Given the optimistic press conference tonight - when will we be back to normal?

[Teenageromance]

So v optimistic press conference tonight. Predicted first groups vaccinated next month and then rapidly thrift the age groups in the New Year.
So could we be back to normal end Jan/Feb?

Ok it's 'our government' in charge but provided we have enough vaccinations and I guess we are really banking on the Oxford vaccine as part of the equation, I really can see light at the end of the tunnel and for a pretty normal by spring. I have every faith in our NHS to take it from here.... the mates of the government will be out of the picture on this one. This will be a full on public service.

Rather than timescale, it may be more sensible to focus on the criteria which would trigger the easing of restrictions. I think that comes down to infection, hospitalisation and death rates.

Once all three are reliably coming down, in tandem with vaccination rates going up, restrictions could probably be reduced while infection rates continue to decline. It’s a question of the levels at which the changes can be made.

@Pipandmum

Not enough vaccinations until summer.

I believe they are saying that by Easter all adults over 18 who want the vaccination will be done.

@AnyFucker

Was it that optimistic ?

No AF, it was not!!

It was optimistic in that the vaccines are all looking goid & they're preparing the NHS to be able to administer them fast, BUT as they said eleventy billion times it friends kn APPROVAL (which has now been formally requested here) and manufacture and he was at pains to say, that takes time. Vaccine isn't easy to manufacture.

He did say not to worry about which group you are in because once they start they should be able to go through the groups in a timely manner, so it's not that big a deal.

He also said 1Dec is the start if the NHS winter and we MYST be careful hands/face/space and we MYST try to reduce the level if the virus because we have to get through this winter without overwhelming the NHS.

The R gas reduced a bit and case average gas dropped from 24,000 per day in average to 22,000 per day.

Giid it's dropped, but it's still 22,000 per DAY. Deaths over 500 per day and 16,000 people now in hospital. Some hospitals on the verge of not being able to cope.

@Figmentofmyimagination

Won’t the refrigerated lorries of vaccines have the lorry park formerly known as Kent to navigate first?

Let’s be realistic here.

They've been talking about the forces flying it in.

Summer if the govt don't f*ck it up, which is unlikely

Oh great, another world beating plan from the Tories, that'll be a massive cluster fuck then.

I would say late summer. It’s great to be optimistic, but I think some time by the end of 2021 would be delightful. Just imagine the world we would be facing right now without the real prospect of a vaccine?

We’ve a lot to be thankful for, least of all the amazing scientists and volunteers who are taking part in the creation of these potential vaccines.

Some people will never be happy OP. Enjoy the good news - it’s been a rubbish year.

It won't be anytime soon.

While most people will have the opportunity to get vaccinated by next summer, the economic crisis will take a lot longer. We also don't know how long the vaccine will last.

My guess would be two years, and it won't be the normal we experienced last year. Some things will have changed forever.

If the vaccine only lasts two years then we will just have to repeat the process in two years. Based on what they seem to be seeing on immunity though I'm starting to be more optimistic that immunity will actually be quite long lasting.

People still have immunity to SARS 17 years after infection so it's not beyond the realms of possibility we could be looking at 5-10 years worth of immunity.

Wow some right negative Debbie downers on this page ffs

There is a timetable for Scotland in the link below, England most likely similar.

"all frontline NHS staff, care home staff, the vaccination teams and the over-80s, with those vaccinations due to take place from early December until February."

"before expanding the programme to include the over-65s and other vulnerable people from late February onwards.

She said they hoped to vaccinate about a million people by spring 2021, urging people not in the first wave of treatments to be patient. “A safe and effective vaccine does bring hope; it gives us all encouragement that where we are now will end,” she said.

It is understood there are plans for the mass vaccination of those not at high risk to begin at the end of March or beginning of April. "
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/19/scotland-hopes-to-begin-mass-covid-vaccination-in-early-december

Easter might not be too bad. And I think summer should be ok.
Then we just have to get through the last outbreaks next winter and things should be ok.
So many people need the vaccination. It's a collosal task.

@WoodYewBee

i don't think the vaccine works 100%

there probably won't be enough

people all have to go back for second part of the vaccine after 4 weeks (i believe)...will they bother?

some will refuse it

some will be ill and can't have it

so much can go wrong with it. and then theres any side effects

People have got very VERY used to doom and gloom.

1. no, none of the vaccines will work 100%. No vaccine ever works 100%. The vaccines so far seem to be above 90% effective, which is really really impressively high by vaccine standards and far better than anyone was expecting.

2. If the Oxford vaccine works, then there will be enough doses. One of the things the government has actually not cocked up is pre-ordering enough doses of vaccine. If all the ones we've ordered work, there'll be enough vaccine doses to vaccinate the entire country about 4 times over.

3. yes it's more of a hassle having to go back for 2 doses, but we manage to do this with infant vaccines, I'm sure enough people will summon up the motivation to do this to get past covid.

4. people can refuse it if they want, as they have every right to do. That will not stop everyone else getting back to normal. Think people are going to carry on wearing masks and not hugging their families for the sake of people who could have got vaccinated and decided against it? Nope.

5. most of the vaccines we've ordered, including the Pfizer one Hancock was talking about, are fairly safe for most people. They're not live viruses where it might be dangerous to give them to immunocompromised people

6. we know what the side effects will be thanks to the trials, and this is part of the data the MHRA will be looking at to decide whether or not to license it.

I know everything has been shit for so long that it's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but this honestly is one. We have developed several vaccine for a new disease in under a year, and they're amazingly effective, and the government have actually planned ahead and bought enough of them. You can be happy!

HeyBaby2020

‘’ Wow some right negative Debbie downers on this page ffs ‘’

Nah, just people being realistic, completely unreasonable to suggest billions of people world wide will be vaccinated by January - mid summer potentially the most vulnerable will be vaccinated and life can start to semblance normality.

You also need to factor in that most of the vaccine candidates require 2 doses, 2 to 4 weeks apart and then up to 28 days from the second dose to ensure a full immune response.

There's a lot of lockdown enthusiasts on these boards who I imagine were very disappointed at the recent vaccine good news and will cling on to any doom and gloom that they can.

None of us can say for certain when life will get back to some sort of normal but its certainly feeling within touching distance, I'm thinking by next spring a lot of the bitterly debated topics on here will be a distant memory. I cannot wait!

Am I alone in being concerned about the safety of such a quickly developed vaccine?

@PaperScissorsRock

Am I alone in being concerned about the safety of such a quickly developed vaccine?

It's gone through the same degree of safety testing as any other vaccine you've ever had. Possibly more, given the large number of people in the trials.

That’s reassuring.

Saying we won’t be back to normal in January/February is hardly doom and gloom. Quote me one serious U.K. expert or official who has said that’s a remote possibility. Not even Boris “it’ll be normal by Christmas” “we’ll have it under control in 12 weeks” “world beating track and trace” Johnson has said it. I’m actually pretty optimistic, but for late Spring/Summer.

Yy golden omber and nothing comes to a halt whilst this program is rolled out. Every single day, new things are learned about the virus. There will be more break through and prevention measures, treatment measures etc.

It's amazing news.

If vaccine rollout goes ahead as planned, I think life will be much more relaxed by Easter. Maybe mask wearing and SD will still be required, if there are still 20-30 million young adults still waiting to be vaccinated, but with everyone over 50 being vaccinated by Easter (or perhaps the end of May, if things don't proceed that quickly), next summer could be normal(ish), with an added buzz as hospitality and tourist industries start to recover. Even with no vaccine, we'd be well on the way to herd immunity by next autumn, but multiple vaccines will make it happen much sooner, fingers crossed.

I think things will feel a lot more normal next summer but still with some restrictions. I think things will start improving from may but it's going to take a long time to get enough people vaccinated to start making a real difference and that's assuming all the vaccines are effective, safe and there aren't massive problems with production.

I don’t think the government have done that bad considering we aren’t the only developed country in the world to be in this situation. Look at France as an example.
The fact that there are effective vaccines coming and the government have paid for them in advance is excellent work. The vaccine are coming and we will have more than enough to probably vaccinate the entire population twice over.
Apart from New Zealand, most developed countries are in a similar situation to us, but minus the purchase of so many vaccines. So it’s not all doom and gloom.
We also now have a few drugs to minimise the severity of covid and some excellent ones in phase 3. Look at how Trump has done! And be grateful we aren’t in that situation. All the drugs that he spoke about as being possibly effective treatments against covid are proving to be ineffective (remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine)