Member Info for RegulatorUK

Oops... the the link about you need to take out the ')...'

https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/Area/Search/vaccine_development

I think people are getting confused about what is being said about the Oxford vaccine and what is happening in the trial and conflating the two.

In vaccine trials, you test for antibodies before giving the trial vaccine and afterwards. That's firstly to ensure the trial participants do not have antibodies before being given the trial vaccine and then to test whether the vaccine has provoked an antibody response.

When a vaccine is rolled out for general use, you do not normally test for antibodies before giving it (the fact you may have existing antibodies doesn't mean you are automatically excluded from getting a vaccine) - and not always afterwards either (only for some vaccines, e.g. Yellow Fever). I've had a quick look at what has been published by those undertaking the University of Oxford vaccine trial and can't see anything that actually says that - once it is rolled out for general use - there will be a requirement for an antibody test before vaccination. I think some people in the media may have misunderstood and conflated the two phases.

I'm sure if I am wrong you'll be able to point me to something formally published by the Oxford team (https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/Area/Search/vaccine_development)...

"I thought they'd been trialing it?!
That they missed that is - let's go with - alarming."

They've been trialing some of the functionality but I'm not sure that includes the check-in function. As I understand it (and I may be wrong) the required QR codes have only just been released.

"it means you don't need it until it fades."

No - it just means they need to exclude people who already have antibodies. They want people without antibodies to be able to tell if the vaccine then provokes antibodies. It's no use giving a trial vaccine to someone who already has antibodies as you won't be able to tell if the vaccine is effective or not.

This is basic vaccine development 101...

"If I built the app, I would assume people would forget to check out and have another way of doing it.

You could default to 4 hours, then assume they've gone. Or check GPS to see if they moved 100 meters (or whatever). No way would I rely on users remembering to manually check out. Although manual check-out should probably be an option.

I presume whoever built it, has done something similar."

Nope. Basically, unless you check in somewhere else (which won't always happen) you remain checked in at the first place until midnight of that day. It's bonkers and could potentially lead to huge numbers of people being told to isolate when its not necessary.

It's a fundamental flaw they'll need to address if they want to get real traction with the app.

Apparently, once you 'check in' somewhere, using the app, there's no option to check out. Unless you check in somewhere else, you're shown as being at that place until midnight.

So you might go to a cafe for breakfast but, because you can't log out, if someone comes in during the evening with Covid you'd be told to isolate - even though you'd left hours before.

This looks interesting...

They're getting desperate now...

The tests that are in short supply and causing the issues* are the molecular and antigen tests - not the antibody tests.

*Unless you're on the vaccine trial (as my other half is) where testing seems to be very good.

Seems they're bricking it...

I wonder if we'll get back into defamation territory, as happened yesterday? If we do, I can see the moderators getting rid of a few more accounts (which won't be a bad thing).

"Moaning kents galore this morning......bore off"

Yep.

Yaxley has a significant track record in pharmaceuticals.

The trolls are obviously rattled about something.

"The moment I turn on my Bluetooth on my phone.. Even without connecting to anything, my battery just drains"

Get yourself a decent phone...

*Yawn*

They never learn...

You can turn the scanning off for set periods (4, 8 and 12 hours) and get a reminder to turn it back on.

Got it working again but app is flaky...

Oops! Started working and crashed within minutes. Says being blocked by another app.

The app has gone live! Let’s see what tomorrow brings...

We’ve got a book running on how long until it crashes.