Topic: Vaccine Progress

[Cuellar]

There will never be a vaccine

[George Oscar Bluth II]

There will be, it's gonna be fine lads.

Whether Boris will shell out for anyone who didn't vote for him under the age of 50 to have it is another matter.

[Cuellar]

It will never happen

[pancreas]

no u

[Cursus]

I'm guessing this is probably bullshit, yes?

[Zetetic]

Why the fuck is there a hospital named after George Eliot?

[Astronaut Omens]

Because she's the most famous historical/cultural figure from Nuneaton, where the hospital is? Why is that strange, there's loads of places named after writers, surely?

[Zetetic]

It seems utterly perfunctory. Perhaps there's quotations from Lydgate all over the shop. I suppose I wouldn't question a George Eliot Pumping Station.

[Astronaut Omens]

I've never spent much time in the Midlands, but "Bronte" just gets used on things in West Yorkshire to such an extent that it doesn't really refer to Emily, Charlotte, Anne and Bramwell anymore,it's just a word people use when they need a name for a new business park or postcard shop or slaughterhouse or whatever

[imitationleather]

By this point the Express and Mail must have done over a hundred front pages between them triumphantly announcing that a vaccine is on the verge of being released.

[BlodwynPig]

By this point the Express and Mail must have done over a hundred front pages between them triumphantly announcing that a vaccine is on the verge of being released.

"sales"

Nightingale, Eliot...whatever...distraction from the hell of it all.

Population "Awwwwww, history, Britain, Empire, happy now".

[JamesTC]

My suggestion to rename the Liverpool Women's Hospital as the Clive Barker Women's Hospital fell on deaf ears.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I'm guessing this is probably bullshit, yes?

Well December is pretty consistent with what they've been saying the whole time as a timescale for the first doses going out to healthcare workers, so I guess they're just planning on being ready, rather than having some insider info.

[Zetetic]

[buzby]

My suggestion to rename the Liverpool Women's Hospital as the Clive Barker Women's Hospital fell on deaf ears.

They could have called it the John Rossiter Hospital after Leonard's father, who was killed at it's predecessor Mill Road during the May Blitz when it was bombed.

[Cuellar]

I'm guessing this is probably bullshit, yes?

No, I'm sure a vaccine is really really close. Right round the corner.

😂

[jobotic]

Why is that funny? I don't get it.

[Bernice]

Two bits of good news:

Early results of the Oxford trial suggest it successfully gives immunity to the elderly (FT)

Professor leading the Oxford project reckons we might see vaccination begin by Christmas: "I'd be very surprised if this thing [the pandemic] isn't very clearly on the way down by late spring, at least in this country... we will get to the stage where there is herd immunity through vaccination."

Okay, the "home by Christmas vibes" from the latter story activate my reflexive cynicism, but I can be excited about this, right? I'm absolutely sick of this shit and this doesn't seem too flimsy a basis for a bit of gimlet-eyed hope.

[Cuellar]

Professor leading the Oxford project reckons we might see vaccination begin by Christmas

Medics and high-risk patients are likely to receive Oxford's Covid-19 before the end of the year, the professor leading the project said last night.

Either they missed a word or they've just admitted to euthanising the vulnerable to get the economy MOVING AGAIN

[George Oscar Bluth II]

[MrMrs]

lol that's a big word to miss

[Sebastian Cobb]

[Fambo Number Mive]

So what does the Denmark mink COVID mutation mean for the success of a vaccine? Given how many countries have mink farms, how do we know this strain isn't already in the UK? Would we require a vaccine for each mutation of the virus?

It's just very demoralising.

[steveh]

So what does the Denmark mink COVID mutation mean for the success of a vaccine? Given how many countries have mink farms, how do we know this strain isn't already in the UK? Would we require a vaccine for each mutation of the virus?

It's still not clear how significant a mutation it is but the consensus seems to be converging on it not being enough to affect vaccines.

In the first press conference they said:

We have seen several mink mutations. In cluster 5 we have seen 3 mutations in amino acid and 1 change / loss on outside. These mutations are around the spike protein that is used for vaccine development. In the laboratory this specific mutation doesn’t show the same degree of response to patients' antibodies as the by humans transmitted virus does. We see a clear difference. ... Luckily, we still see some response to antibodies. But the decreased response to antibodies is enough to increase our risk evaluation ... because it would be a big concern for public health if we would see further mutations. This doesn’t mean that vaccines wouldn’t be effective at this point of time.

There have been a number of rebuttals about how worried people should be about it, like this one:

#SARSCoV2 mutations acquired in minks are not concerning. We already knew that #SARSCoV2 can transmit from minks to humans. Though, this should be of no concern in terms of the evolution of the transmissibility of the virus. The population of #SARSCoV2 is so large that any mutation viable to the virus has arisen many times by now. There is no evidence that any such mutation affects transmissibility in humans (with the possible, questionable exception of D614G). There are thousands of mutations in #SARSCoV2 arising constantly. The fact that a few have been observed in minks will not change the strains in circulation in humans. If they were beneficial for the virus to infect its human host, they would be at high frequency already.

(Minor mutations are termed variants, only more significant ones are considered strains.)

[Chedney Honks]

Better safe than sorry, let's kill every animal now.

We can always get more.

[jobotic]

The fat lady is on the pitch!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/09/covid-19-vaccine-candidate-effective-pfizer-biontech

[bgmnts]

Fuck i'm going to have to start going to the jobcentre again now, fuck off with your vaccine.

[jobotic]

Don't worry, one of Cumming's mates' company will make sure they completely fuck up getting it out to anyone apart from rich Tories.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The phase 3 trials have involved more than 43,000 people. People from black and minority ethnic backgrounds appear to have been as well protected as everyone else, the company says.

What an absolutely weird and offensive way of putting it.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Probably best to read as widely as possible here given there's an obvious financial incentive for the company to make these claims.