Vaccine Progress

[Ferris]

Stupid question - this would likely mean everyone has to go into their local hospital then, as yer neighbourhood GP wouldn't have the minerals to get the job down necessary equipment to store the vaccine.

Though I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself here.

[Blue Jam]

Not a stupid question, see Jobotic's post above. GP surgeries and places like travel clinics and pharmacies tend to have fridges to store vaccines, hormones and certain drugs, but -80 freezers are big expensive things which use lots of electricity so installing one of those would be overkill in most cases.

IVF clinics may have them, and hospitals will have them in pathology labs. Universities and other research centres have them too of course. Ditto for liquid nitrogen plant rooms- it would be bloody handy to have a few more of those around now but they're dangerous and staff would need specialist training. I've been using liquid nitrogen for years and it still frightens the piss out of me.

This has got me a bit concerned that people who live in rural or remote areas could miss out, the way they already miss out on other healthcare services like sexual and mental health thanks to underfunding.

That said I am wondering if this will be anything like the smallpox eradication programme, where healthcare professionals managed to cover entire continents and would even travel on foot to deliver vaccine doses to remote villages.

[Crabwalk]

Can't they commandeer the nation's ice cream vans and drive the vaccine about in those? Stick it in the soft serve machine and curl out a delightful cone of liberation.

[Cuellar]

That's actually a brilliant idea

[MojoJojo]

I think only Heston Blumenthals ice cream van is properly equipped, and he insists on making the vaccine Pangolin flavoured.

[JamesTC]

They'll never administer vaccines going at that speed.

[GMTV]

1.3 billion doses produced by the end of 2021, and stored at - 80 deg C, richest countries need apply only.

Still not convinced of the virus being mitigated by a vaccine any time soon. I'll be delighted to be proved laughably wrong on the subject.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Can't they commandeer the nation's ice cream vans and drive the vaccine about in those? Stick it in the soft serve machine and curl out a delightful cone of liberation.

A Covid 99

[idunnosomename]

[Aaron500]

According to the news, when it comes to vaccination order, I am in the 11th cohort out of 11, being under 50 with no health problems and no job in health or social care. I am dismissed as "rest of population".

Hopefully by the time my turn comes it will just be a pill, or maybe some liquid dripped on a sugar lump. And they'll have ironed out the explosive diarrhoea side effect that I've just invented.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Want to travel abroad but don't want to have to go to office - what i do now pls thx

[JamesTC]

We all need to pile on the weight to get to a BMI of 40 in order to be eligible sooner.

[shiftwork2]

-80C?  This bastard will be seeing the inside of an armpit before it goes anywhere near me, alright cheers

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

We all need to pile on the weight to get to a BMI of 40 in order to be eligible sooner.

This image immediately strikes me as looking like a Ben Garrison cartoon. What with signpost labelled road to success and so on

[Zetetic]

Ben would've labelled the road itself.

And Homer.

And the pig.

[Jasha]

Whip it through quick, bury the odd anomaly and call it the new Thalidomide

[idunnosomename]

great the sunday times can crow about exposing it for another 30 odd years

[Blue Jam]

Nice little infographic here (click to embiggen):

https://www.pfizer.co.uk/behind-science-what-mrna-vaccine



This really could revolutionise medicine. If we could find a way to mass-produce -80°C freezers and make them really small and cheap.

[poo]

Really is fucking incredible. 90% efficacy, if true, is stunning.

[Beagle 2]

They'll never administer vaccines going at that speed.

Absolutely brilliant.

[phantom_power]

What an absolutely weird and offensive way of putting it.

I think it has been a key factor of Covid that it affects different demographic groups in different ways, such as age groups, gender and race. One of the problems with finding a vaccine is getting one that is effective across all those groups.

[bgmnts]

Early December then according to Hancock. Smashing this through, good old Pfizer.

I miss the heady days of lockdown already. Such young, sweet times they were.

[Cuellar]

Prof Sir John Bell reckons things could be a looking a 'lot more normal' by Easter

:(

[Cuellar]

Although, he did also say 'provided they don't screw up the distribution of the vaccine', so we've probably got a couple of years left of this

[JamesTC]

Just read that the Pfizer vaccine lasts 5 days at normal fridge temperature once thawed.

[Blue Jam]

Just remembered there was a Europe-wide shortage of dry ice about two years ago. That would be an absolute fucker if it were to happen again now. Good thing Jean-Michel Jarre can't tour at the moment.

[NattyDread 2]

BBC piece on this states that those with a weak immune system won't be able to get the vaccine. That could be a proper scunner if everyone else starts throwing caution to the wind.

[Blue Jam]

BBC piece on this states that those with a weak immune system won't be able to get the vaccine. That could be a proper scunner if everyone else starts throwing caution to the wind.

That applies to all vaccines though doesn't it?

I'm wondering if we'll be able to get to 95% coverage to achieve herd immunity. I can see people being unwilling to get injected with a novel type of vaccine that has been fast-tracked through safety testing, and I don't think those people who are convinced the virus is a hoax will be queuing up.

[idunnosomename]

feel like pure shit just want unending desolation back

[poo]

yeah can't believe this could all be over within two years :((