Boris Johnson’s need to distract from his scandals led him to announce targets without discussing with the NHS and actual providers so now they need to make changes to accommodate his political requirements.
Not a fan of Borris Johnson but I will give credit where it’s due. UK government has done far better job than in delivering boosters and vaccines. No need to have derangement syndrome, I think more people we can get boosters the better off we are. His scandals and affairs are different issues.
There was a period towards the start of the vaccination programme where, yes, the UK Government took a number of chances that seemed to pay off regarding vaccine approval and purchasing. However is the Hurclean efforts of thousands of NHS staff and volunteers which should be the subject of most praise. It was and is an amazing an effort from a vast group of people who weren't in the VIP lane.
The UK has fallen well down the ranks regarding 1st, 2nd, and booster delivery compared to Europe.
As for the endless announcements of changes to government policy to the press before Parliament ... this Government has been on the receiving end of the sort of dressing down from the House Speaker that would have resulted resignations and party explutions in the past.
But it has had the desired effect of making people think the Government is doing well, so I'll give him that.
> The UK has fallen well down the ranks regarding 1st, 2nd, and booster delivery compared to Europe.
Why though? It's not because there's a shortage of vaccines, or logistics problems distributing them. It's because some sections of the community won't take them, for whatever reason. It's not the government's fault. We'd have the same stats if Labour were in power.
The Government know that that there are millions of people wandering around unvaxinated and additionally these are largely the group that have started voting "Conservative" since 2016 because Facebook and feelings equals facts etc. The Government know only a small fraction of these people will actually die because of COVID so they can still be relied upon at the next election.
The main collateral damage in all this is, of course, the NHS. If I have to point out the Governents actions (not their words) on the operation on the NHS in the last decade, then I'm not sure we are speaking the same language.
And if I hear "Labour would have been bad/worse" one more time ... I won't be surprised at this stage.
> these are largely the group that have started voting "Conservative"
That's not been my experience - it's the people who are distrustful of the government (any party) that aren't getting vaxxed.
I think people have a very short memory regarding the conservative vote in the last election: It was to unstick the whole Brexit issue and to stop a hard left party getting into power. Hardly anyone I know thought Boris would be a good PM, but at least those 2 mentioned things would happen.
No, it's because we didn't really push the equivalent of the European Green Pass. In some countries, you can be refused your salary if you don't get the pass, which in practice introduces de-facto compulsory vaccination.
That is squarely a governmental responsibility. You can argue that public opinion here is too individualist to ever agree (particularly now, so late), but that was definitely a political choice that is impacting vaccination rates.
There is one decision that made the vaccine programme possible, which is buying all of the vaccines early at a high(er) price. This was sensible and good. It took a lot of headbanging to get that through, I am grateful to whomever did it.
In terms of getting it into peoples arms, we've not been doing that well till the booster. Yes there was an early lead, but france now has more vaccinated people per capita than us, and they had a horrid start.
> Not a fan ... but I will give credit where it’s due
If you want to give credit, there are a number of actors, a number of facilitators, and a number of mostly spectators. You cannot immediately entail who did what, who is responsible, without knowing how the mechanism works (sometimes, without having information from the inside).
Some careers are based on taking credit irregardless; some other surely must be linked to real merit... Do not jump from "John was in charge" to "John did it" (to define the actual role and impact of John means considering a complex system).
About the specific context, I think there exist articles praising a number of key actors.
If the Fed bought toxic assets from the banks under TARP at face value, and supplied them with cash to buy distressed assets from entities without access to that window, how could you possibly claim that it was a win for the US taxpayer?
OK but what’s your point then? His government says 15min wait isn’t necessary- you say he is trying to deflect his own personal scandals. His government supposedly does a decent job - you say it’s not his credit. At some point these derangement has to stop. Like I said I don’t like him or condone his scandals. But this has nothing to do with the original post saying 15min wait isn’t necessary. This is what happens when you watch 24/7 opinion media outlets that want to tie seemingly different things to satisfy their narratives.
To be fair to Boris, he at least seems to have some sense of the limit of his own knowledge.
If Whitty and Valance tell him “this is what’s happening, and where we think it’s going” then it’s probably as much as you can expect to have him take the advice.
Obviously we’ve no insight into what if any advice he refuses to take behind closed doors, but at least he’s taking it seriously. We hope. Based on the limited amount of information we’re given.
Once a politician, always a politician. The good politicians stay on the front foot (as they say in English football). The bad ones are always on their heals.
You might believe these arw different issue. But if Boris is an on the front foot politician, rest assure he thinks (and acts) otherwise.
Are you forgetting his stunts and commentary to downplay the vacinations/covid resulting in people not taking it seriously, low vaccinations and no lockdowns?
They had highest deaths in EU as they failed to learn from Italy, who at the time was just recovering from first wave there.
This is akin seeing someone drive fast loose control and smash into a tree, followed by 'hold my beer, i can go faster'
2 things can be simultaneously true: Boris Johnson is a liar who is so completely untrustworthy that I'd check his assertion if he said the sky was blue, and in this particular case getting people boosted is a good idea.
In fact the thing he's doing to accommodate his political requirement here is softball the regulations in the hope that a panicky rush to give boosters will damp down a two-day doubling time. It won't, and he'll have to lock down yet again, far too late.
Boris Johnson’s need to distract from his scandals led him to announce targets without discussing with the NHS and actual providers so now they need to make changes to accommodate his political requirements.