Is the COVID 19 pandemic "over"?

[verdantverdure]

I just thought I'd ask.

YABU The COVID 19 pandemic IS "over."

YANBU The COVID 19 pandemic is not "over".

Pretty much common knowledge that vaccines do not make people immune. But if, without the vaccines, the illness would have been far worse or fatal, then yes, they worked really well, didn't they? Vaccines teach the body to fight an infection more efficiently, that is their role, and that is what they exist to do. They are neither immunity shots nor cures.

I'm 51 and so is DH, we had an automated text from NHS Scotland asking us both to book a flu jab. No underlying conditions.

As for covid, meh. We always knew (well, most of us did) that there was no chance of ever eradicating it, whatever Jacinda Ardern and Nicola Sturgeon thought. It was always going to morph into just another illness we all had to get on with. Elderly and vulnerable will be vaccinated to lessen the symptoms, just as my elderly mother gets vaccinated for flu, pneumonia and shingles.

Was it?
Do.you not believe the death numbers ?
My oldest son was in critical.care in February ( not covid) I was talking to.the staff about the pandemic and they said they had never seen anything like it it was horrific do you think they were lying to me and it was all.daft🤔

@SchoolBlazers You're in Scotland. In England you won't get it if you are an adult under 65 unless you are in a clinical risk group or pregnant. Flu vaccines for the 2023 to 2024 season - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Pretty much common knowledge that vaccines do not make people immune.

So why are they called immunisations?

They are supposed to.stop.people from.getting so severely ill they need hospital.treatment not stop.people from catching Covid altogether ,this has always been known.

Vaccines were a successful intervention on a population level. They reduced the risks significantly for the more vulnerable groups. Unfortunately, the whole process became politicised and they were rather oversold from some quarters, which really didn't help. Policies like the short lived vaccine passports and the care workers mandate were not only terrible in themselves, but undermined trust in what was actually a very useful tool to have at our disposal.

So why are they called immunisations?

No.idea ?

Right, because someone on chemo isn't vulnerable at all. That's clearly made up. It's daft that they're dying and want to hold on for as long as they can.

I'm not going to engage any further because you've made it clear that your levels of comprehension and empathy are too low for anyone to have a reasonable conversation with you.

I wish you the very best of luck in life, mainly because I think you need it.

Oh my, some basic biology knowledge comes in handy sometimes.

Vaccinations work with the immune system. You get injected with the dead or weakened (i.e. unable to cause serious illness or spread) virus cells in a carrier fluid. Your body's natural immune system is made out of a number of different types of white blood cells, some of which will start to recognise the foreign objects in your body and their chemical surface make-up, and start producing antibodies against them. The antibodies will cluster the virus cells so they can't invade your own body cells, while other white blood cells will ingest and get rid of the virus clusters. Yet other white blood cells known as memory cells will keep a record of the chemical surface make-up, so that the next time this virus enters your body it can fire antibodies at it straight away rather than having to figure out what the hell this is. Some antibodies will also simply stay in your blood and other bodily fluids (like breast milk) for a while.

If the virus mutates, that means that the chemical surface make-up changes, too, so your body doesn't necessarily recognise the virus, depending on how much the proteins have changed. That's when vaccines fail, because viruses reproduce so quickly that new mutations happen all the time. It's why we need vaccine boosters and why sometimes we get ill even if we are vaccinated.

Flu can be v mild or no symptoms just like covid, it doesn't always make you ill. That's why young people accidentally infect older people, they don't know they have it. Almost all illnesses are like this, it is not that flu or covid have the same effect on everyone and it depends where the virus is replicating in your body.

Mmm I really don't think it helps general understanding to continue using flu and cold as descriptors of symptom severity. They're not!

I have blood cancer. My risk of death from Covid is far higher than any other group of people because of the way it affects the vascular system. That makes me cev

Because its over a year since my last vaccine and 18 months since I last had covid... viruses mutate so previous immunity wanes, its just what they do to keep going... I'm pissed off with having covid but am aware the vaccinations may have stopped me being seriously ill before !

The death numbers are not accurate. Anyone who died with covid was reported as dying of covid when in fact they died of other things. Load of rubbish

Ok🙄🙄🙄🙄

🙄ok whatever you say.

My mum and her husband just had covid quite badly. Pandemic may be over, but covid is still out there.

Yes it will.never go.away.

@babybopella

The death numbers are not accurate. Anyone who died with covid was reported as dying of covid when in fact they died of other things. Load of rubbish

Or, turn that around (if you can). Say someone with cancer catches Covid. Due to their underlying vulnerabilities, Covid is devastating for them and they die within a week. Did Covid kill them or cancer - or both?

Hardly surprising, NHS staff (with Covid) are now told to come to work along side other AHPs and patients (in our trust area)

What i don't get is the flu vaccine restrictions, offering to over, say 55s, seems a no brainer, instead, what looks like a policy designed to save money, its over 65s.... Flu can be terribly debilitating.

@Alexandra2001 it is offered to under 65s who are eligible for various reasons

Not aimed at you but it was the same with the covid vaccine, I keep seeing "you can't get the flu vaccine if you're under 65" and I'm "we exist! Just with health conditions!"

It's "over" as in "not a pandemic any more". But it's still very much around. I had it for the second time at the end of June just gone, just a mild cough, nothing major at the time. It's fucked up my sense of smell though! I now have parosmia, and everything stinks like vaguely rotten meat. Luckily, taste seems mostly unaffected.

Yes i know its 65 but last year was 50 or over, if we want to ease winter pressures on NHS, then reducing the numbers who get ill is surely a good thing? it'll reduce pressure on GP services too.

Personally, i think covid (in the vast majority of cases) is extremely mild compared to Flu.

I ve been paying for a flu jab for years now after being off work for 4 weeks with it, had CV twice, just like a bad cold with a residual cough.