15 million Britons have now been vaccinated

[-:Undertaker:-]

15 million Britons have now been vaccinated

22% of the British public have now had the vaccine

We have vaccinated over 15 million people. This is an incredible UK-wide achievement.

Thank you to the scientists, factory workers, delivery drivers, NHS staff, volunteers and many more who made this astounding feat possible. pic.twitter.com/YOCFAywROA

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) February 14, 2021

Britain‘s first post-Brexit success story. https://t.co/Ixvo7uQ8Yn

— Ulrich Speck (@ulrichspeck) February 14, 2021

Like it or not, there’s now a competition between two European ways to do things, between Britain and the EU.

— Ulrich Speck (@ulrichspeck) February 14, 2021

A big success story when compared with the continent. America, Israel, Britain and the UAE are storming ahead.

Most vulnerable people have now been covered by the vaccine.


Thoughts?

[FlyingJesus]

Temporary because the first dose is only really a precursor to true vaccination but it's still impressive, I didn't think they'd manage to pull it off. Hopefully it carries on as well as it has been, but also hopefully people aren't dense enough to think that this means it's all over and none of the rules matter any more, otherwise it's all for nothing if we force NHS resources to be used on another spike in hospitalisations instead of getting the rest of the vaccines out. Already seen a lot of things about big parties or even just people thinking that having the first jab means they can't be a carrier...

[Cerys]

Temporary because the first dose is only really a precursor to true vaccination but it's still impressive, I didn't think they'd manage to pull it off. Hopefully it carries on as well as it has been, but also hopefully people aren't dense enough to think that this means it's all over and none of the rules matter any more, otherwise it's all for nothing if we force NHS resources to be used on another spike in hospitalisations instead of getting the rest of the vaccines out. Already seen a lot of things about big parties or even just people thinking that having the first jab means they can't be a carrier...

Sadly people are still super dense I'm in a crohns and colitis forum and people are asking whether now that they've had the first jab they can stop shielding and go about as normal...like..no?
Hopefully this means in a years time though we can be somewhat normal though, whatever the new normal will be

[RichBoiSam]

It's good news, hopefully it continues at this pace. My nan has recently had her first jab and she has her second in May, so there's some hope that we'll have a great second half of 2021 without lockdown and much fewer restrictions. It all depends on how the government approach the next few months, as much as I'd love to visit the pub, I'd rather wait until May or June when most vulnerable people have had both injections so hospitalisation rates will generally go down as a result and we won't need a fourth, fifth and sixth lockdown.

[-:Undertaker:-]

I'm of the belief we ought to open most things up immediately.

The good news is that pressure is going to grow on the government from the backbenchers over the coming few weeks, so hopefully there's a shift soon.

[FlyingJesus]

That's exactly what we don't need. Everyone's still vulnerable and the disease is still so widespread that opening things up will only lead to mass infection again, putting such strains on medical services that the vaccinations won't be able to continue to be done at the rate that's needed. Opening too early just means this entire thing will drag on much longer again, costing enormous amounts of money resources and lives for the sake of having a pint in March rather than May

[-:Undertaker:-]

@FlyingJesus;

I disagree with the lockdown in the first place, and even less so now that vulnerable groups are more or less home and dry.

[RichBoiSam]

They've been home since the first lockdown, I know a couple of people who haven't been able to leave the house since last March yet thousands of people are still dying from the virus or at the very least, in hospital with it. I believe we should continue this lockdown until the vulnerable groups have had their second dose, it'll still spread however the symptoms should be much less severe and hopefully won't require hospitalisation.

Let's just have one long lockdown until the summer and that should be the end of lockdowns. We could open everything back up but expect to spend the next couple of years going in and out of lockdowns, it won't do anyone favours.

[-:Undertaker:-]

They've been home since the first lockdown, I know a couple of people who haven't been able to leave the house since last March yet thousands of people are still dying from the virus or at the very least, in hospital with it. I believe we should continue this lockdown until the vulnerable groups have had their second dose, it'll still spread however the symptoms should be much less severe and hopefully won't require hospitalisation.

Let's just have one long lockdown until the summer and that should be the end of lockdowns. We could open everything back up but expect to spend the next couple of years going in and out of lockdowns, it won't do anyone favours.

We keep being told it will be the end of lockdown, and it never is because once a virus is endemic you cannot stop it.

I believe those who want to stay in and personally lockdown can and ought to do so, and everyone else can get on with life. Although I'm happy there's a workable vaccine at the moment, personally I am quite sceptical that this virus won't mutate much as the flu does and render the vaccine worthless by the end of the year. I really do hope I am wrong, but if this does turn out to be the case there must be no more lockdowns and we must then accept that this virus is now a part of life.

[RichBoiSam]

We keep being told it will be the end of lockdown, and it never is because once a virus is endemic you cannot stop it.

I believe those who want to stay in and personally lockdown can and ought to do so, and everyone else can get on with life. Although I'm happy there's a workable vaccine at the moment, personally I am quite sceptical that this virus won't mutate much as the flu does and render the vaccine worthless by the end of the year. I really do hope I am wrong, but if this does turn out to be the case there must be no more lockdowns and we must then accept that this virus is now a part of life.

I understand what you're saying and I believe that this virus will always be part of our life now. The flu exists and vaccines are given annually to the vulnerable, it could be the same for this virus however at least it will buy us time. I guess we have different opinions on how we'd handle it, I would rather everyone waits an extra month or so until more people are fully vaccinated and it'll generally be safer. At least then herd immunity can kick in for the healthy adults who it won't impact as much.