It is frightening, the news about the cull of mink in Denmark. First; it shows Covid19 can pass from humans to animals. Second; it appears the virus then mutates into a far more lethal and virulent form when it is returned to the humans from the animals. Thirdly; humanity seems to be using the standard solution - culling. As we've done for chickens, cattle, badgers, pigs and others in the past.

Let us not ignore the sentence hidden away in the news that 17 million Danish mink will be killed. The mutated virus will be immune to our vaccines.

We are weeks away from all domestic pets - cats and dogs - being culled "for the good of humanity".

And months away from the inevitable HUMAN cull; when governments decide, for the good of the majority, those infected by this new mutation of a virus must be culled for the protection of the majority.

Probably accidentally (like sending Covid infected patients back into care homes); simply due to stupidity, thoughtlessness. And the public, now so superficialised by tabloid headline policies, will simply clap and cheer our wonderful Cabinet.

Although I suspect Civil Disobedience is starting to rear its head. When all shops and restaurants and hotels reopen, what can police do? When people simply refuse to kill their pets, what can police do? When an attempt at culling by force begins, an army of rebels will form. And sadly, since anarchy never works, we'll end up in an even worse position than we are today.

I can see family pets in the firing line soon, but you may be stirring the pot somewhat with humans!

I can't read BBC news this morning. Unemployment is up, children's development shot and mental health in crisis all because of Covid, apparently.

This must be deliberate surely? It is lockdown that causes this stuff. Beeb now just the PR arm of this comic-tragic Government.

I would agree Wyot were it not for past treatment of gays, Jews, Tutsis, Hutus and all the other humans deemed "non essential" by assorted societies. Put it this way; I could not ever have conceived of a community that decided sending infected non essential people back to Care Homes was possible in the real world. Or that experts describing masks as "worse than useless" would, within weeks, urge their use. I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.

JK2006 wrote:
I would agree Wyot were it not for past treatment of gays, Jews, Tutsis, Hutus and all the other humans deemed "non essential" by assorted societies. Put it this way; I could not ever have conceived of a community that decided sending infected non essential people back to Care Homes was possible in the real world. Or that experts describing masks as "worse than useless" would, within weeks, urge their use. I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.

I see where you are coming from and there is a "logic" to a Government using powers directly over peoples freedoms and the terrible places this can lead.

Yes many thousands are already dead because of a panicked and incompetent response, and many thousands more will lose their lives to this wicked lockdown.

It is best to highlight the potential for malignant intent rather than just watch it unfold, I suppose. Many things have happened since March that would not have been predicted back then, and you are chillingly correct that this Wonderland is full of unwelcome surprises...

I loved how they made a travel ban exception for those of us who want to go and top ourselves in a Swiss clinic.

Wyot wrote:
I can see family pets in the firing line soon, but you may be stirring the pot somewhat with humans!

I can't read BBC news this morning. Unemployment is up, children's development shot and mental health in crisis all because of Covid, apparently.

This must be deliberate surely? It is lockdown that causes this stuff. Beeb now just the PR arm of this comic-tragic Government.

There's a vaccine soon, says the government.

Honey - yes this is one of the gems of Wonderland isn't it? We can kill ourselves with certainty, but a lonely old person in a care home can't decide to take the small risk of seeing their loved ones. That right, of course, has been removed by our wonderful Government.

GM - talking of our wonderful Government one thing we can depend on is that if they say something won't happen it will, and if it will happen it won't. They are admirably consistent on this.

Viruses mutate all the time Kenneth; the secret of a vaccine lies in the vaccine’s methodology of attack, which is why flu vaccines are updated every year without having to carry out years of new research.

A quick science lesson:

This new COVID-19 vaccine has a very novel approach of attack: once injected it inspires our cells to produce the spike protein of COVID-19, and nothing else. Our bodies will will then produce antibodies and activate T-cells to destroy the cells containing the newly created spike proteins. This process trains our bodies to fight off the full blown COVID-19 should we get infected, by destroying the cells it infects. Extensive trials have shown that it is effective in 90% of people. The methodology is said to be so groundbreaking that it will be used to develop vaccines for other viruses containing spike proteins. You see, the method being deployed here is to exploit the characteristics of the spike protein itself. Adapting the new Pfizer vaccine to deal with the newer strains evolving in minks shouldn’t be much of an issue, just like it isn’t for flu vaccines.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51665497

Thank you for the lesson Simon. I assume this means we are in no danger of viruses working out how to avoid these clever vaccines? I always thought Mother Nature was far ahead of us mere humans and that the next pandemic will require a similar approach to beating it. I just hope, for the sake of humanity, that next one does not have the lethal qualities of, say, Ebola combined with the infectious skills of Covid19 and a new way of avoiding human vaccines!

Simon Cameron wrote:


A quick science lesson:

Adapting the new Pfizer vaccine to deal with the newer strains evolving in minks shouldn’t be much of an issue, just like it isn’t for flu

Inaccurate.

The concern about the new variant in mink is that it doesn't respond sufficiently to Covid 19 antibodies. Therefore it matters not which groundbreaking method is used, because vaccinations work by the creation of effective antibodies.

You would need to start again on a new vaccine. The UK 2017-18 flu season (deadly as Covid so far, but responded to differently) illustrates that this is a problem for flu, as it will be for Covid.

The vaccine is great news, but unless we learn from how we responded to Covid as a society and individuals, we will be trapped in endless cycles of Govs pretending they can act to protect us from every new threat, while continuing to ignore all the established ways to die that kill far more than the threat.