[News] The Coronavirus Good News thread

[driller]

Vaccines seem to work on South African variant and Kent.

‘confident current vaccines will be useful for quite a while’

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.31.425021v1.full.pdf

 

[dazzer6666]

I’ll take all that’s happened in Israel as positive ...because with all those reasons you’ve listed, if they hadn’t have made such progress we’d be saying “blimey if they can’t manage it, how can we manage”

Agree.....we’ve vaccinated as many people as they have.

 

[n1 gull]

Without wanting to derail the "good news thread" I work with several people based in Israel. It's one of the leading logistics countries in the world with a burgeoning tech and science sector, compulsory military service and they implemented a second lockdown way ahead of most other countries. Plus total population is around 9 million.

With decent logistics and technological infrastructure this can be rolled out and the virus set back relatively quickly.

Yes, I know, before anyone mentions the obvious, but this isn't the thread for it.

Well it isn't so why did you post it?

 

[Poojah]

Vaccines seem to work on South African variant and Kent.

‘confident current vaccines will be useful for quite a while’

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.31.425021v1.full.pdf

Not so much TLDR as TBCFMCR (too bloody clever for me, couldn’t read - much respect to those science bods and their superior brains) - I trust this is an authoritative source?

These are all difficult times for us all of course - day two homeschooling the kids and I’m already pulling my hair out, but robust confirmation that we still have a route out against anything currently known to be in circulation would be a massive relief and a massive lift for us all, I’m sure.

 

[dstanman]

So how does our vaccination categories compare to those in other countries / Europe. Do they have a similar rollout programme for the vacations, or are they prioritising differently?

 

[clapham_gull]

So how does our vaccination categories compare to those in other countries / Europe. Do they have a similar rollout programme for the vacations, or are they prioritising differently?

I haven't done much reading but talking to colleagues overseas they seem to be prioritising in the same way.

Spain hasn't started well and neither has France. Ours is looking quite good in comparison.

 

[Nobby]

Presumably priority was given to the vaccines we knew we could get our hands on sharpish - Pfizer and AZ.

I've read that Moderna can't get any to us, nor the rest of Europe, until Spring so it seems right that focus was given on the approval of the vaccines that we could start getting into people's arms PDQ.

But that was because on the day that Moderna announced their exciting results, the UK rushed around and managed to announce we had bought 10m doses. Presumably negotiated that very day.
So a bit behind the EU with their 160m

 

[Bozza]

But that was because on the day that Moderna announced their exciting results, the UK rushed around and managed to announce we had bought 10m doses. Presumably negotiated that very day.
So a bit behind the EU with their 160m

1. This is a good news thread - please respect that if you wish to be able to read and contribute to it.
2. The UK ordered 5m (not 10m) Moderna doses in mid-November when the early trial results were known. 2m additional doses were ordered later on.

(The good news...)

3. The UK has orders in place for 357m vaccine doses including, significantly, 140m of the two vaccines already approved:

100 million doses of University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine
40 million doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine
7 million doses of Moderna vaccine
60 million doses of Novavax vaccine
60 million doses of Valneva vaccine
60 million doses of GSK/Sanofi Pasteur vaccine
30 million doses of Janssen vaccine

Whether through luck, judgment or some combination of the two, the UK looks well-placed, thankfully, for vaccines, unlike the EU which seems to be having a complete 'mare.

 

[Hugo Rune]

I'm not making a point about the UK at all.

Everyone in Israel has to do military service. They have a huge proportion of their population who are trained in either medicine, science or logistics.

The post I quoted asked how they did it. That's how.

Thanks for the answer. It‘a good to know that a democracy can mobilise successfully against Covid-19.

 

[beorhthelm]

So how does our vaccination categories compare to those in other countries / Europe. Do they have a similar rollout programme for the vacations, or are they prioritising differently?

going badly in places. apparently France is more concerned about anti-vaxxer lobby and only dished out 5000. Dutch only started yesturday. very odd.

 

[dazzer6666]

1. This is a good news thread - please respect that if you wish to be able to read and contribute to it.
2. The UK ordered 5m (not 10m) Moderna doses in mid-November when the early trial results were known. 2m additional doses were ordered later on.

(The good news...)

3. The UK has orders in place for 357m vaccine doses including, significantly, 140m of the two vaccines already approved:

100 million doses of University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine
40 million doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine
7 million doses of Moderna vaccine
60 million doses of Novavax vaccine
60 million doses of Valneva vaccine
60 million doses of GSK/Sanofi Pasteur vaccine
30 million doses of Janssen vaccine

Whether through luck, judgment or some combination of the two, the UK looks well-placed, thankfully, for vaccines, unlike the EU which seems to be having a complete 'mare.

Been said before but the bet-hedging strategy we put in place on vaccines has turned out to be a bit of a masterstroke. I wasn’t overly interested in the Moderna data/approval because, frankly, we’re unlikely to need it........least not for many months. I can’t find the link now but I read earlier that we’ve administered more vaccines than the whole of the rest of Europe combined at this stage. Several countries seem to be an awful long way behind.

 

[clapham_gull]

going badly in places. apparently France is more concerned about anti-vaxxer lobby and only dished out 5000. Dutch only started yesturday. very odd.

Decentralisation in Spain seems to be causing problems too. Complete mixed bag.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Oxford vaccine getting out there today!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55567421

 

[Nobby]

1. This is a good news thread - please respect that if you wish to be able to read and contribute to it.
2. The UK ordered 5m (not 10m) Moderna doses in mid-November when the early trial results were known. 2m additional doses were ordered later on.

(The good news...)

3. The UK has orders in place for 357m vaccine doses including, significantly, 140m of the two vaccines already approved:

100 million doses of University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine
40 million doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine
7 million doses of Moderna vaccine
60 million doses of Novavax vaccine
60 million doses of Valneva vaccine
60 million doses of GSK/Sanofi Pasteur vaccine
30 million doses of Janssen vaccine

Whether through luck, judgment or some combination of the two, the UK looks well-placed, thankfully, for vaccines, unlike the EU which seems to be having a complete 'mare.

Sorry Bozza, I will try to keep my depressing thoughts to other threads
Suitably admonished - we have done a brilliant job with the vaccines - it’s all going really well.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Thanks for the answer. It‘a good to know that a democracy can mobilise successfully against Covid-19.

They are also getting six doses from a five dose vial by using what manufacturers call the "over dose" as vials are always over filled. Again a possible way to roll this out even quicker and therefore "good news". Medical chap on Sky News has said both this and three month spacing are excellent ways to roll out quicker.

 

[dazzer6666]

ICU doc was being interviewed on the radio earlier this morning saying how, towards the end of every day, they are offering up ‘left over’ vacc to staff who haven’t had it yet. Literally as simple as shouting it out.......

 

[Change at Barnham]

Like everyone else I wish this terrible virus never existed.
However, prior to the pandemic's arrival the US economy had been successfully manipulated by Trump to make the majority of US voters more wealthy.
I believe without the pandemic the world would have been facing another four years with Trump being the most powerful man in the world.

Therefore I believe Trump's failure to get re-elected deserves mentioning in the Coronavirus Good News Thread.

 

[RossyG]

Like everyone else I wish this terrible virus never existed.
However, prior to the pandemic's arrival the US economy had been successfully manipulated by Trump to make the majority of US voters more wealthy.
I believe without the pandemic the world would have been facing another four years with Trump being the most powerful man in the world.

Therefore I believe Trump's failure to get re-elected deserves mentioning in the Coronavirus Good News Thread.

I’ve heard of people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, but that’s just insane.

You need therapy.

 

[Change at Barnham]

going badly in places. apparently France is more concerned about anti-vaxxer lobby and only dished out 5000. Dutch only started yesturday. very odd.

It was reported yesterday that the French require all recipients of the vaccination to have a consultation 5 days prior to receiving it to confirm each patient is suitable. This has created serious delays and is frustrating the French population apparently.

It sounded a bit far fetched to me, but it was the BBC lunchtime news that reported it.

 

[Mellotron]

70% of over-60s in Israel have been vaccinated. A really impressive effort.