Health Secretary Matt Hancock says there is a “high degree of confidence” that vaccines work against the Indian Covid variant, but that it can “spread like wildfire” among those who are unvaccinated. The Mail on Sunday has the story.
The Health Secretary said that a new Oxford University investigation showed that the innoculations available were effective against the variant which is now dominant in some Northern towns.
Four people are known to have died from the Indian variant but appearing on TV this morning Mr Hancock said those who had been hospitalised were “largely people who are eligible for the vaccine but have not taken it”.
It came as Boris Johnson today pledged to increase the speed of Britain’s vaccine rollout to a million jabs a day in an attempt to beat the increasing prevalence of the variant amid fears it could derail the country’s exit from lockdown.
Appearing on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday he said: “There’s new very early data out from Oxford University, and I would stress that this is from the labs, it’s not clinical data, and it’s very early.
“But it does give us a degree of confidence that the vaccines work against this Indian variant, but it is clearly more transmissible and has been spreading fast in the groups where there’s a cluster.
“That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic and opening up carefully and cautiously but we do need to be really very vigilant to the spread of the disease.
“We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome.”
But Mr Hancock did strike a note of more caution over the final release from lockdown on June 21st, saying the final decision would not be taken until June 14th.
When talking about the final step of the “roadmap” out of lockdown, Hancock said that the Government is being “cautious” because it wants the reopening to be “irreversible”. He seemed to suggest that the June 21st date for this reopening may not be stuck to if enough people don’t get vaccinated against Covid, despite the fact that 36 million people have already had a first vaccine dose and more than 19 million (that is, those who are most vulnerable to the virus) have had a second.
New variants are one of the biggest risks to this opening because of the speed of transmission of [the Indian variant] – it can really spread like wildfire among the unvaccinated groups. Hence we need to get as many people vaccinated as possible, particularly those who are most vulnerable to ending up in hospital.
The Mail on Sunday report is worth reading in full.
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A serious question: we know all of this is going on, when do we get properly organised and do something about it? About the lies, the coercion, the threats, the fake science, the propaganda, the poisoning of children, the shutting down of debate, the censoring, the sexualisation of children, drag queen story time, the hatred of our own country, net zero, the war, the theft of our money to support that proxy war, the masking, the NHS, the collateral damage of lockdowns etc etc etc. The deliberate collapse, morally and financially, of our society. When? When are we going to stop taking about it and do something? Seriously, when and how? I am sick to my back teeth of standing idly by whilst all this evil unfolds before our eyes.
Do something about it? Our Government want MORE of it via the Online Harms Bill. The EU is already a step ahead in this regard and they are PROUD of it!
Awareness is definitely growing even amongst “normies” and establishment types now. I use TheTimes comment section as something of a barometer (this is the 4th time I’ve been given three months for £1 per month after phoning to cancel due to being censored – I figure at that rate they are losing money, so I accept!). Now my anti-lockdown anti-Covid vaccine comments get far more support than negative comments. Just one year ago I thought that would never be the case where The Times is concerned. They are still banning perfectly reasonable polite and fact based comments though.
That would require a leader around whom we could rally, but I see no candidates.
Reform UK is an alternative and Richard Tice is OK, but where’s the ‘Thatcher’?
Farage has more oomph, but we need a fresh face, more energy.
Things are coming to the boil in most normal living people minds such as yourself ( & me ) Absolutely all information the other side ( & there is definitely an other side ) puts out is so far off the scale of anything regarded as normal it’s Batshit Crazy !!
As a private company, Twatter can probably censor what they want, at least, legally. it’s when the government and affiliated organizations collude with private companies to impose censorship it becomes violation of a basic human right of self expression. It’s what the EU vowed to continue doing wrt Twatter
Good points. I think for starters it’s important for everyone to be aware that they are doing this. I think politically active people on both sides of the fence are aware, but the rest probably just think they censor porn or incitement to violence, really extreme stuff.
Secondly, if we have a situation where all the communication platforms and media companies are engaging in the same censorship, freedom of speech and therefore democracy is threatened. In general I dont like government interference in private businesses, but I would argue we could have a law that any firm over a certain size in one of these sectors has to promise not to censor in return for a license to operate and immunity from any liability arising from what their users post.
exactly. I’d hope that for an average Joe a penny would drop with this to finally understand that what he thinks is true is usually rather what the government/MSM want him to think is true. Two different things. We’ve observed this with Covid, the war, the climate, etc.
Is it fair to assume that other social media platforms and search engines also engage in this activity? I think we are all aware of Goggle’s less than enthusiastic searches on topics they find distasteful.
Yep just last night I was at a friends house and wanted to play a Tim Pool video “Neuralink could be the mark of the beast.” I think the video is too far “Team James” but nevertheless my friend is more Team James than Team Toby and I wanted to chat with him about it. Simply couldn’t find the video. This has happened a number of occasions. It seems, at a guess, those who already watch similar content on YouTube can find it, those who don’t can’t. My friend, though Team James, doesn’t use YouTube. If this is the mechanism, they are limiting spread of right wing content to being introduced to a new audience. I’m guessing because I am already there, and they want my continued viewership, and I am subscribed to the Tim Pool channel, I get the video pop up and can find the video in searches. If this is what’s happening it is very, very cynical.
Perhaps a few on here reading this can try a YouTube search with the text above and report in a reply 1. if they are subscribed to TimCast IRL and 2. if they can find the video (given the text specificity it should be a top result)? If you can, this does not prove they are not limiting access. I suspect another tactic that is used is to delay videos being discoverable so by the time they can be found they are no longer fresh and up to the minute news. Other “creative” tactics of the type sought by Yoel Roth, include switching off near match search algorithm results prioritising right wing content that should be the closest match. There are so many ways to tilt the playing field it’s not funny.
I use a search engine called Qwant. No problem finding this. The first dozen or so links are all about Tim Pool including this film, his Youtube channel and twitter account.
Occasionally watch Tim Pool on Rumble or Odysee, no subs. Plugged the title into YT – which I avoid as much as possible – came up 9th on the list. Rumble: first, Odysee: first, Bitchute: first. Don’t know where else he posts.
YT content creators have had issues with their notification manipulation for a long time – one example here: https://reclaimthenet.org/logan-paul-youtube-no-notifications/
‘They’ might want to control the information – its up to us to be more creative in finding it!
It was obvious this was happening.
But will lessons be learned?
Elon Musk certainly isn’t helping, as I and many others predicted.
People fall for it again and again, they yearn for a saviour. Well, there aren’t any saviours. Get used to the darkness and the emptiness. The light must come from within you.
Elon Musk is at least being more transparent – give the man some credit.
but his hands are tied by the EU chap Thierry Bretton ? listen to him in person at 10:45 ‘I must obey the law but I will do what I can’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbYoNbXPrvE