The big Coronavirus thread

pangolin

briantrumpet said:

pangolin said:

Isolation rules have actually softened up. You don't need to isolate after a contact, just do a lateral flow every day for 7 days. Seems a lot easier to fudge.

Only for fully(?) vaccinated. Non-vaccinated still need to isolate.

Yes sorry, that's true.

If you're not vaxxed at this point, are you likely to be isolating or daily testing?

shirley_basso

I’m off from 20/12-4/1.

Just cancelled all my f2f work appointments which sadly includes hospitality at the football on Tuesday.

Bro in law is back from 2y locked down in Singapore and id be divorced if I ruined Christmas.

Will also check out boosters.

focuszing723

shirley_basso said:

I’m off from 20/12-4/1.

Just cancelled all my f2f work appointments which sadly includes hospitality at the football on Tuesday.

Bro in law is back from 2y locked down in Singers and id be divorced if I ruined Christmas.

Will also check out boosters.

I've just updated that so people will know where you mean.

orraloon

If you don't have the 'world beating' 'pingdemic' app then you don't have 'contacts' do you?

Sez the solo outdoors worker who has only ever tested twice, 2 weekends ago entry to Belgie and return.

But my life is different to...

surrey_commuter

Can somebody explain what difference moving into level 4 will make

Pross

surrey_commuter said:

Can somebody explain what difference moving into level 4 will make

You have to start calling a party a gathering.

focuszing723

...

rick_chasey

Have we all forgotten the traffic light system? 🚦

First.Aspect

rick_chasey said:

Have we all forgotten the traffic light system? 🚦

Only 3 colours. Too simple even for Tories. They've had to move to the how many fingers on your handies system.

Pross

So did he really say everyone is getting the booster by the end of the month or has the wife misheard? Seems highly unlikely.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Pross said:

So did he really say everyone is getting the booster by the end of the month or has the wife misheard? Seems highly unlikely.

Yes, he really said that, everyone 18+ before end of year. Despite there being 19 days left including Xmas Day, Boxing Day and the two substitute bank hols on 27th and 28th.

Needs ~1 million boosters a day, apparently there were ~ half million yesterday.

... Optimistic.

pangolin

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59631570

Yup...

There weren't a tonne of slots around when I booked mine. I guess they will have to add loads.

imposter2.0

...unless the vaccine centres go 24hr again...

First.Aspect

So, who should get priority - people wanting boosters or people suddenly wanting their first or second?

pangolin

Over 20m to do as NOTG says. Seems unlikely.

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations

tailwindhome

Is 'need to get a booster' not just a nice way of saying the AZ vaccine we were bragging about isn't as good as the other vaccines

First.Aspect

tailwindhome said:

Is 'need to get a booster' not just a nice way of saying the AZ vaccine we were bragging about isn't as good as the other vaccines

It's marginal, and only with respect to antibodies. I read today that there is another 80% of the immune response that these recent data don't relate to. I also read from one epidemiologist that the data fference is between almost nothing and very nearly almost nothing, as regards the antibody response.

rjsterry

tailwindhome said:

Is 'need to get a booster' not just a nice way of saying the AZ vaccine we were bragging about isn't as good as the other vaccines

No, they all require boosting as far as I know. Not unusual for vaccines.

focuszing723

Two doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNtech vaccines offer little protection against the Omicron variant of COVID, but a booster raises their effectiveness to between 70 and 75 percent.

The UK Health Security Agency also said the country will have more than one million Omicron infections by the end of this month if current trends continue unchanged.

Analysis of 581 people with confirmed Omicron showed the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNtech jabs provided "much lower levels of protection against symptomatic infection compared to the protection that they provide against Delta", it said in a statement.

But it added: "The preliminary data showed effectiveness against the new variant appears to increase considerably in the early period after a booster dose, providing around 70-75% protection against symptomatic infection.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uk-set-to-have-one-million-omicron-infections-by-end-of-december-but-boosters-effective-say-experts-12492031

verylonglegs

So the earliest I could book on Friday afternoon was the 4th Jan but now I'm somehow supposed to find one before that?

pangolin

verylonglegs said:

So the earliest I could book on Friday afternoon was the 4th Jan but now I'm somehow supposed to find one before that?

I assume they will be adding thousands of slots but the website is too busy to check.

blazing_saddles

But Mr Johnson said in order to reach the new jab target, certain other medical appointments will need to be postponed to the New Year. Some GPs are already allowed to postpone routine health checks to make space for vaccinations.

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas sick people.

pblakeney

blazing_saddles said:

But Mr Johnson said in order to reach the new jab target, certain other medical appointments will need to be postponed to the New Year. Some GPs are already allowed to postpone routine health checks to make space for vaccinations.

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas sick people.

Relative of a relative (tenuous I know, but true) has been in hospital for an op since last Tuesday. Postponed twice already and earliest slot is now Tuesday.
That is a patient taking up a hospital bed for a week for nothing. Not to mention his discomfort. Oh, and no visitors as of Friday. Not sure of the delay reason, but the no visitor aspect is covid related.

verylonglegs

pangolin said:

verylonglegs said:

So the earliest I could book on Friday afternoon was the 4th Jan but now I'm somehow supposed to find one before that?

I assume they will be adding thousands of slots but the website is too busy to check.

I can't help but feel that given what they are trying to achieve they may as well abandon bookings and just go for walk-in vaccinations across the board.

surrey_commuter

pangolin said:

verylonglegs said:

So the earliest I could book on Friday afternoon was the 4th Jan but now I'm somehow supposed to find one before that?

I assume they will be adding thousands of slots but the website is too busy to check.

Thousands??? They need to add millions!!!

Did he say by the end of which month?

It is a good idea but why set yourself up to fail? It just feels like he is talking sh1te to get himself through the next week and then will deal with the consequences after that.

kingstonian

I know there are many, me included, who believe the end of Dec target won’t be met but I would rather they fall slightly short of the highly ambitious target than bumble along at the current rate.

mully79

im calling BS on vaccine boosters being proved effective. whats the sample size that has had enough time to prove being boosted is successful yet we dont know how dangerous Omnicron is ?
Think im turning into a vaccinated anti-vaxxer.

Pross

kingstonian said:

I know there are many, me included, who believe the end of Dec target won’t be met but I would rather they fall slightly short of the highly ambitious target than bumble along at the current rate.

I think I was one of the few who felt they had a chance when they set ambitious targets to up the testing rates in the early months and for the initial vaccine rollout but I think this is way beyond setting an ambitious goal. I assume they are just using 'if you want a normal Christmas get your jabs' as a hint of a threat.

rjsterry

mully79 said:

im calling BS on vaccine boosters being proved effective. whats the sample size that has had enough time to prove being boosted is successful yet we dont know how dangerous Omnicron is ?
Think im turning into a vaccinated anti-vaxxer.

🤦🏻‍♂️ This is exhausting.

https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2814

https://www.ft.com/content/d4e58d38-37d6-40cd-9d72-6b9bfd0a3683

From the second link

In a trial with 10,000 participants who had all completed a two-shot Pfizer regimen, half were randomised to receive a further equal-strength dose of the shot, and half a placebo. Five cases of Covid were registered in patients receiving the booster compared with 109 who were given a placebo.

We've administered about 22 million and counting.

rick_chasey

mully79 said:

im calling BS on vaccine boosters being proved effective. whats the sample size that has had enough time to prove being boosted is successful yet we dont know how dangerous Omnicron is ?
Think im turning into a vaccinated anti-vaxxer.

🎶thick as shiiiiiiiit 🎵