Good News Thread Part 3

[FuzzyPuffling]

New thread as I got worried the old one was going to run out of space!

Yes we will, we have pre ordered 40m doses of that one.

I am certain they will have already been shipping doses all over Europe in anticipation of approval- it’s not like we were expected to be their only customer.

Great news for Europe. Hope they get on with it now.
I was reading an article in spigel the German media, and the Germans are pretty fed up with the slow speed of Brussels and some wish they had gone it alone. Also they only put a confirmed order in a short while ago and turned down extra doses and for no where near enough.
I think ( like us to some extent) they are banking on the Oxford vaccine.
I don’t know Spiegel’s politics and whether they are anti/ pro EU generally so it might be a biased article but worth a read if any of you are interested

Every morning I’m checking for a Reuters notification- most seem to have come at about 7am if I remember rightly?
Imagine if it came on Xmas morning...! (I know this is a ridiculous idea but the thought amused me 😅)

www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-planning-disaster-germany-and-europe-could-fall-short-on-vaccine-supplies-a-3db4702d-ae23-4e85-85b7-20145a898abd-amp

I hope this link works! I have never attempted one before
This is the article I referred to earlier and I know you guys are generally interested in the vaccines so might be interested.I’ve just re read it properly and it is a very eye opening article and really worth a read. Not just about the EU timelines but also for some of the geopolitics between Germany and France with their respective vaccines and also the US agreeing to supply the raw materials for the vaccines to pzfizer in exchange for priority access.
I naively imagined the world of vaccines to be full of lovely kind people doing their best for humanity, it’s a wee bit more political than that!

That's a very interesting article sashagabadon. If ther is one thing (at the moment) that might make me glad to be Brexiting, it's that. It all sounds very complicated and intertwined with politics.

Yes, I can quite imagine Macron insisting the EU buy the exact same quantities of the french vaccine as the German one but to then veto buying more of the German one seems bonkers and now the french one is delayed. If that is true, what a cock up!

I think we could have gone our own way even without Brexit but I can see how that is politically more difficult for the Germans than us. Imagine the uproar if Germany just vaccinated the Germans and left the Italians, Greek etc to sort themselves out.
Luckily we don’t have all this angst between our 4 nations. We have other angst of course

Sage words sashagabadon.

Baroness Boothroyd has had the vaccine today!

@FuzzyPuffling

Yes we will, we have pre ordered 40m doses of that one.

I hope so, look at how the PPE was confiscated from under the noses of those who had ordered & paid for then in the first wave.

Aprilrainbow you are aware that this is the Good News thread, aren't you? We try not to be too negative here - there's the whole of the rest of mumsnet for that!

There may be issues with all sorts of things, but there is a whole lot of positive science happening too.

We're not Pollyannas, but we are trying to look for the rainbow in the rain. Ironic user name?

@TeaInTheGarden

I’m waiting for oxford news with much more anticipation than I am Christmas. I know I’m not alone... right?!

Definitely not alone!! I keep refreshing my news feed just in case.

If it's approved do we have lots of doses ready to go?

@ChristmasinJune we definitely have some, a couple of million maybe? Can’t remember the exact figure but enough to get started. And apparently lots more that just needs putting into vials etc. I really believe it will change everything. I have to believe this, it’s the only thing keeping me going right now!

I think the first lot are in Belgium for some reason. But they're producing in U.K.. Think I got that from Dr John Campbell YouTube that someone linked

Yes, that was a really good watch, cheered me up yesterday! Made me emotional when he mentioned the mass vaccinations taking place in football stadia etc. I’m praying he’s right and it happens very soon.

Someone on Reddit said the first 500,000 people bring vaccinated means one in 136 people have had their first dose. Actually even more as I think that includes children.
As in under 18s haven’t been removed from the calculations (and the won’t get it).
I think the maths stacks up?

The web page tracking global vaccination progress says 0.74 doses have been administered per 100 people in the UK which sounds about the same.

Yes that sounds about right. Over 1% if you discount children. Annoying everyone needs 2 doses of course, as once they start doing second doses, the number of new people vaccinated each day will slow down. Not that it can be helped, just the way it is.
I have heard that even after one dose people have some immunity though, so every little helps!
Looking forward to the day we have more vaccinated people than total confirmed cases.

There's that stuff about the extra dose in the vials but I can't remember what that means? Like 6 doses when there were meant to be 5?

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

The web page tracking global vaccination progress says 0.74 doses have been administered per 100 people in the UK which sounds about the same.

Have you a link to that webpage? My inner geek would like to follow it!

[quote TeaInTheGarden]@ChristmasinJune we definitely have some, a couple of million maybe? Can’t remember the exact figure but enough to get started. And apparently lots more that just needs putting into vials etc. I really believe it will change everything. I have to believe this, it’s the only thing keeping me going right now![/quote]
I'm hoping and praying that once we get going, it can happen really quickly now!!

This one, I think ChristmasinJune

ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Fab, thanks!!

I read an article ( I think it was the NY Times) that said one dose gave you 92% protection. I wish I could remember the exact details ( sorry, I can't) but it was jolly interesting and if it was so, surely it could be used to double the number of available vaccines.

I'll go and see if I can find it.

Can't do a link ( sorry, phone fail) but if you're interested, Google "New York times Can we do twice as many vaccinations as we thought"