Vaccination FOMO
Mar. 19th, 2021 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiFor quite a while - I can't remember exactly when it changed - there was no clear statement on whether the whole UK adult population would be offered a covid vaccination, even though cumulatively the government had ordered enough doses to vaccinate everyone many times over. As someone not quite old or vulnerable enough to be in a higher risk group this ambiguity really wound me up - after all the months of lockdown, to then be told to go back out there as if nothing had happened would just not be right.
So it was quite a relief when the announcement was made that all adults would be offered the vaccine, and the news about timelines kept getting better. I had doubts about deviating from the manufacturers' schedule - after all, what are clinical trials for - though AstraZeneca seemed to be good at bungling theirs anyway, I fear to be pored over interminably by data scientists (FT | The Guardian) - but the programme seemed to be working. My Dad and my in-laws had first doses in January/February, and more recently friends a little older or with specific conditions have been posting about theirs. Meanwhile, the EU has been a complete shambles over the whole process. It does seem ironic that given all the Euro-myths about spending, on this occasion the EU chose to wrangle over pricing and indemnity, whereas the UK uncharacteristically just threw money at the problem (and had its lawyers write exclusivity clauses into its contracts).
This week's news about a sudden delay for the 40-49 age group is quite depressing; in an almost Yes Minister-esque plot, the numbers seem to have been falling ever since Nadhim Zahawi said "you will begin to see numbers starting to rise this month". Slipping from April to May means, if the schedule is maintained, slipping from July to August for a second dose; by then it may almost be time for an annual booster if there are dangerous variants emerging. I'm not looking to return to all of "normal", but I'm also quite fed up by now of the enforced autarky.
So it was quite a relief when the announcement was made that all adults would be offered the vaccine, and the news about timelines kept getting better. I had doubts about deviating from the manufacturers' schedule - after all, what are clinical trials for - though AstraZeneca seemed to be good at bungling theirs anyway, I fear to be pored over interminably by data scientists (FT | The Guardian) - but the programme seemed to be working. My Dad and my in-laws had first doses in January/February, and more recently friends a little older or with specific conditions have been posting about theirs. Meanwhile, the EU has been a complete shambles over the whole process. It does seem ironic that given all the Euro-myths about spending, on this occasion the EU chose to wrangle over pricing and indemnity, whereas the UK uncharacteristically just threw money at the problem (and had its lawyers write exclusivity clauses into its contracts).
This week's news about a sudden delay for the 40-49 age group is quite depressing; in an almost Yes Minister-esque plot, the numbers seem to have been falling ever since Nadhim Zahawi said "you will begin to see numbers starting to rise this month". Slipping from April to May means, if the schedule is maintained, slipping from July to August for a second dose; by then it may almost be time for an annual booster if there are dangerous variants emerging. I'm not looking to return to all of "normal", but I'm also quite fed up by now of the enforced autarky.