It's just been announced that we have passed 100,000 deaths.

The furlough scheme costs £14 billion pounds a month. I don't think the government has taken this course to save what is in effect pocket money.

Paddyanne, that’s just what my German sister-in-law said when they said they weren’t going to use AstraZeneca on over 65’s over there. I passed on the reassurance that a GN poster here said they’d use something else. She asked me if we’d believe that if we were told that over here!
They are desperate to be vaccinated, both being much older than me.

paddyanne

I do wonder if this is one of the reasons they were making "mistakes" The Telegraph online

Government saves 600million in state pensions as Covid Deaths soar

I'll just let that sink in.
Well he has to get the cash for his dodgy mates from somewhere !

Worth repeating: Government saves 600million in state pensions as Covid Deaths soar

I do wonder if this is one of the reasons they were making "mistakes" The Telegraph online

Government saves 600million in state pensions as Covid Deaths soar

I'll just let that sink in.
Well he has to get the cash for his dodgy mates from somewhere !

Septimia

I'm not going to defend the government. Lots of mistakes have been made and, as I've said before, whoever was in charge would have made at least some mistakes because it's a novel situation.

What should have happened is that all MPs, of whatever persuasion, should have been working together, not bickering in the House of Commons. They should have joined forces as soon as the gravity of the situation became apparent and they are ALL at fault for not doing this.

Just what I think too Septimia ???

I find watching our local FB page keeps me feeling very upbeat about the rollout of the vaccine because it often has posts from people who have been for their vaccination and how impressed they have been with the system. All very positive and very real because it is people I might pass in the street.

I think it is better this time. I know on trains they are being strict with masks. They are announcing only key workers are allowed to travel and if you are not a key worker please leave the train.

I'm sure they would allow anyone travelling for a medical appointment to stay on.

I honestly don’t think that we can blame the government. It is irresponsible people and I think that all the shops and bus services have a lot to answer for. Why in the very beginning did shops and buses and trains not use a simple system of putting notices up saying ‘no mask no entry, unless you are exempt’, building sites have notices saying ‘no hard hat, no work. Sainsbury’s and Asda had people inside the door with free masks but if they had large notices up then there would not be conflict with the staff. This is such a simple solution that would have worked. Too little too late, but shops and public services could start to do this now.

My friends and I, 70 and over group have received vaccine appointments in the last couple of days. Central Scotland.

And sorry, because I can't help myself - the 40k figure was 3 days worth of vaccinations because they hadn't reported for the previous 2 days.

Both my parents in Aberdeenshire have had their vaccinations. Their older friend who loves 7 miles away from them hasn't. My auntie in the Highlands hasn't.
I'm not quoting numbers here but the myth that the Scottish program is slowing down is just that, a myth. 462 thousand people have been jabbed already. I wish it was more, but it will be soon.

But Sue my mother lives in Hampshire and although 93 she hasn’t yet had any vaccine. It’s going to take time to reach everybody. I’m afraid everyone can’t be first.

Surely it also depends on how many of the target groups are in any particular area. Some areas have much larger numbers of over 70s or 80s or whatever, whereas some places such as London, are primarily’young’ cities or areas. It must be more difficult to vaccinate larger groups of people in any particular area, but possible to rattle though smaller numbers and move on to the next group in other areas. I agree with Casdon that London has its own somewhat unique difficulties in getting to all the older residents.

I watched the video. All he said was that X number of doses are in Scotland and Y are in England. He doesn’t say why they are still in England. They’re not being held hostage until Scotland pays a ransom, they’re there because Scotland isn’t distributing the vaccines fast enough and it doesn’t have storage facilities to hold all its allocation.

Scotland vaccinated over 40k people on 17th January. Yesterday, 26th Jan, just over 24k people were vaccinated. Only 11k were vaccinated on Sunday. If that’s ramping up the programme, I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole. . My mother is still waiting. My friend’s husband in a dementia unit is still waiting. My Dh has heard nothing. In fact, I know just one person in Scotland who has had their first vaccine. Meanwhile, my mother’s even older cousin in Hampshire has had both doses as has her friend in London. It’s indefensible to defend Scotland’s performance when people’s lives are being put at risk.

The availability and uptake is so varied I know Mollygo, I don’t think it will be understood why until they analyse the uptake after the event (if then). I think one of the issues is that there seem to be hotspots of vaccine deniers and conspiracy theorists who target vulnerable groups, the challenge is going to be in breaking those barriers down. It shouldn’t be a political battle in my opinion though.

Casdon, they use your first reason up north too.
But a few days back they were praising Slough for its success in vaccination speed.

Exactly the same happens with Wales Alegrias, I think in all fairness the UK as a whole is doing very well with vaccination efficiency, and there’s nothing to be gained by point scoring about the process in each of the nations - let’s hope they all hit the target!

All good points Casdon. I agree strongly it's not a race, every vaccinated person anywhere in the country is a good thing.

I do find it rather frustrating that when Scotland is slow, the press say it's all Nicola's fault. But when London's slow, it's demographics.

Alegrias1 I can think of a few potential reasons why London could be behind to be fair, and I’m not saying this from a partisan English perspective:
Higher ethnic population, who are more likely to refuse vaccination.
Difficulty identifying mass vaccination venues, and reluctance of population to travel to by public transport to them - most of the population of London don’t have cars.
Chronic GP shortage in inner city areas
Hospitals overwhelmed.
But - it’s not a race, the important thing is to get as many of the top 4 at risk groups vaccinated as quickly as possible. The reason I responded to paddyannewas that she was reporting a negative statistic for Scotland as though it was positive, which was inaccurate. The whole country has had supply issues with the Astra Zeneca vaccine, not just Scotland.

watch to get the FACTS SD McKay is no supporter of the SNP but at least he can tell the truth!

Folk like to have a moan, don't they? Have Scotland vaccinated less than other parts of the country? Yes. Do I hope that they start to move quicker? Yes.

Do we believe the numbers in the report from the Telegraph, who are always just a little bit anti-Nicola? No. Not in a million years.

Anybody like to make up some rumours about why London are only at 7.5% while Scotland are at 8.5%? No. Thought not.

youtu.be/YjUShpvMqt8

Re Johnson saying that now is not the time for an enquiry on his response to the Covid crisis, the European has the answer

''"I don't think that moment is now when we are in the throes of fighting this wave of the new variant, when 37,000 people are struggling with Covid in our hospitals". As this column has noted before, that moment will be in 2026 when Johnson is safely on the other side of the Atlantic, giving speeches to US think-tanks for $200,000 a pop.''

Nicola's not under any cosh from where I'm sitting Callistemon* the figures were clearly explained( for one) by an STV reporter ...all the vaccines that have been allocted haven't been delivered some 70 000 are in transit from storage in England another 120.000 are still in storage in ENGLAND..alas we're at the mercy of the people who are supplying them...you know like most of the world.THERE HAVEN'T BEEN 984;000 DOSES DELIVERED NOT according to NHS Scotland who say that they haven't received the full 700,000 they were promisesd.But hey you believe the liars in WM they are doing SUCH great job ....not

Ah yes, it’s going swimmingly in Scotland. Care home residents comprise about 35k out of just under 250k over 80’s in Scotland. Less than half of available vaccine has been used and only one mass vaccination centre is working. The one in Aberdeen isn’t due to open until next week. What the heck has Holyrood been doing?? They have had months to prepare for this, it’s hardly a bolt from the blue. People here are getting upset and distressed that they’ve heard absolutely nothing and our older relatives are being left to take their chances. ?

This is one newspaper report.

Nicola Sturgeon's target to vaccinate all over-70s by the middle of next month is a "big ask" unless mass vaccination centres open and run at "full steam", GPs have warned.

Dr Andrew Buist, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, said vaccine supply to doctors' surgeries had started to improve but it was still only coming through "in small amounts" of around 100 doses a time.

He expressed confidence that a target to vaccinate all the over-80s by Feb 5 would be met, but warned that the next major milestone of completing all over-70s by mid-February could be missed.

With only 10 days between the two deadlines, and 580,000 people to be vaccinated, he said GPs could not complete the group on their own and would need mass vaccination centres "up and running" at full capacity.

His warning came as government sources disclosed 984,000 doses have now been handed over to SNP ministers from the UK supplies, with only 437,000 having been administered and more than half a million unused.