worldgonemad
Full Member
I take on board the advice from sage being ignored , but we have to bear in mind that sages focus is solely the immediate impact on health from the epidemic point of view , at least from what i understand . The government have to balance that advice against all other effects on the country , including the economy . I know its an emotive balancing act and it could be argued that each life comes above anything , that we should shut everything down for as long as it takes and for as hard as possible , to keep deaths to a minimum ( actually not only death , but long term serious health impacts of the virus , which has been barely touched upon here in this thread , but which i do suspect will be severe )The government were advised by SAGE on 21st September to take drastic action to prevent a "very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences". Their advice was ignored. I don't see an improvement in the UK response to the second wave. We have the highest death rate in the World over the last week and also the highest total number of deaths in Europe. 60% of deaths happened after the SAGE advice was ignored.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/uk-covid-death-rate-coronavirus-b1788817.html
As for vaccinations, yes we approved early, without the same thorough regulation as the EU or even the USA (see Dr Fauci's comments). That gamble of early approval and ordering seems to have paid off in the short term. But now our government stands alone in spacing out the first and second jabs way beyond the manufacturers recommendation. This is an experimental and new vaccine, do you trust our govenrment over the vaccine manufacturer? The only reason they are spacing out the gaps is so they can make the claim similar to yours;
"have been ahead of the game regarding vaccinations and that is something that should be lauded , some bright in the dark ."
I know we are all desperate for some positive news, but let's not blinker ourselves. Many people are waiting for their second jab and there is a chance that increasing the gap between the jabs could reduce the effectiveness. The government are counting people who have had their first jab but not their second jab in their figures. Playing politics yet again. But yes, let's blame people driving 5 miles to walk for the pandemic.
One thing we can agree on is, political opposition has been weak. Waste of time.
This balancing act is something that all developed nations are wrestling with , and there has been political turmoil in most of our neighbours trying to find that right balance .
if we had acted as sage had reccomended , without a doubt deaths would be lower and without a doubt more businessess would fail and any recovery would take longer .
Regarding the vaccinations and ' the gamble ' would it not be fair to say that ALL countries are gambling with these vaccines . All of them have been approved in record time and without the normal process . Fauci backtracked on his comments shortly after making them , as the usa were also about to approve the same vaccine . The vaccine manufactuers are still gathering data on efficy of one or multiple doses , so i think its fair to say that all of them are being carefull with advice . None of the manufactuers can say how long the vaccine is usefull for for example , but does that mean that all countries should hold back until they get that data in , say in another year or so ? Personally i think not , i would take the view that some protection for all the vulnerable is better than none at all until normal time scales in development have been met .
Your use of the phrase "gamble " is pretty apt , except that i think All use of the vaccines is a gamble at the moment . Its also intersting that you mention playing politics regarding the vaccines , this is something that is happening throughout europe in particular , countries vying for a limited supply and kicking off when they dont get it . Its intersting to me when i read the numbers of each vaccines ordered by country for example , i think we in the uk have pre ordered over 200 million doses , way above our populace , as have the eu . It reminds me of the ppe fiasco last march where the world was all chasing ventilators and masks at the same time . Maybe our government learnt , and thats why they got in early and ordered vaccines before anyone else
Out of interest where did anyone blame people driving 5 miles to walk for the pandemic ?
EDIT , forgot about starmer
Why have the opposition been absent by the way ? Starmer seems like a decent bloke , but he seems terrified , not sure what of , but he has no voice . As for the lib dems ive not heard a sniff from them throughout , which is a discrace