Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Chris O'Connor]

I think Austria and Denmark are looking more long term no? They want their own production and research capacity for future generations of vaccines for mutant strains. Interesting that Kurz took a shot at the EMA and not the EU (or VDL)

Yes they're looking at the high rate, slow vaccine take up across the EU and have recognised the danger of mutations occuring while the dithering goes on. They don't trust the EU program having experienced it's procedures and are taking steps to make sure they're not so dependent on it in future.

 

[jinkyali]

It'll probably tear my arm off...after me calling it gnats piss for ages.

Fair play mate.

 

[Chris O'Connor]

Believe it or not AZ has been a problem for many EU countries and they have been caught with their pants down.

The nature of the EU deal is that everyone is entitled to buy an equal share of vaccines depending on their population. Each country had/have many multiples of their populations vaccines bought.

However not all countries ordered the same vaccines. For example many countries decided to buy large quantities of AZ as it was cheaper and declined to take up their full allocation of the more expensive MRNA‘S. These countries having difficulty at the mo are the ones who backed AZ to heavily, not that AZ isn’t a decent vaccine they just bet to heavily on the one horse and the horse can’t meet the demand at the mo. Countries are entitled to buy extra vaccines if they wish, outside their EU collective, if they can, that’s a private matter for the country, Germany and France both have, Ireland have made orders of 8 mill for vaccines for next winter.

The vaccine race is a long one, I’d be cautious at making judgements at the moment on success and failure just yet, probably just the end of the beginning and could be a few important variables that could see the grid change.

Macron has always been both a nationalist and a populist and indulges in his English bashing because it goes down so well with the electorate. While it's a given that he can't do enough English bashing in that it deflects of other less comfortable issues and helps his reelection prospects, it has had precisely the opposite effect on the battle against Covid reinforcing any fears and increasing the strength of the anti vax movement.

The man is a menace in the struggle against Covid.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Macron has always been both a nationalist and a populist and indulges in his English bashing because it goes down so well with the electorate. While it's a given that he can't do enough English bashing in that it deflects of other less comfortable issues and helps his reelection prospects, it has had precisely the opposite effect on the battle against Covid reinforcing any fears and increasing the strength of the anti vax movement.

The man is a menace in the struggle against Covid.

Of course, if you get your news from the Telegraph then you'd think that, but in reality

A letter from Emmanuel Macron to the British people

www.elysee.fr

 

[Chris O'Connor]

Of course, if you get your news from the Telegraph then you'd think that, but in reality

A letter from Emmanuel Macron to the British people

www.elysee.fr

I read several papers including the left wing Guardian and access other media. I form my own views and aren't spoonfed any views without questioning it and reading alternatives. Macron is a politician too he will present a different face according to his audience.

What you accept as correct may well be influenced by your personal views and may well be far from actual reality itself.

 

[Brennan]

They have more than twice as many daily cases and deaths as we do per capita. Guy is a moron.

 

[Deleted member 48881]

They have more than twice as many daily cases and deaths as we do per capita. Guy is a moron.

It will be interesting to see now how they will fare, a big gamble from the governor.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I read several papers including the left wing Guardian and access other media. I form my own views and aren't spoonfed any views without questioning it and reading alternatives. Macron is a politician too he will present a different face according to his audience.

What you accept as correct may well be influenced by your personal views and may well be far from actual reality itself.

And yet you seem to have conflated concern about the AZ vaccine (which many European countries shared due to the lack of over 65s in the initial trial data) and an apparent attack on England (not Britain it seems). That doesn't sound like a very balanced perspective. Indeed, given that ideologically Macron is probably most similar to David Cameron, it's notable the dire direction conservatism has gone in that the Torygraph seem hell bent on picking cultural wars at every opportunity.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

A billion-plus covid-19 shots in 2021. Can Serum Institute do it?

The Indian vaccine-maker may account for almost half the world’s supply

www.economist.com

 

[grandjoeblue]

Obviously risky but it will be interesting to track how this goes.

Florida compared to New York and California is the one that has always interested me.

 

[Billy Dean]

Seems low AZ take up has been more of a logistical problem than one of scepticism. That was my initial thought TBH. If you're only vaccinating over 70s then its hard to roll out a jab for under 65s

Covid: Germany and France under pressure to shift Oxford vaccine

Both countries urged to take action to avoid pile-up of unused AstraZeneca vaccine doses

www.theguardian.com

 

[Chris O'Connor]

And yet you seem to have conflated concern about the AZ vaccine (which many European countries shared due to the lack of over 65s in the initial trial data) and an apparent attack on England (not Britain it seems). That doesn't sound like a very balanced perspective. Indeed, given that ideologically Macron is probably most similar to David Cameron, it's notable the dire direction conservatism has gone in that the Torygraph seem hell bent on picking cultural wars at every opportunity.

Trivialising or minimising the problems of his comments which have just served to heighten the fears and vax scepticism across large swathes of France isn't a good look imo.

Macron's views are listened to in Europe, however misguided they may be. Europe wide problems with vaccine take up can't be totally blamed on him but he's not helped one bit.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Trivialising or minimising the problems of his comments which have just served to heighten the fears and vax scepticism across large swathes of France isn't a good look imo.

Macron's views are listened to in Europe, however misguided they may be. Europe wide problems with vaccine take up can't be totally blamed on him but he's not helped one bit.

No, his views probably didn't help, that's true.

 

[davek]

What a good idea. Drop protective measures just before the UK variant is about to hit and put their hospitals into crisis.

It'd be a good idea if we had all politicians removed from power and replaced by technocrats with a huge emphasis on medical expertise for the duration of this pandemic. They really are spectacularly bad at saving human life.

 

[grandjoeblue]

Just read an article suggesting that NHS staff and care home workers aill be mandated to get vaccinated. I'm not a huge fan of mandatory anything but in this case it has to be done. 1 NHS worker vaccinated saves huge numbers of lives. Roughly 25% of deaths have been caused by hospital contracted covid and this needs to be minimised moving forward.