News Round Up
- “Death and Lockdowns” – There’s no proof that lockdowns save lives but plenty of evidence that they end them, argues John Tierney in City Journal
- “Rally for Freedom 20/03 – Spring Equinox Politicking in Manchester” – An eyewitness account of Saturday’s protests in Manchester on Left Lockdown Sceptics
- “NHS may have to send patients abroad to cope with backlog” – Dr Andy Stein warns that some radical changes are needed in the NHS to avoid a surge in non-Covid deaths next winter, the Express reports
- “When lockdown ends, euphoria for some, fear for others” – It’s understandable that some are feeling a certain anxiety over the exit from lockdown, writes Simon Wesseley, a Professor of Psychological Medicine at King’s College, London in the FT. But we shouldn’t medicalise it by creating a new diagnosis called “re-entry syndrome”
- “Gillian McKeith blasted for ‘self-indulgent’ support of anti-lockdown protests in London” – The Express reports that Gillian McKeith came in for some flack on twitter for her support of Saturday’s protests
- “Covid in Scotland: Police test positive after Rangers celebrations” – The headline on this BBC story suggests the police were infected by Rangers’ fans, but the article allows that that’s impossible to prove
- “Coronavirus vaccine – weekly summary of Yellow Card reporting” – The latest summary of yellow card reporting for the coronavirus vaccines indicates that there is a rate of about three to six cards per 1,000 doses administered
- “New Covid Protest Laws – To Protect You Or SHUT YOU UP?” – “Is Covid being used to usher in a police authoritarian state in which the voices of dissenters are silenced?” asks Russel Brand in a new video
- “Belgium needs a short ‘real’ lockdown, warns expert” – The Brussels Times reports on a Belgian Professor’s call for “a new lockdown, a real one, where no one goes to work, including workers or construction workers, and where schools close”. After two to four weeks, restrictions could be “relaxed a bit, if the figures have fallen sufficiently”
- “COVID-19: German states demand April lockdown extension” – Several states in Germany want Covid restrictions to remain in place into April, according to Deutsche Welle
- “Ravers feel the music at socially distanced silent disco in Barcelona” – There have been silent socially-distanced raves taking place in Barcelona city centre on Sunday mornings, Reuters reports
- “Israeli court upholds school’s barring of COVID-19 refusenik teacher” – Reuters report that an Israeli court sided with a school over its decision to dismiss a teaching assistant who declined to give proof of vaccination or negative Covid test, citing her right to privacy and freedom of conscience
- “New York Covid variant could infect vaccinated residents and those who have already had the virus, former FDA head Dr. Scott Gottlieb warns” – Another day, another warning about powerful variants, as reported in the Daily Mail
- “The Pandemic is Over” – A blog post by Susan Quinn on Ricochet, pointing out that the Covid outbreak in the US no longer meets the definition of ‘pandemic’
- “Capitalism Is What Will Defeat Covid” – A Wall Street Journal interview with Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson & Johnson, about the decades of investment and planning that lie behind the development of its vaccine
- Serum Institute of India fails to deliver, New Delhi’s vaccine diplomacy hits hurdle” – Shipments from Indian vaccine manufacturer to Brazil, Morocco and Saudi Arabia will be delayed due to local demand and a fire at one of its buildings, the Times of India reports
- “Brazil’s neighbours build ‘epidemiological barrier’ to guard against out of control virus” – The Telegraph reports that Uruguay and Colombia are running vaccination campaigns in areas bordering Brazil in an effort to protect themselves from the Brazilian strain
- “COVID-19 coronavirus: MIQ receiving about 100 complaints each week” – New Zealand’s managed isolation booking system is struggling to keep up with demand, with people having to book about 16 weeks ahead, the New Zealand Herald reports
- “Papua New Guinea introduces new COVID-19 measures as deaths rise” – Schools are closing in Papua New Guinea, ABC news reports, and movement across the island is heavily restricted
- “Draconian lockdowns exact ‘heavy price’ on the young and the poor” – Boris “campaigned as a conservative” but has “governed like a hopelessly inept greenie”, says Sky News Australia’s Rita Penahi as she sets out the devastating cost of lockdowns in her latest reality check
- A group of German doctors use a wooden pole to make the argument for ending lockdown restrictions. Ingenious
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A quick return to this pro-vax site, to pre-empt the article no doubt being prepared that describes how the US trial of the AZ vaccine produces 100% to 70% numbers of efficacy.
The trial ( which will be used by AZ to apply for US FDA emergency use approval) was conducted in 88 sites across the US and South America. There were a little over 31,000 participants, 2/3rds vaccinated, 1/3 placebo. Of the 31,000 , all of 141 ( 0.4%) were infected from August 2020 ( start of 3 year trial) and March 2021. The 31,000 consisted of OVER 60% of people with acute comobidities, and were substantially weighted to the over 65s.
The interim results being plastered over the media are based on the RELATIVE results of these 141, they are not ABSOLUTE percentages which are a fraction of those publicised.
BUT nowhere is anyone saying how 99.6% of people of which a large majority were older with acute comorbidities did not get the disease. This is supposed to be the ‘most at risk’ group.
Based on these numbers the is absolutely no justification for the current vaccination program, whatever the efficacy or otherwise of the vaccine.
“Most at risk” doesn’t mean “most likely to be infected” (that would likely be health care workers, and to a lesser extent other essential key workers) — it means “most likely to die or become seriously ill, if they do get infected”.
Thank you for stating the bleeding obvious!
The point remains that if hardly any of that group get it, its absolutely pointless vaccinating the whole population.
I think your observation about health workers is just a by product of the appalling statistics around infections in hospitals. 60% of the infections was the latest estimate. If the NHS managers had acted earlier in 2020 to organise their resources in the ‘old ways’ of dealing with infectious diseases the numbers of deaths etc could have been halved or more. The very last place you want to be if ill of this or any other complaint is a hospital.
Anyway I have long concluded that the apparent compliance of the UK public with this shit-show has a lot more to do with schadenfraude than anything else.
On the 17 March (last day with full figures): the UK performed 1,635,141 tests of which 5,795 were positive tests = 0.35% positive rate.
This is just above the 0.32% false positive rate for lateral flow, and well below the 2.3% (and minimum 0.8%) false positive estimate for PCR.
Anybody still reporting these as “cases” is complicit in a monumental fraud.
Sources:
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/testing
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/895843/S0519_Impact_of_false_positives_and_negatives.pdf
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4469