to analyse enormous amounts of data in close to real time to flag new mutations in the virus that could affect its transmission or symptom severity. “Fortunately, we found that none of these mutations are making COVID-19 spread more rapidly, but we need to remain vigilant and continue monitoring new mutations, particularly as vaccines get rolled out.” UCL researchers led the analysis of virus genomes from over 46,000 people across 99 countries, who tested positive for COVID-19. The mutations documented did not seem to increase transmissibility in humans, meaning that the virus would not really increase in how infectious it currently is. Three ways that COVID-19 has been mutating Coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 are a type of RNA virus, which can all develop mutations in three different ways: by mistake from copying errors during viral replication, through interactions with other viruses infecting the same cell (recombination or reassortment), or they can be induced by host RNA modification systems which are part of host immunity (e.g. a person’s own immune system). Most mutations are neutral, while others can be advantageous or detrimental to the virus. Both neutral and advantageous mutations can become more common as they get passed down to descendant viruses. How did the researchers know if transmission would be increased? To test if the mutations increase transmission of the virus, the researchers modelled the virus’s evolutionary tree, and analysed whether a particular mutation was becoming increasingly common within a given branch of the evolutionary tree – that is, testing whether, after a mutation first develops in a virus, descendants of that virus outperform closely-related SARS-CoV-2 viruses without that particular mutation. The researchers found no evidence that any of the common mutations are increasing the virus’s transmissibility. Instead, they found most common mutations are neutral for the virus. This includes one mutation in the virus spike protein called D614G, which has been widely reported as being a common mutation that may make the virus more transmissible. The new evidence finds that this mutation is in fact not associated with significantly increasing transmission." Where did the current variant spring from? The above article was written in November this year. What's going on? This article says the opposite. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/a-mutation-may-have-made-covid-19-more-contagious?c=970164808003 My personal opinion is with this kind of science ....Well, you couldn't put a rocket on Mars. Stay safe everybody. And have a good a Christmas as is safe to do.

This not bad news. MB. Sincerely hope things go well for the "gran". Presleyl. Well done. I wish they would put some giddy up in rolling it out-so I can get mine.

This is what they are going to do in Germany. Schools are going to close. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-covid-lockdown-measures-winter-holidays/

https://www.fda.gov/media/144245/download FDA Briefing Document. Safety data ,Page 38 and 41 . Having read it all.I'm still going to have the BioNTech vaccine -if ,in fact, that is the one I'm offered. The benefit outweighs the risk.

Anna B With vaccines on the horizon and the end of the pandemic just barely in sight. What will it be like when it's over ? Some psychologists suggest that the collective and individual traumas of this year will create an opportunity to think more deeply about how our world can and should change. The pandemic has highlighted inequities that have long plagued our grossly unequal society. Giving us a starting place for exactly where and how we can do better.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/03/high-value-business-travellers-to-be-exempt-from-quarantine-in-england Class system triumphs over Cov-19.You couldn't script such a scenario. The plebs can stay at home and huddle in their bubbles I've been completely unaware that Cov-19 has class consciousness . You could script this. RT is undermining confidence in the BioNTech vaccine by bigging up the allergic reaction to the vaccine. Politics never takes a day off. As a news platform re Cov-19 BioNTech, watch out for. porkyapniks. So it goes.

A blanket recommendation for people with allergies might be an overreaction. Maybe the smart thing to do would be the following. Look at the two people and see what specific components of the vaccine they are allergic to. The vaccine-at the moment- is being administered in an environment geared up to deal with such emergencies .

West 77, Thanks for that.

Vaccine starts to work 10 days after the first shot; https://www.livescience.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-fda.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=26122&utm_content=20201208_ Note. We just have to be ready for some media platforms to big up the side effects.

A question. Given that BioNTech cannot (yet) meet their production target. Will we get our 40 million doses ? Or am I just fretting over nothing ?

Absolutely crackers. If a commentator has to be that tippy toe about what they say. Then there might as well be no commentary. But in a world of heightened political correctness -and no real grass roots political action- there's thousands just waiting to be offended.

Winter is coming.

She reminds me of the time I spent in Paris when I was young.

A sentiment I think we all share.