Re: Coronavirus
 

I thought Israel was leading the pack?!

Re: Coronavirus
 

That's because they used team of scientists and doctors to advise on making the film (mostly) accurate in it's treatment of what would happen, from the script to the props - it's film reflecting reality, rather than the reality reflecting what happened in the film.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/cont...-pandemic.html

Re: Coronavirus
 

The UK has had plans for more than 10 years.
UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy
In 2019, the UK was judged to be 2nd in the world for being best prepared for a pandemic.
These are the top 10 countries for pandemic preparedness
The UK had tens of millions £ worth of stock held in preparation for a future pandemic.
Covid might not be the flu, but it is a respiratory virus. Similar methods of transmission.

Re: Coronavirus
 

On the contrary, the fact that the UK had assumed the pandemic would be caused by flu hampered us in the early stages of the pandemic. Covid and flu are both respiratory tract infections but they are quite different in what they do and how they are treated.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Being prepared in terms of methods of transmission and behaviour of people WERE applicable. Studies on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS) were included. Spreading on cruise ships was highlighted.

Completely impossible to predict how people would need to be treated, eg need for ventilators.
The FACT of the matter is that we were independently judged to be better prepared than the majority of other countries.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Yeah ... repeating the same falsehoods with bold and caps doesn’t make you right.

Plenty was printed in the middle of last year about the crucial differences between influenza and covid and why preparedness for one does not equate to preparedness for both. If I have time later I may dig out a few references.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Gibraltar is way ahead of everywhere else. 83% have had both vaccinations.

Seychelles, Chile, UAE and many of the other UK dependencies and overseas territories are also doing really well.

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Re: Coronavirus
 

Chile has gone like the clappers, starting the beginning of February and up to 53% done already! Also 18.4% fully vaccinated with two doses. They're using SinoVac vaccine.

The other one check out is Bhutan - started March 26th and up to 44% done already. OK, tiny population but that is good going! Cool flag too...

Re: Coronavirus
 

The Pfizer jab is extremely effective in young people aged 12-15, according to a study in the US, and did not produce any unusual side-effects.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56591429

This bodes well for our ability to eventually eliminate all the virus' hiding places in our population.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Has nobody else had a wry smile to themselves with the news about GSK planning to use their Barnard Castle facility in part of their Novavax rollout as it was almost a year ago when Barnard Castle was last in the national news and quite the topic of discussion in this thread.

Re: Coronavirus
 

No surprise we could vaccinate the entire population of Gibraltar 25times over in one day.

---------- Post added at 14:35 ---------- Previous post was at 14:34 ----------

Not sure I would be any rush to vaccinate the kids.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I don't think anyone is likely to be, given that they are so rarely symptomatic. They can however carry and spread the virus and therefore pose a risk to those who will remain vulnerable even once vaccinated. They are also potential hosts where a mutation can develop. In the long run, young people are going to have to be vaccinated if we're to drive covid as close to extinction as reasonably possible.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Yeah, that's great news and would be a huge step towards a wider herd immunity. Getting on for 20% of the UK population is under 16 so covering at least some of them would be a huge help and stamping down on things.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Oh dear.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/b...w-coronavirus/

Re: Coronavirus
 

The world should see this pandemic as a very loud wake-up call. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that a more vicious outbreak will come one day. And possibly sooner than we expect.