Off Topic Coronavirus

Mass vaccination centres opening up, still for the priority groups of course.

So over 80 year olds within a 45 minute drive of one of these centres are being offered appointments.

Anyone else see some potential issues with this?

 

Thousands of people 80+ trying to bay park at the same time?

It’s a good thing though assuming they get it right and it doesn’t end in pensioners queueing for hours in the cold.

 

I think a lot of us are trying to see the positives in the vaccine roll out tbh.

 

Nearly fell off my chair this morning when I heard Piers Morgan say positive things about the UK's government roll out of the vaccination.......

At least you appear to have it organised and the logistical side of things sorted, whilst we're still waiting for the EU to approve the Oxford/Zenica vaccine. I read in the papers yesterday that the EU regulatory crowd required a lot more data form Oxford and that will only be handed over to the regulator later this week. They hope to have it approved by the end of the week.......

Meanwhile we are only getting something like 35000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine delivered per week and have apparently an order for 4000 doses of the Modena one.....doesn't even begin to scratch the surface......

 

France should follow Germany:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...eaching-eu-rules-purchasing-supplies-vaccine/
I am just pleased we weren't part of the that EU approach as they didn't order enough.
https://www.politico.eu/article/clement-beaune-interview-coronavirus-vaccines-defends-eu/
Our government dodged a bullet there? Funny it's all gone silent on that front?
On a serious note, I hope all countries will get vaccinated quickly, including the poor countries who really need it as well. The whole thing needs to go away.

 

Sorry Ellers, just like Matt Hancock... Not quite right
Covid vaccine decisions have little to do with Brexit

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James Kane
02 December 2020
The UK has managed the feat of becoming the first Western country to approve a Covid vaccine. But Brexit isn’t the reason why and it could make the roll-out harder, writes James Kane

Shortly after the announcement that the UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), had approved the first Covid vaccine to be rolled out, health secretary Matt Hancock asserted that it was “because of Brexit” that the UK had been able to do this ahead of its EU neighbours. The government also explained its refusal to participate in the joint EU vaccine purchasing scheme earlier this year by saying that it could secure doses more quickly itself. Others, however, have claimed that Brexit will actually make the rollout of the UK’s vaccination programme more difficult. Who is right?

The UK will be faster off the vaccine mark than its neighbours
The government has stated that the first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be administered in the week of 7 December. This makes it the first Western country to approve the widespread rollout of a vaccine: the US is likely to follow in a week or so, while the EU is unlikely to approve any Covid vaccine for use until the start of 2021. At a time when hundreds of people are still dying of coronavirus daily, the UK authorities’ speed in approving a vaccine could well save lives.

The UK is also better supplied with vaccines than its EU neighbours. The UK authorities have bought more vaccine doses per head of population than almost any other country in the world, with contracts signed for over five doses per Briton. Only Canada and the US have bought more. The EU’s joint procurement scheme has acquired only three doses for each European citizen.

The UK could have followed the same course of vaccine action if it were an EU member
That said, none of these successes can be chalked up to Brexit. As the chief executive of the MHRA swiftly pointed out, Mr Hancock was wrong to say that the UK could approve the vaccine early because it was no longer subject to EU rules. The MHRA’s decision was taken in accordance with the relevant EU legislation, which allows member states to grant temporary authorisation for a medicinal product in response to the spread of infectious diseases (among others). [1] This legislation still applies to the UK until the end of the transition period. Any EU member state could have used the same provision of the legislation to approve the vaccine. They decided not to for political and technical reasons, not legal ones.

Similarly, the member states were in no way obliged to take part in the EU’s joint vaccine procurement scheme. The EU has very limited competences for public health under its founding treaties: it can take action only to “support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States”. The EU member states in this case voluntarily decided to opt into the joint procurement scheme. If one or more of them had decided to follow the UK’s path and procure its own vaccines, no one would have stopped them.

 

Scotland and Sturgeon benefitting from being part of the U.K. when it comes to the vaccination programme. Can’t imagine they’d be where they are if they were part of the EU.

 

Where have I mentioned Brexit? I was not even talking about Brexit. I was just saying I am glad we were not part of that joint scheme. It is not working and causing problems in many countries.

 

Just to confirm I was not saying it as a Brexit thing... Just glad we are not part of the scheme.

 

Anyone heard anything from Stainesy recently? Just reading some of the stories about ambulance crews, must be a worrying time all round...

 

He says it's an absolute nightmare.

Lot of paramedic crews off sick or isolating, long waits at the hospitals due to lack of beds, have to scrub the ambulance after each job, over half his jobs are Covid related.

 

He's on Facebook and seems ok.
Just taking a break from the **** fest on here I think.

 

Thanks lads, wouldn't fancy his job under any circumstances at present. Top bloke...

 

The EU haven't even given the go ahead for the Oxford vaccine.

In this particular instance it's patently obvious that we were better off not being tied to the EU's political decisions.

 

They have asked for more information on the data ..as Stan alluded, possibly not a wrong...for instance the time between first and second dose and also this anomalies regarding the dosages.

We are definitely better off not being involved, but I am pretty sure we never would have been...having generated the vaccine here in the first place

 

Celtic really ****ed this up....

Celtic: How Dubai trip unravelled for Scottish champions

It was supposed to be training time in the sun to revive Celtic's 10-in-a-row bid, but their winter camp in Dubai has added further gloom to an already turbulent season.

Christopher Jullien's positive test on the squad's return from the United Arab Emirates has forced 13 of his team-mates into isolation, along with manager Neil Lennon and his assistant John Kennedy.

It means their squad will be depleted when they host Hibernian on Monday night, the first of four games in hand as they bid to claw back a yawning 22-point gap to Rangers.

So how did it come to this? BBC Scotland charts the timeline of events.

Why Dubai?
Since 2017 under Brendan Rodgers, Celtic have been flying to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates at the start of January for some warm weather training during the Scottish Premiership's winter break.

It has been a fruitful trip for them, with the last two years allowing them to shake off Old Firm defeats and put winning runs together to clinch treble success.

It's perhaps understandable then, that the club sought another bounce after a dreadful autumn run left their 10-in-a-row hopes hanging by a thread. They were given permission to go by the Scottish government on 12 November, but things have unravelled since.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55621350

 

And I can see this being replicated down south too....

Scottish lower leagues & Scottish Cup suspended for three weeks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55616399

 

Only a matter of time, I heard that it is likely that all football below the National League set-up likely to be null & void for the 2nd season running. We need to make sure we're not in bottom three if there is a halt called later this month...

 

Well, you would say that......

Ireland are desperate for the vaccine.

This time Beth, the EU have got it wrong.

Anyway, this isn't the politics thread so appologies.

 

Fair enough.

yeah, I don’t think the EU is set up for large scale non economic emergency activity. Their vaccine purchasing has allegedly been ****ed up by the French insisting that the Sanofi version, some way off being ready, should be the major workhorse. Very messy.

Disappointed to learn that a big favour we could have done for the rest of the world - a proper study into the effectiveness of the delayed second jab policy - isn’t being carried out (at least that what some expert people on the radio this morning thought). Because if the approach works it really does make things easier for everyone. These experts thought that, in the extreme circumstances, it was worth the risk taking this route, and there is some logic behind the delay for the AZ vaccine (not for the Pfizer one)., but the risk is that it gives the virus a small chance of mutating and becoming immune to the vaccine.