They might need to up those fines.
We initially brought in fines of €100 for breaching of the travel restrictions. While it was reasonably effective (at least initially) it was being ignored by international travellers. They could easily factor in the cost of the fine on their holidays given the bargains they were getting on flights/accommodation.
We increased it to €500, and still some are willing to pay that. There is talk of increasing it to €2K, with “holiday” or “Visit” still being the most common reason for travelling abroad.
An awful lot of what governments do is what in French is called “gesticulation médiathique” – whose meaning should be fairly obvious. Certainly the French one banning all foreign arrivals was. The medical opinion was that there should be another full confinement. The politicians decided that wouldn’t work – people would ignore it, rebel, or both. But they had to be seen to do SOMETHING – hence keep those nasty foreigners out (including nasty French foreigners).
As for the £200 fine – just to get our Covid tests done reliably for travel will cost us $800. So it’s kind of peanuts.
That said, the reaction of the Gatwick MP is pretty hilarious. “All this will do is reduce the number of people travelling.” Well, duh, yeah.
Peter wrote:
It’s getting nasty again. What is not clear is whether Australia ordered its vaccine before Italy.Also this kind of thing isn’t going to work a second time
While I think export bans like that are justifiable, I don’t think they are a good idea. Governments should do everything to increase supplies of vaccines – for everyone. So I’d rather see them waive patents or – ideally – force manufacturers to provide licences to produce the vaccines to other companies or an ad hoc government-created factory.
Ultimately, this is just like production during wartime where a bicycle manufacturer would suddenly change their production to machine guns or a lorry factory would be converted to producing half-tracks.
Of course, I am well aware that the vaccines are quite complex to produce and need specialist personnel to oversee the process. I do think however that lots of biotech/pharma companies could convert their production to Covid vaccines within months, given access to the full data and with generous government subsidies. This is not the time to hesitate due to legal or bureaucratic concerns!
MedEwok wrote:
I do think however that lots of biotech/pharma companies could convert their production to Covid vaccines within months, given access to the full data and with generous government subsidies. This is not the time to hesitate due to legal or bureaucratic concerns!
I don’t think AZ will have any problem with that, it’s a not-for-profit product. Indeed, it’s already being produced under licence – principally in India.
MedEwok wrote:
Ultimately, this is just like production during wartime where a bicycle manufacturer would suddenly change their production to machine guns or a lorry factory would be converted to producing half-tracks.
Believe there’s an old joke about this where a guy working in a VW factory decides to steal a Beetle one part at a time and build it at home. When he finishes he has a half-track in his garage.
Peter wrote:
The UK is introducing this which I struggle to understand.
Well, it exempts ‘volunteering’ so going on an adventure cruise in the Med to ‘save’ someone or putting some Africans out of business by ‘helping to build an hut’ is still ok.
Seriously – WTF ??
MedEwok wrote:
So I’d rather see them waive patents or – ideally – force manufacturers to provide licences to produce the vaccines to other companies
Already happening in the US. Merck agreed to manufacture the Pfizer vaccine.
This analysis needs to be watched. The Italian topics are after about 10:40
12:40 – Cyprus will open to vaccinated Brits 1st May. Israelis in April.
Peter wrote:
This analysis needs to be watched. The Italian topics are after about 10:40
That chap needs either new reading glasses or just get his facts straight. Jens Spahn is health minister of Germany, not of France! And saying that there are no data for the US is simply BS.
Cobalt wrote:
While I would certainly like to think that it was possible, and maybe will be possible for future pandemics, to contain them at the initial stage, I consider that unlikely to be a real possibility.
Possibly the risk will be signifcantly reduced in the future.
As I mentioned earlier two companies are attemting to develop a universal coronavirus type vaccine. There is good evidence there are key elements on the main virus body that are common to a great many viruses of this type that are far less likely to mutate.
It will not be effective against influenza type viruses however.
Of course there are other pandemic possibilities, but this might reduce a significant threat.
Just heard that the reason why there was a low takeup of the vaccine in a certain part of the UK was because people there misread “jab” as “job”…
