Corona Virus

[UndertheWire]

I'm so pleased to hear that the situation is improving in Ireland. Selecting by age is such a pragmatic approach and seems far simpler, more effective and less divisive than selecting by other criteria. Lucky that you are getting the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine.

Today is the big opening up in England as well as different variations in other parts of the UK. We are now allowed to go into pubs and restaurants and other people's houses though with limits on numbers. We're even allowed to travel abroad on holiday. The number of infections, hospitalisations and deaths are very low but unfortunately, cases are increasing in some areas with the "Indian" variant. Early reports are that the vaccines seem to be effective against it.

I'm booked for my second vaccination next week (AZ) and my husband the week after. The second vaccine is now being offered to those over 50 with an 8-week gap but we've decided not to risk the appointments that we have just to get in a week or two earlier. My sons, both in their twenties, haven't heard anything beyond the stated intention of offering a first dose to everyone over 18 by the end of July. As the elder has started traveling to London for meetings and the younger is due back at his office in London by 21st June, I wish this would hurry up. They will be offered one of the RNA vaccines because of the rare blood clot risk with the AZ.

On the positive side, the vaccine uptake in the UK is very high. Initially, the expectation was that it would be around 75% but so far, it's more like 95% of those over 50. Vaccines are now being offered to everyone over 38 and there are surge vaccination programs in some areas where the "Indian" variant is prevalent. It seems that the British public is very pro-vaccine.

[WalshFan88]

On the positive side, the vaccine uptake in the UK is very high. Initially, the expectation was that it would be around 75% but so far, it's more like 95% of those over 50. Vaccines are now being offered to everyone over 38 and there are surge vaccination programs in some areas where the "Indian" variant is prevalent. It seems that the British public is very pro-vaccine.

That is so great to hear, UtW. If only the US could follow suit.

[UndertheWire]

I prefer to think of it as a World Health issue with lots of interesting science. I hope for competent government that will make good decisions based on good science but I accept they will make mistakes. Even the Trump administration got some things right, particularly the investment in the development of vaccines.

Back to the science, I wanted to share some graphs from a recent report from the UK Office of National Statistics that I find exciting. It's relevant for other countries because it shows the correlation between vaccination and Covid antibodies. It shows the sharp increase with the first vaccination, a slight drop after a period before an increase following the second. For those aged over 80, it will have been the Pfizer vaccine and for those aged 50-75 it will mostly be the AZ vaccine.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisation...per/index.html

[WalshFan88]

Even the Trump administration got some things right, particularly the investment in the development of vaccines.

The speed of development of vaccines, absolutely.

The rollout and buying of doses of the vaccines they spearheaded was a disaster until Biden's cabinet came in. I remember waiting forever and a day for it to go beyond essential workers. And then Biden came in and suddenly everything was moving so much more smoothly. I'll give the Trump administration credit for the speed of development of them, but they literally get no passes on everything else COVID related. And a lot of that had to do with Trump himself. He should have been more proud of the vaccines I suppose and made a PSA and told his people to go get them and to stop believing misinformation. But then again he should have done that with mask wearing, for that matter.

Again the development of the vaccines his cabinet and team they assembled I give full credit for. But the rollout was a disaster. Now the rollout is so smooth we have more vaccines than people willing to take them sadly. At least anyone who wants one can get one and actually have their pick of Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson. That's how available they are at least in the US, what I'm seeing. There are pop up clinics everywhere, pharmacy chains, even doctors offices have started stocking them now thankfully!

It makes me happy too that now we are getting them into the arms of teens in the US, teens being one of the asymptomatic carrier groups. This will help tremendously!

It absolutely is a world health issue, UtW. It's unfortunate that government has to be involved at all.

[WalshFan88]

I went ahead and screenshotted that graph UtW and posted it as a pic. Very interesting indeed!

[groupie2686]

New York has arbitrarily ended the mask requirement for fully vaccinated people as of tomorrow. This presents problems for my office, where we are all fully vaccinated except one employee, who refuses to get it. We don't know what to do about it.

Its confusing to even know how to interact anymore. Most people are still wearing masks outside around here. Still, the declining numbers everywhere give me hope one day soon this will be over.

[Scamp]

Can't wait for the 4th. We just went in the least restricted and they expect everything to be open by June 15. We're planning our 4th party. We just had a small celebration last year. Most people in our neighborhood have been vaccinated including most the kids.
We still have to wear a mask in some stores. Most are waiting for June 15 to remove masks. It's confusing. Some places you have to be vaccinated to not wear a mask and some places you need one regardless of having shots.
We actually have people in the area that say they may just keep wearing a mask when shopping or in a crowd
We've been so lucky to live along the beach and through all this been able to use the bike path along the beach without masks if you stayed 6 ' apart which was easy on a bike. The actually beach, or sand was closed for a while but opened up early but you couldn't sit on the sand you had to keep moving.With everybody staying home our beaches were empty so it was great. Parents could take their kids to the beach and let them run around.
Over all in this area most people just followed the "rules" staying 6' apart. We even had a laugh when we realized we were all walking one way through the neighborhood when walking our dogs. It was't something we started because of Covid, we've been doing it all along.
Hope they can get going on the concerts soon. I bet the guys are just chomping at the bit to resume the tour.
Everyone keep safe. We're slowly returning to normal. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. LOL