Boris really is a plonker isn't he

[bookworm1632]

So the best brains in the world have been searching for a cure for covid (or any viral disease for that matter) for ages, but they were MISSING the key ingredient!! Boris!

Now that he's given the go ahead for British scientists to produce a cure, I've no doubt it'll happen in the next week or two!

A dangerous man I'd say, rather than 'plonker'.

I have no clue what you're talking about but the title of your thread is a bit off.

It doesn’t really work like that. There are already very good treatments available and in use, but it seems politics come in to play too.

I read that in the USA if there is an effective treatment then the FDA cannot approve a vaccine.

Where did you read that?

It does seem that Boris missed the memo that we’re already looking into anti virals and we’ve already ruled some out - oseltamivir, ritonavir/lopinivir, remdesivir.

I think there’s one in the US showing some promise and is going into one of the trials here. And there are a couple of people there still in trial here.

Did he really think that at no point in the last year no scientist anywhere in the world thought ‘hang on let’s see if some antivirals make a difference against this pandemic virus’?

Yes we’ve been looking into anti virals from the start. It’s how we beat swine flu so was a natural idea. Hes rather useless

What puzzled me is that there was no mention of budesonide - a steroid inhaler used for asthma, which has had very good results in reducing hospitalisation and death rates in older adults and those with comorbidiites at home. I was part of one of the trials :-). It shortens recovery times as well and costs about £14, they should be prescribing it to everyone over 50 with a Covid symptoms.

I read that in the USA if there is an effective treatment then the FDA cannot approve a vaccine.
You read wrong.

bookworm1632 : presumably you voted for Jeremy, so who's the plonker here then ?.

How are research and treatments funded?

By the Treasury.

Who is the First Lord of the Treasury?

@ all DdraigGoch

Exactly.

@Pyewackect

bookworm1632 : presumably you voted for Jeremy, so who's the plonker here then ?.

That doesn’t follow at all

I think we're missing the point here... he was talking about a small third wave of cases...successfully stopping that small amount of people getting seriously ill with antivirals will be a lot easier than a huge wave like we have already had.

To me his point was that vaccines will Have done the majority of the job but for the people they have been unsuccessful for can be treated with antivirals.

People talk about this third wave and compare it to what we have already had. I think the thoughts of scientists are that what we have already had was a tsunami and what we are likely to get this year will be a beach wave (both waves but hugely different damage limitations).. unless some super variant comes in it will likely be much smaller in cases and the fatality rate will be smaller again due to new treatments etc.

Does anyone know what happened with the treatment Trump was given? I think it was very expensive so maybe that's why we're not hearing anything.

@Pyewackect

bookworm1632 : presumably you voted for Jeremy, so who's the plonker here then ?.

It's perfectly possible to think they're both plonkers. HTH

I don’t think it helps to call him “Boris”. It sounds too cuddly or familiar, like he’s a mate.
Calling him Johnson might remind him he’s meant to be an adult.

@Pyewackect

bookworm1632 : presumably you voted for Jeremy, so who's the plonker here then ?.

This 👆

I do not call a man whose inaction/neglect last year led to at least 10,000 more deaths than would have occurred under an alternative Tory leader a plonker. Serial killer by neglect seems more appropriate.

No. He’s an arrogant, destructive, uncaring, piece of s**t.

Fortunately I missed the 5pm assembly, but I gather this is about at-home treatments? There are already quite well researched and relatively successful treatments, but you usually have to go to hospital to get them and then receive them there.

That is one area that needs change. Having hundreds of highly infectious patients in hospital receiving medication is bad news for every other NHS patient and bad for staff health.

I believe they already started giving oxygen at home in the last wave - that would be very good to do in all cases. People with lung diseases have had home oxygen for ages now, it is not new.

Steroids could be given at home with dose supervision - maybe the government could reverse the mass reduction in district nurses and outsourcing of home nursing and GP services to the private sector to enable people to have their home medication better monitored and adjusted? Then at-home treatment for Covid would be a realistic proposition.

As pp said, budesonide looks highly promising, and Clenil is given fairly freely to asthma patients as a first-line treatment.

A challenge/issue once again for this government and its management of the NHS is that it is not just about medicines, but staffing too.

People being treated at home need healthcare staff available in case of issues, not just the choice between a helpline or a 999 blue light to hospital.

The government and NHS need to bring back at-home nursing and GP service into the public sector and dramatically increase funding.

Drugs are no good without someone to prescribe them and monitor the patients.

@Pyewackect

bookworm1632 : presumably you voted for Jeremy, so who's the plonker here then ?.

Why do you presume I voted for Jeremy?

OIC - in your world, when somebody votes for a person, EVERYTHING they subsequently do is beyond reproach, maybe it's not even physically possible for you to question it without your brain hurting?

@PuzzledObserver

What puzzled me is that there was no mention of budesonide - a steroid inhaler used for asthma, which has had very good results in reducing hospitalisation and death rates in older adults and those with comorbidiites at home. I was part of one of the trials :-). It shortens recovery times as well and costs about £14, they should be prescribing it to everyone over 50 with a Covid symptoms.

I'm fairly sure it doesn't work that's why.

Yes I know there was a report the other day suggesting it was wonderful (sponsored by the company who produce budesonide). I read the paper - absolutely nothing there to convince me it was in the least bit effective.

I was 😳 that he claimed this idea as news or somehow his decision! As posters have said above people with far more brains have been working on this for a while 🤷‍♀️

He is a corrupt, incompetent dickhead and this is just yet another of his media stunts. I wish we had a dif government - it would have saved lives and reduced the stress so many of us feel due to idiots being ‘in charge’

It's been a priority since the virus became apparent. Licenced drugs have been screened and some found to have some use. Pharma have been screening their molecule libraries in the hope to find new specific drugs. It's a longer commitment and I suppose bojo has just focussed on it now, after the damage limitation of last year, and the vaccine program this.

And 'plonker' is far too polite