Off Topic Covid 19 restrictions have done one

Interesting article and it makes you wonder what the outcome would've been if we hadn't voted to leave.

 

Lot on here were so happy to slag off the government awhile ago and say how great it is in other countries....
Wonder if they’re going to give any praise


'We didn't go fast enough or strong enough': Macron delivers humiliating vaccine mea culpa as EU 'heads for export ban climbdown' at summit TODAY - while Hancock boasts UK's contract with AstraZeneca trumps Brussels

 

The government/NHS have done brilliantly with the vaccine programme but they still screwed up their management of the pandemic last year, regardless of how other countries have done.

 

Most Countries 'screwed up' their management of the pandemic last year.They were fighting an invisible killer,knowledge was sparse and the only learning was after mistakes happened.

Let's be honest here.If they had done anything in terms of lockdown any harsher than they already were,we'd have moaned?

We seem to live in a world where blame is popular and fashionable but praise isn't.

 

Excellent last line

 

Agree wholeheartedly.
The media thrive on the blame game...the populous suck it up. Hard to fathom out really, but it seems everyone needs a scapegoat.
This virus issue is not the easiest of problems to solve. In most cases Governments are doing their utmost against a relentless unknown enemy. As you suggest - a little positive feedback to them would not go amiss.

 

That is an interesting article and seems mostly accurate. One thing it doesn't cover though is why AZ has not delivered on expected doses. And that is because when starting up a brand new process culturing new biological medicines like this, you get issues like low yields and things not quite going to plan at the beginning. The same happened at the UK site, but because they started 3 months before the EU factory, they got their wrinkles mostly ironed out by the time the vaccine got approval. AZ has sent UK employees over to the EU to help them fix their issues - you can't predict what issues you'll get because each factory is unique.

The contracts AZ signed with the EU said they'd make a best effort to deliver the doses, as far as I can see they've made a best effort and have kept EU informed all along of expected amounts being delivered. I guess somewhere along the lines someone glossed over the "best effort, new medicine, new process" caveats and plans were made based on the contract figures being set in stone. It seems there's a mix of genuine misunderstanding of the complexities of start-up of new production lines and disingenuous presentation of facts to play to the politics.

Interestingly, Pfizer have also revised their manufacturing schedule, dropping output in the short term in order to upgrade their facilities to increase overall capacity. I don't see anything like the same amount of anguish about their temporary reduction in delivery numbers. It's all AZ getting a kicking - an Anglo-Swedish company with a French CEO, so very odd. I can't see it all being anti-british sentiment, I do wonder if it's because they're supplying it on a cost basis in each market and it's a threat to the profit margin of other companies.

 

It's quite an intriguing convoluted mix of the 'Buyer's Market' vs "Seller's Market" situation.
Few suppliers, many customers. Products to some extent still in development mode.

 

If it had beenncalled the Stuttgart vaccine of the London there probably wouldn't have been an issue.
Of course the other problem is the sclerosis EU response to things with so many countries playing their own game. We were able to get on with things and did.

 

Bit like trying to get a PS5 for my grandson.

 

Of course we'd have moaned, just like we moaned anyway.

The govt themselves have declared they were too slow and got a lot wrong. That wasn't because knowledge and sound advice wasn't there, there was lots of it around. The govt just decided not to act on all of it. So, first lockdown was a week or 2 too late, it was lifted too quickly and too widely, second lockdown was too late, Xmas was a shambles.
This current lockdown and release strategy seems considered and well thought out, well done them.

I actually agree with your last sentence but it's not about blame it's about recognising mistakes, putting your hand up to them, and learning from them.

I'll praise anybody who gets something right, tory, labour, McCann, anybody. Even the Allam's, but I won't need to because they likely won't...

 

there it is at the end again your smug negativeness

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing for those who don't actually contribute to problem solving.
I'd suggest your last sentence is attributing blame before the event. Solutions please.

 

Blame before what event?

 

Chazz, I'm not negative and I don't think I'm smug but you can't ignore what's actually happened. Realistic I'd say.

 

Yes,hindsight is a wonderful thing and I've no doubt that with the benefit of it,death rates would've been much lower.

Mistakes were made and hands have been raised in admittance.I wouldn't like to have been placed in any leaders shoes during the pandemic,damned if they did,damned if they didn't...

The roll out of the vaccine has been nothing short of miraculous although appreciation has been muted in some quarters which is sad!!!(that's politics)

As an aside,were people in England aware that 60,000 people in Scotland aged between 55 and 60 missed their vaccine appointment last week?Apparently the letters weren't sent out in time?(The vaccine centres were sitting waiting for patients who never materialised). Nicola Sturgeon labelled it a 'Glitch' yesterday and attempted to blame the Royal Mail which I find appalling and unforgivable.

 

You tell me. Events associated with those and others you imply will get it wrong.

 

Sterile drug manufacture (for injection) is a complex business. Batches can be compromised by various issues and the paper work is colossal. The lack of a single signature on a form can delay a batch release until rectified. I was once asked to sign a set of paperwork but had to decline because I was on leave the day the process had occured!, they had to wait a week until the signee returned from leave. Trying to go from zero to maximum production was always going to involve setbacks and problems and anybody involved in the process knows that. As a company, its almost impossible to promise usable, product which meets regulation until all facilities have reached the required level of production and ironed out problems. These problems can even be structural on the new buildings concerned (leading to contaminated product-a situation I encountered) and not rapidly rectified. I can't believe AZ are not producing as much vaccine as they possibly can to the highest regulated standard. It seems the UK negotiated a better deal than the EU, which the EU can't forgive. Maybe the EU should have taken better advice from people who actually knew about vaccine manufacture before signing and relying on AZ

 

If you mean the Allam bit that was an attempt at a bit of light-heartedness, otherwise I don't understand what you're saying.

 

I cannot find the article that told the story behind the Oxford vaccine. A few never forgotten snippets from it. The think tank sat round a table and all agreed, the **** has hit the fan. Let's get to work. Yea ok, but I need a million quid. Tis yours. Crack on. We can do work on modifying the sars/mers stuff. Good plan.

Oh, the date? January last year. The beginning of a vaccination programme that has left me staggered, in what seems it simplicity. You wait your turn, you get a phone call, text. or letter, giving you an option on dates and times to attend. You turn up, and, I did not deliberately time this, seven minutes later sat back down and ready for home. I checked the time to make sure I would not be late, and after what seemed a highly efficient conveyor belt, of checking in hand spray who are you have you ever roll your sleeve up thank you if you turn left and make your way out, I checked my watch again. And not just me. Neighbours, have you had your jab, yes, straight in straight out.

As to the rest? Making it up as you go along, to me, was the only option. Coulda shoulda woulda, hindsight, not very helpful to anybody. Obi posted figures on here, on here I mean this board, not this thread, about a year ago. The best case/worst case deaths. At the time I hoped we could keep it a tad above the best case, yet dreading the thought of the worst case. Because that number was so high, was I over the months to come, begin to trivialise the death of a parent, a child, anybody's loved one to, ah well it could have been worse?

I kept a random record, once a week ish, of the local cases. Not deaths, just the cases. I hoped our splendid isolation, for so long the butt of jokes, would stave the bloody thing off. All was well, the infection rate was as low as six from one week to the next. Yes, we have this on the run. I get into a row on another thread, why are there six thousand people milling around Walton Street market, and we can't watch City at the KC? Foookin BOOOOOOOOOOOM. Hey, we are top of the league.
I gave up trying to glean anything hopeful that day. How do you go from the lowest rate to the highest in a couple or so weeks? Just hope they roll this vaccine out pretty smartish. And that's me back to where I came in.