Covid - news and views
Comments
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Hi DK, There is an article in today's Mail online by Prof David Wewrring re the blood clots.
He says that, in the UK, the deaths are almost all young females but, its the stats that jump out.
Of those who develop serious Covid 1 in 25 develop blood clots.
Of the 30 million vaccinated the deaths, 30, following issues with clots is 1 in 600000.
He says it is understandable that there is concern however, at the moment its felt there may be an association and that is not the same as a 'causal link'.
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I suspect they might find a link with clotting in younger women who take the Pill. It’s always been a higher than normal risk for some women.
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Checked our local figures today, and the case rate has plummeted, so thankfully things do seem to be a lot better than I thought. I wonder if it might have been a delay in updating figures, as they didn’t move for days on end.
Case rates have also dropped dramatically in the past week round here. Could it be linked to the children not being at school over Easter?
peedee
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I think someone said the other day getting in your car to drive it was a far,far higher risk than getting a blood clot from a vaccination. The problem is that there has been a drip, drip feed of negative publicity, more so about the AZ vaccine so people start to miss read the risk and start thinking it is common. There is some evidence emerging that in younger people the vaccine over activates the immune system which causes problems with the platelets which then goes on to cause blood clots in some people but I am sure it's too early to tell. Perhaps they will have to issue everyone with a months supply of aspirin to take after the vaccination?
David
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That crossed my mind when it was 1st mentioned. Glad they're investigating it however small the risk - it isn't small if it's you!
Our cases have remained 0-2 for the last few weeks, son's area jumps about a bit but been less than 10. However friends in Scotland East Ayrshire, has been high for a long time currently 96 😱
OH had his 2nd jab this morning, 10 days before 12 weeks is up. All well organised again but carpark much fuller - the gate volunteer's keeping an eye on spaces and allocating you one on entry. I sat in the car and only once did they have to hold new vehicles and that was just 2. That in itself saved much chaos, it was interesting watching some getting into their parking space 🤫. Bitterly cold wind may have stopped some folk walking - too far for OH to walk especially in the cold, a stop for cuppa/lunch on a warmer day might have made an outing 🤣. How we like the simple things again 😉
No date for my AZ one yet but another 4 weeks to 12 week gap.
The Brazil situation is awful and the number of variants being decteted extremely worrying, the sooner the vaccine is in arms the better so research can concentrate on tackling variants. A good case for keeping the borders secure for a little bit longer.
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I've read that it's very rare to get the combination of blood clots and reduced platelets etc and that it could even be linked to those who've already had covid and have very strong antibodies. Who knows at present? The fact that Covid can also cause blood clots just adds to the present confusion. The sooner we get more info, even if it's negative, it will help everyone.
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Not sure what the numbers of cases you mention refer to B2, is it 0-2 and 10 per day or what?
I see in the news that today Scotland had a total of 289 new cases. Otherwise, the main info we get in the news here is given as a rate per 100,000 people over a week.
East Ayrshire is quite high in the list, but the rate per 100,000 there, for the last week, was 65.6, that is a weekly not a daily number. Here in East Dunbartonshire we had 35 cases per 100,000 over the week. For it to make much sense, you need to know how many people live in an area.
East Ayrshire.....approx 122.000
East Dunbartonshire....approx 108,000
It does seem to change a lot from week to week
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Our area - Hornsea on the East Yorkshire coast is showed as 'suppressed' (i.e. less than 3 cases) which I find amazing given the number of tourists that have been visiting here for weeks (regardless of the fact that they shouldn't have been).
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What I want to know is whether you are taught to aspirate the needle before finally giving the injection? I appreciate the Green Book says not but there is a theory that a possible cause of blood clots is because the injection may have been put into a vein rather than muscle. Apparently if you aspirate the needle it will draw back blood if you are in the wrong place. Be interesting to know what the procedure is.
David
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Our Doc’s practice uses only the trained professionals due to some queries & concerns from patients. It surprised me when I read the posted announcement. It was something to do with enough training & professionalism. I thought it was just a-‘push it in & hit the plunger’, apparently not as attested by your question DK🤷🏻♂️
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Not sure what happens within the various authorities re giving injections, but my daughter is an experienced practice nurse with years of experience, especially giving vaccinations as she works in the sick bay at a millitary establishment, She volunteered to be part of the vax team at a local hospital, but she had to go for a couple of hours training before being let loose with the needle despite all her exerience, some of the training was also administrative so that the correct information could be entered on the data base, just as important as the vaccine itself if in the future we have to have some sort of vaccine passport.
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I’m thinking it could also be down to-if certain practices are risk averse or their insurers are. If something goes wrong & it’s proved the injector is not a medical professional what(if anything) would change re being sued for negligence🤷🏻♂️. It’s a thought for sure.
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It might depend on where you live in terms of who is actually administering the vaccine. It’s required a huge team of vaccers, and I know some vets have been involved alongside human medics.
Got my second jab booked in now. Since the Government saw sense just before Christmas, and left things more to the true professionals to run and organise things, mainly the vaccination programme and science led decisions, things appear to have been much better. I cannot fault in anyway the vaccination programme, certainly here in South Yorkshire where we live, a truly amazing feat is happening to organise, check and deliver vaccines to our region. Mine will be almost a month early on from my first vaccination, and there have been six Jab centres, none more than four miles away. Seems to be carried out mainly by local GP centres getting together and doing the administration.👏👏👏👏
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Mine will is on Friday, but this is what happens when you bring in the Military to handle the logistics of moving the vaccines around the country etc, and a Captain of industry to manage the procurement.
"Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said it was "only sensible" to cancel his trip to India, due to take place on 26 April, given the Covid situation in the country.
India has been reporting more than 200,000 cases daily since 15 April."
sensible under the circumstances, wonder if he would have moved into a hotel for 10 days at a cost of £1750 on his return
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David
Don't think it a case of human error because for most injections/vaccinations it probably wouldn't make any difference. It is just the fact that COVID vaccinations seem to have thrown up this oddity of blood clots so it's probably worth looking at all aspects. The requirement, as I understand it, is for the vaccine to be injected into the deltoid muscle at the top of the arm. Most blokes usually have a good muscle mass in that area but often women don't so there is more risk of it being put in the wrong place. They have shown on TV vaccinations being given all over the world and in some countries they seem a bit low to me. Having said that those I have seen being given in the UK all seem to be in the right place. It may prove nothing in the end but worth looking even to just eliminate it as a risk.
David
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Wow what a lot of questions. Here’s some answers based on my very limited knowledge. I’m no expert.
David K the needle is not aspirated. I’m not sure but I think that procedure is used when giving intravenous injections to stop air bubbles getting into the system. Thinking about it, it can’t be that important as loads of people give themselves injections regularly, me included, and most are ready packaged with no means of doing as you suggest. Many of the Flu vaccines are like that and auto injectors.
I was taught to inject into a small triangular target area on the upper arm. If you have had the vaccine you will know where. It is an area of muscle and no major veins, certainly no arteries to worry about.
Like me many of the jabbers are just reasonably experienced first aiders trained up by St Johns and others. The details are on line if you want to look up how it is done.
Frankly The UK has done wonders with the numbers vaccinated in such a short period and I don’t think it would have been possible without the volunteers. Perhaps someone would like to do the maths and say just how many jabbers are needed to do [say] 600,000 people per day at a rate of about six per hour per jabber over 12 hours. Then double it at least as jabbers don’t do 12 hour shifts.
As far as risk and insurance is concerned I think it all comes under Crown immunity because all of the vaccines are technically only approved for emergency use, but I’m no expert.
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It is sad and distressing to see the state India is now in. But it was always possible given the sheer population, culture and living conditions of many that such a tragedy might happen. Same with other heavily populated countries as well. At least some help is being given by other nations.......
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Hopefully meaningful aid does get through. Good to see the USA are releasing solutions so that India can produce more vaccine which will help.
Sad to say that India is the author of its own misfortune with poor leadership which has lulled everyone into a false sense of security and they are now paying a terrible price.
David
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The Covid 19 devastation in India could have been the same in the UK, but of course in terms of numbers, correspondingly lower. I hope that the Covidiots in the UK take note and don't spoil what we have achieved so far. We now need to provide as much help to India and other countries as we are able to do. The world war against SARS-CoV-2 is far from over.
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