Coronavirus: How dangerous a threat?

[Cookster15]

The EU isn’t too popular in Australia right now. Reports saying that not approving AZ jabs amounts to effectively the same thing as blocking 3.1 million doses for export to Australia and Papua New Guinea.

 

[movingtarget]

First US trachea transplant offers hope to Covid patients with windpipe damage

Social worker, 56, treated at Mt Sinai hospital in New York; some patients left with serious damage from ventilators

www.theguardian.com

 

[movingtarget]

EU drug agency denies already finding causal link between AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots

European Medicines Agency says review ongoing after head of vaccines spoke of ‘clear’ association

www.theguardian.com

 

[BlueRoads]

We had some hundred thousand "leftover" AZ doses in Germany which could not be given to the ones they were meant for earlier (under 60s). So over 60s could apply for them on the internet (and my aunt did), and they were gone in a day. It's not that there is nobody asking for them.

By the way there is very slow progress, my grandfather who will turn 90 next week still isn't vaccinated, neither my other grandmother, neither my parents who are around 60 of course... After the Nazi time there were good reasons for going back to strong federal structures, so that dictatorship would be made harder... but it's not helpful in a pandemic. Neither is the fact that we are in a big election year with elections all around. Neither is the fact that Germany in general is an incredibly bureaucratic, inert country, especially when it comes to administration.
Fun fact: I had to sign a liability exclusion recently because my son is supposed to test himself twice a week in school when it starts again (after almost 4 months for him, but maybe it won't happen anyway...) So they aren't responsible in case he puts the swab to deep into his nose, I guess, lol.

 

[Jagartrott]

The EU isn’t too popular in Australia right now. Reports saying that not approving AZ jabs amounts to effectively the same thing as blocking 3.1 million doses for export to Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Why not ask the UK or the USA?
They haven't exported any vaccine. The EU has exported close to 100 million doses. Moreover, AZ is 100 million doses short of their promises to the EU so far.

 

[movingtarget]

Why not ask the UK or the USA?
They haven't exported any vaccine. The EU has exported close to 100 million doses. Moreover, AZ is 100 million doses short of their promises to the EU so far.

Australia has four separate vaccine agreements including Pfizer from who they are supposed to be getting an extra 10 million doses. So far the rollout has been slow as has has happened in some other countries. The usual teething issues and bureaucratic hold ups.

 

[yaco]

Why not ask the UK or the USA?
They haven't exported any vaccine. The EU has exported close to 100 million doses. Moreover, AZ is 100 million doses short of their promises to the EU so far.

What Cookster doesn't post is that Australia is manufacturing the AZ vaccine with the first batches coming online on March 22 - Yes, there seem to have been hold ups in the importation of AZ but Australia is not solely reliant on imported cases of AZ.

 

[Keram]

After todays EMA announcment I hope they wont ban AstraZeneca under 55 two days before my jab I am still willing to get it.

 

[yaco]

Just had my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine - Been 12 hrs and no side effects.

 

[movingtarget]

Japan denies planning to prioritise Olympic athletes for Covid vaccine

Reports the government was considering the move have provoked outrage on social media

www.theguardian.com

 

[dusty red roads]

The Japanese public are really pssed off about that - we've been waiting so long for our glacial-speed rollout! However, personally, I think if they're gonna do the Olympics this is a great idea.

 

[movingtarget]

Coronavirus: UK expert urges people in 20s to keep getting vaccine

Prof David Spiegelhalter says advantages of vaccinating young people far outweigh risks

www.theguardian.com

 

[dusty red roads]

Japan denies planning to prioritise Olympic athletes for Covid vaccine

Reports the government was considering the move have provoked outrage on social media

www.theguardian.com

Now denied by the government:

Japan denies considering vaccine priority for Olympic athletes

Japan said on Thursday it was not currently looking to prioritize COVID-19 vaccines for Olympic athletes, dismissing a media report that sparked a social media outcry since the country's inoculations are trailing other major economies. Only a million people have received the first dose of the...

japantoday.com

 

[djpbaltimore]

You would think that there would be ~12k doses of J&J to spare to inoculate the competitors beforehand. I think it should be delayed or cancelled, but I can't see a competition of that nature going on without every athlete being vaccinated.

 

[yaco]

Such a fuss if athletes are vaccinated - So 12,000 doses out of 120 million is jumping the queue - Some in society need to get a grip.

 

[Keram]

Such a fuss if athletes are vaccinated - So 12,000 doses out of 120 million is jumping the queue - Some in society need to get a grip.

There was so much hate on Dominika Cibulkova early January where she jumped the queue and get vaccine. Three months passed and now there are ton of free spots already and there seems to be voices around internet which celebrate the fact that people dont want vaccines.


People are stupid.

And by the way I am done with halting my life because of old people which refuse vaccines.

 

[dusty red roads]

Like I said, the Japanese people are already super pssed off with the gvt that the vaccine rollout has been taking so long and moving so slowly, they haven't even begun vaxxing the general population and the schedule is running well behind. I just heard today from someone who received a letter in their municipality saying coupons for the jab for over 65s will begin to arrive around the end of April, this was originally supposed to begin last month. At the moment there isn't the capacity to vax large amounts so this is going to trickle out very slowly, it won't likely ramp up until months on, the gvt have really been on the inept side with this - it's not going to happen in large numbers anytime soon - unlike some of the other countries who have been ramping up their jabs and have jabbed millions already. Numbers are rising here again, people are stressed with the whole situation (as they probably are worldwide). So to sum things up - the general population is more interested in inoculating the elderly and vulnerable before younger athletes esp since many don't even want the Olympics taking place. So I do understand why they have this point of view. This would be for Japanese athletes only, not international athletes - and would be good to help prevent potential superspreading during the Olympics, so I see both sides of the situation.

 

[movingtarget]

UK recognition of EU’s vaccine effort would not go amiss, says Brussels

Europe could have fully vaccinated 70% of adults before UK reaches its target, says head of EU taskforce

www.theguardian.com

 

[BlueRoads]

Like I said, the Japanese people are already super pssed off with the gvt that the vaccine rollout has been taking so long and moving so slowly, they haven't even begun vaxxing the general population and the schedule is running well behind. I just heard today from someone who received a letter in their municipality saying coupons for the jab for over 65s will begin to arrive around the end of April, this was originally supposed to begin last month. At the moment there isn't the capacity to vax large amounts so this is going to trickle out very slowly, it won't likely ramp up until months on, the gvt have really been on the inept side with this - it's not going to happen in large numbers anytime soon - unlike some of the other countries who have been ramping up their jabs and have jabbed millions already. Numbers are rising here again, people are stressed with the whole situation (as they probably are worldwide). So to sum things up - the general population is more interested in inoculating the elderly and vulnerable before younger athletes esp since many don't even want the Olympics taking place. So I do understand why they have this point of view. This would be for Japanese athletes only, not international athletes - and would be good to help prevent potential superspreading during the Olympics, so I see both sides of the situation.

Do you still have the same restrictions?

 

[dusty red roads]

They ended the State of Emergency in Tokyo about 3 weeks ago, though they didn't fully end all restrictions (for example night establishments were still requested to close by 9pm instead of the SoE 8pm) - but from Monday we go back to the previous restrictions, including no gatherings over 500 people (WTF? Should be way smaller than that anyway!!!!). Osaka and a few other areas had gone back on stronger restrictions last week already due to rising numbers there, which are higher than in Tokyo.

Keeping in mind that there's lot less contact tracing nowadays so we have no real idea of the numbers - Tokyo numbers had dropped to average of 2-300, last few days it's been back in the 4-500s. The thing to watch is the hospitals. Today serious cases (ie - on ventilators in hospital) in Tokyo was 43, up 2 from yesterday, with 4 deaths, (22 nationwide).

If anyone is interested here is the site with all the numbers updated daily. Keep in mind that many numbers from private clinics aren't included here.

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Situation Report in Japan

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Japan. Data provided by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

toyokeizai.net

 

[dusty red roads]

Of course this isn't anywhere near the numbers in parts of Europe and other parts of the world, but it can very quickly escalate at any point, especially with the variants showing up in large amounts of positive tests now.

 

[Jagartrott]

UK recognition of EU’s vaccine effort would not go amiss, says Brussels

Europe could have fully vaccinated 70% of adults before UK reaches its target, says head of EU taskforce

www.theguardian.com

So according to this, the UK's claims that they funded the Dutch plant are untrue.
Moreover, another report today reveals that AZ has exported 700.000 doses out of the UK to... Australia at the same time the EU was asking for vaccines from the UK plants to make up for gigantic shortfalls. The UK tried to keep this export quiet, but an Australian newspaper made it public.

If this is the UK trying to convince the world they are trustworthy business partners, it's not really working, I think.

Meanwhile, a random The Express headline:

EU's anti-British lies continue and the bodycount grows -
the denigration of the brilliant British AstraZeneca vaccine across Europe goes on

 

[roundabout]

Please don't quote tabloids

“We Are Hoarding”: Why the U.S. Still Can’t Donate COVID-19 Vaccines to Countries in Need

Thanks to America First–style contracts negotiated by the Trump administration and an alarming uptick in domestic cases, the urgent work of planning to vaccinate the rest of the world is stuck in limbo.

www.vanityfair.com

 

[djpbaltimore]

So to sum things up - the general population is more interested in inoculating the elderly and vulnerable before younger athletes esp since many don't even want the Olympics taking place. So I do understand why they have this point of view. This would be for Japanese athletes only, not international athletes - and would be good to help prevent potential superspreading during the Olympics, so I see both sides of the situation.

That can be common even without COVID-19. For a while, there was a drive to get Boston the Summer games and the locals basically revolted over the idea. Similar when a DC/Baltimore bid was under consideration.

It should also be noted that vaccination doesn't really mitigate current outbreaks that well by itself. Look at the USA, we are now vaccinating 3-4m a day and our case numbers continue to creep up because we are really curtailing the non-pharmaceutical interventions.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1380358863787065345

View: https://twitter.com/ddiamond/status/1380358863787065345

 

[Mayomaniac]

That can be common even without COVID-19. For a while, there was a drive to get Boston the Summer games and the locals basically revolted over the idea. Similar when a DC/Baltimore bid was under consideration.

It should also be noted that vaccination doesn't really mitigate current outbreaks that well by itself. Look at the USA, we are now vaccinating 3-4m a day and our case numbers continue to creep up because we are really curtailing the non-pharmaceutical interventions.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1380358863787065345

View: https://twitter.com/ddiamond/status/1380358863787065345

With many of the vulnerable people (hopefully) already vaccinated the hospitalisation rate and the number of people in intensive care are probably better indicators than just the rise of cases. I know that the rise of cases usually only has a real impact on those numbers around 2 weeks later, but it would be interesting to see if the pressure on the healthcare system is still rising despite the vaccinations.