COVID-19 — Coronavirus

[Churchlawtonblue]

The MHRA said they had worked incredibly hard and referred to “24/7” to get the vaccine approved. Key decision makers in the MHRA, including the CEO, started their careers with vocational training they typically included working 100 hour weeks. Yes the Americans and the EMA work hard too but maybe our guys have worked just that bit harder, as well as smarter.

Its great that they have done this so quickly. Maybe it will enable us to get more vaccines more quickly? while other agencies act more slowly.

 

[shemnel]

the absolute defence of MHRA is interesting - that's the EU and the US that have now questioned the UK's speed. Now, i dont know either way, but the jumping to the MHRA's defence is curious. But i suppose we will see in time.

 

[Bill Walker]

It's Wednesday evening here and I'm looking at a busy funfair in full swing.
They are more or less telling us that covid has been eradicated now in Australia.

I sincerely hope that the UK is in a much better position soon.
I have family over there and some of them are getting on.

We still cannot travel overseas (not since March) of course and noone can arrive here from overseas unless they are a citizen, in which case they have to go into a government nominated hotel for 2 weeks with security guards.

Strick rules with people adhering are the only way to get rid of this as has been proven by New Zealand and Oz.

 

[inbetween]

I see Fauci has been pouring cold water on the UK getting the Pfizer vaccine approved, implying that we’ve cut corners whereas the FDA over in the States are more thorough. Is it sour grapes or does he have a point? I’m no expert on all this but I’d have thought if his claims were true then surely we’d have gotten the Oxford/AZ vaccine approved first instead of the Pfizer one.

The reason the FDA is behind is basically as each clinical stage progresses a report will be made by the manufacturer which is submitted to the UK MHRA.

Once trials complete the manufacturer submits a request for approval to the MHRA based upon all of the reported results. The MHRA then takes the reports into consideration and scrutinises whether the data and reports are valid enough to allow approval.

The FDA however doesn't use these reports nor does it constantly assess the trials as they progress. Instead once approval is submitted they get all of the data from the trials and they come up with their own independent report if you like.

This may seem like the MHRA could be duped and the FDA are more rigorous but that isn't necessarily true. MHRA decision making is independent and it may do a better job of scrutiny. The FDA is also far more open to things like political interference given they report directly to the White House.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Its great that they have done this so quickly. Maybe it will enable us to get more vaccines more quickly? while other agencies act more slowly.

BBC 5 Live were saying there was optimism amongst the scientific community that the Oxford vaccine would be approved by Christmas. I think they are also going for EMA clearance who don’t seem to be put off by negative briefings from the States.

I think having the BioNtech / Pfizer vaccine approved puts us in a stronger position if we have to negotiate for additional vaccines, without getting exploited.

 

[mrbelfry]

As soon as we start getting vaccines then governments across the world will be under pressure to start vaccination. They will apply caveats to our haste to relieve pressure on themselves.

 

[vincent]

It's Wednesday evening here and I'm looking at a busy funfair in full swing.
They are more or less telling us that covid has been eradicated now in Australia.

I sincerely hope that the UK is in a much better position soon.
I have family over there and some of them are getting on.

We still cannot travel overseas (not since March) of course and noone can arrive here from overseas unless they are a citizen, in which case they have to go into a government nominated hotel for 2 weeks with security guards.

Strick rules with people adhering are the only way to get rid of this as has been proven by New Zealand and Oz.

Yeah no doubt Oz and NZ have handled this well. But very difficult to compare those countries to Europe and the US where hundreds of millions of people live and are both huge international travel hubs.

 

[hammocity]

We are about to start two new towers mate, building a new school in the city centre and a medical centre and a park. (In fact two parks! One of the towers a blade shape and 51 storeys and absolutely iconic. Another one 50 storeys in greengate. That skyline will look very different again in a few years time. Also have planning for a circular tower. Huge huge investment and jobs.

A lot of students deferred this year so we will be bursting next year. The new arena is coming and also the factory will be huge.

I have never been more confident that things will bounce back stronger than ever. The people of this city are something else and investment in this city will be immense. Lots of pension funds from all over the world have Manchester in their sites. Huge American funds.

How good will it be 54,000 lovely souls at the etihad! (That will be 62.000 far quicker than people would guess) It is weeks away!! (Might be 30 weeks but we can handle that!)

What do you think about Fred Done and his Salboy property arm? I was his Account Manager many years ago (when he was just North West based) and he treated me really well, not seen him for years but he is one of the most quietly determined characters I ever met, not bad for a Salford lad who started off with one betting shop in his home City.

 

[blueparrot]

My daughter has been told she should be done by Christmas.(first dose at least)

Quick update, she's been booked in to get it next week now, good news for the parrot family.

 

[AlgarveBlu]

Interesting news that Jersey a tiny island is going into a major lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period - you would have that thought that the local government would have had a major advantage over other places with only two small corridors into the island.

Jersey has announced new circuit-breaker restrictions with all hospitality venues and indoor sports facilities to close, PA Media reports. The measures are being put in place from Friday as the reproduction number - the R value - of coronavirus is understood to have reached between 1.6 and 2.0 on the Channel Island. The Jersey government has said it will keep the measures under review but they are expected to remain in place until January 4.