Coronavirus - Part Two.

[enntee]

51 minutes ago, El Cid said:

We have paid for a few different vaccines, that we may not use. Its been stated that some vaccines should be given to poor countries, but with new varriants coming, those vaccines may be worthless.

"may" or may not.
We have a very successful vaccination programme.

On of the reasons that we do, is because of the entrepreneurial approach as mentioned.

What's your point?

[apelike]

2 hours ago, enntee said:

"may" or may not.
We have a very successful vaccination programme.

On of the reasons that we do, is because of the entrepreneurial approach as mentioned.

Not sure it was an entrepreneurial approach. Most of the pharma companies and especially Astrazeneca were in the main paid to try and develop a successful vaccine and also paid in advance to deliver it. Successful yes but it was not very entrepreneurial as they didn't take much risk when it came to financing development and rollout. As stated already, £100's of millions were given to them so it hugely mitigated any risk. 

 

[Staunton]

That's right.

 

Boris Johnson would like us to believe that capitalism and greed enabled the success of the UK vaccine project. In fact, following the private sector catastrophe of the PPE scandal and the devastating failed promise of a world-beating outsourced test and trace project, the vaccine success is due entirely to social democratic mechanisms - up front public investment to encourage innovation in a sector that prefers to sell established staples - SSRIs, analgesics and nicotine patches; the use of legacy public education institutions; and supply of the finished product 'at cost' rather than to shareholder advantage, administered via the NHS.

[Magilla]

23 minutes ago, West 77 said:

The capitalism and greed comments were said in a joking manner to poke fun at a Tory whip who was gobbling down food while Boris Johnson was talking to Tory MPs in a private meeting.  

...and if you believe that, you really will believe anything!

[pattricia]

My neighbour is in his middle fifties and although registered with his GP for a Coronavirus jab, he hasn’t yet heard anything. He asked me if people can pay privately to have the jab.Does anyone know anything about this ?

[apelike]

2 hours ago, Staunton said:

Boris Johnson would like us to believe that capitalism and greed enabled the success of the UK vaccine project. In fact, following the private sector catastrophe of the PPE scandal and the devastating failed promise of a world-beating outsourced test and trace project, the vaccine success is due entirely to social democratic mechanisms - up front public investment to encourage innovation in a sector that prefers to sell established staples - SSRIs, analgesics and nicotine patches; the use of legacy public education institutions; and supply of the finished product 'at cost' rather than to shareholder advantage, administered via the NHS.

I think you should read post#4649 again.

 

While the AstraZeneca jab is being sold for now at cost they are set to make over £500M from it during that period and are the ones who decide when to increase the prices and sell it at the normal price after that. They are the ones who determine when they think the pandemic has waned and will then determine its future cost. The Oxford labs are set to get a 6% stake in future profits as are many others so in the end it is a capital enterprise and not a socialist one. They are also the ones who as I have said have been given £100 of millions of private and public money to help develop a successful vaccine. There is also no transparency or accountability as to how that money is/has been spent as it is a private operation with shareholders. The fact that they have have received money upfront for scaling up the vaccine production and to help speed that delivery up is another thing. As for the NHS, that is about the only bit that has a socialist history although some on here have disputed that in the past and made out it has been basically privatised in one form or another.

 

The development of the AstraZenica vaccine was also done using a known system that was just modified for coronavirus, tested in trials and then upscaled to meet demands and the reason why a working vaccine was available so quickly. The upscaling bit was the problem not the development of it.

 

At the moment shares in the vaccine companies are up and it will be interesting to see just how much profit these companies make from this pandemic in a year or so. Then will be the time to judge just how  socially democratic any of them were.

[Bargepole23]

50 minutes ago, West 77 said:

He should have had a letter from the NHS  informing him how to book an appointment online.  He should still be able to book online providing he knows his NHS number.  Otherwise he should contact his GP surgery because there is no option to go privately. My own GP surgery wrote to me after I had already booked online asking me for my telephone details because they claimed they didn't know them.  When I contacted them they told me to stick  with the online booking because the advantage is  I already have an appointment for my second dose.

Same here. It seems far simpler to book it online and get both appointments at once than spend time on the phone with a GP surgery. Some of the suggested locations were a bit distant, but Hathersage was an easy and pleasant 15 minute journey for me. Mansfield was the next nearest option, bit of a trek.

[pattricia]

9 minutes ago, Bargepole23 said:

Same here. It seems far simpler to book it online and get both appointments at once than spend time on the phone with a GP surgery. Some of the suggested locations were a bit distant, but Hathersage was an easy and pleasant 15 minute journey for me. Mansfield was the next nearest option, bit of a trek.

Thank you for your replies.

[apelike]

I received a letter but mine was booked and administered by my local GP surgery as they phoned me. I accepted the appointment simply because it's only a 10 minute walk away. On leaving the nurse gave me a card saying what vaccine I had and also an appointment date for the second jab. That seems to be the way its done with the local GP but I suppose some surgeries maybe more efficient than others. The main thing here is not to panic and cause yourself unnecessary worry.

[pattricia]

23 minutes ago, Bargepole23 said:

Same here. It seems far simpler to book it online and get both appointments at once than spend time on the phone with a GP surgery. Some of the suggested locations were a bit distant, but Hathersage was an easy and pleasant 15 minute journey for me. Mansfield was the next nearest option, bit of a trek.

Can you book online and still leave your name on your GPS list ? Did not kn

 

1 minute ago, apelike said:

I received a letter but mine was booked and administered by my local GP surgery as they phoned me. I accepted the appointment simply because it's only a 10 minute walk away. On leaving the nurse gave me a card saying what vaccine I had and also an appointment date for the second jab. That seems to be the way its done with the local GP but I suppose some surgeries maybe more efficient than others. The main thing here is not to panic and cause yourself unnecessary worry.

Thank you I will pass this information on to my neighbour. I wonder if you can book online but still leave your name on your GPS list.? I didn’t know that if you booked online you get a date for the second appointment at the same time.