Problem is, this is what the Government told people in the UK. And changing their plans days later does create an issue of trust.

They are in deep trouble with this new variant and in my mind the more people given some protection the better.

There are still a lot of over 80s who haven't had the first jab. Ultimately if the initial aim is to reduce severe illness and death then it's the right call. The first jab should be sufficient for that purpose at least.

Im glad they are thinking quickly and on their feet.

funny thing, in Sweden, high blood pressure does not considered as high risk

ps. asking for using public transport as much as possible sounds counter anti-covid-measurements

anyone else notice that the people who seem to be the most anal about following the rules tend to be same ones who pick and choose which rules they want to follow? quite the year for hypocrites.

The New Year's concert is a bit weird without audience.
Will they do the Radetzky March?

I agree on principle. One of the problems that doctor’s practices face, however will be the enormous administrative task of rescheduling these appointments, and possibly dealing with issues of mistrust and confusion. This sounds petty, but given that the system is already stretched, the administrative task is going to be daunting.

In the end it has to be done and they aren't doing it for free... it's literally their job (or, their receptionists) to deal with things like this. Compared to the potential result improving the protection of millions of people it shouldn't really concern anyone about the background admin that goes on to make it happen.

Or the ones who complain most about there not being enough rules are the ones who end up catching the virus themselves and then blame everyone else that they’ve caught it!

Nevertheless, it is a huge administrative task. You can do all the science and have all the shiny toys, but in the end, the bottleneck to getting shots in arms is logistics and administration. If there is not enough staff or enough money to pay staff, and if no one pays proper attention to planning, it can be a mess. If the NHS will allocate resources to reschedule people, fine. But, for example what’s happening in the US is mostly a failure of planning and logistics.

That’s a very narrow minded way of looking at it.
Do you think these people are all sitting there all day twiddling their thumbs? They are doing full time jobs which are already pressured and stressed and there are a limited number of hours in a day.
The extra admin involved will take them away from that unless extra staff are drafted in to do it (which seems unlikely) so obviously people should be concerned as it could well have an impact on other things and their overall care.

My Mum is one of the people in the UK affected by the delay of the second vaccine. She is 88 and was due her second dose on January 6th which is two days past the new deadline of 4th Jan, so she will now have to wait for 12 weeks.

She isn't as mobile as she was, but lives at home alone and looks after herself and the house and garden. She was a bit disappointed as she took the decision to spend Christmas alone on the basis that she would have been able to see some more family members in mid Jan which she now won't feel so comfortable doing. However, she accepts the decision and hopes that a bit of immunity is better than none, but she will continue to self isolate.

My grandmother is 85 and still hasn't had her first. Glad people like your mum can hold on just a bit longer so other elderly and vulnerable people can get some protection.

Do you think the current semi-lockdown in Switzerland/ZH that is until 22nd January will get extended?

Am I correct in understanding that the decision might be made on the 6th of January?

Seems to me to be more or less the same as in late March 2020. I doubt it'll be relaxed until late February or March.

On 1, yes. On 2, I think it will come later.

Covid-19: New variant 'raises R number by up to 0.7
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55507012

"The new variant of Covid-19 is "hugely" more transmissible than the virus's previous version, a study has found.

It concludes the new variant increases the Reproduction or R number by between 0.4 and 0.7.

The UK's latest R number has been estimated at between 1.1 and 1.3. It needs to be below 1.0 for the number of cases to start falling.

Prof Axel Gandy of London's Imperial College said the differences between the viruses types was "quite extreme".

"There is a huge difference in how easily the variant virus spreads," he told BBC News.,"This is the most serious change in the virus since the epidemic began," he added."

Im not sure that an increase of "0.4 to 0.7" is a sensible way to express it. It should be given as a % of the previous R.

I guess there's a decent chance shops reopen but pubs and restaurants stay shut. That'd be relatively sensible.

"Under the November lockdown conditions, the reproduction rate was in the region of 0.9 and with the old variant that would mean that over two to three weeks, the cases would decrease by about 30%, whereas in the new variant they would triple."

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ikely-19549299

What about gyms?