I'd love a bleach! I mean, BEACH.
August 17th 2020
Summer arrived in the UK so that means lots of far too much hot weather (“I can’t sleep!”) followed by thunderstorms and floods (“Ah, I can’t sleep, I’m wet”). Rather than continue to uh “discuss” the competence and honesty or not of HM’s Government regarding contracts awarded, true numbers of testing, tracing and deaths, the scrapping of the government’s app, now replaced quietly with the Google-Apple one, eventually, soon, sometime…..well, the kids are in the headlines with exam results fiascos, when to go back to school, which pubs to go to, theatres, live performances etc, and companies like Debenhams having to close lots of stores and lay off staff…the UK test and Trace system has practically been replaced by regional ones, as in lots of other countries, who also have AN APP. So, well done Blackburn and Calderdale Local Councils!
Yup, when a vaccine comes (vaccine news coming up), getting everyone back to something will be a massive problem in the UK. There’s still a 1000 a day being infected in the UK and over a 100 a week dying from Covid-19 in England (none in Scotland or Northern Ireland).
How about contract news, for instance, have the right people got the right and money to supply PPE say, in the UK?
Oh dear.
Oh dear.
MEANTIME, recognising that of hugest importance worldwide is in the area of testing testing testing, the company rather surprisingly given the contract to produce RAPID antibody tests DNANudge/Oxford Nanopore hasn’t revealed when these tests will be available…was supposed to be now. They also haven’t revealed how accurate these tests will be no matter how rapid……(more pix below)
ALSO, in TESTING NEWS, a company in Cardiff has developed a test for coronavirus T cells - which can potentially provide longer-term immunity to the virus than antibodies. The body develops T cells when fighting an infection and they can create more antibodies if a person is exposed again. people could be antibody NEGATIVE but T cell POSITIVE! Some people have been discovered to display this….
This means the immune system could remember how to fight Covid-19 even after original antibodies have faded. Indoor Biotechnologies is "hopeful" the test will help in vaccine development…..
VACCINE NEWS In Moscow, Putin last week revealed he had given his daughter a vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, that hasn’t even had any Phase 3 (mass testing) trials. He’s called it “Sputnik V”. Yeah, right.
MEANWHILE the UK government has bought up millions of doses of SIX separate vaccines of four different types. So here goes. These are reported:
Oxford/Jenner/AstraZeneca Phase 3 Trials partially completed, and T cells and antibodies successfully produced (ZD1222) 100 million doses of this ADENOVIRUS vaccine
Pfizer/BioNTech (Germany) 30 million doses, an mRNA vaccine BNT162 (Phase 3)
Valneva (France) 60 million doses, “Inactivated whole virus vaccine” (Phase 1)
Janssen (Belgium) 30 million doses of this ADENOVIRUS vaccine (Phase 2)
Novavax (USA) NVX-CoV2373 60 million doses, Protein Adjuvant vaccine (Phase 2)
GSK/Sanofi/Clover/Dybavax, Protein Adjuvant vaccine (Phase 1) SCB-2019 (Australia)
The Novavax vaccine is under Phase 2b trials in South Africa
The following are also in later development worldwide in major trials.
Moderna/NIAID (USA) (Phase 3 trials) mRNA-1273
CanSino (China) (Phase 3 Trials) Ad5-nCoV
Sinovac “CoronaVac” (Phase 3)
Sinopharm/Wuhan (Phase 3) Inactivated vaccine
PLUS there’s loads more being developed….watch this space!
AND FINALLY FOR AUGUST:
Death Destruction Devastation Desperation and Dodgy Directing.