From: slider@anashram.com

A single shot of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech
Covid jab reduces the chance of needing hospital treatment by more than
80%, an analysis in England shows.

The Public Health England data showed the effect kicked in three to four
weeks after vaccination.

It was based on people aged over 80 who were the first to receive the jab.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56240220

Government scientists hailed the result, but stressed that two doses were needed for the best protection.

It comes after similar findings were published by Scottish health
authorities last week, which they hailed as "spectacular".

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told a Downing Street briefing on Monday the latest vaccine results were "very strong".

He added: "They may also help to explain why the number of Covid
admissions to intensive care units among people over 80 in the UK have
dropped to single figures in the last couple of weeks."

Also speaking at the news conference, England's deputy chief medical
officer - Prof Jonathan Van-Tam - said the data offered a glimpse of how
the vaccine programme "is going to hopefully take us into a very different world in the next few months".

But he said it was "absolutely critical" that second doses "are still part
of the course of immunisation against Covid-19 and no less important".

Prof Van-Tam stressed there was a "significant likelihood" that a second
dose of a vaccine would "mature your immune response, possibly make it
broader and almost certainly make it longer than it would otherwise be in relation to a first dose only."

More than 20 million people in the UK have had their first dose of a
vaccine - over a third of the adult population.

Meanwhile, another 104 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus
have been reported in the UK, and a further 5,455 new cases, according to
the latest figures.

The PHE data, which has not been peer reviewed, also suggested the Pfizer vaccine, which started being rolled out a month before the AstraZeneca
vaccine, leads to an 83% reduction in deaths from Covid. This was based on people over the age of 80 who had died.

The data also showed vaccination cuts the risk of people over 70
developing any Covid symptoms by around 60%, three weeks after an initial
dose.

Prof Van-Tam said the decision to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to older
people was "clearly vindicated".

Some European nations have refused to give it to the over 65s because data
from the trials was mainly on its effect among younger adults.

Prof Van-Tam said the judgement made by the UK authorities was that it was simply "not plausible" the vaccine would only work on younger adults.

He said other countries would doubtless be "very interested" in the data
coming out of the UK.

Dr Mary Ramsay, Public Health England's head of immunisation, said there
was growing evidence that the vaccines were working to reduce infections
and save lives.

"While there remains much more data to follow, this is encouraging and we
are increasingly confident that vaccines are making a real difference,"
she said.

However, more evidence is needed to know how well the vaccines protect
against the Brazil variant that has recently been identified in the UK.

This variant has a mutation - E484 - that could reduce some of the effectiveness of the vaccines.

It was announced on Sunday that six new variant cases - three in England
and three in Scotland - had been found through testing.

Health officials have been able to contact all but one of these people.
The whereabouts of the remaining individual is unknown as they did not
complete their test registration card.

It has prompted an appeal for anyone without a result from a test on 12 or
13 February to come forward immediately by calling 119.

The health secretary has denied that delays in imposing quarantine hotel measures on travellers to the UK put lives at risk, as officials continue
to seek the individual.

Mr Hancock said there was "no evidence" the infected person had not
followed home quarantine rules.

Earlier, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK has "one of the toughest border regimes anywhere in the world for stopping people coming in to this country who may have variants of concern".

### - this is actually good news on the covid front... coz it seems to be working?

it's still too early for any definitive data, but with now a third of the
uk population having already had a shot evidence is increasingly beginning
to mount that it's starting to work! :)

the concern now being these new variants which threaten to scupper the
whole deal if not firmly clamped down on before the lockdowns begin to
lift, versus enough of the population having been vaccinated to stop them spreading too rapidly... the rush being to avoid a later variant that
manages to get around the current vaccines altogether... and because any
minute now this virus could mutate into something far worse/deadly than it already is...

so we're not out of the woods yet!

meanwhile heh, trumpy and Co apparently + very sneakily had a vaccine shot 'before' leaving the white house? this being on top of the experimental treatment he was given that saved his life when he caught it himself and
which he then claimed had made him immune?? (riiiight + what a hypocrite!)

his devoted followers, otoh, mostly still decrying the virus even exists
and that masks are unnecessary etc, are probably all gonna get infected...
if not by the original strain that he caught then by all these new + far
more infectious variants which are starting to emerge as the virus fights back...

can't help feeling sorry for them heading into that minefield anyway, even
if they are a bunch of more or less mindless morons (sorry 'bout that
chris, but that IS the truth! haha) and because if anything they need
'more' looking after than most 'because' they're so gullible and/or so
easily coerced into believing utter bs & lies?

e.g...

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever
that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the
majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."

--Bertrand russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell OM FRS was a British polymath, philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate. Wikipedia.

(so he noticed that too then did he? hehe)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)