The UK has delayed it's final dropping of major restrictions by four weeks. It was going to be next Monday, now it'll be 19 July. Mainly due to the Delta variant being so much more transmissable and becoming widespread across the UK, the intention is to give more time to get all adults at least their first jab, and to get millions more people fully vaccinated.
I felt gutted reading about that. It really is a minor setback and it's nice your government is acting proactively, but it seemed so nice that you would go back to full normal so soon and we were all rooting for you.
Yeah it's a bit sucky, but it does also make sense really. The UK hasn't handled many aspects of the pandemic well at all, but vaccines is something we have thankfully done well - getting in quickly to fund and purchase vaccines, roll them out successfully, overcome hesitancy, and made some good judgement calls on how to roll them out and who to prioritise. Hopefully these four weeks will be it. If so, I think it will be a good omen for the rest of the world as other countries catch up with the vaccine rollout.
That makes senes since the hesitancy is low. Good on the people out there to get the jab and being informed. I spoke to my friend who is not vaccinated (and refuses to) if he was aware of the Delta variant and he was not. People here in the US are just ignorant to the reality. He previously had told me "I'm 35 and healthy so no need" which is a big to me.
No shit. The UK is seeing virtually no cases of the original strain. Some people are so blissfully ignorant... I just hope it doesn't cost them their health (or worse).
Yeah, even the Alpha strain (the one that was first identified in Kent, UK and was dominant for most of the second wave here because it was so much more transmissable) is now only a fraction of sequenced cases, as the Delta one is even more transmissable than that.
I just saw an article this morning that stated Canada just passed the UK in terms of % of population with at least 1 dose - 65%. Hesitancy thankfully isn't a problem; supply *was*, which is why we're so slow on the 2nd doses. Now our main problem will be distribution and execution. It's still going to take at least 2-3 months to get that same population their 2nd dose. Good news is, my pharmacy is getting AZ supply next week or two, and since mrs.jingle and I were vax'd on the first or 2nd day they had supply initially, we should have our 2nd jab within the next two weeks. jingle.mom got her 2nd shot on Friday.
It's very interesting seeing Canada's approach to this. The UK prioritised maximising first doses until the vulnerable/priority groups had all had them, which was about 45% of the population, before then slowing down first jabs to prioritise second jabs - especially because the second jab has a huge impact on the transmissability of the virus (even more so with Delta than previous strains). Canada seems to have only just started focusing on second doses having given first jabs to around 60% of the population. If the supply has been there to do it and maintain 12 weeks between doses then I guess fine, but that does come with risks too.