Tuesday, February 23, 2021
UK Covid vaccination programme ‘cutting risk of hospital admissions by up to 94%’
The Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines were shown to reduce the risk by up to 85% and 94% respectively
Experts hailed the “brilliant” first findings of the effect of a single dose of either the Pfizer or Oxford jabs, from a study of more than 1.1 million people in Scotland.
Today’s results are the first to show how the vaccines are working in the “real world” by preventing serious illness across an entire UK nation – raising hopes about the lockdown lifting.
The effectiveness of vaccines in reducing hospitalisations and deaths is one of Boris Johnson’s four key measures for easing restrictions.
Dr Josie Murray, Public Health Scotland lead for the EAVE-II project, said: “The brilliant news is that the vaccine delivery programme in its current format… is working. The other fantastic news is that we are potentially protecting our NHS hospitals.”
The results, which have yet to be peer-reviewed, found that four weeks after receiving the first dose the Pfizer/BNionTech jab reduced the risk of ending up in hospital with Covid by up to 85 per cent.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, which was given to more people over 65, reduced the risk by 94 per cent.
The results were based on the 1.14m first doses given in Scotland between December 8 and February 15, covering 21 per cent of the country’s population. The Pfizer vaccine was received by 650,000 people and the Oxford jab by 490,000.
Lead researcher Professor Aziz Sheikh, of Edinburgh university, said: “These results are very encouraging and have given us great reasons to be optimistic for the future. “Roll-out of the first vaccine dose now needs to be accelerated globally to help overcome this terrible disease.”
Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said: “This research provides encouraging early data on the impact of vaccination on reducing hospitalisations.”
Across the UK, more than 17.5m have received a first jab. In London, 1,727,781 first doses have been given, including a further 40,000 on Saturday. The capital has given the second lowest number of jabs of all seven NHS regions in England.
Today one of the capital’s most senior council leaders warned that black and Asian Londoners were up to three times more likely to refuse or be hesitant about having a Covid jab.
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Israel is giving the world a glimpse into a post-vaccine future. But not everyone is happy
As Israel's vaccine campaign inches closer to completion, the world is watching closely for a glimpse into what life could be like after the coronavirus pandemic.
So far the data from the world's fastest vaccination program is promising, but questions remain, chief among them: What will a post-vaccine society look like?
Israel has now eased restrictions across the country, but additional perks are being made available to those who have been vaccinated and can prove it using a government app known as "green badge".
The result is Israel is becoming a sort of global experiment, one in which the rules of post-vaccine society and the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine under real-world conditions are being put to the test.
"We are now finally in the moment where we need to think how we return to the new normal," Nadav Davidovitch, a public health physician from Ben Gurion University, said.
It is estimated about half of Israelis have received the first dose of Pfizer's two-shot regime. A third of people have received both shots.
Those who have been given the two doses are allowed back into gyms, movie theatres and swimming pools, while their non-vaccinated counterparts will have to wait.
On the streets of Jerusalem, Israel's biggest city, the mood was palpable as restrictions were eased.
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'Cancel Trump' Culture Is Toxic, Juvenile, and Dangerous
I wrote a post yesterday about Bill de Blasio gleefully shutting down ice rinks in New York a month early simply because the Trump Organization runs them and Hizzoner wants to score some political points while employing the familiar Democratic tactic of using kids as pawns. Never forget that Democrats hate your kids. They probably hate their own kids, too.
The pettiness shown by de Blasio and the way he handled it were beyond embarrassing:
At a time when Americans have been cooped up for a year and in desperate need of any kind of outdoor activity with fresh air, Bill de Blasio and his administration have decided that it’s more important to fill their diapers, stomp their feet, and have a loud ORANGE MAN BAD fit.
Worse yet, they announced it like a drunk college kid trying to dunk on someone on social media. A de Blasio spokesman said, “Trump has been impeached from operating the ice rink,” and he no doubt felt like the most clever boy in kindergarten after that.
The kids who are getting to spend time outdoors to keep from going crazy while not being in school are completely screwed now but, hey, Mayor Bill got to cheat Trump out of a few bucks for a month.
When President Biden signed his executive order for a review and update to ICE enforcement procedures, he also put Operation Talon on hold. Operation Talon is a nationwide ICE operation that arrests and removes convicted sex offenders illegally in the United States. The effects of this order have been immediate, with the cancellation of a joint operation to arrest at-large sex offenders:
All this is being done to appease the woke open borders lobby that’s been working in tandem with Big Green to control Grandpa Gropes’ brain during his first four weeks in office. “ICE” is a trigger word for the already unstable Left and the mere mention of the agency plunges them further into madness. Sometimes the madness makes them do stupid things. As Stacey notes, this time it’s making them do dangerous things:
As Biden has essentially thrown open the border to migrant caravans and the cartels that traffic human beings over the border, reducing the enforcement in this area is appalling. His executive order halted most immigration enforcement, with “aggravated felons” being the notable exceptions—but only if their aggravated felony occurred in the last ten years
The Democrats are in control of the federal government right now and they have no clear vision for the United States of America other than hating Donald Trump. That would be myopic and stupid in the best of times. With the pandemic still upon us and the economy in dire need of a comeback, it’s a recipe for long-term disaster.
And they don’t care. The tantrum is the priority and it shows no signs of letting up.
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IN BRIEF
Supreme Court declines to shield President Trump's tax returns from Manhattan DA's witch hunt (The Hill)
Senator Joe Manchin rightly announces he will oppose provocateur Neera Tanden, likely defeating her Office of Management and Budget nomination (Disrn)
"It doesn't always have to be a yes or no answer": Press Secretary Jen Psaki dodges questions about Governor Cuomo's nursing home failures (Post Millennial)
Friendly fire: AOC calls for "full investigation" into nursing home scandal (Daily Caller)
Biden admin urges passage of "Equality Act" to conflate gender identity with sexual orientation (Post Millennial)
Democrats planning revival of congressional earmarks following GOP's 10-year ban (Just the News)
Prominent Democrat fundraiser sentenced to 12 years in prison for foreign money campaign schemes (Disrn)
Donald Trump will speak at CPAC in first post-White House appearance (Fox News)
Support for Biden's handling of the pandemic falls by 5% (Blaze Media)
Making "a bad situation worse": Study finds Andrew Cuomo's reckless nursing home directive may have led to 1,000 more COVID deaths (Washington Times)
Lockdown upshot: Flu activity is "unusually low" this year (Disrn)
An epidemic of loneliness is overspreading America — and lockdowns sure haven't helped (FEE)
Six more Oath Keepers associates charged in Capitol riots conspiracy case (USA Today)
Iran refuses to change "terms" of nuclear deal as U.S. says "the ball is in their court" (Examiner)
President Biden approves Texas disaster declaration (Whitehouse.gov)
Texas storm may cost insurers record first-quarter losses (Reuters)
Some Texans now face huge variable-rate electricity bills to the tune of thousands of dollars (NPR)
Biden administration announces reforms to PPP to assist small businesses (Fox Business)
Bronx teacher fired for refusing to make "Black Panther" salute (Examiner)
Amazon drops Ryan T. Anderson's When Harry Became Sally book without explanation (Disrn)
Coca-Cola holds "anti-racist" training that instructs employees to "be less white" (Not the Bee)
Planned Parenthood committed 354,871 abortions in the past year and was given $618 million in taxpayer money (Not the Bee)
Racism at Smith College: Whistleblower reveals institution's psychological abuse of white employees (Disrn)
"We want to acknowledge its harmful impact": Disney slaps ridiculous "offensive content" label on "The Muppet Show" (Daily Wire)
The celebs who say you're killing the planet with minivans are using private jets at record pace (Not the Bee)
A gas leak led this Tennessee family to discover a family of bears living under their house (Not the Bee)
Apollo 16 lunar rover footage upscaled to a mesmerizing 4k 60fps (Not the Bee)
Policy: The Biden-made border crisis (Daily Signal)
Policy: How Congress can prevent Big Tech from becoming the speech police (The Hill)
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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