General Chat

No, not one of you! The South African mutation of the covid virus has now been found in Liverpool and Bristol as well as those places announced last night.

worrying because of the spread defeating the vaccine.

I mentioned to OH days ago that the Jansen vaccine would work well in the third world.

Whatever you think of our government be glad you are not in Tanzania where they are not going to use vaccines but will rely on steam inhalation and herbal concoctions.

Something to chew on?

When I spoke to my 'genes man' yesterday morning he told me that for those like me, who have had the first AZ jab, the ideal scenario would be to have the Russian Sputnik jab as our second dose because of the way it works . It is currently going through the acceptance process

(I wish I had written this down but here goes .......)

Apparently - and this is from memory - it has something to do with using a bit of the genetic code from the virus's protein and placing it into a monkey virus. It introduces a foreign body, thus producing antibodies.

Primed against the monkey virus, our system attacks that, effectively wiping it out, meaning that there is a much lower chance for the cv protein to be released.

(I may not have got it all exactly right but that is the gist of what I remember him telling me.).

There must be something online we can read about it in some scientific journal because that is one of the ways he keeps in touch with what is going on in his field of expertise even though he is well-retired.

He also said we ought to put national politics aside (which gives rise to a whole other subject) but what do you think the chances are of us having the Sputnik vaccination as our second dose after what has been going on?

It seems that that theory has been put out by the Russians. I would be interested to hear it from the AZ side.

British and Russian scientists are in the midst of testing the theory now so we'll know the results eventually.

I have not read much about the Janssen virus at all - practically nothing - but when I watched a WHO spokesperson mention vaccination in third world nations I did check statistics for Sub-Saharan African countries.

It led me to conclude that we need to ensure that the UK's vaccination system first needs to take care of our own citizens aged above at least 40.

In no ways do I want to infer a bias on my part but statistics show that countries comprising Sub-Saharan Africa have the youngest population in the world and at last count (2019 I believe) over 70% of the region's population was below 30 years of age.

Its over-70s account for roughly 1.7% of its population.

Our over-70s group amounts to around 15%+/- of the population and our higher proportion of population by age is 50-54 years

Its density, too, SSA was much lower. Our c426 people per square km makes us the most overcrowded 'large' nation in Europe.

Of course the virus must be combatted everywhere but it makes sense to first vaccinate the more susceptible older age groups then work our way among the global population by age.

As the Jannson Vaccine is given as one jab it seems a much better choice, eventually, for mass vaccination in poorer third world countries as you don’ t have the problem of trying to find the people for their second jab.

That makes perfect sense to me, names, though I am sure that some of those who represent us may puzzle to make sense of it at all. Such are the workings of their minds. :-S

:-D

By and large the third world suffers from what Dr Johnson used to call "beer income and champagne tastes. The ruling class in these countries compensates by corruption, stealing from the rest of the population and / or wars.

The costs of the vaccine itself are nugatory so I don't really see why most of them should not pay the piper themselves.

Even in Europe the costs of the vaccination are tiny - it is the hospitalisation and keeping the economy more or less afloat which is costing the earth. Tory traditionalists should not worry the debt will vanish into a sinking fund just as it did after the Napoleonic wars, WW1, WW2 and various financial crises dating back to the 1860s in the UK.

What is impossible is "living with the virus" - the characteristics demand that it has to be eradicated. Baroness Dido's incompetence, Johnson's laziness and Hancocks dependence on comic books are not a good mixture. Not that the opposition benches offer much better. "Not Trump" only delivered a thin and disputed victory to Biden. "Not Jeremy Corbin" is not of itself a winner.

"Our leaders are the finest men
So we elect them again and again
That's what I learned in school today
That's what I learned in school."
Pete Seeger

And on, and on and on.........