I thought I´d start you off on the vaccine with the view from this country.

I don´t know which Tuesday this refers to, it may be yesterday Tuesday the 8th, but not sure.


German Health Minister Jens Spahn and Research Minister Anja Karliczek said at a Berlin press conference on Tuesday that they expected a COVID-19 vaccine to be ready next year, as they announced that research by three German companies was currently being funded.
But the ministers both warned that "risky shortcuts" would not be taken, that a vaccine would not be available to most the population until the middle of next year. "We want a safe and effective vaccine, not necessarily to be the first," Spahn said.
"Safety has absolute priority on this point," Karliczek said.


https://www.dw.com/en/germany-corona...021/a-54938078

Well our decision to storm ahead could go either way I suppose. If it turns out it is totally safe and works then we have a massive head start, if not. Well

I thought all the trials and tests were pretty conclusive though. I think you have to trust the teams that have developed them. They seem confident its safe so I have no qualms in taking it. The government have had naff all to do with it so we should be alright.

Do you suffer any allergies?

People who suffer from ‘significant’ allergic reactions should not take Covid vaccine, UK regulators warn


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/h...-b1768530.html

Pfizer had excluded people with a history of a severe allergic reaction eg anaphylaxis, from the trial AND PASSED THAT RESTRICTION ON TO MHRA it was NOT passed on in that form to those carrying out the vaccination.

Currently, there is a requirement for resuscitation to be available where the vaccine is being given - that will severely limit the places that it can be given and will exclude Care Homes until or unless those taking it the Care Homes take the equipment and the expertise to resuscitate including the use of epinephrine ((adrenaline). I used to be able to resuscitate, including defibrillation and the use of oxygen (believe it or not, oxygen is a POM a prescription only medicine) but could not have administered epinephrine other that the Anapen/Epipen which I had used in emergency twice.

I suspect that restriction will remain for some time......

Sounds to me as if you lot over there are the little piglets, or am I being cynical

They also said out of all vaccines given very few had any type of reaction, and those that did were very mild and soon recovered

Germany is not the first, cant be the first , I thought that we had approved it, Europe is waiting for European medicines to give it the Ok

I thought, in GBs regulations we could approve in a emergency situation, without the red tape

Europe has already bought the same vaccine, so it seems something holds up their approval, they have bought it? And yet may not approve it

Possibly European medicines?

Anyway the answer is beyond me

Sandra

Just to be absolutely clear again. Any country in the EU which currently includes the UK can distribute the vaccine to its "own" citizens. They cannot ship it or sell it on to other countries until its approved Europe wide but they can do what they like in their own country just the same as we have.

Every EU country can and always could decide to approve independently of the EU as you've been told at least 10 times now.

According to the EU, they have all decided to stick together and wait to "act in unity".

To me that very much smacks of political manoeuvring rather than health concerns, I suspect if there was not the current "discussions" over Brexit, some countries would have used the "emergency" legislation. But they wish to emphasise the unity?

It is also true that before Brexit, the European Agency to approve medication use was based in London and was very much following the MHCA route to approval, a lot of staff at a very senior level were shared or met up in a regular forum four times a year.

Interestingly, the EMA still lists the U.K. as a participant, along with Iceland and other nonEuropean countries. They. say on their site that most medication does NIT go through the Centralised approval route where a single application is made to the EMA and approval issued for the whole of Europe, but is approved by the National Coordinating Cente for the individual country - in the U.K. that is the MHCA.

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documen...dicines_en.pdf

Have I

Gosh Im better informed than I thought

But they haven’t and we have

Now is that because we are happy to kill off our citizens ?

Germany is a bit iffy about their vaccine so best not approve it just yet?

And I have been told at least 10 times

Best ignore me then

But I’ll take the vaccine, I know how Covid feels

Others will wait until the European medicine says it’s fine

Just wondering why they have already bought it, hedging bets?

Or maybe they can’t move before it’s approved, and we can

Which is why I mooted that at the beginning

Sandra