[News] The Coronavirus Good News thread

[dazzer6666]

Extract from DT article :

Vaccines ‘highly effective’ against the Indian coronavirus variant
Britain back on course for a full reopening by June 21 after ‘astounding’ real-world data show protection offered by double dose of jabs
By
Steve Bird
;
Christopher Hope,
CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT and
Patrick Sawer,
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
22 May 2021 • 10:30pm
Vaccine success

Britain’s vaccines are “highly effective” against the Indian coronavirus variant, government scientists hailed on Saturday night, putting the country back on course for a full reopening by June 21.

In a marked change in tone, Public Health England (PHE) scientists said the first real-world data showed double doses of Pfizer/BioNTech or AstraZeneca were nearly as effective against the emerging Indian strain as they were against the Kent variant.

The findings, from a study which included more than a thousand people who had contracted the Indian variant, were described as “groundbreaking” by a buoyant Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, and “astounding” by Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, urged people to get their “vital” second vaccine as soon as it was offered, saying it provided “maximum protection against all existing and emerging variants”.

Scientists found the Pfizer vaccine was 88 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant from two weeks after the second dose, compared to 93 per cent effective against the Kent strain.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was found to be 60 per cent effective against the Indian strain, compared to 66 per cent against the Kent variant, over the same period.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Extract from DT article :

Vaccines ‘highly effective’ against the Indian coronavirus variant
Britain back on course for a full reopening by June 21 after ‘astounding’ real-world data show protection offered by double dose of jabs
By
Steve Bird
;
Christopher Hope,
CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT and
Patrick Sawer,
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
22 May 2021 • 10:30pm
Vaccine success

Britain’s vaccines are “highly effective” against the Indian coronavirus variant, government scientists hailed on Saturday night, putting the country back on course for a full reopening by June 21.

In a marked change in tone, Public Health England (PHE) scientists said the first real-world data showed double doses of Pfizer/BioNTech or AstraZeneca were nearly as effective against the emerging Indian strain as they were against the Kent variant.

The findings, from a study which included more than a thousand people who had contracted the Indian variant, were described as “groundbreaking” by a buoyant Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, and “astounding” by Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, urged people to get their “vital” second vaccine as soon as it was offered, saying it provided “maximum protection against all existing and emerging variants”.

Scientists found the Pfizer vaccine was 88 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant from two weeks after the second dose, compared to 93 per cent effective against the Kent strain.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was found to be 60 per cent effective against the Indian strain, compared to 66 per cent against the Kent variant, over the same period.

After 2 AZ shots, I really hope my 3rd booster is Pfizer.

 

[Deleted member 22389]

Went out for a meal last night, and my wife gets her 2nd jab today, another step back to normality.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

The AstraZeneca vaccine was found to be 60 per cent effective against the Indian strain, compared to 66 per cent against the Kent variant, over the same period.

After 2 AZ shots, I really hope my 3rd booster is Pfizer.

Existing data about AZ shows it takes longer to reach the highest level of efficacy. I have just had 2 doses of AZ and from my laymans perspective, after following a number of Twitter accounts that I trust, I believe it will comfortably exceed these early figures. Why? Because so far it has always performed better than expected, for instance regarding the early and somewhat misleading S African study from months ago which is even now being quoted and treated as fact by doom-mongers.

I would be equally happy to receive either a AZ, Pfizer or Moderna booster as i think they will all do the job very well. :thumbs:

From The Times:

 

[el punal]

After 2 AZ shots, I really hope my 3rd booster is Pfizer.

Onwards and UPWARDS!

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Just to back up regarding AZ long-term effectiveness:
[tweet]1396273891358687233[/tweet]

 

[loz]

Tim Spector. The study on vaccinated people who then tested positive was weighted to people who had gone out and caught it before vaccination had really kicked in, Before immunity had built. But out of a study of 52k who did test positive, only 500 were hospitalised. (1%) 113 died and 97 had extreme co-morbidity of being very frail or susceptible to passing.

He also mentioned “there is zero risk from shopping groceries and there is no need to sanitise. Just retain a sensible hygiene policy of washing hands.”

 

[Poojah]

I've just pulled this for the benefit of an anxious friend. Basically, it shows the the staggered relationship between recorded cases and deaths in the UK since cases peaked on 4th January. Methodology: there were 19 days between the peak in cases and the peak in deaths in January, so I've aligned case and death data from the government web site (https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/), with deaths brought forward 19 days (so the deaths in theory relate to the cases on the day they were recorded).

In effect, at the beginning of January a fraction over 2% of recorded cases sadly resulted in someone dying. As of the beginning of May, this figure is 0.2%, an approximate ten-fold drop.



Essentially, what this means is that case data is becoming increasingly irrelevant since people aren't dying. I might be mistaken here but I think that we are already at a lower case fatality rate than flu. So whilst we may yet see an 'explosion' in cases (I don't think we will actually, but probably an increase) it is nowhere near as significant as it was in the past thanks for the magic of vaccines.

To throw in a little bit of realism, we're probably not quite ready to hit the 'normality' button just yet as although hospitalisation rates have dropped, they're still around 5.5% having peaked at almost 10%. Clearly fewer people are getting sick, and those who are are generally less sick than they were before.

Patience and caution needed for a little while longer in my opinion, but we're tantalisingly close and there appears to be very little for most of us to fear now.

 

[Fungus]

I've just pulled this for the benefit of an anxious friend. Basically, it shows the the staggered relationship between recorded cases and deaths in the UK since cases peaked on 4th January. Methodology: there were 19 days between the peak in cases and the peak in deaths in January, so I've aligned case and death data from the government web site (https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/), with deaths brought forward 19 days (so the deaths in theory relate to the cases on the day they were recorded).

In effect, at the beginning of January a fraction over 2% of recorded cases sadly resulted in someone dying. As of the beginning of May, this figure is 0.2%, an approximate ten-fold drop.

View attachment 137027

Essentially, what this means is that case data is becoming increasingly irrelevant since people aren't dying. I might be mistaken here but I think that we are already at a lower case fatality rate than flu. So whilst we may yet see an 'explosion' in cases (I don't think we will actually, but probably an increase) it is nowhere near as significant as it was in the past thanks for the magic of vaccines.

To throw in a little bit of realism, we're probably not quite ready to hit the 'normality' button just yet as although hospitalisation rates have dropped, they're still around 5.5% having peaked at almost 10%. Clearly fewer people are getting sick, and those who are are generally less sick than they were before.

Patience and caution needed for a little while longer in my opinion, but we're tantalisingly close and there appears to be very little for most of us to fear now.

Excellent work!

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Conversation

Politics For All
@PoliticsForAlI
Police cars revolving lightFlag of Israel | BREAKING: Israel's health minister says all coronavirus restrictions will be lifted on June 1, including scrapping vaccine passports

 

[A1X]

Faster than a PCR test: dogs detect Covid in under a second

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...test-dogs-detect-covid-coronavirus-london-bmj

 

[dazzer6666]

Over 760,000 jabs were reported yesterday....incredible.

 

[Mellotron]

[TWEET]1396567831144189956[/TWEET]

A full Wembley for later stages of the Euros beckons...

 

[Postman Pat]

Britain may be just weeks away from declaring “the*pandemic*is over”, a top scientist said today amid rising optimism about the*Indian variant*of the virus and the planned full reopening of the economy on June 21.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, revealed that upcoming data is set to show that the*Covid*vaccines*are even more successful at keeping people out of*hospital*than they are at preventing transmission of the virus.

“What we’ve seen so far in the pandemic is that protection from vaccines against hospitalisation and death is much, much higher than the protection against mild infection, which is what these tests are detecting,” he said.

Researchers may be able to confirm the finding in “a few more weeks”, meaning that the coronavirus pandemic could be declared beaten.

If the current generation of vaccines are able to stop people going into hospital … then the pandemic is over, because we can live with the virus,” the biologist told the BBC’s Today programme.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/...ver-stop-prof-andrew-pollard-b936859.html?amp

 

[Stumpy Tim]

If you've had the AZ vaccine and want to bring forward your second one, the system is allowing it. My wife has just moved her second one from 16th july to 25th June.

I had the Moderna one, and can't make any significant change...

 

[dazzer6666]

Britain may be just weeks away from declaring “the*pandemic*is over”, a top scientist said today amid rising optimism about the*Indian variant*of the virus and the planned full reopening of the economy on June 21.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, revealed that upcoming data is set to show that the*Covid*vaccines*are even more successful at keeping people out of*hospital*than they are at preventing transmission of the virus.

“What we’ve seen so far in the pandemic is that protection from vaccines against hospitalisation and death is much, much higher than the protection against mild infection, which is what these tests are detecting,” he said.

Researchers may be able to confirm the finding in “a few more weeks”, meaning that the coronavirus pandemic could be declared beaten.

If the current generation of vaccines are able to stop people going into hospital … then the pandemic is over, because we can live with the virus,” the biologist told the BBC’s Today programme.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/...ver-stop-prof-andrew-pollard-b936859.html?amp

About time - this has been abundantly evident it's coming from the stats for a few weeks now...............confirmation of this will be brilliant

If you've had the AZ vaccine and want to bring forward your second one, the system is allowing it. My wife has just moved her second one from 16th july to 25th June.

I had the Moderna one, and can't make any significant change...

Yep - Mrs D had a text from the surgery today suggesting she rebooks earlier even though she's due to have the second one in earlyish June anyway. Seems a bit pointless as it'll only be a week or so earlier but I guess it just means they are absolutely steaming ahead and want to get everyone done asap. The programme has been such a colossal success, in terms of strategy, planning, execution and effectiveness - everyone involved from the scientists to the jabbers to the jab centre car park marshalls and everyone in between deserves massive kudos and thanks.

 

[swd40]

If you've had the AZ vaccine and want to bring forward your second one, the system is allowing it. My wife has just moved her second one from 16th july to 25th June.

I had the Moderna one, and can't make any significant change...

Did she have to cancel her 2nd appointment, then take the chance an earlier date was available, via the NHS website?

Entered my details, and only presents me with the option to cancel, then book another slot, without showing the alternates dates available.
Would rather not cancel, only for then to find out, my end of June 2nd jab date, would of been earlier than any subsequent ones offered.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Did she have to cancel her 2nd appointment, then take the chance an earlier date was available, via the NHS website?

Entered my details, and only presents me with the option to cancel, then book another slot, without showing the alternates dates available.
Would rather not cancel, only for then to find out, my end of June 2nd jab date, would of been earlier than any subsequent ones offered.

Yes, but there were loads and loads of slots. She ended up getting a slot three weeks early, and in Brighton rather than Eastbourne. For my Moderna one there wasn't really much choice - all in the same week. For AZ there were loads...

 

[spoonie]

yes you have to cancel your original booking. then go in and the options are a couple of weeks earlier

 

[swd40]

Just brought mine forward two weeks, scenes.