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Coronavirus - the new strain XXI

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robs said:
"Get Covid jab or restrictions more likely, Sajid Javid says"

The BBC headline currently.
Hmm... anyone who hasn't had it yet is unlikely to be swayed by that I'd say...more likely the reverse...
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If you're right it's a problem. I learned two things from the conference:

1. 1.5M people out of 8M have been invited for a booster and haven't come forward. These must all or mostly be oldies -- well into their 60s. That's nearly 20% booster apathy among seniors, it could increase as the age of the cohort declines. We know that in previous vaccination campaigns the British have been disinterested in vaccines when they're not scared of the disease and they clamour for them when they are scared. We are, possibly, seeing the same happening for COVID.

2. 5M people haven't come forward for the first two jabs -- I'm guessing that's out of a total of about 50M -- there are about 15M under 18s and the total population is 67M, so just a guess. That's 10% refusing the first jab. I bet it's not insignificant.

Of course he could introduce vaccine passports, maybe that will help. I hope it doesn't come to that because I 'm increasingly convinced that once they come they'll be here to stay, and I fear it's the thin end of the wedge -- given the authoritarian nature of the British political parties there will probably be more measures to survey and punish the people who don't comply with what the Government say is best, lots of data for the likes of Cambridge Analytica to mine.
 
Remarkably familiar deflection from a Tory MP on Newsnight- “the vaccine’s there, the vaccinators are there, we just need to get the arms”.
 
TheDecameron said:
Remarkably familiar deflection from a Tory MP on Newsnight- “the vaccine’s there, the vaccinators are there, we just need to get the arms”.
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My parents have been waiting for an appointment for weeks. The very elderly cannot travel to remote vaccination centres
 
Indeed.

"The stream of unconsciousness was essentially this: steady as she goes. Even if the number of infections were to double to 100,000 per day, then the best thing for everyone to do was nothing. Plan A clearly wasn’t working, but it wasn’t the moment to panic and implement Plan B. Rather it was time for Plan A–. This consisted of trying to get everyone who had ignored Plan A to give it another go. Those who were eligible for vaccinations and booster jabs and had not yet heard about them should be encouraged to do so by MPs who were also ignoring public health guidelines. The one extra he had to offer was some new drugs that might be available next year. Which would obviously be a big help in the coming months. Enjoying Christmas was the main thing, Sajid Javid said. Unless you happen to have died.

What wasn’t required was Plan B. Primarily because that might upset some old-school Tories who regarded any public health measures as a breach of civil liberties. But personally speaking, the health secretary was easy either way. He was very happy for people not to wear masks as per Plan A, but he was also very happy for everyone to voluntarily move to Plan B and wear masks. Schrodinger’s Saj. But it would be awfully inconvenient for the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, to have to reorganise his Xmas party after telling everyone he had only just arranged it during that morning’s media round.

Understandably, most members of the media were interested to know whether Javid was plain stupid or clinically insane. Surely the one lesson from last year was that it was better not to act too late? Sajid went on to prove you could be both dim and mad. The NHS Confederation didn’t know what it was talking about, he said. It was important for the NHS to be stress-tested. There was no real concern over the UK having infection rates that were spiralling out of control: the main thing was for people with cancer and heart conditions not to take up up too many hospital resources. So if they could go away and die quietly, they would be doing everyone with Covid a favour".

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...d-in-the-commons-as-mindless-optimism-returns
 
In short, the government are looking increasingly isolated and stupid for not implementing similar measures to Scotland and Wales. Is it really so inconvenient/an invasion of freedom for people to put a mask on when entering a shop?
 
Seems to me all the government care about is continuing to fleece people travelling into the UK where most, if not all, are arriving from countries that have far lower incidence rates.
If anything these sanctions/controls should be the other way round - even Robin Hood wore a mask.;):mad:
 
Spraggons Den said:
In short, the government are looking increasingly isolated and stupid for not implementing similar measures to Scotland and Wales. Is it really so inconvenient/an invasion of freedom for people to put a mask on when entering a shop?
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What’s happened to cases and hospitalisations in Scotland and Wales recently?


SteveS1 said:
. So if they could go away and die quietly, they would be doing everyone with Covid a favour".
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I think this the beginning of a good argument against the UK approach - even assuming people voluntary take vaccines. Maybe the Government will respond by arguing that the health system will deal with the backlog more effectively if there is more private involvement.
 
webster said:
Seems to me all the government care about is continuing to fleece people travelling into the UK where most, if not all, are arriving from countries that have far lower incidence rates.
If anything these sanctions/controls should be the other way round - even Robin Hood wore a mask.;):mad:
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No, Robin Hood didn't routinely wear a mask; did you mean Dick Turpin?
 
I do actually think that Plan A - testing a lot and isolating if positive - would work if it were allowed to. That lab f-up in the south west has at least shown us what a difference testing makes:

https://twitter.com/ArtySmokesPS/status/1450926153259171846?s=20

Now imagine if the government promoted the hell out of frequent, routine LF testing, updated the the symptom list for PCR to reflect the reality of Delta, removed economic barriers to workers isolating, funded local authorities to run properly co-ordinated support services for people isolating (grocery drop-offs etc.) I mean I'm not saying it would get us down to S Korea levels but it couldn't hurt and would do a lot more than mask mandates.

The political nature of all this is becoming a lot more pronounced IMO as we near endemicity and the long term picture starts to fill itself in. Obviously the Tories don't want to do any of that because they'd rather pile the bodies sky high than mess with the current situation of low pay, low rights work and hollowed out local authorities. What's frustrating is that Labour don't want to do any of this either. I don't like those gallows outside parliament any more than anyone else does but it's really no wonder that that's where we are.
 
Seanm said:
I do actually think that Plan A - testing a lot and isolating if positive - would work if it were allowed to. That lab f-up in the south west has at least shown us what a difference testing makes:

https://twitter.com/ArtySmokesPS/status/1450926153259171846?s=20

Now imagine if the government promoted the hell out of frequent, routine LF testing, updated the the symptom list for PCR to reflect the reality of Delta, removed economic barriers to workers isolating, funded local authorities to run properly co-ordinated support services for people isolating (grocery drop-offs etc.) I mean I'm not saying it would get us down to S Korea levels but it couldn't hurt and would do a lot more than mask mandates.

The political nature of all this is becoming a lot more pronounced IMO as we near endemicity and the long term picture starts to fill itself in. Obviously the Tories don't want to do any of that because they'd rather pile the bodies sky high than mess with the current situation of low pay, low rights work and hollowed out local authorities. What's frustrating is that Labour don't want to do any of this either. I don't like those gallows outside parliament any more than anyone else does but it's really no wonder that that's where we are.
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Did you notice in yesterday’s conference they explicitly asked people NOT to go to work if they have the slightest sniffles? Because they’re worried about the impending flu epidemic. Now would be a good time to push for better sick pay.
 
Talk in France of the 'pass sanitaire' possibly being withdrawn from those who don't take advantage of the booster dose.
 
"On the Today programme this morning Edward Argar, a health minister, was asked if the government was now ignoring advice from Vallance and others. Argar at first denied that, arguing that the government listened to a range of advice, Argar said. But when asked directly by Nick Robinson if Vallance was telling ministers it was right not to implement plan B now, Argar would not say that."

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...0822f7fae2f639#block-617118a98f0822f7fae2f639
 
mandryka said:
If you're right it's a problem. I learned two things from the conference:

1. 1.5M people out of 8M have been invited for a booster and haven't come forward. These must all or mostly be oldies -- well into their 60s. That's nearly 20% booster apathy among seniors, it could increase as the age of the cohort declines. We know that in previous vaccination campaigns the British have been disinterested in vaccines when they're not scared of the disease and they clamour for them when they are scared. We are, possibly, seeing the same happening for COVID.

2. 5M people haven't come forward for the first two jabs -- I'm guessing that's out of a total of about 50M -- there are about 15M under 18s and the total population is 67M, so just a guess. That's 10% refusing the first jab. I bet it's not insignificant.

Of course he could introduce vaccine passports, maybe that will help. I hope it doesn't come to that because I 'm increasingly convinced that once they come they'll be here to stay, and I fear it's the thin end of the wedge -- given the authoritarian nature of the British political parties there will probably be more measures to survey and punish the people who don't comply with what the Government say is best, lots of data for the likes of Cambridge Analytica to mine.
Click to expand...
It’s the over 70s.
I am 69 and only got my invite yesterday.
Unlike the original jab it is not available in my home town and I have to travel to get it.
Don’t know if I’ll bother at the moment.
 
You no longer need to wait for an invite - just for 6 months to pass but access is a serious issue if it's not being delivered by GPs.
 
As I understand it there is no intention for it to be delivered by GP.
Most of the places I was offered are pharmacies.
In towns a drive away!
 
Got my invite by text yesterday evening. 6 months and 2 days after my second jab. Booster booked for tomorrow morning at a local centre a 10 minute walk away.
 
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