Are we pinning our hope too much on the vaccine?

JaneJudge

whitewavemark2, I had a 'flu' in the 2003/2004 season in my 20s which caused me to develop bi lateral pneumonia and pleurisy, it didn't respond to antibiotics and I had to be put on a 'new drug' it was a 'if it gets any worse ring 999' job. My husband had to take time off work to look after me and the children and I was ill FOR MONTHS. I never thought about it at the time either, I just thought I was unlucky and these things happen but I wonder now whether it was one of these types of viruses.

Yes it is weird. They never identified the virus, likewise my DH.

He had what I thought was flu, and was pretty ill, he then became unconscious and drifted in and out of consciousness. A&E and resuscitated twice. The virus affected his heart. He was in hospital for a month before they could fit a pacemaker. He had every specialist possible looking and testing. They never found out what the virus was.

CafeAuLait

At some point we are all going to have to stop hiding. I'm not pinning my hopes on the vaccine but I have made a conscious decision that I am going to live my life and trust the vaccine to do its job. Otherwise, what's the point?

I don't mind the idea of ongoing mask wearing indoors. Less risk of general illness.

Well ... it appears there's little disagreement.

Who's hiding? And why are people still accusing others of being scaredy cats just because they're behaving like responsible adults?

It is really weird isn't it? I had loads of bloods taken that were sent 'up to London' too. Your poor husband, that sounds awful x

Whitewave and JaneJudge I was reading something somewhere (sorry, forgotten where) that Covid is leading to some "revisiting" of mysterious past viruses. So much money has been poured into Covid-19 that scientists know much more now about how they work. Viruses are actually very fragile and can't be spread without hosts. Many die out very quickly before any research is done. It could be that you had one of these viruses which disappears very quickly, but unfortunately leaves you with permanent after-effects.

growstuff

Whitewave and JaneJudge I was reading something somewhere (sorry, forgotten where) that Covid is leading to some "revisiting" of mysterious past viruses. So much money has been poured into Covid-19 that scientists know much more now about how they work. Viruses are actually very fragile and can't be spread without hosts. Many die out very quickly before any research is done. It could be that you had one of these viruses which disappears very quickly, but unfortunately leaves you with permanent after-effects.

Yes that’s right I think. I know that I shall have to deal with it for the rest of my life, and I have largely got to grips with it but it isn’t pleasant when it affects me, and I know the only way to get rid of it is to rest for about10 days.

The trouble at the moment is that they know covid affects all your major organs including your brain - so flu it ain’t.

Until they know as much as feasible I think it is irresponsible to allow the virus to spread without hinderance.

The trouble at the moment is that they know covid affects all your major organs including your brain - so flu it ain’t.

As I understand it you can sustain covid damage to internal organs even after having what appears to be a mild infection.

This is one of my major worries about letting it run through children and young people. We don't know just how much damage can be cause, nor how much of it could be long term and persist into adulthood. I don't care for the government to take this risk for my grandchild and for all young people.

While covid is causing infections globally and the greater part of the world's population is unvaccinated I really don't think we should be dropping our guard. We might have to accept the fact, not that we have to 'learn to live with it', as though it were some seasonal illness like a cold, but that we have to be fully on our guard against it for a considerable length of time. And be prepared for the country to invest in making schools and colleges as safe as possible safe for our young people; for the sake of their futures.

I am quite horrified at the irresponsibility of our
government and far more worried than I have been at any stage of the pandemic.

maizie I absolutely agree.

We know that it is a global pandemic.

We know that the wealthy countries have grabbed more than they need for vaccine.

We know that the virus, left unchecked will mutate.

We know that mutation may well become something so dangerous that mankind may struggle to contain it.

We know that the continent of for example Africa has not received remotely the amount of vaccine needed.

This will almost certainly mean that the next variant will come from there and spread throughout the world.

We simply will never be back to anything like normality until we have vaccinated the world to a sufficient level.

We should act as though the virus is still free to spread until we have world herd immunity.

What upsets me that the AZ vaccine is being thrown out in some countries and there are other countries eg South Africa where people are queuing up to have any vaccine they can get. This initial scaremongering about the AZ vaccine, for whatever reason, has resulted in many deaths that could have been avoided.

Every so often there's something in a post that I just can't pass by...

We know that mutation may well become something so dangerous that mankind may struggle to contain it.

Why on earth would you say that? There's no reason at all to say that. Another virus may come along that we can't contain. We might get hit by an asteroid tomorrow, or a plane might fall out of the sky and land on my house.

But the risks of Covid mutating into an unmanageable virus are negligible; I posted something to that effect yesterday from one of the Oxford vaccine team. If people think that Armageddon is on the doorstep, we're never going to get out of this!

I do wonder what this whole thing has done to our ability to judge risk.

This virus could have been Ebola and the next pandemic might be of a virus equally lethal. Why do you dismiss the possibility so lightly?

Alegrias1

Every so often there's something in a post that I just can't pass by...

We know that mutation may well become something so dangerous that mankind may struggle to contain it.

Why on earth would you say that? There's no reason at all to say that. Another virus may come along that we can't contain. We might get hit by an asteroid tomorrow, or a plane might fall out of the sky and land on my house.

But the risks of Covid mutating into an unmanageable virus are negligible; I posted something to that effect yesterday from one of the Oxford vaccine team. If people think that Armageddon is on the doorstep, we're never going to get out of this!

I do wonder what this whole thing has done to our ability to judge risk.

You are right. The risk is minimal.

Ihave experience of the after effects of Gfever myself. So I do understand the difficulties some people might face with long covid.
But we know so little, and cant target these people with support until they present with symptoms.
Not opening up on the presumption that long covid will be a problem for some, isnt an answer IMV

Getting finance together to research and medically support those affected is a necessity.

And where does the money come from? Working people paying taxes.

Sorry, I'm not so erudite as some, so I hope I'm getting my point across!

MayBee70

This virus could have been Ebola and the next pandemic might be of a virus equally lethal. Why do you dismiss the possibility so lightly?

I don't dismiss it at all. But its not Ebola. Did we live our lives before Covid scared of the fact that we might have a lethal virus? No, we didn't, not every day anyway.

To suggest that the virus we are dealing with right now might mutate into something we can't handle is not a valid thing to do. It exaggerates the risk and causes even more anxiety than there already is in the world.

I see your post WWM2, I think we agree.

imo to answer the question, simply
yes.

Alegrias1

MayBee70

This virus could have been Ebola and the next pandemic might be of a virus equally lethal. Why do you dismiss the possibility so lightly?

I don't dismiss it at all. But its not Ebola. Did we live our lives before Covid scared of the fact that we might have a lethal virus? No, we didn't, not every day anyway.

To suggest that the virus we are dealing with right now might mutate into something we can't handle is not a valid thing to do. It exaggerates the risk and causes even more anxiety than there already is in the world.

I see your post WWM2, I think we agree.

No. But governments should have prepared for it which they didn’t. Maybe we should have lived our lives assuming there would be a pandemic at some point. There was a BBC4 documentary about pandemics which, even though I watch BBC4 all of the time, I never watched because I wanted to ignore the fact that something so awful might happen so I’m as guilty as the next person. We mustn’t sleep walk into something like this again.

the vaccine is part of the safeguards. sosial distancing, masks and wshing hands etc are also needed To rely just on the vacine is like trying to complete a jigsaw without all of the pieces.

It is a much higher chance of dying from Covid than the other things we can catch or have vaccine for.

Just to say we are very lucky to have a vaccine that is free. I was talking to a man in India and he told me that over there a jab costs $4 and if you are lucky you might be able to buy a tank of oxygen to take to the hospital with you as they never have enough there. Many Indians cannot afford to pay for the jab which is why the numbers are so high there.

My husband and I both caught an unlabelled virus back in 1989. He got better and I never did, and I have lived with the after effects, similar to Long Covid, for 32 years. It is called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and it has ruined my life.

The threat of Long Covid needs to be taken very seriously.

kjmpde

the vaccine is part of the safeguards. sosial distancing, masks and wshing hands etc are also needed To rely just on the vacine is like trying to complete a jigsaw without all of the pieces.

Totally agree. We need to use all the tools in our tool kit against Covid.

You're pinning your hopes on a vaccine that doesn't make you immune, doesn't stop you catching 'covid', doesn't stop you spreading it around, in some cases can make you seriously ill. You happy to carry on socially distancing and wearing masks (perhaps not from 19th July for a short time) that will more than likely cause you to end up with bacterial pneumonia from re-breathing in your own germs and bacteria (we all have thousands already in our bodies) rather than take your chance with a virus that is 99.98% survivable? Wow!

People have become to complacent thinking they are fine because they have had the jab . Which is untrue people who have the double vaccine , have died . It has also been proven that people mixing has know shown that cases are on the rise again . How many more cases and how many more deaths do we need , before people realize that we are not ready to return to normal .

I think removing the compelling of masks and social distancing while the cases are doubling every 9 days is reckless I thank God I live in Scotland!

I learned just this morning of a friend who has had both covid jabs, catching the new variant and being bedridden for two weeks! I shall continue to wear my mask in supermarkets and any other indoor spaces for a while yet.

Surely people won’t take 19th July as meaning we can dispense with all safety measures. I hope we don’t see people hugging everybody they meet, breathing on each other, and forgetting all the sacrifices we have made over the last 18 months.

Let’s just take it easy, not rush into anything, that could put us back into lockdown.