Drone Food Delivery

Manna sat they are going to deliver food March 2020 in UCD. 'Drone delivery company Manna plans to pilot its takeaway food delivery service on the campus of University College Dublin from the end of March.' Which will be great if it happens.

I can't find any videos of someone making an order and getting it delivered. Or anything close to a test run of that. Including from students seeing a delivery test and recording that.

All there is is slick PR video that is not a real delivery

I've asked some people involved if they had done test runs in UCD and I was told they did test runs in 'Last 3 years in wales and here. Tens of thousands of flights. UCD Just another step in the process.' 

Physical startups are hard. Airbnb and Uber took existing hardware, a mobile app and lots of negotiations with a regulator to create businesses worth billions. Manna seem to be negotiating with the regulator 'Irish Aviation Authority questions new Dublin food drone delivery service'. They could use the delivery company app or a version of that that let you indicate you were in UCD and what drop point you wanted to use. Getting that to only to all UCD students would be tricky but not impossible. If it not all students but only a few then it is a demo not a pilot. The drone they are using is well known so that is existing hardware. Both AirBnb and Uber did lots of physical testing of their product in the early phases and doing this with drones is really visible.

I could be wrong to be suspicious that this is going to be a demo not a full pilot for lots of people over an extended period. If I am wrong I will admit that next month. It will be cool if they can get this delivery pilot working then.

Ireland should make the Flu Vaccine Free for All

Ireland should make the Flu vaccine free for all people this year.

Firstly it is cost effective in general.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE COST-EFFECTIVENESS OFINFLUENZA IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMS:A CANADIAN PERSPECTIVE
Runs the numbers for Canada and it is cost effective to freely vaccinate everyone
'Generally, from the societal and healthcare system perspective, vaccination was cost-effective. For pregnant and post-partum women, vaccinating all versus only high risk was cost-effective. For children (6 months to18 years), vaccinating all versus only high risk was cost effective, especially for infants, toddlers, and adolescents. For healthy working age adults (19 to 64 years), results were mixed, and sensitive to vaccine efficacy, uptake, and productivity loss. For adults with co-morbidities and healthcare workers, vaccination was cost-effective.'

Think of it this way a vaccination in Ireland costs 20 euro. About 10% of Irish people get the flu every year. Would you pay 200 euro not to get the flu? In lost earnings alone it is probably worth that.

Secondly Ireland has an overcrowding crises in its hospitals.
HSE apologises to those affected by overcrowded emergency departments as some hospitals ban visitors
It said the flu season arrived up to four weeks earlier than last year and has lead to a  “significant surge in patient demand”.

Flu and bed shortage responsible for record trolley numbers, says Taoiseach

Free flu shots will not prevent this overcrowding but it will reduce it. The evidence from Canada is based on a cost benefit analysis that does not include the costs of treating people as badly as we do in overcrowded hospitals. Which makes vaccinations more cost effective here. Vaccination would not be a long term solution to all the overcrowding problems but it would reduce overcrowding somewhat this year.

Lastly there is a non trivial chance that the COVID19 virus will lead to a surge of sick people in Ireland As such it is vital we have as much spare capacity in the medical system as possible. Free flu vaccination is one quick way to add that capacity by reducing demand.

Many in Ireland are already entitled to free vaccination. Roughly 1 million of the 4.8 million of us. 650,000 of us are over 65 for example and people with certain health complications or jobs are also entitled to free flu vaccination. At 20 euro each the remaining 3.8 million of us would cost an extra 76 million euro. Which in health spend is low.

Because flu vaccines are cost effective, especially once loss of earnings are taken into account. Because our medical services are overstretched. And especially because of the risk of COVID19. Ireland should order extra flu vaccinations this year and offer them to everyone for free.