Exciting news about a vaccine?

It sounds promising if still months away. With pre existing conditions neither of us think there is enough known yet to volunteer for the test programme. Something I’m sad about. Once a vaccine is generally available I don’t see acceptance or otherwise as a one size fits all decision. Working in the NHS swine flu vaccination was encouraged, I accepted and was fortunate, unlike callistemon I had no adverse reaction. Everyone must make their own decision and will be free to do so. If offered a vaccine we will make individual risk assessments after reading all the information we can get our hands on and seeking medical advice if it seems appropriate. I believe progress on a vaccine can only be a positive thing.

Why am I not excited I don’t know but I really don’t think it’s going to be that easy, suddenly after years of trying to find any kind of help for the common cold which belongs to The same Corona virus Suddenly after four months we have this miracle vaccine that is going to be a world saver
I truely hope it is the answer, but excited, no not in the least

I am more pleased to know they have some research that shows there are medicines that will shorten and help recovery
I think a lot more research needs to be done on why some people are dealt badly with CV and others not at all, and does it produce antibodies that at least lesson subsequent attacks

Listening to a doctor on radio this a.m being asked if she would be prepared to be part of this vaccine’s trials and her answer was ‘I d consider it’ which didn’t inspire confidence
I m not an idiot but I won’t be first in the queue to get the vaccine we ll have ti see how it goes

Such wonderful news a light at the end of the tunnel at last.I think everyone should be vaccinated in order to eradicate this fateful virus, which will be around for years otherwise. Very proud of the Brits and the Swedes (I live here) for this breakthrough,well done everyone.

BlueBelle There is research on why some people are worse affected than others and there are already some answers. However, it will be years before there's a full picture and, even then, there will be issues about identifying the people at risk.

My daughter's partner is a project manager for one of the research teams, so I know a little bit about what's being uncovered. However, science isn't a quick fix. It's extremely rare to have a genuine "Eureka" moment and hypotheses need to be tested and confirmed.

I think it is brilliant news. Well done, scientists.

JenniferEccles

It is very encouraging news but even if everything is fine and the vaccine becomes available, it is feared that there may be a certain number of people who will refuse it.

I’m sure we have all read about those really harmful internet sites promoting the anti-vaccine brigade, who are vehemently against any form of vaccination and if their numbers grow we won’t have enough people protected to provide the herd immunity effect.

I am very pro vaccine, but I do worry about a vaccination that obviously has no known long term potential side effects.

It won’t just be anti vaxxers refusing a rushed through vaccination

The government and the media are on a roll to give us any good news that they can find, but I think the scientists would prefer to be more low key. They are under enormous pressure to come up with a 'game changer' as soon as possible and there are are news items about the various vaccine trials nearly every day which feed into all our hopes and anxieties about the future. But most of the scientists have said that the trials are being rushed through much more quickly than usual, and this worries me. Can it be properly tested and the side affects monitored and assessed adequately in a few months? My instincts are telling me to be only very cautiously optimistic and not to believe all the hype.

I’ve signed up to two schemes that have requested volunteers for vaccine trials. There’s no guarantee I’ll be included but I’m willing to take one for the team in the hope that it will help bring an end to this awful illness. Even the anti-vaxxers will benefit from the herd immunity if we can get a vaccine.

I reckon that other people over the years have put their faith in scientists and doctors and been guinea pigs, so why not me?

Don't want to appear a pessimist but there is a very long way to go yet. Also, as and when, we will have no idea of long term side effects

Just read this morning that -

'Addressing the Commons’ health committee on Tuesday, Prof Sir Jeremy Farrar said that even with the potential development of a vaccine, humanity was likely to be living with Covid-19 for "decades". Farrar, who sits on the government advisory body Sage, added: "Things will not be done by Christmas. This infection is not going away, it's now a human endemic infection."

SueDonim they came back to me and I am signed up. I feel it is my duty, they need older volunteers, as well as those with pre existing conditions, in order to make sure it works for everyone. I don't believe any side effects have come to light on the 10,000 who had had it so far, but in the unlikely event of having more than a sore arm, then it would be worth it to help everyone else be safe.

I would be willing to volunteer, but am in the middle of a house sale so do not want to risk being unwell at a critical moment.

That’s good, B9Exchange! I thought being older might rule me out, but of course, older and vulnerable people are exactly the ones they most urgently want the vaccine for.

A friend in London had a trial vaccine a few weeks ago. She’s having a blood test soon to see if she has antibodies. ? Nothing untoward happened to her after the jab, her head didn’t explode and she still had all her limbs. ?

Let’s hope it’s good news for your friend SueDonim !

I believe the scientists are particularly excited by the fact that T cells are also activated by the vaccine.

They apparently provide a second line of defence alongside the antibodies.

I got the impression it was more than they had dared hope for.

I know there is so much doom and gloom around predictions of a possible second wave of the virus later on but we will be in a much better position to cope than we were initially.

Plus of course there are drugs already in circulation which have been found to be beneficial in preventing patients getting seriously ill.

I also read about the plan to offer flu vaccines to younger people, over 55 I believe , to try to take pressure off the NHS this winter.

Much to be hopeful about!

We have been logging in each day to the Covid Symptom Study project set up by Kings College London (Prof Tim Spector), logging symptoms or lack of symptoms. If you take part in that project, you can ask to register on the COVID-19 vaccine registry.

Yes I am logged to this App Nonnapg and have also signed up. It also provides useful information about research.

I take part in the Covid Symptom Study as well. It does indeed provide a lot of useful information. Today I read that it has now been shown, through a study done in many countries, that the virus does spread more rapidly and cause more serious infections, during colder months. Sadly that means we can expect another bad spike in winter.

Yes it does Maddy and also that new Covid cases have stopped dropping across the U.K., even although some are acting as if its gone away.

Yes, I’ve been logging with Zoe, too, since early on. I think there about 600k participants when we started and now it’s over 4 million!

Sorry, but I neither find this encouraging nor good news. Vaccines usually take years and years to develop, so the way this one is suddenly being labelled as "safe" after just a couple of months does not sit at all well with me, and in my opinion is extremely suspect. I don't believe everything that they are force-feeding us, in order to convince us to cling on to the fact that rushing a miracle vaccine through will somehow be our wonderful "get out of jail free" card and somehow buy us back our normality. There are a lot of people who are set to make a mountain of money out of all this. This vaccine has the potential through RNA technology to completely alter DNA - it is a total game-changer, and we have absolutely no idea how this could adversely affect our bodies and immune systems going forward, possibly with absolutely no redress if it all goes wrong.

Not one TV doctor - not one - has actually promoted good health and nutrition as being our very best defence against getting sick in the first place. High dose Vitamin D3, taken as a supplement, has been shown in over 20 trials now to block the virus entering the body through ACE2 receptors. Most people in this country (and especially further north like in Scotland) are deficient in this sunshine vitamin....ditto for those living inside care homes....and yet such simple and cheap supplements would rectify it within weeks. Italians were also found to be surprisingly deficient, as despite having Mediterranean sunshine, they don't venture outdoors in the winter and tend to cover up in the summer. This would also explain the high incidence of cases in the BAME community, because the high doses of melanin in darker skins (naturally there to protect in hot climates) hinder the natural production of D3 through being out in sunlight. So ...why has this not been acted upon? Because vaccines will ultimately make more money. We are all hanging on expectantly, to be saved by a needle in our arm containing goodness knows what.
Sorry to be the voice of cynicism here, but I really do not feel good about how this is being played out. I know I'm possibly in the minority here and will be "tutted" at, but I have read and researched a lot over the past few months of being indoors and I find this manipulation rather more scary than the original virus. Not anti-vaccine per sé....but to consider this one as "safe" just because "they" are telling us it is, is extremely suspect, (especially as government ministers and their "scientific advisors" have vested interests in big Pharmaceuticals such as Glaxo Smith Kline....)

As I mentioned in a previous post Coronaviruses affecting humans have been known about since the 1960's.
Some of them are far more dangerous than Covid 19 with death rates as high as 30%.
Fortunately most were eventually controlled before affecting those of us in the west. Remember Ebola, SARS, MERS, etc.?
HIV wreaked havoc worldwide.
All of these, and quite a few more are coronaviruses.

Scientists have been desperately trying to develop vaccines for the various strains since the 1960s (that's 60 years) yet have not once succeeded. The likelihood that a vaccine will be found soon, if ever, logically seems unlikely.

I am not giving you these facts to distress anyone but to hopefully make you realise that in all likelihood we will have to learn to live with it. Sheltering until a vaccine is available might well mean wasting what life we have left.

The reason you read about great advances towards a vaccine becoming available is to boost company share prices and attract grants to allow scientists to continue their research. Everyone is desperately trying to develop a vaccine. We all want them to succeed but realistically it is unlikely so please, please, find a way to get on with your life in the meantime.
Stay safe but move on.

Are you anti vaccines generally Flygirl ?

BTW there has been much written about the possible benefits of upping our vitamin D levels through supplements or sun exposure and I am sure it helps but I don’t think it can be compared to an effective vaccine which has been proven to be safe.

The latest announcement though is something which everyone can do to protect ourselves and that is to lose weight if we need to.

It’s been said that three quarters of the population here are overweight or obese which increases the risk of becoming very ill.

Flygirl; Dr John Campbell has been advising people to take VitD3 for months and every so often there will be an article in a newspaper supporting the theory. I think Dr Chris Steel also mentioned it on This Morning. I'm quite interested in the interferon [?] treatment that Dr John mentioned; one of the reasons why we shielded ourselves right from the start was the hope that therapeutic treatments would come to light and, along with instant antigen tests [which seem to be on the way] there are several treatments that seem to be dramatically reducing the death rate. I read a Caitlin Moran article in an old Times magazine the other week in which she had a VitD test and she scored 12 when a safe amount would be 40-50, so it shows how many people must be deficient in it. One of the earlier blogs Dr John did showed that obesity was near the top of the list of co morbidities; he also pointed out that many people were asymptomatic so when members of the government say they didn't know about these things they're either lying or weren't doing their job properly. As for the obesity crisis; Jamie Oliver has spent years trying to get children to eat healthily but the government stopped working with him; Theresa May wouldn't speak to him at all about it, I believe. So I would imagine he's pretty fed up that all of a sudden obesity is now an important issue. Actually, he won't be fed up; he'll be pleased that something is being done, but pretty annoyed that he won't get the credit he deserves.

Yes Dr Chris Steele did mention it, you are right. However, it was only ever "in passing" and to my knowledge it has not been taken seriously by those who absolutely should be listening and acting in our interests. I stand by the fact that top medics and government officials only peddle the drug/vaccine line as being the only route to be our eventual saviour, rather than taking our health seriously. There is absolutely no structure in the government's approach to health care, because it never has been about health. Where is the advice to build up our immune systems, eat well, supplement, take a good Vitamin C every morning? There are so many things we can do, but that advice is not forthcoming, only fear. How anyone can think this is about health is beyond me. You can be morbidly obese, line up at Mac Donalds for a daily fix of toxins, but hey, it's fine...wear a mask and get the vaccine and all will be back to normal. There is no money in a healthy nation. It's not health care, it's sick care.