The end REALLY is in sight ???

Sad that being proud of being British (or whatever) is now a sin!

Sad that people will ignore international efforts just to try to big up Britain.

UK company Scancell, which specialises in developing cancer vaccines, and several other firms from Europe and the US are already working on variant proof jabs

I agree*BlueSky*. I am proud to be British and am sad that it seems fashionable to bash Britain these days.

Is anybody reading my posts at all? ???

Fennel

I admit I was gobsmacked but as you can imagine there's a communication problem . She has an app on her phone which translates romanian to english and vice versa but not suitable for a complicated religious discussion!
All I said was that we didn't take that view.
She later told us that in her country the Mafia have taken over the provision of the vaccine and most people can't afford it..

I think Romania is in the EU isn't it? I'd have thought the EU would have a policy on the availability of the vaccine, which doesn't include some kind of pay off for the local Mafia...

Great Britain leading the way in the scientific world towards eradicating covid.... making Britain 'Great' again!

Yep OK, I give up. Rule Britannia.

Mother nature has a way of jumping ahead of man’s remedies.
TB was the major killer before antibiotics, then cancer was an unequivocal death sentence. Now we have superbugs resistant to antibiotics. Bacteria and viruses are evolving all the time in a fight for survival, so I don’t think we can put the flags out yet, but just be grateful to the wonderful scientists who work so hard to protect us.

Alegrias- don't worry. Some of us are getting your point. Britain is great but so is international collaboration!

Yes. Thank you.

Have you lost the will to live Alegrias1??

Although I am definitely one of the Rule Britannia brigade I can see your point about scientists from other nations also being involved in the fantastic achievement.

However it is a fact that ANY display of patriotism is immediately dismissed sneeringly as something to be despised.

I honestly have no idea why , but it does seem to predominantly come from the Left leaning sectors.

Yes JE I was looking for a Union Jack emoji to wave but I couldn't find one .

A few people, not just me, have pointed out that there are companies and universities from all over the world who are working on variant-agnostic vaccines (I looked that up. That's what they're called. Isn't that wonderful?) But as soon as there is any suggestion that the UK is involved, suddenly we become world beaters. Its dispiriting and in my mind, misplaced. That's why I brought up the nationality of the creators of the first mRNA vaccine which truly is something amazing.

Great news it’s just what we need to uplift us!

Bluesky henetha ? spot on! If citizens from other countries can be patriotic why can’t we? I am not by any means downplaying other countries achievements, and applaud their efforts and successes so why can’t I be especially proud of my country and our wonderful scientists now.

grandtanteJE65

Good for them, but the University of Copenhagen has beaten them to it. Their vaccine that does the same will be available in two months time.

And there would have been no need for this comment if we all hadn't just thought it was generally great news!

Really, WHO gives a stuff which country developed it as long as we can all have it, AND as long as it prevents too many more needless deaths.

If you thought any of this was possible, why do we still have illness and disease? Each year the seasonal flu jab is 'guessed' at so they can supposedly make a vaccine. Someone tries to work out which of the hundreds of coronviruses will be the most dominant for that winter. I assume it's someone in the the medical profession, although it could just be a civil servant like it was, apparently, when they decided that 2m would be the right distance to keep apart. Now Boris is saying that when we come out of this lockdown there will be no more. Forgive me, but I will believe that when it happens and not before. Cast you minds back to March 2020. Twelve weeks is what we were told then and here we are a year later. Need I say more?

Alegrias Do you object to our world beating athletes and sportspeople too? Does the sight of flag waving Brits at such events offend you as well?

I think it’s a fantastic effort by all the scientific community. Regardless of their nationality it’s a tremendous achievement and I applaud everyone of them and all the volunteers that agreed to be guinea pigs - very altruistic, not to say brave. However, after such a tough year for everyone, especially here in the UK, I find it so mealy mouthed to try and dampen our thanks and enthusiasm for a truly epic result by OUR people.

I had the Pfizer vaccine last week as I have lung issues. I’m so grateful and I’ve had zero side effects. Apparently with the Pfizer vaccine, side effects are worse after the second dose, but nothing for concern.

It does seem that certain posters are more than happy to heap praise on any other nation than this one. Jingoism?! What tosh.

Why do some people feel it incumbent upon themselves to sneer at "left-leaning sectors" and those who can't stand flag-waving jingoism? Do they check under their bed every night for red devils? It couldn't be anything to do with the culture war the Tories are allegedly trying to provoke, could it?

For the record, it's fantastic that the UK has been involved in research to produce a vaccine and we're so fortunate to have an organisation such as the NHS, which has been responsible for administering it. I am indeed fortunate to have been born in the UK. I still feel no inclination to wave a flag or to feel "proud" of being so fortunate.

Why on earth did you accept the Pfizer vaccine tickingbird? Didn't you realise you were being injected with foreign materials?

You are entitled to hold the view that people who object to jingoism are tosh. I am entitled to hold the view that jingoism is tosh.

tickingbird what a ridiculous post.

Are you seriously suggesting I'm unpatriotic or something because I think that science is international?

And can I just ask you to read the article properly instead of jumping to the conclusion that we have a a world beating EPIC vaccine created in a British lab by British scientists? The work going on in Nottingham and at Scancell is clearly fabulous, but its not come to anything yet. The work going on at the other labs is equally fabulous, and might even be further ahead. To echo GagaJo, I don't care who creates a vaccine as long as we can all access it.

As for the "our people" thing - well at least 2 of them appear to be Australian. What do we think of that?

Tickingbird: good post. I absolutely agree with you and other posters. Pride in our country and its accomplishments is not jingoism.

Oh dear growstuff you’re clearly clutching at straws with that post.

My partner’s ‘foreign’ as you say. You make the jump from me being proud of the the efforts of our scientific community to me being xenophobic!! Oh dear that’s a stretch too far and really rather silly. Plus, as you say, it’s been an international effort so I’d struggle to find a vaccine that didn’t have foreign ingredients.

Frankly, you demean yourself with such a childish post.

I have no patience with flag waving, particularly where this subject is concerned. We are in the middle of an international pandemic that is killing people all over the world. I couldn't care less if the vaccine had been developed in Timbuktu. Who cares where the help is coming from, as long as it is coming?

Back at the beginning of this disaster, my DD said that the sharing of information by scientists working on understanding the virus, finding treatments or developing a vaccine was amazing. Normally they jealously guard their research until it can be published, but the emergency was so great that they were freely sharing information with each other, all around the world. I thought that that was very encouraging.

It's important that we start thinking internationally. Of course it is important that all UK adults are vaccinated, to get the infection rate right down, but then we should start thinking about the poor countries. How are they going to afford the vaccine? How will they deliver it? I saw a doctor in Mozambique being interviewed. The number of people vaccinated there was zero. He said it would probably be 5 years before everyone got the vaccine. That's just one poor country amongst many.

If we don't care for humanitarian reasons, we should do so for selfish ones. Where the virus runs unchecked, there's a greater likelihood of new variants, plus foreign travel makes it impossible to quarantine any country indefinitely. Even if we are all vaccinated here, no vaccine is 100% effective. Some people will still get infected, and maybe die, unless we have a vaccine campaign across the entire world.

A Universal Vaccine would be a wonderful thing, but how will poor countries be able to afford it?

Right, in really simple sentences....

The development of a vaccine by the team at Oxford University is fabulous, that's the one many of us are getting.

The development of a vaccine by the team in BioNTec is fabulous, that's another one that many of us are getting.

Another unrelated company in Oxford called Scancell is working with the Uni of Nottingham to develop a vaccine that will work for any variant. They haven't finished the development or even done any human trials yet but are hopeful.

Several other companies around the world are developing a vaccine that will work for any variant. They haven't finished the development or even done any human trials yet but are hopeful.

University of Copenhagen seem to be the furthest ahead.

People who are calling the Scancell research world beating and how the Brits are saving the world really hasn't understood the article.

I think Prof Sarah Gilbert is amazing. I think Dr. Ugur Sahin is amazing. I think our vaccine rollout is amazing.

Bluesky No, there isn’t any Plizer vaccine available for me, 71, at the moment. Moreover, whatever vaccine is ‘available’ is being sent to more wanting areas like Moselle, where a variant is prevalent.