Every organisation has it’s idiots Helen, the Romanian one is my favourite. They all have national ID cards, is that not tyranny, they all have driving licenses (one presumes) is that not tyranny? But me knowing that the person sitting next to me in a restaurant has taken the simple and obvious precaution of getting vaccinated is tyranny?
For me it’s very, very simple. Compulsory vaccination for all except for medical reasons.
Two points, the spike changing doesn’t impact “traditional’ vaccines such as AZ and Biontech say they can reengineer their mRNA to deal with the new spike in 100 days. I think battle will go on for quite a while butI do feel we have got on top of it.
Where did you read that John? I find that difficult to believe. Any vaccine will teach the body to produce antibodies to fit a given antigen shape. We were told all the vaccines would be less effective against Delta than the Alpha and there were just three mutations on the spike.
I had the same experience with my niece. Except I gave her a hug and a kiss and we were indoors. Happily, I was already testing regularly for my job so started testing every day for the following 10 days. She’s 13 and none of her immediate family nor I caught it from her. All double jabbed of course.
Hopefully, you will be as fortunate.
Several weeks on, and having had no symptoms at the time, she gas now lost her sense of smell. Most bizarre.
Izzy x
How does ‘aboriginal’ suggest ‘abnormal’?
Likewise, if the cap fits. 
The changes that generate variants are not sudden, but gradual. The new variant will not have originated in a single individual, but be the sum of multiple infections in many people. This is a reason why mass vaccination and immunity is so important - the more infections the greater likelihood of new viable variants arising.
In the Guardian however - Scientists say that the unusual constellation of mutations suggests it may have emerged during a chronic infection of an immunocompromised person, such as an untreated HIV/Aids patient.
That is exactly how I look at it too, with the addition that I know that I am not only protecting myself om either catching Covid, but from possible hospitalisation and Long Covid. It is also my social duty to form a part of the fight against this appalling infection.
Hiding ourselves away with our collie is not an option in our opinion, although we drastically restrict our contact with others.
I’m out and about Michael. I’ll try and find it when I get home. It does make sense to me though. The basic design of the vaccine is there and you “just” need to plug a new spike profile onto it. Like a socket on a wrench.
I thought that too, HIV is rampant in the townships snd has been for decades.
Here it is Michael…
I read that, but it doesn’t give enough detail to make a reasoned judgement.
If that were the case, again it emphasises the need to for vaccination of all able to receive it so that we can protect the immuno-compromised.
FWIW in theory it should be a relatively quick process to update the vaccines that use either RNA technology like Pfizer or a surrogate viral delivery system like the Astra Zeneca/Oxford & Russian vaccines. There will just need to be some changes made to the gene sequence to match the new variant and then scale manufacture. There is the assumption that the new sequence doesn’t contain anything that will interfere with either synthesis or incorporation of the genetic payload to express the variant proteins. There may also be some regulatory hoops to jump through regarding safety and efficacy of the updated materials.
Vaccines based on slightly more conventional systems where spike protein is expressed and then included in the vaccine will take longer because in addition to the first part for the above vaccines, the new materials will have to be incorporated in the expressing cell line reliably and then either the DNA vector or the transfected cells themselves scaled.
The mRNA vaccines should be the fastest system to incorporate updates, and I would be surprised if the new variant genetic sequences aren’t already being synthesised for evaluation.
FWIW Auntie Beeb was reporting that of 600 passengers that have just arrived in Amsterdam, 61 were infected with Covid. Covid: Dozens test positive on SA-Netherlands flights - BBC News
And the new Omicron variant is in the UK Two cases of new variant of Covid-19 detected in UK - BBC News
I suspect it’s probably present in many European countries now.
The question that poses in my mind is why they were allowed travel in the first place? I’ve been to Hamburg and Vienna in the last two months and Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines were meticulous in screening us (and in collecting locator information). One can presume the two flights into Amsterdam were KLM so what happened to cause a 10% failure rate?
It makes me wonder whether the infected individuals were using faked negative test results or there is a substantial failure with the testing methods/materials in Africa.
I suspect the latter. I lived in Jo’burg for a couple of years in the nineties. There wasn’t much adherence to laws then and during my last trip back there in 2017 I didn’t observe any improvements.
Hmmm, Not so much losing the argument as losing family and friends. We have lost seven, and counting. The youngest was 22. Her firstborn was orphaned at ten days old. She was a dispensing chemist. Please, consider the concept of social responsibility. It’s about us, not me.
I’m so sorry to hear that, just tragic.
Unfortunately you can talk until you are blue in the face…