So... I arrived for carer's vaccine appointment this morning, fully in line with rules as I have a contract arranged via the council themselves. I was told the rules had changed over the weekend and anyone looking after only one person was no longer eligible.

"You're joking me, right?" I say. No, sympathetically she says she has been told this very morning (it's 0805) that the rules had changed at the weekend and I cannot have the vaccine. I'm not usually lost for words. I manage not to swear (v impressive for me).
I say I am lost for words but can I please see a manager, explaining I am the sole carer for an 88-year-old disabled woman with a heart condition and no vaccination. I plead for an exception. She is kind but firm: I am not eligible but she will fetch a manager.
I explain again to the manager, who takes one look at my contract and immediately confirms that I AM eligible. There IS a rule change, but it relates to people claiming carer's allowance, not to those with a formal contract to care for someone.
So I get that some confusion is inevitable in an operation of this scale, but clearly there are people out there who legitimately booked appointments as carers on the basis of carers' allowance and the rules have changed over the weekend. It will be devastating when they arrive.
People on carers' allowance (a pittance paid only to those with no other income, ie broadly low-income groups) should not be put through this, especially while fit 70s are now piling into centres in their millions. I hope the rules can be relaxed for those with appointments.
And while I'm grateful for getting dose #1, I'm gutted that the housebound and other very vulnerable groups are still waiting in Sussex and prob elsewhere. Appointments are finally being made for the next few weeks but how many people will catch Covid from carers in the meantime?
I am also gutted for any carers who have booked an appointment in good faith and will queue up only to be turned away. This programme is of course amazing and a privilege but is delivering its own injustices in the name of mass figures.
Were you aware of this rule change @alzheimerssoc @DisabilityGovUK @DisRightsUK @Caringforcarer6 ?

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The UN just voted to condemn Israel 9 times, and the rest of the world 0.

View the resolutions and voting results here:

The resolution titled "The occupied Syrian Golan," which condemns Israel for "repressive measures" against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights, was adopted by a vote of 151 - 2 - 14.

Israel and the U.S. voted 'No'
https://t.co/HoO7oz0dwr


The resolution titled "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people..." was adopted by a vote of 153 - 6 - 9.

Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and the U.S. voted 'No' https://t.co/1Ntpi7Vqab


The resolution titled "Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan" was adopted by a vote of 153 – 5 – 10.

Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and the U.S. voted 'No'
https://t.co/REumYgyRuF


The resolution titled "Applicability of the Geneva Convention... to the
Occupied Palestinian Territory..." was adopted by a vote of 154 - 5 - 8.

Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and the U.S. voted 'No'
https://t.co/xDAeS9K1kW
Brief thread to debunk the repeated claims we hear about transmission not happening 'within school walls', infection in school children being 'a reflection of infection from the community', and 'primary school children less likely to get infected and contribute to transmission'.

I've heard a lot of scientists claim these three - including most recently the chief advisor to the CDC, where the claim that most transmission doesn't happen within the walls of schools. There is strong evidence to rebut this claim. Let's look at


Let's look at the trends of infection in different age groups in England first- as reported by the ONS. Being a random survey of infection in the community, this doesn't suffer from the biases of symptom-based testing, particularly important in children who are often asymptomatic

A few things to note:
1. The infection rates among primary & secondary school children closely follow school openings, closures & levels of attendance. E.g. We see a dip in infections following Oct half-term, followed by a rise after school reopening.


We see steep drops in both primary & secondary school groups after end of term (18th December), but these drops plateau out in primary school children, where attendance has been >20% after re-opening in January (by contrast with 2ndary schools where this is ~5%).

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