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Monday 26 April 2021

V for Vaccination, Vocabulary & Variety: Scottish Borders in Lockdown

A-Z Blogging Challenge 2021   - Scottish Borders in Lockdown
Recording My Everyday Life - A Picture for Future Generations
 
VACCINATIONS  - A GOOD NEWS STORY - The big success  in the UK with early ordering of vaccines, and    efficient roll out of the process.  More than half the UK's total population has now had a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
 
My husband had his first jab late January, myself mid February and the second jab together on April 3rd.  This was very efficiently organised by our local Health Centre using the village  church hall, set up with six stations -  in one door and out another.  Everyone was so friendly and cheerful,  there was almost a celebratory atmosphere to the day - helped by the gorgeous weather of blue sunny skies.  Things were looking up. 

I came across  this little ditty on Facebook - which says it all!

The weather is cold. The days are dull and Covid isn't very funny 

So let us all  So let us all get immunised, Then smile and make life funny

Covid Vaccine, Coronavirus, Vaccine

 

We had the Oxford Astra Zeneca jab with minimal side effects, but it has become mired in  controversy over its supplies, with the European Union seeking to block its exports to Britain from its manufacturing basis in Belgium - shades of the fractious Brexit negotiations raising it's ugly head again.  Accusations that the vaccine could cause blood clots has been refuted by all the leading international medical bodies, with the risk assessed as being 0.004%


All those VOCIFEROUS VOICES in the media have introduced us to new VOCABULARY   - new phrases. abbreviations,  or words with new meanings.

  • Blended Learning -  with the closure of schools, apart for provision for vulnerable children and children of key workers, the emphasis has been on home learning making full use of technology and parents and carers having to become  teachers. Not an easy task with a children of different ages.
     
  • Flattening  the Curve - slowing down the spread of the virus -  a phrase used by newscasters, when showing those graphs of Covid cases and deaths on TV
  • Furlough Scheme - whereby the government has  subsidised workers' salaries where  businesses were closed due to Covid.  
  • Herd Immunity  - the belief that when a high proportion of the population have been vaccinated, the risks of infection will be reduced.
     
  • Lockdown - what my A-Z series has been all about!   Do read back to earlier posts!
  • Roadmap - the favoured word to use now  in place of  plan or strategy e,g, the Roadmap out of Lockdown.

  • R Number - an R number is used by scientists as a way of estimating how many other people one Covid sufferer will reinfect.  The aim is to keep this rate below 1. 
     
  • Shielding - in social isolation at home  
     
  • Social Distancing  - 2 metres apart from other people.

  •  Test & Trace  - a government scheme aimed at reducing the spread of the virus  - call centres were set up to alert  people  identified as being in contact with a Covid sufferer.   Whether  this was a good value for money scheme has been questioned with reports of call centre staff often sitting idle;  and people giving false contact details, which thwarted the intention of the scheme.
     
  • Virtual Gatherings  - held online, making full use of current technology -   and not face to face.
     
  • PPE - Personal Protective Equipment - worn by medical and care staff - gowns, aprons, masks, visors, head coverings, goggles etc.  Great concern expressed that such equipment was in short suppply  for care home staff in particular.  

  • ICU - Intensive Care Units in hospitals .
 
Some more Slogans I missed off my earlier listing under S:
  • Data not Dates   - used by government to determine when Lockdown would  be eased.

  • Eat Out to Help Out -  A government subsidy paid last summer to cafes & restaurant to  safeguard jobs and encourage the public to support the badly hit hospitality industry,  with meals half price Mondays to Wednesdays. Customers were required to  give their contact details on every visit.   We took full advantage of this offer ! 

  • No Jab, no Job - a controversial topic  with some people  seeing this as an assault on personal liberties. 

Will these words and phrases make their way in to the next edition of dictionaries?  Are there other words and phrases  I have missed?  
 
Keywords Letters, Scrabble, Word
 
 
 
And finally,VARIETY AWAITS  us this 26th April 2021  with non-essential shops, cafes and restaurants reopening, pubs (alcohol only served outdoors) and beauty salons,  (but no facial treatments), along with travel to other parts of the UK. But what I definitely  need is a VACATION! 
 
 
  
On the Isle  of Iona looking across to the Isle of Mull - one of our favourite places.
 
 
ONTO W FOR WORRIES AND WALKS 
 
 
#AtoZChallenge 2021 badge
 

 
 

4 comments:

  1. We have been using many of the same phrases, with slight differences. Blended learning=hybrid learning, furlough scheme=paycheck protection plan, shielding=self-quarantining, test and trace=contact tracing,

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  2. Yes, hooray for the vaccines! I also got both jabs as soon as I was eligible -- don't understand those who are reluctant. How else can they expect to take the vacations we are all badly in need of! https://mollyscanopy.com/2021/04/various-other-teen-interests-from-rod-serling-to-rfk/#comments

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  3. I was struck by the gap between your Astra Zeneca jabs because with the same vaccine we have to wait 12 weeks between them, and get the flu shot between times. My 94yo got Phizer which I’d have preferred for its efficacy rate. Having done a good job keeping the country safe for the past 12 months (with lots of community support and testing and tracing), the govt has been inept in organising the vaccine distribution. Problem compounded by non-delivery of booked supply by the EU.
    We have different terminology...will think on that.

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  4. Thank you for your slant on vaccines and vocabulary. I will say here in the government’s favour has been the efficient role out of the vaccination programme. We get our flu jabs in November ahead of the winter - and last year the arrangements for booking appointments was an utter shambles thousands of
    Letters were sent out the same day asking us to book, and of course the call centres could not cope with the number of calls and emails. We had to do a round trip of 18 miles to get our flu jabs at one of the central Hubs set up. Thank goodness the powers that be learnt lessons for the Covid programme, which was organized at local level by our local health centre - there and back home in under 30 minutes.




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