5 day break...

A bit behind the times aren't you?

Sorry. I don’t know what you mean. I was talking about which vaccines had been peer reviewed, not authorised.

I'd like to know what steps people normally take at this time of year to avoid getting the season flu and how do you try to boost your immunity. We all know that smoking, drinking alcohol and living on junk foods all have an impact on imunity but I also think staying at home, away from the community (and I'm not meaning hanging out with people coughing and spluttering all the time) but all the things that help to boost immunity are being suppressed. This virus will not be going away, we need to learn to live with it and having a diminished immunity just means that if you don't get it now, you will get it eventually. Never once, in all this time, have the government put out any information films on boosting your immunity just on hand-washing (which is not bad) but I would hope people do that anyway.

The only MP to mention taking VitD was David Davies but the government still seem to be saying there isn’t enough evidence to recommend it to everyone. Even though it can’t do any harm and might just do some good. Not sure if they’re still supplying/recommending it to care homes. What happened to Johnson’s campaign to get people to lose weight after he realised his obesity was a causal factor when he suffered badly with COVID?

effalump Mingling with other people doesn't boost immunity. There are so many quack theories about boosting the immune system, which I guess make people money. It's no wonder the government haven't put forward any methods because there aren't any.

We know that coronavirus thrives on human contact. The only way to avoid catching it is to minimise contact with other people. If only all people could be relied on to do that for two or three weeks, it would die.

MayBee Vitamin D isn't totally harmless if taken in excess:

"Taking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause too much calcium to build up in the body (hypercalcaemia). This can weaken the bones and damage the kidneys and the heart. If you choose to take vitamin D supplements, 10 micrograms a day will be enough for most people."

Vitamin D isn't water soluble, so isn't excreted like Vitamin B and C, and build up.

You have to take quite a lot for it to be dangerous though and the majority of people are deficient in it, especially in winter.

When DH came out of hospital with Covid and pneumonia he was given Adcal D3 tablets to take twice a day.
It was the only 'medication' he was given.

Too much of anything isn’t good for us i.e. salt, sugar, alcohol, so I’ll risk that taking a Vit D capsule every day in winter is, on balance, going to do more good than harm.

MayBee70

You have to take quite a lot for it to be dangerous though and the majority of people are deficient in it, especially in winter.

I agree, but some people think that taking more does you more good.

growstuff, there has always been an idea that if SOME medications and vitaments are good for you, then MORE of them must be better¬!!!

Many, many years ago, the very hypchondriac young father of one of my foster children accidently overdosed on prescription tablets and died. He had actually told his wife that morning, that the new comination of medication he was taking was making him feel so much better, he was considering 'upping' it.

Most of our vitamen needs are well in place by having a good, mixed and varied diet - yes I do accept that there has been evidence that many people in this country do sufferfrom some Vit D deficiency particuarly in the winter months, and those with darker skin colourings. But this will show up in normal blood tests and without that not sure of need of self-medicating.

Just wish that people would stop trying to find other groups of people to blame for this virus and its spread. It is NOT the fault, of the children in school, or the Uni students, or those who went to the beach in the summer, of thme BLM demostrators, or people going to the shops, etc. etc.

Until such time, as there is a large number of the population vaccinated (and this may well have to be on-going on an annual basis), this virus will continue to infect. Indeed, the current mutation is probably as much to do with the fact that so much protection was being used to stop it spreading, so it had to adapt to stay alive.

Perhaps -in the this country - it would help if we did not know that every time Johnson and co opened their mouths to speak on this matter (and most others), they spewed forth lie after lie after lie. Those countries that have done best, are the ones where the population felt they can trust their political leaders.

I'm not saying there hasn't always been that idea. What on earth are you on about?

As for the rest of your post ... I hope it wasn't directed at me.

PS. Mutation doesn't work as you suggest.

All living organisms mutate. Many mutations don't survive, but some (as with this one) are better adapted to survival.

Mutations themselves are random. An organism doesn't mutate because it needs to stay alive.

If there had been fewer cases, there would have been fewer mutations and less chance that a successful one would have developed.

Franbern Those countries that have done best, are the ones where the population felt they can trust their political leaders

No. Those countries that have ‘done best’ (I would say have been fortunate in terms of cases per head of population) are those that have been able to close their borders effectively (NZ), or enforce tracing & isolation in ways that would not be considered acceptable in a western democracy(China, S Korea). Even Australia has containment measures that would cause outrage here.

There’s no reason to suppose that people in Sweden don’t trust their government any less than people in New Zealand do. But they have mad many more cases per capita than NZ.

Had more cases