Worth it
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the vaccines have gone through the same trials process as every other drug (& vaccine) in the last 40 years, and there is no indication that any one of them will not work. Out of the vaccines that are currently awaiting MHRA approval, there are 3 different methods of action, so in the massively unlikely event that one doesnāt work, we still have the other vaccines.
Even sowing the seeds of doubt publicly like this is adding to the fear mongering, and pretty irresponsible, imho (as a scientist with 3 degrees)
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A family member has to have bloods taken / tested regularly due to an under-lying condition. They have to be the first patient of the day (minimum risk / exposure) but the issue is with the nurse who has to change their PPE between each patient. That obviously reduces the number of patients that can be seen each day (I think it is about 50% of pre-Covid daily rate), as well as using up stocks of PPE.
With asymptomatic people attending doctorsā surgeries, Iām glad that Iāve only had to go 3 times this year - once for āflu jab, & twice for my aviation medical. Oh, & once to the dentist for a filling treatment that had been "discovered`ā by x-ray back in Mar, but treatment not available until Nov - luckily things hadnāt deteriorated that much to cause significant repair difficulties.
Founder of the Scottyās Little Soldiers charity has been awarded an MBE - far more deserving than Hamilton.
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Just watched Death to 2020 on Netflix and itās the most Iāve laughed at the telly all yearā¦
Tv comedy just hasnāt been that funny recently, and without studio audiences etc it loses something. So was nice to have a good laugh at something - a few proper laugh out loud moments!
Would recommend.
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Looks interesting! Was planning on Hot Fuzz followed by binge watching Rick and Morty until I fall a sleep!
A wholesome NYās Day afternoon of surf kayaking (as Iām sure @redowling and @Baldrick and others would agree with). Pretty bracing out there today thoā¦ I might thaw out by 2022 (the year, rather than the time).
I do feel lucky that I live somewhere that allows me to do this legally within travel restrictions!
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The vaccine does work and has undergone the same stringent tests that all vaccines go through in modern medicine. A recent article in the British Medical Journal showed the Pfizer to be 95% effective after 2 doses. Likewise the Oxford vaccine is 90% effective at reducing symptoms.
It isnāt a guarantee that people wonāt get covid19 but the risks are reduced in the same way the flu vaccination works.
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Basically reduces probability of death
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Exactly. If the immune system recognises a virus as something it has fought before then it greatly improves the chances of a good outcome.
The body takes time to work out how to attack a virus, so a vaccine drastically reduces this time. Thatās it in a very brief nutshell.
having not seen the data, Iād be cautious about saying this, given we know the transmission by asymptomatic carriers has been a major cause of the success of viral transmission. I think it is correct to say that by invoking an immune response, a side effect is that symptomatic patients will have have less severe symptoms than they would otherwise have, but itād be good to hear this from someone involved in the research
Trials have been done and the data is there.
Trials showed two full doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab were 95% effective at preventing infection, while the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine showed 62% effectiveness - although even in cases where people were infected, there were no cases of serious illness needing hospital treatment.
yes, I do agree! 
I was just being a little pedantic and trying to tease out the effect of asymptomatic patients too (and thinking out loud)!
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Donāt worry! Was just simply discussing the data in case you hadnāt seen it! 
Many people are cautious.
them!! Data are plural!
My bad 
Iām by no means a data analyst!
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itās a common error, even by professionals who should know better, but itās a hill Iām willing to die onā¦
So when I said work, I should have clarified that I meant in solving the pandemic so re can return to normal with no social distancing requirements or restrictions
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Even with the vaccine the measures arenāt going to be stopped any time soon by which I mean this year.
At the first sign of anything coming along, given we have been conditioned Pavlovian style.
We need c.130 million does for just for the UK so we all get one go and the supply chains are trying to cover billions globally. Canāt see the vaccine regime in the just the UK being met for some time, purely because they need to be manufactured and each batch tested to make sure it works and is safe.
All the while the virus like the whole family will mutate, as we are seeing.