COVID-19: Discussion of Impact 😷

This (among other things) is me but I wasn’t going to let anything stand in my way of getting this vaccine.

Whatever needed to be done was done and I scored an appointment 3 days before eligibility opened to everyone. I didn’t lie to get in early either. The vaccination site set the appointment. I was notified at 9:00pm the night before and dropped everything to go the next day.

As someone who normally doesn’t go out much I can’t wait for the opportunity to finally be able to go somewhere after more than a year of not being able to do anything. I’m sure the novelty will wear off pretty quickly but at least it will soon be my choice to stay home and not because I have to.

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That’s the Vic government’s doing. To think that a year ago plans were drawn up to use those buildings and temporary hospitals and morgues we’ve done pretty well as a country to be squabbling over the details of vaccine a roll-out.

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They actually arrived today. I saw them coming in to the Novetel today

ohok well thats interesting, considering the acting primer said HQ wont be starting till tomorrow. unless it was last minute change

Unsure but I literally saw them arriving on a skybus and the road blocked off with police and people in protective wear. So it looked like it started back up today.

There was a flight arriving mid Tuesday morning with a handful of passengers, I think from NZ. Not sure about today. HQ has been operating the whole time, there’s just not been any international arrivals returning home to quarantine. Mostly air crew but probably other exemptions.

This should be a concern, Chile hitting record covid rates and rising fast despite being a world leader in vaccinations. They have fully vaccinated 22% of their population behind only Israel, Monaco and Seychelles.

Is there anything stopping the States from individually ordering/acquiring doses to supplement those supplied by the Federal Government?

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According to Seven News, the hub will be located at the former NSW Lotteries headquarters at Homebush (1 Figtree Drive).

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New Zealand doesn’t require quarantine though. This was people going into hotel quarantine at the hotel on little Lonsdale st.

It does for transit passengers. Only passengers on green zone flights are exempt from quarantine.

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I see. It could have been that. I had just never seen the Novotel being used like that. There seemed like there were a lot of passengers as well. Unless it was a test run.

22% may be high compared to most of the world, but we need >90% for the spread to be stopped (there’s still 78% of the population who can get & spread the disease), so this is no surprise.

While frustration is understandable, people have become too complacent (I imagine/in-general; I don’t know if Chileans are complacent).

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Isn’t it reported that the vaccines reduce spread very significantly - about 70% or so.

From what I Understand 1 shot is about 85% effective the second shot takes it up to 100% more or less

So a huge proportion of Chile has been vaccinated to 85% or so effectiveness

Chiles chart sure looks very different to the UK and Isreal - two other highly vaccinated nations

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22% isn’t a huge proportion, but you’re right that’s fully vaccinated.
Sorry I’d read it a bit quickly.

You are correct those with a single dose (after a few weeks) are very unlikely to die from COVID-19, most won’t get very sick, and although they’re less likely to spread SARS-CoV-2, even with both doses some of them will spread it.

The vaccine trials showed reduction in severe disease (being on a respirator in ICU), but ~10% - ~20% of participants still got COVID-19. That rate is a very good, but not 100%.

Those numbers were against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 (first seen in Wuhan), unfortunately the world now has some bad variants for which the current vaccines don’t work that well (the Kent/UK strain is slightly worse, but a few others like the ones first found in South Africa, and especially Brazil, are much worse, with significant risk of ‘vaccine escape’, persisting despite vaccinations).

It’s why getting everyone vaccinated ASAP is so important; the larger the populations with COVID-19 spreading, the more chance for worse strains to develop and take over.

Reports suggest the UK & Brazil strains may be behind Chile’s recent increase in COVID-19 infections.

Unfortunately we may need new vaccines/boosters that target the more aggressive strains before we can really get the disease to die off, especially if people get complacent before the virus is eliminated in their population.

Before that, physical distancing, quarantine, masks, good ventilation, hand washing, & working from home are all still very important.

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Britain’s vaccine advisory board has recommended not giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to those under the ago of 30.

Both the EMA and the World Health Organization say the advantages of the vaccine far outweigh the risks.

79 reported cases of blood clots in the UK, out of more than 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered. Nineteen of them have died.

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Apparently the Uk will officially hit herd immunity Monday

Exclusive: Britain will achieve herd immunity on Monday

UCL modelling says number of people with protection either through vaccination or previous infection will hit 73.4 per cent on April 12

Britain will pass the threshold for herd immunity on Monday, according to dynamic modelling by University College London (UCL), placing more pressure on the Government to move faster in Releasing restrictions

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That’s a surprise. I’d been hearing & reading that it was looking like >90% was required, but that may have been with the worst variants (e.g. Brazil).

Hopefully the worst of COVID-19 is over for the UK.

Today is day 41 of zero locally acquired cases in Victoria.