Things go wrong in other countries, too

[avenueq]

I don't think it's helpful how irate people get about the UK government's failings. Yes there are plenty but this is a whole new situation and there are plenty of other countries making mistakes.
Before you ask - I'm not from the UK, but that means I have insight what happens elsewhere,
So to start -
The Eu has been slow in vaccine acquisition

In Austria, vaccinations could not start yet in some areas as not enogh needles (!) had been ordered

Countries with the most severe lockdown did not necessarily solve the Problem (Spain)

Countries who had supposedly excellent track and trace also had a second wave (Germany)

Anyone got other examples?

@cherryblosm and as to say the rest of the world is looking on in astonishment....really? You really think all eyes are on the U.K.? That is such an arrogant statement.

@blissex not anymore arrogant than having a massive death toll and thinking other countries couldn't have done it better.

I'm sure the UK is completely irrelevant and becoming more so, but when comparisons are made - yes I think other countries look at us like they look at the US.

Not to say we shouldn't be proud of the NHS, but we should also take a look in the mirror that as a nation we keep voting in politicians happy to destroy it.

Actually wrong. My DH is Dutch and they are looking at our vaccination programme in awe.

And nobody is saying other countries couldn’t have done it better. Just that it gets a bit tiring to constantly put yourselves down.

Isn't it just.

I think other countries will be learning hugely from our vaccine roll out. I’ve seen a few articles in the Irish press which is usually a bit U.K. negative where they are looking at Northern Ireland and are asking where their vaccines are.
Plus they have huge numbers of cases at the moment, more than us relatively speaking.
There was a lot of looking at U.K. in “horror” back in April , not so much of that now.

Plus we can learn from say Israel etc too
I’m pretty pleased we did not go with the EU vaccine procurement for example. Thank god we are capable of creating and procuring and approving for ourselves.
Germany is trying to side step Brussels too at the moment and make their own deals. On this they have been too slow but I understand the unity / political reasons for equitable distribution across all the countries.

I’m pretty pleased we did not go with the EU vaccine procurement for example.

Germany have already broke ranks and bought tens of millions more Pfizer vaccine via a bilateral agreement.

To be fair I don’t blame the Germans for doing that. It must be very frustrating for them

It must be a political nightmare but I don't think we could have sat on our hands and just hope for the best either.

No, nor do I.

Here's a chart the U.K. is near the bottom of:

Biggest economic hit

ourworldindata.org/covid-health-economy

Because Covid has clashed with Brexit so spectacularly I'm not sure how easy it is to unpick economic hit as far as UK is concerned.

We are doing surprisingly well just now with the vaccine mobile.twitter.com/MaxCRoser/status/1348916674284679168

trulydelicious
Pfizer vaccine in KSA. I have had my first jab already .Exhibition Centre converted to process 2500 people per hour in Riyadh alone.

@habibihabibi

Thank you.

I was curious as I was reading that UAE had approved the Chinese vaccine from Sinopharm for application.

www.ft.com/content/538db451-b165-4754-be53-da29b268e227

@habibihabibi - are cases super low in KSA that they can ignore social distancing then?

MRex
The exhibition centre is vast-.probably 30 soccer pitch big. They have all the seating and cubicles at least 3m apart. Mask wearing is compulsory. Drs nurses , and support staff in Masks and visors. You have an app on your phone with a code and swipe it to enter at your app time. The only face to face is with the medical professional injecting you.

Cases are low here.

@habibihabibi - its website says it has space for 10000 people (4 halls of 15000 square metres). 2500 people taking say 45 min each (15 min waiting, 15 min questions + jab, 15 min checking time), plus the multiple staff per person, you'd easily be over 50% normal capacity and that's indoors, including the staff add waiting time you're probably looking at an average of roughly 3 square metres per person. In Tier 1 50% was the maximum capacity that was allowed in UK for outdoor football stadiums, just for comparison. With low cases they'll hopefully get away with it, but that capacity indoors would be much too high risk with cases as high as they are in the UK.

(Don't forget the medical professionals are people too, when you look at capacity.)

@OllyBJolly

What's the point?

The UK government has not only failed in their reaction; communication has been abysmal. Totally inept. We're a laughing stock.

Other countries are focussed on their own issues. Which they all have - it's not just us!

I agree OP but people love misery.

I'm sure the UK is completely irrelevant and becoming more so, but when comparisons are made - yes I think other countries look at us like they look at the US.

@cherryblosm why would they? We're not any more important than any other country

MRex
Yes the cases are low. There aren't pubs or concerts or people who dander about maskless.There is virtually no public transport and schools remain closed.
The borders have been shut in some capacity since March. Residents could leave on embassy repatriation flights when it all blew up but citzens have not been able to leave since March of last year.
The only way residents can leave is with a negative test. People who have been in the UK, must isolate for 2 weeks in another approved country before entry to KSA.

From next Monday, everyone going into shops and using public transport will be required to wear an FFP2 mask. This was announced the day before yesterday in Bavaria. The over 65s got theirs free already. Now this I think is a bit bananas and possibly a bad idea if stocks ever run out, but if you compare that to the endless mask discussions that you in the U.K. are having... well it indicates that mask wearing is pretty much the norm here and had been since April. Maybe not in Saxony but they are paying for it dearly at the moment.

Kids from a vey young age were required to wear a mask all day long. Windows opened every 30 min. Schools have been shut now since Xmas. Track and trace did work well at first but now they are overwhelmed. However, I can confirm that test results come very quickly and we all know that there is a lot of ICU space in Germany. This is just as well, as Germany has one of the oldest populations in the world. I have no idea about elective treatments but I can confirm that you can still go to the dentist without any trouble and children’s inoculations never stopped.

On balance, I am much happier to be here than I would in the U.K. even if the U.K. is doing better at vaccinating. That being said, healthcare workers are up there with the extremely old as priority 1 here, which I think makes more sense.