Generic Virus Thread

[markavfc40]

I was just looking at a covid world wide vaccination tracker and absolutely loads of countries have hardly given anyone a jab. Australia 1% of population, Japan and New Zealand 0.5%, South Africa 0.3%. Are some countries just not embracing vaccinations as a way out or is it lack of supply? 

[StefanAVFC]

25 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

I was just looking at a covid world wide vaccination tracker and absolutely loads of countries have hardly given anyone a jab. Australia 1% of population, Japan and New Zealand 0.5%, South Africa 0.3%. Are some countries just not embracing vaccinations as a way out or is it lack of supply? 

Three out of those four are almost back to normal through proper governance so I guess they don't view vaccination as, as urgent as we do. 

[brommy]

1 hour ago, StefanAVFC said:

Three out of those four are almost back to normal through proper governance so I guess they don't view vaccination as, as urgent as we do. 

They’ll likely struggle to achieve the normality of international travel without a successful vaccination programme. Unless they’re hoping all the other countries eradicate the issue through vaccination but I assume that could take years.

[Genie]

8 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

On another point, at 100% vaccination, who are they protecting with any restrictions? Its basically just saying that even with people shielded, let's just restrict ourselves anyway. 

I know I sound like a broken record on this, but we won’t be 100% vaccinated until we’ve got jabs or boosters effective against all variants that are out there. This is why international travel is being held back. 

Quote

Dr Tildesley told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think that international travel this summer is, for the average holidaymaker, sadly I think, extremely unlikely.

"I think we are running a real risk if we do start to have lots of people going overseas in July, for instance, and August because of the potential for bringing more of these new variants back into the country.

Covid: Summer holidays abroad 'unlikely', warns government adviser

[LondonLax]

8 hours ago, markavfc40 said:

I was just looking at a covid world wide vaccination tracker and absolutely loads of countries have hardly given anyone a jab. Australia 1% of population, Japan and New Zealand 0.5%, South Africa 0.3%. Are some countries just not embracing vaccinations as a way out or is it lack of supply? 

It’s supply that is the issue almost everywhere, the U.K. nipped in ahead of most places with their early emergency approvals and secured the first vaccine runs. 

Things will ramp up around the world as more and more supply comes online this year, including mainland Europe, but I read an article in the Financial Times that estimated over half of adults in rich countries won’t see their first shot till next year and poorer countries will be a year after that. 

Quote

More than half of adults in rich countries will still be waiting to receive a first dose of coronavirus vaccine in 15 months’ time, the head of a logistics group distributing jabs has warned.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/8b19baf2-77bc-4022-89cb-ce8ad932402a

[sidcow]

8 hours ago, markavfc40 said:

I was just looking at a covid world wide vaccination tracker and absolutely loads of countries have hardly given anyone a jab. Australia 1% of population, Japan and New Zealand 0.5%, South Africa 0.3%. Are some countries just not embracing vaccinations as a way out or is it lack of supply? 

Australia is the place which was due to get 250,000 of vaccinations from the EU and the EU banned the export of them. 

[LondonLax]

14 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Australia is the place which was due to get 250,000 of vaccinations from the EU and the EU banned the export of them. 

The 250,000 doses Italy blocked is a drop in the ocean. Australia thought they would have 4m people vaccinated with AZ by now but the vaccines don’t exist.

AZ over promised and underdelivered with everyone, not just the EU. The U.K. and US contracts seem to be the only contracts AZ actually fulfilled.

It’s not such a big deal that Australia is also not getting the vaccines it ordered, they don’t have the same emergency that Europe does. 

[bickster]

6 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

AZ over promised and underdelivered with everyone, not just the EU.

They haven't done this with the EU, the problems with the EU are of the EU's making, in delaying approval of the vaccine and more importantly delaying further the approval for the factory that is making their supplies. I have no idea if this has any releation to the Austrailian issue but with the EU/AZ issues, the blame lies mainly with the EU.

AZ are now hitting a global supply issue which seems to stem from the US which is affecting everybody it would seem

[LondonLax]

3 minutes ago, bickster said:

They haven't done this with the EU, the problems with the EU are of the EU's making, in delaying approval of the vaccine and more importantly delaying further the approval for the factory that is making their supplies. I have no idea if this has any releation to the Austrailian issue but with the EU/AZ issues, the blame lies mainly with the EU.

AZ are now hitting a global supply issue which seems to stem from the US which is affecting everybody it would seem

It’s a bit more complicated than that. AZ already has a factory in Europe and it was supplying the U.K. with doses. The new factory in Leiden was supposed to be able to help with part of the AZ shortfall, but not all. It doesn’t solve the fundamental problem that the company has not been able to supply the global market with the doses it sold. 

[ml1dch]

7 minutes ago, bickster said:

They haven't done this with the EU, the problems with the EU are of the EU's making, in delaying approval of the vaccine and more importantly delaying further the approval for the factory that is making their supplies. I have no idea if this has any releation to the Austrailian issue but with the EU/AZ issues, the blame lies mainly with the EU.

If a delay in approval were the root cause, why are there no such fulfillment problems in the US, where there are circa 30m doses sitting in warehouses in Ohio and Maryland and they are not expecting the approval of AZ to happen until May?

Surely if a delay in approval were the main issue, the US would have even bigger issues than Europe...

[blandy]

9 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

... My council ward hasn’t had a single new case of covid in 9 days.

It’s now safe for me to buy a book or a CD in Tesco, but not in a book shop or a record shop.

I can go to a garden centre to buy plants, but not Dyffryn Gardens, to look at the plants.

We’ve sort of got to the blurry ragged edge of what’s science lead, and what’s random political decision making.

The opposite has happened where I live. After a period of “infection suppressed” it’s now higher than the national average, despite the vaccine. It’s time related to the schools here reopening and kids coming in from towns and villages with higher rates. You’re right the rules are inconsistent, mind.

[ismail-villa]

20 hours ago, villa4europe said:

Looked at it a few times in the last year, others might say different but that for me is something that just won't be the same with deliveroo, there's no way someone can cook a great piece of meat to perfection then stick it in a foil container for 20 minutes and it be the same or still worth the price 

That's why the first thing I'll get when restaurants reopen is a lovely steak. 

[StefanAVFC]

2 hours ago, Genie said:

I know I sound like a broken record on this, but we won’t be 100% vaccinated until we’ve got jabs or boosters effective against all variants that are out there. This is why international travel is being held back. 

Covid: Summer holidays abroad 'unlikely', warns government adviser

Viruses mutate, it's what they do. The vaccines provide enough protection to prevent life threatening illness. We don't lock down every year because of a new variant of flu. 

[Genie]

7 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

Viruses mutate, it's what they do. The vaccines provide enough protection to prevent life threatening illness. We don't lock down every year because of a new variant of flu. 

Yes, the point I’m making is that I suspect all summer well be hearing how we’re x% (close to 100 let’s say) vaccinated so why can’t international travel resume? The reason is that we’re not close to 100% vaccinated for the variants that could come home and then tear through the population.

I understand why there’s the nervousness from the government around this.
Everybody would be extremely quick to criticise them if infections, hospital admissions and deaths started shooting up and we were back into lockdown, schools and shops closed etc.

If heavily restricted foreign travel is the price to pay for a while to keep us having some normality in our day to day lives then so be it. 

 

[Jareth]

I'm struggling to understand exactly which 'freedoms' are being so suppressed by Covid rules implemented by this government. Freedom to go to a shopping centre every Saturday without a mask, spend your money on a load of overpriced gear, eat at a chain restaurant then go spend some more bucks on a 5 litre bucket of Cola at the cinema - are those the freedoms folks are missing? Meanwhile freedoms related to protest have just been squished by the government - not that any one who voted Tory care. But honestly - what is it that those who are complaining about freedoms, think has actually been taken away from them? 

[HanoiVillan]

25 minutes ago, Genie said:

Yes, the point I’m making is that I suspect all summer well be hearing how we’re x% (close to 100 let’s say) vaccinated so why can’t international travel resume? The reason is that we’re not close to 100% vaccinated for the variants that could come home and then tear through the population.

I understand why there’s the nervousness from the government around this.
Everybody would be extremely quick to criticise them if infections, hospital admissions and deaths started shooting up and we were back into lockdown, schools and shops closed etc.

If heavily restricted foreign travel is the price to pay for a while to keep us having some normality in our day to day lives then so be it.

I'm confused by what you mean by the bolded. Are you anticipating dozens of different vaccines, all for different variants?

[HanoiVillan]

Just now, Jareth said:

I'm struggling to understand exactly which 'freedoms' are being so suppressed by Covid rules implemented by this government. Freedom to go to a shopping centre every Saturday without a mask, spend your money on a load of overpriced gear, eat at a chain restaurant then go spend some more bucks on a 5 litre bucket of Cola at the cinema - are those the freedoms folks are missing? Meanwhile freedoms related to protest have just been squished by the government - not that any one who voted Tory care. But honestly - what is it that those who are complaining about freedoms, think has actually been taken away from them? 

I don't think it's really that hard to understand.

[Jareth]

2 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I don't think it's really that hard to understand.

Please just put them in a list of importance? Maybe just the top 3?

[HanoiVillan]

3 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Please just put them in a list of importance? Maybe just the top 3?

Literally the ability to have a normal life. I don't get what you're not getting.

I haven't been able to see my cousins or my friends. We haven't been able to see one of my best friends before she gives birth. My wife didn't get to go to her grandmother's funeral, and we haven't met our niece (my wife is her godmother).

And despite you trying to make going to the cinema sound as gross as possible, I do in fact miss going to the cinema, and the gym, and to pubs and restaurants and the beach and places more than an unspecified distance from my house that the police can decide is or isn't 'reasonable' at their discretion, and I don't enjoy just staying in my own house, doing the same boring routine every **** day as if I was under house arrest.

[Genie]

12 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I'm confused by what you mean by the bolded. Are you anticipating dozens of different vaccines, all for different variants?

No.

Im just saying, the statements that we’re  100% vaccinated so let’s get back to normal are untrue.

The reason that international travel will be delayed will be down to the variants that are not currently rife in this country being a threat because the existing vaccines provide very little protection against them.