Posts tagged 'Covid'

At Higher Risk* but not entirely stupid

Posted by on January 17th 2022 in A bit of a rant
Tags:

10:20 this morning... another call from a withheld number, another recorded message telling me that a Covid-19 jab appointment at the Hinckley vaccination centre has been cancelled. No name or NHS number stated, no reason given for cancellation, and no advice regarding re-booking. It was the third such call to our land-line.

It's anti-vax bullshit, of course. All four people who have lived here at any time during the last 12 months have been triple-jabbed already. I've been invited to arrange my 4th jab but so far I've not accepted that invitation, pending a discussion with my haematologist on Thursday.

We're not stupid, we recognise anti-vax disinformation when we see it, but others may well be taken in by this dangerous scam and may well die as a consequence of their info-vulnerability to these deplorable calls.

I'm reporting the call, of course, but whether anything gets done about it is anyone's guess.

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* Apparently my pigeon-hole has been given a new name. It started off as Vulnerable, then went to Extremely Vulnerable, then to Clinically Extremely Vulnerable. I learned today that it's been called At Higher Risk since 24th December 2021. Seems to be an exercise in re-branding, it hasn't made one jot of difference here, I can still catch the pestilence at the drop of a hat.

Jabberwonky

Posted by on December 21st 2021 in COVID-19, Health, or lack thereof, Just for fun

Back in September one of my haematologists arranged for me to have what she called a "third COVID jab".

For some unfathomable reason, that "third" jab has gone on my GP record as having been a "booster" jab.

Now I'm reading NHS articles about having a "vaccine 3rd dose" (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-vaccine-3rd-dose/). That article stresses the fact that "The 3rd vaccine dose for people with a severely weakened immune system is different to a booster dose."

 

"

 

So now we're utterly confused. Have I been double-jabbed and boosted, or triple-jabbed? If I'm called for another shot do I need to be specific about which one (AZ, Pfizer, Moderna, other)? Bearing in mind that my antibody response to my current three shots has been zilch, is it really worth me having another?

Common-sense says "have another jab, it might work". Common-sense also says "don't waste a jab that someone else might need"

Anyway, here's a thing:

 

Immunity

"This plan may sound appealing to people who know a little about the immune system, but the drawbacks are clear to people who know a lot about the immune system and also to people who don't know anything about it."

Posted under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License (see here).

Go ahead, make my day

Posted by on December 11th 2021 in A bit of a rant, COVID-19, Health, or lack thereof, Shielding
Tags: ,

A question for all those unjustifiably-unmasked and/or unjustifiably-unvaccinated punks out there...

Those of us who care deeply for our health and for the health of those around us, but who have no Covid-resistance despite three jabs, are now having to take drastic measures way beyond having a couple of tiny needles and wearing a simple face-covering.

Two days ago my haematologist advised me to shield again, even though the powers-that-be haven't declared it to be their official policy... yet.
Feel free to whinge and whine all you like about your rights and about your jolly Christmas piss-up being "deferred" - I won't give a flying fuck, as I'll be stuck at home for the third consecutive Christmas.
If I absolutely must go anywhere where there's a risk, I have to wear an FFP3 mask. Here's mine:

 

 

To be fair it's a blessing in disguise. The good thing about this mask is that the incoming aerosol filtration is "not less than 99%" effective, so there's little chance of anyone's Covid-bugs getting in. The best thing about this mask is that it has a simple outgoing air valve with no filtration whatsoever, so if I do get infected there's a huge chance that I'll infect you if you're too close and unmasked.

So the next time you get too close and you fancy your chances, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?"

Well, do ya, punk?

House of Games

Posted by on November 19th 2021 in Health, or lack thereof, Video (YouTube, Vimeo etc.)
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Highbrow

This morning I got the result of yesterday's Covid PCR test which was done because our household had been in prolonged close contact with someone who later tested positive.

My result was negative. Later, the others reported negative results.

Lowbrow

This afternoon I got the result of LRI Hambleton's SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection test (the test that counts my Covid antibody copies which should be created in response to three doses of vaccine). Obviously, the higher the count, the greater the response, and the more robust the resistance.

My count?

Zero. Zilch. Nada. Jack. Sweet fuck all.

We're expecting turbulence so buckle-up, it's likely to get a bit rough.