Just a bit of a rant

I'm normally a cheerful person but these last few days I have even had doubts as to whether I should carry on living.

NotTooOld I know it's easy to say, and hard to do, but please try not to dwell too much on the bad news. This too will pass.

I know I am mightily sick and tired of the whole process, but we must carry on. Like others, I am tired of those that have come up with excuses, and feel they are part of the problem that is spreading the virus and causing variants.

However, it seems some of the variants are starting in countries that have low vaccination rates, and until those countries can be brought up to date with others, the virus will do what it can and create new variants. I despair that we will never catch up.

I don't think there is any conspiracy - to what end and to whose gain?

sago is there anything preventing you from taking a lft and hopefully getting a negative result or don’t you intend to have the booster?

We were told from the start that omicron was a new strain which was very different and that seems to be why it's resistant to the vaccine. However, I'm disappointed that we are still using the original vaccine instead of moving on to a newer version. We were told some time ago it would be easy to tweak the original vaccine to allow for new variants but it doesn't seem to have happened. So basically we are not keeping up with the virus which is very clever.

Chestnut

We were told from the start that omicron was a new strain which was very different and that seems to be why it's resistant to the vaccine. However, I'm disappointed that we are still using the original vaccine instead of moving on to a newer version. We were told some time ago it would be easy to tweak the original vaccine to allow for new variants but it doesn't seem to have happened. So basically we are not keeping up with the virus which is very clever.

Who said it's easy to tweak a vaccine? Whoever it was wasn't telling the whole truth. It's possible, but it's not easy. The Omicron variant has numerous mutations, so it's going to take time. It then needs to be trialled and to pass all regulatory procedures. There will probably be a new vaccine, but it won't be ready until the New Year some time.

I agree growstuff. The tweaking is undoubtedly going on but it will take time for any new vaccine to be approved, manufactured and rolled out.

If my experience of using public transport yesterday in Manchester ( the tram) is anything to go by, there are a lot of people who are not concerned about Covid. In the carriage I was in, over half the passengers were not wearing masks or were not wearing them correctly. At one point three men without masks were stood right next to me talking quite loudly so I wrapped my scarf around my mouth over my mask for better protection. One of the men laughed and pointed me out to the others but thankfully one of them was more understanding and moved the group to the other end of the carriage.

I saw a number of other people wearing masks as chin warmers or pulling them aside constantly to eat and talk on the phone.

I had thought that passengers would follow the rule of mandatory mask wearing on public transport but was wrong.

And don’t get me started on the huge crowds of people crammed around the Christmas Market stalls! I had to go to a solicitor in the city centre to sign some legal documents but I won’t be going out again!

How many of us knew - I certainly didn’t - that it’s best to get tested to see if we have COVID before getting the booster in case we’re carrying the virus but are asymptomatic? If this is the case, it should be better publicised, surely! I had my booster in November.

My DD has covid atm. Here are her symptoms if anyone thinks it's mild or just a cold or flu.
Severe head pain like migraine
Dizziness room spinning
Temperature 103 after paracetamol
Sleeping all day
Fainted on the floor
Coughing constantly
Tightness in her throat
Runny nose
She wasn't called for booster yet but is double vaccinated
Our whole family are vaccinated and most have had booster
It's definitely not like a cold for everyone
Hope this helps some anti vax people decide to take vaccine and booster

I hope your daughter recovers soon sazz. I don’t suppose your daughter knows which variant she’s got as we’re currently running two variants side by side. If Omicron is less severe, we know that Delta is rather nasty.