Vaccine Progress, Approval, and Deployment

[greyman42]

My Mam, who is in her late 80s, had an appointment booked for the vaccine at a drive through centre in York. When she got there she was turned away as they had run out of the vaccine.

 

[MattA7]

I noticed the job center in my area had a advert saying my local NHS board were looking for temporary staff for their mass vaccination centers so I looks like they are getting prepared

 

[DelayRepay]

Why is the target 2m a week? Why not be ambitious and try for 1m a day?

Is this due to the speed at which the vaccine can be manufactured, or the logistics of administering it? If manufacturing capacity is the constraint, then that's difficult to resolve. If it's the logistics of administering vaccines then that can be solved. It won't be easy but if the government made delivery of the vaccine the absolute top priority, we could be out of this mess by March. Train more vaccinators, open more centres and run them 24/7 if necessary.

 

[MattA7]

Why is the target 2m a week? Why not be ambitious and try for 1m a day?

Is this due to the speed at which the vaccine can be manufactured, or the logistics of administering it? If manufacturing capacity is the constraint, then that's difficult to resolve. If it's the logistics of administering vaccines then that can be solved. It won't be easy but if the government made delivery of the vaccine the absolute top priority, we could be out of this mess by March. Train more vaccinators, open more centres and run them 24/7 if necessary.

I doubt that the NHS has the staff and the space to vaccinate 1m a day even if manufacturing and complexity transporting wasn’t a issue.

 

[hwl]

Why is the target 2m a week? Why not be ambitious and try for 1m a day?

Is this due to the speed at which the vaccine can be manufactured, or the logistics of administering it? If manufacturing capacity is the constraint, then that's difficult to resolve. If it's the logistics of administering vaccines then that can be solved. It won't be easy but if the government made delivery of the vaccine the absolute top priority, we could be out of this mess by March. Train more vaccinators, open more centres and run them 24/7 if necessary.

Manufacturing capacity, hence as logistics (including staff) is going to be challenging any way no point in trying to go faster in the short term (there is a stock pile already but would get used up very quickly if you could go faster, but you also need to guarantee the same availability of doses 4 weeks later, so while the might be able to go faster for 2-3 weeks there would then lead to a period of thumb twiddling).

 

[HSTEd]

Why is the target 2m a week? Why not be ambitious and try for 1m a day?

Is this due to the speed at which the vaccine can be manufactured, or the logistics of administering it? If manufacturing capacity is the constraint, then that's difficult to resolve. If it's the logistics of administering vaccines then that can be solved. It won't be easy but if the government made delivery of the vaccine the absolute top priority, we could be out of this mess by March. Train more vaccinators, open more centres and run them 24/7 if necessary.

Because we apparently only have a handful of million Astra Zeneca vaccine doses available.

And because people are obsessed with vaccination appointments, even though most of the priority vaccination candidates don't have jobs to go to.....

 

[MattA7]

Out of interest has an of the UK top government officials (such as Boris or Sturgeon) had the vaccine. I know in the US and some other countries that to government officials got their Covid vaccine on national television presumably to try and reassure those who may be concerned about the safety of the vaccine.

 

[kez19]

Out of interest has an of the UK top government officials (such as Boris or Sturgeon) had the vaccine. I know in the US and some other countries that to government officials got their Covid vaccine on national television presumably to try and reassure those who may be concerned about the safety of the vaccine.

I just did a Google search last thing Sturgeon mentioned anything was on 2 December but I believe she did state she would take it on live tv (haven’t heard/read anything onwards)

 

[The Ham]

Out of interest has an of the UK top government officials (such as Boris or Sturgeon) had the vaccine. I know in the US and some other countries that to government officials got their Covid vaccine on national television presumably to try and reassure those who may be concerned about the safety of the vaccine.

I think that at this current stage the MP's are playing by the rules, so only those who are older are having it. I can't find reference to it now but someone did whilst speaking in the commons declare that they were off to have it (I think it may have even been the speaker, but as I can't finda reference to it in not sure my memory isn't playing tricks on me).

 

[Domh245]

I can't find reference to it now but someone did whilst speaking in the commons declare that they were off to have it (I think it may have even been the speaker, but as I can't finda reference to it in not sure my memory isn't playing tricks on me).

It was the Lords speaker Lord Fowler who had to go mid-session for his

 

[RuralRambler]

Out of interest has an of the UK top government officials (such as Boris or Sturgeon) had the vaccine. I know in the US and some other countries that to government officials got their Covid vaccine on national television presumably to try and reassure those who may be concerned about the safety of the vaccine.

Presumably not until they fall into the relevant priority group. Can you imagine how the media would be all over it if a politician "jumped the queue" - the criticism would be insane.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Presumably not until they fall into the relevant priority group. Can you imagine how the media would be all over it if a politician "jumped the queue" - the criticism would be insane.

Though in the US, politicians seem to be doing just that.

 

[kristiang85]

Though in the US, politicians seem to be doing just that.

I think they looked at the balance between criticism for "jumping the queue" or the benefits of helping build trust in the vaccine.

In the US there is a huge anti vaxxer movement, so they see it as a benefit of building trust.

In the UK we have a poisonous media, so they are going for the avoiding criticism route.

 

[yorksrob]

I think it's good that we're vaccinating according to clinical priority, and it's good that our politicians and other public figures are following that.

 

[HSTEd]

Though in the US, politicians seem to be doing just that.

Although the UK is crumbling into outright gerontocracy, America is considerably further along with that.

 

[Yew]

Although the UK is crumbling into outright gerontocracy, America is considerably further along with that.

Good word!

Indeed, I do wonder how Dr Fauci, who's in his 80's can make rational decisions for the benefit of all, when he's so close to the median age of a COVID death.

I don't think I'd go so far as wanting compulsory retirement of those above a certain age, but surely we should aim for better age representation in Government and it's advisors?

 

[greyman42]

I don't think I'd go so far as wanting compulsory retirement of those above a certain age, but surely we should aim for better age representation in Government and it's advisors?

Age will not matter as long as they are towing the government line.

 

[The Ham]

It was the Lords speaker Lord Fowler who had to go mid-session for his

Thanks, good to know I wasn't miss remembering.

 

[Yew]

So, what's the plan currently, are those under 50 still not expected to get the vaccine?

 

[The Ham]

So, what's the plan currently, are those under 50 still not expected to get the vaccine?

At least not for some time.

 

[Yew]

At least not for some time.

Ah, my 28 year old friends aim to get the vaccine in 2021 might be a little optimistic then.

 

[The Ham]

Ah, my 28 year old friends aim to get the vaccine in 2021 might be a little optimistic then.

It maybe that they do get it in 2021, just probably not as early as they'd like.

 

[Huntergreed]

At least not for some time.

Ah, my 28 year old friends aim to get the vaccine in 2021 might be a little optimistic then.

It maybe that they do get it in 2021, just probably not as early as they'd like.

In that case, I assume showing any “proof of immunity” or “vaccine passport” will be illegal under the discrimination act, as age is a protected characteristic and this would be ageist discrimination.

 

[MattA7]

In that case, I assume showing any “proof of immunity” or “vaccine passport” will be illegal under the discrimination act, as age is a protected characteristic and this would be ageist discrimination.

At the moment the government has no plans to make vaccination compulsory (claiming it can be counterproductive) however it will be likely that in order to travel abroad most countries will require proof of vaccination probably in the form of the WHO yellow card like what is currently used for other vaccinations

 

[kristiang85]

At the moment the government has no plans to make vaccination compulsory (claiming it can be counterproductive) however it will be likely that in order to travel abroad most countries will require proof of vaccination probably in the form of the WHO yellow card like what is currently used for other vaccinations

Hopefully there will be a transitionary period where negative tests or vaccine proof will be needed. Otherwise young, healthy people won't be allowed to travel for quite a while.... Which just seems ridiculous.

 

[Yew]

Lets not mention that none of the vaccines have been shown to reduce transmission...

 

[Cdd89]

Hopefully there will be a transitionary period where negative tests or vaccine proof will be needed. Otherwise young, healthy people won't be allowed to travel for quite a while.... Which just seems ridiculous.

I suspect that by Easter or so there will be enough surplus vaccine doses in the U.K. that those who wish to - eg young healthy people who wish to travel to countries that require vaccination - would be able to purchase privately.

 

[Domh245]

At the moment the government has no plans to make vaccination compulsory (claiming it can be counterproductive) however it will be likely that in order to travel abroad most countries will require proof of vaccination probably in the form of the WHO yellow card like what is currently used for other vaccinations

They are refusing to quash the ideas that keep coming up of using 'vaccine passports' to enable everyday activities like going to restaurants or other large gatherings. The fact they aren't putting this idea down is quite clearly tacit approval of the it, which is worrying to see

 

[kez19]

They are refusing to quash the ideas that keep coming up of using 'vaccine passports' to enable everyday activities like going to restaurants or other large gatherings. The fact they aren't putting this idea down is quite clearly tacit approval of the it, which is worrying to see

Yet there is some apps out there going along the lines of that sort of thing

Not the apps I seen originally but if you go to App Store on Apple type in “vaccine passport” there is currently 2 listed but in one I believe was Passport Health it has COVID 19 test results (whether in future it changes), seems to be something floating about if it’s easy to find this!

 

[hwl]

They are refusing to quash the ideas that keep coming up of using 'vaccine passports' to enable everyday activities like going to restaurants or other large gatherings. The fact they aren't putting this idea down is quite clearly tacit approval of the it, which is worrying to see

They awarded a contract for design work for vaccine passports in November (have a look on contracts finder)

Lets not mention that none of the vaccines have been shown to reduce transmission...

Vaccinating millions of people in the UK will start to give you that data in the next few months...