Coronavirus.

The Hawk

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
staffordjas said:
Can't get my head around 195 sadly died from Covid in Royal Stoke just in the one month in November , according to Sentinel, and another 12 lost their fight against it yesterday :(


After a fortnight of staying away from shops, needed food supplies so ventured to Tesco at 6.30am in the hope of not many people being in .....
Bad start...no disinfectant spray at the cleaning station to wipe trolley handles . Asked an assistant " Oh I don't know , I'll see if we've got any". I used hand sanitiser smeared all over the handle in the end instead. Assistant reappeared after I'd started shopping with a bottle with about an inch in.
Hardly any customers, but picker- packers made it a rather scary trip, no social distancing at all ! Gave up attempts to venture down the bread aisle as was no way past them and went to Aldi for those later.

No wonder it's spreading so bloody fast. Lots of people don't seem to be taking this seriously enough :mad:
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The government should have concentrated on enforcing the basic rules, rather than creating a complex maze of rules that are being largely ignored.
 
Noah

Noah

Well-Known Forumite
There are differences in handling and supply of the vaccines. Oxford-AstraZeneca can be kept at ordinary fridge temperatures, is easy to store and most NHS sites have facilities to keep it. The Moderna vaccine needs to be kept in at a standard freezer temperature, again transport and storage facilities are widely available. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine needs to be kept at -30 degrees C and there are much fewer transport and storage facilities that can maintain that.

Are any of them ready to be approved yet? The results quoted so far have been the first interim reports of Stage 3 testing, they should go through the 2nd interim and final reports before approval. And are there adequate supplies of vials, syringes, needles ...
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Noah said:
There are differences in handling and supply of the vaccines. Oxford-AstraZeneca can be kept at ordinary fridge temperatures, is easy to store and most NHS sites have facilities to keep it. The Moderna vaccine needs to be kept in at a standard freezer temperature, again transport and storage facilities are widely available. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine needs to be kept at -30 degrees C and there are much fewer transport and storage facilities that can maintain that.

Are any of them ready to be approved yet? The results quoted so far have been the first interim reports of Stage 3 testing, they should go through the 2nd interim and final reports before approval. And are there adequate supplies of vials, syringes, needles ...
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I've seen the storage temperature quoted in a few places as -70°C, which is a good bit more awkward, if it's true.
 
staffordjas

staffordjas

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
I've seen the storage temperature quoted in a few places as -70°C, which is a good bit more awkward, if it's true.
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It was also mentioned on telly last night, that it can only be moved a maximum of 4 times as well , so that's why it's most likely going to be used in hospitals .
Noah said:
And are there adequate supplies of vials, syringes, needles ...
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With hubby working from home , his job making sure the orders are contract reviewed and supplied on time (and my inside information from ear-wigging his phone calls ;) )..... Orders flooding in for them from distributors all around the world. They are under a lot of pressure to meet the dates required , but are working flat out to achieve these dates..
 
Bob

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
The Eldest child been told to isolate, so now for 2 weeks stuck at home with my darling daughter who seems to have all of a sudden turned into ‘Kevin the teenager’ just as we come out of lockdown.

Best thing is that the email came as she walked through the door after getting on the bus that services three separate schools.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Pfizer and Moderna use m(odified)RNA tech - RNA doesn't like warmth.

Pfizer/etc needs -70° storage to point of distribution - most Hospitals, and many Universities for that matter, have this capacity already. Transport is an issue. Not a fabulous option for delivery to sub-Saharan Africa though.

Moderna needs -20° storage, which is basically a commercial freezer, and can also be transferred to a fridge - ie <5° - for a few days and still be active. Reaches parts that Pfizer does not.

AZ/Oxford uses more established tech, and only needs fridge temps for storage, so despite headline lower efficacy will probably end up being more useful. Reaches parts that neither of the above do.

There is much to be hopeful about, don't forget that.
 
Lucy

Lucy

Well-Known Forumite
So the Pfizer one has been approved. Apparently it can be stored in a fridge for a few days - maybe they've been testing it whilst awaiting authorisation.
 
The Hawk

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
Stafford just in the top 20 for over 60s with the virus:
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Z

Zylo

Well-Known Forumite
Makes sense really, stafford has a aging population etc and there's enough care homes

Still a little surprising mind we're only a town
 
Studio Tan

Studio Tan

Well-Known Forumite
On a lighter note, some people are having a lot of fun with video mixes of totally nuts crackpot tv evangelist Kenneth Copeland and his ‘attack’ on Covid19 . . .

 
Cue

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
proactive said:
Another example of why America shouldn't be in charge of a Playdough party, never mind the 'Free World'.

Nutters and psychos, the whole bloody lot of them.
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Give them Playdough and at some point someone will manage to convince enough of them to shove it up their nose and in their ears
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Has the Pfizer vaccine approval been 'rushed' ?

How does a vaccine normally get to your arm?

Let's look at this answer given by someone with experience in the field..

... I’m a drug research director. I’m not involved with covid research, but I just want to address the issue of the development of these vaccines being “rushed”.
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This is what i mean when i say you have to choose who you trust -

You have to distinguish between something being done urgently because hundreds of thousands of people are dying and the global economy is tanking, and “cutting corners”.
From what I can see – the development timeline of these vaccines is as I would expect – unprecedentedly fast yes, but in line with my expectation...
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So, drug trials are generally delayed by the following things:

Prioritizing resources at the company running the trial (no issue for Covid)
Finding enough Drs to do the trial (no issue for Covid)
Ethics and regulatory approval timeframes of 30/60 days for the trial (no issue for covid, go to the front of the queue, we will convene a special committee meeting this weekend etc etc).
Finding enough subjects to take part in the study (no issue for Covid)
Waiting for those subjects to progress through the study so that the impact on their disease can be measured* (no issue for Covid)
Regulatory approval of the data (see above)
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* this is particularly pertinent in the development of the Oxford vaccine - this had initially been developed for SARS-Cov-1, but by the time the vaccine was ready to roll out SARS had extinguished itself*

And then negotiations over cost to the NHS etc that could otherwise add months if not years to the process. Again not an issue in this instance.

If you are going to be an objectionable... person, you could of course latch on to the 'what-about-the-long-term-effects' angle. You will probably be uninspired by the fact that this will be monitored - seeing as this vaccine, and any subsequent ones, will be given a 'temporary' emergency licence, that could be withdrawn immediately if necessary.

But if i need to tell you that you need to vaccinate yourself, and you are going to ignore me, then i don't know what else i need to say to you.

What do i need to say to you? I cannot stress enough how important it is that you trust me on this.

AMA
 
Thehooperman

Thehooperman

Well-Known Forumite
Today's post included a begging letter from the OU saying that many OU students were at breaking point and asking for donations!!

Whilst I appreciate that people are genuinely struggling at the moment I would suggest there are far more deserving causes than supporting OU students who generally tend to be in employment, established in their careers and home life and can afford to pay for the courses themselves.

During my studies with the OU I can't recall anyone who seemed to be strapped for cash even if some did have long pockets when it came to buying a round or splitting a food bill.
 
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