crikey! Yes, lets hope not. I doubt anyone could cope with another year like these past couple 
Indeed … the vaccination program will, assuredly, keep case numbers well down but an instant response to any outbreaks is essential - BJ’s persistent vacillations have been the cause of much misery … 
Aye, I wonder when he will face the consequences for that then…?
Perhaps as we near 2024 he’ll try to get his act together!
[quote=“Omah, post: 2091557”]
The COVID-19 pandemic may yet have only been a warning which has allowed governments to prepare for the next pandemic, if they’ve learned the lessons … :roll:
One thing is clear - testing and lockdowns help to control pandemics but only vaccines can (temporarily) halt them … 
So … any remnant of the current pandemic must be stopped in its’ tracks and anyone at risk of catching/ communicating the current infection must be treated with a vaccine (or similar) or lose all citizen’s rights … :!:[/QUOTE]
That is total nonsense and will never happen Omah.
Just wishful thinking on my part … 
I hope so Omah…
Crikey!
The whole population doesn’t have to be vaccinated in order to halt spread of a virus. I think it’s somewhere between 50 to 70% to gain herd immunity. Eventually it just finds it impossible to move from host to host like a wider and wider game of hopscotch.
it’s similar to SARS so 50-80%. But we don’t have to vaccinate everyone to get a handle on this. You have to take into account that many recently infected will still carry antibodies and the likelihood of reinfection causing severe disease is going to be small. Certainly not a reason to enforce vaccination or draconian measures on any population. The facts are speaking for themselves in the Uk.
The facts are, as yet, incomplete and cannot be established until the worldwide pandemic is over.
Erring on the side of caution with a rapidly mutating virus would seem to be the wise decision to make.
Vaccinating 80% of the UK population would leave 13,400,000 open to infection and prone to subsequent transmision of any COVID variant - personally, I don’t want any of those in my local pub, restaurant or supermarket, especially if they’re among the 100,000,000 who travel to foreign climes each year (or mix with those who have) … :shock:
Herd immunity doesn’t work like that and as I’ve said a large proportion of people already have antibodies or immune systems that recognise the infection. We are not trying to eradicate covid (which is simply not possible), we are trying to eradicate severe illness as far as that is possible. The latter is very much within our reach and does not require 100% vaccination or even 80%.
Hopefully they are in process of developing therapeutics that will reduce the time the virus is in an infected individual and severe illness. The other weapon aside from the vaccine is effected therapy. Particularly in reducing incubation of the virus in sick people for long periods of time as that’s what causes variants. Just developing something to reduce shedding would be helpful.
Why introduce “eradicate” * … :?:
- destroy completely; put an end to
Cases of Indian variant increase by almost 30% since Monday
Matt Hancock’s press conference
Matt Hancock says the early evidence suggests that the Indian variant passes on more easily than the Kent variant. He repeats the figure he used earlier in the Commons, about 2,967 cases of the Indian variant being discovered.
He says the government is throwing everything at the new variant in Bolton. He says the weekly case rate in Bolton is now 283 per 100,000, and it’s doubled in the last week.
He says there are 25 people in hospital in Bolton with Covid
Vaccine surge in coronavirus hotspots may not stop Indian variant spread, scientists warn PM
https://i.ibb.co/kSrVQmR/Indian-Variant.jpg
Urgent discussions were being held in Whitehall nearly two weeks ago over what to do about the Indian variant, with some advisors urging ministers not to proceed with this week’s stage three lockdown lifting on Monday.
Some scientists believe that decision to unlock was a mistake, while a Tory source said some ministers were sympathetic to the idea the PM was pressing ahead too fast.
Discussions about the potential severity of its impact were held ahead of the decision on Friday 7 May to designate it a “variant of concern”.
Nevertheless, four days later on Monday 10 May, Mr Johnson brushed off concerns, saying: “At the moment I’m feeling very positive about [the roadmap].”
The true depth of Whitehall’s concern only became clear last Thursday, when Mr Johnson said he was now “anxious” about the variant.
On Friday, the prime minister finally admitted the final stage of the roadmap on 21 June could not be guaranteed.
However, he nevertheless went ahead with Monday’s step three unlocking, which saw individuals allowed to meet one another socially indoors.
Mr Johnson and ministers have pushed vaccination “surges”, combined with greater testing and encouraging people to isolate where necessary, to try and combat the Indian variant.
BJ is now refusing to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted even though the Indian variant has spread throughout England … :!:
India variant: Matt Hancock’s Covid claim fact-checked
There has been growing scrutiny of the government’s decision to put India on the red list, weeks after neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
They were placed on the list on 9 April and India was added on the 23 April - days after Boris Johnson cancelled his trade visit to the country.
Asked in Parliament, on Monday, 17 May, why India had not been added earlier, Health Secretary Matt Hancock replied: “The truth is that when we put Pakistan and Bangladesh on the red list, positivity among those arriving from those countries was three times higher than it was among those arriving from India.”
In terms of the “truth” from BJ’s government it seems that we’re back where we were last year - it’s hard to find when they’re obfuscating, prevaricating and procrastinating … :shock:
I mentioned on another thread that a trial of a third jag is being done in Autumn, to take into account the variants (India variant, in this case). So…are we all being jagged and poked to bits because the Govt cannot do their job?
IMO, it’s a good idea - the program will generate lots of useful data in a short time:
Third dose of Covid jab to be trialled in UK
The Cov-Boost study, which starts in June, will recruit 3,000 people of all ages who had their first dose in December or January, to test if this is worthwhile.
“It could be that some age groups may not need a booster and others do,” said Prof Saul Faust, chief investigator for the trial, from the University of Southampton. “We are not trying to say one is better than the other. The aim is to find out whether there should be a booster campaign and which vaccine to use,” he said.
Prof Faust said he was not expecting any vaccines to be “detrimental” but some could cause high fevers or very sore arms, for example, which would be useful to know.
The vaccines will be trialled at 18 sites across the UK, and half doses will also be tested.
The full list of sites is: Southampton, London (University College Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and Northwick Park Harrow), Leicester, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Wrexham, Bradford, Oxford, Glasgow, Leeds, Cambridge, Birmingham, Brighton, Stockport, Liverpool and Exeter.
THREE doses will be belt and braces, then …… 
I did think they were only planning Autumn boosters for the clinically vulnerable and those over 50.
That’s not a big increase as it was a v low baseline to start with. I realise they are panicking because of what is happening in India but I would be interested in how many of these cases are amongst those already vaccinated and in the latter how many result in hospitalisation/severe illness.
If only they could get the airports sorted out and stop people from red and green zones mixing with each other. Might go a long way towards cutting down transmission.