Principles of critical care medicine for non intensive care specialists

The prime minister has defended a proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff. "What we have done is try to give them as much as we can at the present time," Boris Johnson said during a visit to a COVID-19 vaccination centre in north London. "The independent pay review body will obviously look at what we've proposed and come back. Are other public sector workers in line for an increase? "Don't forget that there has been a public sector pay freeze, we're in pretty tough times. "We've tried to give the NHS as much as we possibly can and that means, in addition to the £140bn of annual money, we've got another £62bn we've found to help support the NHS throughout the crisis." Advertisement The PM - who spent time in intensive care with COVID and said the NHS "saved my life" - added that he was "massively grateful" to health service staff and social care workers for their "heroic" efforts throughout the pandemic. But the proposal has … [Read more...] about COVID-19: Boris Johnson defends proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff

Germany should prioritize people for coronavirus vaccines by the number of their social contacts rather than their age, immunology expert Michael Meyer-Hermann told local media on Sunday. Meyer-Hermann, from the Helmholtz center for Infection Research in the central German city of Braunschweig, told the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel newspaper that first giving vaccines to those with the most contacts "would have a much greater effect." He pointed out that the plan followed by Germany and most other countries of vaccinating the elderly and most vulnerable first had reduced the number of deaths, but had not had a significant impact on the pandemic as these people tended to have the fewest social contacts. What is Germany's coronavirus outlook? The immunologist also criticized Germany's plan to ease lockdown measures , especially as the more virulent strains of the virus were increasingly spreading throughout the country. He predicted that case numbers would "explode" as they … [Read more...] about Coronavirus: German immunologist suggests COVID vaccine priority reversal

BRITS aged between 56 and 59 have been invited to receive their coronavirus vaccine as the rollout goes from strength to strength. It comes as Gavin Williamson admitted this morning that ministers are "looking at" a longer school day and shorter holidays to make up for lost education due to the pandemic . Hundreds of thousands of letters for the over 56 age group began landing on doorsteps today, Public Health England have said. Meanwhile, Professor Sharon Peacock, head of the Covid-19 Genomics UK scientific body, told The Times she was "very optimistic" that the immunisation programme would continue to be effective. It comes as a minister predicted that all adults could receive the jab by June should the vaccine rollout continue at its current pace. Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, told The Times it was “possible” that all adults could be offered vaccines by June. Follow our coronavirus live blog below for the very latest news and updates on the … [Read more...] about Coronavirus news UK – Over-56s invited for vaccine and ministers ‘looking at’ longer school day & shorter holidays