COVID-19

I think this is the crux of it but I don't view it as being a politically acceptable levelof deaths, I view it as being socially acceptable.

It sounds callous but it's true and it's how much death we will accept to have "normal" life back. Its exactly what we do with smoking, alcohol, driving, lockdowns to some extent and basically everything in our day to day life.

To me once everyone has what the vaccine (or even arguably all the vulnerable people) then that is just the natural balance of risk and we have done everything we can possibly do to hold it down. If there's a 4th lockdown it will be because the vaccines don't work as they should or because people crap themselves because some of the figures presented to them cause an element of panic.

 

The politicians will only react if the people "freak out" though I assume. The deaths could be 100k and if the people were accepting of it they wouldn't do anything, equally it could be 5k and if they thought the public was against them they would react.

I genuinely think that the 'acceptable' level is above that of flu, maybe far above it. Especially if the distinction between people who die from covid and people who die with covid becomes clearer.

As for the thing about mutant strains, it is what it is. They reckon the Kent strain mutated within one individual who had covid for a significant period of time so while logically the fewer people who have the virus the less chance it has of mutating its not completely as simple as that in practice. Avoiding mutations can't be too much of a factor in the decision making, the vaccines just have to account for yhe possibility eventually.

 

True. But if social mingling in pubs causes another spike and resultant lockdown then it affects me whether I visit it or not. I'm sick of not being able to go see my kids and give them a hug. I want to be able to visit other places and see my friends at my house or theirs. I don't want to see us back in lockdown again because we didn't give the vaccines time to have full effect across enough of the population before opening everything up.
As I said earlier, we all have our own perspectives, influenced by our own circumstances.

 

I had to smile when Boris told Starmer he could help the situation by asking the teachers unions to back what the government are doing 3 hours later the media are saying talk of strike action, I do believe if we want our kids back in school the least we could do is give the teachers the vaccine jab, but I also hear the arguement others are just as vulnerable dealing with the general public o a day to day basis.

 

I would be happy for the teachers to be given the jab, then we will see the teachers unions real intentions. If schools are a priority for reopening it makes absolutely no sense for teachers not to be a priority to be vaccinated.

 

what about those places that have been open all the time and are classed as higher risk than teachers?

 

Those places that have been open all the time can implement their own rules, they could not allow entry to groups, they could stop entry without masks, they could limit the number of people in at anyone one time, they don't.

You can't really limited a class of 30 kids if you only have one room.

 

best tell police to limit number of people they interact with or the fire brigade to make sure not many people are near fires before they arrive.

 

I'm happy for key workers to get the vaccine after the vulnerable groups and before people like me who can work from home.

I can't for the life of me think why teachers would need to be vaccinated before other workers who come into contact with a high volume of other people as part of their work though. Especially when the data suggests that they're not exactly towards the top of the risk bracket.

 

I don't think it's so much about the risk to teachers - although i would suggest implementing suicidal distancing with kids is more of a challenge than industries dealing with adults, which would in turn put them at a higher risk than say someone working in a supermarket. But it's more about stopping teachers getting it and spreading it. This would lead to schools having to close or partially close, and further disruption to kids education has to be avoided

 

This is pretty much my point though. When it comes to "catching it and spreading it" the date suggests that teachers aren't any more at likely to do so than any other key worker. So why the priority?

 

I know several teachers and they all want to get the kids back into school. Yes they also want the vaccination as soon as possible but not one has mentioned striking as an option. I could be wrong but I feel this is the general feeling amongst teachers and it is the unions scaremongering about strikes

 

The fire brigade have been vaccinated. I know firemen who confirm this.

 

I know whole schools of teachers that have been vaccinated too

 

I've never denied that key workers shouldn't be prioritised. When looking at those key workers clearly NHS staff were top of the list. Regarding the others there is a different risk factor. I would say Police are above Firemen but Firemen are below teachers due to the contact they would experience daily.

As for places like supermarkets, they can lower the risk for their staff by having strict policies in place, but appart for the first few months where people had to queue outside with one in one out, it's basically a free for all now and the people running those stores can't cry for vaccines for staff whilst allowing this free for all to go on. This is in no way the less senior staffs fault as if they have the order from above not to challenge or exclude large groups or maskless shoppers then they are powerless.

 

Basically vaccine should be delivered on a risk basis, those most at risk receive it first rather than those with the beat publicity machine.

Let the JCVI make their announcement and go with it as that will be based on the risk associated

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/55841748

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/nov/06/teachers-no-more-likely-than-other-key-workers-to-get-covid-says-ons

Just in case anybody wants some sources about where teachers stack on the risk scale.

Either we give the vaccine out on the basis of risk, or we give it out based on which unions shout loudest?

 

They are going by age.

Who is more at risk, the 52 year old sat at home on furlough, or the 48 year old teacher who is in a class with 30 kids which moves for different lessons on a 70min time table?

Because they say the 52 year old is more at risk, when quite clearly they aren't.