Coronavirus - Part Two.

[Delbow 693]

1 hour ago, katekate said:

Not sure if this is in the correct section so apologies in advance if it's not.  My husband received a letter from the NHS saying that as he is the partner of a clinically vulnerable person he should book the covid vaccine which he did and he has now had the vaccine.  I rang my gp and queried this and I have been told that I am not classed as vulnerable.  A friend aged 33 has also had her vaccine on the basis that she is the carer of her daughter who has slight adhd.  Has anyone else come across similar situations.  It just seems a bit odd in the way the vaccines are being offered.

I think it's just a case of trying to vaccinate millions of people in a short space of time is going to result in some blips where the system doesn't work as it should. I think the best we can do is accept that it's going to happen, but in the context of it generally working well.

[Annie Bynnol 612]

Jo Whiley and many others succeeded in their campaign for everybody on the GP's learning disability register to be invited for vaccination as part of priority group six* this includes  ADHD and other conditions like Autism regardless of how severe their disability is. 

*Priority group six are adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group which now includes all with learning difficulties

As Group Six  has been updated there will be some still to get their jab. 

 

Delbow is exactly right.

It would be a waste of resources to fine tune these lists, as long as they err on the side getting a vaccination.

 

As for the lists of the "clinically vulnerable" this has also been compiled to protect as many as possible. However this may effect employment and so is worth checking.

I received a "shielding" letter from the Hospital. The GP inquired and I received an unsolicited, apologetic letter from the hospital which I thought unnecessary. 

The hospital was right as one of the possible causes of an illness they were investigating made Corovirus a higher risk.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Annie Bynnol

[andyofborg 11]

5 hours ago, Thirsty Relic said:

While I agree that sounds possible, and that may well have been behind the Government thinking, it is clearly illogical.  Virusses mutate, so early vaccines are likely to be less effective as time goes on.  While they have been telling us that the current vaccines work against all known variants, they have been working with vaccine producers towards a third jab we'll all be asked to have in the Autumn that deals with these variants.  I posted information on that on 26th Feb, post #4397, but here is the link again:

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2021/02/03/oxford-will-make-new-covid-variant-jab-by-autumn/

Assuming that Covid is not "beaten", I'm afraid periodic  jabs of new vaccines for the forseeable future will be on the agenda for those at most risk.

 

 

 

Covid will never be beaten in that sense. 

 

Treatments and tests will improve and annual jabs will likely become a part of life like the flu jab. 

 

We will learn to live with covid, Some of the things we used to do we might not be able to do or we might have to do differently but we will survive. 

 

Face masks and some aspects of social distancing will likely be needed for a while yet. Mandatory quarantine, possibly only for some countries, for people coming into/back to the country will be required, and will be enforced if necessary. It may be that some countries become no go places.

 

The poorer countries will need significant help to vaccinate their people and for some of the less stable ones it may not even be possible too. Beyond the moral arguments, it is very much in our self interest to do it, since if the virus becomes endemic in those populations, they will become a breeding ground for new varients and eventually we will get  one which we can't handle. 

 

Some of the changes which have happened will become permanent. The growth in internet shopping will continue. For many, working from home, will continue. If not permanently for everyone for many at least some of the time. 

 

This may not be such a bad thing. Much of the uneeded city centre office space could be converted to flats which will provide footfall for the high street and solve our housing problems and the fight against internet shopping may prompt the bricks and mortar retailers to open small outlets in district shopping areas . It would require the  government to finally the address the issues around business rates but if everyone embraced the opprtunities it could make everyones life much better. 

 

As a society and as individuals we will have to live in a more healthy and environmentally responsible way which wouldn't be a bad thing. 

 

The last few years have produced pandemic and almost pandemic viruses at an amazing rate. We have been lucky to have pretty much avoided all of them except covid. We should see this as a warning and start to live in a far better way.

[katekate 15]

Yes it's great that so many have been vaccinated and that things are moving very quickly.  I was just wondering why the letter to my husband had stated that I am clinically vulnerable when in fact I'm not so really he's jumped the queue.

[Thirsty Relic 209]

43 minutes ago, katekate said:

Yes it's great that so many have been vaccinated and that things are moving very quickly.  I was just wondering why the letter to my husband had stated that I am clinically vulnerable when in fact I'm not so really he's jumped the queue.

Sounds like that is an excellent question to ask - assuming you can get through to your Doctor.  Could it be that the Dr has some results from tests that haven't been passed to you?  If not, you need the Dr to sort out who has put what on your records!  Don't be fobbed off by the receptionist - they may be the one who made the mistake!

[hauxwell 243]

8 hours ago, Thirsty Relic said:

While I agree that sounds possible, and that may well have been behind the Government thinking, it is clearly illogical.  Virusses mutate, so early vaccines are likely to be less effective as time goes on

Thank you for the link.

The only other logical answer I can give you other than what I have already said about not knowing how long the vaccine would last is Government was desperate for a vaccine last year. Did they know which pharmaceutical company would be first to produce a successful vaccine?  Or if all the pharmaceutical companies they had ordered vaccines from would pass our regulation tests?  I’m not sure they did, so they decided to place large  orders with more than one company.  They might have ordered more than needed but for good reasons and they did enter into a legal contract with these companies, are they expected to break them?

 

If we had just placed orders with  Novavax and a few other companies we signed contracts with we would still be waiting to vaccinate the population. 

 

Let’s hope that if there is spare vaccines they are not wasted and passed on to other countries.

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by hauxwell

[whiteowl 54]

Had my AZ vaccine yesterday, a couple of side effects - got a sore arm where the injection was and mild chills, almost like very weak symptoms of the flu.

 

Another thing that both me and my mate noticed (he had his yesterday as well) was that we were both really, really thirsty this morning. If you are due yours, make sure you've got plenty of fluids available,

Edited March 19, 2021 by whiteowl

[petemcewan 27]

I heard a talking head on tele this morning banging on about breaking up pharmaceutical giants, because they are not sharing Cov-19 vaccine technology.

 

 Is it true or false ,that big pharma is holding back the quest for global vaccination as a consequence of big pharma's reluctance to share their vaccine science?

 

https://khn.org/news/article/can-pfizer-and-moderna-end-the-pandemic-by-sharing-their-vaccine-designs-its-not-that-simple/

 

Edited March 19, 2021 by petemcewan

[andyofborg 11]

1 hour ago, petemcewan said:

I heard a talking head on tele this morning banging on about breaking up pharmaceutical giants, because they are not sharing Cov-19 vaccine technology.

 

 

how would breaking them up change that? 

 

if we had 3 big pharma companies not sharing tech and split them all up so we had 12 smaller pharma companies they would still be not sharing tech. I'm not sure we've moved forwards..... 

 

I would have thought the basic theory which underlies the tech was standard biochemistry and more information will be in the published literature. 

 

I would have thought anyone who understands this stuff would know where to look and be able to work out the tech if they had a mind too.   

 

 

 

[ECCOnoob 1,020]

3 hours ago, petemcewan said:

I heard a talking head on tele this morning banging on about breaking up pharmaceutical giants, because they are not sharing Cov-19 vaccine technology.

 

 Is it true or false ,that big pharma is holding back the quest for global vaccination as a consequence of big pharma's reluctance to share their vaccine science?

 

https://khn.org/news/article/can-pfizer-and-moderna-end-the-pandemic-by-sharing-their-vaccine-designs-its-not-that-simple/

 

Sounds like the talking head was as thick as mince.

 

These are private companies. Why on earth are they going to spend millions of pounds of investment into research and experimentation and development of their products only to give it away to their competitors for free. It's nonsense.

 

Add on the fact that medicine of any type is not an exact science and there is rarely any one size fix to cure all diseases - it is clear that a range of development from a range of supply is necessary.

 

Add on the third factor which, despite some people refusing to accept it, medicine is a business. It is a global marketplace with huge fluctuations in prices, availability and supply across the globe.   It's absolutely naive for people to think there is going to be some utopia of freely available and free from charge collaboration, communal resources and shared development.

 

These are just a few of the reasons as a helpfully pointed out in the article you quote. It does seem to me like some people are desperately clutching at straws to try and make-up lost ground to excuse their own slow, low or non-existent rollouts. 

Edited March 19, 2021 by ECCOnoob

[Bonzo77 13]

One thing this pandemic has shown us is just how important the welfare system is. Can everyone stop stigmatising people who use it as scroungers now?

[Victor Meldrew 33]

On 18/03/2021 at 12:13, tinfoilhat said:

What kind of fridge? I'm reading various (some a bit sketchy to be fair) reports of all sorts of vaccines being chucked away (globally). I've had it my self but I couldn't tell you if the nurse plucked the vile from a fridge or not. Can you put it back once you've taken it out a while?

From what I've seen each vial of vaccine is enough for several doses. These are drawn up into syringes in advance and laid out in a tray awaiting each appointment. If some are left over at the end of the day then yes they could be chucked.