Here's hoping for the Politics to make this work:


Global eradication of COVID-19 remains possible
wrote:

... The paper cites the globally felt disruption resulting from COVID-19 as presenting an opportunity for a concerted international effort. Critical to an eradication program’s success is establishing strong vaccine coverage and staying ahead of rapidly developing variants.

The paper — entitled, “We should not dismiss the possibility of eradicating COVID-19: Comparisons with smallpox and polio” — appears in BMJ Global Health...

... Smallpox was most eradicable with a score of 2.7. In comparison, COVID-19 scored 1.6, and polio scored 1.5.

Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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More Aussie covidiots down in Melbourne are now not only in big trouble, but they're all well out of pocket.

Melbourne engagement party cases climb as story makes international headlines.

And then there's this other covidiot.

NT Covid case won’t reveal whether he has been vaccinated.

You can be sure that this fool will be immediately deported back to the U.S. as soon as he is clear of the virus (or worse if he doesn't) and a lot broker for his stupidity.

For what can be done:


The Eradication of Polio


Enjoy?

Stay safe!!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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Ivory Coast begins Ebola vaccinations after case confirmed in Abidjan

ABIDJAN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast began vaccinating health workers against Ebola in the commercial capital Abidjan on Monday after a case of the deadly virus was confirmed over the weekend.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-begin-ebola-vaccinations-after-case-confirmed-abidjan-2021-08-16/
We don't need need Ebola back.

Thanks so much Wiggo. :)

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Well Gladys' huge bungle at trying to keep the state here open now accounts for over 10,300 cases along with 64 deaths after a record new case day for the state of 631 being registered for yesterday. :-O

We also became the 125th member of the 40K+ club. :-(

At both state and federal levels our right wing Liberal party and their just as ring wing National Party cohorts are quickly losing the support of the public and if elections were held now both levels of government would be buried deep under landslides as both SloMo and Gladys take to each others' throats (that's if Gladys has enough room to get in there as just about every other state Premier in the country is already at SloMo's throat).

462 are now in hospitals with 72 of those being in ICU and 25 of those on ventilators. Australia wide the number of hospitalisations is now 509 with 76 in ICU and 25 of those on ventilators.

Meanwhile in the U.S. there are still 3 states to get their weekend numbers in, but they are well on track to have the grand opening of their brand new 38M+ clubhouse during this current reporting period.

[edit] You're welcome Lynn.

If you wanted to say a vax only works against the particular thing it was designed to work against, that is what you should have said. Blimey obvious I'd think.

If you wanted to say a vax only works against the particular thing it was designed to work against, that is what you should have said. Blimey obvious I'd think.

Which comes to a few additional subtitles such as:

• Target the entire virus so that only that one variant of virus is guarded against?
  
  
• Or target some common part (fragment) that is common amongst variants so that a wide range of virus variants are guarded against?...
  

As we get better at producing vaccines, (obviously) we're moving more towards using common fragments for wider effect, as is the case especially for the "RNA" type of vaccines against COVID.


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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Have you informed the fat controllers of that fact?
Fat Controllers at work

A Downing Street spokesman said the government was still advising people in England to wear face coverings in crowded places.

Their politicians, they want to sewerside

Several years ago, posted on social media.
Gimpy
2,000 rounds
Brick Wall
It is still up, so surprised that the PC/W&C brigades haven't picked it up & sent the boys in blue to have a word.
Think I need to drive several hundred miles to test my eyesight. :-)

Still effective ...for now

More information needed on benefits of third jab, scientist says
Of course when the vaccination was first announced, the British public was told that it would require two doses, with a period in between that has varied between three weeks and 12 weeks during the programme.

So what is the deal with a third jab, commonly labelled a "booster".

A member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), which advises the government, says that scientists have been carefully studying what benefits booster jabs might bring - and he says that more evidence is still needed,
Prof Peter Openshaw told Times Radio: "We can't just look at the antibody levels and think that that equates to levels of protection.
"It still seems that you get a lot of protection from these vaccines, even if the antibody levels have drifted down to some sort of stable level."

Quote from Live Reporting - BBC 10:15.

Here's a very good question that is worth reading thorough for the answer:


Is catching Covid now better than {forever} more vaccine?
wrote:

... Which is better?

Even asking the question bordered on heresy a year ago, when catching Covid for the first time could be deadly, especially for the elderly or people already in poor health.

Now, we're no longer starting with zero immunity as the overwhelming majority of people have either been vaccinated or have already caught the virus.

It is now a serious question that has implications for whether children should ever be vaccinated. And whether we use the virus or booster shots to top up immunity...

... There is clear evidence that adults who have not had any vaccine dose will have stronger immune defences if they do get vaccinated, even if they have caught Covid before...

... there was potential in using vaccines to "take the edge off" Covid, followed by ['allowing' Covid] infection, to broaden the immune response... with cases continuing to rumble on, there may not be much choice...

That's a good summary of options, regardless of how the 'anti-vaxxers' might 'feel' about things...


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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That's a good summary of options, regardless of how the 'anti-vaxxers' might 'feel' about things...

Within a couple of months the anti-vaxxers will either be no more or have natural immunity.

That's a good summary of options, regardless of how the 'anti-vaxxers' might 'feel' about things...

Within a couple of months the anti-vaxxers will either be no more or have natural immunity.

Or be long term or permanently disabled to be even more brain dead than they are now!...

(Covid attacks the nervous system and the brain amongst most other tissues in the body...)


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Maybe we should arm police with tranquiliser guns to deal with these brain dead covidiots. ;-)

Aussies slam ‘selfish’ lockdown protesters amid violent scenes.

Then they can be taken away where the disease spreading scumbags can be hit with every vaccine know to mankind before they front the courts. ;-)

It's time for another update as the world's total case tally passes 212.1 million and deaths pass 4,435,500. :-(

At the top end of the total death list Japan replaced Paraguay in 37th place as Bangladesh displaced Pakistan from 28th while the Philippines wiped out Czechia from 23rd, Turkey kicked the Ukraine out of 18th and Indonesia ripped 9th spot off of Colombia. Meanwhile Iran became the 13th member of the 100K+ death club.

The total case list saw the Diamond Princess knocked out of 202nd place by Saint Kitts/Nevis, Dominica passed the Faeroe Islands, but remain in 200th spot because Brunei leapt over both as well as Tanzania to claim 198th, St. Barth also slipped past Tanzania into 197th while Saint Martin earned enough frequent flyer points after passing New Zealand to become the 187th member of the 3K+ club, Guinea-Bissau took a short flight over San Marino, Gibraltar and Liberia to come down in 177th as Saint Lucia passed Eritrea, but remain in 172nd because Mauritius also took flight over Niger becoming the 175th member of the 6K+ club, then continued over the Isle of Man, Sierra Leone and both of them to become the 171st country to enter the 7K+ clubhouse and Benin jumped over Gambia and Iceland to take over 166th spot.

Burundi leapfrogged the Channel Islands and Nicaragua into 163rd spot, Laos took a flight over South Sudan, the C.A.R., Djibouti and Hong Kong before making a stopover in 158th as Timor-Leste passed Aruba before both jumped over Congo and Burkina Faso to take up 154th & 155th respectively, Curaçao displaced Mali from 151st while Belize took 149th from Andorra, the Bahamas nudged Somalia out of 145th and Martinique kicked Guinea out of 134th place.

French Polynesia took flight to become the 133rd member of the 30K+ club before flying over Mauritania, French Guiana, Cabo Verde and Malta to make a refueling stop in 129th, Guadeloupe leapt over Cabo Verde, Malta and Sudan to come down in 127th after Eswatini replaced Sudan in 126th, Fiji became the 122nd member of the 40K+ club quickly followed by Australia before both jumped over Madagascar and Trinidad/Tobago to take over 122nd & 123rd places respectively while Réunion moved past Angola into 129th, Jamaica nudged Malawi out of 116th as Rwanda took 110th from Cameroon, Albania passed Estonia to claim 98th, Botswana flew over Estonia, Latvia and Mozambique to land in 95th and Uzbekistan removed Norway from 93rd.

At least things get a little now as they spread out further with Mongolia taking Algeria out of 87th, South Korea smashed Qatar from 82nd as Libya jumped over Egypt and Lithuania, but only made it into 75th because Vietnam took another long distance flight over Egypt, Lithuania, Libya, Ethiopia, Oman, Venezuela, Palestine, Honduras and Ireland becoming the 73rd member of the 300K+ club before coming down to refuel in 68th while Myanmar pushed Croatia out of 64th, Sri Lanka jumped over Croatia and Uruguay into 62nd and Azerbaijan replaced Uruguay in 61st spot.

Georgia leapt over Bolivia and Ecuador to become the 50th country to enter the 500K+ clubhouse, Cuba passed Saudi Arabia and Greece to claim 47th while Kazakhstan became the 43rd member of the 700K+ club before taking 42nd spot from the U.A.E., Jordan was passed by Morocco to become the 37th member of the 800K+ club as Thailand took another flight over Israel clocking up enough frequent flyer points to become the 34th country to enter the 1M+ clubhouse before removing Portugal from 33rd, Pakistan replaced Sweden in 30th and Japan zipped past Belgium into 28th place.

Malaysia leapt past Bangladesh and Canada to claim 25th spot as the Philippines blew Iraq out of 21st while Iran displaced Italy from 11th and the U.S. had their grand opening of their 38M+ clubhouse as predicted with their 39M+ clubhouse well under construction along with rumours that ground has been broken for their 40M+ clubhouse.

Well that's it for this update.

The FDA eventually catches up:


Pfizer becomes first Covid vaccine to gain full FDA approval
wrote:

Pfizer's two-dose Covid-19 vaccine has received full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - the first jab to be [fully] licensed in the nation.

The vaccine had initially been given emergency use authorisation. Its two jabs, three weeks apart, are now fully approved for those aged 16 and older.

The approval is expected to set off more vaccine mandates by employers and organisations across the country.

It comes amid lingering vaccine hesitancy...

All very good but meanwhile, very many lives have already been saved!


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Here in the UK, COVID very much is still in the news:


Snowdon: Call to respect mountain amid spike in visitors
wrote:

... the mountain, known as Yr Wyddfa in Welsh, was a "honeypot" for walkers.

"We all know that access to beautiful places and special places like Snowdon has been important to people, more so than ever recently, but the pressures that have come with that are really quite significant," he said.

"Litter, footpath erosion, wild camping, traffic, parking - in a sense, none of these are new, but they've all acquired a really sharp edge in the last 18 months."...

... He warned large numbers of these visitors had not arrived properly prepared to walk up the 1,085m (3,560 ft) peak, with some dressed inappropriately and not having the fitness or hiking experience to get to the top.

"Snowdon is a very big mountain, it's not a walk in the park, it's not a day in town, or a day on the beach... people need to be prepared,"...

... "They're not mountaineers or trekkers really, they're the people who I think usually go to Spain or whatever for their holiday so they can't go now with Covid of course, so they've decided to stay in the UK and come to Wales.

"Of course everybody's allowed to go up the mountain, you can't stop anybody, but you can see they're not used to walking up a mountain with the clothing they've got on. "I've seen a few - you won't believe this - with flip-flops and things. And you give them advice and they don't want to know either. I don't say anything anymore, there's no point."...

Newquay has highest Covid rates in England
wrote:

Two of the three neighbourhoods with the highest Covid rates in England are in the same Cornish town.

Newquay East has the highest rate at 1123.8 per 100,000 people in the week up to 13 August, with Newquay West in third position with 972.6. The place between them is Yarborough, close to Grimsby and the popular seaside town of Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire...

... virus cases remained high in Newquay "largely due to the high number of hospitality venues such as bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants, where people are now allowed to mix"...

Covid returns to top 10 causes of death
wrote:

Covid-19 was the ninth biggest cause of death in England in July...

... Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Covid has been the number one cause of death in England and Wales for six months (April, May, November and December 2020 and January and February 2021). When there isn't a pandemic, the top causes of death are usually heart disease and dementia.

In the months when Covid has been the leading cause, it has generally been the leading cause by a long way...

Reminds me of an old saying about how you can "tell some people" apart by their approach/attitude, but ya "can't tell them owt (anything)" (to give advice)...

I was very hopeful that after the low numbers of infections as a result of our last 'lockdown', that we'd keep the pandemic subdued for the summer. However... People...


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

... virus cases remained high in Newquay "largely due to the high number of hospitality venues such as bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants, where people are now allowed to mix"...

Rather too close to home...

Last week I enjoyed meeting a couple of friends for beers and burgers out in the garden. Good evening and a good do and good to catch up on the gossip. And we're all fully vaccinated. All good.

Afterwards, I walked home through an excellent atmospheric evening.

Meanwhile, our friend called into a bar for the rest of the evening.


He's very fit and of good stock from out off the Fens and can run a marathon easily. He's been floored by COVID.

One person in the bar gave everyone in there a waft of their Delta variant and has nobbled everyone for that evening. Quite a dastardly superspreader.

He's complained that he was totally bed-bound for 4 days, felt s**t (+ other farming euphemisms), suffered very painful kidneys that felt like they were going to explode, and he's groggily recovering. This was all 3 days after his hangover...

At least the vaccine kept him out of hospital!


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)