And as the CEO of Pfizer pointed out to the bleating EU mandarins. The UK signed a contract 3 months before the EU pulled it's finger out of its tardy arse and is therefore 3 months ahead in its vaccination program. He believes the UK can have 30m vaccinated by the end of March.
I'm not a doctor or anything, but... yeah, that's kinda the point. I'm not a doctor, and neither are the politicians.Originally Posted by goji
I'm pretty sure Pfizer didn't put out a two dose regiment just for shits and giggles. I'll listen to the guys who made the vaccine moreso than politicians.
As far as I can tell cdnmatt, the decision to extend the second dose of the vaccine from the Pfizer-BioNTech recommended 6 weeks to 12 weeks was not that of politicians, but of the UK Government’s medical advisers, but it has been criticised by other health professionals.
The following article from the MailOnline dated 23 January 2021 quotes Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, as follows:
Source: MailOnlineProf Van-Tam also hit back at doctors who have criticised the decision to extend the gap between the first and second doses of the vaccine to 12 weeks.
The British Medical Association has written to the chief medical officer for England urging a rethink, saying that in the case of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine a maximum gap of six weeks had been mandated by the World Heath Organisation (WHO).
Prof Van-Tam said that extending the gap was the quickest way to get a first dose to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.
He said: “But what none of these (who ask reasonable questions) will tell me is: who on the at-risk list should suffer slower access to their first dose so that someone else who’s already had one dose (and therefore most of the protection) can get a second?”
BMA council chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said that while he understood the “rationale” behind the decision, no other country is taking the UK’s approach.
“We think the flexibility that the WHO offers of extending to 42 days is being stretched far too much to go from six weeks right through to 12 weeks,” he said.
“Obviously the protection will not vanish after six weeks but what we do not know is what level of protection will be offered. We should not be extrapolating data where we don’t have it.”
Remember: Coughs and sneezes spread diseases
Quick clarification there, Pfizer suggests the second dose after 21 days, not 42 days and definitely not 84 days. Moderna suggests second dose of theirs after 28 days.
Remind me though, who do the government medical advisors work for? Who are their bosses? Oh right, politicians. Granted, and I will give you, they're generally allowed to complete their work independent of any political concerns, and I think that pretty much goes the world over. However, you can't tell me the pressure to provide the "right" answer doesn't sometimes sway their judgement so they can provide an aswer their boss wants when they otherwise wouldn't.
I don't know, various provinces in Canada are thinking about doing the same, and I think Ontario has even started doing it. All I know if I I end up with the Pfizer vaccine, I want my second dose in 21 days, and if the Moderna vaccine, second dose in 28 days. That's what the scientists who developed the vaccines recommend for optimal immunity, so I'll go with that. I'll happily wait an extra 2 or 3 months for new supply to come in if that means the difference of whether or not I get the correct regiment.
The current “it’s ours”, “no it’s not, it’s ours” spat between the EU and everybody else about vaccine production points to the common fallacies of many economists - markets operate without friction and supply chains are uninterrupted. I’d have thought wingnut has every reason to be concerned. As Jellybean should know, once a politician has announced a policy decision the civil servants - even if they’re medical experts - must fall into line.
The UK has been ahead of the pack with regards to the vaccine from the get go. If the country was lagging behind in this then the knives would be out for Boris. He deserves total credit for the success.
Politically this is a big thing for the EU. They've spent the last 4 decades being able to dictate terms to pretty much everybody and now Boris shows up and simply refuses to play ball. A possible domino effect in reverse is at the back of their minds.
goji (January 28th, 2021)
If developed countries did the exact opposite to what the tossers at the WHO recommended, we would be in a much better situation.
The exact opposite would have included stopping all flights out of China just over a year ago in January 2020. Instead of allowing rapid spread around the world, THEN trying to shut everything down.
The WHO were not recommending mask wearing for months after academic papers showed a likely benefit.
So any government ignoring WHO advice on vaccine deployment has probably seen the light. Since the UK is a major WHO funder, we should demand that Tedross is sacked before writing out the next cheque. He's clearly useless.
Yeah, the WHO... useless sacks of shit. Now folks like Boris and Trump on the other hand, we need to listen up to them, because they obviously have their finger on the pulse and know what they're talking about.
Oh, and I guess did Ontario did start doleing out the second doses as first doses a while back. The government said no worries, supply chain is solid and they'll have lots of vaccine for everyone to get the second dose in time after 21 days. Then Pfizer abruptly cut Canada's supply by 50% while they expand manufacturing capacity in Belgium. So much for that...
Hope it doesn't turn out that waiting 8 or 10 weeks for the second dose nulls and voids the first dose, resulting in everyone having to get vaccinated again a second time around with a third dose at the end.
Brad the Impala (January 29th, 2021)
greedy canadians...orddred enough to do their whole population 10 times...
Boris is an incompetent ineffective gambler. Every gambler gets one right eventually and his government took a huge gamble when they bought on spec a shitload of vaccines, prior to the completion of their trials. I am pleased that he finally, and apparently, got one right. Although it's taken nearly a year since all those Cobra meetings about Covid early last year which he was just too too busy to attend.
I write, apparently got one right, because although the UK is ahead of the curve on vaccination, the efficacy of the methods being used has yet to be demonstrated and everyone being vaccinated is effectively taking part in the Phase Four trials.
StevieWonders (January 29th, 2021)
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