Vaccine Progress, Approval, and Deployment

[35B]

I don't know who the BoE have been talking to but it won't be people on the breadline, recently unemployed or anyone who realises just how close we are to a "rainy day" as a result of the last year so therefore won't spend galore. Even if all restrictions and/or the vaccine programme were lifted/completed tomorrow I doubt a spending spree will ever happen after.

Indeed. But as many sectors have been much less affected, and those employed in them have been less able to spend money or do normal activities, there will also be a bow wave of spending as restrictions ease. That will amongst other things benefit the hospitality sector as pent up demand for eating out, days out, hotel stays, etc. expresses itself, which will in turn see many people who’ve struggled economically the last year finding work again.

I currently have builders working in my home; their order books are full till September. Finding quotes back in September last year was hard, as firms were already handling a backlog of work.

im not convinced there will be a “spending spree”, and as an economy the U.K. will do well to see those (yes, including the likes of me) who’ve had it relatively easy economically rebalancing their savings and debts.

 

[greyman42]

Van Tam already stated that people should not expect inter-household mixing this summer.

Well it has been happening all winter so i don't see it stopping in summer.

 

[Simon11]

Fantastic to see everything on a downwards trend. Latest covid cases today from BBC and gives hopes things can begin to reopen slow in March!

The latest number of positive Covid tests in the UK (12,364) is the lowest daily number since 8 December, the day the UK's vaccination programme started. The case figure was 12,282 that day.

At 1,052, the latest death figure is up on recent days and back above 1,000, but Tuesday's figures tend to be the highest of the week due to a reporting lag over the weekend. What is more significant is that it is down on 1,449 last Tuesday and 1,631 two weeks ago.

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 still remains higher than the previous peak in April last year, at 26,723. But this figure has now fallen for 16 days in a row.

 

[hwl]

They've already moved the goalpost out to everyone over 50 despite cohorts 1-4 being the group that needed doing to make a difference

Vaccinating Groups 1-4 would target groups where ~ 85% of the deaths occur but only a third of the ICU admissions hence 1-9 are needed to target groups with 75% of ICU admissions.

Yes the Kent variant may have caught them off guard but from my chair the warning signs were there in lockdown 2 that something wasn't right in Kent and had they been more cautious than worrying about Xmas we could have contained it.

Agreed. To much undue optimism for some politicians at that point.

 

[brad465]

Fantastic to see everything on a downwards trend. Latest covid cases today from BBC and gives hopes things can begin to reopen slow in March!

It's also good to see we vaccinated a similar number to the same day last week (352,480 yesterday), despite snow disruption. How long it stays like that we'll have to see but it doesn't look like it'll be completely disrupted.

 

[RAPC]

I know this is a rail forum, but on the off chance that anyone has any help they can offer with the below, it would be appreciated.

My wife is in the extremely clinically vulnerable group and is having to shield. She has had all of this confirmed by her consultant, as well as details as to the specific criteria as to why she is considered in this group. She was also advised by her consultant to keep our daughter out of school until she had the vaccine + 3 weeks, to minimise the risk. This puts her in the current group eligible for a vaccination at the moment. Our GP surgery has been sorting the appointments this week and confirmed that all eligible patients had now been contacted.

- She has contacted to the GP's surgery who have confirmed she isn't on the list and they are unable to manually over-ride any eligibility criteria as they say it is handled centrally.
- We have contacted the consultant who has confirmed her status again today and confirmed that they had passed on all details to the central database correctly. They can also see it was received, but cannot do anything to check why she has been processed incorrectly
- We have contacted our local NHS Commissioning Group who are handling the vaccinations. They cannot help locally as they cannot make any appointments and do not have any access to the central database. One of the team there did helpfully try to escalate to a central NHS contact, but nobody is aware of any process to review and update eligibility, or address any incorrect data.

Having gone round the houses a couple of times and not found any way to address this, my wife is currently expected to shield until the summer when vaccinations go to the remaining public. My 6 year old daughter is expected to have to be home schooled for months, unnecessarily, because someone has plugged something in to a databased incorrectly.

Anyone know of the process or a route to go down to get this addressed? It's not a case of trying to jump the queue, just actually get my wife in to be vaccinated as part of the group that she is medically confirmed to be in. Any help of suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Simon11]

Not sure why you haven't just booked in? I googled and here is the link! There is also a telephone number too that you can contact if there are any issues- call 119 free of change between 7am and 11pm. This service is there to support people who haven't been contacted yet but should have been!

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/

Who can use this service​

You can only use this service if any of the following apply:

• you are aged 70 or over
• you have previously received a letter saying you are at high risk from coronavirus (clinically extremely vulnerable)

Hope this works and you get a slot for the jab for your wife!

 

[HSTEd]

Well the obvious go to would be your MP.

 

[takno]

I know this is a rail forum, but on the off chance that anyone has any help they can offer with the below, it would be appreciated.

My wife is in the extremely clinically vulnerable group and is having to shield. She has had all of this confirmed by her consultant, as well as details as to the specific criteria as to why she is considered in this group. She was also advised by her consultant to keep our daughter out of school until she had the vaccine + 3 weeks, to minimise the risk. This puts her in the current group eligible for a vaccination at the moment. Our GP surgery has been sorting the appointments this week and confirmed that all eligible patients had now been contacted.

- She has contacted to the GP's surgery who have confirmed she isn't on the list and they are unable to manually over-ride any eligibility criteria as they say it is handled centrally.
- We have contacted the consultant who has confirmed her status again today and confirmed that they had passed on all details to the central database correctly. They can also see it was received, but cannot do anything to check why she has been processed incorrectly
- We have contacted our local NHS Commissioning Group who are handling the vaccinations. They cannot help locally as they cannot make any appointments and do not have any access to the central database. One of the team there did helpfully try to escalate to a central NHS contact, but nobody is aware of any process to review and update eligibility, or address any incorrect data.

Having gone round the houses a couple of times and not found any way to address this, my wife is currently expected to shield until the summer when vaccinations go to the remaining public. My 6 year old daughter is expected to have to be home schooled for months, unnecessarily, because someone has plugged something in to a databased incorrectly.

Anyone know of the process or a route to go down to get this addressed? It's not a case of trying to jump the queue, just actually get my wife in to be vaccinated as part of the group that she is medically confirmed to be in. Any help of suggestions would be much appreciated.

Personally I'd go to your MP. They're often pretty good at sorting this kind of thing

 

[RAPC]

Personally I'd go to your MP. They're often pretty good at sorting this kind of thing

Thanks, probably a good call in general as a point of escalation. I won't get my hopes up, as ours is well known locally for never responding to anything, but this could be the time that surprises us.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Vaccinating Groups 1-4 would target groups where ~ 85% of the deaths occur but only a third of the ICU admissions hence 1-9 are needed to target groups with 75% of ICU admissions.

This is Englands admission rates (up to 6/2 latest data) and are falling fastest in the age groups in cohorts 5-9 so that will feed through into ICU occupancy reducing. . So admissions lag cases by 1-2 weeks so these will fall a lot further from here even if case rates level off. To me its about the trend not the absolute number that matters in terms of determining relaxing restrictions.

 

[RAPC]

Not sure why you haven't just booked in? I googled and here is the link! There is also a telephone number too that you can contact if there are any issues- call 119 free of change between 7am and 11pm. This service is there to support people who haven't been contacted yet but should have been!

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/

Hope this works and you get a slot for the jab for your wife!

That's the problem. She can't book in, as they haven't added her to the list. The team on the 119 service, including managers, can't help as they can only go by the data they are provided. There appears to be no process or protocol for getting a patient correctly added to the list.

I sent a note to my MP yesterday evening and got an automated response saying 28 days for a response if appropriate. I'm not holding out much hope on that score.

 

[Ediswan]

Local TV news love situations like this. BUT, that could be making a deal with the devil. I would not trust how they would represent the situation.

 

[Spamcan81]

Received my invite this morning and jab booked for Friday. I'm 68 so in my area it seems we're ahead of the curve at the moment.

 

[HSTEd]

That's the problem. She can't book in, as they haven't added her to the list. The team on the 119 service, including managers, can't help as they can only go by the data they are provided. There appears to be no process or protocol for getting a patient correctly added to the list.

I sent a note to my MP yesterday evening and got an automated response saying 28 days for a response if appropriate. I'm not holding out much hope on that score.

The way things are going in 28 days she might end up on the list on an age basis!

 

[RichT54]

Received my invite this morning and jab booked for Friday. I'm 68 so in my area it seems we're ahead of the curve at the moment.

I had my vaccination in Bracknell this afternoon. I'm 67 and most of the people there at the same looked a similar age to me.

 

[HSTEd]

My parents have been contacted offering vaccination, my father is 70 and qualifies on an age basis but my mother is 69, so indicates they are not quite as rigid as one might have naively expected.

 

[packermac]

Received my invite this morning and jab booked for Friday. I'm 68 so in my area it seems we're ahead of the curve at the moment.

Good for you Ian, but yet again different interpretations in different areas.
Article on the local BBC news at lunchtime that the staff in the large vaccination hub in the Bournemouth International Centre are being sent home early and having shifts cancelled as they do not have enough to vaccinate. Apparently they have been told not to go below the age of 70 as those of a younger age will only start to be contacted next week.

 

[Wychwood93]

My parents have been contacted offering vaccination, my father is 70 and qualifies on an age basis but my mother is 69, so indicates they are not quite as rigid as one might have naively expected.

Myself (68) and my wife (58) had ours about an hour ago, both with no serious health issues - she was booking an appt. for our eldest and then said about changing my contact number - 'is he there? Would he like to come over at 16.25 and have the vaccination?' - she piggybacked my booking and had hers as well. In and out before we were due to go in! Her sister (67) was there an hour before. As you have gathered, our GP is moving forward with the under 70 groups. Have they told Boris and Matt that things are moving ahead before they announce it?

 

[brad465]

We appear to be just shy of a quarter (25%) of the UK adult population with at least one dose now, and look almost certain to be over it tomorrow:

Vaccinations — Election Maps UK

electionmaps.uk

 

[Pete_uk]

My mum had a text with a link to book her first dose. To my surprise the earliest was tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.

 

[cuccir]

The pace is impressive and numbers are falling. It'd be great to see specific evidence of the first shots having an impact on numbers which you'd hope it would now start doing, but I guess when case numbers are falling so hard across the board it is difficult to pick out the role of the vaccine.

 

[Yew]

The pace is impressive and numbers are falling. It'd be great to see specific evidence of the first shots having an impact on numbers which you'd hope it would now start doing, but I guess when case numbers are falling so hard across the board it is difficult to pick out the role of the vaccine.

I'll try and find it, but I've seen some analysis suggesting that mortality in the over 70's is falling at a quicker rate than the 60-70 range

 

[nlogax]

Amazing progress with vaccinations so far. The NHS's Covid vaccination program is of the few things we can be truly proud of in recent years, and the national take-up rate is impressively high too.

 

[kristiang85]

Amazing progress with vaccinations so far. The NHS's Covid vaccination program is of the few things we can be truly proud of in recent years, and the national take-up rate is impressively high too.

Quite. If this was what the politicans and media concentrated on, and shouted from the rooftops, there would be a great feelgood factor around the country now.

But instead many feel more miserable than ever.

 

[Кряква]

Quite. If this was what the politicans and media concentrated on, and shouted from the rooftops, there would be a great feelgood factor around the country now.

But instead many feel more miserable than ever.

I agree. It's simply bizarre.

We are 25% of the way towards all restrictions being completely removed. Gone. February 2020.

At the current pace 100% of the adult population will be vaccinated by approx June.

Earlier, even - since 7% are confirmed to be exposed and likely >20% in reality.

Yet no-one seems to be acknowledging this.

What is the explanation?

 

[nlogax]

Yet no-one seems to be acknowledging this.

What is the explanation?

I've come to the conclusion that the only good news the UK is accustomed to is the artificial type, governmental reverse spin off the back of bad news stories or negative events. Now we finally have actual good news to celebrate it sinks without trace. Our vaccine progress is the chink of light that fuels my growing optimism for escaping this dire period of our lives and we should all be feeding off it.

 

[DorkingMain]

I think there's several things at play when it comes to the utter state of gloom in the media atm:

- The media have had an absolute boon off the COVID crisis. Everyone has been hooked to the news media in a way they haven't been for decades.
- The government want to manage expectations if they manage to screw something up down the line (which I wouldn't put past them)
- There's an "optimistic outlook" / "pessimistic outlook" ping-pong about industries like travel, events and hospitality so they aren't in absolute uproar, but then also the government can claim they didn't promise anything if it does go wrong
- The government are keen not to paint too positive a light about the situation, because it might encourage people to ignore the restrictions or feel like the vaccine isn't necessary
- Everyone has spent the last year insisting that even a small number of COVID cases / deaths are a huge problem, and there's no easy route for them to backtrack on that

 

[ainsworth74]

I think there's several things at play when it comes to the utter state of gloom in the media atm:

- The media have had an absolute boon off the COVID crisis. Everyone has been hooked to the news media in a way they haven't been for decades.
- The government want to manage expectations if they manage to screw something up down the line (which I wouldn't put past them)
- There's an "optimistic outlook" / "pessimistic outlook" ping-pong about industries like travel, events and hospitality so they aren't in absolute uproar, but then also the government can claim they didn't promise anything if it does go wrong
- The government are keen not to paint too positive a light about the situation, because it might encourage people to ignore the restrictions or feel like the vaccine isn't necessary
- Everyone has spent the last year insisting that even a small number of COVID cases / deaths are a huge problem, and there's no easy route for them to backtrack on that

I think your second point above might be a key one here (at least for the Government's tone). They've spent the last year basically making promises on when things will happen and then just being proven completely wrong. You know the sort of thing. In March 2020 Boris was all "we can turn the tide in 12 weeks and send it packing". Well, that didn't really happen. Then in July back to Normal by Christmas and, er, that didn't happen either. Heck in December he attacked Starmer in the Commons over differing views of Christmas plans days before u-turning on them himself and ending up doing what Starmer had been calling for (or something similar anyway). Then there's been the various farces with things like the NHS app, Test & Trace, the ridiculous fiddling with testing figures so they could make it look like they hit 100,000 per day by the end of April 2020 (rather than just being honest and saying "we set an ambitious target, we made massive strides and we got close and we'll hit it soon" which I think most people would have thought perfectly acceptable!). Then there's the ever present rumblings that the back bench Tory MPs are (along with the rest of us) heartily sick of the Government making promises and then just not hitting them, u-turning on them, pretending they never existed, etc etc.

So I can well believe that they're finally at the point of just deciding to manage expectations as far down as possible so that it becomes nearly impossible for them to fail to meet them.

 

[Yew]

Don't forget when kids went back to school for one day before he changed his mind.