Interesting figures being released in the UK, I lifted this from the Daily Mail:

There were 8,474 patients in hospital with Covid yesterday compared with 19,277 on the same day last year despite cases being much higher than they were at that time. The most up-to-date figures reveal there were 842 Covid patients in intensive care on ventilators – the lowest level in two months. Covid case numbers – which were updated for the first time since Christmas Eve – reveal 98,515 people in England tested positive yesterday. This is nearly four times higher than the 25,619 people who tested positive on the same day last year and is a considerable decrease on the 113,628 cases reported in England on Christmas Day. It is also lower than the 103,558 cases reported on Boxing Day. The promising figures highlight the vaccine’s protective effects against severe illness, as well as the mounting evidence that Omicron is a milder strain.

Interesting figures and what is particularly interesting is the last sentence. I think when you consider the evidence that was already in prior to Boris Johnson’s address on 12th December, it was pretty clear that Omicron is a considerably milder strain. The question is how much of a part does the vaccine play in preventing serious illness with Omicron.

Was the booster push really required? A lot of people have made a lot of money from this push over the last few weeks, not just Pfizer, but the private companies running the vaccine centres getting paid £12.50 for each shot administered whilst being staffed by volunteers and marines. There’s going to be more than a few people that have done very well out of this, I wonder if they will do the right thing as some companies did with the furlough cash and hand it back? I somehow doubt it…..

As an aside, I wonder how much longer I am going to have to endure shouty text messages telling to me to get a booster for like the one below;

I suppose they need to get shot of them now in case people decide that they don’t need them once they’ve had Omicron.