All these big wigs telling us how great the new vaccine is...

[rebbonk]

Yet more coercion! I suspect that Johnson is sailing very close to the wind here. The Hague ruling on things like this is very clear. Hugh Osmond (Punch Taverns) actually called the action illegal on a news bulletin earlier.

[dutchman]

Nightclub owners hit out over Covid passport rules



A decision to make clubbers show that they're double vaccinated has sparked anger amongst club owners in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Earlier this week the Prime Minister announced that being double-jabbed would be a requirement for people wishing to attend nightclubs, despite previously saying that it would not be a requirement.

MPs from both side of the chamber were critical of the announcement, which has also angered nightclub owners in Coventry and Warwickshire.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for JJ's nightclub said: “To say we are disappointed by this Government’s U-turn is an understatement.

"Jonathan Van Tam’s talk of his party in his garden shed shows how little this government and their scientists understand the modern club.

"Nightclubs have the best air ventilation systems in hospitality retail and most other settings-with changing air on average every five minutes.

"Who else does that? We can sanitise and clean just like any other venue and there is no difference between a club and a most pubs at midnight.

"It should be down to individual risk assessments in line with the specialist scientific advice we have received.

"We are no more than a political football. Mandatory Covid passports may make sense once the entire adult population has been offered vaccines, but does government really think this threat will entice the vaccine wary to take the vaccine?

"They will just stay later in the pubs and hold their parties in their houses."

The promoter of nightclub and gig venue Kasbah, Sam El-Naaqib, said he just wishes that the government would be consistent in what they say, but will abide by any rules which are brought in.

[rebbonk]

I don't think it'll happen. Johnson's flying a kite with the idea of coercing the younger ones to take the vaccine. His coercion will work and then the government will 'let us off the hook' because the great take up of the vaccine no longer makes it necessary.

[dutchman]

Guitarist Eric Clapton says he’ll CANCEL shows at venues that ‘discriminate’ by requiring vaccination



Reacting to the British government requiring Covid-19 vaccine passes for access to live venues and nightclubs, musician Eric Clapton said he would cancel shows at places that discriminated against the unvaccinated.

Saying he felt “honour-bound to make an announcement of my own,” after PM Boris Johnson announced the vaccine passes on July 19, Clapton said he would “not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present. Unless there is provision made for all people to attend, I reserve the right to cancel the show.”

The author of ‘Change the World’ accompanied the message with a link to ‘Stand and Deliver,’ the song opposing lockdowns he recorded with Van Morrison last year.

According to Rolling Stone, Clapton isn’t scheduled to perform in the UK until May 2022, when he has two dates booked at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He also has a “handful” of concerts in North America scheduled in September.

US reactions to Clapton’s announcement were divided along partisan lines, with the conservative Prager University praising him for fighting against “arrogant tyranny,” while liberals said they never wanted to watch him perform anyway, and denouncing him as racist over comments he made in the 1970s.

The 76-year-old has long been an outspoken critic of Covid-19 lockdowns. Earlier this year, he drew condemnation for talking about the alleged adverse effects he experienced after having received the vaccine, complaining he was in “agony” and “chronic pain” that made it impossible to play the guitar for a week and that had left his hands sensitive to heat and cold.

Clapton has sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his solo career, creating the hits ‘Layla’, ‘Tears in Heaven’, and ‘My Father’s Eyes.’

While the majority of England’s Covid-19 restrictions were lifted on July 19, Johnson’s government plans to use vaccination passes have sparked opposition in the form of petitions and street protests.

[rebbonk]

You couldn't make this up...

People jabbed with PLACEBOS during vaccine trials will have same privileges as those who are ‘fully’ vaxxed, UK minister says

The UK government views people who were given placebos during Covid-19 vaccine trials as fully inoculated, Britain’s vaccines minister has said, adding that they would enjoy all the privileges granted by the NHS Covid Pass.

In remarks given before Parliament on Thursday, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi touted the country’s controversial NHS Covid Pass as having an “important role to play in slowing the spread of the virus,” and urged certain businesses and large venues to adopt the domestic health certificate in order to “keep their clients or their customers safe”. The NHS app can be used to show proof of vaccination status, negative test results or natural immunity.

But it seems the urgent need to methodically document people’s vaccination status, and use this private medical information to grant certain privileges, contains at least one loophole: individuals who have participated in vaccine trials will be viewed as “fully vaccinated” whether they received a placebo or an actual shot, Zahawi said.

It’s unlikely that he misspoke, as he made the same declaration in two separate exchanges while answering questions from Parliament

Labour MP Rupa Huq complained to Zahawi that several of her constituents who took part in Novavax trials are “now being treated as if they are vax deniers with the texts they get from the NHS”. She also seemed to suggest they had been “grounded” due to not being considered fully vaccinated. She pointed to the case of an American who had participated in the drug trial who said he felt it was on account of “xenophobia” that he could not access events that Brits can.

“People think that they are being punished for doing the right thing. Will the Minister rectify that?” she pressed Zahawi.

According to the official transcript of their conversation, Zahawi promised the MP that those in clinical trials, including that by Novavax, would have their status on the NHS Covid app recorded as ‘fully vaccinated’, whether they received the placebo or the vaccine.

Minutes later, Labour MP Barbara Keeley echoed Huq’s concerns and asked for a solution to be found for the “wonderful volunteers” who had joined the Novavax trial.

“They now find themselves not able to travel, as they cannot get a vaccine certificate and their vaccines are not recognised in the EU,” the lawmaker said.

Zahawi repeated his previous position on the matter.

“We are working with other countries to make sure that that is recognised, but as far as the UK is concerned, they will be considered fully vaccinated, whether they have had the placebo or the vaccine,” he reassured the MP.

The vaccine developed by US-based Novavax has yet to receive emergency use authorisation in the United Kingdom. Participants in trials for the drug have complained that they have been denied an approved jab due to their involvement with the clinical tests. The Department of Health said in June that it would ensure that the volunteers weren’t disadvantaged by their participation in the trials.

Britain’s rollout of the domestic digital Covid passport has aggravated many, who see the scheme as a serious government intrusion into peoples’ ability to carry out their normal activities. Notably, Zahawi described the divisive policy as “discriminatory” while speaking about the concept in February. However, he later changed his tune. In April, he insisted that vaccine passports wouldn’t be discriminatory if they could also be used by people who had tested negative for the virus.

Source: https://www.rt.com/uk/530020-zahawi-fully-vaccinated-placebo-nhs-app/

[dutchman]

Large events such as Premier League matches could be open only to the fully-vaccinated



Large events, such as Premier League games, could be open only to fully-vaccinated people from October under government plans.

Talks are under way with the Premier League to discuss whether supporters who have not received both jabs could be barred from entry, according to the PA news agency.

The rule could also be used for lower divisions and other sports, and for seated events with a capacity of more than 20,000 people.

For unseated events, such as gigs, the threshold could be as low as 5,000 attendees.

A government source said: "It's important that fans can continue to watch sporting events over the autumn, which is why we're exploring the role vaccines might play in this.

"This will not only allow full capacity stadiums but has the added bonus of incentivising people of all ages to go and get their jab."

It is not clear whether a recent negative test could allow entry to football matches, but this has been ruled out for nightclubs.

Shadow sports secretary Jo Stevens said: "To insist on vaccine passports less than a month before the start of the season will cause major disruptions, especially for clubs at the lower end of the pyramid.

"Labour has been clear that the use of COVID vaccination status alone will exclude those who can't be vaccinated or haven't had the jab because of delays.

"Being double jabbed doesn't prove you aren't carrying the virus.

"Testing for access to venues would be more efficient."

The English Football League declined to comment but it is understood that contingency plans are being discussed to deal with any change in government policy.

[rebbonk]

Large events such as Premier League matches could be open only to the fully-vaccinated

Yet more coercion.

[rebbonk]

Yet more coercion! I suspect that Johnson is sailing very close to the wind here. The Hague ruling on things like this is very clear. Hugh Osmond (Punch Taverns) actually called the action illegal on a news bulletin earlier.

And true to his word, Hugh Osmond has written to Sajid Javid warning him of such!

Source: https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2021/07/27/Will-the-Government-face-legal-action-if-vaccine-passports-in-clubs-are-made-compulsory? (May require sign up)

[rebbonk]

I was talking to a nurse a few weeks back and she predicted exactly this...

Care homes face losing 40,000 staff from compulsory vaccinations policy
Job losses would add to exodus of care home staff numbers since April, with providers facing estimated bill of £2,500 to replace each worker

Care home providers face losing 40,000 staff from the government’s policy of requiring all their staff to be fully vaccinated, exacerbating job losses already suffered this year.

The figure is the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) best estimate of the impact on staffing of its policy of requiring all staff working in care homes to be fully vaccinated, which will come into force in November. It represents 7% of the 570,000 people employed in in CQC-registered homes.

The DHSC calculated each job loss would cost £2,500 to replace in backfill, recruitment, induction and training costs, leaving providers with an estimated one-off bill of £100m.

However, independent sector care homes have already been losing staff since April this year, according to provisional figures released by Skills for Care, which showed drops in job numbers of 0.8% in April, 0.7% in May by 1.6% in June. The The decline has been steeper for care homes for older people, nursing homes and among care worker roles .

In relation to care worker jobs across the residential sector, estimated losses were 1.9% in April, 1.6% in May and 3.4% in June. This is in contrast to the situation in domiciliary care – for which compulsory vaccination will not apply – which saw estimated job growth of 0.6% in April, 1.1% in May and 0.1% in June.

‘Potentially catastrophic’

The reasons for the drop in care home jobs specifically is unclear, though services have seen significant drops in occupancy as a result of the pandemic, potentially reducing the need for staff. Occupancy rates fell from 84% in March 2020 to 75% in May 2021, among homes without nursing, and 87% to 81% among nursing homes.

However, provider leaders pointed to factors to do with the supply of staff, with care workers exiting the sector due to stress and burnout.

recent survey by third sector provider umbrella body the National Care Forum (NCF) found that about 60% of members had seen an increase in the rate of staff exit, with 40% of leaving staff departing for another sector.

NCF chief executive officer Vic Rayner warned that the government’s estimates of the impact of the vaccine policy recognised the “very significant and potentially catastrophic challenges for the delivery of care if the right level of guidance and support is not available”.

‘Stress and burnout’

Rayner added: “Early indications from members show that the trend for exiting social care is higher than normal, that some services have to close or be reorganised as a result of these shortages, and that we have a workforce that is stressed, burnt out and looking for the door.”

She also said that while many staff were leaving to join the health sector, others were going to join hospitality and retail, which also face a high vacancy rate. Per 100 jobs, there are about 4.5 vacant positions in accommodation and food service activities according to the Office for National Statistics figures released this month, compared with an average vacancy rate of 2.9% across all industries.

With turnover of 29.6% in residential homes and 36.8% in nursing homes in 2019-20, the government’s analysis suggested that some staff who leave as a result of the vaccination policy would have left for other reasons. The DHSC also said it expected councils to manage the risks to local services of the expected job losses, in line with their duties under the Care Act, for which they would receive support from the DHSC’s regional team.

‘Over-optimistic’

However, on Twitter, Simon Bottery, senior fellow for social care at the King’s Fund, said that these anticipated mitigations of the impact of job losses were “over-optimistic”.

He said that many of the of those who normally leave their jobs go elsewhere in the sector rather than leave residential care altogether, as would be required under the vaccination policy. While some may go into domiciliary care, where the policy doesn’t apply, it’s not clear how much traffic there is between the two sectors, he said.

In relation to councils having contingency plans in place, Bottery added: “I look forward to hearing from those councils who feel they can deal with the loss of between 3% and 12% of their care home workforce.”

Source: https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2021/07/27/care-homes-face-losing-40000-staff-compulsory-vaccinations-policy/

Her predictions for the NHS were worse!

[dutchman]

Just shows how desperate the 'Vaccinistas' are getting...

Biden tells states to offer $100 vaccine incentive as cases rise



US President Joe Biden has called for states to offer $100 (£71) to the newly vaccinated in an effort to address flagging jab rates amid virus surges.

The president also issued a strict new vaccine requirement for US federal workers, the nation's largest workforce with some two million people.

The order requires employees to show proof of vaccination or be subjected to mandatory testing and masking.

Just under half of the US is fully vaccinated, according to official data.

Speaking from the White House on Thursday, Mr Biden said that the new measures are a result of the highly contagious Delta variant's spread, made worse by a "pandemic of the unvaccinated".

"People are dying and will die who don't have to die," the president said.

Mr Biden added that the monetary incentive may seem unfair to already vaccinated Americans, but "we all benefit if we can get more people vaccinated".

States would use money from the $1.9tn American Rescue Plan legislation to fund the incentives.

Mr Biden said that the federal government will be "fully reimbursing" small or medium-sized businesses that provide workers paid time off to get vaccinated.

While government workers who refuse to get vaccinated will not be fired, this move by the White House aims to set an example for other employers nationwide.

But public heath experts warn that weekly testing is not an effective way of stopping outbreaks.

The Democratic president also addressed theories, spreading mostly in conservative circles, that the jabs are unsafe.

He emphasised there "is nothing political" about the vaccines, which were developed and authorised under a Republican administration and further distributed under his.