Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Jacksgranda]

6 hours ago, TheJTS98 said:

Malaysian equivalent of this is the private hospitals' obsession with MRI scans. Obviously, the most expensive thing they can offer on a daily basis.

Go in with a sore head. They'll try to bully you into an immediate MRI. Sore Knee? MRI. A cough? MRI. Obviously broken toe (as I had last year)? MRI.

I actually couldn't avoid a laugh last time I was in (for the broken toe). I'd shown him my foot, he'd done the x-ray, he'd shown me the break, and he'd told me basically just to rest as there's nothing to be done. Then, just as I'm standing up to leave, "If you'd like more peace of mind, we can offer you an MRI...". I told him I wondered what had taken so long. The joys of private health.

I dread to think what it would have cost me these last few years since I was diagnosed with COPD (never mind the prostate cancer).

Umpteen chest x-rays. A couple/three consultations with a chest specialist.

A consultation with a prostate specialist. Prostate biopsy. MRI scan. Bowel scan. (Another scan which I can't remember what it was for - bone scan perhaps.) Consultation with an oncologist. 4 implants to date.*

Plus umpteen courses of antibiotics for my chest and repeat inhalers every month.

Thank God for the Beveridge report and those who implemented it.

*ETA: These are £400.00 a pop. apparently.

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Jacksgranda
Update and Sllepnig

[Jacksgranda]

2 hours ago, Steven W said:

Saw this last night and meant to post, but was busy with other stuff (Morton v Dunfermline!).

Virologist says it's a one-off, but find myself thinking "Really?"

Would answer a lot of it's being harboured on foodstuff

Millions more would have caught it if that were the case, surely?

[Bairnardo]

I assume he's confused the current death rates with the overall death rates.

To be fair to him, I was reading it as “since the summer”, which is closer to the truth.

I can’t believe that I’m trying to be fair to him though.

Either way, having such a statistic so wrong can certainly be taken as confirmation that he is an arsehole, spamming the thread with nonsense given that the last two days has been mainly him challenging peoples right to have a discussion based on their qualifications, or lack thereof.

Craig rinsing him really should have been an end to it tbf.

[Steven W]

18 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

Millions more would have caught it if that were the case, surely?

True.

Ultimately I don't know, and I'm no epidemiologist. Just speculating really.  But I can't believe the ice cream thing is just a one-off. Couple this with Scotland's infection rate seemingly rock solid at the circa 1800 a day mark with just about everything closed and no travel, I just begin to wonder is there something else at play? Just a thought more than anything else.

[Todd_is_God]

28 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

Millions more would have caught it if that were the case, surely?

Depends if its viable virus, surely?

Back at understanding the limitations of a PCR test here.

[superbigal]

Has anyone heard of this publicised in the UK ?

Some care homes are using the extra dose contained in every vial of Pfizer vaccine to vaccinate the relatives of residents, according to the head of one home network.

Since the vaccine was first rolled out, it has been known that a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first to be approved in the EU, contains six and sometimes even seven doses, instead of the five doses intended.

[Sergeant Wilson]

7 minutes ago, superbigal said:

Has anyone heard of this publicised in the UK ?

Some care homes are using the extra dose contained in every vial of Pfizer vaccine to vaccinate the relatives of residents, according to the head of one home network.

Since the vaccine was first rolled out, it has been known that a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first to be approved in the EU, contains six and sometimes even seven doses, instead of the five doses intended.

The Angel's Share of vaccines?

[Bairnardo]

I'm sceptical, purely because it sounds like something that some Tory pond life would have found a despiciable way to make cash from, rather than simply going to relatives.

[madwullie]

45 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

I dread to think what it would have cost me these last few years since I was diagnosed with COPD (never mind the prostate cancer).

Umpteen chest x-rays. A couple/three consultations with a chest specialist.

A consultation with a prostate specialist. Prostate biopsy. MRI scan. Bowel scan. (Another san which I can't remember what it was for - bone scan perhaps.) Consultation with an oncologist. 4 implants to date.*

Plus umpteen courses of antibiotics for my chest and repeat inhalers every month.

Thank God for the Beveridge report and those who implemented it.

*ETA: These are £400.00 a pop. apparently.

 

Similarly, I've probably cost the nhs ~500k in operations and treatment in the last 5 years. And that's without considering prescription medicines.  I've lost count of the number of pet, ct scans, xrays etc I've had. Can't be far off double figures cts alone tbh

Def got my money's worth out of them anyway. Plus there's the added bonus of still being alive 

[superbigal]

4 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

I'm sceptical, purely because it sounds like something that some Tory pond life would have found a despiciable way to make cash from, rather than simply going to relatives.

Not about what the Belgian care homes are doing, but if the Vials only officially contain 5 doses and we can safely get 6 does then that is a 20% increase in Pfizer stocks.

[Billy Jean King]

Has anyone heard of this publicised in the UK ?

Some care homes are using the extra dose contained in every vial of Pfizer vaccine to vaccinate the relatives of residents, according to the head of one home network.

Since the vaccine was first rolled out, it has been known that a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first to be approved in the EU, contains six and sometimes even seven doses, instead of the five doses intended.

Didn't Bauld say Scotland was able to squeeze 6 from a vial rather than the intended 5 and that even then there was a dribble left that meant every so many vials could even yield a 7th. However Pfizer had told purchasers NOT to do this but without real reason leading to suspicion that it was a commercial announcement ie future orders would be smaller taking that into account hence smaller profits.

[DiegoDiego]

The "extra" dose is down to syringe dead space. There's some vaccine left on the syringe after use which is wasted (unless we start sticking the entire population with the same needle), but in better designed syringes there's very little dead space, so less vaccine is wasted.

Stocks can be increased by 20% much more cheaply by using better syringes compared to increasing production of the vaccine.

In other news, the UK has double dose vaccinated more people than the rest of the world combined.

[Todd_is_God]

12 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

32 minutes ago, superbigal said:

Has anyone heard of this publicised in the UK ?

Some care homes are using the extra dose contained in every vial of Pfizer vaccine to vaccinate the relatives of residents, according to the head of one home network.

Since the vaccine was first rolled out, it has been known that a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first to be approved in the EU, contains six and sometimes even seven doses, instead of the five doses intended.

Didn't Bauld say Scotland was able to squeeze 6 from a vial rather than the intended 5 and that even then there was a dribble left that meant every so many vials could even yield a 7th. However Pfizer had told purchasers NOT to do this but without real reason leading to suspicion that it was a commercial announcement ie future orders would be smaller taking that into account hence smaller profits.

Not quite. It was because the 7th shot wasn't always possible, meaning there was a good chance there would not be enough to give everyone who had the first shot their second.

[superbigal]

So as policy are we buy 5 get one free ?

Edited January 16, 2021 by superbigal

[Sergeant Wilson]

8 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

The "extra" dose is down to syringe dead space. There's some vaccine left on the syringe after use which is wasted (unless we start sticking the entire population with the same needle), but in better designed syringes there's very little dead space, so less vaccine is wasted.

Stocks can be increased by 20% much more cheaply by using better syringes compared to increasing production of the vaccine.

In other news, the UK has double dose vaccinated more people than the rest of the world combined.

No doubt well be using bic yellow syringes rather than the good ones.

[101]

Good stuff!

[RiG]

Leitch on Off the Ball saying that, provided the virus doesn't do anything nasty, they will be "well through" vaccinating the rest of the general population by June. Can't help but feel that is slightly optimistic but here's hoping...

Edited January 16, 2021 by RiG

[101]

Just now, RiG said:

Leitch on Off the Ball saying that, provided the virus doesn't do anything nasty, they will be "well through" vaccinating the rest of the general population.

Is killing 2m not nasty?

[welshbairn]

32 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

The "extra" dose is down to syringe dead space. There's some vaccine left on the syringe after use which is wasted (unless we start sticking the entire population with the same needle), but in better designed syringes there's very little dead space, so less vaccine is wasted.

Stocks can be increased by 20% much more cheaply by using better syringes compared to increasing production of the vaccine.

In other news, the UK has double dose vaccinated more people than the rest of the world combined.

America ordered the most wasteful type, hope we didn't.

[ICTChris]

Piece criticising the lockdown skeptic movement.

https://quillette.com/2021/01/16/rise-of-the-coronavirus-cranks/

I know a lot of people don’t like Quilette or the IEA but it’s a good read.