1.5 million people vaccinated already - brilliant!

[buttery81]

They’ve vaccinated 1.5 million people so far and the target is 13.9 million people (the top 4 groups in the attached graphic) by the middle of February, according to ITV. It’ll be a fantastic achievement if they can hit that target.

The government will be providing daily updates on the vaccine rollout progress from Monday 11th January.

It’s such a relief that they’ve got this vaccine and are rolling it out quickly across the country. Considering that it’s only 8th January today, I truly feel like 13.9 million by mid February is achievable.

Come on, let’s do this!

I studied virology at Oxford Uni some years ago so enjoy reading about how the vaccines actually work and the data behind the decisions. I also know that the likelihood of new strains being massively resistant to the Pfizer vaccine is low. The Pfizer vaccine is a piece of mRNA which when injected into your body induces your body to assemble amino acids to produce the spike protein of Covid. Then your body fights those spike proteins through its immune response - antibodies and T cells - which it will remember when it encounters Covid proper. That process takes a couple of weeks - hence why you are not immune immediately.

The spike protein is the bit of the virus that allows entry into human cells so the likelihood of a large mutation to that part of the virus being more successful at transmission is small. Anyway any change to that spike protein - they will simply tweak the mRNA so that your body makes the slightly new one.

Clever as hell

[quote buttery81]I wonder why it has slowed down. Too early for it to be a trend, though

Supply issues.

@RedToothBrush supply issues have nothing to do with today’s lower figure. According to this BBC article, ministers have said there are enough supplies to vaccinate the four priory groups they’re aiming to do by mid February:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55710758[/quote]
The government says. Is this like when it said that would do 100,000 tests a day then fudged the numbers?

Excuse me if im a little skeptical still at this point.

The health secretary’s comments came amid reports of GP surgeries in some areas having to pause inoculations because supplies were being diverted to areas that still have higher risk groups.

“Supply of the vaccine is the rate-limiting factor and we have to make sure that the vaccine is distributed to everybody, in the first instance over the age of 80 and then over the age of 70, by 15 February, so we’re on track,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Asked whether the problem was that there was not the vaccine to give to those GPs, he replied: “Correct. As I’ve said all the way along in this vaccine programme, the rate-limiting step on the rollout is the supply of the vaccine itself. We are now managing to get that supply more than we have done before, and it will increase over the next few weeks.

He added: “We have enough in the supply chain coming through to be able to deliver against that target.”

Hancock told ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB): “If I had more supply we would go faster. So the constraint is supply, but that’s not the supply coming slower than the schedule. It’s coming on schedule and then we get it out the door.

So supply chain.

Hopefully they will get what they've ordered and are expecting in the timescales they hope, but at present they does seem to still be issues which are ongoing with supply. The potential for hiccups is still pretty high though.

I hope they do it, but i think they may end up a week maybe two behind where they hope they will be.

I hope I'm proven wrong tbh.

Love how clearly you explain it. I have read a fair bit over the months. However I only have a psychology degree. So it is tough reading some research papers

Have found it all really interesting though. Also for me knowledge makes me feel more in control and life is a little out of control at the moment. Anything that gives me that feeling is good

My Dad had the Pfizer vaccine Blessex. He will get contacted 'in due course' about the second vaccine.

@Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum fully agree. Knowledge calms me down. That’s why I get a bit annoyed when people don’t read the actual facts and spout rubbish. It’s dangerous to do that. Read first and then evaluate. The scientists aren’t stupid and they are the ones advising the government. My degree was actually zoology but as part of that we studied genetics and virology. So I am finding it so fascinating to read what can be done now. Science is amazing and if there is one good thing to come from this it’s for kids to look and think science is cool. Although when I try and explain this to my kids they roll their eyes.

@OverTheRainbowLiesOz that’s amazing. Now he has to stay very safe for 2-3 weeks. Read the Pfizer report I put a link to. Clearly however of course I am telling my parents to who also had Pfizer to sit tight indefinitely still as they can still catch and transmit the virus. That is why the advice is to stay socially distanced if you have had the vaccine. It may not affect you badly (if at all) if you catch it - but you can pass it on to others.

Yes he knows. He is a natural hermit anyway and we have arranged supermarket deliveries for him. As long as he has his newspaper, sudoko and books he is happy to stay put.

Newspaper also delivered!

@OverTheRainbowLiesOz bless him! Yes his body will now be busy making little spike proteins. My mum felt a bit groggy for 24 hours and I told her this was why. Amazing when you think about it.

Brilliant. He feels fine at the moment but I'll warn him about the spike proteins charging about his body!

The health secretary’s comments came amid reports of GP surgeries in some areas having to pause inoculations because supplies were being diverted to areas that still have higher risk groups.

It makes total sense to divert supplies to areas with higher risk groups IMO. The rest of your quote just confirms what I said earlier, that supply isn’t the issue that caused the lower number (207,000) yesterday.

I hope they do it, but i think they may end up a week maybe two behind where they hope they will be.

And if they do end up a week or two behind, then I will still be extremely happy that we have managed to vaccinate 13.9 million of our most vulnerable people by the end of February. A week or two is hardly the end of the world!

Please keep the positivity going... I wandered off this thread and it's like the Wild West out there! Having to work very hard not to feel disheartened today. It's wet, it's dark, I haven't even gotten dressed yet... heeelllpppp!

@WetJan yes stay with us. I often wonder why people want to stay negative and spread their negativity around to others. Surely it is a downwards spiral? Or actually does it set their expectations for the future so they are never let down? But then if that is the case why do they like spreading it around. Who knows. I prefer to look on the bright side and keep my spirits up. Different people different ways of coping.

Update for England, Scotland and Wales:
mobile.twitter.com/HugoGye/status/1351892473954578434

Good. Another 300k+ day. Thanks Coffee and croissant.

Looking at the feed the NI figures might be added later?

Covid vaccinations meant to protect the vulnerable and health workers have gone to ineligible people due to an IT loophole, an Evening Standard investigation reveals today.

People who are not yet eligible for the Covid vaccine have managed to jump the queue by signing up through links that are being shared on WhatsApp and social media.

The links are part of the online booking system by Swiftqueue which is being used by some NHS trusts to coordinate vaccine appointments for staff.
www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/covid-vaccine-queue-jump-it-loophole-b900458.html

Ok it was always going to happen and is disgusting. However hopefully it will be sorted now and only really small numbers in the scheme of things.

Plus we will have to vaccinate them at some point anyway. They are probably rule breakers in general. Therefore it is good if the get done now. If it turns out the vaccine definitely does stop transmission then it stops the dirty scum bags spreading the virus.

A positive spin on the story

Government dashboard say 4,609,740 for first doses!

Government dashboard say 4,609,740 for first doses!

I just checked and was about to post on the thread, but I see you’ve beaten me to it!

What a great update - 4,609,740 is fantastic and just what we need to cheer us up on this horrible wet Wednesday!

5 million by tomorrow or Thursday at the latest!!

Sorry... by Friday at the latest!

Also...

Over 1 in 15 of the UK population have now been vaccinated!

5 million by tomorrow or Thursday at the latest!!

Not much room for manoeuvre there.

Oh, I type so slow! Xpost

1 in 15 is brilliant.

I had mine today. Yahoo!!!!
I’m a carer it was all arranged through work. Went to local hospital all very efficient. Job done.