The Vax Debate

The UK Government announced plans in England to marginalise those who have opted out of vaccination by giving a free pass to avoid self isolation in the event of returning from an amber country, or being identified by the NHS Track and Trace app. Despite there being no science behind such measures.

Here I will highlight a number of pitfalls of this approach and why I believe such a measure is dangerous.

Firstly, contrary to the BBC News Health Correspondant Nick Triggles' comment that being vaccinated can stop you from catching the virus, this is simply not true. A vaccine is designed to lessen the risk of adverse reactions to a disease. You are no less likely to catch the disease than anyone who is unvaccinated. You can still catch the virus and spread the virus.

Now the danger in giving people a free pass means that the vaccination may have suppressed the virus enough so that one is asymptomatic and that means they can be spreading without knowing it. This leads me to the next part, if PCR tests and lateral flow tests work, then why is the government making someone who is unvaccinated who has come from an amber list country or caught in the track and trace system isolate when the vaccinated get a free pass, the risks of transmission are the same! If an unvaccinated tests negative to a covid test, then they do not have the virus, they are no more of a risk to public health than someone who is vaccinated. As someone who travelled extensively for work (merchant seaman) and for leisure, I routinely had vaccinations, I had a vaccination certificate to show my innoculations, I was by no means an anti vaxxer, the point of these vaccines was to protect me, they weren't necessary, albeit from one or two countries which required yellow fever. This government and it’s marginalisation of people who see no benefit in vaccination for all in for a virus that is no greater killer than heart disease (also avoidable and therefore an excess death) is counter productive.

Moreover, this kind of marginalisation pushes those against being vaccinated for covid for whatever reason, against using track and trace and self isolation. It will also push people further into the anti vaxxer territory when they may have only had concerns around the COVID vaccine.

COVID-19 is here to stay, it will unfortunately kill many more, as does flu, the focus should be on vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable, not just in the UK but on a global scale, forcing those who will not benefit from COVID 19, and turning them into asymptomatic spreaders is counter productive. There is also the issue of efficacy length, it is currently unknown how long protection lasts, current estimates put it at 6 to 12 months, so by that, those who were inoculated in January will already need boosters come August, it is not practical to vaccinate the entire population ever 12 months, it’s time consuming and pulls resources away from other areas where it is needed. Saying that those who are double vaccinated are allowed to return from amber countries without self isolation is ridiculous when their protection may have already waned.

Finally there is the matter of mandatory vaccinations for those working in care homes, again where is the science for this. My wife who works in one, and some of her colleagues have decided to resign over this, why are those who provide the most being asked to make the biggest sacrifices. IF the government said, ok, anyone who is double jabbed does not need to self isolate after catching covid, then I would understand, but they're not. If a health care professional catches covid, they isolate, they are tested regularly, so why force them to vaccinate against their will, there is no added benefit? They can still catch the virus and still transmit, so where is the logic, vaccination may even mask their symptoms which could make them asymptomatic spreaders, which is even more dangerous in a care home. Protection may only last 6 to 12 months, so are they really going to be asked to vaccinate every year when COVID poses minimal risk to them and the risks are all the same to those they care for?

The fact the BBC is not questioning this makes a mockary of the non biased publicly funded corporation, but what do we expect when the Health Correspondant has a brother who is married to a Tory MP. Boris and his team have won Brexit, General Elections and a mass fear campaign by division, divide and conquer as the saying goes, is this the kind of society which the people of the UK want to live in, what happened to phrases like be kind, my body my choice?