Stockpiling...

[loveallthingsitalian]

I really don’t feel comfortable with a vaccine which has been rolled out so quickly whereas others take years of trials and can be rejected at the final hurdle but I will have to consider it unless I hibernate for ever. I have this fear that in 10 years it may come back to bite us .

 

[maymorganlondon]

In my store we get so many customers not wearing a face covering but wearing one of those sodding sunflower lanyards and declaring to all and sundry, and usually quite rudely 'I'm exempt!

There isn't any testing to determine if someone should be excused from wearing a mask, the lanyards are available to be purchased from supermarkets.

I would have thought that should you have a condition that precludes wearing a mask such as asthma or COPD the last thing you would want is a deadly virus that attacks the lungs!

One of my colleagues has asthma and she wears a mask during her shifts, not only to protect herself but to protect everyone else as she has a six year old germ factory daughter in primary school and I have a good friend, a cancer survivor who has COPD and he wears a mask as soon as he steps beyond his garden gate.

We notice though that a lot of people wearing sunflower lanyards walk down the street either smoking or vaping....

The problem is, it's not always obvious that someone has a condition that means they cannot wear a mask. The obvious solution is not practical: get doctors to certify that each person who isn't wearing a mask can't wear one.

I really don’t feel comfortable with a vaccine which has been rolled out so quickly whereas others take years of trials and can be rejected at the final hurdle but I will have to consider it unless I hibernate for ever. I have this fear that in 10 years it may come back to bite us .

There is an interesting article about this on the BBC website:. Link
It seems the usual lengthy period isn't essential to have the process completed "properly". The length of time appears to be due to other factors, including funding, and volunteers. This time funding, commercial partners and volunteers to participate were there.

 

[donna255]

In my store we get so many customers not wearing a face covering but wearing one of those sodding sunflower lanyards and declaring to all and sundry, and usually quite rudely 'I'm exempt!

There isn't any testing to determine if someone should be excused from wearing a mask, the lanyards are available to be purchased from supermarkets.

I would have thought that should you have a condition that precludes wearing a mask such as asthma or COPD the last thing you would want is a deadly virus that attacks the lungs!

One of my colleagues has asthma and she wears a mask during her shifts, not only to protect herself but to protect everyone else as she has a six year old germ factory daughter in primary school and I have a good friend, a cancer survivor who has COPD and he wears a mask as soon as he steps beyond his garden gate.

We notice though that a lot of people wearing sunflower lanyards walk down the street either smoking or vaping....

No, the lanyards are not sold in shops, they are free at customer service. But the actual card that goes with them is purchased from Hidden Disabilities website. I have seen people just walking around with free lanyards hanging around their necks. The Hidden Disabilities had a post up on Facebook last week saying they have always worked on trust and very sorry to hear that people are abusing their system. Now, some say getting a letter from your doctor but, that is impossible the doctors would be spending all day doing nothing but signing letters. Even charging £40 per letter which they were at one point they just stopped doing them early in the original lockdown as it was impossible to keep up.

 

[donna255]

Mr Colin Murphy our finance minister is giving everyone in N.I a pre-paid card with £200 to spend on the local high street. You cannot use it online only in shops. Jersey had the same scheme earlier in the year they gave £100 and there were no rules which shops you can spend it in and it looks like we will be the same.

Also, pensioners with pension credits and those on higher benefits will be getting £200 for the heating bills. I do know that pensioners do get a winter heating allowance in the whole UK each year but this is on top of that.

 

[SusieSue]

No, the lanyards are not sold in shops, they are free at customer service. But the actual card that goes with them is purchased from Hidden Disabilities website. I have seen people just walking around with free lanyards hanging around their necks. The Hidden Disabilities had a post up on Facebook last week saying they have always worked on trust and very sorry to hear that people are abusing their system. Now, some say getting a letter from your doctor but, that is impossible the doctors would be spending all day doing nothing but signing letters. Even charging £40 per letter which they were at one point they just stopped doing them early in the original lockdown as it was impossible to keep up.

However they are obtained they are being badly abused and their selfish attitude is putting everyone at risk.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

The one in Jersey was £100 per person, man woman and child whereas here it is likely to be £200 per household starting January so will folk just put Xmas shopping off a couple of weeks thus not really generating more sales just a different time line.?
They also talk about spending “locally” so locally needs defined. Apart from groceries I doubt I could spend £10 never mind £100 in my local town but could do it within a 50 mile radius.

 

[donna255]

It is not clear if you can use the £200 in say Tesco or any of the supermarkets? That was up in the local papers online wanting to know?


Not sure what higher benefits are classed as for the heating allowance? I know it won't be job seekers or income support type benefits.

 

[stratobuddy]

How things have changed since the 1950's

It reminds me of the Charles Atlas ads for men, how to change from a 10 stone weakling who gets sand kicked in his face on the beach.

 

[brissles]

I really don’t feel comfortable with a vaccine which has been rolled out so quickly whereas others take years of trials and can be rejected at the final hurdle but I will have to consider it unless I hibernate for ever. I have this fear that in 10 years it may come back to bite us .

LATI, in 10 years time I'll be over 80 (if I'm still here anyway), so I doubt I'll be caring too much by then

 

[Vienna]

Just a cautionary word...

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

It is not clear if you can use the £200 in say Tesco or any of the supermarkets? That was up in the local papers online wanting to know?


Not sure what higher benefits are classed as for the heating allowance? I know it won't be job seekers or income support type benefits.

Apparently it will be per person (age limits?) and will be worth between £75 & £100. I hope it will be easy for vunerable people to use if they can’t get out.

 

[donna255]

Apparently it will be per person (age limits?) and will be worth between £75 & £100. I hope it will be easy for vunerable people to use if they can’t get out.

Yes, Diane Dodds on a live interview said she had no idea where the £200 came from. Well, UTV teatime news is where I heard it. So then went on to say £75-£100. I did notice when they interviewed a shop owner he wanted it only for independent shops. But then one woman they interviewed on the street said she hoped she could pay her electric bill with it. The news item finished saying it was to help the high street. Oh, and a time-limited on using it so use it or lose it. Since they are not issuing them until January onwards hopefully people are able to get out by then.

There are very few independent shops in Belfast and I can't say I would want to buy anything from them?

 

[Silver Fox]

If we want this damned thing to be under control, enough of us have to step up and get vaccinated.

We cannot live the way we are asked to indefinitely. We humans are social and tactile. Without touch and closeness, are we living or just existing?

I’m in the queue! Some people are adamant they are not having it, that is their choice but if things go as they should we who are vaccinated will have paid our part in eradicating an illness for the benefit of those who choose not to.

 

[Vienna]

Having seen just how ill this virus made my oldest son and how several weeks after his initial positive covid test he is still suffering the effects of the virus it made me realise how easily it can kill people. My son is just 45 and very fit but at the beginning of him contracting the virus even he was struggling to breathe and gasping for breath, he was unable to talk because of the breathlessness and he had the most horrendous cough, raging sweats and was so tired he could barely move. Several weeks later he is still coughing and still wiped out and has been told by his Doctor he has what`s being called long covid and that it could be quite some time before he`s full recovered.
If I or Mr V had caught it and been as ill as my son, I`m certain we wouldn`t have pulled through. Mr V has heart disease and is diabetic and neither of us are Spring chickens. I recall having flu several years ago and have never felt so ill in my life, it literally flattened me and so did pneumonia which I developed way back in my 40`s so if such illnesses can make me feel so ill when I was younger then full blown covid in my late 60`s could be even worse. I`ll happily have the vaccination and so will Mr V. We both have more life behind us than in front of us and if the vaccine enables us to live life to the full and lessens the risk of catching this dreadful virus and means we don`t have to become prisoners in our own home then I`m all for it.

 

[stratobuddy]

Something to save you time on Xmas day, I wonder if QVC will sell it?

 

[donna255]

Well, I had a dither when it was first announced we now have 3 different vaccines. But yes I will get it. With out vaccines Polo, Smallpox and TB would be killing thousands of us every year. Then, of course, the flu which does and can kill thousands every year though they don't tell you that.

 

[Bettyboo]

I will be having the vaccine. Several family members have had COVID in this second wave and my daughter in her 50’s and one of my granddaughters aged 30 were really unwell but the other three were only mildly affected. My husband has been unwell since early March and has been told by three different doctors they ‘think’ he has long COVID as he is still nowhere near as fit as he used to be. I think the reason the vaccine has been done so quickly is down to money being made available for it.

 

[maymorganlondon]

There are 5 vaccines at the third stage. Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca from the West, plus Russia's Sputnik V, and China's Sinovac... so far. We will need all the possible vaccines available to ensure billions can be offered the job globally.
Even if covid-19 remains in circulation, with widespread immunity it will reduce the incidence significantly. They also have a solution on they cards for those with no immune system to speak of, but that can't be developed at scale. That uses cocmvid patient antibodies, I think I read.

 

[iloveshopping]

LATI, in 10 years time I'll be over 80 (if I'm still here anyway), so I doubt I'll be caring too much by then

I’ll be queuing up to have it. I hate being ill.

 

[Mazza]

I shall have it too. I don’t remember anyone having a choice about the polio and diphtheria jabs we got in my childhood. We were just lined up and filed in... I don’t even know if parents were told it was happening. You just knew that your children had these jabs at various ages. And wasn’t it illegal to refuse the BCG thing? I may well be imagining that!

I cannot wait to get the shingles jab!!!!! I was so fed up when I got shingles in January.