Member Info for Fruitsnveg

Except it wasn't pre-booked. The interviewer said they tried to get SSH on air the day before but he was being knighted. Something is afoot.

I thought the same Merchantman. ‘Other’ news before then??

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/test-and-trace-2025-covid-b1974905.html

Interesting timeframe.

One ought to never be shy with the cream Matterhorn! That sounds like my kind of mince pie, lashings of cream and the more brandy that gets doused on everything, the better. The dog doesn't move in our house lest she get's soaked in alcohol and devoured at Christmas ;-).
Smarties - not sure, I'll have to check!

Agree, let's park the vax debate and replace with some festive merriment in anticipation of THAT RNS! Leftover mince pie and packet of smarties to the correct date picker. I'm going for 29th December.

Wyndrum, I do understand people's fear. I was a lot more cynical about the vaccines safety profiles at the start of the pandemic, but perhaps in part because we spend so much time rooting through scientific papers etc here, I've become more comfortable with the data I've read and the time that has passed since vax'ing started and post-vax experiences. I think much can be done to improve the quality of data on the vaccines to make people more comfortable with the what the risks are and are not, outside of this BB. Just my view.

DOc83, mRNA vaccines are fairly new to the public. However, researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades. That body of work still carries weight. Much like our own adored SNG001. 15 years in the making but not yet approved. If we looked upon SNG001 with the same scepticism as MRNA technology, we would be sitting on a whole pile of nothing. But we are following the science here on IFNs, and it is showing us that it (a) works as far as we currently know and (b) is relatively safe as far as we currently know. Open minds, that's all we can ask for. Follow the science.

But because the technology can be deployed extremely rapidly, that in itself has created a level of doubt because we are not used to that speed without problems (i.e. 'how can it be safe when it seems to have been rolled out so quickly?'). But if you look into it MRNA technology has been around for a while.

Lots. Human trials of cancer vaccines using the same mRNA technology have been taking place since at least 2011.

My comment is in the context of Covid Wyndrum. I recall quite a few ICU doctors voicing the same opinion recently - having to put themselves at high risk to treat people who refuse point blank to be vaccinated, knowing that they will see the same patients back again taking up ICU beds when they get re-infected, most likely again, again and again. So, tell me, Is That fair?

It is a choice Doc83, you are quite right. Personally, if it were put to the vote, I'd choose to deny NHS access to those who refuse vaccination but expect free medical care. That would give them full and complete autonomy over their own destiny, access to the best private medical care money can buy (should they wish to stump up the cash) and thus lessen the burden on the NHS caused by the rest of us mere mortals who work so hard to fund it.

100% agree sharedealer. Very much a case of Me, Myself & I.

It is wholly simplistic to compare the UK demographic and the SA demographic and how the 2 relate to severity of Omicrom. The SA demographic is quite a lot different to ours, largely young, few in the elderly range compared to the UK. Why would it therefore cause severe disease in SA?
It shouldn't. But it could here. Something has spooked UK gov, we heard the change in language yesterday. I suggest it's data coming out on 'those people with Omicrom in hospital'. Bojo didn't look straight to camera last night and say " "Do not make the mistake of thinking Omicron can’t hurt you; can’t make you and your loved ones seriously ill" without good reason, IMHO.... Time will tell.

Agree Andy. I don't think it's what anyone here wanted (return to 'normal' would be good!) but it's looks like it's going to play out otherwise. Everything crossed that SNG001 makes it onto wards with good data behind it.

This just a while ago -the Chief Medical Adviser at the UK's Health Security Agency Susan Hopkins told the BBC a big wave is “coming straight at us.” “If we see even half the severity that we saw with Delta then we’re facing a very large number of hospitalizations and potential deaths,” she added.

“Speaking to the BBC, Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser of the UK Health Security Agency, said hospitals were diagnosing Omicron in an increasing number of people coming into emergency departments and that the numbers in hospital were expected to increase.
No deaths have been reported so far from Omicron, although it is just over two weeks since the variant was first detected in the UK, and there is normally a time lag of three to four weeks between infection and death, should that happen. “I think it’s too early to make any assumption at this point in time,” Hopkins said.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/12/uk-has-omicron-covid-patients-in-hospital-government-confirms

Emergency - tidal wave - severity.
The language has certainly changed from previous.

Pretty much every pharma company on the planet has a presence near Washington.

More specifics please?

Things have hit critical mass in some US states so it doesn’t surprise me that they are focussed on finding beds and ICU staff to deal with the surge. I don’t know if that’s the reason but it may explain priorities, e. g:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/585376-covid-19-situation-in-michigan-is-critical-as-cases-and%3famp

There is another study (on same site, and like this one not yet not peer-reviewed), that points to the opposite being the case: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.03.471024v1.full.

I note the Chinese study's competing interest statement. They maintain Nabs don't work against Omni, except for *their* 2 drugs.... Interesting.

Which study is correct?

Apols, full mtg minutes here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sage-98-minutes-coronavirus-covid-19-response-7-december-2021/sage-98-minutes-coronavirus-covid-19-response-7-december-2021