Another pointless thread

First weekend of December = Tree Up

First day of January = Tree Down



p.s. Don't do it the other way round - 11 months of Christmas is simply too much!

Mrs K10D removed the deco's yesterday. A reasonably quick affair as there were a lot less in place this time round.

Decorations down on Wednesday here. But they don't go up until a week before Christmas. That way, we're not fed up with them before the Big Day and the real tree doesn't have as much chance to drop its needles before it has to come down. When the tree goes, I always miss the quiet flashing in the corner of the room.

Steve

Bozzo's on the box, here we go...

...again

Today, I broke open a couple of Chinese fortune cookies that had been hanging around since our last Chinese takeaway (during the November lockdown!). In the first was "An unexpected news brings you surprises and happiness". In the second was "A holiday is in sight". Any suggestions where Mrs L and I can go in the next month or two??

Steve

I hear the Dorset coast can be very nice!

Very similar here. Always have a party on the sixth and take everything down before I go to bed. No party this year, but probably some form of zoom get together.

Just heard from a relative working in a surgery that the contact process to give jabs to vulnerable patients is in chaos. The system generates a list who are contacted by phone, if they don’t answer and the call ends they are recorded as having been contacted and cannot be called again. In many cases there is no means of leaving a message so large numbers of the most vulnerable are being bypassed.

My fiancé has had her jab this morning. They took names in the hospital pharmacy where she works, after which it was seemingly random.
Was told this morning that she had an appointment for early this afternoon. All done, slightly achy arm a la flu jab and nothing else.
Back to work this afternoon.

Worth noting that the Pfizer vaccine comes in batches, each batch must be used pretty quickly because of temperature issues. If there is any left from a batch after top priority people have been dealt with (no-shows etc.), better to use it on other suitable people who happen to be around than throw it away because it is time-expired. That's what I've been told by someone from the local medical fraternity.

Steve

I can confirm that it was the Pfizer vaccine that she received. it seemed as though a good chunk of her department were scheduled for their vaccines today, so for whatever reason they were allocated their dose and for that I’m grateful (as is she)!

The more people that get vaccinated the more answers will become available to some of the questions raised in a BMJ article here:

https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/covid-19-vaccine-trials-cannot-tell-us-if-t...

and for the record, I am not anti vax.

The regulatory assessments, including the reasoning behind them, for the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are all in public documents here and here. The assessments (which I don't suggest you read unless you're used to that sort of thing!) don't just consider the number and severity of cases of Covid in the trials, they also take into account such things as measured immune responses and other bits of biology. What is clear is that the vaccines strongly reduce the chance of developing Covid symptoms. And taking all the evidence together, it is reasonable to expect that this will significantly reduce the number of deaths.

It is worth noting that the regulator has given temporary authorisations specifically "for the medicine to be used for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 disease". Nobody is claiming that all questions about the efficacy of the vaccines have been answered, but enough is known for the remaining uncertainties to be outweighed by the public health benefits of getting the vaccines into people's arms.

If you're called for a jab, go for it! Not just for your own sake, but for the rest of us too.

Steve

Well said Steve, unfortunately I'll have to wait a while for mine being in 'group7', but when called I'll be there.

The more people injected the sooner we'll know how good these vaccines are and hopefully we can get back to a 'normal' life.

Well said Steve - I'll be there as soon as I get the call. I've heard too many people saying they won't have the vaccine - I sincerely hope they change their minds when they get their opportunity