How is everyone feeling about the new “targeted approach” that is being muttered about now?

[Waynemanor]

I think they are hinting that only clinically vulnerable and elderly will be vaccinated? There seem to be experts coming out saying it is not practical (or necessary) to do population wild vaccinations in the future.
i have had two vaccines and booster myself and being told my immunity will wane now after 10 weeks is obviously disappointing. Admittedly I don’t really want to be boosted every 3 months but I am apprehensive about getting covid with zero protection from vaccine. Do we really know that omicron is milder? Or is it just because there are a lot of people with immunity now from either natural infection or vaccines? Once the vaccine immunity fades will it still be potentially dangerous to contract Covid? Just wondering what others thoughts are at this stage

I hope this happens with the option to pay for the vaccine if you aren't in the vulnerable group like they do with flu. There may be some that don't meet the vulnerable criteria that still want it especially if it's a matter of going into a pharmacy and paying £10 or so like with the flu jab. Businesses might offer it too like the flu jab

I pay for a flu jab so I'll be paying for a covid jab o expect.
I can't afford to be ill, both from a parenting and financial point of view.

It has to happen. We cannot sustain what we have been doing with vaccines, testing and shutting down the economy like we have for the last 22 months

Enough now. Our response has already been massively disproportionate and it has to stop. We have a significant proportion of the population now dependent on other people limiting their lives for them and the relatively unsafe information they get from snotting on a stick

I blame the irresponsibilty of the media and the constant headline-chasing. Much of the response from the govt has been knee-jerk because they have been forced into a corner by the fear whipped up by sensationalist reporting.

At almost 2 years on, all our efforts need to be focussed on managing this dying pandemic in a proportionate way. I am glad the govt has held it’s nerve (finally) in the face of huge pressure to put us right back where we were in March 2020.

My only concern is for the millions of triple boosters who aren’t highly vulnerable but unhealthy

What will happen in 8 weeks when their boosters expire?

Many of them might not be highly vulnerable but might be obese or with diabetes or whatever. I don’t think you can just pull the rug out now.

We will need to be able to offer them something

By the way, I say this as unvaxxed and likely immmune. I was always against offering it to healthy young people but there are many unhealthy middle aged people. They have possibly missed the omicron chance to develop resistance and so we will have to ensure they don’t overwhelm the health service

I think we need to take the whole Covid pandemic as a learning experience about modern practices that lend themselves to infectious disease. As we continue to encroach on wildlife habitats and live in crowded areas, we will encounter more diseases.

It makes sense to use the opportunity to improve ventilation in buildings where people gather, wash hands more frequently and stay away from people when you're ill. Less presentee-ism in the workplace and blended working to reduce atmospheric pollution should give us a healthier workforce overall.

But do I think any of that will actually happen? Nope.

I agree who

But also talk about the MASSIVE elephant in the room - unhealthy western lifestyle - processed junk food, lack of exercise and high rates of obesity

Imagine if we had thrown billions at that?

I have visions of community kitchens instead of food banks of tinned food. Hot healthy meals for those who need it and children in poverty. Imagine how we could turn public health around with some dynamic thinking and that cash

@WhoWants2Know

I think we need to take the whole Covid pandemic as a learning experience about modern practices that lend themselves to infectious disease. As we continue to encroach on wildlife habitats and live in crowded areas, we will encounter more diseases.

It makes sense to use the opportunity to improve ventilation in buildings where people gather, wash hands more frequently and stay away from people when you're ill. Less presentee-ism in the workplace and blended working to reduce atmospheric pollution should give us a healthier workforce overall.

But do I think any of that will actually happen? Nope.

I said earlier in the thread about hoping Covid will be the catalyst to change and mentioned crowded waiting rooms, better ventilation, larger classrooms, etc. It's not rocket science, but will take many years for such a sea change to happen. It doesn't have to cost a fortune either.

Like our local hospital out patients. During last year, the huge waiting area around reception (with windows/doors etc) was completed cordoned off, and everyone was corralled into a tiny narrow corridor down the side for blood tests, consulting rooms and ultrasound scans. No social distancing possible, no opening windows, no through draft, etc. Completely ridiculous and just piss poor planning (especially with the usual "everyone's appointment at 9.30" booking system where we had to wait in that for 2 hours!. We'd have been a lot safer being spread out in the huge reception waiting area where there was easily enough space for social distancing etc (or even better being given a 11.30 appointment so we'd not have been there so long!). It's that kind of stupidity that needs to be tackled and costs nothing.

We need to learn to spread out more and service providers, hospitality, retail, offices, etc., need to work to make that happen over the long term so that we're better placed to continue with normal living or minimal restrictions for the next pandemic. Yes, I know people will cite costs, space limitations, etc., but I'm talking longer term, not today, and even pretty big changes that seemed far too expensive and insurmountable have happened over the medium to long term in other walks of life.

@Thievesoil

Totally agree. Yes, Covid has killed millions, but many of these simply would not have died if they hadn’t had lifestyle-related co-morbidities. It’s an unpopular thing to say but, sadly, true.

There is also the issue of vitamin D deficiency here in the UK and in other northern countries, especially among black and Asian people.

If we tackled these issues we would be in a much better position when something like this happens again.

Because this is all so new, nobody really knows what will be done about vaccines going forward.

Most likely, governments will look at what is going on in different countries and try to build up a realistic picture of how much vaccination needs to be done. My hunch is that it will probably wind up being similar to the flu vaccine, where older and vulnerable people will be offered the annual booster for free, and other people will be able to get a booster if they pay for it, or pay for part of the cost.

Sorry what?? 40+ to define "elderly"? I really hope I have misunderstood that.

I doubt she means that the word elderly means "over 40,"; she means that she believes that "over 40" should be the cutoff point where people are old enough to warrant a free booster.