You call people mindless sheep and I’m the one trolling?

Show me your relevant qualifications and I’ll listen to you, otherwise I’m fine to go with the consensus view of qualified people. There’s a few great articles at the minute in the FT and elsewhere on the government’s performance when it ignored science, such as the ventilator fiasco of a year ago.

Hindsight is a marvellous invention. I remember when the scientists told us "diesel good, petrol bad". I think we can all agree that everyone can be wrong.

There's definitely a psychological aspect and a widespread fear, especially amongst the elderly or the more infirm, caused by this virus. I notice it going around my neighbourhood and it manifests in many ways, one of which is people literally jumping out of the sidewalks when they see you coming, or turning their face, or holding their breath as you pass (and, before you ask.... I have showered!).

Our media have a lot to explain on this. I've given up reading the BBC because it's just Covid, more Covid and a side of Covid. The other day Al Jazeera's app had the situation in Ethiopia and Chad as the main stories (as they should in my opinion) while the BBC had, you guessed it, Covid. They even had a live coverage of the "hunt" for the missing person with the ZA variant a few weeks ago, like it's Farhenheit 451 and we're all called to search for Guy Montag!

Iceland is accepting the NHS issued vaccination cards and the NHS App. But watch this space, nothing is going to be announced before travel restrictions are lifted.

won’t it just be like the test certificate ? E.g. a pdf of your vaccine dates which vaccine used and name. Many countries already have this already, I guess it’s now simply a matter of standardising it. Not everyone will have a smart phone so it’s like the nhs test and trace app if you don’t have it you give your details manually e.g. when a pub asks for one

OK, cards on the table: I am 95% certain - and rising - that vaccination alone gives a full answer. Of the 50,000 approx who died in the first quarter or 2021, almost all were unvaccinated or early into vaccination at the point of illness. Only a few hundred fatalities were 3 weeks past dose1, if that, and of course this second cohort would usually be the most at risk to Covid. So vaccines appear to work far better than the clinical trials suggested. So much so that if the data continues like this, I will be advocating for proof of vaccination as a condition of entry to the UK, or if not provided, a mandatory vaccine at the border. It's the most effective thing we have given the problems with testing, so I would abandon the lot, apart from LFD for new arrivals and special cases. So my position is close to the CDC.

However my 95% plus counts for nothing. There are so many things that could go wrong, so many things unknown, so many people with Covid right now that we have to be cautious. Every death is now avoidable, so making the wrong call, or making a premature call, can and will kill. If the evidence continues to be this conclusive, and we discover that variants can be managed then the restrictions will ease very quickly, at least for those vaccinated or living in a highly vaccinated community. It's just a mater of time and patience, something that we really should be used to by now. Moreover this caution has led to a reduction in death rate by 99% - which is much more than the Americans can say even though they have greater vaccine resources than the UK. So those experts - who incidentally have a range of viewpoints even within SAGE and the big structure feeding into SAGE - have a track record of which to be proud.

This really is very comforting to read and allays a lot of my fears that this will never end. I do think the lockdown should be eased, just very slowly and as per the science .

(bolding mine)



But isn't the controlled opening of society and borders exactly what we are getting?

In the last week I've had a haircut and exhausted the novelty of a drink in chilly pub garden. I can shop to my hearts content and once again the city streets are clogged with traffic. Even greater joys await next month, touch wood.

Maybe I'm light headed from the Ferrrero Rocher I was given at the vaccine centre, but i'm fully at ease with the cautious, step by step approach being taken.

Thanks for that info CWS. In my initial post, where quite simply I'm furious and over the constant doomsday predictions by some scientists, I pointed out that it is just fear-mongering, in my opinion for no good reason.

I'm an engineer, as is my dad, and I have two scientists in the family, and naturally in my work I know many scientists. There are views that are different, and when scientists make a call, they require evidence to back it up. Unfortunately, when I sit there and question a scientist, some people jump on, troll and insult me because I "have no qualifications" or "I have no right to dare question the scientist". It's got to stop.

When it comes to COVID, the vaccines are much more effective than first thought. And we have vaccinated over half the country, and continuing at a quick pace. No one is saying abandon all restrictions today, but in the summer, surely we can manage to ease a lot more, and a lot more people will be vaccinated, therefore, we shouldn't be having any more waves.

Yet you're still responding lol. If you don't want to listen to my opinion, don't read my post - which you clearly do. So maybe don't read it and grow up.

I can't wait for the borders to be open and for travel to return to normal, but I think governments across the world are right to be taking a cautious approach in the face of very serious new waves and possibly dangerous variants. It's by no means only the UK that is proceeding slowly.

I think Gupta sank her boat with the over-egging of herd immunity (through infection) and an unsubstantiated claim quite early on that half the UK population had already gained Covid-immunity.

However, in or out of Sage, she was invited to advise government, I understand BJ consulted her in December, together with the Swedes, over the mainstream expert consensus regarding the need for a "circuit breaker". She wasn't shy about leaking the advice she offered. I guess BJ knew the advice he wanted to hear, ignored the experts, and the rest is history.

Henaghan is less of a maverick, though the "anti-mask" position he developed late last year against sound expert opinion, did little to enhance his credibility.

Perhaps already reported, but Northern Ireland has opened up vaccinations to the 35+ age group: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/news/ea...vid-19-vaccine.

Might this be the last age-group that AstraZeneca is used on?

Same here in the US, for comparison. Mixed results. Fortunately, the doctor overseeing things at my vaccination site was willing to fill in my yellow book.

Yes, I had mine filled out for similar reasons. Can't hurt.

That's great. Had no idea.

Including you my dear friend, including you. Though on this topic you rarely seem to acknowledge that possibility...

Regards