You’d hope by then, it’ll be only themselves they endanger, mostly anyway.

Not quite that simple, the SA varient seems to be the next issue….

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-biggest-surge-testing-operation-to-date-under-way-as-dozens-of-south-african-variant-cases-found-in-south-london-12273904

among patients who had received two doses of the vaccine, the variant’s prevalence rate was eight times higher than among the unvaccinated – 5.4% versus 0.7%.

@mudmuncher – truly the stuff of dreams!

Yep! Got the Moderna too.

Not quite that simple, the SA varient seems to be the next issue….

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-biggest-surge-testing-operation-to-date-under-way-as-dozens-of-south-african-variant-cases-found-in-south-london-12273904

It’s obviously an issue, but my understanding it that the AZ vaccine is still effective against it, and more effective that we hoped the vaccines would be before the roll out (higher than say the flu vaccine) it’s not the “it doesn’t work” horror story that was being pushed by some news outlets weeks ago.

Not quite that simple, the SA varient seems to be the next issue….

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-biggest-surge-testing-operation-to-date-under-way-as-dozens-of-south-african-variant-cases-found-in-south-london-12273904

Or sky news have run out of corona drama to profit from so have found a new scare story to flog…

Or sky news have run out of corona drama to profit from so have found a new scare story to flog…

The BBC report was a little less hysterical.

Have Sky News got a record of “corona drama” and “scare stories”? If so, I’ve missed them.

Interestingly(or not) I’ve got myself on the (Murcia Region) Spanish Vaccination list.

Murcia CITAS VACUNACION

If you’re on private health insurance and not registered with the Murcia regional health authority you probably need to inform them with this.
(I think you can also visit and register in person but multiple copies of everything required this seems to be the less faf option)

It gives you a pdf of your details.

I think it’s only been up for a week, I’m not sure what the other Regions are doing.

Plenty of scares on Sky news website – packed pubs, parties, Marquees, crowds in London…

Isn’t that reporting? What am I missing?

Not quite that simple, the SA varient seems to be the next issue….

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-biggest-surge-testing-operation-to-date-under-way-as-dozens-of-south-african-variant-cases-found-in-south-london-12273904

I’m trying to make sense of the numbers in the Israeli study. They had 800 participants, all of whom had tested positive for COVID, 400 of which had received at least one dose of a vaccine at least 14 days prior to the positive test. Overall B.1.351 made up 1% of cases, so 8 cases. They then say, “among patients who had received two doses of the vaccine, the variant’s prevalence rate was eight times higher than among the unvaccinated – 5.4% versus 0.7%.”. This gives 2.8 cases in the unvaccinated group, so there must be 5.2 cases in the vaccinated group. The vaccinated group includes both people who’ve had one and two doses, but the 5.4% is only for people who’ve had two doses. The rate in the vaccinated group as a whole is is less than twice that in the unvaccinated group. IANAS, but these numbers seem quite low to be used as the basis for any generalisations.

I think most news outlets are guilty of using sensational headlines to grab clicks etc, typically the articles themselves are factual, even if skewed towards to best/worst case, depending on what they’re selling that day.

The dodgy ‘low angle’ at the beach / park / pub to make it look more densely packed than it is the worst. BBC Wales ran a ‘queues at Primark’ headline, they managed to get 6, socially distanced shoppers into shot, trimmed to make them look like the tip of the iceberg. The few people I know who actually wanted to shop yesterday reported things were well managed and people followed guidelines.

The vaccine gives great protection for all variants found in the testing, but less protection for that variant. Which is why our authorities in the UK are acting as they are with the hotspot of the new variant found in Wandsworth and Lambeth as per the Sky News story. I find it reassuring that it is being taken seriously, and test and trace is targeting/prioritised towards cases of the variant while the numbers are still low.

Isn’t that reporting? What am I missing?

My opinion is that, News is just another part of the entertainment industry. That’s not to say that most journalists aren’t interested in the truth, but they also need to sell papers / clicks / viewers to say in business.

Fair, unbiased reporting of the facts won’t do that, so for example the day the pubs open they won’t show quiet pub with 3 couples sat outside safely spaced out, they keep looking until they find the busiest one they can find, then they keep the camera nice and low, it gives the impression people are closer than they are, then they’ll report “we were at this Pub in London today etc” as if it’s typical and not exceptional. The News Papers are the worst, they only survive by ‘proving’ the prejudices of their typical reader.

They do the same with data / statistics, often the body of the report is more measured than the headlines, but they need that ‘fear’ to drag their audience in.

My poor mother, who is 64 and very healthy is petrified of Covid, she’s been vaccinated but she gets her ‘news’ from the Express and seems to spend her days in a sort of mutual hostage situation with my Step-Dad, too scared to open the windows at the front of the house in case someone walks past blowing out covid, their front garden is HUGE and they live in a small rural village

It’s click baity headlines that are the issue.

I understand why they exist, but hate the fact that people don’t read the details behind them

I think most news outlets are guilty of using sensational headlines to grab clicks etc, typically the articles themselves are factual, even if skewed towards to best/worst case, depending on what they’re selling that day.

Yep, even Singletrack was doing that for a while. Seems to have been reined in a bit over the last year but if clicks generate income you aren’t going to see click bait vanishing.

Agree with all that P-Jay, but I wouldn’t necessarily label Sky News as a main culprit. Even in that story, alongside explaining why the SA variant is of concern and being targeted, they also include reassuring reminders as regards falling levels of infections. It all reads as both informing and reassuring to me. Even the headline is about a strong response to a small number of cases… which is precisely what should be happening.

i think all news outlets are guilty of it, just taking different scare stories based on their target demographic.

re. vaccines: In wales you can sign up online* to get on a queuing list for the various health boards. I signed up yesterday and got a text today saying I could book for weds/thurs. Ended up going for next week due to timing, but could have got the next couple of days if I’d been free.

*different pages for different health boards, but googling finds them if you want to sign up, I think WalesOnline have a list of them.

have i missed something…

folk have become sceptical of the AZ vaccine due to blood clots so are embracing the Moderna version.

surely the Moderna equivalent of “blood clots” has yet to be spotted?

apols – deliberately over simplified, i do not question the existence of blood clots nor do i wish to overstate their incidence etc. etc.

Yes soobalias you are probably right. We know that the blood clot issue for AZ is small, but it seems slightly non-zero. For other vaccines, we don’t know so much. They may turn out to be slightly worse, or slightly better. It’s unlikely that any of them is really dangerous to a significant degree.

J&J has now been reported as potential for clots as well.

Seems that Boris is lining up excuses for another lockdown as he introduces caution over a layer of crowded pub gardens, parties and SA variants. It’s all got a whiff of “it wasn’t my fault I broke my promise” over it.

On the plus side I’ve just finished a bike ride with Jnr with Beer and Chips sitting on a wooden table, I’ll admit I thought it was a minor issue being denied these things, but it was surprisingly liberating sitting in the sun with a pint and a bowl of chips.

After a day sat in front of a monitor I find it pleasant to ride into the country with a cold tin in the EVOC, find a place with a view of something and chill in the sun.

48 and booked my jabs on the main NHS website this morning. 2-May and 18-July.
Bromley – South London/North Kent Borders.

Feeling very pleased today.

variant’s prevalence rate

Some perspective – prevalence is not admissions. Hospital admissions are stable in London at the moment at about 30/day. They have been that way for a couple of weeks. Whether this is school return (children on trains, tubes and buses more in London) is moot. It could be another variant like the SA B.351.1 VoC, although confirmed numbers are low (25% of all cases are in London). I believe that the SA variant is not an S-gene knockout since it retains the 69/70 mutation site, but has another deletion at 242/4. hence this might manifest by S-gene measurement prior to typing.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/961299/Variants_of_Concern_VOC_Technical_Briefing_6_England-1.pdf

have i missed something…

folk have become sceptical of the AZ vaccine due to blood clots so are embracing the Moderna version.

surely the Moderna equivalent of “blood clots” has yet to be spotted?

apols – deliberately over simplified, i do not question the existence of blood clots nor do i wish to overstate their incidence etc. etc.

Again, this is partly the fault of the press. Certainly in the early days they were fare more interested in whipping up a fight between the UK and EU and selling papers than reporting facts. My Wife has only had a single patient turn up for a vaccine and then refuse to have it because they could only offer a AZ, he was a massively obese smoker, but completely freaked out when he wasn’t able to pick which vaccine he was having.

Yes, I agree there will be side effects reported that seem, because of the numbers involved scary. In the UK (as of 09/04/21) 79 people have developed blood clots and 19 died, likely as a result of being given the AZ vaccine. 19 deaths is a tragedy. But Covid is one of those horrible things that offers only tough choices. The vaccine roll out killed 19 people, but PHE estimate it’s saved over 10k lives already in English over-60s alone.

I don’t know what the solution is, the Press will tell you the people have the right to know about blood clots, but do they have the right to sensationalise it? For the two weeks after the headlines on blood clots my wife’s centre had their rate of DNA (people who book, but don’t turn up) jump from almost none, to 20% hopefully they rebooked, and the numbers remain great, but it’s a worry.

Free agent- that’s quite a delay to first jab – they are available today down here in East Sussex. Did you choose the dates for convenience?

The standard argument why the unvaccinated haven’t already been wiped off the face of the Earth by measles etc, is that they piggyback off everyone else’s sacrifice and so benefit from herd immunity.

With the Covid vaccines not conferring this herd immunity, we can presumably expect to see the unvaccinated die out pretty quickly, thus posing an ever decreasing risk to the rest of humanity.

So are a few no-shows really a problem?

we can presumably expect to see the unvaccinated die out pretty quicklyf

The choice is currently between artificially imparted protection from possible serious morbidity, or naturally imparted protection from serious morbidity. The benefit risk on this falls heavily on the artificial at the moment. I’ve had both and I can tell you, I recommend the artificial!

The alternative is that a pool of unvaccinated means a larger risk of mutation (every time the virus replicates is a chance of mutation) so increases the chance of a vaccine resistant strain which affects us all, vaccinated or not.

With the Covid vaccines not conferring this herd immunity, we can presumably expect to see the unvaccinated die out pretty quickly, thus posing an ever decreasing risk to the rest of humanity.

Very few of them will die though. But in enough numbers, they will clog up the hospitals limited resources, and could see more or longer restrictions for the rest of the populace.

Seems that Boris is lining up excuses for another lockdown as he introduces caution over a layer of crowded pub gardens, parties and SA variants. It’s all got a whiff of “it wasn’t my fault I broke my promise” over it.

Maybe someone has got through to him that double jeopardy trashing the vaccine gain and cooking up a wave four variant in the population would not be a good thing.

Wife, 41, had a text this morning to book a jab, which she thought was a mistake as she knows a couple of people that have had texts only to be told it was a mistake.

It wasn’t and whilst she was on the phone I chirped up ‘can I come, can I come’ and the lady on the other end heard (which I wasn’t expecting) and booked me in as well. Again, wasn’t expecting as I’m only 39. Happy days, roll on Monday 🙂

Very few of them will die though. But in enough numbers, they will clog up the hospitals limited resources, and could see more or longer restrictions for the rest of the populace.

And some people still don’t see it….

Nice one Fathomer. Don’t ask, don’t get.

Or maybe they see it, just refuse to admit it.

Free agent- that’s quite a delay to first jab – they are available today down here in East Sussex. Did you choose the dates for convenience?

No – it was what I was offered on the main NHS website.
Not sure if I can change it now?

67 days between my two doses. I booked the earliest possible first appointment, and wasn’t give a choice of second appointments, just a choice of times on that single day.

chrispo
Free Member

The standard argument why the unvaccinated haven’t already been wiped off the face of the Earth by measles etc, is that they piggyback off everyone else’s sacrifice and so benefit from herd immunity.

Even without it, to have that effect you need a deadlier disease. I think the reality is that if there’s a vaccine for a disease that kills people in those numbers, the question doesn’t arise, because in that scenario almost everyone accepts the vaccine. But measles like covid and others is in the less lethal band where a large enough number of people would survive regardless of vaccines. It’s not quite self-fulfilling I suspect but it’s definitely strongly linked.

So basically non-vaccination can create an unnecessarily high level of death, a greater risk to the entire population, and a higher burden on the NHS. But what it won’t do, is solve itself.

We could of gone tomorrow but the other half has to be out for work all day, next Monday was the next earliest day. Exactly 11 weeks, or 77 days between ours.

Can anyone advise why I cannot book a jab? The NHS website allows me to pick a date for first jab but then says it cannot find me any dates for the second jab and that the first and second dose have to be booked together 🤷

Cardiff and Vale NHS are now offering vaccines to the over 30s. Remarkable.