Coronavirus

[french frank]

and our contract ensured that we had first priority for all vaccines made in the UK.

Well, maybe that's what I meant. In effect (as it seems) the UK will receive what it needs before the EU gets its order. So the 'best efforts' have so far kept up with its UK commitments. Best efforts + priority are proving good enough, so far.

[LHC]

No they had the benefit of a few extra months to iron out production problems - again I make my statement that I am amazed that the EU + AZ were not talking at a technical level when it had been clear and should have been anticipated, that difficulties would arise - or is it just the 'pragmatic' Anglo-Saxons who anticipated this and that EU bureaucrats assume once they have issued an order that it will be 100% carried out.

ETA - looks as though I'm a much slower typist than LHC - we seem to be making very similar posts - maybe we both come from an engineering background.
Also to add note that the UK Government has been very coy about actual deliveries

I'm afraid I can't claim an engineering background, but I have spent the last 20 years working with engineers, scientists and medics (and also with corporate lawyers) so some of their expertise and outlook may have rubbed off on me.

[french frank]

Very interesting (to me)

Yes, definitely food for thought. Elements of one lucky gamble where other Anglo-Saxon pragmatic decisions failed (T&T, antibody tests)?

[Frances_iom]

T&T failed for one basic reason - over the previous 10years of Tory (+Lib Dem) austerity local government services including Public Health had been hollowed out and for many years it had been Tory government policy to appoint 1 of the couple of firms specialising in taking over previously Government run services, to such new roles so that (a) could be done at arm's length so ministers could not be called to account and (b) pay could be cut to the minimum possible - eg running of jails, probation service. As now demonstrated, much too late, restoring local public health works.

[french frank]

T&T failed for one basic reason - over the previous 10years of Tory (+Lib Dem) austerity local government services including Public Health had been hollowed out and for many years it had been Tory government policy to appoint 1 of the couple of firms specialising in taking over previously Government run services, to such new roles so that (a) could be done at arm's length so ministers could not be called to account and (b) pay could be cut to the minimum possible - eg running of jails, probation service. As now demonstrated, much too late, restoring local public health works.

I don't dispute any of that. Austerity + events have proved to be very costly, though the money tree has at last, seemingly, grown to fruiting maturity. Impossible to quantify, however, what proportion of the 100,000 lives might have been saved had Labour won in 2010 and not implemented its own forecast cuts programme. Back in March my niece commented that this was the strangest time in her life (she was 33 - and still is) and I had to say it was the strangest time - by far - in my considerably longer life too. I'm inclined to have sympathy for any of those who, unlike me, have had to make life and death decisions. And particularly for those who got it wrong (with some exceptions on the other side of the Atlantic).

[Frances_iom]

FF you might appreciate the short article by William Keegan in "The Tablet" of 23rd Jan 2021 which he blames Brexit on the Tory austerity (+ the lies told) and suggests that such damage has been done that future British politics will be far from quiescent.

[LHC]

NI's record on vaccination is very good. For some time it was vaccinating faster than any other parts of the UK. As of yesterday, 10.5% of the NI population has been vaccinated. For comparison, England has now managed 13%, Wales 12% and Scotland 10%. NI has no need to receive vaccines from the EU (other than as part of the contractual deliveries Pfizer is delivering to the UK). The sole reason for invoking Article 16 was so that the EU could prevent any vaccines being exported to any part of the UK. It was completely nonsensical, and a ridiculous overreaction on the part of the EU Commission as part of its attempt to place the blame for its own failings onto the UK.

Just to update this with today's figures, doses administered per 100 adults are:

England: 18.6 (+1.2)
N. Ireland: 16.4 (+0.7)
Wales: 16.0 (+1.0)
Scotland: 12.9 (+0.5)

So NI still doing very well with their vaccination programme.

[Frances_iom]

The R4 "How to Vaccinate the World—Vaccine Nationalism" just broadcast today at 11.30 has IMO given an excellent discussion of many of the points made over the last couple of dozen posts in this thread - maybe pick up the podcast?

[french frank]

The R4 "How to Vaccinate the World—Vaccine Nationalism" just broadcast today at 11.30 has IMO given an excellent discussion of many of the points made over the last couple of dozen posts in this thread - maybe pick up the podcast?

Will listen to that (couldn't get The Tablet article - seems to be by subscription and I couldn't see any cheapskate 'Get four articles free' option. Without wishing to do my 'over defensive' arguments , contracts which stipulate 'we get ours first before anyone else's orders are dealt with' seem to be a novel variant.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Once again Tim Harford's Radio 4 programme this morning made interesting listening.

One point made - by the various countries entering into contracts taking the risk of immediate preparation to manufacture UK and Canada being the first - it resulted in more variants of usable vaccines and more doses being available sooner than if all countries (EU or UN) had entered governmental negotiations and collaborations.

[Frances_iom]

Will listen to that (couldn't get The Tablet article
.

If you want to PM or via my usual website address I can help as I assume only for private use (the Tablet can draw on many eminent people who played significant roles - eg Chris Patten often contributes and their book reviews cover topics I would not often come across)

[Dave2002]

A new variant - which seems to be different from the other known variants - the Kent one, the South African one, and the Brazilian one - has been noted in California - around Los Angeles - https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-...geles-12204020

This does not seem to have been picked up by the UK politicians yet.

[Dave2002]

Another vaccine has been ordered by the UK government - but it won't be available until 2022 - if it's approved. That's from Valneva - and it appears to be using a different mechanism yet again - https://valneva.com/press-release/va...y-recruitment/ being based on inactivated virus.

[Frances_iom]

A new variant - which seems to be different from the other known variants - the Kent one, the South African one, and the Brazilian one - has been noted in California ...

Let's hope this does not trump the others - however I suspect we are in for a lifetime of variants as the virus having just escaped into the human population is somewhat unstable until a variant arises that is fitter than all others - sitting in a 'energy' well such that any small change in structure makes it less fit so the strain remains a stable strain until some sequence of major changes pushes it over the well's wall into a lower energy well.

[oddoneout]

I switched my (dumb)phone on yesterday and found a text message had been left purporting to be from the clinical commissioning group for this region, and supposedly attaching a letter about the vaccine and over 50s. The attachment of course wasn't there but a bit of googling clarified that it was a genuine message, and I was able to read the letter that didn't arrive. They have obtained the mobile number from my GP surgery, not me, but in doing so wouldn't have also taken into account the caveat I gave the surgery when they insisted on having that number, namely that it isn't kept switched on and can only receive text messages not emails. They were OK with that and it has worked; the couple of time critical issues that arose in recent years were dealt with via landline.
My GP surgery isn't very good at communicating even in 'normal' times so I'm not surprised they've relied on the CCG and haven't emailed out the letter themselves, but I do wonder how many others have missed the message or deleted it as not genuine, as there has been much publicity about fakery in such matters.