2hats
Dust.
Doubtless this has been covered elsewhere (sorry, only just catching up; there is lots to do) but the word 'mumsnet' and phrase 'great advice' should be kept at maximum spatial separation at all times.
General Coronavirus (COVID-19) chat
- Thread starter phillm
- Start date
phillm
Trolling through Life (TM)
Yes I've been well spanked for that.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
Have you upset them or something?
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I dunno. I'm using reusable bags.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
Maybe they hate bananas.
Cid
Proper break this time
If this is to be the sticky general chatter thread, can we replace it/merge with the original thread (Coronovirus: cases triple)?
very good infographic, even though a business site, didn't even know there had been a PLAGUE IN 1855.
editor
hiraethified
Rail companies fucked too
Train companies seek bailout as coronavirus hits passenger numbers
Train operators are in talks with government to slash services as passenger numbers fall.
www.bbc.co.uk
Thought I'd share this article (hidden behind paywall) from Research Professional News
Seems to me to show serious failure on behalf of the government to protect the British population from this virus. Apparently the government has closed vaccine centers for a quick, short-term buck. If this is true then it means that austerity is directly responsible for the failure of the government to deal with this crisis.
Maybe we need a thread about how austerity is effecting this pandemic? Especially as school closures are going to mean pupils from poor families going without food, as it's the schools that are feeding them..
UK lacks capacity to make own coronavirus vaccine, experts say
Historic UK under-investment in this area of R&D might mean jabs are in short supply
Virology experts have warned that should a vaccine against the global coronavirus outbreak be developed, historic under-investment in this area of R&D in the UK might mean jabs are in short supply when they eventually materialise.
“Some countries still have state serum institutes whose mission is to ‘protect against infectious disease’ and making vaccines is one of their roles,” Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, told Research Professional News.
“But in the UK these have long gone and although there have been recent initiatives to correct the obvious deficit they are not yet up and running, nor is their remit really manufacture—more trial batches of experimental vaccines.”
As of 10 March, some 382 people in the UK had tested positive for the virus—including health minister Nadine Dorries—and eight had died. More than 26,000 people had been tested.
“In a truly worldwide crisis, the sovereign states who host [vaccine manufacturing] sites would understandably want their own needs met before they would agree to allow export elsewhere,” Jones said.
“Not to have any such manufacturing options within its own borders puts a country at the back of the queue when the vaccine is requested, despite the technology to make it being very transferable.”
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has asked for $2 billion (£1.5bn) to develop and make vaccines against the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, making hundreds of millions of doses available through a globally fair allocation system within 12-18 months.
The requirements for a vaccine for most coronaviruses are well known, said Jones, so the issue is not vaccine discovery.
“In fact, [a vaccine] is already available,” he said, noting that a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 protein was being advertised on commercial websites within four weeks of the virus’s genetic sequence being released.
“In essence this is vaccine material although it is not manufactured as such, it is sold for research use only, but its availability so quickly shows that to produce a vaccine using material of this type is also not an issue.”
The hold-up is the need to conduct lengthy trials to test efficacy and safety.
“What is galling about the current situation is that years of research, mostly publicly funded, has told us what to do and provided the tools and technologies to do it,” Jones said. “Yet some combination of the established and the sacrosanct prevents it being shaken by the throat and done.”
One hope in the medium term is the UK’s first dedicated Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, in Harwell, near Oxford, which is expected to be up and running by 2022. But even this centre will not be able to handle large epidemics without millions in further funding, experts have said. The centre has received £66m through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Medicines Manufacturing challenge.
Matthew Duchars, chief executive of the VMIC, told Research Professional News that the centre could support vaccine production for first responders and to help contain local outbreaks with up to a million doses.
“The facility has not been designed to respond to a more widespread outbreak such as a pandemic situation, where many more doses, i.e. millions, would be required,” he said. “In order for VMIC to be able to respond to a potential pandemic situation, such as the current coronavirus outbreak, the facility would need to be scaled up.”
“This would require larger scale equipment, more staff and the building to be expanded,” Duchars said, estimating that a further £40m would be required for the upgrade “to provide surety for domestic supply”.
“Currently we are having to look abroad to find sufficient capacity and in situations where entire countries are being locked down (e.g. Italy), that is proving difficult! Additionally, it is no good having the facility if it is not kept operational. Hence the need to maintain it in a qualified state by keeping it ‘warm lit’.”
Duchars’s team is now considering asking for more money for such an upgrade.
Robin Shattock, an infection researcher at Imperial College London, told The Times on 7 March that a further £2-4m a year would be needed to keep the VMIC ready to ramp up production on demand.
The government seems open to funding vaccine research and manufacture, whatever it costs, given the Chancellor’s comments on 11 March when presenting the budget.
Rishi Sunak promised that “whatever extra resources our NHS needs to cope with coronavirus—it will get…whether its research for a vaccine, recruiting thousands of returning staff…whether its millions of pounds or billions of pounds…whatever it needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our NHS”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
Seems to me to show serious failure on behalf of the government to protect the British population from this virus. Apparently the government has closed vaccine centers for a quick, short-term buck. If this is true then it means that austerity is directly responsible for the failure of the government to deal with this crisis.
Maybe we need a thread about how austerity is effecting this pandemic? Especially as school closures are going to mean pupils from poor families going without food, as it's the schools that are feeding them..
UK lacks capacity to make own coronavirus vaccine, experts say
Historic UK under-investment in this area of R&D might mean jabs are in short supply
Virology experts have warned that should a vaccine against the global coronavirus outbreak be developed, historic under-investment in this area of R&D in the UK might mean jabs are in short supply when they eventually materialise.
“Some countries still have state serum institutes whose mission is to ‘protect against infectious disease’ and making vaccines is one of their roles,” Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, told Research Professional News.
“But in the UK these have long gone and although there have been recent initiatives to correct the obvious deficit they are not yet up and running, nor is their remit really manufacture—more trial batches of experimental vaccines.”
As of 10 March, some 382 people in the UK had tested positive for the virus—including health minister Nadine Dorries—and eight had died. More than 26,000 people had been tested.
“In a truly worldwide crisis, the sovereign states who host [vaccine manufacturing] sites would understandably want their own needs met before they would agree to allow export elsewhere,” Jones said.
“Not to have any such manufacturing options within its own borders puts a country at the back of the queue when the vaccine is requested, despite the technology to make it being very transferable.”
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has asked for $2 billion (£1.5bn) to develop and make vaccines against the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, making hundreds of millions of doses available through a globally fair allocation system within 12-18 months.
The requirements for a vaccine for most coronaviruses are well known, said Jones, so the issue is not vaccine discovery.
“In fact, [a vaccine] is already available,” he said, noting that a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 protein was being advertised on commercial websites within four weeks of the virus’s genetic sequence being released.
“In essence this is vaccine material although it is not manufactured as such, it is sold for research use only, but its availability so quickly shows that to produce a vaccine using material of this type is also not an issue.”
The hold-up is the need to conduct lengthy trials to test efficacy and safety.
“What is galling about the current situation is that years of research, mostly publicly funded, has told us what to do and provided the tools and technologies to do it,” Jones said. “Yet some combination of the established and the sacrosanct prevents it being shaken by the throat and done.”
One hope in the medium term is the UK’s first dedicated Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, in Harwell, near Oxford, which is expected to be up and running by 2022. But even this centre will not be able to handle large epidemics without millions in further funding, experts have said. The centre has received £66m through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Medicines Manufacturing challenge.
Matthew Duchars, chief executive of the VMIC, told Research Professional News that the centre could support vaccine production for first responders and to help contain local outbreaks with up to a million doses.
“The facility has not been designed to respond to a more widespread outbreak such as a pandemic situation, where many more doses, i.e. millions, would be required,” he said. “In order for VMIC to be able to respond to a potential pandemic situation, such as the current coronavirus outbreak, the facility would need to be scaled up.”
“This would require larger scale equipment, more staff and the building to be expanded,” Duchars said, estimating that a further £40m would be required for the upgrade “to provide surety for domestic supply”.
“Currently we are having to look abroad to find sufficient capacity and in situations where entire countries are being locked down (e.g. Italy), that is proving difficult! Additionally, it is no good having the facility if it is not kept operational. Hence the need to maintain it in a qualified state by keeping it ‘warm lit’.”
Duchars’s team is now considering asking for more money for such an upgrade.
Robin Shattock, an infection researcher at Imperial College London, told The Times on 7 March that a further £2-4m a year would be needed to keep the VMIC ready to ramp up production on demand.
The government seems open to funding vaccine research and manufacture, whatever it costs, given the Chancellor’s comments on 11 March when presenting the budget.
Rishi Sunak promised that “whatever extra resources our NHS needs to cope with coronavirus—it will get…whether its research for a vaccine, recruiting thousands of returning staff…whether its millions of pounds or billions of pounds…whatever it needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our NHS”.
UK lacks capacity to make own coronavirus vaccine, experts say - Research Professional News
Historic UK under-investment in this area of R&D might mean jabs are in short supply
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
Last edited:
phillm
Trolling through Life (TM)
CofE has issued guidance - sorry to report that Intinction isn't on but apparently it was a papish practice anyway. All very wonderful in a Monty Python sort of way...
www.churchofengland.org
en.wikipedia.org
and there are laws.....
Please note that the distribution of individual cups for use by communicants is not a lawful practice in the Church of England. (broad Church my arse)
Suspend the use of holy water stoups.
And this is a kicker
Refrain from passing collection plates around.
Wash vestments (surplices, cassocks) on the hottest cycle you can without damaging them. Chasubles etc. which could become contaminated, may not be able to be washed. Instead, they should be securely stored away from people, ideally in a well ventilated and brightly sunlit area, for at least 48 hours before re-use,
Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance | The Church of England
Guidance and advice on COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus, for churches and parishes.
Intinction - Wikipedia
and there are laws.....
Please note that the distribution of individual cups for use by communicants is not a lawful practice in the Church of England. (broad Church my arse)
Suspend the use of holy water stoups.
And this is a kicker
Refrain from passing collection plates around.
Wash vestments (surplices, cassocks) on the hottest cycle you can without damaging them. Chasubles etc. which could become contaminated, may not be able to be washed. Instead, they should be securely stored away from people, ideally in a well ventilated and brightly sunlit area, for at least 48 hours before re-use,
Last edited:
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
factor in populations and the contrast is even more stark - and they could at least have had seasonal flu as a reference point ...
It says a lot about how unacceptable such deaths are deemed now - though mainly when it directly affects the upper classes ... plus of course in the past there was rarely anything they could do about it ..
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
Double dipping
editor
hiraethified
Apols if already posted
Private Eye Magazine | Official Site - the UK's number one best-selling news and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop
The official site for Private Eye magazine, the UK's number one best-selling news and current affairs publication edited by Ian Hislop. Subscribe here for only £45 a year.
www.private-eye.co.uk
editor
hiraethified
Depressing stuff
www.vulture.com
Coronavirus Should Be a Turning Point for the Music Industry
It’s the nightmare scenario that calls the viability of the whole business structure into question.
www.vulture.com
2hats
Dust.
Well played Germany
Amazingly, CEO of biopharmaceutical company understands how vaccines work better than Trump does.
Mation
real life adventure worth more than pieces of gold
Be good to see a second hour, later in the day, too. Chances of my parents being up and about that early are zero.
sihhi
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered
He will reference this in future as the bodies get dumped in the ground, saying he was straight with everyone.
Again another media source claiming to have 'seen reports or tip off' so hardly scientific facts. Still a concerning read and does not sound unnecessarily alarmist.
amp.theguardian.com
UK coronavirus crisis 'to last until spring 2021 and could see 7.9m hospitalised'
Exclusive: Public Health England document seen by Guardian says four in five ‘expected’ to contract virus
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Their moto is "Themselves first, always".
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