[TravellerBob]

@TravellerBob I'd suggest being a bit nicer to the admin team. They are paid crappy wages to deal with some very crappy people in a really crappy system.

Admins here you mean? I thought it was voluntary?!

Back on topic the 4 bigwigs want to jab your kids - I guess it'll make someone feel like something's being done

We're about to hear more from the UK's four chief medical officers on their advice to offer all healthy 12 to 15-year-old children a Covid jab.

The line-up at the press conference is:

Chief Medical Office for England Prof Chris Whitty
Chief Medical Officer for Scotland Dr Gregor Smith
Chief Medical Officer for Wales Dr Frank Atherton
Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland Dr Michael McBride
Also at the press conference is the chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Dr June Raine, and Prof Wei Shen Lim from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-58542140

[JAFO]

We're about to hear more from the UK's four chief medical officers on their advice to offer all healthy 12 to 15-year-old children a Covid jab.

The line-up at the press conference is:

Chief Medical Office for England Prof Chris Whitty
Chief Medical Officer for Scotland Dr Gregor Smith
Chief Medical Officer for Wales Dr Frank Atherton
Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland Dr Michael McBride
Also at the press conference is the chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Dr June Raine, and Prof Wei Shen Lim from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

I'm waiting to hear from all of the people who think that their own ten minutes of research is better than the combined knowledge of Prof Chris Whitty; Dr Gregor Smith; Dr Frank Atherton; Dr Michael McBride; Dr June Raine; and Prof Wei Shen Lim. That'll be far more entertaining.

[eltonioni]

Too easy.

Professor Andrew Pollard, Chair (University of Oxford)
Professor Lim Wei Shen, Chair COVID-19 immunisation (Nottingham University Hospitals)
Professor Anthony Harnden, Deputy Chair (University of Oxford)
Dr Kevin Brown (Public Health England)
Dr Rebecca Cordery (Public Health England)
Dr Maggie Wearmouth (East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust)
Professor Matt Keeling (University of Warwick)
Alison Lawrence (lay member)
Professor Robert Read (Southampton General Hospital)
Professor Anthony Scott (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
Professor Adam Finn (University of Bristol)
Dr Fiona van der Klis (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Netherlands)
Professor Maarten Postma (University of Groningen)
Professor Simon Kroll (Imperial College London)
Dr Martin Williams (University Hospitals Bristol)
Professor Jeremy Brown (University College London Hospitals)
Ms Anne McGowan
Dr Lorna Willocks
Dr Jillian Johnston
Dr Julie Yates

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/jo ... munisation

[JAFO]

Too easy.

Clearly you didn't listen to Professor Whitty's answer to that point in the press conference. I'll let you catch up on the iPlayer.

[eltonioni]

@JAFO you're right, I haven't listened to it but I will try to find time later and I'm sure you will be correct that there is some explanation / hand waving. I'm not especially bothered about children being vaccinated per se, just the act of minors being coerced by governments against their parents' wishes.

There is some more good news today though. By any measure this should colour anyone's opinion on all things Covid from lockdowns and covid passports to masks and vaccines. There's something positive for everyone here and it is a clear signal that life should return to what passes as normal.

Only 59 fully vaccinated people without serious health conditions died from Covid-19 out of more than 50,000 deaths in England this year, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

In the first study of deaths by vaccination status, the ONS found that around 99 per cent of Covid-19 deaths between January 2 and July 2 2021 were in people who had not had two doses.

Overall 640 (1.2 per cent) of deaths were in those who had received both vaccine doses, but the ONS said many of those could have been infections picked up before the second dose.

Just 256 deaths (0.5 per cent) were considered true “breakthrough” infections where the second dose had long enough to work, but still did not offer protection.

However, the average age of those “breakthrough” infections was 84 and the majority (76 per cent) were classed as “extremely clinically vulnerable”. Just 59 did not have serious medical conditions.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... -says-ons/

[TravellerBob]

@eltonioni brilliant news.

It's all coming together nicely now.

[TravellerBob]

As promised, an update on the situation in Antarctica:

Antarctica reported its first cases of Covid-19 in late December 2020. While scientists who observed strict quarantine rules sailed to the continent from the UK in November 2020, tourism remains severely restricted, with many cruise companies canceling their operations for the brief summer season.

What's on offer
A remote icy wilderness at the end of the world, trips to Antarctica have grown in popularity in recent years, with travelers sailing across the Drake Passage from South America to catch a glimpse of sprawling penguin colonies, breaching whales and rare seabirds.

Who can go
Because Antarctica is a scientific preserve, special teams have been able to restart research work on the continent from the end of 2020. While tourism isn't banned, the fact that most visitors can only arrive via ship means it's almost impossible to go right now, as many cruises are not running at this time.

What are the restrictions?
Antarctica's unique position as an internationally administered region means that it isn't subject to Covid restrictions. However, because tourists access the continent from Chile and Argentina, they are subject to the entry rules of those countries. Travel to Argentina is off limits to all but nationals and permanent residents, who must present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure.

Chile has been open to tourists from all countries since December 8; however, all travelers must have proof of a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before departure, complete a health form and have travel insurance to cover the cost of Covid-related health care up to $30,000.

While all major cruise companies canceled operations for the 2020/21 season, summer season in the Southern Hemisphere, which occurs in late 2021, looks set to go ahead.
However, capacity will likely be reduced on most, if not all voyages, and cruise lines could issue safety protocols that require passengers to be fully vaccinated.

What's the Covid-19 situation?
The first cases of Covid on Antarctica were reported on December 22, with 36 researchers and military personnel testing positive at a Chilean research base. Only a small number of full scientific expeditions to Antarctica have gone ahead since the pandemic began.

On January 8, a Spanish research ship headed to the continent from Spain was diverted after a coronavirus outbreak on board.

In March, 49 people stationed at a Chilean base in Antarctica received the Covid-19 vaccine as part of the South American country's immunization program, and over 50 more were administered with their first dose in the following weeks.

What can visitors expect?
Any ships that do make it to Antarctica will find the waters far quieter than usual. If you're on a ship that allows disembarkation, expect there to be strict protocols about handling equipment and protective gear.

Link: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/ ... index.html

[kanga]

As promised, an update on the situation in Antarctica:

..

Just for Polar balance , latest from Nunavut:

https://www.gov.nu.ca/health/informatio ... oronavirus

" September 13, 2021
Total tests; Total confirmed cases; Total active cases; Total recovered cases; Deaths;
Total persons vaccinated with at least one dose in Nunavut; Total persons vaccinated with two doses in Nunavut
31,132; 659 ; 1; 654; 4
23,849; 21,074 "

Analogous websites for NWT:

https://www.gov.nt.ca/covid-19/en/services/updates

.. and Yukon:

https://yukon.ca/en/news/september-13-2 ... unt-update

[kanga]

A local (Gloucestershire) update on the GP syndicates' vaccination centre where we are volunteer marshals:

- busy walk-in session last Saturday, for 16+, Pfizer 1sts and 2nds. Many teenagers, of whom quite a few were newly arrived students at local Colleges and Boarding Schools. There's another session next week. All courteous and cheerful.

- sessions are indeed starting this week, by appointment, for those on GPs' own registers responding to invitations; but these are for 'flu not (yet) for Covid boosters as anticipated when rosters were first drawn up

I have no idea how typical this is of the County let alone of the rest of England or other UK nations; but it seems to be going well. The constraint (unsurprisingly) seems to be of promise of supplies of doses from NHS England; everything else is organised very locally.

[Propwash]

My wife and are are booked to go on holiday in November to the villa that we had booked last November but was cancelled due to Covid restrictions and the booking carried over (at last year's prices ).

We both had our second AZ jabs in April, so if the suggested booster jabs are actually offered after 6 months that would be sometime in October. My predicament is whether to accept them within a month of flying or defer them until we return. Neither of us suffered any reaction to the first 2.

What does the panel think?

PW

[PeteSpencer]

Take the jabs as soon as they're offered.

[eltonioni]

@kanga AIUI vaccine supplies ebb and flow on a daily, even an hourly basis. I know that Mrs E's practice (quite a large one) sometimes had plenty but some days have had none in a morning, had ring around and have some by the afternoon. Other days they are calling people they know to "come and get jabbed in the next hour or we're throwing it away". Sometimes they and the other practices do jabs in their surgeries and other times only the designated local hub practice hub does them. And then it all depends on whether that day they have 1st doses / 2nd doses, single dose vaccines or ones that need special freezers.

I presume that your practice is similar? All in all, the whole system from factory to arm seems to have done remarkably well to not have broken down completely.



@Propwash this might help or not - I got a reply from NHS Test & Trace about my borked Covid passport app. The upshot is don't have a positive test result within a couple of weeks of leaving on a jet plane. I ended my 10 day isolation on Friday but the app still hasn't given me my travel pass back on Tuesday.

National Customer Service Team (NHS App and Login)

13 Sep 2021, 08:56 BST

Thank you for your query.

At the moment, the COVID Pass implementation and guidance states that if you test positive and this test is registered with Track & Trace, your COVID Pass will be presented as amber or not at all shown (not eligible) for 10 days after your positive PCR test results.

If the above time period has passed, we recommend contacting 119 to confirm that you are no longer perceived as a positive case from Track & Trace to which the COVID Pass connects to in order to retrieve this information and that your positive PCR test has been recorded correctly under the exact same demographic details and NHS number as your NHS Login account that you use to sign into both, the COVID Pass service and the NHS App.
Kind regards,

National Customer Service Team, NHS App and NHS Login

Part of NHS Digital, http://www.digital.nhs.uk

^^ This information seems to be secret and known only to people with access to and knowledge of the "COVID Pass implementation and guidance".

It took considerable effort on my part as well as internal enquiries at the NHS App team to work out why my covid travel passport and vaccination records had disappeared.

That said, I have a paper letter with the information they would ask for, so presumably I could circumvent the borked app and get on a plane even during isolation albeit at risk of a fine. Probably best to send for the letter in the languages of your choosing if you haven't already.

[Propwash]

Take the jabs as soon as they're offered.

That would be an unquestioned answer were it not for flights. My wife is concerned that flying within a short period may increase her risk of clots. I have no strong opinions either way TBH because I simply don't know enough about the science, but harmony in the house is always my ultimate goal in life.

Mind I did see something that suggested the booster shot would probably be a different type to the original 2 and I think it was only AZ which carried a (very slight) risk of clots?

@eltonioni
We have paper passes with no expiry date. Not sure if they would work if we were tested positive before we travelled or whether they wouldn't. Ho hum.

PW

[TravellerBob]

I think it was only AZ which carried a (very slight) risk of clots?

PW

No. Incorrect. Both Pfizer and AZ have similar minimal likelihood.

Whether that relates to DVT or clotting from flights I have zero knowledge

[Paultheparaglider]

What does the panel think?

PW

The science is very clear on this one. It would be recklessly foolhardy to fly within two months of a booster jab. I don't have the references to hand, but trust me on this one.

Fortunately, Mrs PtP and I are a bit younger than you so our booster jabs will be after your booking. I suggest you transfer the bookings to our names and we will go on your behalf. I promise to send you daily videos so you don’t feel you are missing out.

And, on the plus side, you won't have to worry between now and the trip that those ER clots will block your way to the airport. We will take on that worry from you.