Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

[Marilyn]

It was a genuine question, Stanley
If the entire world has to be vaccinated every year for the foreseeable future...it is going to get very tedious indeed.
( especially if it is a two dose regime)

[Cathy]

There’s a lot of people asking how long the COVID-19 Vaccine will last Stanley.

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A lot of this topic has been speculation, why did you jump on Marilyn, she only asked a question.

[Stanley]

I didn't intend to 'jump on her' Cathy and if that's the impression I gave I apologise. I was just expressing my own belief that it's a waste of time to speculate. let's just get on with it and accept whatever the future brings. Two jabs a year wouldn't bother me if it kept me safe. What would be really 'tedious' would be getting Covid!

[Cathy]

[Marilyn]

Let me express a view of what will happen here, should this vaccine be needed twice a year, annually or whatever.
Our first round will be given free.
Any following rounds will be given free to the elderly/vulnerable/disadvantaged. The rest of us will have to pay. I say this without antagonism, because we have a different health care system ( as do many other countries on the globe...we are not exclusive).
For example, hubby qualifies for free flu shot.
I have to pay. I see this vaccine heading the same way. ( my question his how often it will be needed).

[Marilyn]

Just want to jump in again ( sorry)...but what happens to nations who cannot afford to vaccinate their people more than once. Their people are poor, and cannot afford to pay.
Will this become a humanitarian effort to support all of humanity?
Worth thinking on about...

[Sue]

I don’t know as my knowledge is rapidly waining with age but I suspect from what knowledge I still have that it will be an annual booster, unless there is a significant change in the variant. As I said yesterday ongoing monitoring of antibody levels in the population will provide some of the answer. The key question is how long the antibodies last and wether random exposure constantly tops them up sufficiently. These are the factors that determine how often the vaccine will be needed. There is no way of knowing the answer until the disease has been around a bit, ie a couple of years at least.

[Sue]

Coronavirus: How the common cold can boot out Covid https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56483445

[Marilyn]

I have always maintained that the “common cold” is good for a body...it challenges the immune system. The immune system needs challenges to keep it on it’s toes.

[Sue]

I have always maintained that the “common cold” is good for a body...it challenges the immune system. The immune system needs challenges to keep it on it’s toes.

I agree, its a shame more people don’t know the difference between colds and flu. The number if students I had with colds who claimed to have flu and thus had not done their homework. You can imagine the microbiology lesson I then gave them, I am sure

[Marilyn]

Our adult kids claim to have “flu” two or three times a year. If you have ever had true flu ( I did once in my 20s) you would never call a cold “the flu” ever again! ( I am talking “unable to get out of bed for a wee and could not stand up long enough to take a shower” type flu. I ended up in hospital on Day 5 (after our GP called the ambulance and did a prayer at my bedside!) had not had even a shower for that long...I just wanted to die..expected I would...and really didn’t care!)

[Sue]

Our adult kids claim to have “flu” two or three times a year. If you have ever had true flu ( I did once in my 20s) you would never call a cold “the flu” ever again! ( I am talking “unable to get out of bed for a wee and could not stand up long enough to take a shower” type flu. I ended up in hospital on Day 5 (after our GP called the ambulance and did a prayer at my bedside!) had not had even a shower for that long...I just wanted to die..expected I would...and really didn’t care!)

Exactly, I have had it twice or may be three times. The first time was when I was having Julia, literally . I stayed in hospital after the birth for a week so I could rest. And collapsed a day after I got home. Where upon I was back in bed for three days.I was so thankful to my Mum and Bob who had to look after both me and Julia

[Tizer]

...but what happens to nations who cannot afford to vaccinate their people more than once. Their people are poor, and cannot afford to pay. Will this become a humanitarian effort to support all of humanity? Worth thinking on about...

Good question, Maz - keep asking them! The answer is an international project called COVAX which is explained here: COVAX

Sue, thanks for posting the link to the article about the interaction between the common cold and covid-19. It's fascinating. So far it's a model rather than a real experiment because it's difficult to do the real thing in the middle of a pandemic, but it could turn out to be very useful. I'd rather have a cold than covid-19 any time!

[Sue]

Tiz I posted the link about covid and the common cold. An interesting article

[Stanley]

The current hot topic seems to be arguments for and against making it mandatory for Care home workers to have the vaccination. I think I'm in favour of it but one thing is certain, if they were better paid they would want to keep the job and be vaccinated. As it is, a lot are fed up to the back teeth and as soon as there is an alternative they will be over the wall.

[plaques]

Wendy posted a few weeks ago that her son was a 'mouth breather' and may have escaped the outbreak in his works for this reason. Colds tend to make you breath through your mouth simply because the nose is blocked. Are the experts making this a bit too technical?

[Tizer]

Tiz I posted the link about covid and the common cold. An interesting article.

Sorry Sue, I'd had a bad night's sleep and wasn't keeping track very well. Yes, it is interesting, thanks for flagging up the article. At least this pandemic is forcing us into a step learning curve as regards the properties of viruses and vaccines. I listened to this Evan Davis episode yesterday on `Perparedness' in the `Lessons On A Crisis' series (Radio 4). It's excellent, very informative... LINK

Here's the promotional blurb....
Evan Davis presents a new discussion series exploring key lessons to learn from the coronavirus pandemic, a year after the eruption of the crisis in the UK. In the first episode on preparedness, Evan and his panel of expert guests discuss the UK's readiness to handle a pandemic and compare it with the experience of other countries. Should the UK have been better prepared, given it had conducted a major exercise in pandemic planning, Operation Cygnus, in 2016? What can we learn from other countries, particularly those in South East Asia, which responded quickly and effectively to the epidemic? Has Covid-19 radically changed our attitude towards risks which threaten the UK and the world?

We explore the role of the UK's national risk register and discuss whether new structures and more funding are needed to insure against emergency.

Evan and guests also explore how far poor public health contributed to the UK being ill-prepared to face the pandemic.

Guests:
Sir Oliver Letwin, Minister for Preparedness 2010-2016
Sir Mark Walport, UK Chief Scientific Adviser, 2013-17
Professor Sian Griffiths, Emeritus Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Laura Spinney, science journalist, author of 'Pale Rider' about the 1918 flu pandemic

The second and third episodes of 'Lessons on a Crisis' explore themes of leadership and community resilience.

[Stanley]

I know it is a weak response but I have reached information overload on Covid. I sleep better by ignoring the news as much as possible.

[Stanley]

Just been listening to Sir Jeremy Farrar - Director of The Wellcome Trust and one of the experts advising the government talking eminent good sense and recommending that instead of slagging the EU off we should send some vaccines to the most badly served in Europe by their own leaders. It calls for statesmanship. Question is, do we have any of that?

[plaques]

Now we all know that all those nurses and health workers plus those in vaccine research are doing it because of Capitalist Greed. Thank you Boris for making it clear where your true thoughts lie.

Another bit of Boris blame game preparation. He predicts that there will be a third wave and its lapping on our shores. All down to Johnny Foreigner bring the virus into the clinically clean UK. The fact that it is still rampant in many areas in the UK and the lockdown is being lifted on fixed dates, with no return, has nothing to do with creating a third wave. Its them Frogs and Krauts that's the problem. Always was, always will be. See how clever I am by leaving the EU. Its all their fault. But aren't there more deaths in the UK than any other EU country? Well that's what I'm saying. now we are on top of it we don't want Johnny Foreigner messing it up again. Toot Toot, for he's a jolly good fellow......

[Marilyn]

I have always said Australia is/was happy to wait for vaccination - recognising that parts of the world are in dire need. Having said that, the doses of AZ that we diverted to Papua New Guinea are now being viewed with suspicion by their people. They are reluctant to be vaccinated. The AZ order destined for Australia and diverted by Rome has never been located.
Then we have news today that our international borders will reopen, with an initial limit of 800 passengers per week.
I think this is the first stupid move our government has made thus far. Few of us are vaccinated ( the majority of vaccinations thus far being on the eastern coast) and, indeed, that is where most international visitors will land.
My personal view is that this is “too much, too soon”. Up until this point we have managed, but I think this will be our undoing as far as having control of Covid. One can only shake their heads at the the boffins who make choices for the rest of us!

[Marilyn]

( is he allowed to refer to “frogs and krauts”? )

[plaques]

Not really, terribly bad form. But the French have been our traditional enemies from William 1 onwards. Then the Germans jumped in with a couple of skirmishes. Our old allies the Russian's are now on the naughty step and it looks like we'll have to sort China out again. Ah well, the world takes another turn.

[Marilyn]

All good, Plaques.
I agree that China needs sorting out...and possibly North Korea...

[Tizer]

Plaques has his tongue firmly glued in his cheek, Maz. The best way to interpret his posts is to assume he means the opposite of what he writes. That's probably how Mrs Plaques copes with him!

Just been listening to Sir Jeremy Farrar - Director of The Wellcome Trust and one of the experts advising the government talking eminent good sense and recommending that instead of slagging the EU off we should send some vaccines to the most badly served in Europe by their own leaders. It calls for statesmanship. Question is, do we have any of that?

No, statesmanship is off the menu. But it was good to hear Farrar, talking of whom...
`Covid: The bus journey that saved hundreds of thousands of lives' LINK

This warns us that there's much more to covid infection that we need to deal with in the future..
`Middle-aged women 'worst affected by long Covid', studies find' LINK