benaj
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Post by benaj on Dec 14, 2021 0:42:00 GMT
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Post by bernythedolt on Dec 14, 2021 0:44:22 GMT
Well on that friendly note, I'll bow out of this discussion for a few weeks. No doubt in January when we hopefully will know omicron was a damp squib, you'll be saying it was the booster wot won it. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ! Hopefully Omicron will turn out to couple its highly elevated levels of transmissability with much reduced levels of disease. That is something we can all hope for. [...] Agreed... and some muppet beat you to it a week ago! Interestingly, an expert is now suggesting the same thing on Radio 4 today (she obviously reads my posts  ):- Catching the omicron variant could act as a "natural vaccine" among people who are currently unvaccinated against coronavirus, an immunologist has suggested.Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, said that Britons are "very likely" to contract the variant "in the next couple of weeks"."Everybody’s very likely to experience it in the next few weeks. If it is milder, and we know infection induces an immune response, [so] it is possible that this could act as a natural vaccine, getting to those people who have so far been unwilling to be vaccinated," Prof Riley told BBC Radio 4. Source (log time 12:11pm) here: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/covid-news-booster-cases-vaccine-passport-coronavirus-omicron2/
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Post by bernythedolt on Dec 14, 2021 1:17:08 GMT
Sorry to say it, but I frequently despair: I struggle to believe that posts like this are anything other than deliberate obfuscation. Well on that friendly note, I'll bow out of this discussion for a few weeks. No doubt in January when we hopefully will know omicron was a damp squib, you'll be saying it was the booster wot won it. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ! Stay well, michaelc, and don't take it personally. There's understandably a lot of stress and anxiety around at the moment and I think feelings can sometimes boil slightly over the brim, but actually bear no malice behind them. It's perfectly fair to question things as you do and we need people willing to do just that, to keep the experts and rule-makers honest. Enjoy Christmas with your family out there in Kyiv.
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Greenwood2
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Post by Greenwood2 on Dec 14, 2021 8:00:28 GMT
Hopefully Omicron will turn out to couple its highly elevated levels of transmissability with much reduced levels of disease. That is something we can all hope for. [...] Agreed... and some muppet beat you to it a week ago! Interestingly, an expert is now suggesting the same thing on Radio 4 today (she obviously reads my posts ):- Catching the omicron variant could act as a "natural vaccine" among people who are currently unvaccinated against coronavirus, an immunologist has suggested.Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, said that Britons are "very likely" to contract the variant "in the next couple of weeks"."Everybody’s very likely to experience it in the next few weeks. If it is milder, and we know infection induces an immune response, [so] it is possible that this could act as a natural vaccine, getting to those people who have so far been unwilling to be vaccinated," Prof Riley told BBC Radio 4. Source (log time 12:11pm) here: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/covid-news-booster-cases-vaccine-passport-coronavirus-omicron2/ Catching any form of Covid provides some natural immunity. it just depends if you survive the virus to enjoy it!
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Dec 14, 2021 9:14:23 GMT
When reporting the government's announcements and pronouncements, then there is one relevant consensus. You seem to be confusing, as MichaelC seems to, reportage with debate. There is a degree of subjectivity involved here, and I see you point - though I personally believe journalism when on government policy should be more than repeating and emphasising government announcements & pronouncements. So journalism isn't journalism unless it brings its own biases to bear on a subject? Nothing should ever be reported neutrally, dispassionately, "without fear or favour"?
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Dec 14, 2021 9:17:09 GMT
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pikestaff
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Post by pikestaff on Dec 14, 2021 9:27:10 GMT
Catching any form of Covid provides some natural immunity. it just depends if you survive the virus to enjoy it! The ability of boosters to turbo-charge the immune response is very encouraging, to the point that I no longer worry especially about catching Covid. I'm resigned to the fact that I will get it sooner or later (as will we all), probably more than once. I'm hopeful that, as our bodies' immune systems learn to respond more effectively (whether though infection or boosters or both), Covid will eventually (and perhaps quite soon) become just another in the set of coronaviruses that causes the common cold. adrianc Herd immunity is a different issue, I think. It was a mistake to pursue herd immunity at the outset (which I agree they did). If we had not got some much more transmissible variants it might work now. However, there's no chance of it working with Omicron. The point of boosters is not to create herd immunity, but to raise peoples' natural immune response to the point that few get severe disease.
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Post by bracknellboy on Dec 14, 2021 9:58:40 GMT
Catching any form of Covid provides some natural immunity. it just depends if you survive the virus to enjoy it! to the point that I no longer worry especially about catching Covid. I'm resigned to the fact that I will get it sooner or later (as will we all), probably more than once. I'm hopeful that, as our bodies' immune systems learn to respond more effectively (whether though infection or boosters or both), Covid will eventually (and perhaps quite soon) become just another in the set of coronaviruses that causes the common cold. adrianc Herd immunity is a different issue, I think. It was a mistake to pursue herd immunity at the outset (which I agree they did). If we had not got some much more transmissible variants it might work now. However, there's no chance of it working with Omicron. The point of boosters is not to create herd immunity, but to raise peoples' natural immune response to the point that few get severe disease. Agree with this, though I'm not yet convinced that Omicron is the end or even quite the beginning of the end to misquote someone more quotable than me. But we live in hope. What I also started reading of a few weeks back was raised hopes of being able to develop 'pan coronavirus' vaccines in the future. This wasn't one of the articles I previously read but just what came up now in my quick search: linkA tad ironic if out of the carnage of SARS-COV-2 we get an all encompassing vaccine that protects us against the "common cold". Still, some way off from that.
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agent69
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Post by agent69 on Dec 14, 2021 9:58:55 GMT
Doesn't appear to have been working too badly in Brazil. No real restrictions in 18 months, and only 2,082 infections yesterday.
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agent69
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Post by agent69 on Dec 14, 2021 10:06:24 GMT
Given that RNA vaccines are preferred for the booster jab, I wonder how Russia and China will go if Omicron takes off there. Not certain what the situation is with China, but I believe Russia hasn't approved any non Russian vaccines for use.
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Dec 14, 2021 10:09:45 GMT
Doesn't appear to have been working too badly in Brazil. No real restrictions in 18 months, and only 2,082 infections yesterday. 3rd highest recorded cases in the world, behind US and India - just ahead of UK - despite very feeble testing. 1/5th the tests of the UK. 1 in 3 tests taken +ve, vs 1 in 40 in UK. 2,900 deaths/1m pop'n vs 2,150 UK vs 680 for the world as a whole. Yeh, working just fine for them.
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Dec 14, 2021 10:52:35 GMT
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Post by bernythedolt on Dec 14, 2021 12:59:42 GMT
Luckily, as a scientist, she's used to the glass-half-empty, doubting Thomas types and qualified her remarks accordingly...  "Everybody’s very likely to experience it in the next few weeks. If it is milder, and we know infection induces an immune response, it is possible that this could act as a natural vaccine, getting to those people who have so far been unwilling to be vaccinated," -- Prof Riley told BBC Radio 4. Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh. Meh, what does she know about it anyway? I took it as a promising suggestion, so my glass must be fuller than I thought! 😁
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jonno
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Post by jonno on Dec 14, 2021 13:15:55 GMT
Luckily, as a scientist, she's used to the glass-half-empty, doubting Thomas types and qualified her remarks accordingly... "Everybody’s very likely to experience it in the next few weeks. If it is milder, and we know infection induces an immune response, it is possible that this could act as a natural vaccine, getting to those people who have so far been unwilling to be vaccinated," -- Prof Riley told BBC Radio 4. Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh. Meh, what does she know about it anyway? I took it as a promising suggestion, so my glass must be fuller than I thought! 😁 Mmm, that depends on who you are using as your comparator . I would say in this case your particular yardstick is one teaspoon fuller than the Grim Reaper 
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Post by Badly Drawn Stickman on Dec 14, 2021 13:53:37 GMT
if you are thinking of ordering LFTs from NHS central - think again. I've just tried and they have run out. Sorry, there are no more home test kits available right now.
Try again later.
Or, you can go back and try to book a test site appointment instead.
I guess the need to provide negative test results for certain activities over the next few weeks/longer has probably increased demand somewhat. I tried a few minutes ago and could have ordered (no desperate need so didn't) so maybe they have got it back in action. They were always readily available at chemist, libraries and the like but guess they are this weeks 'toilet paper'.
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