Coronavirus - UK
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Sky news reporting complete and utter fear inducing fabrications this morning.
They should face charges.
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I think I've finally worked it out.
Back in my PhD days I attended the 1st International Congress on Skiing & Science in St Christoph, Austria.
The main speaker for the week long event was the Danish researcher Bengt Saltin.
He was instrumental in lots of the high performance sports physiology research and of advancing the field of study.
He was in his 40s at the time and over a couple of drinks later in the week I asked him what he was working on now/next.
His reply, pediatric nutrition and wellbeing.
Why I asked? Because I have young children.
And when I'm done with that, I'll move on to combating aging with science. Because my parents are close to 70 and I'm heading that way.
Long story short, the politicians and/or their parents, friends, supporters are either in or approaching the age of vulnerability from COVID-19 so they're shutting this country down until a vaccine can be rolled out effectively.
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@MajorRage said in Coronavirus - UK:
Sky news reporting complete and utter fear inducing fabrications this morning.
They should face charges.
It was funny watching BBC this morning and someone came on for an interview they obviously thought was going to be distraught and scathing. She was awesome, optimistic and upbeat. The interview got cut short.
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@Bones Not surprised.
I came home from the supermarket & my wife was pretty distraught. She' just seen on sky news that the government was very worried about the vaccine getting through to the UK from Belgium, France was stopping everything indefinitely & supermarkets were like to run out of food.
30 seconds of research showed the vaccine comes in by container, which is not changed at all, France making it clear they are working to figure out the best way to get things moving & various places sources saying that there is potential for broccoli and cauliflower shortage only from France.
So Sky just fabricated stuff from "government sources" to create fear and keep people watching. They need to face charges. Jail time.
BTW - Supermarkets ... it seems 4 lads on my street all got sent to go shopping this morning, so we did a compare and contrast as we were all going different places.
Sainsburies - No q's, everything stocked, no problems (where I went, fortunately)
Waitrose - long queue, lots of old people. Vege's thin on the ground, but otherwise fine
Tesco - no queues but very busy, some shelves a bit empty but basically fine
Costco - 90 min queue to get in, but once in loads of suppliesso all in all ... nothing too unusual a week out from the big fat red man.
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Don't read the Daily Mail, mate.
They were reporting that Pfizer vaccine stocks had run out and no new deliveries were due until March. Complete lies and Pfizer were forced to release a rebuttal.
Big headline that Pfizer vaccine stocks had been ruined. Turned out that only 200 doses were lost when a fridge failed. That's out of 2 million doses...
So Sky just fabricated stuff from "government sources" to create fear and keep people watching. They need to face charges. Jail time.
I'm starting to come round to the view that there really does need to be some sanction on the press spreading what are basically lies and causing panic in what is a national emergency.
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@MajorRage we did ours in Tesco about half 9 this morning. It's a superstore so plenty of room but was pretty busy. No shortage of anything we wanted. Big queues (cars and people) when we left though. Sainsbury's is opening 6am tomorrow and offering double points so my bro is going then but normal hours it'd be shit as the aisles are too small. Morrison's would be similar but is smaller again.
BBC were trying to suggest food shortages eh, and that it might be catastrophic but basically got laughed at by anyone they interviewed.
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@Bones said in Coronavirus - UK:
@MajorRage said in Coronavirus - UK:
Sky news reporting complete and utter fear inducing fabrications this morning.
They should face charges.
It was funny watching BBC this morning and someone came on for an interview they obviously thought was going to be distraught and scathing. She was awesome, optimistic and upbeat. The interview got cut short.
I watched Boris on the BBC. Nothing new really but he did reiterate that it’s only 20% of France traffic only and nothing will run out.
Of course in the wrap up the journalist said “well some of that 20% will be extremely important”.
It’s just straight bullshit.
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New Lockdown measures instituted across the UK on Saturday 19 December 2020 are already a success.
541 total deaths reported on 20 and 21 December compared with the projected 2,143 deaths if no measures had been taken.
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@MiketheSnow Winner winner, chicken dinner
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@Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK:
@MiketheSnow Winner winner, chicken dinner
I was taking the piss
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@MiketheSnow said in Coronavirus - UK:
@Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK:
@MiketheSnow Winner winner, chicken dinner
I was taking the piss
Yes mate. Thank you.
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Jesus Christ I can't cope with the doom and gloom anymore! I need someone to tell me now the exact date life will be back to normal, I demand it. I don't ask a lot of anyone!
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@R-L said in Coronavirus - UK:
Jesus Christ I can't cope with the doom and gloom anymore! I need someone to tell me now the exact date life will be back to normal, I demand it. I don't ask a lot of anyone!
Probably by April when enough people have been vaccinated.
Until then, strap yourself in - there going to be a lot of bad news on death rates, I think.
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@Victor-Meldrew the new variants worry me, I just can't see the answer to any of this anymore. I honestly feel like this is going to be the rest of my life
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There's positive stuff. Vaccines are rolling out quite fast in the NHS according to Mrs M's daughter and Care Home residents have started getting it.
Oxford Vaccine has been submitted for approval which is expected just after Christmas. Much easier to manufacture and handle than the Pfizer one and the UK has 100m doses ordered.
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@Victor-Meldrew don't you only need one dose also?
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Yep.
From what I've read, it isn't quite as effective as the two-shot Pfizer one and some people may need a booster, but is way more effective when you take into account it doesn't needs special handling or storage.
Apparently, the UK's done a deal with India to licence and manufacture the vaccine and that's where most of the UK's supplies will come from. India are world leaders in vaccine production apparently.
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@Bones Think it's a two dose vaccine as well.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32623-4/fulltext
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@Tim said in Coronavirus - UK:
@Bones Think it's a two dose vaccine as well.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32623-4/fulltext
Think you're right. It's a weird one, apparently half a standard first dose gives a higher level of protection than two full doses. Think they are waiting for final trials/approval before deciding the best way to roll it out.
They are looking at delaying giving people the second shot of the Pfizer vaccine to get a wider level of immunity into the community
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
Think you're right. It's a weird one, apparently half a standard first dose gives a higher level of protection than two full doses
That's something that was a small error subset of the clinical trials, and should never have been reported, let a lone released by the pharmaceutical company. That claim has no scientific validity.
On the other hand, that's not entirely unexpected given the immunogenicity of attenuated addeno virus.
(I do some work in gene therapy)
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@Tim said in Coronavirus - UK:
That's something that was a small error subset of the clinical trials, and should never have been reported
Why am I not surprised? Still being reported by the BBC
(I do some work in gene therapy)
Sanger Institute? Ms M1 does some work there.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
There's positive stuff. Vaccines are rolling out quite fast in the NHS according to Mrs M's daughter and Care Home residents have started getting it.
Oxford Vaccine has been submitted for approval which is expected just after Christmas. Much easier to manufacture and handle than the Pfizer one and the UK has 100m doses ordered.
From Jan 4 Punters can go to the races and get an Oxford jab at same visit. Aiming to do 1m plus a week.
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@Tim said in Coronavirus - UK:
@Bones Think it's a two dose vaccine as well.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32623-4/fulltext
One dose 60% effective. Two up to 90%.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
There's positive stuff. Vaccines are rolling out quite fast in the NHS according to Mrs M's daughter and Care Home residents have started getting it.
Oxford Vaccine has been submitted for approval which is expected just after Christmas. Much easier to manufacture and handle than the Pfizer one and the UK has 100m doses ordered.
It can be kept at normal fridge temperature and is being produced at cost. Oxford University control the intellectual property and there's public benefit clause in their charter. Only conceivable COVID-19 vaccine for most of the world's population.
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Also read that AstroZeneca, who own the IP for production processes, are charging richer countries for the vaccine and using that to subsidise production and distribution to poorer countries. It's cheap at £2 a dose too compared to £15 for the Pfizer one
I see the EU delayed vaccination for 6 days so it can start in EU countries at the same time - to provide "a touching show of European unity". WTF?
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
Also read that AstroZeneca, who own the IP for production processes, are charging richer countries for the vaccine and using that to subsidise production and distribution to poorer countries. It's cheap at £2 a dose too compared to £15 for the Pfizer one
I see the EU delayed vaccination for 6 days so it can start in EU countries at the same time - to provide "a touching show of European unity". WTF?
We’re all in this together.
obviously more so for the people that die in the meantime. -
@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
Also read that AstroZeneca, who own the IP for production processes, are charging richer countries for the vaccine and using that to subsidise production and distribution to poorer countries. It's cheap at £2 a dose too compared to £15 for the Pfizer one
I see the EU delayed vaccination for 6 days so it can start in EU countries at the same time - to provide "a touching show of European unity". WTF?
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@Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK:
We’re all in this together. obviously more so for the people that die in the meantime.
I read somewhere that German doctors were furious they had the vaccine but were barred from administering it until the EU Commission gave the go-ahead.
The EU turned down the chance to buy large quantities of the Oxford and Moderna vaccines and instead bet on one being developed by a French company which has flopped. Talk about xenophobia in a global pandemic..
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
@Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK:
We’re all in this together. obviously more so for the people that die in the meantime.
I read somewhere that German doctors were furious they had the vaccine but were barred from administering it until the EU Commission gave the go-ahead.
The EU turned down the chance to buy large quantities of the Oxford and Moderna vaccines and instead bet on one being developed by a French company which has flopped. Talk about xenophobia in a global pandemic..
When you hear this of this sort of shit going on you can quite understand the Brexit POV.
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@Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK:
When you hear this of this sort of shit going on you can quite understand the Brexit POV.
I would have hoped, had we still been part of the EU, we'd have told them to fuck right off for putting lives at risk for the sake of "EU Unity"
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
@Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK:
We’re all in this together. obviously more so for the people that die in the meantime.
I read somewhere that German doctors were furious they had the vaccine but were barred from administering it until the EU Commission gave the go-ahead.
The EU turned down the chance to buy large quantities of the Oxford and Moderna vaccines and instead bet on one being developed by a French company which has flopped. Talk about xenophobia in a global pandemic..
Worse than that, as the article I posted notes, De Spiegel reported the EU ordered only 200m of the 500m doses offered, in anticipation of the French vaccine being available. Luckily the British vaccine will be there to save their bacon!
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
@Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK:
When you hear this of this sort of shit going on you can quite understand the Brexit POV.
I would have hoped, had we still been part of the EU, we'd have told them to fuck right off for putting lives at risk for the sake of "EU Unity"
We did retain control over certain issues, money and health being the two big ones. So quite likely we would have ploughed our own furrow.
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Don’t forget Boris took a contrary / fuck you stance to what the EU was doing back in March so it’s not as rosy a picture as everyone is painting.
There have been massive blunders both sides of the Channel.
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@MiketheSnow Agreed
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@MiketheSnow whose painting a rosy picture?
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@MajorRage said in Coronavirus - UK:
@MiketheSnow whose painting a rosy picture?
MSM posted in this thread
Deflection
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@pakman said in Coronavirus - UK:
@Tim said in Coronavirus - UK:
@Bones Think it's a two dose vaccine as well.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32623-4/fulltext
One dose 60% effective. Two up to 90%.
Getting scientific here, but the reason that they accidentally gave half doses in the AstraZeneca trial has just been released. The Italian manufacturers used a method called qPCR to confirm the strength (potency) of the drug supplied, which is the correct way to do that. Oxford when they received it, did their own tests using a different method (NANODROP), determined that the drug was twice the potency that it was, trusted their own results and watered it down accordingly.
Pretty bad process to assume the test you did is right (especially when NANODROP is typically used just for spot checks, not full quality control), and then not to bother checking with the manufacturers at all, or testing via qPCR (which is not very time consuming), then just going ahead and trusting your own results in isolation.
Through such fuckups are scientific breakthroughs made...
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Coronavirus - UK:
I read somewhere that German doctors were furious they had the vaccine but were barred from administering it until the EU Commission gave the go-ahead.
Imagine just handing over your sovereignty like that.
