New Fred. It nearly ended in tiers.

[Cismyfatarse]

Sorry. Lost track of what was proposed. Hope this will do.

[quote rookiemere]@Cismyfatarse I do think with that story, and the one about the island vaccinations only being given to the over 80s, it does seem as if Scottish rollout very hidebound by doing things in the right order.[/quote]
What islands? Island LAs seemed to be ahead of the curve last I heard and I know Eilean Siar were offering vaccines to over 65s.

Tiny island. 2 Drs and a nurse. 6 hours round trip to do 4 over 80s and DD's friend who got the last one in the bottle (CEV).

They could have taken a few more doses and done the whole island.

Just as they could have done one man with Alzheimer's. Sticking rigidly to rules is madness and will cost lives and keep us locked down longer.

@goodname

I don’t know, it’s like people have just got used to it and have given up complaining. It’s like we are all in this state of depression/despair where we don’t even have the energy to care enough to protest. Or we all feel like there’s no point as nothing will change.

This! I think you have actually summed up how I feel right now about everything!

Great news @Groovee

Iv totally got stuck trying to keep up with these threads. Abandoned the last one in the end and I have successfully caught up on here now.

EDC shared post from NHSGGC about vaccinator recruitment... Comments predictably full of retired GPs and Nurses saying they can't get near it. Also someone saying that retired GPs would get paid 3x more than nurses for doing it, which may be why they're preferring to train up first aiders/St Andrew's Ambulance volunteers rather than use the hundreds of folk already qualified and keen

m.facebook.com/nhsggc/photos/a.387826764674672/2286080338182629/?type=3

I was hearing part of the difficultly with this vaccine rollout is the planning needed. Flu vaccines are individual but these, or at least some, (depending on the brand maybe?) are multiple uses per vial (eg ten). And it's expensive - so it's an issue if you only use one or two out of the ten.

Each vial is distributed by one vaccinator. There are strict protocols in place and you don't mix and match.

Could this be part of the issue with some of these stories of one person being overlooked? Possibly not but I just wondered.

*difficulty

I can spell. Honest

wonder what BJ will announce on 22nd Feb regarding his route out of lockdown and what NS will copy / do sooner / do one better?

Takeaway drinks doesn't sound a good idea from an anti social / crowing perspective, does it? Might be better to open beer gardens instead. the Fail are also saying regular Covid tests in offices - would office workers be okay with that? I'd rather just keep WFH.

Will we really be back to normal by may ? like completely?

DH keeps reading out the English plan from his online Telegraph subscription giving me the rage, because it's not relevant to Scotland and doubtless we'll get all the usual tweaks - no pub music or pork scratchings - to make it different, and travel to England will be restricted for longer than necessary.

One thing I'm now intrigued by.Numbers are obviously going down atm but that's presumably down to lockdown rather than vaccinations. At what point do we think that the vaccine will stop cases or more importantly hospitalisations rising ? I'm very keen for DS14 to go back to school, but I'd like it to be for good, rather than the ongoing klaxon of potential doom that it was in the Autumn term.

I don't think we'll be completely back to normal this year. I really want to lose the bloody masks.

@icanboogieboogiewoogie

I don't think we'll be completely back to normal this year. I really want to lose the bloody masks.

The masks feel like they'll be here a while longer don't they? Masks and social distancing

@rookiemere I think the vaccinations should start to work about 2 weeks after they were given (obviously second dose is still needed for a higher percentage of protection) so if the most vulnerable are all vaccinated by mid February then hopefully we'll start to see less deaths in March?

Pork scratchings

That's the thing, is it lockdown or the vaccination or both?

We won't know for sure until lock down is eased, but that risks infections going up, so I can't see how we can lift restrictions completely.

I cannot get back to normal if normal still includes face masks and social distancing. My disabilities prevent me from doing both. I'm vulnerable and DH and DD both have asthma. Its totally shite.

Thanks everyone. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted.

At least we don't have snow. It's cold and wet.

Hope you all have a peaceful weekend x

Thanks @shouldistop , so the bit I'm really scratching my head over is that infection rates could still be reasonably high, but they shouldn't lead to hospitalisations and deaths as previously, so that will require a bit of a steel nerve to relax lockdown and see cases rise and to trust thats not going to be a major mistake.
I can see SG being ultra cautious until the election has taken place. No benefits to them of taking any risks.

Listening to Linda Bauld on BBC News just now, she spoke about pupils going back (p1-3) end of Feb and a few weeks after that if things are going well starting to open up society again. I really hope that the SG are not going to claim that opening of schools for this group of pupils qualifies as putting schools first.

@NearWildHeaven

No they bloody won’t.

@Cismyfatarse what island is this? I think I want to live there!

@NearWildHeaven it really does feel like that doesn't it. I was in work the other day (most wfh) and o eventually realised that I was sitting in a well ventilated room completely on my own still wearing a mask! 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have just read that John swinney has said that vaccination of the general population will not mean the end of restrictions

So if vaccination is not the answer what is...?
Are we just never going back to weddings, graduations, 21sts, or even simple things like the theatre..

I'm thoroughly depressed and worried now that there is no end point to aim for.

@rookiemere it looks like the vaccines do also reduce transmission so cases should also go down.

travel to England will be restricted longer than necessary

That's would be an interesting political move especially if England are further on with vaccines etc.

But essentially I follow what England are doing re lockdowns etc as that's a good guide to when things will happen here too. BJ tends to give more info, around Christmas he said vulnerable to be vaccinated by mid Feb, 2 lag behind that for vaccine to take affect, and lag for deaths / hospital rates to fall, so he more or less indicated early March for things to start opening.

Can't remember who it was that asked about vaccination making a difference but I think the study from Israel said three weeks, which ties in with what vaccines makers are saying.

John Swinney can do one, my 5 year has more of a clue than him.

It'll be 3 weeks after second dose though. This is the problem with the 12 weeks apart thing. Those who had their 1st jag yesterday won't be due their second until
April 30th. 3 weeks after that is 21st May.

I'm pretty sure that even one dose offers a decent level of protection and will have a significant impact.

No, it's 90% protection after first dose (Pfizer) and 75 ish I think with AZ...that's what was reported by a science correspondent on bbc earlier. Second dose is for consolidation and longer term protection.