Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Bruce Wayne]

I would love to see AZ flood the world with the stuff by tomorrow, and I don’t begrudge anyone or any country getting its hands on the vaccine. However watching the EU make an arse of itself, attempt to bully a supplier doing its best, attempting to stop a vaccine export to the U.K. and then using dark arts in the media, before we even get to the EMA, has proven the case for leaving, and shown up the ‘friends‘ we have in Europe better than I could ever communicate....

To my knowledge, the EU paid the company over €300 million specifically in order to beef up their manufacturing and ensure that the supplies they are contracted to supply are delivered. It's perhaps understandable therefore that they're annoyed that AZ are now saying they will undershoot that number by such a huge amount. This is quite a serious matter, you know?

Equally, of course, any attempts to gum up the international supply of vaccines is reprehensible and so I sincerely hope that no customs arrangements are enacted that do that.

 

[Deckard2049]

The media and various other right wing Twitter bell ends are really ramping up the rhetoric on getting schools open. Nice of them to care about the country's children, I just wonder where they've been for the last 10 years as education budgets have been slashed.

Instead of resembling an angry, old man shouting nonsense at the top of their lungs at anything or anyone, maybe they should actually start putting pressure on the government to make schools safe. Smaller classes sizes would be a start. Other countries have done it, seems like it doesn't even enter the mindset over here though. "Open the schools now" is as insightful as these people get.

I saw this on Twitter last year and it still holds true now. Just a few weeks ago it was paramount schools closed. And look now, a few weeks later the media are clamouring for them to open.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Oxford was originally going to open source its vaccine, but changed course to sign the exclusivity deal with AZ and of course now in the name of for profit healthcare they can't meet the deals they greedily signed for and still gain the profit to satisfy shareholders.

It is rather odd to blame the nation of Germany or in some cases an entire trading bloc for the irresponisble headlines (that fortunately didn't make a huge ripple) of a tabloid journo, a quick google search for vaccine progress on sunday and my top two hits were for the express and mail to headline vaccine fear mongering stories with no basis at all. The South African point is an important one and we must not ease off on the pressure to vaccinate once our own population has been vaccinated, surely we have learned by now we are all connected and that mutation of this virus will thrive in areas of high reproduction. There are reports that some developing (I hate that forced term) will take until 2024 to vaccinate, this isn't good enough and we need to move away from the short term right wing nimbyist crap.

High minds of Brexit feeding the nationalism drum beat again.

Only last week we nearly had the AZ factory wiped out in Wrexham, had that happened we would have needed our friends across the channel.

Unfortunately for British nationalism the virus don't respect borders or sovereignty it's truly ignorant to them... Sooner or later racist will have to swallow.

 

[wm02]

Seems a pretty thin silver lining tbh!

This is very interesting. I always thought Merck was one of the leaders in vaccine technology

 

[peteblue]

To my knowledge, the EU paid the company over €300 million specifically in order to beef up their manufacturing and ensure that the supplies they are contracted to supply are delivered. It's perhaps understandable therefore that they're annoyed that AZ are now saying they will undershoot that number by such a huge amount. This is quite a serious matter, you know?

Equally, of course, any attempts to gum up the international supply of vaccines is reprehensible and so I sincerely hope that no customs arrangements are enacted that do that.

Yes I knew they had put the money in, but a manufacturing process for a vaccine required in Billions doesn’t appear overnight. I fully understand the EU’s disappointment regarding the supply, but these things happen I’m afraid.

Reprehensible is putting it gently....

 

[dannyboy]

I saw this on Twitter last year and it still holds true now. Just a few weeks ago it was paramount schools closed. And look now, a few weeks later the media are clamouring for them to open.

View attachment 115509

Too often a single narrative is pushed across the media spectrum. Sure they have dissenting voices given air time but they are presented in such a way that no one would think they are credible.

To just open the schools without any new measures put in place is just sleep walking back into another lockdown, but I expect the government will give in to those who shout loudest.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

This is very interesting. I always thought Merck was one of the leaders in vaccine technology

Total folly these companies being independent, when it comes to vaccines, they make little money for shareholders and unless they are receiving state funding from whomever they tend not bother with vaccines... They will take monies and dance the tune of the giver.

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

World beating.

There are enough indicators to suggest that gov has opted to follow a GBD focused strategy in the hope that this along with the vaccination will be enough to get us through. The cabinet has withdrawn from early talk of herd immunity and taking it on the chin but the decisions, in many respects, point to this still being secretly one of their objectives.

Edit: should have added this for clarity.

Great Barrington Declaration and Petition

As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection

gbdeclaration.org

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

Scratch that maybe not so secret

Let children and young people catch Covid should vaccine not work, expert suggests

A senior public health official has suggested that children and young people should be left to catch Covid if the vaccine does not work at…

www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk

 

[Haydn]

There are enough indicators to suggest that gov has opted to follow a GBD focused strategy in the hope that this along with the vaccination will be enough to get us through. The cabinet has withdrawn from early talk of herd immunity and taking it on the chin but the decisions, in many respects, point to this still being secretly one of their objectives.

Edit: should have added this for clarity.

Great Barrington Declaration and Petition

As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection

gbdeclaration.org

With our pretend lockdown, it's got to be their plan. A Public Health Strategy based on free market principles and ideology. Does that sound like the behaviour of any cult we know ?

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

Q1684 Chris Clarkson: Is it likely that the entire population is going to need to be vaccinated—you mentioned 60% to 70%—or will there be certain categories and age groups that we decide are likely to be more asymptomatic and therefore do not need it?

Dr Ramsay: Yes. I think it depends a bit on what we want. We may need to accept, if the vaccine does not prevent transmission, that we are going to protect the people who are really vulnerable and going to die and have serious disease, but we allow the disease to circulate in younger people where it is not causing much harm. That may be the situation we go to, like we are with things such as flu. We accept that a lot of people get flu but we protect those who are most vulnerable.

That may be the outcome. I am hoping it will be a bit better than that, but you are right: we may need to vaccinate a very high proportion of the population to prevent this disease from ever being a problem again. I think that is some way off yet and there is a lot of data we need before we can go to that stage.

https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/1505/html/

 

[Billy Dean]

FactCheck: can we trust reports that Oxford-AstraZeneca jab is only 8% effective in elderly?

There are good reasons to think the claims are incorrect.

www.channel4.com

 

[peteblue]

I saw this on Twitter last year and it still holds true now. Just a few weeks ago it was paramount schools closed. And look now, a few weeks later the media are clamouring for them to open.

View attachment 115509

The media have been diabolical throughout all of this. They wish to make the news and not report it.....

 

[navidson]

Just waiting for Tuesday to come and kick us in the balls as usual

 

[Billy Dean]

This is a good opportunity for politicians and big pharma the world over to prove they're not self-serving and self-interested bellwipes, club their knowledge and resources together and get the vaccines pumped out quickly to all corners of the world.