How is everyone in the current situation? General Chat

Not quite as much as last time, and as usual I could have brushed out more but we were both over it

I was going to let the dogs out to do their business before I went to bed and as we all walked onto the deck the dogs were a little excited and I smelled a skunk. Luckily I was able to grab both their collars and we went back inside. I think it was under the deck because the smell was strong. Maybe it was already gone, but why chance it. They can go out when I get up in the night to pee (I’m getting older, I always get up at some point). Made me realize that I should just have some skunk shampoo here in case I need it. These dogs have never been sprayed but all my others have, more than once.

And now comes the ID [or fake ID] cards to show a person has been vaccinated.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...w-NHS-Covid-19-vaccination-identity-card.html

What next?

I think they are a good idea Juli, but hate the thought that they will be quickly faked.

The idea is good, yes, but if they do not show the persons name how useful would they be? Also, even if they did have the persons name on them, if a restaurant or pub [or sports ground, cinema etc] demanded to see the card, how would they know that that name belonged to that person?

Look what the card states:



Just the name of the vaccine, the batch number, and the date the vaccine was given. It does not state where the vaccine was given and the article does not mention whether the card will be date stamped or even signed by the clinic/hospital etc.

It is just asking to be faked, so will basically be worthless.

I have absolutely no idea when the vaccine will be available here but I should imagine that we will have to show our ID cards for the number to be put on the MoH records - just as we have to hand over our ID cards to be checked against the electoral list when we vote - and when voting our cards are not handed back until we are seen to place the envelope in the slot.

In a way, it is the same as dog microchips and rabies shots are registered with the Ministry of Agriculture under their owners ID number.

Everything has to have our ID numbers on them.

I see what you mean. Not very good are they?

What a shame because I believe it's a good idea. Ah well

It is not just "not very good" Chris - that card is not worth the paper it is printed on, or the ink either. It is totally meaningless as it would not actually belong to anyone. OK, so a person has the vaccination, is handed the card - if they drop it and someone else picks it up, that somebody else could say it was theirs - and who is to know that it is not?

No name and no signature of a clinic? Even Tikva's medical card has not only my ID number on it but also the sticker from her microchip with that number on it - which of course is registered along with my ID number with the MoA. And all her vaccinations are written on the card and signed. Heck, when she [and Pereg and Lexi - and even baby Ziva who was only with me for those few days] were registered with Ram, they were registered under my ID number.

They do have the name of the person on them, Juli. If you look at the top of the card there is a 'name .............................' which I guess the clinic writes in.

I'm hoping they stamp the card with the name of the clinic, but I'll let you know when I eventually have it.

So easy to copy and forge though

Juli, this is a quote from our local media this morning:

“We have been clear that there are no plans to introduce immunity passports,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.

“The cards … are NHS reminder cards that prompt people to get the second dose that they need.

“That’s a well-established practice in the NHS to offer people cards to remind them of their next appointment.”

It’s a bit like going to get a puppy then , vaccinated , registered and microchipped (almost god forbid).

Thank you Chris - for some unknown reason I saw "Name" and then "Name of vaccine" but it did not sink in that the name of the person would be put next to the top "Name". Do you get an invitation/appointment to go so that they know who you are, or do you have to have some means of identification? I only know what I read and it did not say anything about that, although possibly I just did not notice.

I am so out of the loop, having left the UK such a long time ago now, that I honestly do not remember if we even had any sort of inoculation cards for anything, or had any reminders for anything.

Thank you for putting me straight. There is so much contradictory information that it is frequently difficult for me to known which are the correct facts.

They call you up here, Juli. The first vaccinations (Pfizer) were given today. The second person to have it here was an elderly gentleman called William Shakespeare. I do hope the vaccinations and their roll outs are as successful as this guys namesake's book are.

Sorry to keep asking questions, but do they write, telephone, send an SMS message to let a person know they are on the list for the vaccine, and what happens if a person cannot get to the clinic or wherever the vaccines are given?

I actually do not know why I want to know these things as I have no idea when the vaccine will be available here, or how they are going to arrange things. I think I am probably reading too many news articles and should stop before my brain gets too frazzled!

I am not even sure if it really matters to me as I doubt I will be having the vaccination.

I have been trying to limit the amount of news articles I read as mostly I just get worked up from what I read. It’s not productive for me. Especially stuff about our soon to be disposed idiot in office who still claims the election was rigged against him. What a baby and a sore loser

I put it badly, Juli. I believe they sent out appointment letters.

I'm not sure what happens if you can't make the appointment. I assume like other appointments we'll be able to phone them and rearrange.

I'm always interested in how other countries are doing things and it's easier to ask questions or read people's personal experiences rather than rely on what the media tells us because it's impossible these days to believe a single word that's printed

I did not mean if a person cannot make the appointment, I meant if they are confined to their homes, as I am. In the case of the flu shots our nurse comes round to all the housebounds - no appointment or notification because she knows we are always at home.

I can only assume that as and when the vaccine is available here, the same thing will happen on the Moshav but I do not know about elsewhere - presumably people who are physically able to do so, will go to their local clinic or wherever the vaccinations are going to be done. Notifying people by mail will be a dead loss, the way our postal service is.

Currently we are now going into an evening/night curfew because cases doubled once the second lockdown restrictions were eased, but to be honest I am just reading the headlines that I get by email each day and not clicking onto the links to read the full articles. Every paper says different things in any case.

Too many people ignored the first lockdown although it was effective to a point, but it was lifted far too early and figures went up and up, even though there were still some restrictions regarding large gatherings. So we went back into lockdown but people are just so blase about it now and I just cannot take the stupidity of people any more.

Hence the curfew, and they are now saying that we are into a third wave and there will be yet another lockdown and more fines, not that the majority will ever be paid.

Let me give you an example of the stupidity. Malls are permitted to open but Ikea is not. But Ikea opened anyway and they were fined. How much? All of 5,000 shekels. That is the average price of a sofa. You think that a company like Ikea will bother about the loss of the cost of a sofa?

It's early days yet Juli so we have no idea. The Pfizer vaccine is, I imagine, impossible for district nurses to give as it has to be stored at minus 70 degrees which, at the moment, is limiting its use to hospitals. The Oxford vaccine when it is passed can be stored at fridge temperature so make it more plausible for widespread community roll out. It still, I would think, make it difficult if not nigh on impossible to be given within homes.

No doubt, these problems will be ironed out in time.

We said the same thing about coming out of lockdown too early and, listen to this for stupidity, most of the rules come off for 5 days over Christmas. Guess what we'll be getting for new year

The first batch of the vaccine arrived in Israel this morning - 100,000 doses. A batch of half a million doses is scheduled to arrive in Israel in the next few days, and a million more will arrive next week. A larger batch is supposed to be arriving at the end of the month. Vaccinations are due to start on 20 December but only after the vaccine receives US Food and Drug Administration approval, which is supposed to be on 10 December.

But there is no information yet as to when and to whom the vaccinations will be given to start with, and people living where there is no nearby hospital [and there are not many hospitals in Israel] are probably going to have major difficulties in being vaccinated, especially those who live on Moshavim and Kibbutzim.

We share our doctor and our nurse with others in the Local Authority region, which covers a fair size area, which is why they are only at the little clinic here for a couple of hours twice a week. What on earth is going to happen I do not know, but I guess we will eventually be informed.

Yes, there is a hospital in town, but it serves a very very wide area. On this Moshav not everybody has cars, and there is no public transport on the Moshav. For people living at the extremities it is a hell of a long walk to get to the main road where there is a bus route. It is a long enough walk even living near the actual entrance of the Moshav itself.

And there are a lot of elderly housebound people living here.

Two people (out of thousands vaccinated yesterday) have had an allergic reaction to the Pfizer vaccination so they are advising against anyone who has to use an epipen for severe allergies not to have it.

I imagine our experiences here will be mirrored over in your country, Juli

I was just reading that, Chris. That counts me out then as severe allergic reactions to medications [and some other unknown things] has put me in hospital more than a few times - which is why I always have two Epipens with me at all times. Plus a supply of Prednisone.

Just last month my doctor gave me a 'scrip for another two as the ones I had were nearing their expiry date, even though they showed as clear through the little window on them so would still be effective.