WHO urges Britain to pause covid jabs after treating the vulnerable

[Jay2020]

Link

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/30/who-urges-britain-to-pause-covid-jabs-after-treating-vulnerable

I am beyond broken if this means we can't get to any kind of normality.

@IrishMamaMia I'm voicing my opinion. I'm saying what I would like to happen, what I think is the right thing to happen. But, just like everyone else on this thread, I have no actual control over what does happen. So if the government do as the WHO has asked then everyone who disagrees will be pissed off but will just have to accept it and wait. And if they don't then I and everyone who thinks the same as me will be pissed off but will just have to accept it and feel a bit guilty when we are getting our jab 🤷‍♀️

For me, the fact we are doing so well at vaccinating just shows how selfish we are. We need to think of ourselves as a global community so I absolutely think that WHO are right, after the vulnerable are vaccinated the priority should be to vaccinate the vulnerable elsewhere.

@Perfect28 excellent - that’ll be you and your family to the back of the queue then!

do you all have flu and pneumonia jabs as well?

I do

So, just because everyone else does the wrong thing, we also have too? what happened to global britain, leading the way?

It's not like we've done zero to help is it?

[quote IrishMamaMia]@bluesername for the poorest countries, I think HIV is the particularly big one. The West try to help but I imagine it's hard to give somebody in Sub-Saharan Africa the level of care that someone with HIV using the NHS has. Health inequalities are a big issue. It's good that we are in Covax to help with this one.[/quote]
If Covax was actually immunising people then fine but they are not.

We can't treat everyone with HiV because its very expensive and time consuming but we can help with CV and in doing so, protect ourselves from future strains too.

So far I’ve seen 50 year olds who’ll get it anyway - unless they decline - and 30 or younger say ok.

I’m not actually fearful as I know risk is small. But not zero so some will be unlucky.

@Shelovesamystery well to be fair to your opinion, the covid situation is changing very rapidly. Maybe by the time it is the turn of much younger adults, we'll be out of the woods and can safely do what you say is right and hopefully prevent newer variants elsewhere. Maybe the science will be clear on that then.
It isn't now though and I think it's best to do the adult population until we learn more.

[quote Perfect28]@hansgrueber
Terrible analogy. If you're houses were terrace then it's pointless putting out just your own house. You would realise that the fire would continue to burn until it was out in all houses.[/quote]
'in a row' does not automatically imply terraced!

@marbellamarc

So, just because everyone else does the wrong thing, we also have too? what happened to global britain, leading the way?

It's not like we've done zero to help is it?

We haven't actually vaccinated a single person from anywhere other than the UK.

The rich countries are ALL making sure they are ok first, regardless of risk.

I don't think the government will follow this advice. And why should they - WHO is discredited after its shambolic handling of this pandemic and its suspect links to China.

Also, there would be a national outcry. Lockdown is killing people. We can't endure it for much longer. We've had enough.

I think the best solution would be for @Perfect28 and everyone else who agrees with the WHO to relinquish their vaccines for themselves and any non-vulnerable members of their families (including their kids). Their vaccines can then be donated to other countries in need, and they can continue to self isolate - which they can fully fund themselves, no more furlough money - whilst the rest of us crack on!

@Wildswim

I don't think the government will follow this advice. And why should they - WHO is discredited after its shambolic handling of this pandemic and its suspect links to China.

Also, there would be a national outcry. Lockdown is killing people. We can't endure it for much longer. We've had enough.

Well said

Once all the vulnerable in this country are innoculated then we will have the virus more under control

Why would it be under control? And what age are you diverting at?

That means teachers and police don’t get it and we continue to see 48 year olds in ICU. That’s if you cut off at 50. Higher then even more - maybe enough to need high restrictions for a long time

But don't you see, if the virus is left to wreak havoc through poorer, unvaccinated countries there is a good chance it will mutate again (and again, and again). We've seen the distruction the 'UK' variant has caused and how quickly it spread across several countries.

If this were to happen, its not the 48 year olds in ICU (of which there would presumeably be less of given that a large percentage of society would have already been inncoulated), it is the older/clinically vulnerable section of society whose previous vaccination now offers them no protection whatsoever against the new variant who will be taking up ICU bedspace. The whole vaccination programme having to be carried out again when another viable vaccine is found all the while hoping it doesn't mutate again in the meantime.

A 'global' pandemic will only be surpressed if the 'global' population is vaccinated at the same time. So, vaccinating the worlds older and clinically vulnerable at the same time results in a smaller 'healthier' pool of people for the virus to infect wreaking less destruction (as shown by all the statistics) in this group of people whilst they wait to be innoculated in the next group of people 'globally'. Yes, there will undoubtly be casualties amongst this group, there will whatever course of action you take, but it will be far fewer than would occur in the older vulnerable populations still waiting their turn at the back of the queue.

Not so long ago there were outcries about 'killing granny' by acting irresponsibly. Now it seems we don't much care for granny if they happen to live in a different country. They are just seen as collateral damage in the richer nations pursuit of being the first to vaccinate.

We haven't actually vaccinated a single person from anywhere other than the UK.

Didn't say we had. That's doesn't mean we have done zero though.

We need to think of ourselves as a global community

This sounds nice on the surface but it is so unspecific. Yes, we are all human beings and every life is valuable. But there are so many different ways in which we can respond to this, and not everyone agrees (to say the least) how it can best be done, even if everyone had good intentions. Who would be in charge of said 'global community'? Who would make more local decisions at a country level or local level? Would they be elected and by whom? It isn't as simple as John Lennon's 'Imagine' would have you think. It sounds like naive communism to me and I just don't think that works as an actual plan.

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharin' all the world
Yoo, hoo, oo-oo

@MarshaBradyo im the 45ish bracket you suggest , I would wait if the science shows that us stopping at 50 means deaths are low, cases are low and we can open economy. And that herd immunity is not possible.
I also have a couple risk factors so covid could be bad for me but then I have my friend who can't have a jab due to chemo and covid would be more than a risk , so if me having a vaccination means its also to protect others and not just me I want vaccination soonest.
If me having it only protects me then I don't mind waiting a little.
I had flu jab this year more to protect others and to hopefully keep numbers down as last thing we needed was that on top of covid,

So are Israel going to stop as they have vaccinated nearly 60% of their population. I assume it will be the following countries that should help out first

Israel who have vaccinated 56%
Gibralter - 40%
Seychelles - 35%
United Arab Emirates - 32%
United Kingdom - 13%
Bahrain - 10%

Just thinking there are so many others ahead of the UK with their programme, will they also be asked to stop and divert the vaccine?

I dont disagree with this just feel we should all do the same to help the world get vaccinated.

Maybe it is our new variant, but half of the people in critical care units in some areas are not in the at-risk groups and many are not even on any of the the priority lists

Any chance of a source for that? Preferably an authoritative one rather than some silly headline?

Are the WHO telling Indonesia to vaccinate their vulnerable then?

WHO is discredited after its shambolic handling of this pandemic and its suspect links to China.

Donald, is that you?

Vaccinating everyone in the country before those who are especially vulnerable elsewhere is like getting the first class passengers off, letting everyone else crash and burn when we could have saved many more.

But if we get things right here as soon as possible, with the rollout speeding up all the time, our economy and productivity will be greatly increased and we can get more vaccines to more people in more places sooner. It isn't just a one-dimensional choice.

Just seen this on Twitter - over 65s are now booking vaccines

twitter.com/healthdpt/status/1355501017920544772

WHO is discredited after its shambolic handling of this pandemic and its suspect links to China.

Well said.

@Bluethrough we could help everyone with measles and things like that though.
What if we vaccinate all the vulnerable and are still having large number of cases , we may have another variant here as well.
Also if people are concerned re: variants then should be given to countries with higher cases first and those with low cases wait , surely? Why vaccinate a country with a handful of cases if another has thousands

I don’t think it’s reasonable to hand over our vaccines for “the vulnerable” in other countries, only for those countries to vaccinate celebs, MPs, athletes, the wealthy, etc.