Can Ministers meet the high expectations of the booster jab roll out? – politicalbetting.com

Several of the papers this morning are making the roll out of the booster jab their main story following suggestions that this is not going quite as well as the initial vaccine programme at the start of the year.
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Second.
And good night.
PS I'd like to get my booster too. This coming weekend it is 6 months since my 2nd jab but NHS website says I'm not eligible.
Because
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/19/without-covid-19-jab-reinfection-may-occur-every-16-months-say-scientists?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
This virus is gonna be with us forever, like a very nasty flu. It will reduce life expectancy across the world.
This is the new normal. And the only way through is vaccines
My 80 yo Mother. Crickets.
But we do need to make sure that people get booster shots sooner rather than later. We have no issue with supply - let's make sure that *everyone* who got jabbed six months or so ago (and particularly if it was with AZ) is able to get a booster shot. Some won't take it, and that's fine, but most people will, and those people will get supercharged protection.
This virus seems to be protean compared, say, to smallpox and polio.
Do the experts know why?
Mr. JS, I wonder if this is a timing matter (ie we're waiting for the six month gap rather than going ahead more rapidly, as per longer 1st to 2nd shot intervals than any other countries opted for).
I think it's a combination of factors at the moment:
- Some areas get supply more than others so that can affect how quickly they can get jabs into arms.
- Running both the largest Flu campaign in a long time along with Boosters is causing issues administratively and in terms of resources.
- I think there is some element of people not bothering with Boosters or delaying it for now. The government has and continues to downplay the situation with Covid, that does have an impact on people.
But this can all be turned around.
I think we've got to wait a few days before we have the boosters, but I'll be making inquiries shortly.
Elsewhere, I notice that the drumbeat for rules and restrictions and house arrest is getting started all over again. The Government can try, but whether they'll obtain enough compliance from a thoroughly fed-up populace for what many will (probably rightly) fear as the start of an endless cycle of such interventions, to "save the NHS" for six months of every year for the rest of time, is another matter.
Actions have consequences. If they wish to avoid being vaccinated, that’s their right, but it’s not their right to be dog in the manger with the rest of us.
But hopefully the disease itself will provide at least a temporary immune booster. Glad to hear you’re both recovered.
Are you on half-term yet? Grandson One is, but his wife isn't.
Alcoholics
Drug users
The obese
Smokers
Extreme sports enthusiasts
Parents of children with congenital conditions due to marrying their cousin
I don't have a moral problem with vaccine passports for the short term (although I think there are practical issues) but what you suggest would be, I fear, the thin edge of a very nasty wedge.
I'd instead favour not locking down - the consequence of not being vaccinated is that the rest of the country will no longer put life on hold to help you.
But - crucial but, and the reason why this is urgent - what we’re talking about is avoiding another round of restrictions due to rapid spread of the virus among people who are unvaccinated. Extreme sports might cause death or injury to one or two people when they go wrong. Viruses, on the other hand…
This is also incidentally why I thought schoolchildren should have been vaccinated last summer even though I could see compelling arguments on the other side. It’s clear, whatever the lies of UCL, that the primary vector of transmission is in schools and therefore breaking that chain would have made a considerable difference now.
It will never happen of course. Too many politicians promise us we can have all we like and no bad things will follow.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/20/planned-fossil-fuel-output-vastly-exceeds-climate-limits-says-un
That's why the NHS is a bit panicked for this winter.
The NHS managers are now clear that the catastrofuck is upon them. We absolutely need boosters because we know that the vaccine which was focused on the vulnerable and elderly to start with is much less effective now. We'll have to do more - well not we, you. It was pretty stark travelling through the Netherlands to Germany then to England and then home to Scotland. Despite the UK case rates being sky high the only place where people no longer seem to care is England.
Deprioritise unvaccinated Covid patients in the same way liver transplants don't go to alcoholics who are still drinking.
Treat unvaccinated Covid patients if we have enough slack in the system to be able to treat them.
In the first waves of the vaccines resources seemed almost unlimited with everything being thrown at it. This doesn't feel like that, its a bit half hearted.
Even people sick in hospital with flu like symptoms aren't guaranteed to get tested.
Three weeks ago we heard that his wife and one child were mildly ill, took home LFTs and both came up positive. Their illnesses, like most, were very mild and they are fully recovered. They felt lethargic for four or five days and lost their taste and smell. The husband and other child were never infected or ill (they periodically took LFTs) (just luck as they took no precautions).
This experience has merely served to bolster the husband's resolve to not be vaccinated.
1. If you take the Italian approach and clamp down really hard, all you'll get is masses of refusers demanding to be kept on benefits because they can't work, accompanied by endless sob stories about them (and especially their children) going cold and hungry
2. House arrest for refusers, which would keep them effectively segregated from the rest of the population, can't be enforced because there are far too many of them
3. The nanosecond you start to discriminate against the refusers there will be an absolute shitstorm about racism, because disproportionate numbers of them are black
As much as large swathes of the public would be delighted to see the stubborn buggers receive a good shoeing, it ain't going to happen.
None of these things will eliminate the issue of anti-vaxxers, and I do favour vaccine passports for anything involving crowds, but they will chip away at the problem in relatively easy ways so it becomes less intimidating.
Personally, I prefer the English attitude to this. This disease is not going away. We are all likely to get it eventually. We just need to ensure that as many as possible are double vaxxed plus boosted (if appropriate, timewise) when we do. Some will still get sick and some will die but life needs to go on. The current figures are not good but on one view it is better than more catch it now than when the flu season is up and running. Those countries which are deferring infections may come to regret that.
On 20/10/20 the seven-day rolling average of deaths was over 200 already and exponentially growing so it was over 400 by early November.
Its been flattish at around 120-140 for two months now. So it was true that we were ahead of last year but only because last years figures were suppressed. We've now crossed over already to the point whereby our deaths are lower than they were this time last year.
As even the BBC news reports this morning 'UK cases have been rising sharply but deaths are well below the winter peak.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58976577
What do you mean about death rates being higher? They are much much lower due to the vaccines.
However, that doesn't mean that I'm in favour of vaccine compulsion by the state.
I do think we will find the NHS struggling to cope in a couple of months if infections stay at their current rate. All we can hope is that this wave is near the peak and will be declining by then. Measures to reduce infection now, however, may not be a good idea if it means more infections later.
The obese are made to jump through all sorts of hoops if they wish to get bariatric surgery or similar.
And so on.
Liberty means having the right to make your own choices, it doesn't mean those choices being consequence-free.
If the unvaccinated have to face consequences for their choices then that's their own choice.
The timeline for Covid-19 booster vaccinations in Scotland appears to have been quietly changed. Last month over-50s were told they could book appointments from October. But now saying bookings won't open until mid-November.
https://twitter.com/newsandpics/status/1450392869550936067?s=20
Incorrect.
19/10/20. Daily deaths 80, 7 day average 122
19/10/21. Daily deaths 223, 7 day average 130
Just Google it. This time last year we were at the foot of what turned out to be a double-peaked mountain of cases and deaths. This time we have protection from an (ageing) vaccine, more deaths and case rates +150%.
We won't see the death rate as high as last year. But it will go shooting up, as will the deaths of people not treated by an NHS which is "right on the edge" already.
So, back to the Sun front page. Good for The Sun. Someone needs to be shouting at people to both get their 1st round (as we're lagging on that measure) and boosters.
Has any vaccine been approved yet for 5-11? I know Pfizer have put in for approval to US and other authorities, but has it been okayed for any yet?
Its interesting the divide between posters. Pretty much everyone saying "its over / its endemic / so what / live with it" are current or former Tory members/voters. This really shouldn't be a political issue.
19/10/20. Daily deaths 192, 7 day average 190.6
Here in North Wales mask wearing has virtually disappeared, evidenced only in medical environments and on some transport despite the Welsh government mandates, and to be honest who is going to enforce these regulations
Mask wearing is apparently higher in Scotland but their rates are rising
The details of who is catching covid now, hospital numbers and deaths are the key and as far as I am aware this is affecting the young and before we have another pop at HMG let us not forget it was the JCVI who did not give the green light to vaccinate the young earlier, and it was only when that was overturned the four administration commenced vaccinating
I really worry that JCVI ruled out vaccinating the young as they wanted our vaccines to be used elsewhere, and it was a political decision by them
Another example where clear guidance on priorities would have been useful.
It is impossible to turn away a pregnant woman with covid pneumonitis on the grounds she should have been vaxxed, and rightly so.
I don't predict any more lockdowns but if there was it will be due to overburdening of the NHS rather than death numbers. The picture on this is clearly patchy. The media and some senior bods in the NHS will have a tendency to over-dramatise.
We need to watch the number being admitted very carefully and be aware that even steps to reduce infection are going to have a lag of several weeks before they impact hospital admissions. Is the current level of infections enough to ring that alarm bell? It's getting close, I will admit that.
https://twitter.com/ActuaryByDay/status/1447958785159581696?t=maHIKWs0DsKIdZYgdIR2UQ&s=19
Yet, Mike's experience seems to contradict this?
Certainly none of Boris, Sturgeon, Drakeford or Foster did
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
It does cause me a huge amount of worry as there seems to me to be an inevitability about them contracting the virus.
I do not hear your attacks on anyone other than Boris
iirc the jab boost has been cleared for use in parallel with flu jab.
As for masks there are always exemptions and if you struggle to breathe though a mask then don't wear one. I'm talking in general - they help.