Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

RichA said:
I can't speak for anyone else.
I'm desperate to see my 89 year old father who lives alone, 130 miles away. Phone him every day. Just 7 days until I can go see him for a day of gardening and an outdoor haircut. First time since December. Golf can wait until Tuesday.
7 days to go. The end is almost in sight.
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I know the feeling so well. Due to travel arrangements not working out for some of our children, its 2 years 4 months since we've seen some of our children/g'children. To say its affecting me mentally/emotionally is a mild understatement.

Unfortunately, the jab over here for us is months away. Once done, the ferry will be booked. We'll rent a place for a month our two and just wallow in family.
 
RichA said:
Why? What have I missed?
Genuine question - not passive aggressive facetiousness.
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Ethan will likely provide a more accurate opinion but the earlier trial done by Oxford was messy, done on a small sample size and used some inadvertently mixed doses.

Nothing wrong, just always seemed a bit messy for an academic Ivory Tower.
 
Jimaroid said:
Ethan will likely provide a more accurate opinion but the earlier trial done by Oxford was messy, done on a small sample size and used some inadvertently mixed doses.

Nothing wrong, just always seemed a bit messy for an academic Ivory Tower.
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Thank you. OAZ jab 1 yesterday morning. I was slightly apprehensive, Mrs A knowing lots of people who know lots of people who suffered suffered unpleasant side effects.
Felt fine yesterday. Bit of a ropey night's sleep, but woke up at 6 this morning feeling great.
 
D-S said:
This is a crying shame
https://twitter.com/x/status/1373902263966695427
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Hardly surprising though is it? The EU have done everything to undermine it.
Merkel said she wouldn’t have it
Macron says it’s “quasi-ineffective”
20 EU countries suspended its use even though the European Medical Agency said it was safe. It’s all very Black-ops! ?

Still, good to see the EU leaders are getting lambasted by their own press and are now turning on each other to shift the blame. Merkel even threatening to order the Sputnik just for the Germans, splitting away from the EU policy.
 
Just had my jab (AZ) at the main vaccination centre in Milton Keynes, couldn't have been any easier. Arrived about 15 mins before appointment, straight in, jabbed, out and home 5 minutes before actual appointment time. Brilliant setup, all credit to everyone involved.
 
Just got back from mine in St Annes, first in. Out before 9am.. Just waiting for the side effects to ick in!!!

Drive past Old Links on the way home to wistfully look at an empty golf course....
 
I'm getting serious envy as everyone I've spoken to has been in, stuck and out again whereas I finally got stuck an hour after my scheduled time! I think Huntingdon need to up their game!
 
AmandaJR said:
I'm getting serious envy as everyone I've spoken to has been in, stuck and out again whereas I finally got stuck an hour after my scheduled time! I think Huntingdon need to up their game!
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Not everyone Amanda, I turned up 10 minutes before my appointment, I had to queue for 45 minutes outside the community centre then a further 20 minutes inside before getting my jab. Still first world problems eh? ?
 
Fade and Die said:
Hardly surprising though is it? The EU have done everything to undermine it.
Merkel said she wouldn’t have it
Macron says it’s “quasi-ineffective”
20 EU countries suspended its use even though the European Medical Agency said it was safe. It’s all very Black-ops! ?

Still, good to see the EU leaders are getting lambasted by their own press and are now turning on each other to shift the blame. Merkel even threatening to order the Sputnik just for the Germans, splitting away from the EU policy.
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The AZ vaccine is a good vax, but the study programme and data set for it was a mess. Next to no older people, the target group for the bleeding vax, a massive mistake on dose leading to an inadvertent dose-response question and differences in the dosing interval and other aspects of the studies causing all sorts of problems with interpreting the results.

The EMA is a rational regulator and operates on rules. I guarantee you that they advised Oxford/AZ to include older patients, because they approve based on data rather than assumptions that the antibody response is an adequate correlate. Their process are not even slightly black-ops. Individual EU member states have a lot of discretion, and can do their own thing in terms of further restrictions. Once a few imposed controls, all the oteghrs had to consider they own liability if there wa sa problem, so not surprising many followed suit. This sort of thing happens quite often, but usually isn't at the top of the BBC News website or the front page of The Sun. Temporary pauses, especially in a fast moving programme, can be very useful.

I don't know if Macron meant that it is uncertain if the vax is effective in older patients, which was the issue at the time, but if that is what he meant, that was not an irrational comment. I don't think anyone thought it was actually ineffective in older people, but it was clear that hardly any data was offered in that age group, and that was a mistake that AZ had chosen to make. In the end, the EMA did not limit approval.

On the recent adverse events, there is evidence that these events are related to the vaccine, but also that the risk is very low, so the overall benefit-risk for the vax has not changed. That was unknowable when the events were first reported, and it was possible that loads more may be uncovered, miscoded as heart attack or stroke or similar. Precisely the same has happened win other safety issues.

The EU made a contract with AZ, signed the day before the UK contract. The EU relied on good faith and specifically included manufacture at UK sites and also specifically referred to other competitive contracts, but there was a large element of good faith baked in. That good faith was misplaced and the EU has been massively screwed by AZ. No wonder they are angry, they should be.

But however it all came to pass, the EU has a serious problem. Sputnik has been under review for a while and is basically an alternate version of AZ, and may even have a technical advantage in using 2 different adenovirus vectors thus swerving any immune response acquired after the first vax which reduces the effect of the second. It is not at all irrational to consider using it.
 
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