Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE UK APPROVED a Covid-19 vaccine without compromising safety, the country’s medicines regulator said after America’s top infectious disease expert questioned the level of scrutiny.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned the speed at which the UK approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine could undermine confidence in the jab.
Dr Fauci told CBS American regulators would do a “more thorough job”, although he later backed away from the comments, saying he was not implying sloppiness on the part of British authorities, in whom he had “great faith”.
However with the first doses of the vaccine now believed to have arrived in the UK, there was still confusion over who would receive it first, with Scotland planning to deliver the jabs into care homes from 14 December, but NHS England not committing to a date.
The comments came as the coronavirus death toll in the UK passed the 60,000 mark, jumping to 60,113 after a further 414 fatalities were announced on Thursday.
The UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer jab, enough to vaccinate 20 million people, with 800,000 doses expected to arrive by next week.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said: “We have rigorously assessed the data in the shortest time possible, without compromising the thoroughness of our review.
Covid-19 vaccines, including this one, are being developed in a co-ordinated way that allows some stages of this process to happen in parallel to condense the time needed, but it does not mean steps and the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness have been bypassed.
It added a rolling review of the vaccine data started at the beginning of October, and the agency said it had made good progress on the review before the last submission of data was received.
“Any vaccine must undergo robust clinical trials in line with international standards, with oversight provided by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
“No vaccine would be authorised for supply in the UK unless the expected standards of safety, quality and efficacy are met.”
— Max Foster (@MaxFosterCNN) December 3, 2020
The Times reported MHRA head June Raine will conduct a round of interviews with regional radio stations in an attempt to convince people concerned about the vaccine, believing people are more likely to trust what they hear on local radio.
Dr Fauci told CBS News that Britain “kind of ran around the corner of the marathon and joined it in the last mile” adding: “They really rushed through that approval.”
“The FDA, the United States of America Food and Drug Administration, is the gold standard of regulation,” he said.
“They are doing it in a careful way, appropriately.”
He warned the speed of the approval could damage confidence, telling Sky News:
When we did a survey here in the US, there was a considerable degree of scepticism and reluctance to get vaccinated and we were concerned that if we did anything that looked like it was cutting corners that would feed into the scepticism.
But in a later interview with BBC News, Dr Fauci said he did not mean to “imply any sloppiness”, adding: “I do have great faith in both the scientific community and the regulatory community at the UK.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) offered a toned down response to the MHRA decision, simply stating the approval had been “acknowledged”.
Dr Siddhartha Sankar Datta, WHO regional adviser for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunisation in Europe, said: “The national regulatory authority of a country will review the different elements of a system before they make the vaccine licensed for use – (based on) the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine.
“That is what the UK’s national regulatory authority has done yesterday with their evaluation. We have learned about it and we acknowledge it.”
The European regulator has criticised the approval of the vaccine using emergency powers, insisting that its own, slower approach is more appropriate.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Why go out and work to generate 1000 a month to pay rent when you can get tax payers to pay. Joke of a system.
While I can understand where you are coming from this is a very single minded view. For example I’m a single mother, I’m in full time education. I get a basic one parent family payment of €217 a week. My rent is €100 a week, I get rent allowance of €15 a week. So after paying my rent it leaves me with €130 a week to live on. So not everyone is taking it in off the social welfare. I find it very difficult to pay all my expenses on this.
And the winner is …!! Drum roll please…. THE LANDLORD….,,,,
Does anyone get 1000 a month in rent allowance ? Do they get their rent paid a just a portion of it ?
Rent supplement covers part of the rent, not all of it.
Yes the other portion is made up of their dole !
Yes, Roly, in many cases it is. Well done for figuring that out. ‘!’
No Roly i know of a young widow that has 3 children at school and has a P/t job . She get rent allowance and many like her , sick of sad fool like keyboard warriors like you that tar eveybody with the same brush .
You’re just chasing a moving target unless you actually start building some houses. Private money will continue to push rent up in the cities as we add jobs.
Governments fault giving out everything to people who wish to do nothing !!
Entitlement generation ..want house ..someone else will pay for it ..want kids someone else will pay for them…need money someone else will give it to me …comes from Mammy & Daddy telling them their the centre of the universe since they were born.
It’s clearly not ideal but to do nothing results in on average more people being kicked out of their rented homes when rent increases (which they will). Even if you don’t care whether people have a right to housing or not – ultimately to do nothing will cost the state and us indirectly through taxes, in ‘dealing with the homeless problem’.
Don’t like when people take the piss with the system, but this should save us all money in the long run.
The poor woman in cork with 4 kids was “only getting €1100 or €1200″ towards her accommodation. The poor woman!!!!!
I think it’s worth noting that we live in a society that now has people classified as “working homeless”, as opposed to everyone feeling a sense of entitlement. There’s something far more fundamentally f***ed here.
Bitter…..
Once again – the Irish solution – waste good money throwing it after bad. Let those paying Tax, stump up for the others just because nobody can be bothered fix the actual system.
The majority of people that I know in receipt of it are working. And that pi**es me right off. Why am I paying €800 a month in a nice estate while my neighbour, whom both he and his partner are working, pay €300 a month thanks to HAP.???
In nearly every case with HAP, you’ll find at least one person out of a couple is working fulltime. And you can only receive it if you are on the housing list. Plenty of Africans and Eastern Europeans have joined the ranks of the minority of Irish who can well afford to pay, but wont.
The rent has just increased now as well
What a complete own goal.
That’s the way the market works… It’s a supply side squeeze. The same number of people need housing, if they give them more money to pay for it the price will just rise for everyone.
Personally I think they should have spent it on more social or affordable housing.
rents are fixed for a 2 year period.
I pity anyone renting privately out there now. This is gonna send rents through the roof.
Thanks to Alan Kelly’s balls-up last year most landlords have already put up the rent. So the rents are now frozen for another 18 months or so.
Wouldn’t surprise me if that was precisely the plan
Ffs. Rewarding laziness
Spot on
I work for 2 people, myself and some other person. Half the wages is mine other half someone else. It’s just a pity, I don’t get to see who I sponsor, like you do in them African ads on TV.
Yeah, why don’t people apply to all the jobs available. You haven’t really thought this through, have you?
What about those who are working and don’t claim social welfare….will they get help from the government for their rent or a tax reduction? What about those paying mortgages…any help????
Well, this makes Willie O’Dea the greatest liar this week. He is Not helping people to stay in their houses. Rented houses. My grand
Talk about adding fuel to the fire
Dumbest decision ever – all it will do is to increase rent further and a slap for the working class – never seen such shortsighted bs
No assitance for the taxpayers funding all of this free loading, i take it..? No chance of a USC cut or helping those in negative equity? No, didnt think so….
The govt just keep chipping away at any incentive to work. Of out of work you get dole, rent allowance, medical card, free or subsided child care etc What is the point of working?
It’s a joke. Free childcare so you can go home and sit in your pjs and watch Jeremy Kyle. While working parents subsidise you and pay thousands per year in childcare costs.
Donnachain , all children are entitled to two years free child care under the eece scheme.
I’m not referring to the ECCE scheme Suzie. I’m talking about schemes like the Community Childhood Subvention Scheme and the CEC scheme for instance. Very laudable schemes and increasing the chances of good outcomes for disadvantaged children but it stings a bit when you’re a full time working parent paying €150+ per week per child for the same thing. After paying taxes.
Try 250 a week for a toddler, need to earn 500 a week to pay for it. Crazy. And the ’2 years free’ is a misnomer, it’s 3hrs per day during term time. Most hard working people need their kids in care for 10 hrs per day
Donnachain I totally agree with you I was just mentioning that scheme that’s all ..
Hi Suzie. I’m up in arms a bit about this right now as I see my sister struggling with childcare at the moment, like we’ve all done at some point. She’s living in a rural area and her only option is crèche @ €500 per week. She’s not taking home much more than that. There is no help at all for working parents. Just suck it up. And then, she’s watching other parents, literally in their pjs, dropping babies and kids off and paying €10 per week. She has to consider giving up her job, which she loves and has developed an expertise in and studied hard for. Very frustrating.
Donnachaín , it is disgraceful and it’s not right that those who don’t work get everything handed to them .I’m all for helping those in real need but it’s getting beyond the beyond now . I feel for your sister it’s not fair really
Help the poor by making anyone who rents a house poorer. Rents will rocket up again. What a bunch of moronic out of touch elite
Need to start seriously looking at some that are getting these allowances and how they can afford the holiday(s), cars etc etc. Rewarding laziness in a lot of cases and those genuinely in need not getting enough help.
Can’t afford rent live with your parents
That doesn’t work for everyone Chris.
Chris. F U. Such a typical barstool answer.
Why is that so shocking to hear ? That’s what a lot of people had to do years ago in order to save up for a house ..
That assumes you work near your parents home. 1. Most people dont. 2. What about everyone who grew up in rural ireland are they to sit at home. 3. What if your parents are deceased. 4. What if ur from abroad. 5. Nice of you to burden your parents. Make sure when u have children you drop them on their laps too
Meerkat its your likes that will have children you can’t afford and expect the rest of us to pay for em like ur house
Another barstool shrink. How the f do u know what I do.
Fyi… I pay 1k a month on childcare for one infant
Rehab meerkat it’s not so much a barstool view it’s a tax payers, mortgage payers view
Landlord’s Dole …….. How many social houses could this have got built over the last decade or two !?!
This is a joke!!! What about the people who have 2 working in the household and still can’t afford their rent/mortgage who the hell is going to help them out??? Oh wait maybe I should go on the dole,sit on my arse all day and get everything handed to me
Where’s the state aid for those struggling to pay their mortgages?
More money for the single mammies for drink and tattoos. That’s the reality.
F***ing joke , go out and work to pay your rent !
So the government is off the hook for building houses and landlords get more money, the biggest joke of all is the taxpayer foots the the bill, only in Ireland !
My lease is up in August.I just spoke to my landlord.The expected raise has gone up an extra 5….I have no rent support…go figure! I expect I will not be alone.This government learns nothing from its previous mistakes.More expense for low-income earners and less well off workers.I will not get a wage rise to cover this ….I doubt if many will.Lose fkn lose again for the low paid…..as usual.
Short term solutions for long term problems costing multimillions to taxpayers from these supplements and more than likely consultation fees. Where are the fcuking houses?
Forget about the houses. Look at the numbers who turn down perfect houses from the council.
Over 2,000 refusals, you mean ..
Fantastic. So people like myself who work 40 hours a week and can’t afford to keep my apartment because my rent has gone up €300 a month on my new lease can do nothing but hope everything will be ok while the people who do sweet nothing to help themselves are looked after yet again. Lovely
Not everyone is being lazy and just getting money for the sake of it. I’m sick to death of being tarred with the same brush, just because I’m not working and receiving government money! I started working when I was 16, I’m 32 now and in December 2014 I was made redundant after being employed with that company for just over 7 years. I’ve a child on my own, his father does absolutely nothing to help. Do you have any idea how sh*t, ashamed, guilty, etc I feel, that I can’t get back out working??? I miss it so much, unfortunately with the costs of childcare being so high, I can’t afford to work. Yes my child is on the free place scheme and it’s for 3 hours a day. If I got a job, what do I do for the summer, say sorry my child is on school holidays and I can’t work now. We all know it doesn’t work like that!! I’m also fighting depression and anxiety so people’s comments about being lazy really don’t help people like me. When I was working I paid my taxes and my USC. Going back to live with my parents wouldn’t work because their house is full with the rest of the family. Life isn’t that bloody easy!!
That’s the story all dole merchants spout out.
Rachael I’m sorry for the situation you are in. Welfare is there for people who are in need and for people who do need assistance. I don’t think anyone is arguing that it shouldnt be. There are definitely many genuine cases of people (like you) who do require it and need it. But there are many instances were people do not require this payment but get it anyway. My parents rent a house to a family (who just happen to be Poles but could be Irish or any nationality) and for the last six years or so have been on rent allowance. The house is in the country and so the rent was never as high as in Dublin (it is around 600 euro). They pay less than 70 euro themselves from that. Now they could both work as their three kids are in full time education. I deeply resent working extremely hard to pay for people who quite literally are too lazy to go out and work full time. It isnt right that people on social welfare go on regular holidays abroad, have nice cars, have iphones, ipads etc, sky TV while those working hard to pay for this can’t afford it themselves.
Well said Rachael, A lot of people here on the comments do not understand the reality of the situation. Its not the money people want, its stability, the chance of gaining employment etc. Mostly though people are stuck in hovels paying massive amounts of money with the renewing of your lease always the worry.
People can Bicker here for years on end…”which they do” but nothing will change until the government build houses for the employed and unemployed, with a strict vetting code for the people in distress.
What we have above: announced today is a short term decision to keep people quiet. Somebody is going to have to start building or there will be a lot of people camping in parks like the USA very very soon.
I sincerely hope none of your family and friends fall on hard times Billy!! You’re so bloody ignorant.
Rachel, you were previously working. Why can you not go back out to work now?
Yes Jo45, I was previously working. A family member used to look after my child when I went to work. That’s not a possibility anymore and as I said already, I cannot afford the childcare fees. I struggled as it was when I was working and that was without paying for my child to be looked after.
All I read there was a ton of excuses …
Rachael if you are not working, you should be entitled to pursue your child’s father through the legal system to contribute to his upbringing, I presume you are doing that? Surely you know of a cheap childminding facility that could take your child for the other hours so that you could go out and work? A family member or friend or someone that lives in your locality or near a potential job?
^^ I meant to say “entitled to free legal aid”.
He’s not in this country or Irish so I have absolutely no rights at all.
Well Suzie bloody sunshine, why don’t you come and live a week in my life and you will see they aren’t excuses. Most jobs won’t actually take you on when you’re depressed! My last job nearly killed me in 2011 due to the stress I was under. I’m also a coeliac and have to live on a gluten free diet for life. I’m not making excuses you cheeky cow, this is my life.
Rachael , if depression is the reason why you can’t work then I can fully understand that and wish you well but you’ve added coeliac into the equation too .. maybe another excuse about how life is so hard for you …
Fn ing hell Suzie.. your a right ray of sunshine.
Rachael have you named and shamed this father? Told his friends and family about his lack of support?
Rehabmeerkat, just tired of the sob stories. .
You say you have no rights at all – are you actually sure of that? Have you actually gotten proper legal advice from a legal professional to that effect?
Incredibly ignorant to think many here don’t struggle with very similar situations and yet continue to plug away working hard. Why should the tax payer pay your way for poor family planning and your refusal to upskill from home . Your blaming everyone and everything but it’s all excuses .
Im furious like many here this government are rewarding the freeloaders again. It’s an absolute disgrace
This is a case of too little, too late.. In the absence of a co-ordinated and effective housing policy that delivers houses to those most in need, the government is applying yet another sticking plaster to the shambles that is the housing market in Ireland..
Is it not obvious that increasing the rent allowance will just serve to increase rents for everyone in the housing market to the detriment of those that are funding rent from their own funds. And the notion that rent certainty will prevent this from happening is laughable.. What use is rent certainty over 2 years, when the vast majority of landlords will only offer 1 year leases..
If the government had any sense they would take this €55 million and the millions they spent on short term accommodation in hotels and hostels, and actually invest it into quality affordable and social housing.. Over 10-15 years this would result in a vastly increased social housing stock, offering a safety net to the most vulnerable in society and taking demand out of the private rental market, thereby stabilising prices and increasing the availability of housing for incoming migrant workers
Does the European commission have anything to say about this ? To my mind thats state aid for the private sector Landlord …
I wonder how many politician landlords dow we have in the dail? Im sure if that came to a vote they would recuse themselves , well Im not really
Give those who do nothing even more? Great idea Leo, you giant bag of shit.
The whole system is f@cked up, with landlord’s getting tax break’s, rent allowance from low earners and no tax break for people who are saving for a deposit and want to buy a home. Also anyone who does own a house now pays property tax for what, and that includes unemployed and pensioners who paid their mortgage off year’s ago. The whole system of rent allowance, tax breaks need’s to be looked at properly and simplified.
The landlords can’t review the rent for two years so by increasing the rent allowance it won’t make rents higher. It will stop a lot of families becoming homeless. There’s thousands of homeless children living in hotel rooms, which is an absolute disgrace! Anything the government does to prevent more living like that can be only a good thing.
But wasn’t the problem that the social housing wasn’t there in the first place and this is just lining private landlords pockets?
Oh apperently 50% of landlords want to exit the market. Such ballox
“Rent Certainty” isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.. Nice sound bite for politicians to make it seem like they’re doing something but worthless in the real world. This won’t keep families out of hotel rooms, only providing social houses will do that
I cannot believe it…do those people really run this country??? All the money that they increased will go straight to the landlords’ pockets.
Makes sense to introduce proper rental regulations to benefit all, this is going to drive rents up further. We struggle as it is in the private sector and because we work don’t get rent allowance etc.
Does anybody really think this solve the issue of housing??? No way, just the wrong approach.
Another clusterfook from the gov. Seriously,is this the best they can come up with? And Rachel, if you have been unemployed for that lenght of time then surely you have a medical card which would entitle you to reduced childcare costs, we pay €5.50 per day. My wife went back to work on a 20 hr contract, went backways on money but seen the bigger picture and knew if she worked hard and kept her head down she would get rewarded and since then her hours went up, she barely breaks even now but at least she is out working and earning her own money which she is very proud of. There is also some back to work scheme at the moment which would entitle you to a % of your dole on top of your wages so even on minimum wage you could earn close to €500 pw, i dont earn that and i’ve been in this job years. I’m not here to judge anyone but for me people just look for excuses not to work and get caught up in the social welfare trap. For your own mental wellbeing look into everything i have posted here, getting back to work will do you the power of good
“it is the cost of……” what?
Any break at all for the paye mugs who keep the whole system ticking over?
This is devastating to me. I’m a single mother who works full time and does not receive rent allowance. This is going to increase the rent demanded in my area and may well force me to quit work and present as homeless. Because as it is my rent is more then half my wages. I can’t afford an increase. Bleeden hearts brigade wins again!
Tracey , rent had been frozen for two years and rather than move house , your solution would be to present yourself homeless and quit your job ? You’d be part of the bleeding heart brigade then , no ?
My contract is up this month so two years begins then. And yes I would be but I’ve tried for years now and worked hard to get to where I am, and it’s never good enough. What more can we give to have a basic living when that same living is given to others for no contribution? I worked hard to have the job I have now, never do I want to give it up. But that may be forced on me and that’s my reality
Fighting fire with fire.
Fighting a forest fire with a water pistol more like
Derek , hear hear and fair play to your wife !
Free money for all. Pop out a bambino and ride the gravy train
Invested interest, a large per-potion of government officials are landlords…
People would rather begrudge their fellow countrymen and women anything than tackle the real problems we have in this country. This has been an Irish tradition for centuries. They hate to see anybody better off (seemingly) than themselves. Will it benefit them if they see others living in misery? The housing and property debacle was brought about through sheer greed and exploitation. The government did nothing when house prices and rents got out of hand. The bubble has bust and now solutions are not easy to come by. The government pretend that we are out of the recession and everything is going back to normal, so, everybody looks for pay rises and the whole vicious circle begins again. There are no easy solutions to the problems at hand but attacking the poorest in society while the rich get wealthier is not going to solve anything.
This rent increase isn’t for people already on HAP or rent Allowance, its only for people seeking new Accommodation, that are in hotels and bed and breakfasts,Considering there Are very little places to rent,its just the government trying to make itself look good as usual
Anything for us working tax paying plebs who pay huge rents because we’re frozen out of the buyer’s market? Thought not. You have to contribute nothing to the state to get freebies….
Dear tax payer.. Thank you kindly for your generous support. Thank you for the lovely house I live in. For the endless amounts of money I spent on drink, drugs and prostitutes. Thanks for looking after my children too. PS, please keep paying your taxes
What about those of us working full time but still can’t afford to pay rent
have your say