Day: 25 March 2021

Here is a list of the MPs who deserve our praise for voting against the renewal of the Coronavirus Act for a further six months this afternoon.

On the one hand Government obviously believes I can't be safe from Covid because all the restrictions remain – with no excuses for the vaccinated. On the other hand, they say the NHS is open for routine business.

The PM has suggested that a potential Covid passport would not be brought in before all adults were offered the jab, and that it could be based on vaccination, immunity from prior disease, or test status.

A quarter of England's over-80s are likely to have received both their doses of the Covid vaccine, according to NHS England figures – yet the Coronavirus Act has been renewed by MPs for a further six months.

76 MPs rebelled against the renewal of the Coronavirus Act in the House of Commons this afternoon.

In an original interview with Lockdown Sceptics, Prof Jay Bhattacharya, Professor of Medicine at Stanford, says vaccine passports are a terrible idea, variants are over-hyped and masks are pointless.

by Oliver May New variants are of no concern. There is no need to cancel summer holidays. Millions vaccinated, coupled with immunity from millions of prior infections means we can surf on the crest of the third wave, rather than being remotely concerned about it. In fact, the UK should open now. And vaccine passports, certificates, or whatever name they are being given, will do nothing to improve the health of the population – all headlines we have read and heard over the past week or so. Except, we haven’t. We have heard and read the opposite. And we are instilled with fear from TV and radio adverts, complete with ‘that scary voice’ all too eager to give listeners nightmares, be it your impressionable primary-school-aged daughter, or a frail older lady now terrified into wearing a mask outside while waiting for a bus with no one within a 50-metre radius. But the reality is that the above headlines could have been written – and all based on science. Jayanta Bhattacharya is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and one of the co-authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, the report that called for the focused protection of the vulnerable and no lockdowns, signed by almost 14,000 medical and public health scientists, nearly 42,000 medical practitioners and close to 765,000 concerned ...

NHS England is set to lower its national Covid alert level from four to three due to falling Covid hospitalisation rates. This reduction should help hospitals tackle record-long waiting lists for other illnesses.

Denmark has extended its suspension of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine for 3 weeks to continue investigating reports that it causes blood clots. A recent survey found that one in three Danes would decline to get an AZ jab.

AstraZeneca has downgraded its estimates of its Covid jab's efficacy by 3%. The pharmaceutical company hopes that this small revision will enable its vaccine to receive US approval in the coming weeks.