Call me a cynic but...

[herewegoOVERANDOVERagain]

Does anyone else feel that tonight's announcement was more about Johnson trying to save his arse?

The only thing that he can claim to have gone right in recent years is the vaccine programme - and they've exaggerated and lied about the extent of that.

What with party-gate, wallpaper-gate and the cock up over the evacuation of Afghanistan, it looks like his time in No.10 is limited. I think he's grasping at straws.

I'm no antivaxxer (I'm triple vacxed and wear an FFP2 everywhere these days) but why are we going all 'emergency booster' mode when the rest of the world isn't?

It's very hard to make sense of it all. Whatever is going on I do think we are heading for a surge in cases that will mean staff absences in our NHS and other services will be very high. From what I can see waning immunity of vaccines has left us exposed. We went with vaccine protection over any other social distancing measures. The booster targets seem unrealistic. God help us in January.

He is having to rely on Labour support to get Plan B through Parliament. He has 65 rebels in his own party.

Those 65 plus others won't support any further lockdowns. If we need one they will oust him. Thanks to his Boris schtick we have more people than ever thinking masks are optional, ready to break rules etc. His only chance of staying is to get so many people boosted that the tidal wave of Omicron washes straight over us without crippling the NHS.

I think by the time we are boosting at max capacity Omicron will be here in such numbers that he will be toast anyway.

I agree Choux - it's all so politically motivated. So hard to know what or who to believe. I'll be sensible but I do think this is latest waffle is all about Johnson trying to convince his colleagues in the Christmasonservative Party that he can still lead the country. Reader... he can't.

It’s either that or they’re thinking Omicron is going to be absolutely horrific and they’re letting us have Christmas as much as possible knowing full well the horse has already bolted so the best option is boosters in the hopes they help keep rates manageable if that’s even possible?

I suspect other countries will be following suit in the next day or two, most are likely trying to figure out the logistics and some are still grappling with low vaccine uptake rates, hence unvaxxed lockdowns etc.

What is he supposed to do? Think what you like about Boris but this is a shitty situation for anyone in charge. I bet the Labour Party are so thankful they don't have to deal with all this!

@Thewiseoneincognito

It’s either that or they’re thinking Omicron is going to be absolutely horrific and they’re letting us have Christmas as much as possible knowing full well the horse has already bolted so the best option is boosters in the hopes they help keep rates manageable if that’s even possible?

I suspect other countries will be following suit in the next day or two, most are likely trying to figure out the logistics and some are still grappling with low vaccine uptake rates, hence unvaxxed lockdowns etc.

I think the omicron horse will bolt before Christmas. Cases are rising so fast, it will be obvious big get togethers cannot go ahead.

Omicron is also quite London focussed - remember last year where London was put into lockdown the weekend before Christmas?

I don't see how the PM can be on paternity leave with this 'tidal wave' (his words) approaching.

I think

BJ has a policy he sums up as “ If you don’t like the direction conversation or criticism is going, throw a dead cat on the table, everyone starts talking about the dead cat and forgets about you”. We definitely saw Boris throw a dead cat on the table this evening,

What is he supposed to do?

Set a good example by wearing masks
Set a good example by following the lockdown laws he puts in place
Making sure his staff and office follow the same rules
Masks in schools - close schools early?
Enforce masks everywhere.
Look at effective Plan C restrictions - limit group sizes for dining, bring back table service in bars, social distancing on buses, trains, restaurants etc

@WinterOfOurDiscoTent

What is he supposed to do? Think what you like about Boris but this is a shitty situation for anyone in charge. I bet the Labour Party are so thankful they don't have to deal with all this!

What is he supposed to do?

I’d appreciate a realistic and honest target for booster vaccinations (while still ramping up capacity, I’m not saying don’t try and increase it). But 20 million doses in the next 19 days needs a significant and sustained increase on our previous best ever day in terms of vaccines given. Is that feasible at short notice over Christmas? Does he even believe it himself or is he just tossing out impressive sounding targets.

I just checked some French forums out of curiosity and there was hardly a mention of omicron.

Regardless of whether it works as a distraction, it's the right thing to do.

Further lockdowns/harsh restrictions won't get support, either from his own party or large chunks of the population. Any other measures possible need to be maximised.

I get the impression that they don't want to 'cancel Christmas' & that the only way they can avoid tougher restrictions befire next year is people not spreading the virus too quickly and the best way to slow it down without restrictions is the booster

Ignore the politics & do the right thing & it doesn't much matter what he waffles in about.

He looked Ill tonight & I seriously doubt it's good anything to do with a new baby!!

It's about buttering us up for more restrictions and another announcement on 27th December.

But it takes two weeks to reach full protection after a booster. So anyone vaccinated tomorrow won't get full protection till the 27th although every day they will become more protected.

The ability to save Christmas was much better last week or the week before but over 40s were still being turned away from walk ins if they were a few days short of 182.

@Choux

What is he supposed to do?

Set a good example by wearing masks
Set a good example by following the lockdown laws he puts in place
Making sure his staff and office follow the same rules
Masks in schools - close schools early?
Enforce masks everywhere.
Look at effective Plan C restrictions - limit group sizes for dining, bring back table service in bars, social distancing on buses, trains, restaurants etc

All of this! The problem is half the country stopped trusting him with Barnard Castle - and he has probably lost another 40% now.

The lack of trust means none of us know what to believe anymore. The rest of the world is looking at us and thinking wtf?!?!

And of course all tomorrow's headlines will be about BJ addressing the nation... not about his parties. Mission accomplished.

Trying to get everyone to have their booster before the end of the year is a logistical nightmare. I can't believe they are doing it for shits and giggles or distraction. Whatever we think of Boris, Tories, MPs in general (I'm sure there were some Labour MPs/staff having parties too) we need to think about what we can do to halt the impact of the pandemic, because it could be our health or the health of our loved ones which could be impacted. I don't understand people who say because the Tories acted like twats I'm going to act just like them. During a pandemic is not really the time to play games like this.

why are we going all 'emergency booster' mode when the rest of the world isn't?

Because most of the rest of the world has lower rates of infection, hospitalisation, and deaths... due to following expert advice including the WHO on Vaccine Plus. We went for Vaccine Just.

Our Plan B? Basic pandemic infection mitigations already in place in other countries.

They never stopped wearing masks in public spaces, and they have vaccine passes for entry to gatherings including shops, restaurants, and bars.

They've better protected their hospital capacity and the vulnerable (and all patients including non Covid) by already having mandatory vaccination requirements for those working in health and social care.

Many also have mandatory vaccines for other jobs particularly public facing.

Some have better ventilation including HEPA filters.

Most have double jabbed 12+, and some are already vaccinating primary aged children (I suspect we don't have enough supply).

Some countries including in Europe have, in addition, to mitigations, acted swiftly to implement some form of restrictions - semi lockdowns and/or curfews.

Also, as it happens many other countries are doing boosters.

The problem in this case isn't so much Boris as it is his far to the right back bench MPs, - who still fail to grasp (despite making the same mistakes several times) that letting the bodies pile up super high actually doesn't 'save' the economy. The opposite in fact. Failure to act proactively with preventative mitigations not only kills and disables many, but it also damages the economy.

When it comes to SARS-CoV-2 you don't have to trust Boris or any other politician if you don't want to. Listen to the experts (worldwide). The doctors and scientists.

What @Tealightsandd has said really.

It's also important to differentiate the policy of bringing forward boosters (which is needed) from the special prime ministerial address (which wasn't.)

Australia has also brought forward its booster programme, so 🤷🏾‍♂️ This was announced yesterday. Omicron is starting to spread quite widely here, although our caseload is low compared to England's.

I think both things can be true.

Boosters can’t hurt, certainly. And if they do get millions of them done over the next couple of weeks it’ll probably have a positive impact on things like sickness levels in Jan and Feb, regardless of how severe omicron turns out to be.

(I’d be amazed if they get everyone 18+ done before the 31st but tbh it’s probably one of those things where if you do enough it will have an impact.)

But Johnson is also sorely in need of distractions politically and last night’s borecast was just that.

I'm pretty sure the press briefing was entirely to try to distract people. Could easily have just put out a statement that would have been reported on the news saying over 18s can now book. There was certainly no need for him personally to be going on TV to tell everyone. That was surely just to try to pretend he's got some clue about how to lead even though he really doesn't

@ScarlettSunset

I'm pretty sure the press briefing was entirely to try to distract people. Could easily have just put out a statement that would have been reported on the news saying over 18s can now book. There was certainly no need for him personally to be going on TV to tell everyone. That was surely just to try to pretend he's got some clue about how to lead even though he really doesn't

Exactly my thoughts. And it's worked. The papers are all over it.