Overseas Summer Holidays Extremely Unlikely This Year

[71 Trans Am]

One of my neighbours who goes to the Athena Beach every year had an Email last week from Constantinou Brothers saying that if he was able to have his Holiday this year several procedures had been put in place regarding moving around the hotel and meals etc, At this point in time masks would have to be worn at all times within the building except when in your room, It also said that they had come to an arrangement with a local laboratory to have Covid tests done at the hotel site 2 days prior to your flight home at your expense - If the test were to come back positive then you would not be flying and would be transferred to a government allotted hotel for two weeks quarantine at your expense - He basically said to me Sod That - No way I will be going this year now.

[Robert]

WHL, Yes, from what I have read in reports that's true. Having your 2 shots of vaccine apparently, will not prevent one's chance of picking up the virus. But it should prevent you from becoming seriously ill.
So, its beginning to make the chance of flying anywhere abroad this summer unlikely.
I need to go to the UK, not just for a holiday but for practical reasons. So this situation is worrying.
My sister living in Australia,would very much like her son, now resident in Spain to visit her to see his father who is seriously ill. But, Australia's borders are sealed so its virtually impossible. She told me that so far Australia hasn't been able to get any vaccine to start its roll out.

Dee

Does that mean they're not vaccines at all? Wondering, does this increase the risk of the virus mutating into something more deadly given our tolerance to the virus might be increased. Could 'vaccinating' actually be making the problem worse in the long term...

Sounds like we're in the middle of a very large science experiment given the 'vaccines' aren't fully tested (emergency approval only as I understand, no long term post jab results) combined with the huge numbers of people being jabbed. I hope we as a race get an A on the results.

[71 Trans Am]

Robert - It was not "Emergency Approval" The Initial research showed that it was over 50% effective against the current strain of virus and was very unlikely to kill anyone because of its composition and was well worth running with as it was better than nothing at all and would definitely save many lives, And it was said from the start that it could be Tweeked to combat mutations as time goes on - You are probably correct about a large Science Experiment though as it's effects are being monitored and still being trialled but this is only to be expected as with all vaccines and improvements will no doubt be made as time goes by.


AstraZeneca vaccine '100% effective against severe Covid'
JANE KIRBY
22 March 2021, 7:47 am


Some 32,449 people across all age groups took part in the phase three trial in the US, Chile and Peru, with a total of 141 cases of symptomatic Covid-19 reported.
The results showed that among people aged 65 and over, there was 80% protection against developing Covid-19.
The degree of effectiveness against symptomatic Covid-19 was even higher than observed in the Oxford-led clinical trials.
An independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) also identified no safety concerns relating to the vaccine.
It conducted a specific review of thrombotic events, as well as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) – the specific type of brain blood clot that has been troubling Europe.
The DSMB found no increased risk of thrombosis among the 21,583 participants receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. The specific search for CVST found no cases in this trial.
Andrew Pollard, professor of paediatric infection and immunity, and lead investigator of the Oxford University trial of the vaccine, said: “These results are great news as they show the remarkable efficacy of the vaccine in a new population and are consistent with the results from Oxford-led trials.
“We can expect strong impact against Covid-19 across all ages and for people of all different backgrounds from widespread us of the vaccine.”
Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology, and co-designer of the vaccine, said the new findings “provide further confirmation of the safety and effectiveness” of the jab.
She added: “In many different countries and across age groups, the vaccine is providing a high level of protection against Covid-19 and we hope this will lead to even more widespread use of the vaccine in the global attempts to bring the pandemic to an end.”
AstraZeneca will now submit data to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and seek emergency approval for use. The US had been waiting for the latest results before considering it.
Prof Gilbert told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Twenty per cent of people in this trial were over the age of 65 and there was no drop in protection for those people, it was just as good in the over-65s as it was in the younger people and that’s very clear from this trial.”
On Europe’s concerns, she added: “I’d say the balance remains hugely in favour of using this vaccine. Across Europe there are thousands of deaths a day occurring from Covid.
“It’s really important that we get the chance to protect people as quickly as possible, this vaccine is available for use in Europe and it will save lives.”

[Kili01]

I went to the Atherna Royal Beach last Christmas for a 3 night break, just British Expats who live here. The hotels here do have a strict anti Covid protocol. My temperature was taken on arrival, before I was able to check in. We were told to wear our masks wherever we went in the building, except obviously ones room. But you don't need to wear it when seated at a table in the bar, or at the table in the restaurant while eating. But you need to replace it when at the Buffet.
This isn't the hotels own rule, but is the norm in Cyprus because of the pandemic.
We found the hotel staff very pleasant and helpful and the whole place was spotlessly clean,
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there and I am sure all tourists will have the same feeling of being made to feel welcome there.

Dee

[Robert]

Robert - It was not "Emergency Approval" The Initial research showed that it was over 50% effective against the current strain of virus and was very unlikely to kill anyone because of its composition and was well worth running with as it was better than nothing at all and would definitely save many lives, And it was said from the start that it could be Tweeked to combat mutations as time goes on - You are probably correct about a large Science Experiment though as it's effects are being monitored and still being trialled but this is only to be expected as with all vaccines and improvements will no doubt be made as time goes by.
...

https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedn ... 9-vaccines
FDA says authorised for Emergency Use.

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regu ... authorised
EMA says conditional marketing authorisation which is defined as "the approval of a medicine that addresses unmet medical needs of patients on the basis of less comprehensive data than normally required..."

Unless I've misunderstood I'd call that emergency approval. My understanding is vaccine development takes many many years of testing. We have multiple covid ones in under a year.

I hope the porential long term yet unknown effects of jabbing the world are far outweighed by the short term gains we're hopefully going to get.

[71 Trans Am]

Robert - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration which released the Janssen vaccine has nothing to do with the vaccines in the UK and Europe - Their vaccine was released under Emergency circumstances due to trump telling everyone the virus was no problem - Ours was not and I would be very surprised if you were to receive the Janssen Vaccine more likely Astra Zenica or Pfizer

[Robert]

Robert - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration which released the Janssen vaccine has nothing to do with the vaccines in the UK and Europe - Their vaccine was released under Emergency circumstances due to trump telling everyone the virus was no problem - Ours was not and I would be very surprised if you were to receive the Janssen Vaccine more likely Astra Zenica or Pfizer

The FDA emergency use approval in the link covers Pfizer, Moderna and Jannsen. The EMA (European Medicines Agency) conditional approval in the link covers Pfizer (Comirnaty), Astra Zenica, Jannsen and Moderna. None of them have full approval.

[71 Trans Am]

Robert – You are still missing the point The USA vaccine was Emergency Approval because things were getting out of hand due to Trump telling everyone that the virus was no problem – The EMA approval took time in fact a lot of people were waiting and waiting for the approval and there was no Emergency about it as it was not released until all of the key criteria had been approved

[Dominic]

It makes one wonder what our lives, if we had one, would have been like without vaccines.

Much shorter.

[WHL]

Extremely unlikely for UK residents it seems


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -week.html

[Dominic]

And from the BBC:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56493002

[Kili01]

Have just read the link to the BBC news website, above, posted by Dominic. Fortress UK!
So now the UK seems about to pass new legislation to stop anyone traveling abroad without a VERY good reason, with a £5000 fine to back it up. This doesn't bode well for Cyprus's summer tourist season. Despite the drive to administer vaccines to the population in UK.
Unfortunately, most EU countries are still woefully short of the quantity of the required vaccines to achieve results like the UK's'. Though Cyprus does seem to doing better than many others.
So probably none of the budget airlines will be flying to Paphos from the UK while this new restriction to travel is in force.

Dee

[Dominic]

I would imagine there will still be flights. After all, people have reasons other than holidays to travel abroad.

[WHL]

How about visiting ederly relatives, would that count as a good excuse?

[Robert]

Robert – You are still missing the point The USA vaccine was Emergency Approval because things were getting out of hand due to Trump telling everyone that the virus was no problem – The EMA approval took time in fact a lot of people were waiting and waiting for the approval and there was no Emergency about it as it was not released until all of the key criteria had been approved

I'm not missing any point. None of the vaccines are fully approved by either the European or US. Read the EMA link I provided and show me where I'm wrong. It also has nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with time. Those getting jabbed now are part of the trial from what I can see.

[galexinda]

I found this to be an interesting article about the various stages of producing a vaccine:

https://www.dw.com/en/covid-19-vaccine- ... a-55648707

[Firefly]

I'm quite happy to be part of a trial if it prevents me from dying as my friend did.

Jackie

[Kili01]

nholleran,
Your best hope is the regular BA flights into Larnaca, Normally twice a week as posted..
You'll have to do your best with your reasons to fly here. As you know Boris and his cohorts are really making it difficult for Brits to leave the UK!
A friend of mine did get permission to fly here last month, but that was purely because very sadly she wanted to attend as well as to organise her sons funeral here.
She flew here and back with BA. She had to get written permission to leave the UK as well as from Cyprus to do it.
Dee

[Firefly]

It seems to me that it's another ruling that benefits the wealthy, so you have a holiday home in Cyprus, so what, does that make you immune from catching the virus ? Of course not, so how on earth have they come up with that get out clause I would like to know.

What constitutes ' a good reason ' anyway, what's a good reason to one, isn't necessarily a good reason to another.

Not happy !

[Diocletian]

A good reason would include the Legal requirement to Chair a Management Committee meeting of a complex for example. These are held annually and under the relevant law can be postponed only for a maximum of 14 months between meetings.

Another one would be. Given the rise in break-ins of vacated properties on the Island, the owners are reasonably allowed to check up on them.