My main problem is that I never get what nay-sayers think is the motivation behind a 'coronavirus hoax'. What would anyone gain by putting the world in lockdown (with financial repercussions for years to come) and telling people to wash their hands and wear masks. And even if you fooled some people....why would the whole world join in....including all medical professionals.
I was sincere Billie. Happy to hear you were brought up proppa, me to, but soon formed my own view that respect is earnt not given due to age profession et al. Re the CV jab rescheduling some quotes from a BMJ article which you may be interested in reading in full. https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4978 The BMA has called the decision “unreasonable and totally unfair” and said it could cause “huge logistical problems” for general practices and vaccination centres. But many GPs and clinical leaders have told the BMA that delaying already promised second doses “will have a terrible impact on the emotional wellbeing of their most vulnerable, at-risk patients.” So far people aged over 80 and care home residents have been the first to receive the vaccine. Richard Vautrey, chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, said, “The decision to ask GPs, at such short notice, to rebook patients for three months hence will also cause huge logistical problems for almost all vaccination sites and practices. For example, to make contact with even just 2000 elderly or vulnerable patients will take a team of five staff at a practice about a week, and that’s simply untenable.”
So, thanks for sharing the link to the BMJ article. It was very informative so seriously, thanks for this. I would suggest whilst what you say is accurate, what are your views on the rest of the article? Firstly, the main issue here is the people already expecting the 2nd dose - and that could affect their mental health etc. Well, possible yes, and not ideal, but in reality double the number of people can now get one dose, which offers more immunity to them individually and to the community than by having no dose. The issue here are the logistics, and I agree this isn’t ideal, but weighing up the two sides, i would be in favour of the new approach. People with no vaccine also have mental health issues brought on by stress and worry of having zero vaccine. This approach could favour a quicker route out of this disaster. “[The four UK chief medical officers] recognise that this will mean we need to reschedule second doses for most of our current first dose recipients, but for the reasons set out today by JCVI [the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] and the CMOs, doing so should substantially improve individual and population-level protection against covid-19 over the next three months.” Also, unless I’m misreading the article, which is entirely possible, the 12wk dosing interval is still inside the recommendations from the manufacturers (although that is in the letter, not confirmed in the article by the BMJ), albeit right at the limit. I’m sure there are murmurings on this or the Politics Thread that I have unfairly been banned from, that state the Gov have totally gone against guidelines, and how reckless, murderers, the usual ****. I wonder if they will retract those statements, or acknowledge the article you posted. Personally, i am all for this approach, whilst it would be great to wave a magic wand, sometimes it isn’t possible.
Currently self isolating due to a housemate testing positive so an extra week off work for me. She got told by her boss that she could still go in as everyone in the care home she works has tested positive. I told her that I'm sure her boss wouldn't pay the fine and she's better off staying at home and looking after herself.
I should have said the quotes I posted are those that, having read the article and others, support my belief the BMA approach not to reschedule second shots for 500K+ people is the way to go. That led by the GPs and others on the front line of the vaccination program many of them saying they will continue with the original schedule. This from Pfizer/BioNTech. "The announcement caused controversy, however. Pfizer and BioNTech warned that two doses of their vaccine were required for maximum protection against Covid and that they did not have evidence that the first dose alone offered protection after three weeks." From this article. https://www.theguardian.com/society...octors-criticise-rescheduling-of-second-doses
I don’t understand how this decision, to alter the timing between the dosages has even been reached. I would have thought that the vaccine was sold under some form of license/agreement that stipulated that it must be used in accordance with the guidelines by which it was passed clinically fit for use. If not, why bother with the testing in the first place? Also, where does the duty of care lie, with regards to the GPs administering the injections, morally and legally? Are the ambulance chasing lawyers lining up for a legal challenge, when an 80+ patient is given the first dose, but dies from the virus 6/7/8 weeks later because the second dose wasn’t given in line with Pfizer’s recommendations? Who would be culpable, the GP or the government? If you buy an oven ready meal (almost wrote deal) you read the cooking instructions, which tell you what to do for best results. Most sensible people will follow those directions. Ignoring Pfizer’s “for best results” advice would be madness, in the absence of data to prove otherwise.
I'm not sure what's more stupid ... the fact they did it (as millions of others), or the fact they went public with it.
The New York Times getting involved, suggesting that the UK government will be mixing the vaccines, as in jab 1 could be Pfizer, jab 2 Oxford. The report stresses that there is zero evidence to suggest that this would work and saying that we “are not following the science”. Guidance in the USA says that the vaccines are not interchangeable. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/...JD-XBugemRr-N_I#click=https://t.co/93quRhYrlr
I had to take my Dad into hospital in Yeovil yesterday because he's got pneumonia and then developed blood clots in his leg and lungs. He was going to be kept in for 3 days for monitoring, but they've done a bit of a clear the beds job where possible and discharged him this evening so that they have as much bed capacity as possible for the coming few days for the expected rise in covid cases in the area. Buckle up boys and girls, it's going to be a rough start to the year I suspect
Thanks Libby. I'm 3/4 hour drive from him but he's got me on speed dial. I've done 250 miles in the past 2 days so I hope he's on the mend now
Cheers for the best wishes. My old man is tough as they come, at least as tough as you can be at 83 but it was obviously worrying He's got the drugs he needs and CT scans were positive so touch wood he'll pull through. It's just about 3 years since a bowel cancer operation so he's been generally healthy. The hospital staff were brilliant so I had utmost confidence in them looking after him whilst he was in there. I did my good deed though, as I diagnosed a case of Achilles tendonopathy that one of the orderlies was suffering from, and gave him a copy of the physiotherapy exercises and suggested combo of paracetamol and ibuprofen that I was given very recently. He'd been too busy to go and get it looked at, poor sod and was very grateful for the diagnosis
