News Round-Up
8 May 2024
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Reported infections in England are rising in the most vaccinated age groups while they fall in the under 40s, and hospital admissions are getting older again. Is this a sign of declining vaccine effectiveness?
Scotland is at a "fragile and potentially pivotal moment", says Nicola Sturgeon who has once again refused to rule out the imposition of another lockdown due to rising 'cases'.
The SNP has unveiled sinister plans to make its emergency Covid powers permanent. Deputy First Minister John Swinney says it's an opportunity to maintain the brilliant 'innovations' the SNP has made in the last 15 months.
New figures show that the most alcohol-specific deaths were recorded in Scotland in more than a decade in the past year of lockdowns. There were 1,190 in 2020, excluding deaths only partially attributed to alcohol.
On the day that restrictions have been partially eased in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon says she cannot rule out plunging the country into further lockdowns in the future because "we’ve got to be careful and realistic".
A rough calculation based on recent death data from PHS suggests that, with 87% of deaths in the vaccinated, vaccine effectiveness against death may be considerably less than studies have suggested.
It's been suggested that the recent surge and drop-off in Covid infections can be pinned on the football. But why then do Scotland and England's curves in June look so different?
A reader of the Daily Sceptic (an academic economist) has analysed the Scottish Covid data and reached a depressing conclusion: Covid vaccination seems to offer the over-60s little protection from severe illness.
It looks increasingly like the peak of the current surge has not yet arrived in England, and the recent slowdowns may have been temporary. However, Scotland holds out hope it may not be too far off.
Infections are rising rapidly in Scotland, but have not translated into a large number of hospitalisations. The recent surge appears to be related to Euro 2020, with infections concentrated among men aged 15–44.
© Skeptics Ltd.