Covid - what a lot of fuss about nothing! Having got it and recovered a while back I can speak from personal experience. I've had many ordinary colds or flu that were much worse. Of course, being vaccinated three times beforehand probably helped, along with it most likely being the new milder Omicron variant.
But anyway, all this coronavirus palaver is a total bust for me now, I don't see the point in caring about any it. Everybody who wants to be vaccinated has been, and those who haven't, that's their problem. (Obvious exceptions being made for those with medical reasons or who live in Africa or somewhere similarly remote and haven't had the opportunity.)
How can compelling people to be vaccinated be justified though? Pork - scientifically proven to be safe for human consumption - but are you going to get many Jews or vegetarians etc. to try some? No chance, and if anybody tried to make them it would probably be considered a crime in most places! If people aren't convinced by the idea that they might die or become seriously ill and suffer lung damage which could affect them for the rest of their lives, then they aren't going to easily be persuaded by anything else short of physical restraint. Nor is it going to "stop the spread" even if 100% of people were vaccinated, despite early optimism about herd immunity, the vaccines only reduce the chance of getting it and reduce the effects if you do, plus new variants keep emerging. But as it evolves it will surely only evolve further from the unusual original form that triggered the immune system over-reaction which caused the problem in a small minority of people.
It's only Darwinism in action - in the unlikely event the majority view is wrong there's a minority who did something different! If the anti-vaxxers suffer a higher death rate as expected the human race gets a little bit smarter as a result.
Looking at the 7 day average figure for the UK right now, there are 89148 confirmed infections, and 258 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. But the average life expectancy in the UK is 81.2 years, which gives a one in 1059.21421 chance of dying in a 28 day period. This means out of 89148 randomly selected people, 84.16427269 should die in a 28 day period! Plus there must be many more cases which were not reported, and if all those people had any type of cold or flu then more than average would die because of the stress it places on those who are already old or unwell in other respects.
But anyway, all this coronavirus palaver is a total bust for me now, I don't see the point in caring about any it. Everybody who wants to be vaccinated has been, and those who haven't, that's their problem. (Obvious exceptions being made for those with medical reasons or who live in Africa or somewhere similarly remote and haven't had the opportunity.)
How can compelling people to be vaccinated be justified though? Pork - scientifically proven to be safe for human consumption - but are you going to get many Jews or vegetarians etc. to try some? No chance, and if anybody tried to make them it would probably be considered a crime in most places! If people aren't convinced by the idea that they might die or become seriously ill and suffer lung damage which could affect them for the rest of their lives, then they aren't going to easily be persuaded by anything else short of physical restraint. Nor is it going to "stop the spread" even if 100% of people were vaccinated, despite early optimism about herd immunity, the vaccines only reduce the chance of getting it and reduce the effects if you do, plus new variants keep emerging. But as it evolves it will surely only evolve further from the unusual original form that triggered the immune system over-reaction which caused the problem in a small minority of people.
It's only Darwinism in action - in the unlikely event the majority view is wrong there's a minority who did something different! If the anti-vaxxers suffer a higher death rate as expected the human race gets a little bit smarter as a result.
Looking at the 7 day average figure for the UK right now, there are 89148 confirmed infections, and 258 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. But the average life expectancy in the UK is 81.2 years, which gives a one in 1059.21421 chance of dying in a 28 day period. This means out of 89148 randomly selected people, 84.16427269 should die in a 28 day period! Plus there must be many more cases which were not reported, and if all those people had any type of cold or flu then more than average would die because of the stress it places on those who are already old or unwell in other respects.