Government are waiting for a vaccine

[Biscuit0110]

It was always going to be a possibility, waiting for a vaccine, but one I did not believe, due to the length of time it will take, but it is gathering momentum now. Why do I think this?

Well the lockdown with a few variations looks likely to be staying in place over the whole summer, there was none of the big announcements that we were expecting to hear last night.
Apart from a few year groups heading back 'at some stage' to school, and the people that were always supposed to continue to work apparently - doing just that. There are no other big changes as far as I can see.

Then I started to see the universities are unlikely to open in September
thetab.com/uk/2020/03/27/unis-wont-even-be-back-to-normal-by-september-warns-expert-149741

Many now reporting this, and can we be sure secondary schools will reopen fully or even partially? I am not sure we can be sure of that at all.

So either we are all staying in lockdown indefinitely, which I find hard to believe, or there is a good chance that confidence is increasing that a vaccine will soon be here (but the government are unable to say categorically so they are keeping quiet)

Is there a plan to vaccinate before there is any real return to life? How feasible is that with 66 million of us, and how long will it take?

Boris speech was uncharacteristically gloomy, very far from his normal bouncy manner. What do you think?

If they can build a hospital in nine days, it could be possible to fast track a vaccine as vital as this one

OP there is no certainty of a vaccine, plenty of viral diseases cannot be vaccinated against.

To me, the only way forward is to isolate the most vulnerable, we cannot continue a situation where the young, who are the future of this country/world, have to forego their lives and education for many years in order to try and control a virus that cannot be controlled unless we continue with lockdown.

They are just trying to make it more manageable so that we don’t have scenes like Spain where they took people age 60+ out of intensive care to palliative care so that a younger person might benefit, even if that older person had a good chance. We haven’t had that here but personally I think that’s partly because you can’t get admitted until too late.

Vaccinologists are not hugely concerned about the mutations, its still corona virus and retains enough similarity for the vaccine to work (if it does).

attack

From the word go, SK deployed the most sophisticated track and trace system on earth. It is bold with thousands and thousands of tracers, they monitor everyone digitally. On arrival you are tagged, and quarantined for fourteen days. SK learnt a great deal from the SARS outbreak, and had resources and strategies in place from the moment CoVid arrived , and got on top of it very very quickly, and still they are seeing second peaks and waves.

www.axios.com/south-korea-second-wave-coronavirus-38a183c5-2811-4100-ae0f-aab8869eab9b.html

I agree with your post, but tracing is hardly a silver bullet. It also relies very heavily on public participation, and for many reasons least of all financial ones, not everyone will want to identify themselves.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/30/opinion/coronavirus-covid-vaccine.html

even if all vaccine trials go without hickup, vaccine for mass immunisation will only be available in summer 2021 the earliest.

Summer 2021 at the earliest will be about right. One year from now, assuming it is successful.

and summer 2021 is super fast tracked for a completely new vaccine.

swine flu was not a completely new vaccine btw, just a 'normal' already existing flu vaccine with a new flu strain added.

www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/reports-of-packed-public-transport-and-rammed-roads-in-london-this-morning/11/05/

Maybe herd immunity is not as far away as we are led to believe. See above link.

South Korea are seeing second ripples , a few tens of people catching it , not tens of thousands dying which is where we are

There is no need to lockdown a country for months for a handful of people dying, we don't lockdown every flu season.

we have, albeit hidden, a death rate that is considered acceptable. That applies to roads, or we would not let people drive ever , as much as to illnesses, with very few illnesses considered dangerous enough to merit such a huge international response

Yes it does require cooperation, especially support for the finically insecure, but if the alternative is more lockdown you would think it would be popular

I am not entirely confident of our ability to execute the track and trace strategy effectively, perhaps you are picking up on this? I agree it is a solution of sorts, but in this country with all the privacy laws, the hacking potential, the natural suspicion many have of any state surveillance. It is not something we are terribly comfortable with in this country, so the reaction does seem lukewarm at best.

But yes ultimately we will have to get used to it, as track and trace is here to stay.