Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

The problem is, as Dodge partly alludes to, that there doesn't appear to be much research about efficacy over different gaps between getting doses. For all we know, it might actually be more effective to leave it for 12 weeks. However, one would imagine that tests which involve a greater time between doses would naturally have taken longer and thus delay getting approval to start giving vaccinations at all.

It's clearly a gamble that the government is taking and only time will tell how things pan out. Obviously the first main objective is to get things down to a more manageable level and we can only hope that they havent blown the long term chance of greater success for a short term gain. But, as we know all too well, governments do have an unfortunate habit of going for a quick fix for popularity rather than play the long game.

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

Legally it would be complex. We are all being told to shield & distance whether you've had the vaccine or not. By the time that advice lifted more or less everyone will have been vaccinated. So someone who is vaccinated with one dose getting infected (having waited for the requisite 3 weeks) will still be contravening government advice if they go out and mix with others. They are not trying to eradicate the disease using this strategy but to take the pressure off the NHS. So that's why people are being told that even after the vaccine they will have to stick to restrictions.

There would be a strong case for contributory negligence in any legal action.

The scientists seem to be all be arguing with each other about who is right. I will be interested to see how this plays out.

But my impression is that they are only going down this road because the situation is just such an emergency - is it better to have more people die because they have zero protection or more people die because they are vaccinated and not protected as much as they could be? The only solution would be to ramp up both supply and vaccination capacity. I think the latter is possible but the former is the limiting factor. Even if they can eke out six doses from one vial we are talking millions of people and only so much vaccine able to be produced in a very tight time scale.

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

Annie, as I alluded to, we can only hope that this knee-jerk strategy doesn't have an adverse effect on the long term benefits of the vaccines. In which case, without any obvious current research, there remains the slight possibility that we might have actually wasted the one thing that might actually have resolved the problem for more than a few months. If so, then we'll be back to square 1 within a year but at that time with no way of tackling in.

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

With UK COVID-19 deaths officially close to 100,000, the highest of any European country, a "misjudgement" in vaccine use by BJ's government could see that number approach those of Mexico (146,000) and India (153,000), with Brazil (214,000) and the USA (420,000) probably (and hopefully) unattainable .....

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

You have to look at deaths per Million of the population. We are higher than all the countries you have mentioned. Something is going very wrong here.

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

You think this will somehow give the virus more chance to mutate? One would hope that any vaccination effort will reduce that risk, but it does depend on how fast they can get the majority of people jabbed. Even a 52% reduction would make a big dent.

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

I don't HAVE to but I CAN:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths worldwide per one million population as of January 22, 2021, by country

The UK figures are dire and have been throughout the pandemic .....

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

Therein lies the problem. AFAIK, we have no idea if leaving it for 12 weeks between jabs might actually negate any beneficial effects. If it's efficacy had been determined via different time trials, then these would have been made public (surely?) All that seems to be out there is that 6 weeks gap will yield circa 95% protection.

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

I'm sure we will, and I think we all know the cause.

I frequently read reports of police breaking up large parties and gatherings. Just this morning in The Sun, a big student party (police found some hiding in cupboards!). Aren't students supposed to be among the more intelligent of our people?

Why do we in Britain seem to have more covidiots than any other European country?

Re: Convid Vaccine. Government playing doctor, making life and death decision

Perhaps not THE worst in Europe then, but certainly the worst over the past 7 days.

A sign of what's to come?