HE truth of the matter is, COVID-19 changed everyone’s life. No matter where in the world; no matter what class. For reasons which I hope are mostly understandable, this blog has been mostly about coronavirus (and — by extension — health) lately. I make no excuses or even apologies for it. It’s neither regretful nor unreasonable. Earlier today I decided to study just to what degree the numbers which are published online tell us the situation or explain the true severity of it. It would be a mistake to blindly believe artistic interpretations by a government that looks for positive spin (to make itself seem responsible and competent).

So, as always, first look for the raw data, which isn’t easy to manipulate (high risk of getting caught for it). We did that before, e.g. with August fatalities. A couple of weeks ago we reflected a little, noting that there are two “types” or “kinds” of “COVIDiots”: people who think COVID-19 is “Fake News” and people who think it is “Old News” (hence they stop wearing masks, they’re overcrowding places etc.) and both groups are harmful for different but partly overlapping reasons.

According to the official government Web site, more than 25 million Brits still have not received a couple of jabs and they’re clearly not “anti-vaxxers” (that’s a fringe group which rejects every vaccination; don’t overuse this label or low-level insults; it is not helping!).

Let’s examine the numbers. It’s presented like this (and reported in the media accordingly):

Figures like 90% (“88.6%”) are an alluring mirage, but another way to put it is, about 37% of the population did not receive two jabs or only about 63% of the population did. Some who got the first jab will never get a second (I have some friends like that; the first one knocked them out and they’re suffering long-term consequences; I heard the same from other countries that don’t use AstraZeneca’s problematic product).

So, where are we today? I’ve attempted to find the source data, analysing the underlying data rather than artistic interpretation of it. This is the latest I was able to find about excess deaths in England.

This suggests that in a one-year period, in England alone, over 100,000 Englishmen/women died of COVID-19 and COVID-19 was mentioned in the death certificates of more than that.

As we noted here just under a month ago, in August 2021 about FIVE TIMES MORE Brits died than the prior August (12-13 months ago). We’ve not improved, have we? Don’t go back to the office if you can get the job done from home. I’ve been saying this for months!

Now that about 200 Brits die each day with COVID-19 during peak times/weekdays when the counting takes place and tallies get updated it seems like we made the right choice. We stay home (indoors) except when we run outside or buy food.

Directly and indirectly, going by numbers like excess deaths (the number which really matters most), it wouldn’t shock me if the lives of a quarter million Brits already ended because of COVID-19. They perished faster because of an under-prepared NHS and policies caused by a corrupt government that privatised the NHS (funneling tax money to Tory donors). Where’s accountability for politicians who took bribes? This includes Borisnaro “let the bodies pile up high” Johnson.

This was the last England report on excess deaths (more than 6 months ago). Why did they stop? For England alone (one of 4!), mind you, not counting Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Did the regime stop issuing excess deaths report for the UK? I’m unable to find more recent figures; it seems like the last report was in February. Many people died around that time in overcrowded hospitals.

A lot of this reminds me of how Russia (governed by gangsters like Putin) ‘cooks’ the numbers; to quote a report from July, “the mortality rate increased by 340,300 people in 2020, but only 42.5 percent of these deaths were caused by COVID-19 (that’s approximately 144,700 deceased). The remainder died of pneumonia (a 2.4-fold increase), diabetes (up 26 percent), nervous system diseases (up 21 percent), and “of old age” (up 20 percent).”

It’s very easy to misattribute deaths. It also looks suspicious that every day in August Russia reports almost the same numbers for COVID-19 (as does China; it’s always zero!).

“Proekt’s source close to the Cabinet believes that coronavirus fatalities may also have been included in these categories,” the report says.

The statement I liked most was, Russian authorities are “fighting statistics instead of problems…”

I think we’re the same with our Borisnaro.

tl;dr: vaccination is good, but the communication strategy is bad if not terribly awful (there’s misunderstanding of why some people reject this vaccine; calling them all “anti-vax[x]ers” is counter-productive and over-simplistic)

Today’s vaccine hesitancy won’t be effectively confronted by threats, collective shaming/scapegoating, and ‘well-meaning’ misinformation (white lies). We need a better approach.

HIS post is not against vaccination. So get this notion out of your head and actually read the arguments if you’ve already leapt to the wrong conclusion. In my family, everyone is vaccinated; for COVID-19 only half of us are, as half of us have opted for very strict self-isolation, enabled by the type of job we do. More on that in a moment… (also see “Workers Should Never be Forced to Work in an Office (for Jobs That Can be Done Equally Well From Home)”)

I myself am not an immunology expert, but I do read what those people (experts, not mere card-carrying ‘faith’ followers) have to say. They’re not exactly divided, except on more pertinent issues. I have had a lot of time (over a year) to think about this and I try to rely only on reputable sources, i.e. not social control media and any media captured by the industry (or vaccine profiteers who resort to unnecessary exaggerations which can in turn alienate people).

My best friend, a university professor and lecturer in the area of cells (close to COVID-19 territories), regrets getting vaccinated so early because he did not know at the time about side-effects associated with already-inflated (swollen) knees — a chronic issue he has had for decades. A specialist later told him that many others suffer similarly and can now barely walk. They rushed. We’re still studying some of the effects and improve the protocols by which vaccines are administered. The vaccines too are changing and we get a better understanding of how to treat patients if they’re hospitalised with it (for example, overuse of ventilators can create a harmful dependency, so these should only be a last recourse in many cases). It’s all — or mostly — still work in progress and eventually we’ll find a way to live or co-exist with this virus. It’ll never go away completely; we cannot eradicate the flu for example. False dichotomies won’t convince everybody.

I wrote a lot about the subject in this blog and elsewhere and my thoughts on this are personal; I can defend my arguments and I can provide sources. I’m not looking for a fight.

First of all, as I’ve repeatedly said, if you work outdoors, then by all means get vaccinated. Given the known long-term harms of merely contracting the thing (or “long COVID”), it makes sense to never contract the thing at all, irrespective of vaccination.

Almost any vaccine will do (lower efficacy ones are less likely to cause short-term illnesses and side effects). If you are ill to begin with, consult a physician first. They would likely be sincere rather than pushy. Adding one illness to another can be lethal and one might get ‘lost in statistics’ if/when things go wrong (Norway already cautioned against this).

Working from home all the time is a privilege. I realise I’m different. I’m in a unique and fortunate position. I cannot speak as if everyone else is in the same position. So, in other words, my choice or my advice cannot be treated as universal. I recognise, moreover, that there are shared homes (shared with potentially reckless tenants who think it’s all just a “hoax” and act accordingly). So not all “home workers” are safe either; it depends on who they live with.

Suffice to say, not everybody can work from home. It depends on the occupation and the sector (e.g. hospital/nursing, food production, construction etc. cannot be done remotely, except more administrative roles).

Yesterday I read about “Lambda” being trotted out like a sort of “version inflation” — to borrow software terms — which seems almost arbitrary (everything mutates all the time; it’s like code changes in software). Each time they rename the thing they make people feel like today’s vaccines are outdated or some worthless, low-effect “yesterday’s product”. That’s not helping at all! It also leads, potentially I think, to a sort of “buyer’s remorse” among those already vaccinated.

As a matter of priority, the media should quit all the baseless fear-mongering, such as claiming people won’t be able to fly or find employment without getting vaccinated (as a fallback, testing exists). Any time you get caught in a lie you lose credibility, so instead focus on actual facts. I have a friend who felt remorse about getting vaccinated because he felt like he had been misled into it (the flying thing). This friend is an athlete. He needs to travel for competitions.

Suffice to say, there are special cases where imposing vaccines on people would contribute to the worst of narratives (some have gone as far as comparing vaccination to actual death camps). Stop pushing this idea that pregnant women and kids too should be vaccinated. It’s not helping; it alienates yet more people.

So what to do as a matter of universal policy? First of all, keep distance. It’s not antisocial. People can be understanding, especially in these difficult times. By all means, especially outdoors, use a mask to protect those around you (from droplets mostly). Masks aren’t perfectly effective — far from it — and double-masking won’t hurt (not even physically), with one being disposable and another washable to reduce waste. Masks help protect others from oneself. So it’s down to societal solidarity. Wear a mask; don’t be an arsehole. And masks aren’t politics or a symbol of allegiance to some party; don’t politicise sanitation.

In this blog I have long opposed opening up stadiums where people get in contact with hundreds of other people, many of whom asymptomatic carriers. The media should quit blaming or scapegoating those 27 million Brits who aren’t yet vaccinated; there are many children who bring it home from school/kindergarten, but the media is far too sensitive to portray children as a bunch of lepers.

Going back to my own case, my wife and I are in a very unique position. Mostly because we’re not extroverts and we have the luxury of working from home (since ages ago)… and moreover, having chosen not to have children, the ‘vector’ by which COVID-19 can come home is limited to guests (like a person coming to take meter readings) and food items from the outside, which can be washed extensively. For non-food items, a 3-day quarantine period works well enough. We’ve managed to keep clean/safe and we quit going to the gym when we heard about Borisnaro’s not-so-brilliant “freedom day” plan (basically mass infection, which isn’t the same as herd immunity).

We don’t reject COVID-19 vaccines, which are still a dynamic thing; we intend to get vaccinated for this at one point (we’re pro-vaccination but mostly trust the long-established vaccines, e.g. measles and polio, which won’t beget “mild polio” or “mild measles”, just no polio and no measles at all; they also don’t require annual or biannual “boosters”). We even encourage others to have them depending on their circumstances.

Speaking of the science, we already know being vaccinated does not prevent one from becoming a carrier and passing it on, it just significantly improves chances of survival especially among the elderly and other vulnerable groups with already-serious/underlying conditions. Those are just the facts. Those who can benefit a lot from vaccination probably got a couple of jabs (no matter which vaccine) already, at least in richer Western countries. Some got a third.

As I said earlier, the media is currently reinforcing this idea that it’s a never-ending ‘subscription’. All the headlines about boosters, third jabs, “Lambda” etc. are not helping! Change your communication strategy.

I could just as well mention patent monopolies and ‘cartel’ pricing — a subject worth tackling separately so as to not muddy the water by mixing different issues (both legitimate, but economic arguments aren’t the same as safety).

Unlike the media, the NHS has done reasonably OK, I think. It hasn’t pissed me off or insulted me. The tone of the NHS letters we receive is reasonably OK, unlike their high frequency which wrongly assumes repetition alone will change one’s position. (“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”)

At the moment, at least here in the UK, our government is targeting youngsters and children to make the numbers look better and hide the loss of vaccination momentum, which is nevertheless increasingly evident. Offering people shots in Primark seems laughable because the place isn’t sterile and people resistant to the idea of receiving a shot aren’t likely to be swayed just by a change of venue. To make matters worse, they might later associate Primark with several days of fatigue if not illness — hard to see how that’s good for business!

I have no idea who makes the key communication decisions in the UK, but whoever that is, sack him/her/them. They’re not helping. Speak to people and study their beliefs, don’t preach to them from high horses.

HAVE done the number crunching, based on the NHS data.

Deaths With COVID-19

“Number of deaths of people who had had a positive test result for COVID-19 and died within 28 days of the first positive test. Data from the four nations are not directly comparable as methodologies and inclusion criteria vary.”

2020

10-08-2020	13	
09-08-2020	8	
08-08-2020	14	
07-08-2020	12	
06-08-2020	9	
05-08-2020	6	
04-08-2020	14	
03-08-2020	15	
02-08-2020	10	
01-08-2020	11

Total: 112

2021

10-08-2021	48	
09-08-2021	53	
08-08-2021	70	
07-08-2021	86	
06-08-2021	86	
05-08-2021	91	
04-08-2021	74	
03-08-2021	67	
02-08-2021	75	
01-08-2021  89

Total: 739

Deaths within 28 days of positive test by date reported

2020

10-08-2020	18	
09-08-2020	5	
08-08-2020	3	
07-08-2020	12	
06-08-2020	18	
05-08-2020	14	
04-08-2020	18	
03-08-2020	1	
02-08-2020	5	
01-08-2020	13

Total: 107

2021

10-08-2021	146	
09-08-2021	37	
08-08-2021	39	
07-08-2021	103	
06-08-2021	92	
05-08-2021	86	
04-08-2021	119	
03-08-2021	138	
02-08-2021	24	
01-08-2021	65

Total: 849

Think of the environment, too (commuting should be minimised)

WO years ago I took a train down south and traveled to the office, probably for the first time in about a year (usually that’s the interval to be expected, owing mostly to company Xmas parties; that annual ritual of socialising with colleagues). I did not know it would be the last time. Last July we shut down the physical office, due to COVID-19, without intentions of ever reopening it. There was not much practical use for it anymore (regardless). That was almost exactly one year after I went there to sign some papers. I started working from home around 2007. Back then there wasn’t much need for me (anymore) to have physical (face-to-face) meetings, so I could get stuff done from home and occasionally travel if a meeting was strictly necessary. It took another 13 years before that sort of ‘work style’ (or ‘lifestyle’) became sort of ‘normal’.

Companies which try to compel staff to return to the office or force people to get vaccinated risk losing that staff altogether. Some companies that planned to pull staff back in (where bosses can oppress them from behind their shoulders, physically/literally) keep pushing back the dates, seeing that COVID-19 isn’t going away, with new waves and/or variants showing a resurgence. Here in the UK we’ve totally lost control of the thing — a subject I’ve written about extensively in this blog lately.

Working from home, for my kind of job, makes sense. It’s a lot better for me physically and mentally. I’m close to our pet fish, I can cook proper food (not some junk), and I can dress as it suits me (for comfort, not looks). I bathe every time I need to (no communal showers), I have privacy when I take or make voice calls, and I can run in nearby parks, far away from busy centres of towns (where there’s no safe place to run — away from pollution and traffic).

I totally understand why those who invested heavily in office estate are panicking. But they took a risk by gambling the money on a future of so-called ‘open offices’ with very steep rents; let them suffer from their poor investments/decisions. Don’t compel workers to lower their standards of work (and living) to ‘retrofit’ someone else’s bad investments.

ORISNARO says we now have “freedom”; freedom of what kind? The freedom to spread a virus? I want the freedom to not catch this virus. I want safety from people who think they’re invulnerable and therefore free to engage in “mass infection”. Today we have no option but to have a guest in the house — an Openreach technician [1, 2, 3]. Can I have the freedom to not presume risk? There’s a big difference between 55 cases a day, 550 cases a day, and 55,000 cases a day. At the moment we’re just expected to assume that many people around us are carriers and there’s nothing to be done about it. There’s no intention whatsoever to contain or reduce the spread. What kind of “freedom” is that?

As a result of those insane policies of Borisnaro and his chums we’ve decided to embrace more of a ‘bunker mode’ at home, in effect enjoying less freedom than ever before. No more gym, only particular stores for food (ones with very few people inside, sometimes tellers alone).

So now, in July 2021, I can honestly say that when my government says “Freedom” it means the exact opposite of that.

This is the same government (and person) that called racism/xenophobia “independence”. Yes, I’m talking about brexit. With the mass infection we have in the UK it seems like Europe is the beneficiary of brexit.

Original here

As the third wave of the pandemic takes hold across England, the UK Government plans to further re-open the nation. Implicit in this decision is the acceptance that infections will surge, but that this does not matter because vaccines have “broken the link between infection and mortality”¹.

On July 19, 2021—branded as Freedom Day—almost all restrictions are set to end. We believe this decision is dangerous and premature.
An end to the pandemic through population immunity requires enough of the population to be immune to prevent exponential growth of SARS-CoV-2. Population immunity is unlikely to be achieved without much higher levels of vaccination than can be reasonably expected by July 19, 2021. Proportionate mitigations will be needed to avoid hundreds of thousands of new infections, until many more are vaccinated. Nevertheless, the UK Government’s intention to ease restrictions from July 19, 2021, means that immunity will be achieved by vaccination for some people but by natural infection for others (predominantly the young). The UK Health Secretary has stated that daily cases could reach 100,000 per day over the summer months of 2021.²

The link between infection and death might have been weakened, but it has not been broken, and infection can still cause substantial morbidity in both acute and long-term illness. We have previously pointed to the dangers of relying on immunity by natural infection,³ and we have five main concerns with the UK Government’s plan to lift all restrictions at this stage of the pandemic.

First, unmitigated transmission will disproportionately affect unvaccinated children and young people who have already suffered greatly. Official UK Government data show that as of July 4, 2021, 51% of the total UK population have been fully vaccinated and 68% have been partially vaccinated. Even assuming that approximately 20% of unvaccinated people are protected by previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, this still leaves more than 17 million people with no protection against COVID-19. Given this, and the high transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, exponential growth will probably continue until millions more people are infected, leaving hundreds of thousands of people with long-term illness and disability.⁴

This strategy risks creating a generation left with chronic health problems and disability, the personal and economic impacts of which might be felt for decades to come.

Second, high rates of transmission in schools and in children will lead to significant educational disruption, a problem not addressed by abandoning isolation of exposed children (which is done on the basis of imperfect daily rapid tests).⁵ The root cause of educational disruption is transmission, not isolation. Strict mitigations in schools alongside measures to keep community transmission low and eventual vaccination of children will ensure children can remain in schools safely.^6,7,8 This is all the more important for clinically and socially vulnerable children. Allowing transmission to continue over the summer will create a reservoir of infection, which will probably accelerate spread when schools and universities re-open in autumn.

Third, preliminary modelling data⁹ suggest the government’s strategy provides fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants. This would place all at risk, including those already vaccinated, within the UK and globally. While vaccines can be updated, this requires time and resources, leaving many exposed in the interim. Spread of potentially more transmissible escape variants would disproportionately affect the most disadvantaged in our country and other countries with poor access to vaccines.

Fourth, this strategy will have a significant impact on health services and exhausted health-care staff who have not yet recovered from previous infection waves. The link between cases and hospital admissions has not been broken, and rising case numbers will inevitably lead to increased hospital admissions, applying further pressure at a time when millions of people are waiting for medical procedures and routine care.
Fifth, as deprived communities are more exposed to and more at risk from COVID-19, these policies will continue to disproportionately affect the most vulnerable and marginalised, deepening inequalities.

In light of these grave risks, and given that vaccination offers the prospect of quickly reaching the same goal of population immunity without incurring them, we consider any strategy that tolerates high levels of infection to be both unethical and illogical. The UK Government must reconsider its current strategy and take urgent steps to protect the public, including children. We believe the government is embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment, and we call on it to pause plans to abandon mitigations on July 19, 2021.

Instead, the government should delay complete re-opening until everyone, including adolescents, have been offered vaccination and uptake is high, and until mitigation measures, especially adequate ventilation (through investment in CO2 monitors and air filtration devices) and spacing (eg, by reducing class sizes), are in place in schools. Until then, public health measures must include those called for by WHO (universal mask wearing in indoor spaces, even for those vaccinated), the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ventilation and air filtration), and Independent SAGE (effective border quarantine; test, trace isolate, and support). This will ensure that everyone is protected and make it much less likely that we will need further restrictions or lockdowns in the autumn.

REFERENCES
1. Morton B. Covid: Boris Johnson upbeat about easing lockdown in England on 19 July. BBC News, July 4, 2021.

2. Wright K. Covid: Self-isolation to be scrapped for double-jabbed and children in England. BBC News, July 6, 2021

3. Alwan NA, Burgess RA, Ashworth S, et al. Scientific consensus on the COVID-19 pandemic: we need to act now. Lancet 2020; 396(10260): e71-e2.

4. ONS. Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the UK: 1 July 2021, 2021.

5. Gurdasani D. ZH, Greenhalgh T, Roberts A, Yates K, Haque Z, Michie S, McKee M, Pagel C, Hyde Z, Bassani DG, West R, Reicher S, Deeks J. Daily contact testing trials in schools are unethical and extending them to include the delta variant puts everyone at risk. BMJ Opinion 2021.

6. Gurdasani D, Alwan NA, Greenhalgh T, et al. School reopening without robust COVID-19 mitigation risks accelerating the pandemic. Lancet 2021; 397(10280): 1177-8.

7. Lessler J, Grabowski MK, Grantz KH, et al. Household COVID-19 risk and in-person schooling. Science 2021.

8. The ABC Science Collaborative Final Report for NC School Districts and Charters in Plan A, 2021.

9. Gog JR HE, Danon L, Thompson R. Vaccine escape in a heterogeneous population: insights for SARS-CoV-2 from a simple model. MedRxiv 2021.

We’ve found our own ‘Bolsonaro’, Borisnaro Johnson

EFORE even starting, an important disclaimer: I am a vaccine proponent, but I also acknowledge the limitations. Moreover, vaccines aren’t an excuse for spreading a lethal specimen to millions of people; survivors can suffer long-term harms. Eradication should be the real goal, or at least containment of the threat/hazard.

Another clarification: This post won’t be dealing with “the economy” and politics associated with organisation of wealth, labour etc. Not because those things are irrelevant but because I wish to focus on other aspects. Not the profiteering associated with abundant testing, patent/monopoly aspects etc.

I previously spoke about first-hand experiences of friends of mine who took the AstraZeneca jabs (or just one; some were harmed so badly by the first that they chose not to get the second). All of them, bar one (female, about 34 years old), say they regret taking the jab because of severe or permanent damage caused. I’m not kidding and I don’t mean to scare people; those are the stories of people I’ve known for a very long time and they’re not lying. My friend who’s a professor in a medical field told me yesterday that his swollen knee (he has struggled to walk for a while) was definitely the result of the jab and professionals/specialists he met told him the same; they saw a surge in such cases after the vaccination. It inflames the already-sensitive tissue. I can say with sincerity that every friend of mine who took it got side effects, in one case not severe enough to cause regret. Nevertheless, there are still risks associated with AstraZeneca’s products and efficacy will vary based upon mutations/variations, genetics, among other factors. Masking and social distancing are good for those who can afford it, depending on their jobs and lifestyles. Those can change and adapt sometimes. We need to at least consider the possibility. My wife and I stopped going to the gym. We exercise outdoors and at home instead. Depending on the weather/season…

Vaccine scepticism and hesitancy, no matter the context, are nowadays all being caricatured/stigmatised as “anti-vaxx”, a rejection of science, “conspiracy theory” and so on. That’s putting aside ethical issues associated with patents of AstraZeneca. Again, not the subject of this post (it merits a separate discussion). There are also business aspects that deserve rejection; a patent waiver is well overdue.

There’s no doubt that taking a vaccine — almost irrespective of whose — will improve one’s chances of surviving COVID-19. My friend told me that had the government taken DNA samples from millions of people before the pandemic and then analysed those statistically, they’d know a lot better whose genetics would likely be more vulnerable to this virus and should be vaccinated as a matter of utmost urgency.

With new numbers in, of of 4PM yesterday, another ~55,000 new COVID-19 cases were added to the tally. In one day! Deaths are up 50% in one week, obviously with a ‘delayed effect’ or correspondence between cases and deaths (people take a few weeks to die once they contract the thing; they fight back for a while). The media and Borisnaro Johnson don’t want to tell us that, but we’re doing vastly worse than last summer. What do the medical professionals say? Here’s a new article: “1,200+ Scientists Denounce Boris Johnson’s Plan to End UK Covid Restrictions”

I was a bit angry, not optimistic, to see what I saw yesterday. There’s a heatwave, so more people go outdoors and reject face covers. People here have quit distancing and few are wearing masks (you have to dodge people as they don’t respect distance). It probably won’t be long before we have a quarter million new COVID-19 cases per day and our blowhard ‘Bolsonaro’ (Borisnaro Johnson) just says nonchalantly (surrounded by flames): “THIS IS FINE!”

They don’t find this alarming and they plan to open everything, putting at risk those who choose the freedom not to get infected.

What’s generally happening is, some people listen to our totally reckless government instead of using common sense.

It’s past 3AM here and the people across the street from us have loud parties. No isolation and no masks. This is the lessons taught by Borisnaro Johnson, our reckless superspreader, who basically wants people to think that even a million cases a day would not be a cause for concern. This sort of insane approach was tried elsewhere already… and we know what happened as a result. I hold our government fully accountable for all the superspreaders I saw yesterday in town, including the ones across the road having a party right now. There are many more parties to come next week. Will the rest of us be their ‘collateral damage’?

Two years ago we acted similarly and we know what happened months later. Then came ‘Brexit’ for no net benefit other than a shallow sense of nationalism. And now? Now we’re supposed to think that winning against a bunch of football teams is more important than defeating a virus that paralyses our economy. Forcibly reopening everything like there’s no tomorrow is economic suicide for temporary and short-term gains.

My advice to people is, do get vaccinated if your job requires meeting many people; otherwise, isolate as much as is feasible. Generally speaking, we’re nowhere near defeating this pandemic. We’re only pretending here in the UK; wait a few more weeks to see hundreds of deaths per day; wait until winter and we’ll be back to over a thousand casualties a day. “THIS IS FINE!”

As a side note, even if corporate media uses numbers like “90%” for vaccination rates remember that only 35,732,297 people (out of almost 70 million in total) got two shots; some never intend to get a second one.