The festive rallies are likely to put “extra pressure” on hospitals and GPs in the New Year, which “we have to be ready for,” the group also said – which includes England professor Chris Whitty and -.
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 vaccine will “definitely” be ready to enter nursing homes within the next two weeks, the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said. This means that residents and staff in nursing homes may not be the first to be beaten, although they are the top priority.
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Whitty’s winter warning: “We think it’s likely that in the spring the effects of vaccination will start to be felt”
Here is Chris Whitty’s letter warning of the vaccine’s low impact during the winter months. He and other British medical experts warn: “We think it is likely that in the spring the effects of the vaccination will start to be felt.”
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This is not a model: “It’s the season to be careful”
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Rapid rotation tests defended amid fears of large numbers of ‘false negatives’
A senior UK government adviser has defended the massive use of rapid rollover tests for the coronavirus amid concerns that a high level of “false negatives” is giving people an inappropriate sense of comfort, reports PA Media.
Government figures released earlier this week from Liverpool – where the mass deployment of lateral flow tests was first tested – showed they had missed half of all cases and a third of those dependent viral infections which were probably the most infectious.
This has led to calls from some scientists to have their use suspended amid fears that some people who test negative will mingle with others who may be more vulnerable because they mistakenly believe they don’t have the disease.
Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to the NHS test and trace, told BBC Radio 4 Today: “What we’re doing here is case detection. We’re not saying people don’t have the disease if they test negative.
“We try to say (to people who test positive): ‘You have the disease and now we want you to go and isolate yourself for ten days. It changes the game.
“We have been very clear that this test finds people we might not otherwise find. We are also very clear that until we have a much lower prevalence of the disease in this country, we should not change our behaviors.
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Thousands of doctors, teachers and other members of high-risk groups register for vaccinations in Moscow
Thousands of doctors, teachers and other members of high-risk groups have signed up for Covid-19 vaccinations in Moscow from Saturday, the forerunner of a large-scale vaccination effort across the country. Russia.
The vaccinations come three days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of a “large-scale” COVID-19 vaccination campaign, even though a Russian-designed vaccine has yet to complete the advanced studies necessary to ensure its efficacy and safety in accordance with established scientific standards. protocols.
The Russian leader said on Wednesday more than 2 million doses of the sputnik V jab will be available in the coming days, allowing authorities to offer jabs to medical workers and teachers across the country from the end of the week. next.
Moscow, which currently accounts for about a quarter of the country’s new daily infections, got a head start by opening 70 vaccination centers on Saturday. Doctors, teachers and city workers were urged to set aside an hour to receive a shot, and Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said around 5,000 people had signed up within hours of the system starting. to run on Friday.
Russia boasted that Sputnik V was the “world’s first registered COVID-19 vaccine” after the government gave it regulatory approval in early August. The move drew criticism from international experts, who pointed out that the vaccine had only been tested on several dozen people at the time.
Putin ignored his doubts about the matter, claiming in August that one of his daughters was among the first to be vaccinated.
Over the past few months, Sputnik V has been offered to medical workers and teachers even while still in the midst of advanced testing. Several senior officials said they also received the beatings and earlier this week the Russian military began vaccinating crews of Navy ships due to depart on missions.
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Wednesday that more than 100,000 people in Russia had already received the vaccines.
The free vaccine is offered to people between the ages of 18 and 60 who do not have chronic illnesses and are not pregnant or breastfeeding.
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Russia starts Covid vaccinations
Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine through 70 clinics today, marking Russia’s first mass vaccination against the disease, the city’s coronavirus task force said.
The task force said the Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they were at the greatest risk of exposure to the disease.
“You work at an educational institution and have top priority for the COVID-19 vaccine, for free,” read a text message received by a Muscovite, an elementary school teacher, early on Saturday and seen by ..
Moscow, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Russia, recorded 7,993 new cases overnight, up from 6,868 a day before and well above the daily figures of around 700 seen in early September.
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Vaccine will ‘marginal impact’ on hospital admissions during winter, warn UK experts
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The number of vaccination sites “varies according to the number of residents over 80”
NHS England and NHS Improvement have said the number of vaccination sites in each Clinical Commissioning Group (GCC) area will vary depending on the number of residents over 80.
GCCs have been asked to consider inequalities and deprivation – some of the biggest risk factors for Covid-19 – when choosing sites for their vaccination centers.
Each center will also be equipped with “the computer equipment necessary for the delivery of the program and a refrigerator,” the letter said.
He added: “We will write to the sites identified as part of Wave 1 on Monday, to provide full details on the dates of vaccine delivery, delivery of other consumables and equipment to the site, and the process for ensuring readiness. before delivery of the vaccines. ”
He said staff at vaccination sites would receive training and “be given full support to mobilize on time.”
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General practitioners must prepare to start vaccinations by December 14
General practitioners and primary care networks in England have been told to be ready to start managing Covid-19 vaccination centers by December 14.
A letter sent to all surgeries and primary care managers at NHS England and NHS Improvement said the ‘scale and complexity’ of the vaccination program would make it ‘one of the biggest challenges the NHS has ever faced been confronted ”.
“It is critical that we start activating local immunization services to enable priority patient cohorts to begin accessing the vaccine.”
Each designated vaccination site must be ready to administer 975 doses of the vaccine during the week beginning December 14 – the number of doses in each box of Pfizer vaccine.
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