Vaccines Rolled Out, and Irish borders remain open in the UK

Good News - Vaccine Roll-out in the UK

A couple of my distant relatives my marriage, in their sixties, because of their age, are getting their first jabs shortly. 

They won't get the second jab, which will be of the same type, for a while. The UK priority is to give the first jab to as many people as possible.  

Nurses Needed

This should relieve pressure on the health services. They can build a new hospital, put up a field hospital, or convert a nursing home into a hospital. but they needed nurses. At the moment one nurse is watching over four in high dependency units instead of just one.

You can have people hooked up to machines and watched on banks of videos. But when the beep goes off, somebody has to go running to look.

UK Government - Good News? 

My family has confidence in the new health minister in charge of the vaccines. 'She was dealing with medical start-ups. She has experience in the field. Medicine. And new ventures.'

My family were also upbeat about the UK prospects of getting the ordered vaccines. 

'The EU tried to stop them. But we had contracts signed long ago and goods already paid for. You can't change the laws at the drop of a hat affecting deals retrospectively without losing confidence on Europe's laws. 

Flag of the Republic of Ireland

Irish Borders Blocked? 

The idea of blocking the Irish border with barriers came and went too. The EU wanted to close the border to stop the vaccines being taken across from Eire (Replublic if Ireland, flag above) to Northern Ireland (which uses the UK flag). 

My Uk based family member laughed, 'For years nobody could get Eire and Northern Ireland and the UK government to agree on anything. Then the EU did it straight away!" (I could hear the speaker and their family in the IK were laughing.) 

'Also, (over in America, new American President) Biden keeps mentioning his Irish roots. So the Americans would also have been against the border.'   

So, Lockdown London has a little good news to send us and the world.

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is teacher of English. (Advanced English and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, an aspiring polyglot.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs, and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Health Insurance, Dentists, USA and UK

Problem
The British ask: Why are Americans against 'free' health care. Isn't the NHS a good thing, and free for all at point of demand or delivery?

Answers
UK/British Health care became an issue in WWI and WWII when it was discovered that only about one person in four was fit enough to be a foot soldier. Another factor was that those who could not afford health care or did not care when they were young and healthy got ill and infected everybody else so you got epidemics. Bringing in free vaccinations and preventive measures as well as universal health care benefitted everybody. In the same way as making car insurance compulsory protects others on the road. Even those who could afford it won't pay unless compelled to do so.

Stories
In the USA I went to a dentist. I was surprised at the low cost of the health care. But the dentist only looked at the one tooth which I thought was the problem.

In the UK a dentist checks your entire mouth, including the teeth alongside, the one biting against the one which has the problem.

Tips
Check your health care before travelling. If you travel frequently, it may be cheaper to take out an annual policy. Check any exclusion clauses. This is important especially if you are likely to go skiing or snowboarding on a winter or Easter time holiday. When you travel down under to Australia the seasons are reversed. (And vice versa, if you are based in Australia and travelling up to Europe or North America.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my books on Amazon and lulu.com