NWR new zero tolerance covid thread

On the less serious side, I had to go to the GP for the first time in 20 years last year, and allowed myself a laugh when the buzzer went and "Master Jeremy Hammett" popped up on the screen.
I put myself in as Brigadier-General at my surgery in Mayfair. I think they must have bought the IT off a club or something as the list had endless fun possibilities ! I enjoyed being called in under that title
 
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It would be disappointing if it wasn't!
Mind you, how can they separate out reduced hospitalisations due to lockdown from those due to vaccination?

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I think you need the eye of faith to see the "same pattern emerging in cases". Note also the log-scale, which exaggerates any effect in the lower part of all three graphs. But at least the effect of vaccination is going in the right direction, and it is early days yet.
 
Mind you, how can they separate out reduced hospitalisations due to lockdown from those due to vaccination?
To Dan,
It is similar to what reported by Israel earlier (first dose has 85% effectiveness on preventing hospitalisation), so I think it's quite consistent. At least for variants not carrying E484K mutation, vaccine should be very effective.

To Alex,
For your question, the straight answer is that the conclusion is not from the reduction of number, it's from the comparison between unvaccinated and vaccinated (to be more precise, 4 weeks after getting first dose). If you read the report earlier, it says among 8000 hospitalised patients, there were only 58 have been vaccinated for 4 weeks. (BBC has now removed that information, possibly to avoid confusion)
Well, it doesn't mean the effectiveness is (8000-58)/8000 = 99.2% because at different time there are different percentage of people have been vaccinated for 4 weeks. Their calculation says it's 81% effective on people over 80; and the effectiveness on two vaccines are 85-94% for all. I am sure they have statistic method for these.
 
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All I can say is that they're trying to phase things in gradually, perhaps going for what they consider to be important (schools) and slightly less dangerous (shops, hairdressers) options first. Doesn't have to necessarily be any "science", but it has to be simple and progressive - there does appear to be a widely-held belief that anything involving alcohol is more open to abuse of social distancing. Not sure where hotels fit in.
 
Very positive vaccination experience today, details for what they are worth & recording credit where credit's due when many just seem to want to be negative/criticise.

As aged 64 yrs3 months (no underlying health condition other than fondness for wine & awaiting a hip replacement - re latter advised min 12mths for that from consultant discussion 1st Dec 2020) I wasn't expecting to hear anything about an age related band vaccination for a few weeks at best but last Thurs (whilst sat in my opticians) got a local PCN initiated text inviting me to apply for an appointment. Went for the first available on the basis no reason at all to delay, confirmed by immediate text response, was today at 13.40 at a GP Surgery Health Centre in a poor area on the other side of Preston to my home.

Arrived just prior to duly appointed time. First class experience. No queue, walked straight in, personal details checked/ID'd and appropriate pre-vac questions asked in foyer then straight through to a room with two lady vaccinators. I never even got to sit down ! As I pulled up my polo shirt sleeve I was jabbed immediately. Asking what I'd been given was told the Pfizer Biontech (as given some weeks ago to my 80+ In Laws and Mother). The lady vaccinator explained what one might be given was purely a matter of which vaccine the centre had been supplied with that day. One way system took me to a waiting area with socially distanced others who'd also been 'done' for a precautionary 15 mins wait then out via a different door to that entered & back onto the street. As soon as a seat/seats were vacated another lady sanitised the chair(s). Probably less than 20 mins (or less) in all. Very, very impressive as were the excellent, all smiley, very pleasant, friendly & uber professional operatives.

So far feel A1. Arm hasn't even twinged. Wife (age 58) went for her jab, taxi'd by self, Saturday evening, in different town centre location under a different 'regime', as a County Council key worker. Her vaccine was the Oxford AZ one & whilst she also reported a slick process she woke in the small hours of Sunday with all the 'very common' side effects & felt pretty ropey all day Sunday - is now ok.

All in all hugely impressive exercise from just our two small, individual cog, experiences. Kudos to Government, NHS, local organisations, vaccination teams etc etc. Assuming matters continue, or even ramp up, in similar vein, subject to no supply issues intervening/slowing the process, then all the government suggested/aimed for targets look readily achievable.
 
Whitty at this evening's Covid press conference says he considers it a professional responsibility, just as surgeons are expected to have the HepB vaccine, for all health and social care staff to get Covid vaccine.

Johnson added that some care home operators are looking into the question of staff vaccinations, which I read as him passing the buck and trying to avoid making health and social care staff Covid vaccination a legal requirement. I imagine this issue has further to run.
 
Asked last week to get vaccinated as I am volunteering at the food bank and they want me to deliver stuff as well as man the centre. Booked in for this morning at Chester Racecourse and once roadworks negotiated it was all very efficient. Fill in form, get checked by admin person then booked in before joining short queue to await vaccinator. All very quick and I have an armful of Oxford/AZ and an appointment for my birthday in early May for my second dose. No reactions at all so far. At what point will the EU be sending back their AZ vaccines no one wants?
 
I put myself in as Brigadier-General at my surgery in Mayfair. I think they must have bought the IT off a club or something as the list had endless fun possibilities ! I enjoyed being called in under that title

Reminds me of when i worked on a hospital ward and there was a whiteboard with patient's names. It had their first name and surname as appeared on their notes but also a column called "likes to be called". So you'd have John Smith "Jim", Elizabeth Jones "Betty" etc.
The best was one that was Simon Armitage "Colonel".
So each morning we'd go round and greet the Colonel on the ward round


Note: names have been changed to protect the innocent
 
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Whitty at this evening's Covid press conference says he considers it a professional responsibility, just as surgeons are expected to have the HepB vaccine, for all health and social care staff to get Covid vaccine.

Johnson added that some care home operators are looking into the question of staff vaccinations, which I read as him passing the buck and trying to avoid making health and social care staff Covid vaccination a legal requirement. I imagine this issue has further to run.
It is hard to imagine why care and medical workers wouldn't be legally required to be vaccinated in much the same way as bus drivers need a PSV licence.
 
I guess the question is is this the thin end of the wedge?
What about bus drivers? teachers? shop workers? There's a case to be made that for their own safety, or that of their passengers/pupils' families/customers that they should all be vaccinated.
Yes, the case is stronger for careworkers, but there is a slippery slope (if you care to see it in that way!)
 
I guess the question is is this the thin end of the wedge?
What about bus drivers? teachers? shop workers? There's a case to be made that for their own safety, or that of their passengers/pupils' families/customers that they should all be vaccinated.
Yes, the case is stronger for careworkers, but there is a slippery slope (if you care to see it in that way!)
Fair point, Alex.
 
I know that the libertarians will disagree but knowing that front facing staff will not pass on a deadly virus seems the least a customer should expect.
I understand the counter view but whilst COVID is pandemic vaccines should be strongly encouraged for the good of all.
 
I guess the question is is this the thin end of the wedge?
What about bus drivers? teachers? shop workers? There's a case to be made that for their own safety, or that of their passengers/pupils' families/customers that they should all be vaccinated.
Yes, the case is stronger for careworkers, but there is a slippery slope (if you care to see it in that way!)
When bus drivers are attending to someone's needs close up and personal for repeated periods every day then yes, they should require a vaccine too, though in current practice they'd more likely be arrested than vaccinated. The difference is very clear cut in my mind.
 
Required by law is one thing, required by private firms/companies/venues is another thing. As long as it is not ruled to be discrimination by court, but I don't see vaccination/immunity status a protected category under discrimination law, as one can easily change that status by accepting vaccine.
 
When bus drivers are attending to someone's needs close up and personal for repeated periods every day then yes, they should require a vaccine too, though in current practice they'd more likely be arrested than vaccinated. The difference is very clear cut in my mind.
To my mind, a bus driver could well be breathing out virus particles that fill his vehicle over the course of a shift making spread very easy indeed. But I suspect someone could come along and say "we have absence of evidence for that". A matter of degree for me, but as with so many things it's a personal take.
 
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