No-one can make all human lives completely safe. The zero-Covid agenda presents a fantasy of immortality that more reflective medics know is impossible. As vaccination rolls out and treatments improve, the risk of serious illness or death is falling rapidly.
We can live with a new endemic infection, but this will only happen if we fight the fear and recognise that the pictures on our screens do not represent the mass experience of Covid-19, now and in the years to come.
A Social Science Space blog
This is absolutely correct! There is and always has been risk in life. We have always been free to make informed choices. Many of us are at extremely low-risk from COVID and yet have had no choice but to endure the mental and physical health consequences of the blanket lockdown policy. A civilised society should not allow its elected leaders to have such powers as to remove the freedoms from its people whilst simultaneously exposing them to inescapable economic and psychological harm. This has highlighted an acute need for the public to be enabled to make their own critical judgements of public policy and for there to be balanced and proportionate reporting in the media.
Dear Robert,
It’s been interesting to look through your website and hear you on World at One on Radio 4 today.
I would ike to know how you assess the risk of an escape mutation which would enable the virus to get around the vaccines and return the situation back to what it was at the beginning of the pandemic.
Wouldn’t letting the virus loose by lifting all restrictions and reducing test and trace increase this risk? And what about the risks of importing a vaccine-resistant mutation from abroad?
Finally, the whole UK population is up to now 49% double vaccinated (if we include children and young people). Is that definitely enough?
I’d be interested to hear your response.
Kind regards