52 deaths due to Coivid in UK Reported Yesterday

[Croesy Blue]

I thought that plan was to distribute those vaccines once the time came. I agree with you completely, until everyone is sorted the reopening will be limited.

[goats]

I think you are misunderstanding how they work.

They do not stop you getting ill, they reduce the chances of you getting ill by a good margin, they reduce but not eliminate transmission. They stop you from dieing.

There will still be transmission of the virus, and the more elusive strains will still likely make you ill as the vaccine is not effective against these other strains. As soon as we allow people to go on holidays again more strains will enter the country that are likely to beat the vaccines.

Enjoy this upcoming break from it all, but we are not even half way through this yet...

Wasnt there a recent report that the Oxford vaccine reduces transmission by 85%? I thought the main thing was that it stops people getting it AND spreading it.....

[superfeathers]

I was reading an article recently of how comparing countries isn’t probably the best way to measure success.

I’d always be the first to criticise this government and there is no argument from me that we’ve handled this poorly.

But we do have an over weight population who are very susceptible to the virus. We also have a very old population thanks to the nhs and we are also a very densely populated country.

So whilst we have handled it poorly especially on the lead up to Christmas comparing our deaths to other countries maybe is the best metric to judge.

Also there I think there is a floor for number fo deaths from this especially due to the seasonal effect so I’m not sure how likely we ever are to see single figures again.

There are so many factors that you could look at to the contrary though. The fact we are an island for example gives us a pretty good advantage!

There are several countries you could look at in Europe alone where arguably you could’ve expected the UK to fare better. And we didn’t, with a head start where we could’ve benefitted from their hindsight.

I was also more inclined to agree with the argument we shouldn’t compare (the gov trotted this one out regularly), until now we’re encouraged to compare how well we’re doing with the rest of the world.

[Croesy Blue]

In fairness we are an island but we are also an economic hub, we should have controlled our borders much better but at the same time I'm not sure we'd have been able to have gone full new zealand/austrailia on it.

I'm not saying this government have done a good job with covid, I think the complete opposite. But I also think we do have some mitigating factors as to why our deaths are as high as they are.

[lardy]

I thought that plan was to distribute those vaccines once the time came. I agree with you completely, until everyone is sorted the reopening will be limited.

The question is when is the time. There'll come a point when under 30s are being vaccinated. If there are many countries still on less than 5% vaccinated, which I doubt is an unlikely figure, then the UK would be better off sending those doses elsewhere. But it would be very hard to convince the electorate.

[lardy]

Wasnt there a recent report that the Oxford vaccine reduces transmission by 85%? I thought the main thing was that it stops people getting it AND spreading it.....

As you say, reduces transmission. That not the same as stops it.

[StraightOuttaCanton]

Not just the UK - Canada has also massively overordered with almost 10 doses per person. The EU has a whole is 3.5 doses and the US is a little higher.

There's a clear match of high income countries and high vaccination rate, which is obviously no surprise. I'm not making a criticism as I would not expect anything else; they have to vaccinate themselves first. But the virus doesn't respect borders and I expect that will become the main problem in the second half of 2021. How can a vaccinated country open its economy to a mainly unvaccinated world?

There is not a high vaccination rate in Canada. It’s miles behind. Ordering vaccines and getting them are 2 different things

[Croesy Blue]

As you say, reduces transmission. That not the same as stops it.

Aren't they all showing fairly high levels of reduction though?

I think the main thing is reducting the severity anyway but a big reduction in transmission will be a big bonus.

[lardy]

There is not a high vaccination rate in Canada. It’s miles behind. Ordering vaccines and getting them are 2 different things

This is true, but having vaccines on order at least means that doses will be even later for other poorer countries. A problem is being created that will become apparent later this year, not that I've got any solutions for it.

[lardy]

Aren't they all showing fairly high levels of reduction though?

I think the main thing is reducting the severity anyway but a big reduction in transmission will be a big bonus.

Yeah agree.

Goats seems to think the vaccine stops people catching Covid, which is a pretty big misconception of how vaccines work.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

For a man who massively underplayed Covid at the start, railed against every restriction that has been imposed to stop its spread and has gone on record to say that lockdowns don't work you deserve some credit for the chutzpah in this argument.

Well thank you.

[life on mars]

Wasnt there a recent report that the Oxford vaccine reduces transmission by 85%? I thought the main thing was that it stops people getting it AND spreading it.....

That is the plan , accept in Europe where they seem to be having all sorts of problems , so the suspension of its use will increase the spread risk ,strange times .

[A Quiet Monkfish]

From memory, you’re a category C aren’t you - they’re all as bad as each other and it’s just a coincidence I always come down on the same side of the fence in my opinions.

There were no deaths in Northern Ireland on Sunday and none in Wales about ten days ago, they are occasions for celebration- 52 still seems way too high to start doing that for me.

I honestly don't know what category C refers to, but there comes a point when you feel that there truly is a point in time to feel celebratory. Covid deaths on a daily basis could go on for years. At what point do we 'celebrate ?

[goats]

Aren't they all showing fairly high levels of reduction though?

I think the main thing is reducting the severity anyway but a big reduction in transmission will be a big bonus.

Never going to stop it 100%, not yet anyway, but give it a few years.....it’s amazing how much more knowledge the medical world have already compared to 12 months ago....

[Croesy Blue]

52% reduction in deaths when comparing today’s figures to last weeks, hopefully we continue to move in the right direction z