Immunologists push for increase in testing and more widespread vaccine booster rollout as new variant, XEC, emerges
Covid is on the rise in England, and experts have warned that more must be done to prevent and control infections after a “capitulation to the virus”.
Prof Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, said those working in the field were perplexed by the current attitude to the battle against Covid, as the latest figures showed an increase in hospital admissions.
The latest data for England from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) showed that hospital admissions increased to 3.71 per 100,000 population for the week between 16 and 22 September 2024, compared with 2.56 per 100,000 the previous week.
The percentage of people with symptoms who have tested positive for Covid, based on tests at sentinel “spotter” laboratories, has also risen in the last week to 11.8% compared with 9.1% in the previous week.
Our capitulation to the virus is a combination of a population where most are now many months or years from their last vaccine dose, and that vaccine dose was in any case poorly cross-protective for the very distinct current variants.
I think most people don’t realize just how important that first part is. Many seem to believe a dose will keep them safe (and no longer dangerous to others) for at least a year, but that’s a mistake. Even our best Covid vaccines don’t protect for years or decades like the vaccines we’re accustomed to from childhood.
Immunity from these new shots wanes rapidly, reaching less than 20% effectiveness after just 6 months.
Keep in mind that being immunized protects you from developing worse conditions, not from getting it at all. Which also means you can absolutely be a carrier to others, you just won’t have it at a bad level for as long to be contagious. And the new strain is apparently more contagious (but possibly less of the rest) this time. Just wanted to add that in, because some people read the “immun” part and assume they can’t get anything. Avoiding infection is always the best way, with vaccination as protection if/when you do get it anyway.
not exactly true, it does help prevent infection and transmission. not 100% but significantly.
i think the unfortunate reality is that most people are never going to get yearly-ish vaccines.
UNLESS it’s made very easy for them, like at work. that’s what i would be pushing for as an employer, its in my best interest to keep my employees healthy after all. bring in a provider to give shots for free in the office.
my wife works for a fairly liberal non profit. luckily they are mostly remote now, but they have a massive conference coming up soon and i am shocked that they haven’t been encouraging vaccines leading up to it. i mention to my wife every year she should suggest it but it never seems to go anywhere.
In my country the vaccine is unavailable publicly or privately to most people. I’m considering travelling to try to buy it. It’s fucking insane. I can buy a vaccine for pretty much anything else.
Which does raise the question, if the mRNA route is a sufficient solution in the long run. IIRC coronaviruses are supposed to be much less active in mutating compared to influenza. The reason why influenze requires a new shot every year is because it is a new variation every year.
It is simply not viable to vaccinate large parts of the population every six months. And quite frankly there couldn’t be a better propaganda for anti-vaxxer than telling people to get the shot twice a year.
The reason people aren’t bothering is that we’ve gone all USA healthcare with regard to the vaccines. If you want one, find a pharmacy that will provide one and be prepared to cough up at least £40. And be sure to shop around and/or be prepared to travel because some places charge £100.
A whole lot of people don’t have even the low end of that kind of money, even if “the right thing to do” would be to make sacrifices - like, say, go cold or hungry for a couple of weeks, how hard could that be? - in order to make sure they get it. And then do the same again every six months from now until something else kills them.
And even if someone has £100 to spare, that’s a lot of money that could be spent on something other than feeling like crap for three days.
There are exemptions (i.e. free vaccines) for those over 64, the infirm, and health workers, but the rest of us can suck it, apparently.
Amusingly, as an American, one thing that is 100% covered by my insurance is vaccines. Getting the Covid, flu, and RSV vaccines next week for free.
which makes sense because vaccines reduce healthcare costs!
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Paid healthcare does exist here. We call it “private healthcare”, and there’s usually a regular subscription fee if not also insurance. I’m sure for those of us who have that, there are plans where you get vaccines thrown in as a “freebie”, but those people are probably paying more than £100 every six months for the privilege.
Sadly thats not the case in Germany. Quite likely you wont have to pay for it, but its not official for boosters if you’re middle-aged and healthy.
It makes no sense at all for preventative medicine like vaccinations not to be 100% covered. They reduce costs in the long term, so everyone wins.
not only England
Strange photo. Isn’t that swab supposed to go up the nose for a Covid test? Or do they do it differently in the UK?
I don’t know about other countries’ tests, but some in the UK are just nasal swabs, others are both tonsils and nose. The earlier tests - in my area, at least - were tonsil and nose swabs.
Those early tests were hell.
I shook like a little bitch after mine.
People don’t understand how good they have it now
Tonsil swabs? You have got to be kidding me. Don’t people puke all the time?
It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure.
The at home tests are often still asking for nasal swabs but actually you can detect the virus in a mouth swab just as well.
At the company where I work we got provided free testing and over the pandemic period they transitioned the test from nasal to mouth swab with no issues.
That 2002 movie just got the title wrong. Looks like it was supposed to be 22 Years Later
Speaking as an Englishman: fuck 'em.
I’m so done with dealing with these antivax idiots that I hope they catch the new variants and suffer.
I do feel sorry for those with compromised immune systems and the kids of antivaxers who also have to suffer because these morons believe the wild conspiracies that it’s a weapon for population control that is activated by 5G.
It almost makes me wish the conspiracy was true and these morons were the target leaving the rest of the population alone.
But I guess these loons won’t see reason until their grandma or child is gargling on fluids in an understaffed, overcrowded, and collapsing NHS hospital.
As good as it would feel to support this sentiment, every one of these “antivax idiots” that catches covid gives the virus more generations to mutate. Creating a danger to us all.
Great, I’ll go get my tranquilizer gun and load up some Pfizer, and inoculate the morons as I drive past them standing on the roundabout.
I would not vote guilty on your jury.
Your Honour I was not, as you so derisively put it, “assaulting people with a weapon” and “administering medication without consent”.
I was merely “providing an expediant public health service” and frankly for making those three booster shots at 20mph from 15 meters away I deserve a fucking medal!
It’s like going nuts because of the flu.
Yeah exactly except for the significantly higher mortality rate and permanent brain and organ damage
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