Immunisation - GOV.UK

Immunisation: Contents

1. Services
2. Guidance and regulation
3. News and communications
4. Research and statistics
5. Policy papers and consultations
6. Transparency and freedom of information releases
7. Organisations

 

When was the exact moment we got infected with Covid?

When was the exact moment we got infected with Covid? Six weeks on – yet to fully regain my sense of smell, and suffering a lingering cough at night – I’m no less perplexed about how I caught this dreadful disease. The truth is, of course, I’ll never really know.

I fear this mania for mass Covid testing is a hugely expensive blunder

I fear this mania for mass Covid testing is a hugely expensive blunder: Last week I received an email from someone whose results have flip-flopped from positive to negative four times over two months, and another from a man who has been unable to see his elderly mother, isolated in a care home, because she continues to test positive week after week.

These individuals are trapped, prisoners of the testing regime.

Something is going badly wrong, yet there has been no acknowledgment from politicians or from the scientists advising them. These, remember, are real people – lots of them.

What we are seeing, I believe, is a major flaw in the rollout of mass swab tests – the ones that involve wiping the throat or inside the nose. And the consequences are serious, not just for the individuals concerned, but for our whole national strategy – even with a vaccine. ...

As Newcastle University’s Professor Allyson Pollock said recently, the PCR tests were never designed to be used across entire populations. The manufacturer’s instructions, she says, make it clear that they are no more than a tool to help with diagnosis and they are ‘not to be used on healthy people with no symptoms’.

French infectious disease expert shocked by the number of adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccine

French infectious disease expert shocked by the number of adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccine: Professor Eric Caumes caused the equivalent of a medical earthquake by stating Wednesday evening that he has never seen as many undesirable effects with a vaccine as with the Pfizer injection that is scheduled to be widely distributed in France starting in January. ...

After seeing a report on the Pfizer vaccine from the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday evening, the data used by Pfizer to obtain marketing auhorization turned out to be a shock.

Caumes measured his words, saying, “As I read the 53 pages, something struck me. I have never seen such a high frequency of adverse events for a vaccine. Apart from minor injection reactions such as local redness and pain, other side effects occur at relatively high rates, especially in young people and after the second dose.

"Take the example of fever. It can occur transiently after an injection; it is classic. But here, 15.8 percent of 18- to 55-year-olds had a fever of 38 degrees Celsius or higher within seven days after the second injection. And 45 percent had to take medication for fever or pain. Another 55 percent had headaches and 62 percent were tired. No, really, that's much too much, perhaps there's a problem … ” Caumes said. ...

Caumes would still advise elderly people most at risk from getting severe forms of COVID-19 and dying to take the Pfizer or Moderna RNA vaccines because of what he considers to be a favorable benefit-risk balance.

But he did not advise young or healthy people to do so. “Not only is there a lack of information, but these injections based on genetic material (messenger RNA) have never passed the commercialization stage until now," Caumes said. "Perhaps they are revolutionary, but I want proof of their reliability, otherwise it is tantamount to placing blind trust in industry.” ...

Caumes repeated his critique to Le Parisien, stating, “Pfizer and Moderna simply announced their success in a press release. In my career as a physician, I've never seen anything like this before. You have to realize there is still no trace of scientific publication. We're walking on our heads.”

He also told the newspaper that he is afraid that he'll play into the hands of the “conspiracy theorists.”

“Yes, I am terribly afraid of it, but as soon as you step out of the single dominant thought, you are immediately considered to be a conspiracy theorist or an ‘ass,’ as Véran called me, even though I am one of those who defend vaccines the most," Caumes said. "They are the miracles of infectious diseases, the most intelligent drugs there are, since they prevent rather than cure. But I tell people the truth, otherwise they will no longer trust us, the doctors … ”

He added that he was concerned that things “are not going well with these COVID vaccines.” Warning that this could backfire, especially since the French government has already ordered and paid for them “without even knowing if they were safe,” he said.

"If we mess this up, the entire history of vaccinology will be discredited,” Caumes said.

53m discarded Covid face masks in UK 'could be polluting the sea'

53m discarded Covid face masks in UK 'could be polluting the sea': Globally 129bn face masks are being used per month

Face masks and COVID-19: don’t let perfect be the enemy of good: There are clear evidential gaps in the science of modes of COVID-19 transmission. Nevertheless, there is compelling evidence that masks can contribute to the control of COVID-19. Given that face masks are inexpensive in comparison to the other public health measures being used to control COVID-19, even a limited effect on transmission would justify their widespread use. In addition to recommending that people wear face masks in poorly ventilated, crowded settings or when community prevalence is high, some health authorities might even consider to recommend the practice in all settings when in company. The only caveat relates to potential diversion of scarce supplies for healthcare settings, in which case alternative forms of facial coverings that are made of appropriate materials should be considered [1].