health
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Future Covid-19 Vaccination Programmes to miss out millions – Are we heading for Privatisation?
On 7 February it was announced that there would be a spring 2024 Covid-19 booster programme covering the same groups as were covered this time last year. However, the really alarming news came later in the release where it emerged that a smaller programme was likely from Autumn 2024. This has happened at the same… Continue reading
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Tracking Covid-19 Infections : The ONS Covid-19 Winter Infection Survey: February/March update
The latest update from the ONS Covid-19 infection survey was published yesterday. Previous updates on this are covered in my previous blog on the subject. Whilst the two previous updates published last month suggest there has been a fall in the prevalence of infections since mid December, yesterdays update on data relating to the week… Continue reading
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Vaccination Programme – looming privatisation : update 1st and 5th February 2024
The Autumn 2023 Covid-19 vaccination programme ended yesterday. As yet there is no news about when the next NHS booster programme will be, though there are signs that the vaccine will be available privately from this spring. In the meantime the Covid-19 virus continues to mutate apace. Also many thousands of clinically vulnerable people have… Continue reading
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What is Wrong with People?
Introduction A couple of weeks ago the Guardian ran a piece: ‘A public health message for this flu season: please keep your snot to yourself’ in which the author highlighted the seeming reversal of behaviour compared with before the pandemic, suggesting that people don’t seem to care if they spread germs around and refuse to… Continue reading
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The Tragedy of Long Covid
Summary What is Long Covid? What causes it? What are the implications for the lives of sufferers and policy implications more generally? Are some people more likely to get it? Public Attitudes to sufferers? How extensive is it? Is there are cure? This blog summarises the key issues, spells out the policy implications and, in… Continue reading
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The 2023 Covid-19 Booster Programme – have some early takers been failed (and what can they do about it)
Summary Recent evidence suggests that the boosters administered to people living in the UK in September 2023 are not particularly effective against the JN.1 variant currently causing problems across the world. Clinically vulnerable people and healthcare workers who had their Covid – 19 boosters in September 2023 after the Government brought forward the booster programme… Continue reading
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Increasing calls to improve protections against Covid in Healthcare
The last week has witnessed increasing calls, including from the BMA and RCN to improve safety measures to prevent the spread of Covid in healthcare settings. This follows on from a statement by WHO which classified Covid variant JN.1 as a variant of interests, which is being assessed. This was further fuelled by the publication… Continue reading
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The ONS Winter Covid-19 Infections Survey is published! (updated 12 and 20 January 2024 – see end)
UKHSA published the results of the Winter Covid-19 infections survey this morning 21 December. It paints an awful picture of soaring Covid-19 infections across England and Scotland. It is estimated that about 1 in every 24 had Covid at the week ending 13 December, with infections highest amongst younger adults and in London where it… Continue reading
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Vaccination against COVID-19 – Where did the UK policy go wrong?
In 2020 and 2021 the UK Government were keen to boost that they were world leaders in rolling out vaccination against Covid-19. It now seems like a very long time since those heady days of early 2021 when vaccination centres sprung up in the most unlikely of places across the country, staffed by NHS staff,… Continue reading
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The BBC Strikes Again: Complaint
This morning the BBC ‘struck again’ with an article on their News Website about Covid. Whilst the article does acknowledge that Covid is continuing to make people ill, sometimes for weeks, the BBC continues to avoid bringing in leading immunologists to comment. And they continue to cling onto the idea of achieving some kind of… Continue reading
GILLIAN SMITH About Me
I am a semi retired social researcher and have previously held a number of senior social research positions in Whitehall Departments. See an interview with me here. I live in a London suburb with my husband who has suffered multiple serious illnesses over the last few years. I myself am living with MND.
This series of blogs represent a personal, evidence based perspective based on living in the UK at a time when we are all meant to be ‘living with COVID’. Although I am a social scientist by training, I have worked closely with people from different disciplines throughout my career in order to present a complete picture of the evidence on specific policy issues. I am therefore scientifically literate but where I quote evidence based on research beyond my particular expertise it is always validated with relevant experts. I am a member of the Clinically Vulnerable Families group, though please note that the information presented here and any views expressed are my own. We are a friendly, supportive group and can be found via Facebook in private mode or in public mode via X (formerly twitter) Or BlueSky.Social
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Living on Plague Island 