Vaccination against COVID-19 saves lives

I was talking to someone about COVID-19 vaccination this week.  They had side effects of fatigue since they were vaccinated and were advising people not to be vaccinated. 

Needless today, I got quite emotional about this.  Vaccines save lives.  Vaccination against COVID has helped to reduce rates of COVID-19 after the two weeks it takes to start to offer protection.  Telling someone not to be vaccinated against, what is in effect, the plague is not only increasing the risk of death and disability to the person not vaccinated, but also carries a risk that they will go on to infect others.  

Yes, this vaccine has side effects.  My arm still aches on occasion from where I had my vaccine late last year.  My wife felt unwell for a day and took to bed but has no issues at all now.  But COVID-19, if it does not kill, has longer lasting side effects which are more frequent, hence the new disease of Long COVID.

We do not know how effective the current vaccines are to be against other variants, but we do know that the current vaccines offer protection to original strain of COVID-19 as well as the UK variant that is present in our great nation.  And yes, the vaccine is not 100% effective, I have already spoken to people who have caught COVID despite being vaccinated, catching it after the two weeks it takes to become effective.  But the outcome data for at least one of the vaccines is a reduction in those going to hospital rather than preventing all infections.

We are not protected, until we are all protected, both by remembering hands, face, space, as well the need for as many people as possible to be vaccinated.

Meghan Markle and balance

I know that this is a bit late to blog about this, but I have to mention this.  Meghan Markle has been discussed in the media again thanks to the way that Prince Harry and her have split from the Royal Family.

There are two sides to every story, and we are never going to know the truth about what has happened to result in the couple taking their son and leaving for the USA.  What I do know though is that too many in our media have treated them appallingly.  Fortunately, there are some who are willing to speak up for the truth and discuss the double standards that exist as well as how some of the views that people have about the couple have no rational justification.

There may be reasons other than skin colour to explain the differences in what appears to be double standards.  I would be grateful if someone could explain them to me.

13 Reasons Why; Tape 2, Side A

Watched this with my son, and it makes me want to read the book again.   He appears to be hooked, and he was happy to talk about this episode which dealt in part with the objectification of women.  While my son blamed our gender for this, I did have to point out that not all men objectify women, and some women are seen to encourage objectification.  

However, almost all would agree that the inappropriate and unwanted body contact that occurred in this episode is wrong.  I am sure that there are a few morons who will disagree.  Watching this with my daughter a few years ago allowed me to broach the topic of how some men will wrongly view attire as permission giving.  We agree that women should not be subject to harassment and since then, she has been more aware of what she has worn, though we agreed that some men will find any excuse to assault women.  

I do not know who he will identify with in this series.  Myself, I now am one of the parents, but as a child, looking at the first series, I would have been a much less cool mix of Clay Jensen and Tyler Down.  In fact, I would not have featured in it due to be being such a socially inept nerd.  

He was upset that we were not going onto watch the next episode, but it was time for bed.

COVID-19 & vaccination

I feel that I have to make a post on this again.  People continue to deny that COVID exists, or in a latest series of tweets, one person is stating that side effects from the vaccine are being covered up.

Just a reminder, COVID-19 exists.  It has killed loads.  I have treated patients during the Swine Flu pandemic as well as other bad years of influenza, and this is worse.  I help care for a nursing home which was devastated when COVID managed to get in.  Many died quickly and thanks to planning, peacefully.  However, the surgery I work in has had many patients admitted to hospital. None who we have sent in have affected by the shortness of breath that this condition causes compares this to influenza as those patients have already had to ring 999 to get there.

Our local hospital now has less people affected by COVID-19 in it.  The children's ward at one time had adult patients on it and there was a time that emergency operations were not being carried out, instead the only operations taking place being life or death ones.  When people talk about the death rates of COVID and compare it to influenza, they forget that for many, death does not come quickly.  Patients who die, and those who survive, often are given help to breathe.  This can be oxygen, CPAP, or ventilation, and the amount of people requiring this has overwhelmed the NHS in our area.  Such support can require stays in hospital of weeks, again, something that was not seen on such a large scale in any of the years that Flu has caused strain to the NHS.

But onto the claims of this tweeter, stating that vaccinations are causing side effects that are being covered up.  They are wrong.  There is no way of knowing for certain if there are going to be long term consequences of the vaccine, but we do know that there are long term consequences from surviving COVID infections.  People spreading scare stories about vaccinations that can save lives when we know that there are both short and long term consequences of COVID are, to put it politely, silly.

    

White Tiger

Yesterday, I surprised my wife.  It is our anniversary weekend (we started to go out together may years ago) and she had wanted something special.  She actually wanted a themed night much like last weekend, but instead I tried to surprise her by getting afternoon tea.  

Sadly, I had left it too late to sort this out.  I had postponed this on Wednesday when after working at the vaccination hub, I fell as asleep on getting home and had to sort out a flat tyre.  On Thursday, I found that I had left things too late, but after searching the internet, I found an afternoon tea delivery service.  

Sadly, when it came, it was not up to the standards of last weekend.  It was still nice, but nothing as spectacular that my wife had arranged.  My wife did get a surprise present though which she loved later in the day.

As for the children, my son appears to be content playing on the Nintendo Switch and talking to his friends.  My daughter had a socially distanced walk with a friend of hers.  I had met her mother working at the vaccination hub and I was told in no uncertain terms that I was not allowed to say anything to the friend due to fears of embarrassing  her!

My wife and I did watch White Tiger.  I have not read the book and she says that the film is a different experience to it.  But as a film it was quite powerful.  It deals with the issues of poverty, corruption and discrimination very well and the end is mixed, not being quite happy, not not being sad either.  I do think that we need to consider getting the children to watch this, but they may not be too keen to do so.  It is not the most cheerful of films and we may get more out of them by making them watch other films instead.  But the appetite from the children to do so is not that keen.  

13 Reasons Why, Tape 1, Side B

I watched this with my son last night.  We watched the rest of the first episode first of course.  I think that he might be hooked.  He is more sympathetic to Hannah than I am about her reasons/excuses why.  It was nice to spend time with him again, and hopefully he will continue to watch the other episodes with me.  I may even watch the third series with him, the series I disliked the most.  I have yet to watch the final one so it may be that I dislike that more, but I doubt it.

I know that this song is not about suicide, but it does have the sentiment about missing the departed, an issue that comes across a lot in 13 Reasons Why. 

The Princess Bride

Our family film today was The Princess Bride, an appropriate film for Valentines Day.  Sadly, my son did not watch it, and I was surprised that my daughter did.  She tends not to enjoy Damsel in Distress films but watched this till the end.  I have wanted to watch this film for many years, but have never watched it, until today.  Any description of this film has to be put in context of how such films were in the past, as well as the fairy tales that they are based on.  

It is a magical fairy tale based on honour and with many characters driven by stereotype.  But the way the film is put together is amazing, as it finds the right balance between humour and adventure without being cringeworthy.  I understand that people have considered a remake of the film, but it is inconceivable that the same balance will be found.

When it comes to the family, we had a Valentines Tea for lunch which my wife had ordered.  She also got flowers from me which she added to some of the flowers that she had got on Friday.  The children are looking forwards to having a week off school and they have been told to wear the braces that they have been given during the week, but also to enjoy as one of them is going to be worked harder than they have been so far in this lockdown.