The approved terminology that we use is "the variant first identified in X", which is also the terminology used in the WHO for example.

Anyway, far more important news in Scotland - all adults over 18 can now register for their vaccines here:
https://register.vacs.nhs.scot/
though younger adults may need to wait a while and/or play around with time slots over a day or two. Glasgow residents should not need to wait long. Those in remote / island locations will get vaccinated by GPs (if not done already....). At the time of typing that website is reassuringly overloaded but I'm sure it will quieten down later today.

England will be moving to those in their late 20s later this week. Wales has been at it for some time. Northern Ireland perhaps next week, they have a relatively large 18 to 24 year old age group.

And this thread/FT. :) :) :)

But.....breathe out....there ya go.... :)

CWS, we had another bumper day on Saturday with 750k vaccines administered, do you foresee the rates increasing or slowing over the next few weeks? I know the target is to have offered every adult a 1st dose by end of July - do you think we will easy beat that date, or is it still touch and go at this point?

Vaccination rates are going to increase. The shorter time frame for vaccine2 for over 50s is being accommodated without slowing the vaccine1 programme. Today is my last day away from vaccinating for quite a while. I think invitations for 18 year olds will be going out around 20 June as things stand.

The Wembley mass vaccination centre today was quite busy and it was taking up to an hour to get people through. I was there for a 2nd dose of AZ, and got jabbed by a St John's Ambulance volunteer. Having been AZ only since it opened until a week or so ago, it's now also doing Pfizer, and was reportedly booked for 500 AZ and 1000 Pfizer today. I was surprised that there were a number of quite elderly punters from ethnic minorities there for a 2nd dose of AZ who should have been long since done, but hopefully they might have been promoted to sort out their 2nd doses by recent events.

Good to hear. Would be great for us to have everyone done soon!

I'm not sure where you think people on FT/this thread get their information on new variants, if not from the media directly or indirectly. I doubt anyone here is randomly chucking darts at a map of the world on their wall (though it could be a fun distraction for someone in quarantine).

I don't care one way or another about what a variant is called and am indifferent to Nicola/Scottish nationalism.

There's lots of really useful and relevant information in this thread about coronavirus and the progress of the vaccination programme - this article arguing over semantics contributes nothing to our understanding of Covid, especially when the history of this thread/forum has shown how people are apt to seize upon them to 'justify' their demand for a different approach to handling the pandemic.

Lighten. Up. Jeez

I'm light enough, thank you. Well, other than the lockdown pounds I'm struggling to shift ;)

What does one think regarding lockdowns in the UK--will they return this fall and winter again?

Daily data:

Cases 2,439 (1,979 last Monday)
Deaths 3 (5)
People vaccinated up to and including 23 May 2021:
First dose: 38,070,038
Second dose: 22,895,556

The rolling seven day daily average for cases is now up 17.0% on the previous week and the same measure for deaths is down 46.7%. The rolling 7 day daily average for deaths is 5.7 today.

If they do it will be because of some failure relating to the vaccine. Otherwise there is no reason to believe they will return.

Good point. I just was curious as the UK is putting so much emphasis on variants.

it is important at the moment where there is a sizeable part of the population who haven’t had their first jab yet and you have variants with potentially higher transmissibility. But by winter that’s no longer an issue since we will be fully vaccinated.

I think they don't want people to relax just yet. A lot of people are not yet vaccinated and some had just the first dose. We still haven't reach the heard immunity