UK Faces Food Shortages As A Result Of Conflicted Government Science
European countries have been shutting down their borders with the United Kingdom following advice that it harbours a 70% more contagious version of the Covid virus, which has already led to the new Tier 4 lockdown arrangements in Southern England and the effective cancellation of Christmas. Whether the mutation is actually more contagious is a matter for dispute between two Oxford professors. The case that the “strain” is more contagious has been hypothesised by the Nervtag advisory committee led by Prof Peter Horby. According to the Daily Mail Prof Horby, who is Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, said the figure of 70 per cent was based on 'converging data'.
“He said: 'This is including, but not limited to, the rate of change in the frequency of detection of the variant (the growth rate) and the correlation between R values and the frequency of detection of the new variant.'”
This, however, is disputed by Prof Carl Heneghan of the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine. He told the Mail:
'I've been doing this job for 25 years and I can tell you can't establish a quantifiable number in such a short time frame.'
He added 'every expert is saying it's too early to draw such an inference'.
Professor Heneghan said there was no doubt this time of the year, the 'height of the viral season', was a difficult time for the NHS. But he said failure to put out the basis of the figures was undermining public trust.
But while the mutation is already circulating in other European countries it has led to them shutting down food supplies to the UK coincidentally or not on the very verge of Brexit. Prof Horby had previously been embroiled in controversy earlier this year over the Hydroxychloroquine trial in which inappropriately high quantities of HCQ were given to Covid patients already in a serious condition (the trial was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Also on the Nervtag Committee is Prof Ferguson of Imperial College whose controversial modelling led to the UK’s first lockdown in the spring. Ferguson was forced to resign from the more prominent SAGE committee after breaking lockdown rules pursuing a romantic liaison, but not apparently from Nervtag. Ferguson’s Vaccine Impact Modelling Consortium at Imperial College is also funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the global vaccine alliance, GAVI. Ferguson's group was said to have received $185 million from the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation between 2006 and 2018.
Converging data or converging interest?
@John Stone
I'm sipping on a hot cup of Ahmad tea with a soft peppermint melted in for a sweetener. I don't know if it's proper, but it is festive and delicious! Wishing you and the AOA across the pond a very Merry Christmas. It is, after all, a matter of faith, not circumstances.
A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL is our favorite. We watch it every year.
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 24, 2020 at 03:46 PM
I am so sorry Jenny.
Everyone is descending on you all. They are trying to pressure you into lots of things. I don't thing the ginger people will stand for much more.
Cia; The best choice is what Deider Roult said at the very beginning: Hydroxychloroquine.
Posted by: Benedetta | December 24, 2020 at 12:07 PM
Cia
“I thought we had always given our opinions and our certainties about the safety of different vaccines.”
No. Just possibly we have allowed you a little more latitude than we should have but we should not be recommending medical products and you are just citing what you think or what other people might think, which is ridiculous. We do talk about evidence. For instance, I could say that the studies show that the targeted groups had fewer symptoms than the placebo groups (a very small amount of data) but the reality is that there were no endpoints for reducing contagion or death. Peter Doshi was concerned that the trials were adequately blinded.
Posted by: John Stone | December 24, 2020 at 03:15 AM
@ John Stone -"The worst thing at the moment is the despicable and degrading treatment of the lorry-drivers - I guess the food shortages will really start to hit home in the new year."
Yes -this is horrendous-BUT maybe -just maybe- this situation has succeded in banging some obdurate heads together. At the moment I am hoping there will finally be a trade deal with Europe. An announcement will be made later this morning. Fingers crossed.
Most of those lorries were returning to Europe, having delivered their cargoes in the UK. Several charities have been feeding the truckers. The Mail had a photo of hundreds of trays of hot chick pea curry-yum! This is suitable for all religions as well as vegans. Well done charities. Some of the truckers were quite self sufficient in food. One enterprising chap had his own mini kitchen on the side of his van. He was pictured enjoying his continental style breakfast at the side of the road, and yes he shared it with fellow truckers. Adversity brings out the best in us. Our generous UK Government is handing out -wait for it- bottles of water at the port.
Meantime the army is attempting to Covid test thousands of stranded lorry drivers.
Posted by: Jenny Allan | December 24, 2020 at 02:21 AM
@ John Stone -"No one should be advising on receiving vaccines other than doctors who have done careful reading about the known risks and benefits of specific products."
I agree. This site should not be issuing specific advice to persons about whether or not to take vaccines. However, it is very important to inform readers and AoA is one of the few, the very few, prepared to publish the scientific evidence for and against, which can help parents and others to make up their own minds. This is called informed choice, something which is presently being denied to most persons over the new Covid-19 vaccines. All we hear in the UK is the sort of marketing hype worthy of the dodgiest used car salesperson. 'Safe and effective' is all we hear. The only dangers are those nasty 'anti-vaxxers' spoiling things for everyone.
As for 'doctors who have done careful reading about the known risks and benefits of specific products,' -are you kidding? In the UK doctors get paid for each jab they deliver and a 'bonus' for achieving a high percentage of vaccinations. We all know what happens to doctors who dare to express even the most reasonable doubts about specific vaccines. I was heartened by the recent widespread refusal of GPs in England, to engage with the Covid-19 vaccinations. They cited 'pressures of work' as the main reason and all extolled the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccines of course. To me this looks like the doctors 'voting with their feet'. Boris will inevitably get the army to do the vaccinating!
Most licenced vaccine ingredients and documented side effects are available online, as are the vaccine inserts. The best advice we can give is to encourage
Posted by: Jenny Allan | December 24, 2020 at 01:51 AM
John,
I thought we had always given our opinions and our certainties about the safety of different vaccines. I got some information from this article. We’ll see, but I think most doctors will say all of them are safe and effective. I thought not everyone would realize the protein fragment vaccines like Novavax are recombinant vaccines like the hep-B vaccine which caused vaccine encephalitis in my daughter. The Chinese vaccines are whole-cell, killed virus vaccines like the very dangerous DPT. I didn’t know either one until I looked for the details. Everyone knows that mRNA is a brand new technology which may well have problems we can’t imagine yet. I thought that being able to place the different vaccines into a larger framework helps in comparing brand new vaccines with older ones whose dangers are known. I doubt that doctors would give such warnings at this time, or, very likely, any time. I think most of them say recombinant vaccines such as hep-B are safe, when many sources and many victims indicate that they are not, such as Mike Belkin and Judy Converse.
https://lozierinstitute.org/update-covid-19-vaccine-candidates-and-abortion-derived-cell-lines/
Posted by: Cia | December 23, 2020 at 10:21 PM
"I want to wait for more data, but at this time think that the Oxford vaccine combined with Sputnik V would be safer."
@CIA
What information leads you to this conclusion? What trials have used COMBINED vaccines? I haven't heard of any.
Thanks for the info on the Sputnik V. I guess they have to grow the coronavirus in the aborted baby's cells? WI 38 has been degrading and now new aborted babies are being used for new lines. I believe China has already copied our old technology on this to create new ones. Of course forced abortions are part of the CCP platform, so no moral standards are required. Do you know if the Russians are using the Chinese line?
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 23, 2020 at 09:36 PM
Cia
I think perhaps no one should be advising on receiving vaccines other than doctors who have done careful reading about the known risks and benefits of specific products.
Posted by: John Stone | December 23, 2020 at 07:48 PM
The Oxford vaccine and Sputnik V use aborted fetal cells. The mRNA products and the recombinant vaccines, except for maybe the Janssen one, do not. I would not base my decision on that. I want to wait for more data, but at this time think that the Oxford vaccine combined with Sputnik V would be safer. I would worry more about what was best for my family and children even if it used fetal cells.
Posted by: Cia | December 23, 2020 at 07:11 PM
Emma
The only thing the Queen is allowed to do is advise the Prime Minister in private - she may give him very good advice, but if she has in recent months it really hasn’t made any difference. The worst thing at the moment is the despicable and degrading treatment of the lorry-drivers - I guess the food shortages will really start to hit home in the new year.
She has also said she will take the vaccine and will make a public announcement when she has - but she has possibly been watching the adverse events with trepidation. It is worrying that Prince Charles is a proponent of the Great Reset.
Posted by: John Stone | December 23, 2020 at 07:02 PM
@John Stone
I would like to know what the QUEEN is doing about this. Does she not care about her subjects? This situation is inexcusable. During WW2, the Allies managed to airlift food and supplies into West Berlin. What is preventing food and necessities from being helicoptered, droned, or airlifted into London? The packages could be dropped by parachute. No human contact. This isn't rocket science.
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 23, 2020 at 04:59 PM
Re food shortages in the USA, I think it very much depends on where you are.
Most jobs in the USA have extremely modest sick days, so a couple of weeks of quarantine may be unpaid. People are being laid off, restaurants and small businesses are going under, and supposedly generous unemployment benefits with extra money are theoretically present, but in reality ( as I just learned from people who had been dealing with the system where we are) are basically unattainable.
This article for example references a person who has been trying since May to get unemployment benefits.
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/12/02/unemployment-payments-weeks-late-in-nearly-every-state
In rural areas, some people grow their own food to a degree anyway. Many other rural folk don't, and have very limited access to food banks. In urban areas, food banks are noticing huge increases in hungry people.
https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/us-food-banks-overwhelmed-demand-during-pandemic
Again in rural areas, grocery delivery isn't a thing, and quarantine requirements can be as long as 24 days for families with school kids ( 14 days for the first positive kid, then 10 days after that for other family members living in the same household, before they can all be declared free of it.)
The CDC recently changed some quarantine guidance, but it does not seem to have changed for some schools.
Meanwhile grocery stores are hit and miss; products appear and disappear, particularly those for special diets such as celiacs, or well known brand names. Most of the rural or special diet folk who can afford it around here, have at least several weeks or several months of tinned food stockpiled. Given snow conditions sometimes make roads unpassable anyway, it is not uncommon to have a little bit extra stored for winter anyway. In some places, schools have picked up a lot of the slack and many are offering free meals or reduced meals over the school vacation.
https://www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/30447-schools-keep-kids-fed-during-pandemic
Posted by: Hera | December 23, 2020 at 03:37 PM
@CIA
Does the Sputnik vaccine use aborted fetal cells in ANY of the production steps? Can you post the vaccine insert (in English.) Do Americans have to go to Russia to get this vaccine? Can they get it at all?
Thanks!
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 23, 2020 at 03:32 PM
Jenny,
I don’t know if the low effectiveness of the Oxford vaccine is because it uses monkey adenoviruses. I think it’s a good idea to combine it with Sputnik V, which vectors with human adenoviruses. It’s reported to have 95% effectiveness, after about a month.
https://sputnikvaccine.com/newsroom/pressreleases/second-interim-analysis-of-clinical-trial-data-showed-a-91-4-efficacy-for-the-sputnik-v-vaccine-on-d/
Dr. John Campbell has been a good source of information. He currently has several very recent videos on YouTube. In one from Monday, he says hospitalizations in the US had increased by 333% in the previous week. Cases and deaths had greatly increased as well. I believe he is compassionate and sincere. He supports the measures to control the virus, now more than ever. He said Dr. Brix had tweeted about traveling with three generations of her family. He disapproves of that: authorities must lead by example.
I’ve been reading Daisy Luther at The Organic Prepper since March, and enjoy her many articles. This morning she had just put up a new one saying she was recovering from Covid, a moderate case, and it was awful. She started feeling ill on Tuesday the first, and I realized she was talking about two weeks ago. She’s in Mexico now, and describes the treatment she received for Covid pneumonia.
Posted by: Cia | December 23, 2020 at 12:42 PM
Loved the JPSears video, it was so on target.
Merry Christmas
Posted by: Santa | December 23, 2020 at 09:35 AM
John,
Your most recent comment takes me back to the first comment I posted below:
“Food shortages are part of the evil plan.”
And to my second:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CJHgacJhAgK/?igshid=17dfw620gj0pf
And to the article I wrote in August, about the catastrophic costs of complying:
https://www.ageofautism.com/2020/08/the-catastrophic-costs-of-complying.html
The solution is for people of the world to individually and collectively stop complying now. Tomorrow may be too late.
Posted by: Laura Hayes | December 23, 2020 at 07:59 AM
A fundamental point here is that we have entered a new era of barbarism where the basic rules of human decency have been smashed in pursuit of this virus - even the most basic human needs must be subordinated to the desperate and largely pointless hunt. Is anyone sorry for the plight of the lorry drivers or worried about how we are going to eat in 2 or 3 weeks time? Does anyone feel responsible? A Labour Party spokesman said the most important thing was to get tests to the drivers locked in the queue - never mind food, drink, basic sanitation. The fact is that we always lived with disease risk and we never behaved like this.
Posted by: John Stone | December 23, 2020 at 07:42 AM
War at the Dover-Calais English Channel crossing after French President Emmanuel Macron stopped all traffic crossing from England to France on Sunday. He is now insisting on negative Covid-19 tests for truckers, most of whom are from continental Europe, including France. Someone should tell Macron and UK Health Secretary Hancock to think before they open their big mouths!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9080041/Lorry-drivers-able-travel-France-tomorrow-morning.html
Extract:-
"Tensions in Dover boiled over this morning as dozens of angry lorry drivers who have been stuck at the port for the last two days clashed with police after testing staff arrived (bottom left, last night) in an attempt to get them moving again. The truckers, who are trying to reach their homes in Europe for Christmas, tried to force their way past officers guarding the port. Hundreds left their cabs and walked along the A20 to the port entrance in Kent at 8am jeering and whistling, with some shouting in English: 'Open the border', 'We just want to go home' and 'F*** you, Boris!' At one point several of them surged forwards towards a line of Kent Police officers who were forced to push them back as days of simmering anger at the chaotic situation amid the Covid-19 pandemic bubbled to the surface. Some drivers showed police apparently negative results, but an officer said a lot of them were 'fake test sheets'. A deal has finally been struck with France after a ban on arrivals from the UK was imposed by President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, which has since seen thousands of trucks stranded in Kent, unable to cross the Channel. Mr Macron had wanted lab-processed PCR tests which can take up to 72 hours before results are received. But he caved in after a third night of talks following pressure from fellow European leaders who urged a compromise."
Posted by: Jenny Allan | December 23, 2020 at 06:16 AM
Pogo
Unfortunately the Mail story is from August, but I note Dr Clare Craig in LockdownSceptics this morning:
“I would agree; however the data does not back that up. So, while we have seen increased numbers of people labelled with Covid in the hospitals, the number of people in the hospital in total isn’t changing, and that’s what you see when you’ve got a labelling problem. You can increase and increase the number of Covid patients, but if that isn’t affecting the total number of patients, then it looks like you’re just misdiagnosing the people that would be in hospital anyway, and that does seem to be the situation we’re in.”
Gary
Of course, people not able to feed themselves anymore is another unacceptable consequence of Lockdown (which we already have in the UK) but not what Cia said, and it just looks as if what she said is not true.
The other feature in this story is that it is the consequence of the UK developing massive capacity for testing DNA which no other country has - the immediate consequence of which is for Ferguson to go and study tea-leaves and come up with another horror scenario, and no other country could have done it. Part of this story is Prime Minister Johnson’s obsession with testing (which is costing x£100 billions) and of course we can never recover if we pursue such an agenda, in which people who are not even unwell are obsessively tested.
Posted by: John Stone | December 23, 2020 at 04:17 AM
Russell Brand volunteers at a food bank:
Poverty in The Pandemic - I volunteered at a food bank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua6h9DjnIoM
I salute his efforts, yet ,would this be such a crisis without unnecessary lockdowns?
Create a crisis so we can feel good "fixing" it?
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 22, 2020 at 11:50 PM
John: There are no food shortages in the U.S. We are a net producer and exporter, with an enormous amount of farmland, and transportation has been largely unaffected by this. Grocery stores are full, while occasionally out of things like toilet paper, but only for a short period. What we do have are many more people with limited resources to buy food due to the loss of employment for so many for no good reason whatsoever. But we have a robust social safety net, both of government agencies and church-affiliated groups. What is tragic is the closing of schools has left children with less reliable nourishment. What they get at school is food pyramid crap, but it's better than nothing. Incompetent leadership in some states, such as California, New York, and Michigan, but in food we are self-sufficient.
Posted by: Gary Ogden | December 22, 2020 at 11:37 PM
JP Sears continues to shed light on what is transpiring with his brilliant humor:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CJHgacJhAgK/?igshid=17dfw620gj0pf
Posted by: Laura Hayes | December 22, 2020 at 10:21 PM
Cia
The Daily Mail used to be (maybe still is) notorious for printing wacky news stories but on covid it appears to be careful on sticking to the facts.
Coronavirus deaths fall to ANOTHER low: Flu and pneumonia are now killing SIX TIMES more people - as daily infections keep dropping too
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8639223/Coronavirus-deaths-fall-low-Flu-pneumonia-killing-six-times-people.html
Just like the experts (that have been band from MSM) have been saying all along. If virus identification hadn’t been invented and if governments hadn’t moved sick people out of hospitals and into care home, this would have just have been consisted a bad flu year. The raw data on john hopkins university site suggests the same thing for the US of A.
[Also on plus side, the UK is not suffering from gun ammo shortages unlike the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIgvoJKovIg&t=12s]
Posted by: Pogo | December 22, 2020 at 08:23 PM
However, we should all know better than to take vaccine data at face value and this data is less than transparent as Peter `Doshi wrote:
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/11/26/peter-doshi-pfizer-and-modernas-95-effective-vaccines-lets-be-cautious-and-first-see-the-full-data/
Posted by: John Stone | December 22, 2020 at 07:15 PM
Hera,
I put up figures from the testing the other day, I think it was the Pfizer vaccine. 12,000 vaxxed, 12,000 controls. Among the vaxxed, 8 got Covid, one severe case. Among the controls. 165 got Covid, three severe cases.
8 vs 165. I think that shows the vaccine prevents Covid. It did not find that only mild cases were prevented. A small number got Covid anyway for reasons we don’t know. If you compare the two groups, the point of having a control group, you see that Covid occurred twenty times more often in the control group.
There may be, no, there WILL be, adverse reactions we haven’t seen yet because everything is new. But you still have to consider the benefit of preventing an often disabling or fatal disease. Those who want that benefit should continue to be free to take the vaccine when it is available to them.
Posted by: Cia | December 22, 2020 at 05:59 PM
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/bmj-lashes-out-at-uk-state-corruption-and-suppression-of-science/16/11/?fbclid=IwAR3sNHGkj8CmlWEhJwaYo-xyCARUtp3doRMytEaDIv5QUbDCGNKQHGGKRL0
We have a situation in the UK where even the British Medical Journal, supported by the phamaceutical industries, is speaking out about 'UK state corruption and suppression of science.'
I don't know who or what is in charge of our nation, but it is not Prime Minister Boris Johnston, nor any of the devolved First Ministers. I have just listened to yet another BBC report stating 'at least 80% of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve 'herd immunity'. What utter nonsense!
At the moment the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine has claimed an 'average' of 62% immunity according to their trial data. Apparently, this is sufficient for the UK regulators to pass the vaccine, but the regulators are insisting the trials include persons over the age of 55. This is being hastily belatedly carried out, rather less than 2 months John, but these immunity levels will never achieve herd immunity, even if such a hypthesis of a concept was ever achievable anyway.
NO -I don't believe this business of an initial half dose of the Oxford Vaccine miraculously near doubling the immunity, nor do I believe all the hype about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines being more than 90% effective. The so called 'science' is based on a few trial persons tested for Covid-19, and a lot more untested. This is not the way proper scientific data should be collected.
What we DO know is there has been a high proportion of side effects with the Pfizer vaccine, now rolled out in the UK and US. I won't be having any vaccine which involves genetic modification, but I have no doubt the Oxford Vaccine will be approved shortly in the UK . Boris and Co are all past caring whether it works or not, or whether it damages us long term. All they care about is saving face and covering their backs. They will blame the scientific advisers and the vaccine regulators if it all goes pear shaped. I am lucky to be retired and self sufficient.
I am praying for the rest of the 'herd'.
Posted by: Jenny Allan | December 22, 2020 at 05:56 PM
John Stone,
It seems like the take home from this is that if you wish to keep your country open and fed, make sure your scientists don't test for mutations.
It is imo extremely unlikely that with the huge amount of UK/France travel, that the virus managed to miraculously stay on one side of the channel. Of course, without testing, the French can declare it is not in their country. This feels a lot more like punishment for Brexit and fishing rights with a thin layer of moral overtones based on supposed "COVID risk."
Cia, as I understand it, though I have not yet personally checked the studies to confirm, we have a vaccine that is somewhat effective in reducing mild COVID symptoms, in people who take a lot of anti pyretics ( just taking tylenol, which was apparently taken in larger numbers by vaccinated individuals, would almost certainly have the same effect.) There is no data on reducing hospitalizations or deaths ( is it true that neither the placebo or the vaccine arm had either?) and no data on reducing spread. About all we can really say from the data, as understand it, is that you will certainly show fewer signs of mild COVID, and be less likely to get tested, if you take tylenol.
Perhaps we should be pinning our hopes on effective treatments and preventatives (For example, vitamin D deficiency seems to be showing a definite link in repeated studies.)
CassandaraJane,
Good luck on getting that opinion in writing if mandates come. My doctor agrees my son will have increased chance of developing lifelong epilepsy due to pre existing conditions if he takes the DTP vaccine, but he has no intention of putting it is writing, and potentially being investigated. I think there are a lot of folk who are sure a mandate wouldn't apply to them. Welcome to mandate reality. If the CDC hasn't specifically said it is too dangerous, ( and the only exception per the CDC right now is allergies to the vaccine ingredients) then you are going to have to pray that your doctor is willing to potentially risk his practice for you. And if he is that brave, and is willing to do it for you , chances are some board with no liability ( as is already happening in New Jersey school systems) will decide it doesn't apply to you anyway.
Posted by: Hera | December 22, 2020 at 05:02 PM
Cia
Well, obviously it is pathetic that a once great nation like the United States has food shortages but it does not make it alright if the UK does. Of course, if nations want to block their borders with us it is up to them but it is no model for the future. And what we are dealing with here are Gates surrogates. They home in arbitrarily on a detail which might be something and might not - might even be good - and start to run up and down crying panic. And these are advisers loaded with conflicts and worse who ought to have been sacked or never hired. They are getting rich, we are getting poor. But actually we should not be in the position where such people can control policy, and it is a massive failure of good government.
As to the vaccines, the data is simply not good enough to ethically recommend them - gosh some of them have been trialled for two months!
Posted by: John `Stone | December 22, 2020 at 04:43 PM
I haven’t posted here for a few years but feel I must start contributing again.
I have now had two episodes of anaphylaxis - one due to penicillin and one of unknown origin - both corroborated by doctors; I’ve also experienced a further adverse reaction to another antibiotic. My husband has an underlying health issue and may be starting chemotherapy next year. The official advice from my husband’s oncologist is that I do NOT have the currently available Covid19 vaccine because of my previous episodes of anaphylaxis - I should wait for the Oxford vaccine. For the time being I’ve been saved from having to make my own decision, bearing in mind my husband’s health issues.
After several reports of anaphylaxis in the British national newspapers, the same advice is now being given by British Government bodies.
Posted by: CassandraJane | December 22, 2020 at 03:59 PM
John,
The US has had severe food shortages this whole time. Many people are going hungry. For a while the usual shipments from Canada and Mexico were not occurring. Food banks have been stretched to the limit, and lines of cars hoping to get food stretch for miles. Have done for nearly a year.
At this time, Covid is the number one cause of death in the US. If most people hadn’t been using masks etc. from March on, our situation would have been much more dire much sooner.
Does the UK not have three months’ worth of food in storage, to distribute through the equivalent of food banks to those in need? If Holland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, etc., feel the safety of their countries requires suspending transit from the U.K. temporarily, they have a right to do so, as all sovereign states do.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to ignore the virus and its effects hoping to carry on as usual. Like everyone, I wish that the pandemic had not occurred. We have had to try to control it while also trying to survive, an impossible task. I wish very much that we had controlled it by other means when there was still time. Some countries did, though I think maybe New Zealand may be the only one not experiencing an upsurge after earlier success. The US did not. We have done the worst in the world by every measure. I don’t like vaccines and fully recognize their danger. But at this time I think vaccines are the best answer to stop the virus, the major cause of death in the US. It didn’t have to be this way, there were better measures available, but at this point the situation is so devastating and out of control that I think the vaccines are the best answer, despite the reactions which will occur. It must be a free choice, but I think they will stop the pandemic. And then we will try to get back to normal.
Posted by: Cia | December 22, 2020 at 03:22 PM
Cia
Yes, great -put your finger in the dam. We can all suffer from food shortages. Yes GREAT.!!! Lorry drivers can be stuck in traffic queues for days without being able to go anywhere or even to the toilet but GREAT!!!! Just because Prof Ferguson who is paid by Bill Gates thinks it might be causing a rise in the infection rate. If every time some shill whispers that there is a risk of disease the whole world shuts down, we have really had it.
You are very hopeful of all these vaccines and not concerned that the people will not be warned of the poor amount of knowledge of their benefits or their considerable risks.
I used to think that you were someone who sat on the fence but you don’t answer substantive criticisms anymore, you just recycle pharma propaganda. Your copy may as well have been written by Dorit Reiss. There has not been a point when you have have not been on-side with the Fauci/Gates agenda ever since the Covid business started.
Posted by: John Stone | December 22, 2020 at 02:36 PM
Jenny,
Yes, I am hopeful for the success of Astra Zeneca (shorthand for the vaccine produced by AZ). And I think combining it with Sputnik V is a good idea. I guess they have to keep the UK product and just admit Russia as a contributor. I was afraid of the mRNA products, but so far I think they look good, better than I initially thought, but longterm effects haven’t been assessed yet, and I wouldn’t want to take a chance. A friend brought. Christmas cookies yesterday: she works in a microbiology lab at the university Med Center. We talked about the vaccine. I said we wouldn’t get it, as we have had two disabling vaccine reactions each, but I supported those who chose to get the vaccine. I said there wouldn’t be enough Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to cover the US, and if I were her (she wants the vaccine and asked my opinion), I would wait until spring, when Novavax (recombinant, we would never take it) and AZ would probably be available to everyone here who wants it, and choose the AZ combined vaccine.
Posted by: Cia | December 22, 2020 at 01:05 PM
John,
They don’t think at this time that the mutation is more virulent, but they think it is 60% more transmissible, that it’s R0 is much higher. Which would mean an explosion of case rates, including of severe cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Dr. Campbell said what a disaster for poor countries (as well as everyone else) that would be. He didn’t think it had reached the US, but who can tell? We’ve already got a conflagration on our hands. I assume that 60% more transmissible would translate quickly into an exponential increase. In the US someone dies of Covid every 41 seconds as it is. In the UK the new mutation is already taking over the virus market. I watched his talk from two weeks ago at the beginning of the vaccine rollout in the UK this morning. I was shocked at the new post-Thanksgiving charts in the US. If I let two days go without keeping up, the line has shot up into the stratosphere. He said the US is in a state of desperation. And that the lockdown in the U.K. had worked.
He said it would be the beginning of April before we really saw results from the vaccines, what with a month before people got two doses and a week or ten days passed before it took effect. He thinks it is inevitable at this point that hundreds of thousands will die of Covid this winter (or of other things for which sufficient care is not available).
He supports closing the borders, and supports the many European countries which have cut off transit to and from the UK. Maybe a finger in the dyke, but probably worth limiting the explosion of Covid to the extent possible. It wouldn’t be for that long.
I was unfamiliar with the phrase Hands, face, space, ventilate. Kind of cute, as was the bulldog toy in Dr. Campbell’s window wearing a mask. I’m now thinking maybe it’s just as well that Cecily hasn’t gotten a job yet. I’m tempted to stay at home for the next three months, it would be bad to get slammed at what is probably the end of the pandemic.
Posted by: Cia | December 22, 2020 at 12:51 PM
Cia -Here's the lowdown on the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine:-
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/health/oxford-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine.html
AZ are presently conducting hasty trials on the over 55's and also new trials using a half dose for the first injection after this seemed to improve the overall immunity. The UK and European regulators are unhappy about the very few over 55 trial participants. UK Prime Minister Boris, of course, is DESPERATE to get this vaccine through the regulators. Not only is it cheap, but there are enough doses for everyone already manufactured.
AstraZeneca are hoping to recoup cost price, so it is very cheap. They are presently attempting to collaborate with Russia on their Sputnik vaccine, already rolled out there. It's very similar to the Oxford one, but Russia uses a human virus vector instead of Chimpanzees:-
Posted by: Jenny Allan | December 22, 2020 at 06:45 AM
Previously I thought Dr Campbell was a sensible person but the closing of the borders is an unnecessary national catastrophe when the mutation is not restricted the UK, not significantly different from any other variant and now our food supplies are cut off - we have serious immediate humanitarian situation with lorry drivers stuck in queues - and this is actually far more serious than the wretched virus on any rational or humane assessment. In fact it is cosmically stupid. All this because Hancock wanted to pressurise the public over the vaccine. The Vaccine stuff is entirely unethical - if these products are to be used at all people must be given detailed and specific information, not pie in the sky.
Posted by: John Stone | December 22, 2020 at 06:41 AM
The Pitchforks are out in Portland.......
Anti-Lockdown Protesters Force Way into Oregon Capitol, Some Armed
https://www.breitbart.com/law-and-order/2020/12/21/anti-lockdown-protesters-force-way-into-oregon-capitol-some-armed/
A WARNING FROM GULAG ARCHIPELAGO
"Without the police, the politicians have no power.
And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?
Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?…
The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago)"
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 22, 2020 at 01:35 AM
Sebastian Rushworth MD (an Emergency Department doctor at a Swedish hospital) has an update regarding Sweden that counteracts the hysteria in the media that contends that Sweden is a basket case because of their lack of lockdown restrictions early on and other developments there.
https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/12/19/update-on-the-swedish-covid-response/
Ivor Cummins does a good rundown of the Covid 19 state of play worldwide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cjgicrA504
Posted by: Julie | December 22, 2020 at 01:28 AM
WHICH ONE ARE YOU?
"21 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.
2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had." Luke 21:1-4
OR
17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." Mark 10:17-22
WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Revelation 13:17
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 21, 2020 at 11:54 PM
Gerardo,
We have several preventives and treatments, but most people do not. If they did, we wouldn’t be seeing three thousand deaths a day. I think this nightmare will end soon, but it will be primarily thanks to the vaccines. They aren’t the only or safest approach, but I think it’s what’s going to reach the masses. And I am thankful for that.
Posted by: Cia | December 21, 2020 at 09:50 PM
Dr John Campbell’s new video on YouTube today is about the new mutation. He thinks it’s reasonable to close the borders to prevent its spread. He also thinks that the vaccine will be effective against the new mutation. I hope so.
Posted by: Cia | December 21, 2020 at 09:41 PM
Jenny,
I just listened to Dr John Campbell’s presentation on the vaccines, especially Astra Zeneca. He thinks it will be the main one used worldwide, and I agree. It sounds very good. I’m looking forward to learning more about it and Sputnik V. Dr Campbell says we’re starting the beginning of the end of the pandemic.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NGQKAvsnISg
Posted by: Cia | December 21, 2020 at 09:35 PM
Is this the "Dark Winter" Joe Biden keeps warning us about?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GYzRJF-eDc
"Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again."
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 21, 2020 at 07:55 PM
Dedicated to the Britts:
Ulster Fry's Covid Christmas Carols! Who said you can't celebrate?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdb9yNtS1CY&feature=youtu.be
The gang's all here for their photo-op.
https://patriotssoapbox.com/politics/breaking-shocking-image-surfaces-of-dr-fauci-with-george-soros-bill-gates-sr-david-rockefeller-more/
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 21, 2020 at 07:37 PM
Pressurize people to vaccinate, but then what are they to then advertise -- one vaccine -- gets 'em both. ? Well maybe, but such a web of deceit.
It is like some one said about a certain side of my family.
IF they could get up in the morning and do the sure thing of making a good living, they would pass it up cause they rather get up and plan all day on how to cheat some one instead.
Posted by: Benedetta | December 21, 2020 at 04:37 PM
Again Cia you are promoting fear. Not everyone is afraid of the new mutation. That happens with a Virus. The powers that be what us to be very afraid and you are playing right along with them. There are effective treatments for Covid and its different strains. The PCR tests are not accurate they give a lot of false positives. Hence a lot of new "infections" Its a numbers game and you know this. Stop promoting fear.
Posted by: Gerardo Martinez | December 21, 2020 at 03:40 PM
The lunatics are in charge of the country as well as the asylum.If its so contagious why are they allowing mixing of persons at all?Whers the profile of the first virus?Wheres the profile of the 2nd virus?Cant be found,hasnt been done that should give a clue because its just that a fairy story more likely to see Santa than the profile of the virus..
TOTALITARIAN DIS- UNITED KINGDOM OF CHINA.
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | December 21, 2020 at 03:28 PM
@CIA
Your Bill Gates imitation is SPOT ON!
LOL!
"Everyone is scared to death at the new numbers and the specter of a mutation 70% more contagious. .... Everyone may soon see it’s too late. This sort of thing always happens in epidemics."
You are now Anti-Cassandra.........
Extreme weight loss from starvation is the latest Mutant Covid 19 symptom. All the prior at-risk obese victims will now be safe.
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | December 21, 2020 at 02:35 PM
@John Stone- "I suspect primarily they were turning on the gas to pressurise people to vaccinate. "
Absolutely! There is huge MSM propaganda, apparently aimed at the UK Vaccine regulators to get the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine rolled out for the public. There have been huge logistic problems with the Pfizer vaccine which has to be stored at very low temperatures and once defrosted must be used quickly.
The Oxford vaccine is very cheap and there are enough doses for everyone already manufactured. Unfortunately, both the US and EU regulators are unhappy with the data and in the UK, AstraZeneca has been instructed to run more trials, particularly in the over 55s, the most vulnerable to complications.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9075181/Britain-faces-calls-approve-Oxford-Universitys-coronavirus-vaccine-soon-possible.html
EXTRACTS:-
"Britain faces growing pressure to approve Oxford's coronavirus vaccine in desperate race to speed up roll-out amid fears UK may need lockdowns until 30million people get jabs"
• "Experts say having another vaccine available is vital: 'Every day delayed counts'
• The new more-infectious strain of the virus may render three-tier system useless
• Pfizer's jab difficult to distribute because it needs to be frozen; Oxford's doesn't
• MHRA regulators are expect to decide on approval by December 28 or 29"
"Pressure is mounting for Britain to approve Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine to stop the spiralling outbreak that has wrecked Christmas for millions.
Oxford and AstraZeneca's jab may now be the UK's last hope for lifting lockdown rules before spring 2021 because the country can't get enough doses of Pfizer's or Moderna's - which won't come until March - to protect all vulnerable people."
By SAM BLANCHARD SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:30, 21 December 2020 | UPDATED: 16:16, 21 December 2020
Posted by: Jenny Allan | December 21, 2020 at 01:33 PM
Everyone is scared to death at the new numbers and the specter of a mutation 70% more contagious. Closing borders is a reasonable measure. I read this morning about one case in Belgium and one in France. Everyone may soon see it’s too late. This sort of thing always happens in epidemics.
Posted by: Cia | December 21, 2020 at 01:25 PM
Benedetta
It may be wrong to see everything as from the script - I think there are quite substantial elements of chaos too. I suspect primarily they were turning on the gas to pressurise people to vaccinate. Some consequences predictable, some not.
Posted by: John Stone | December 21, 2020 at 12:01 PM
You hit the nail on the head, Brexit --- doing it all for political reason -- hate them.
They are trying to control us, instead of just lead us for our betterment.
China is in on UK, Europe, South America, Africa just like here.
The Red Tide.
With impish natives betrayers like a bunch Fauci clones around the world willing to help China for nothing more than money? Like there will not come a day that they are under the yoke of communism like all the rest of us.
Posted by: Benedetta | December 21, 2020 at 10:51 AM
Laura,
Yes, I note the Rockefeller plan from 2010
http://www.nommeraadio.ee/meedia/pdf/RRS/Rockefeller%20Foundation.pdf
Posted by: John Stone | December 21, 2020 at 09:37 AM
Food shortages are part of the evil plan.
And yet, the masses, soon to be forced into a state of hunger/starvation/poverty/joblessness/homelessness/government dependence/submission to and compliance with government demands in order to receive government financial assistance, continue to blindly comply, willingly and eagerly, with that which is not only tyrannical, but which is utter nonsense:
the covering of both means of breathing, also known as smothering;
the covering of both verbal and non-verbal means of communication, resulting in poor communication, reduced desire to communicate, and what we will come to learn will be huge losses in the development of speech, language, and social skills in infants, toddlers, and young children;
standing an arbitrary 6 feet apart in crowded public places, as though that is doing something meaningful, and as though that "purifies" the air around oneself;
not visiting or being able to properly advocate for loved ones in the hospital, leaving them vulnerable to hospital staff, and resulting in many dying lonely and alone;
permitting PCR tests, whose results are meaningless, yet which are used to gin up the numbers, the fear, the restrictions, the closures, and the lockdowns...and which will result in a complete takeover by those with evil intentions;
limiting/eliminating social contact, which is not only essential for human well being, but which is necessary to stop this evil takeover of our livelihoods, rights, and freedoms;
happily shopping at big-box stores, but supporting the restriction and closure of smaller stores and businesses;
watching people wear masks that have been all over the place, from directly under their mouths when they slide them down, with their hands mind you, to their car floors, to the inside of filthy backpacks and purses, to the ground of parking lots when they fall...yet basking in the false security of mask wearing (formerly the clothing choice of robbers, rapists, hijackers, and terrorists);
the constant spraying of toxic concoctions to stay "healthy";
and perhaps the most ridiculous of all, wearing a mask inside one's car when driving solo.
Time is running short to stop both this tyranny and resultant takeover by those with evil intentions. Here are 3 items which I hope will reinforce the importance of rising up, resisting, refusing, and rebelling now...as in today.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/12/21/a-year-without-a-santa-claus.aspx
https://www.ageofautism.com/2020/08/the-catastrophic-costs-of-complying.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yBA3ToVlF4&feature=youtu.be
Posted by: Laura Hayes | December 21, 2020 at 09:27 AM
Our UK Government Health Minister has excelled himself this time with his claim the new Covid-19 strain is 'out of control'. I woke up this morning to reported utter chaos, at airports, the channel tunnel and cross channel ferries, all cancelled to UK leavers.
At lunchtime there seemed to be some sanity emerging amongst EU and UK spokespersons. OF COURSE the new variant Covid virus is already widespread in Europe and elsewhere. How could it not be? There's NO PROPER SCIENCE behind the claim the virus is 'out of control' or even that it is more harmful than the 'original' strain. Our Governments are collectively insane!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9068223/Italy-fourth-country-spot-mutated-Covid-virus-British-traveller.html?ito=social-facebook&fbclid=IwAR3smzwQ_BtTcGE2KiKVEH0faPODv_tKislrHs28-HPqdB4x7iekEBKGUlg
Extract:-
"Italy becomes the FIFTH country to spot mutated Covid virus after infected British traveller flew to Rome - as France admits it's 'entirely possible' it has cases too
In November there were nine instances of strain in Denmark and one in Australia
Netherlands and Belgium announced they had detected a case each this month
More than a dozen countries have banned travel to and from UK to contain strain"
By CONNOR BOYD ASSISTANT HEALTH EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 10:03, 21 December 2020 | UPDATED: 13:32, 21 December 2020
Posted by: Jenny Allan | December 21, 2020 at 09:15 AM
"..... Prof Horby had previously been embroiled in controversy earlier this year over the Hydroxychloroquine trial in which inappropriately high quantities of HCQ were given to Covid patients already in a serious condition (the trial was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)."
Anyone responsible for conducting that hydroxychloroquine trial in which INAPPROPRIATELY HIGH QUANTITIES of HCQ were DELIBERATELY administered to patients already in serious condition should be PROSCUTED FOR A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. These sick individuals KNEW they were administering LETHAL DOSES of HCQ to sick patients … KNOWING THEY WERE POTENTIALLY AT HIGH RISK OF DYING … that is PREMEDITATION ON THEIR PART.
More than a few highly qualified "scientists" have EVIDENCE of the effectiveness of HcQ and Ivermectim (sic?) that clearly acknowledges THOUSANDS could have been saved had these two .. among other drugs .. been administered .. instead high level public health officials DELIBERATELY attacked these drugs as being DANGEROUS … which obviously made their VACCINE the only answer to covid pandemic. SICK … SICK ….. SICK ..
Posted by: Bob Moffit | December 21, 2020 at 09:04 AM
This is horrifying, John. The incompetence. How are people to eat?
Posted by: Gary Ogden | December 21, 2020 at 08:23 AM