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Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

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221–230 of 766 posts

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fairly stereotypical British trait to be self deprecating. If we were singlehandedly saving the world from a rogue asteroid the general sentiment would probably be "let's hope we don't mess this up".

Sadly, they are being realistic. The current UK government is riven with incompetence and cronyism. They couldn't organize a piss up a brewery.

Government is a continuum, and I don’t remember a time that it wasn’t riven with cronyism. A book came out in 2005 called The Essential Guide to Quangos and I’m willing to bet it wasn’t Blair’s government that invented them (and it certainly didn’t put a stop to them).

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fairly stereotypical British trait to be self deprecating. If we were singlehandedly saving the world from a rogue asteroid the general sentiment would probably be "let's hope we don't mess this up".

Sadly, they are being realistic. The current UK government is riven with incompetence and cronyism. They couldn't organize a piss up a brewery.

But they could organise awarding the funds to one of their friends who pinky promises they know how to organise a piss up

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#223
post #172
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK Gov originally published this as the priority interim list [1] - * older adults’ resident in a care home and care home workers * all those 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers * all those 75 years of age and over * all those 70 years of age and over * all those 65 years of age and over * high-risk adults under 65 years of age * moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age * all those 60 years…

What a strange apostrophe (it's in the official list). Or am I misreading it?

Isn’t it just plural possessive?

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#224
post #66
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also have a fairly old, fat, and alcoholic population so if this doesn't work we're probably not getting out of this lightly (even relative to where we are now)

I am not old.

oldmanyellsatcloud.jpg

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#225
post #201
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me the most convincing argument regarding safety is that mRNA vaccines essentially do the same thing that the virus does, just extremely limited in scope (producing just one protein instead of a bunch of them, and not reinfecting more cells). So, even if producing the proteins turns out to be somewhat harmful long term, it cannot possibly be as harmful as the whole virus. Assuming that covid infection is inevtabl…

I heard recently that there's a surprising amount of our DNA that's made up of old viruses from our ancestors. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160322100714.h...

There are the viruses which can exploit the DNA involved mechanisms, but a mRNA vaccine is not using these, it uses the processes "downstream."

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#226
post #5

How did they approve it that fast? Is the approval process so different and so much more efficient than the one in the EU or USA? Was it extremely rushed to make sure to get doses before they have to compete with other countries for limited supply? I'm pretty curious now. Let's hope for the best, i.e. a good vaccine, a good process and no trust problems, the latter because at least it feels rushed.

Generally approval of this is fast-tracked everywhere, but the UK being first is a political marketing stunt in my opinion. The UK government is in dire need to demonstrate positive aspects of leaving the EU, and being able to independently greenlight this vaccine first is one particularly well suited for PR. The Brits love their NHS system and healthcare in general, so hitting it home on that turf resonates with the…

Well there's a lot of pressure on the government Boris Johnson is facing a lot of pressure from his MP's in particular the red wall (former labour held constituencies in then north)

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a ridiculous statement. Do you think the entire spectrum of all questions possible to ask are equal in value?

No, the poster’s point is that they are not, and so “just asking a question” is a meaningless defence

Wrong - the wife-beating thing is often used as an example of a loaded question, which was not contained in the parents post.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#228
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am fine with the thoroughness being applied. If they get it wrong the consequences may be much worse.

Good to hear you’re fine with 100000 people dying because we need to adhere to procedure. There is absolutely 0% chance at the end the vaccine will not be approved. But 100% chance 20 days will have been wasted.

>There is absolutely 0% chance at the end the vaccine will not be approved.

That's not true, I think it's foolish to 100% trust a company to not make any rushed mistakes, lie, or hide some facts, when there are massive amounts of money involved.

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#229
post #71

Out of curiosity, how do people on HN rate the risk of long term side-effects?

Well, fwiw, the inventor of the mRNA vaccine idea, Ingmar Hoerr, thinks side effects are very unlikely, since the mRNA molecules dissolve after a few days. He has been working on this for 20 years, with no serious side effects ever observed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingmar_Hoerr

Re: Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for use next week in UK

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fairly stereotypical British trait to be self deprecating. If we were singlehandedly saving the world from a rogue asteroid the general sentiment would probably be "let's hope we don't mess this up".

Sadly, they are being realistic. The current UK government is riven with incompetence and cronyism. They couldn't organize a piss up a brewery.

For what it's worth, I completely agree. Still, I don't think those things are mutually exclusive though.
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