Was that the case Jane? I thought every country was free to paddle their own canoe if they so wished. All the way from procurement through local approval to deployment. But they chose to act together and, unlike Johnson and Putin, they chose not to shortcut the approval process. Belgium is the latest to cast doubt on the AZ efficacy on over 55s. Personally, based on the past performance, I have little confidence in AZ data, or rather the lack of it.
I’m waiting for a Sputnik 
Yuri Gagarin for it, surely 
Well I might grasp a Phizer or a Moderna if they’re offered too 
Do you not use a Kindle or the like, John? I find that handy for books I am unlikely to reread…
My Daughter has been a great Kindle fan for years Angela and I suppose I should make the leap. The screen quality on her’s is very impressive. The iPad is a bit heavy to read with and I guess having yet another device is putting me off a bit. I have an old iPod that I load audiobooks onto and then potter around the place listening to. They’re also great for long journeys, not that I’m doing any of those these day 
Just a disclaimer: I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the book - it’s a Tory-on-Tory critique of Johnson, so no doubt suffers from the distorted view of the world inherent on the political right.
But within this ideological frame, Oborne (the author) does at least have some decent standards of honesty - he has mounted, for example, a fierce defense of Corbyn, because although he disagreed with most of Labour’s policies, he recognised that the UK media was distorting both them and the presentation of Corbyn the man: that indeed what they feared most about Corbyn was precisely his honesty (whereas Johnson’s dishonesty doesn’t seem to bother most of them at all).
I think the (very well chosen) photo in the Guardian pretty well sums up the two people in it.
An arrogant bully and a disinterested toff.
The one thing this whole sorry saga has done for me is to make me realise just how important EU unity is.
Because vaccines have been ordered at EU level, we don’t have Belgium against France against Germany against Spain all trying to grab what they can. Yes, it has started more slowly. But it’s happening.
I’m afraid vaccination in UK, while proceeding very fast, is being poorly handled - a lot of confusion, very poorly sited vaccination centres (if you don’t drive, tough, and a lot of over-75s don’t). And I have a nasty suspicion that the whole reason HMG is going big on vaccination is because they know that they’ve screwed up big time on letting the virus get out of control.
Probably true. But just be thankful Dido Harding wasn’t tasked to handle the roll out.
I think when this is all over the EU will re-evaluate it’s vaccine purchase strategy so it doesn’t make similar mistakes again, several member countries didn’t take their full allocation of the Pfizer and Moderna on the grounds of cost and a lack of the required healthcare infrastructure and the likes of Germany were able to buy up the ‘leftovers’ so their population will get vaccinated far quicker than poorer countries such as Bulgaria, hardly a show of EU unity.
Let’s say that they were persuaded.
The approval process was not shortcut, it was evaluated on a rolling basis, eliminating years of unnecessary waiting.
I agree that the government have had to compensate for their errors by getting vaccination right ,but can you please provide evidence/ links for the rest of your statement
If anyone is not near a vaccination center they can surely go to their local health center.
There are nearly 1500 vaccination centres already in England I have also heard of vaccinationators going to peoples houses if they are unable to travel If is so bad to get a vaccine how come over nine million have had at least one dose in England
Apparently not.
My father did not get an invitation to a vaccination till late in January. Neither his local surgery nor the local hospital could do it and he ended up having to get someone to drive him over 12 miles to a country Show site in the middle of nowhere where the vaccination centre had been set up.
The person who drove him there (he has age-related macular degeneraton so doesn’t drive) told him she’d already done it for a couple of other people and the wait had been up to four hours.
When he got back, he had received an invitation from the NHS in Bristol. He lives in Suffolk.
That’s … well, it just sounds pretty strange.
So you basically issued a sweeping statement about the whole of the England based on your fathers experience. Was your father invited for a vaccine in Bristol? Or was it a case as often happens in the NHS one area manages business for another ie my rheumatology appointments are booked through a different Trust but are local to attend,mammograms are at a local hospital but booked through another areas trust
No, I’ve heard similar stories from quite a few people I know in different areas of the country. I simply give the details of my father’s case which is the one I know best. (There’s also a very nasty scam appearing, a fake NHS letter that wants people to call and give their phone numbers, bank account numbers and so on. Not the govt’s fault, but worth knowing about so you can warn family members.)
And I’ll admit things in France have their peculiarities. Eure-et-Loir appears to be focusing on five big vaccination centres in the main towns, while Yvelines is giving the responsibility to individual doctors’ practices and private nurses, and in Reims apparently there’s a vaccibus. Each prefecture seems to be doing its own thing… a bit like they were with cartes de séjour.
I imagine that my family’s experience is rather more typical. The matriarch was contacted v early on, and has now had 2 doses. One of the over 75’s had a great experience of being contacted by text, getting a rapid appointment and going to an extremely well run centre for first dose. The other over 75 has not been contacted, and only after much pushing has my sister managed to get him an appointment in a neighbouring area (predominantly asian, so appts available) which was completely chaotic and badly run with lots of waiting. Neither have an apt for a second dose.
So I’d say overall 6/10…not bad, but room for improvement.
) now preordered.
