O/T. The Government's handling of Covid

[swaledale]

Silly comment, Mr. F. There isn’t one contributor to this forum who has criticised the UK’s vaccination programme or failed to acknowledge the achievement.
On the other hand there is no point in being so ‘one eyed’ that we don’t also acknowledge another table...of Covid deaths and cases which is as dreadful as the vaccination one is encouraging.
Praise and criticism where it is due.
As for ‘Chordatan outrage’...I’ve criticised the reactionary tone of your comment, that’s all. Shown no ‘outrage’ and have no idea what ‘Chordatan’ means in this context.

You really must get on board with AF's banter rA, usually under the guise of having a dig at what he perceives to be a woke lefty point of view, or sometimes to infer racism when clearly there is none but often just having a dig, which when it gets a reaction he feigns surprise that his sense of "humour" wasn't understood!

On another point, it seems the German public seem to be avoiding the British-Swedish AstraZenica vaccine (apparently the Germans get a choice!), so their politicians have done themselves a disservice with their nationalist nonsense on vaccines!

[Ram59]

On another point, it seems the German public seem to be avoiding the British-Swedish AstraZenica vaccine (apparently the Germans get a choice!), so their politicians have done themselves a disservice with their nationalist nonsense on vaccines![/QUOTE]

You right there Swale, a number of the EU governments have not inspired much confidence in the Astra vaccine. With the current low supplies in the EU, they need people to be happy with any of the vaccines which have been passed by the EMA. I believe that their confidence will only come from the UK's actual figures, which should start to appear over the next few weeks.

It really seems strange that politicians are casting doubt on the very thing that they're expecting their people to take, to control the virus, especially in countries like France, where the likely take up is already very low. It must give the anti-vaxers much ammunition in the EU.

[Andy_Faber]

https://euobserver.com/stakeholders/150931

An interesting essay from Guy Verhofstat, lays it on the line with almost Rooneyesque frankness, confirming that the EU have right Royally ****ed up the vaccine procurement project, but using it as a problem the answer for which is greater EU integration. There is the obvious 'he would say that wouldn't he', but he makes the argument well

[ramAnag]

https://euobserver.com/stakeholders/150931

An interesting essay from Guy Verhofstat, lays it on the line with almost Rooneyesque frankness, confirming that the EU have right Royally ****ed up the vaccine procurement project, but using it as a problem the answer for which is greater EU integration. There is the obvious 'he would say that wouldn't he', but he makes the argument well

Makes the argument exceedingly well. Good of you to show such evenhandedness in ‘promoting’ it.

[Ram59]

https://euobserver.com/stakeholders/150931

An interesting essay from Guy Verhofstat, lays it on the line with almost Rooneyesque frankness, confirming that the EU have right Royally ****ed up the vaccine procurement project, but using it as a problem the answer for which is greater EU integration. There is the obvious 'he would say that wouldn't he', but he makes the argument well

I think he was being a bit generous in claiming that 75% of 200m doses have been produced in the the EU and as for the EU using its' power to renegotiate their supply contracts, conveniently ignores the fact that these suppliers are already tied in to other contracts, which can't just suddenly be ignored. This article illustrates a lot of what is wrong with the EU.

[Andy_Faber]

I think he was being a bit generous in claiming that 75% of 200m doses have been produced in the the EU and as for the EU using its' power to renegotiate their supply contracts, conveniently ignores the fact that these suppliers are already tied in to other contracts, which can't just suddenly be ignored. This article illustrates a lot of what is wrong with the EU.

I think he's looking beyond the immediate cluster****. I quite like old Guido, there's a bit of personality behind the rhetoric.

[swaledale]

Whilst we are all congratulating the government (or at least its agencies such as the NHS) on the vaccine programme rooll out, its worth noting this - credit by the way is Channel 4 fact checker.

The head of England’s Test and Trace programme, Dido Harding, faced questions from MPs on Wednesday at the Science and Technology Committee.

Defending the scheme’s performance, Baroness Harding said that since September:

“We’ve seen the virus mutate, we’ve seen the new variant emerge, which was something that none of us had, were able to predict”

So is she right?

On 5 May 2020, researchers from the Sheffield Genomics Group published a scientific paper called: “Spike mutation pipeline reveals the emergence of a more transmissible form of SARS-CoV-2” (the technical name for coronavirus).

They identified 13 mutations in the “spike protein”, which is the part of the virus that binds to human body cells, and said their findings had “important implications” for the spread of the disease.

Another study, published on 2 July, looked at a specific mutation in the virus and suggested this may have made it more infectious.

Scientists at Michigan State University published a study in the Journal of Molecular Biology on 23 July that said “most likely future mutations will make SARS-CoV-2 more infectious”.

The journal Nature ran an article on 8 September 2020 warning: “Different SARS-CoV-2 strains haven’t yet had a major impact on the course of the pandemic, but they might in future.”

It might be true that no-one predicted the precise mutations of the variant we’re currently fighting in the UK. But there has been evidence since spring 2020 that mutations were happening and experts warned even then that one or more variants could emerge that would significantly alter the course of the pandemic.

Remember to, that Johnson knew about the mutations in SEPTEMBER but was still promising a "normal" Christmas in NOVEMBER!

Remember that Thicky posted on here a long diatribe from an American that inferred the virus was no more deadlier than the flu!

[MadAmster]

Dildo really needs to swot up on what all viruses have always done. They mutate. Always have, always will. It was only a matterof time before this one did.

Many of its predecessors and relatives like SARS, MERS and others mutated themselves into weaker forms. This one has gone the other way. Dutch "experts" are now saying that the UK mutation is not only more infectious, it is also more deadly.

With regard to countries not using the AZ vaccine. South Africa has stopped using it as it is ineffective against the SA variant. If the mutations continue to get more effective than their "mother" we'll never get back to anything other than some kind of lockdown.

[Andy_Faber]

Whilst we are all congratulating the government (or at least its agencies such as the NHS) on the vaccine programme rooll out, its worth noting this - credit by the way is Channel 4 fact checker.

The head of England’s Test and Trace programme, Dido Harding, faced questions from MPs on Wednesday at the Science and Technology Committee.

Defending the scheme’s performance, Baroness Harding said that since September:

“We’ve seen the virus mutate, we’ve seen the new variant emerge, which was something that none of us had, were able to predict”

So is she right?

On 5 May 2020, researchers from the Sheffield Genomics Group published a scientific paper called: “Spike mutation pipeline reveals the emergence of a more transmissible form of SARS-CoV-2” (the technical name for coronavirus).

They identified 13 mutations in the “spike protein”, which is the part of the virus that binds to human body cells, and said their findings had “important implications” for the spread of the disease.

Another study, published on 2 July, looked at a specific mutation in the virus and suggested this may have made it more infectious.

Scientists at Michigan State University published a study in the Journal of Molecular Biology on 23 July that said “most likely future mutations will make SARS-CoV-2 more infectious”.

The journal Nature ran an article on 8 September 2020 warning: “Different SARS-CoV-2 strains haven’t yet had a major impact on the course of the pandemic, but they might in future.”

It might be true that no-one predicted the precise mutations of the variant we’re currently fighting in the UK. But there has been evidence since spring 2020 that mutations were happening and experts warned even then that one or more variants could emerge that would significantly alter the course of the pandemic.

Remember to, that Johnson knew about the mutations in SEPTEMBER but was still promising a "normal" Christmas in NOVEMBER!

Remember that Thicky posted on here a long diatribe from an American that inferred the virus was no more deadlier than the flu!

I'm struggling to grasp if you are blaming Harding, Johnon or Tricky for all that

[Andy_Faber]

You really must get on board with AF's banter rA, usually under the guise of having a dig at what he perceives to be a woke lefty point of view, or sometimes to infer racism when clearly there is none but often just having a dig, which when it gets a reaction he feigns surprise that his sense of "humour" wasn't understood!

I know you're still sore about being caught out expressing the same prejudice as we mortals and embarrassed enough to try and hide it under the cloak of humour, but I don't think you should try to draw other posters in. Lets draw a line under it and move on.