COVID-19: Vaccine/antidote and testing procedures Megathread [Mod Warning - Post #1]

is_that_so

Russman wrote: »

I suspect he knows there's huge potential for screw ups and is setting the bar fairly low.
Maybe its a supply issue though, I mean we can test over 10k per day, no way should it take two months to inject 50k people, twice.

Really shouldn't be that much potential.

3 out of the first four groups are already subject to regular testing regimes. The HSE have organised and given over 1m flu' shots. They'll use the current framework and that should take care of the over 70s. After that there are only a few very large population groupings - 12,14 & 15 where they would be a challenge.

BryanMartin21

Stark wrote: »

Curious about the exact implementation of the certs if/when they happen.

I've gotten those vaccine cards a couple of times when getting travel vaccinations and the like. God knows where those cards are now, assuming they didn't end up in a bin. Same for my childhood vaccination cards. They also looked like something that could be very easily forged by anti-vaxxers from what I remember.

Here's hoping they have some secure digital system.

Travel abroad is the only realistic manner in which a vaccine passport can be implemented. It won't be implemented for doing things in Ireland.

Let's remember the scandal with the digital public services card which arose post-GDPR

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/state-could-face-legal-action-over-public-services-card-controversy-1.3988752

Deeper Blue

BryanMartin21 wrote: »

Travel abroad is the only realistic manner in which a vaccine passport can be implemented. It won't be implemented for doing things in Ireland.

Let's remember the scandal with the digital public services card which arose post-GDPR

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/state-could-face-legal-action-over-public-services-card-controversy-1.3988752

This is an unprecedented situation that can't be compared to anything that's gone before. If they think vaccine passports are necessary for things other than travel I have no doubt they'll be introduced, and rightly so.

Necro

Howard Beale wrote: »

Ignorance is only Bliss for so long young lady.

Mod:

Don't post in this thread again

Sweet.Science

Surely it should be advantageous that we are such a small country and have the youngest population in Western Europe

We should be able to get through our vulnerable people in society quicker than others

You would hope anyway

ShineOn7

They're really under-selling the speed of the roll-out of this on purpose aren't they?

If things move faster, then they look "good". If not, then it's a matter of "sure look, we told you"

funnydoggy

ShineOn7 wrote: »

They're really under-selling the speed of the roll-out of this on purpose aren't they?



If things move faster, then they look "good". If not, then it's a matter of "sure look, we told you"

Fingers crossed. It's a wise move for PR to be honest.

ixoy

ShineOn7 wrote: »

They're really under-selling the speed of the roll-out of this on purpose aren't they?

If things move faster, then they look "good". If not, then it's a matter of "sure look, we told you"

Yep, except of course this time - unlike before - we'll be able to make comparisons with all the other EU countries who all start on the same date. Be interesting to see if they fall behind, what excuses they try to weasel their way out (if they even bother).

Hmmzis

137,897

Number of people who have got the 1st dose in the UK. I guess they have sorted out their counting troubles.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-than-137000-people-in-uk-receive-first-dose-of-covid-vaccine-in-one-week

ShineOn7

funnydoggy wrote: »

Fingers crossed. It's a wise move for PR to be honest.

Can't agree with you here (and I usually do on most things)

It smacks of spin doctor nonsense. A vaccine to strangle a pandemic shouldn't be a PR exercise

seamus

funnydoggy wrote: »

Fingers crossed. It's a wise move for PR to be honest.

Even from a public health perspective. You never know what might happen - manufacturing issues, storage issues, traffic accident, air accident, terror attack - that could destroy or delay batches from arriving.

If a batch can be lost, but you can still say, "It's OK, we're still on schedule", people will stay calm. If a batch was, for example, to be lost because someone blew up a truck coming out of Belgium and populations had to be told that the programme was set back by 3 months as a result, that's the kind of thing that can lead to riots, destabilise democracies and cause massive outbreaks.

ShineOn7

Headline

FDA finds Moderna COVID-19 vaccine highly effective but points out Bell's Palsy cases

Versus article

However, four cases of Bell's Palsy were found among the trial participants- three among the vaccinated group and one in the placebo group. While the report concluded that these instances were not enough to prove any link to the vaccine, the authority called for monitoring for such cases in individuals receiving the vaccine.

https://gulfnews.com/world/americas/fda-finds-moderna-covid-19-vaccine-highly-effective-but-points-out-bells-palsy-cases-1.1608116485618

funnydoggy

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Can't agree with you here (and I usually do on most things)

It smacks of spin doctor nonsense. A vaccine to strangle a pandemic shouldn't be a PR exercise

Good points! Why is everything so off with Irish politics..

Neamhshuntasach

AdamD wrote: »

Which countries? I've travelled quite a lot and never been asked for proof of a vaccine. Not saying it won't happen but it is a bit of an alien concept

I've had to show proof of yellow fever vaccination when going into Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, French Guinea and Guyana. All when travelling over land. Didnt have to show when I flew into Brazil though. Ive also had to show for a number of African countries. Both land and air borders. Was advised to have proof for Asia. But never asked there. Neither land or airport border checks.

funnydoggy

What's the craic here? I've seen ivermectin pop up loads over the past few months with great potential.

odyssey06

funnydoggy wrote: »

What's the craic here? I've seen ivermectin pop up loads over the past few months with great potential.

Was discussed on this thread, it may be of some benefit but it's not a game changer based on small early studies.
A 5-day course of ivermectin treatment showed faster SARS-CoV-2 virus clearance compared to the placebo arm (9 vs.13 days; P = 0.02).
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=115596214#post115596214

funnydoggy

odyssey06 wrote: »

Was discussed on this thread, it may be of some benefit but it's not a game changer based on small early studies.
A 5-day course of ivermectin treatment showed faster SARS-CoV-2 virus clearance compared to the placebo arm (9 vs.13 days; P = 0.02).
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=115596214#post115596214

Thanks odyssey06

ixoy

ixoy wrote: »

Yep, except of course this time - unlike before - we'll be able to make comparisons with all the other EU countries who all start on the same date. Be interesting to see if they fall behind, what excuses they try to weasel their way out (if they even bother).

Why assume the worst. On most measures at the moment we are outperforming all of the EU

seamus

Looks like that surge of GP referrals on Monday did indeed herald an increase.

474 positive out of 13118. 3.61%. 7-day now 2.9%.

Pros: Wednesdays are often bad and we still need more data to establish the nature of the new trend
Cons: The trend is upward one way or another

Edit: Sorry wrong thread!

hmmm

funnydoggy wrote: »

What's the craic here? I've seen ivermectin pop up loads over the past few months with great potential.

The miracle cure crowd have moved on from Hydroxychloroquine to Ivermectin. If you can convince everyone there is a miracle cure, then reopening everything makes sense. The first use I heard of it for Covid was in Brazil and other parts of South America, where people were pretty desperate for a cure as their governments were doing feck all to slow the spread.

The evidence is mixed at best - very like HCQ at the beginning, some hints it might be effective but nothing spectacular.

ACitizenErased

Vaccination tracker, similar to worldometer:
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

BryanMartin21

https://www.thejournal.ie/nphet-advice-covid-vaccine-5301782-Dec2020/

Advice to NPHET on vaccine uptake: Build trust and consensus rather than enforcement

In advice issued to NPHET after reviewing international evidence, Hiqa said that the campaign to vaccinate Irish people should be largely based on consensus rather than penalties and enforcement.

Hiqa also stressed in its advice that potential barriers to equitable access to vaccines should be minimised and said that, given the unique situation of Covid-19, evidence from other vaccines such as seasonal flu is likely to have limited applicability to the situation we’re in now in terms of uptake, preference and behaviours.

During a meeting of its Covid-19 expert advisory group, Hiqa said: “It was noted that the majority of individuals do not have an inherent bias for or against a vaccine, but need to be assured and informed in terms of the evidence for potential benefit or harm relevant to them or their family.

There was agreement among [group] members that any policy aiming to maximise uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine needs to focus on trust, communication and knowledge. There is a need for communication to reassure the public of the process of vaccination approval by the EMA. While timelines have been shortened, processes have been carried out in parallel rather than sequentially and are robust. All vaccines, including the new Covid-19 vaccines, undergo the same rigorous evaluation process by regulatory authorities.

Hiqa’s advice also pinpointed the importance of healthcare workers in this process.

It said that in advance of any vaccination programme, healthcare workers should be provided with the necessary information for them to make informed decisions for themselves and also act as a trusted source of information for others.

Key figures within local communities, such as GPs, pharmacists, and religious and sports leaders were also pinpointed as important to provide with evidence-based information to help with engagement with the community.

Reasonable and common sense to a lay observer like myself.

ShineOn7

funnydoggy wrote: »

Good points! Why is everything so off with Irish politics..

I know, the mind boggles

It's been like this since the Charlie Haughey days. And maybe even before

I wonder, in this case, how much effect the competitive nature between EU countries on this in doing it right will affect Meehole & Co

Mehole strikes me as someone who couldn't care less if Ireland is last in Europe to vaccinate it's country, Whereas Leo is a whole different story.

His constant eye on self interest PR will want Ireland to be among the best in the EU at the roll-out

I'd rather Varadkar as Taoiseach for the roll-out right now. And this is the same eejit that injected Mean Girls quotes into his Covid speeches for a bet

What a fcuking country all the same

funnydoggy

hmmm wrote: »

The miracle cure crowd have moved on from Hydroxychloroquine to Ivermectin. If you can convince everyone there is a miracle cure, then reopening everything makes sense. The first use I heard of it for Covid was in Brazil and other parts of South America, where people were pretty desperate for a cure as their governments were doing feck all to slow the spread.

The evidence is mixed at best - very like HCQ at the beginning, some hints it might be effective but nothing spectacular.

Thanks hmmm. Always take these videos with a grain of salt, but I did see more positives with ivermectin than HCQ or remdesivir so was confused.

Micky 32

Dr Scally making the RTE app headline :

“Public health expert Dr Gabriel Scally has said that the Irish and UK governments should ask families to postpone family gatherings this Christmas to the summer solstice in June.

As an incentive for people to keep their distance from families over the coming holiday period, he said told RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne that two extra bank holidays should be offered in June 2021.

By then, he said, the vaccine rollout will have helped enormously.“

He seems optimistic about the vaccine roll out by the summer at least!

funnydoggy

ShineOn7 wrote: »

I know, the mind boggles

It's been like this since the Charlie Haughey days. And maybe even before

I wonder, in this case, how much effect the competitive nature between EU countries on this in doing it right will affect Meehole & Co

Mehole strikes me as someone who couldn't care less if Ireland is last in Europe to vaccinate it's country, Whereas Leo is a whole different story.

His constant eye on self interest PR will want Ireland to be among the best in the EU at the roll-out

I'd rather Varadkar as Taoiseach for the roll-out right now. And this is the same eejit that injected Mean Girls quotes into his Covid speeches for a bet

What a fcuking country all the same

Great post.

I've not laughed that hard in a while. Spot on

hmmm

funnydoggy wrote: »

Thanks hmmm. Always take these videos with a grain of salt, but I did see more positives with ivermectin than HCQ or remdesivir so was confused.

If it is effective then that would be great, but the way modern science tests this is through placebo-controlled trials - not anecdotes or papers which talk about success in treating small numbers of people. HCQ was thought to be helpful way back when after some small tests, but the larger trials showed it is possibly slightly more harmful than doing nothing.

ShineOn7

A Covid vaccination tracker https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Look at what country is the only one in blue

We need to get the fcuking finger out tbh

Deenie78

ACitizenErased wrote: »

Vaccination tracker, similar to worldometer:
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Is it really sad that I'm excited to see all the countries start to fill in with colour?!!

marno21

Scotland now have 0.33% of their population vaccinated according to that tracker, on a pro rata basis that would be equal to roughly 16,000 in Ireland.

For reference, the first 6 of our categories total 815,000

1. Over 65s nursing homes (30,000)
2. Frontline healthcare workers (95,000)
3. Over 70s (425,000)
4. Other healthcare workers (30,000)
5. 65-69 year olds (210,000)
6. Workers eseential to vaccine rollout (25,000)
7. High risk 18-64 year olds (165,000)
8. 18-64 year olds in overcrowded settings (90,000)
9. High risk key workers (160,000)
10. Education workers (100,000)
11. 55-64 year olds (510,000)
12. Other key workers (395,000)
13. All 18-54 year olds (1,350,000)
14. Pregnant women & children (1,250,000)

Source: twitter.com/RachelLavin/status/1338484785367408640/photo/1