Are we pinning our hope too much on the vaccine?

When people talk about ‘fewer people now dying from covid’ I can’t help but think of the saying’one death is a tragedy but a million deaths is a statistic’. When they say ‘only 10 people died today, hurrah’ it’s become as if their lives no longer matter.

Olive53. Many people are suffering from long covid but I have never heard of long flu.

Do you want a brick wall MOnica?

What exactly do you mean by "live with this like flu"? It seems to have become a bit of a mantra.

Covid has a much higher mortality rate per head of population than flu. If you are infected, you are also more likely to die or suffer long-term disabilities.

Personally, I don't want to die in a car crash or catch flu and take steps to avoid both.

Sorry! Not true! You are more likely to die in a car crash than develop a blood clot from vaccination. You are not more likely to die in a car crash than from Covid.

As the head of the NHS has finally said and others .... we have to learn to live with this like flu. If you are under 60 and have no underlying conditions you are three times more likely to die in a car accident than from ( or 'with') covid and we all still drive. Same mortality rate as flu and we live with that and did for 30 years before a vaccine for that was even created (1917 - 1940's). It is the media ( social and normal rags) that has perpetuated this, SAGE haven't helped as it kept them relevant, despite their modelling being wrong from the start and ever since ... and half the population bought into the panic. Time to get back to normal now!

Craftycat

I think foreign travel should not be allowed for at least another year. Nothing on earth would induce me to travel to foreign countries right now. I am shocked that one of my friends has booked a cruise!! On board ship with so many other people who you do not know & may have not been as careful as you in taking precautions against this nasty virus. Madness!

I take it your family all live in the UK then ?

efffalump 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.

1) Can you name any vaccine that is 100% effective?

2) How do you explain the dramatic fall in hospitalisations and deaths since the roll-out of vaccination?

Rhetorical questions I appreciate because you never do respond to anyone's questions.

Flakesdayout

Slow and steady wins the race. Lets keep the masks, social distancing, handwashing and being sensible for a little longer and until the younger population can get fully vaccinated. Lets be kind to each other and be aware that some have hidden illnesses that if catching Covid it could be disastrous. Some people who have been double vaccinated are catching Covid and getting quite ill. Its not quite over yet but we are getting there. It would be a shame to ease everything just a little early when a few more weeks could make a difference.

Have you thought of applying to be Healt Secretary Flakesdayout? That sounds very sensible.

MawBe

Just as there was work going on “behind the scenes” well before the first vaccines were released, I am sure that the scientists concerned are doing the groundwork on adaptations of the vaccine to meet new variants head on. We won’t be caught napping!

The mRNA vaccines can be tweaked very quickly, but it depends how fast the mutation takes hold. One problem with mRNA vaccines is the storage - another is the cost. It's not inconceivable that mutations will outrun any tweaks. The Lamda variant has some strange characteristics.

Just as there was work going on “behind the scenes” well before the first vaccines were released, I am sure that the scientists concerned are doing the groundwork on adaptations of the vaccine to meet new variants head on. We won’t be caught napping!

Slow and steady wins the race. Lets keep the masks, social distancing, handwashing and being sensible for a little longer and until the younger population can get fully vaccinated. Lets be kind to each other and be aware that some have hidden illnesses that if catching Covid it could be disastrous. Some people who have been double vaccinated are catching Covid and getting quite ill. Its not quite over yet but we are getting there. It would be a shame to ease everything just a little early when a few more weeks could make a difference.

I know I’m lighting the blue touch paper by saying this but I am alarmed by a complete and supposedly irreversible relaxation of all restrictions whilst the Delta variant cases are rapidly escalating and the PM blithely said yesterday there will likely be 50,000 cases a day by 19 July. Those posters who say they won’t wear masks other than on rare occasions don’t help. That’s a very selfish attitude. Of course double vaccination is an enormous help but it doesn’t offer a guarantee that you won’t catch or spread Covid. You may have only mild, or no, symptoms or things may go worse for you or those you infect.
And the Sec of State for Health announced this lunchtime that under 18s and those who have had two vaccinations will not have to self isolate after coming into contact with an infected person as from mid August.
Combine all this with the possibility of a vaccine-resistant new variant, either home-grown or introduced by some of those who will simply die if they can’t have a foreign holiday this year (my apologies to those who have family abroad they haven’t seen for ages, I’m not having a pop at you) and, yes, I admit I’m afraid. I will continue to wear a mask in shops and would if I used public transport (I feel for the shop and transport workers) until such time as I am convinced by the case numbers that I no longer need to do so. And I won’t be going into a cinema or theatre any time soon and will pick pubs, restaurants etc according to the measures they have in force. These relaxations smack of politics and the desire of the new Sec of State to make his mark and differentiate himself from the last one.

Has there been any mention of lifting restrictions on hospital visitors and being allowed to accompany someone into a face to face appointment with consultant with patients and staff not wearing a mask. Sitting in A & E for a few hours when busy with the usual weekend sport accidents, drunk/drug casualties with no one wearing a mask. When all NHS staff are working with no masks I will be convinced the government has acted sensibly allowing this normality.

IMO it’s a case of fingers warily crossed, now that a lot of over 18s are finally getting the vaccine.

Because I’m quite sure the 2nd wave that first kicked off last autumn was down to all the students going back (or in the case of a niece, starting) and not giving much of a toss, if any.

We took our niece, who is from Singapore, down to her university accomm in early Sept. and even then you could see large groups of them wearing no masks and not remotely distancing.

I saw a lot of the same sort of thing locally, where we also have a university.

Since she couldn’t go home without drastic hotel quarantine for Christmas or Easter, niece was then gaily racketing around Europe inc. skiing with friends for both those holidays, apparently unconcerned, since nobody became ill - or at least not with any symptoms.

It’s only very recently that both she and several uni friends tested positive - none of them very ill, but obvs. needing to isolate. They have all now had at least one jab. So ?.

No, that’s true.

Delila

*Rosie51*, it’s not so easy being “controlled & careful” when you get back to Heathrow.

Heathrow isn't the only airport in the country.

Rosie51, it’s not so easy being “controlled & careful” when you get back to Heathrow.

I think foreign travel should not be allowed for at least another year

I'm assuming you don't have a child and grandchildren who live abroad whom you haven't seen for over two years already. For some of us controlled careful travel is very desirable!
Does your travel ban include goods, including foodstuffs and medicines, that come from abroad? They don't travel here without human involvement.

Delta variant is spreading fast, long COVID already causing problems this will increase exponentially with increased cases! It’s too soon for restrictions to be stopped, government is actually turning its back on responsibility! So now as far as they are concerned it’s all down to you, I shall continue to mask and
Avoid public transport and indoor events, and continue with on line shopping. And I am vaccinated!

Age is still a factor. Last evening, on the PM programme, I was surprised to hear Professor David Spiegelhalter (statistician) say that as a 67year-old, and fully vaccinated, he is more at risk from covid than an unvaccinated 30year-old. His words were “age is staggeringly important”.

I think foreign travel should not be allowed for at least another year. Nothing on earth would induce me to travel to foreign countries right now. I am shocked that one of my friends has booked a cruise!! On board ship with so many other people who you do not know & may have not been as careful as you in taking precautions against this nasty virus. Madness!

I was never at ease in crowded restaurants and theatres - but sort of put up with the worry because 'everyone' thought it was OK. But it is not - Covid 19 apart, places like this are real hotspots for spreading other infections. I'm not going into crowds when I can avoid it.

I will continue to wear a mask in shops and on public transport. I have been to the shops since the beginning and also on buses. DH and I went to see "the father" at the cinema, we were two out of a total of eight! I have also booked to go the theatre, at the moment seats are separated with two empty seats next to you. My stepdaughter who works in intensive care in east London says that the admissions of covid cases aren't very high.

This pandemic has forced people at large to realise that they are mortal.

We cannot assume we will be healthy until we die of old age, but then we never could. Like all human beings we thrust that unpleasant truth to the back of our minds and got on with living life.

Nothing at all wrong with that - people always have and always will live life while they have it.

Rely on the vaccine and on the fact that Covid 19 is a lot less contagious and serious than we thought at first.

Take the precautions you personally feel are right and then take each day as it comes.

ENJOY the rest of your life - that is what it is there for.