The end REALLY is in sight ???

It isn't just the 'bash Britain' brigade. It is also the opposite side.

Can't we just keep it bipartisan?

No one was bashing Britain. They might have been having a poke at a few fractious posts though.

The problem is tickingbird every thing Boris says is world beatin,or the best, falls apart at the seams .The man cant move his lips without exaggerating or just plain lying Remember his world beating Track and Trace..the one that for a number of months was only tracing a very small number of contacts ?
Think I'll sit it out and see who produces a new vaccine suitable for all variants BEFORE I start heaping praise on any of them .And hope Bojo doesn't let us all out of lockdown with promises of cheap restaurant meals for all AGAIN.Way to go if we want to be right back where we are in anther month

It should have stayed a positive thread but, unfortunately, it was hijacked by the bash Britain brigade..

"Enough" in that I don't have the energy to argue this any more. But feel free carry on

Sorry about your positive thread GagaJo

Excuse me Alegrias but you don’t decide when it’s enough. You assume my post was aimed at you personally- it wasn’t. However, you felt it appropriate to call my previous post ridiculous. Pot and kettle spring to mind!

tickingbird

“Jingoism”?? It just makes a change to read something good about the UK as, on here especially, it’s constant bashing by those incapable of objectivity. The constant sneering and put downs and all because of loathing the present government and losing the referendum and various attempts to overturn the result.

It would be refreshing to read something positive for a change. If Labour were in government (heaven forbid) then the usual critics on here would be putting a completely different spin on matters.

Well said tickingbird. Good to see more people daring to stick their heads above the parapet. I’d almost given up hope!

Amazing after the years of bashing Britain by some bitter, self righteous people, they want to ban any positive comments and fall back to their default mode of misery and negativity.

Gransnet isn't exactly a hotbed of praise for the UK government though. No matter what Boris does or says is immediately criticised

tickingbird

I think those people are amazing too. It doesn’t offend me to read praise heaped upon them. I don’t believe ‘our’ vaccine is any better than anyone else’s. What does perplex me is why certain posters take umbrage when someone wants to applaud the UK effort. There’s been no flag waving or jingoism. It’s a lame attempt to sneer and put others in their place. It’s misplaced, misjudged and more than a little spiteful.

Enough tickingbird

I applaud the UK effort when there is something to applaud. The vaccine rollout for example. The Oxford vaccine.

I don't immediately take refuge in patriotism and metaphorical flag waving as soon as somebody in the UK does something well. Especially if somebody in another country is doing exactly the same thing. Personal attacks on my motives and personality are uncalled for, but not entirely unexpected.

Alegrias1

Yep OK, I give up. Rule Britannia.

Me too. Dear lord.. Reading some of the comments on here, I'm amazed some didn't refuse the Pfizer vaccine on grounds that it's "foreign"!

I think those people are amazing too. It doesn’t offend me to read praise heaped upon them. I don’t believe ‘our’ vaccine is any better than anyone else’s. What does perplex me is why certain posters take umbrage when someone wants to applaud the UK effort. There’s been no flag waving or jingoism. It’s a lame attempt to sneer and put others in their place. It’s misplaced, misjudged and more than a little spiteful.

Beautifully put Alegrias1

Bluesky No, there isn’t any Plizer vaccine available for me, 71, at the moment. Moreover, whatever vaccine is ‘available’ is being sent to more wanting areas like Moselle, where a variant is prevalent.

Right, in really simple sentences....

The development of a vaccine by the team at Oxford University is fabulous, that's the one many of us are getting.

The development of a vaccine by the team in BioNTec is fabulous, that's another one that many of us are getting.

Another unrelated company in Oxford called Scancell is working with the Uni of Nottingham to develop a vaccine that will work for any variant. They haven't finished the development or even done any human trials yet but are hopeful.

Several other companies around the world are developing a vaccine that will work for any variant. They haven't finished the development or even done any human trials yet but are hopeful.

University of Copenhagen seem to be the furthest ahead.

People who are calling the Scancell research world beating and how the Brits are saving the world really hasn't understood the article.

I think Prof Sarah Gilbert is amazing. I think Dr. Ugur Sahin is amazing. I think our vaccine rollout is amazing.

I have no patience with flag waving, particularly where this subject is concerned. We are in the middle of an international pandemic that is killing people all over the world. I couldn't care less if the vaccine had been developed in Timbuktu. Who cares where the help is coming from, as long as it is coming?

Back at the beginning of this disaster, my DD said that the sharing of information by scientists working on understanding the virus, finding treatments or developing a vaccine was amazing. Normally they jealously guard their research until it can be published, but the emergency was so great that they were freely sharing information with each other, all around the world. I thought that that was very encouraging.

It's important that we start thinking internationally. Of course it is important that all UK adults are vaccinated, to get the infection rate right down, but then we should start thinking about the poor countries. How are they going to afford the vaccine? How will they deliver it? I saw a doctor in Mozambique being interviewed. The number of people vaccinated there was zero. He said it would probably be 5 years before everyone got the vaccine. That's just one poor country amongst many.

If we don't care for humanitarian reasons, we should do so for selfish ones. Where the virus runs unchecked, there's a greater likelihood of new variants, plus foreign travel makes it impossible to quarantine any country indefinitely. Even if we are all vaccinated here, no vaccine is 100% effective. Some people will still get infected, and maybe die, unless we have a vaccine campaign across the entire world.

A Universal Vaccine would be a wonderful thing, but how will poor countries be able to afford it?

Oh dear growstuff you’re clearly clutching at straws with that post.

My partner’s ‘foreign’ as you say. You make the jump from me being proud of the the efforts of our scientific community to me being xenophobic!! Oh dear that’s a stretch too far and really rather silly. Plus, as you say, it’s been an international effort so I’d struggle to find a vaccine that didn’t have foreign ingredients.

Frankly, you demean yourself with such a childish post.

Tickingbird: good post. I absolutely agree with you and other posters. Pride in our country and its accomplishments is not jingoism.

tickingbird what a ridiculous post.

Are you seriously suggesting I'm unpatriotic or something because I think that science is international?

And can I just ask you to read the article properly instead of jumping to the conclusion that we have a a world beating EPIC vaccine created in a British lab by British scientists? The work going on in Nottingham and at Scancell is clearly fabulous, but its not come to anything yet. The work going on at the other labs is equally fabulous, and might even be further ahead. To echo GagaJo, I don't care who creates a vaccine as long as we can all access it.

As for the "our people" thing - well at least 2 of them appear to be Australian. What do we think of that?

Why on earth did you accept the Pfizer vaccine tickingbird? Didn't you realise you were being injected with foreign materials?

You are entitled to hold the view that people who object to jingoism are tosh. I am entitled to hold the view that jingoism is tosh.

Why do some people feel it incumbent upon themselves to sneer at "left-leaning sectors" and those who can't stand flag-waving jingoism? Do they check under their bed every night for red devils? It couldn't be anything to do with the culture war the Tories are allegedly trying to provoke, could it?

For the record, it's fantastic that the UK has been involved in research to produce a vaccine and we're so fortunate to have an organisation such as the NHS, which has been responsible for administering it. I am indeed fortunate to have been born in the UK. I still feel no inclination to wave a flag or to feel "proud" of being so fortunate.

Alegrias Do you object to our world beating athletes and sportspeople too? Does the sight of flag waving Brits at such events offend you as well?

I think it’s a fantastic effort by all the scientific community. Regardless of their nationality it’s a tremendous achievement and I applaud everyone of them and all the volunteers that agreed to be guinea pigs - very altruistic, not to say brave. However, after such a tough year for everyone, especially here in the UK, I find it so mealy mouthed to try and dampen our thanks and enthusiasm for a truly epic result by OUR people.

I had the Pfizer vaccine last week as I have lung issues. I’m so grateful and I’ve had zero side effects. Apparently with the Pfizer vaccine, side effects are worse after the second dose, but nothing for concern.

It does seem that certain posters are more than happy to heap praise on any other nation than this one. Jingoism?! What tosh.

If you thought any of this was possible, why do we still have illness and disease? Each year the seasonal flu jab is 'guessed' at so they can supposedly make a vaccine. Someone tries to work out which of the hundreds of coronviruses will be the most dominant for that winter. I assume it's someone in the the medical profession, although it could just be a civil servant like it was, apparently, when they decided that 2m would be the right distance to keep apart. Now Boris is saying that when we come out of this lockdown there will be no more. Forgive me, but I will believe that when it happens and not before. Cast you minds back to March 2020. Twelve weeks is what we were told then and here we are a year later. Need I say more?

grandtanteJE65

Good for them, but the University of Copenhagen has beaten them to it. Their vaccine that does the same will be available in two months time.

And there would have been no need for this comment if we all hadn't just thought it was generally great news!

Really, WHO gives a stuff which country developed it as long as we can all have it, AND as long as it prevents too many more needless deaths.

Bluesky henetha ? spot on! If citizens from other countries can be patriotic why can’t we? I am not by any means downplaying other countries achievements, and applaud their efforts and successes so why can’t I be especially proud of my country and our wonderful scientists now.

Great news it’s just what we need to uplift us!