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LAST UPDATE | 8 Jul 2021
MORE THAN 100 scientists and doctors have signed a letter accusing the UK Government of conducting a “dangerous and unethical experiment” and urging it to reconsider its plans to abandon all coronavirus restrictions later this month.
It comes as a representative of the World Health Organization said that people should still only travel for essential reasons, and that good public health measures will be needed until enough people across the world are vaccinated, due to the threat of variants.
The WHO’s Special Envoy on Covid-19 Dr David Nabarro told RTÉ Radio’s Claire Byrne:
“It’s as though somebody has blown a whistle and we can all just stop all the things we have done, and we can just go back and socialise like normal I just wonder who it is who decided that it’s all ok. Nobody in public health is saying it’s all ok.”
He said that the next couple of months would be “really challenging”, and asked world leaders to work together to limit an increase in cases and the spread of Covid-19, saying that “no country is an island”.
“This virus is not going away, we’re in possibly the most dangerous period in this pandemic with variants, with huge death rates in the poorer world right now. I don’t see any reason to say to people ‘Back to normal, don’t worry, can just do what you like’.
“So the answer is essential travel only, please.”
He said that the EU is right to try to devise a system to regulate pandemic travel, but there was plenty of reason to be cautious about travel.
When asked whether the more transmissible Delta variant would result in similar numbers of cases as was in December-January within the next few weeks, Dr Nabarro said that it is possible.
We don’t know whether we will, and that is the life, the world we’re living at the moment. It is incredibly uncertain.
“We don’t know if there will be a variant that can beat the vaccines, we suspect that it will probably happen. So that’s why we’re saying it ain’t gone away, because new variants are coming all around.”
‘High levels of infection both unethical and illogical’
In an open letter, any strategy that “tolerates high levels of infection is both unethical and illogical”, according to the 122 signatories who include David King, the former chief scientific adviser and chair of Independent Sage, and Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the Council for the British Medical Association.
NEW—Almost all #COVID19 restrictions are set to end in England on July 19. A group of scientists and health experts outline 5 key concerns and urge delaying complete re-opening until everyone—including the young—is better protected.
— The Lancet (@TheLancet) July 7, 2021
Read https://t.co/mNy4UN1Btf. @dgurdasani1 pic.twitter.com/guKZkdkmGu
The letter published in The Lancet comes after the UK Government announced that a range of coronavirus restrictions are due to be eased in England from 19 July.
They warned that an exponential growth of the virus “will likely continue until millions more are infected, leaving hundreds of thousands with long-term illness and disability”.
It continued: “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.”
They also stressed there was a risk of long Covid to the wider population, especially those who were vulnerable, younger people and children, as well as people who were unvaccinated.
Dr Nagpaul said the numbers of Covid-19 cases in the UK were soaring and while the link between hospitalisations and deaths had weakened, it had not been broken.
“The Government has also airbrushed the impact of long Covid on one in 10 people getting infected and with two million having been unwell for more than three months. It would be irresponsible to inflict further suffering on millions more,” he said.
“We know that masks are effective in stopping the spread, so it is nonsensical and dangerous for the Government to abandon compulsory mask-wearing in indoor public settings, such as public transport, on 19 July.”
Continuing targeted measures against the virus were “vital” to prevent its spread until enough of the population was fully vaccinated with both doses, he added.
Dr Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University who organised the letter, said: “The Government has made a deliberate choice to expose children to mass infection, rather than protect them in schools or vaccinate them.
“This is unethical and unacceptable. Our young have already suffered so much in the past year, and are now being condemned to suffer the consequences of this dangerous experiment.”
Oxford University professor Trisha Greenhalgh described the letter as “a plea to our political leaders” to listen to scientists and claimed the world turned “its incredulous eyes on the UK Government as it announced plans to abandon all mandated measures to try to control spread of the virus”.
The letter also suggested the lifting of restrictions could make the disruption of children’s education more not less likely.
It stated: “Allowing transmission to continue over the summer will create a reservoir of infection, which will probably accelerate spread when schools and universities reopen in autumn.”
The letter called on the Government to reconsider “its current strategy and take urgent steps to protect the public, including children”.
It said: “We believe the Government is embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment, and we call on it to pause plans to abandon mitigations on 19 July 2021.
“Instead, the Government should delay complete reopening until everyone, including adolescents, have been offered vaccination and uptake is high, and until mitigation measures, especially adequate ventilation (through investment in carbon dioxide monitors and air filtration devices) and spacing (eg by reducing class sizes), are in place in schools.”
Dr Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet, said “there is no scientific consensus over the Government’s current plans to remove protective mandates on July 19” and the nation was “at a very dangerous moment in the pandemic”.
He added: “The Government plan is not, as some have characterised it, a reasonable gamble – it is an entirely unnecessary and self-inflicted hazard that will cause real harm to health.”
A Department of Health & Social Care spokesperson said: A DHSC spokesperson said: “The success of the vaccine rollout is saving lives, having severely weakened the link between cases and hospitalisations.
“We have taken a cautious approach to proceeding with the roadmap, delaying Step 4 to allow for millions more vaccinations so every person most at risk is fully protected.
“Our approach after step 4 balances the need to protect both lives and livelihoods and we will only proceed on 19 July with our four tests having been met.”
With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha.
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Amazing how you can always find an “expert” to give you your opinion.
@Mark Malone: I think it’s a side effect of the deliberate (and successful) attempt to derail the scientific case about mad-made climate change. That took the seemingly benign idea of “balanced debate” to present a distorted picture. 99% of scientists believe in climate change, 1% don’t, so let’s hear from one scientist from each camp, for balance. Result: confusion, and an erosion of confidence in the very idea of scientific truth. Now meaningless slogans take the place of detailed discussion – Brexit means Brexit, or Learn to Live with the Virus – and people like Boris, or Trump, have all the space they need to say and do whatever they want.
@Mac Muinteoir: Boris is absolutely nothing like Trump & only someone with the vision of Stevie Wonder would fail to spot the difference.
@Joe Thorpe: obviously differences exist between Boris/Trump. They’re not identical. For one thing, Trump knows how many kids he has, even if he wishes Ivanka wasn’t a blood relation. That said, someone with poor vision might well struggle to pick them out of a lineup of older, overweight white guys with slightly odd hair. But beyond physical similarities, you’d have to ignore quite a lot to claim they’re absolutely nothing alike. They both utterly underestimated the risks of covid, for instance, and both wound up seriously ill in hospital. They are both willing to break the law, like illegally proroguing parliament, or trying to blackmail a fellow head of state into doing political favours. They both have a pretty casual relationship with the truth. I could go on, but I’ve run out of char
Sweden did it and without vaccination. No mention of them.
@Conor Brady: Did what, herd immunity? They never achieved herd immunity, a third of people in Stockholm caught the virus by late last year, less nationally. Herd immunity requireds about 80-90% immunity via vaccination.
Also, vaccines give a much stronger immunity, they provide protection against variants, unlike weaker immunity after a natural infection. Indeed, the Brazil, South African and Indian variants likely evolved to infect people who previously caught the virus.
Sweden’s 2nd wave was bigger than their first, as their first wave did not bring them close to herd immunity. They are vaccinating their way out of this like other countries.
This website shows their first and second waves.
https://fortune.com/2020/11/25/sweden-herd-immunity-antibodies-lockdown/
@David Jordan: how did they compare in covid fatalities?
@Seamus Mac: *terms of
@David Jordan: its all about deaths. The rest is noise. Everyone is free to Google “UK Covid deaths”. Or any country. Compare the graphs to Sweden with no lockdowns. Similar. You can cry about PCR-lead “case” figures all you want. UK are coming out of lockdown as it doesn’t work and all their vulnerable are vaccinated.
@Conor Brady: it’s not all about the deaths, you know
@David Jordan: ‘Did what, herd immunity?’ You’ve always shown a tendency to talk down to people here but it’s started to become more pronounced in recent times. You appear to believe you speak with some authority. Any chance you could tell us what medical qualifications you have? Cherry-picking articles from websites and medical and science journals does not make you an expert who can speak with authority on the relevant subject. It simply makes you an expert at cherry-picking articles from websites and medical and science journals…
@Seamus Mac:
Covid deaths:
Denmark 2,538
Norway 796
Finland 976
Sweden 14,601
@Seamus Mac:
Covid deaths
Denmark 2,538
Norway 796
Finland 976
Sweden 14,601
@Seamus Mac:
Sweden 1422.69 deaths per 1 million.
Norway 148.47 deaths per 1 million
Finland 176.26 deaths per 1 million
Denmark 436.02 deaths per 1 million
A Comparison with their Nordic neighbors is more appropriate, as they have similar population Densities, Culture, Demographics, population density, travel distances etc. We then see stark differences.
Sweden was also better positioned than the UK, in particular 51% of household in Sweden are sigle occupancy, highest rate in Europe. Just over 30% of households are singje occupancy in the UK.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20180706-1
In addition, far fewer young adults live with their parents in Sweden, helping older adults to isolate. Cities are much further apart too, so the voluntary request not to travel was heeded easily. There’s also proportionally fewer lower income overcrowded multigenerational homes in Sweden, though there are some, they are not as extensive as in the UK e.g. Look up Newham, London, it has the highest Covid-19 death toll per capita in the UK and it’s an example of a crowded deprived area of the UK.
So more Swedes were able to isolate voluntarily more successfully than people in the UK.
That said, if they imposed slightly stricter measures, conparible with their Nordic neighbors bit less strict than the UK, their death toll could have been similar to their neighbors rather than end up nearly as bad as the UK’s.
In other words, they were in a good position but didn’t capitalise on their inate advantages.
Ireland 1011.85 deaths per 1 million
UK 1915.24 deaths per 1 million
@David Jordan: David, have u got a graph or statistical analysis link to illustrate the rapidly growing number of people who don’t give a cr€p about scientific articles, studies, herd immunity, antibodies, variants, cases and restrictions anymore
@Conor Brady: What about long term effects of covid? Does that not count?
@Hugo Bugo: Yes,…
Growth of Fake news: https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/116/16/7662/F1.large.jpg
Concerns about public misinformation in the United States—ranging from politics to science—are growing.
Here, we provide an overview of how and why citizens become (and sometimes remain) misinformed about science. Our discussion focuses specifically on misinformation among individual citizens. However, it is impossible to understand individual information processing and acceptance without taking into account social networks, information ecologies, and other macro-level variables that provide important social context.
Specifically, we show how being misinformed is a function of a person’s ability and motivation to spot falsehoods, but also of other group-level and societal factors that increase the chances of citizens to be exposed to correct(ive) information.
We conclude by discussing a number of research areas—some of which echo themes of the 2017 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Communicating Science Effectively report—that will be particularly important for our future understanding of misinformation, specifically a systems approach to the problem of misinformation, the need for more systematic analyses of science communication in new media environments, and a (re)focusing on traditionally underserved audiences.
Ref.:
Scheufele, D.A. and Krause, N.M., 2019. Science audiences, misinformation, and fake news. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(16), pp.7662-7669. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/16/7662
@William Tallon: if by “talking down”, you mean presenting facts to refute the people who are congratulating BOJO, or the people who make comments with no facts to back them up, then yes I suppose you could say he talks down to people. But I for one am grateful if someone presents facts to prove me wrong or, indeed facts that back up my opinion, but that’s just the way I am. I must be very strange to be able to change my opinion if facts are presented. Feel free to “talk down” to people by presenting your own analysis with facts to back them up.
@David Stapleton: 100% agree. You cannot shoot somebody down for presenting facts unless you can present contradictory facts. Some people just don’t want to believe the the evidence and will attempt to shout down the messenger.
@David Stapleton: Errrr…. No, I don’t. Maybe read my post again? And read some of his previous posts too? I’m not qualified to present any analysis and nor is he. Presenting articles culled from various sources is not analysis. He is extremely selective in what articles he posts. The sin of omission rather than commission. There are other points of view held by equally credentialled experts. Blind them with selective science! We all have the same access as he does but most people prefer to accept what’s being presented to them and won’t follow up. I do follow up. Please note I am not questioning the validity of these articles just the selective way they’re presented. The talking down is reserved for those who dare question him and has I said become more pronounced in recent times…
@GrumpyAulFella: He’s not a messenger. He’s a presenter of selected articles that suit his particular point of view. Messengers don’t do that…
@Conor Brady: Did what?
They have 50% more deaths than us per 1 mill/population.
The whole approach was a disaster- ” lets isolate the vounerable and the rest of us go on as usual” – but dont give the healthcare staff any protection and let the carehome staff go to work even if they have sick household members…
The message from the people in charge was that you dont transmit if you dont have any symptoms and kids doesnt get Covid.
Some councils even banned people from using masks in schools….
The economy is not doing well either- the forecast is worse off than us.
As a expat swede living in Ireland – I am glad I was here when it happend
@William Tallon: perhaps present alternative articles that offer an opposing view then.
@Conor Brady: Sweden daily avg: end of June was 247
@Seamus Mac: 14,629
@GrumpyAulFella: Why would I want to do that? In David’s favour I’d have to say that when it comes to talking down to people he’s not remotely in the same league as you. He’s also not afraid to put it out there using his real name and accept whatever criticism is directed at him no matter how unjustified he might feel some of it is. Imagine posting comments and not using your real name? How cowardly would that be? Carry on grumping – anonymously of course…
@William Tallon: so present your own facts!
@Joe_X: Another anonymous commenter. You’ve quite clearly missed the point of my comments. Please read them again. I have zero interest in culling articles from websites, medical and scientific journals and selectively presenting them here as if I were some sort of expert and talking down to those who dare question me. We all have the same access to these sources so it’s not my role to browse through them and provide information for people who couldn’t be bothered to check it out for themselves. Were I to do so I’d be doing what I’ve criticised David for, which I’m sure you’d agree would be rather hypocritical of me. So no, sorry to disappoint you but I won’t be presenting any information in this regard. I’ll leave it to you to check it out for yourself…
@William Tallon: so present facts that contradict his…
@David Stapleton: Please read my previous comments before saying inane things like that. That’s me talking down to you by the way! Everyone else seems to love to do it here so I thought ‘what the hell, it’s expected so let’s not be the odd one out…’ . And for the record facts can’t actually contradict each other. A fact is ‘a thing that is known or proved to be true…’ There’s no such thing as ‘alternative facts’ and that’s a fact…
@William Tallon: Why not present your sources willy?
@William Tallon: I am not offended, because, like you, I comment and don’t expect people to agree, or rather people are free to disagree. I did read your comments. However, unless I go through all of people’s comments, not just on this article, but others, then my only option is to comment on the article here and the comments about the article.
@Bill Spill: Please read my previous comments again. Always amazes me how people can miss what’s written in plain sight and in plain English…
@David Jordan: not even close to what I asked for, unfortunately I presented u with an impossible task, you won’t find the answer on academy of sciences, normal people are ready and demand going back to our normal lives, posting links about misinformation and fake news, nobody gives a cr€p, excuse my French, this one is on the ground floor, real people,real lives, real problems, shove your science where the etc etc etc sort of thing :), normal people have no interest in living in your world of statistics and links to studies, lol, oh god, some people just don’t get it
@David Stapleton: You may have read my comments but unfortunately you don’t seem to have taken on board what’s actually written there. I think I’ve made it quite clear in my comments what my position is yet people who claim to have read them put forward the strawman of ‘why don’t you present your facts then’ and are either not understanding what I’ve written or as is more likely totally ignoring it so they can vent! And lest anyone accuse me of venting I want to state that yes, I am venting…
@Conor Brady: look at Swedish deaths per capita, compared to their Scandinavian neighbours. Nothing to be proud of. I really would not rely on that for the basis of an argument. BTW….the Swedes are vaccinating.
@William Tallon: well if you are not willing to provide support to your argument, well don’t deride those that do. If you cannot take it, do not try dishing it!
@William Tallon: Also the fact that I choose to remain anonymous does not negate the point I made.
@Hugo Bugo: But what you consider “normal” is still a way off. You want mandatory social distancing and masks gone, but until everyone who wants the vaccine has it, I’m afraid that won’t happen, and you need to learn to live with it. The rest of us already have and getting on with our lives.
@Conor Brady: The Swedish response is now being seen as a disaster by many. Their lack of restrictions proved to be hugely unpopular with the majority of people, many of whom felt abandoned by the government.
@William Tallon: I don’t know about the others, but I was just winding you up. Sorry :)
@William Tallon: you’re playing a stormer here “William”. I think you’re mixing up the phrases “talk down to” and “being shouted down”. I never said anything about anyone talking down to somebody else, you did. Perhaps get out a phrase book and do a bit of reading instead of attempting to smear other posters because they post anonymously.
@Conor Brady: no they didn’t! Go look up some facts on that.
@William Tallon: you’re saying he’s selectively picking articles, to know that you’d have to have read those articles AND the ones that say the opposite. Or else you’re just saying he’s being selective and refusing to back it up with anything other than your say so. Having the name of a real person doesn’t give you any extra clout on the Internet either, that’s a weird road to go down.
@William Tallon: oh I think I have, you disagree, and you are perfectly entitled to so. Facts can change you know. They are based on available knowledge. If that knowledge changes, then facts change. I am not venting, your choice to agree or not, but within the comment section of this article you have not backed up your claim. You may say you don’t have to, and of course, you don’t – it is, after all a comments section. However, if you don’t then people are going to see you as venting.
@Hugo Bugo: are these people called anti vaxxers? Do you not like when people use facts to prove their opinion instead of conjecture with no scientific base ?
Well done to Boris . Be great if they could send him over to us and let him run our Country as well . Footballs coming home.
@Ally Mc Culladgh: You should be ashamed of that comment. Of all the disrespectful comments I’ve seen on here I’ve never seen that accusation being thrown at somebody.
@JedBartlett: Asking a question Jed. Interesting that’s what triggers you, but yet you have no problem with the hateful comments towards Tony or how people are so dismissive of people in ICU
@Ally Mc Culladgh: It seems it also ‘triggered’ The Journal moderator as it’s been removed, and don’t now go changing the subject to the CMO in an effort to deflect. You were wrong.
@JedBartlett: We aren’t allowed to upset Maurice and point out how awful Trump is. Boris is just as bad in my opinion
@Ally Mc Culladgh: Im sure both trump & Boris have affected your life in profound ways. You are a true warrior to come on here & show your defiance. Viva la revolution!
@Seamus Mac: if you can’t see how Boris or Donny’s rises to power have affected the world, you are extremely special.
@Seamus Mac: Ok?
@JedBartlett: I missed it . What was said
@Drunk in Dublin: Neither borris or trump’s rise to power has effected my day to day life in the slightest. So how exactly has it effected you?
@Maurice O Neill: facepalm what else?
@Ally Mc Culladgh: It wasn’t the grump part of your comment that got it removed and you well know that.
It was the seriously flawed mental gymnastics where you started in the UK 2021 and ended up in Germany 1945 via America 2016.
@JedBartlett: *Trump
@JedBartlett: Was asking a question Jed, Maurice is a huge fan of Trump. Wondering if he sympathised with such a monster.
@Ally Mc Culladgh: A nons3nse comparison all the same.
@Maurice O Neill: No thanks. He can stay right where he is.
@Maurice O Neill: clueless
What exactly would make these experts happy? Why don’t journalists ask these people such questions? Experts that are on full wage since the beginning.
1. It’s a country with the highest vaccination rate in the world
2. Delta won’t be the last variant whether they lump or like it because there are countries like Romania where it will always HENCE the reason we are taking their vaccines.
So what do these experts want?? Honestly they won’t ever say what would keep them happy. They think people will remain unemployed living a controlled life for the rest of time??
@David Lee: see we are told to follow the science, as if this is the only consideration, will the excessively paid scientist pay the electricity bill and do the Tesco shop for the bar man who hasn’t worked in 1.5 years, time to come out of the fog for a lot of government officials and scientists who don’t live in the real world and accept this thing and move on
@Hugo Bugo: Where were all these scientists letters when Texas lifted all restrictions like months ago at this stage?
There are people on here when questioned about their support for lockdowns who would tell you they don’t think we should ever go back to normal, very worrying. They’re either severely psychologically affected by lockdowns and think they’re the bible or they simply are just comfortable with their new normal, perhaps had no life pre pandemic
@David Lee: Nobody is saying we shouldn’t go back to normal. Not even I’m saying that.
80% fully vaccinated and simple mask mandate where practical, on public transport for example.
Until then, follow the guidelines as best you can, wear a mask (which the majority of people are) and take that extra step back.
Doing the simple things gives our vaccine rollout the best possible chance to succeed
@Ally Mc Culladgh: 90% of UK population covered by either vaccination or antibodies – Prof. Luke O’ Neill on the radio just now
@JedBartlett: less than half of the UK are fully vaccinated, 33m.
@GrumpyAulFella: You’re including children again. They aren’t in scope so over 60% of those eligible for a vaccine are fully vaccinated.
90% of population has some protection when antibodies are factored in.
@JedBartlett: who said children aren’t in scope? If you want herd immunity, which is the whole point, then everyone is in scope, including children. The UK are 35% away from nearing that figure. Only another 23.5m or so vaccinations to go.
@GrumpyAulFella: “who said children aren’t in scope?”, multiple regulatory agencies is who said, but I probably should have clarified that they aren’t in scope just yet.
The FDA are looking at whether there is safety evidence for use of the vaccines in children from age 2 to 12. If approved, it could be early 2022 before it’s rolled out. It’s the same all over the world. The WHO are saying children shouldn’t be vaccinated yet either due to a lack of safety evidence. If and when the vaccines are approved, the WHO are advocating for the vulnerable in less developed countries to be vaccinated before children in developed countries.
My point is this, to reach the targets you’ve outlined will not be happening for a while yet. That’s just the simple reality of the situation.
@Hugo Bugo: “excessively paid scientist” !!
Get the chip off your shoulder, ya knob. You sound like you’re about 14, always moaning and knowing it all. If you’re so unhappy with how much you earn go get a science degree and see if you are”excessively paid” then. I’m pretty sure you won’t be.
@JedBartlett: yeah I’m aware of that but the fact remains that the UK only have 50% of their population fully vaccinated and need another 23m, approx, vaccinated before they can declare themselves “immune”. Like most countries, they are miles away from that milestone although I’m sure Boris is itching to declare otherwise. Shambles.
@David Lee: this is what I have been saying, I have been observing people’s behaviour for the last few months, my fear is the lasting legacy of this pandemic is not long covid but long term psychological damage from the fear the media, the governments and scientists have instilled in people, I do think some people will never be the same version of themselves from 2 years ago
@Hugo Bugo: id 100 % agree with that. the fear instilled in some people is staggering. let’s face it, to reach herd immunity you need the majority of each country vaccinated, something that’s years away so what do you do in the meantime? you look at a more reasonable goal, vaccinating the vulnerable which is as good as complete here in the UK. you then open everything with measures in place. I don’t see what much else u can do although some wouldn’t have a resemblance of normal life resuming for people.
@Macca1986: no, you worry about herd immunity in your own country, probably about 4 months away for the Brits at the current rate. You take away all of your protections now, including masks, with a healthy transmission chain still in place for the virus to spread and you open up everybody, even those fully vaccinated to infection. It’s not fear. It’s just fact. That’s why British scientists are writing to the British PM. This isn’t the big bad EU trying to tell the Brits what to do. This is their own people telling them.
@GrumpyAulFella: I said open up with measures in place. one of those measures is a mask. the first and foremost aim of the vaccine is to prevent hospitalisation and death amongst the vulnerable as much as possible. as with the flu and many viruses, even with vaccination, some will die. that doesn’t mean you keep aspects of life stopped and closed. that’s what we’re doing in Ireland. chances are in poorer parts of the world with small vaccinated numbers, xtra variants will form. you just have to get on with it.
@Hugo Bugo: clueless,
@Hugo Bugo: what long term psychological damage are you referring to specifically? Also, what is your qualification to be giving this diagnosis?
Another day, another article to bait the Bojo haters. Keep up the good work Journal.
@JedBartlett: He’s done an awful lot of bad things, herd immunity without vaccinations, how many people needlessly died through his in actions? Or in action.
And he is attempting to do it again, but this time with 50% fully vaccinated.
I don’t know anyone who is saying lifting all restrictions at once with so many unvaccinated is the way to go. Except staunch supporters of Boris
@Ally Mc Culladgh: Bravo Boris
@Maurice O Neill: Ok Maurice :)
@Ally Mc Culladgh: 90% of the UK population have either been vaccinated or have antibodies. That’s according to Prof. Luke O’ Neill who also said the crowds at Wembley last night didn’t make him uncomfortable because of the stat above.
@JedBartlett: That would be great if 90% were fully vaccinated. Trying again with herd immunity when a large part of the population aren’t fully vaccinated is a bad policy, for the sake of what? A few weeks until a large portion of the population are fully vaccinated
How is giving rights back to people unethical.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: simply because it makes irish gov look like don.keys
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: the same reason why the same person inflicted a disastrous and experimental herd immunity approach on his citizens costing 128,000 lives. Deliberately removing health protections from your citizens during a global health pandemic is unethical unless you have reach sufficient full population vaccination levels of 80-85% to break the transmission chain. This could be another Bojo catastrophe.
I’ll reserve my judgement till I see the comments section here as medical profession is getting it all wrong now here.
@Scott Crossfield: The medical profession don’t agree but the journal only presents one side
@Scott Crossfield: yes, wait for the real experts
@Mickety Dee: show us on the doll where facts hurt you
@Drunk in Dublin: I think you may be confusing facts and opinions.
Funny how what is really unethical is numerous posts a day criticising other country for being way ahead of yours to try and somehow justify your own failure by trying so hard to downplay and criticize anothers achievements.
@Ilarion Cibu: How are the way ahead of ours? We have 50% of our eligible population fully vaccinated as do the UK. Thay are probably ahead of us on first shots but death rates per million Ireland 1000, UK 1880 and with the course he is taking…. no thank you.
@Joe_X: The UK is testing a million people a day to find their cases regardless of symptoms if we were like for like we’d be doing 100,000 tests a day we aren’t there is no comparison between the UK & Ireland. We are locking up & hiding away still while the UK is going out to play again & living life.
@Joe Thorpe: regardless of symptoms…..so they are testing close contacts…. that sounds familiar!
@Joe Thorpe: can you explain how 100k tests and one million would be the same if we were like for like?
@Dave O’Keeffe: it’s simple maths, UK has 10 to 12 times our population, if you divide 1 million by 10 you get 100k. If he was more accurate he should have said circa 85k. Test more equals find more cases and with them opening up and doing antigen testing to get into pubs and other indoor activities for the past two months they obviously found far more people with the virus than we would as we weren’t testing these people because of nphet
Looking forward to the new English variant and another lockdown.
New Zealand and don’t bother arguing. It can be done
@Wilson Spinach: Not with an open land border with another jurisdiction. Frankly incredible people still unable to understand this 16 months later.
@Paddy Kennedy: you are very wrong.
I tuned out when I read “Independent Sage”. What the UK are doing is what we’ll all have to do at some point.
@whitewater: nail on head “at some point”. That would be the point where 85% of the full population is fully vaccinated. This is another case of Boris playing with peoples health and lives.
@whitewater: Independent sage are a group of commie people with degrees that think their viewpoint is more relevant than those of scientists on the state payroll who aren’t giving their voice because of an irrelevant agenda.
@GrumpyAulFella: if the vulnerable are vaccinated it’s time to open up. The goalposts keep moving.
Those “experts” while nerding out on their statistics analysis and trying to keep the world shut down, all the normal people in England were enjoying their football team reach the European championships final for the 1st time ever, what a night for them, up to a reported 69k people in Wembley stadium, forever memories, normal life, creating memories, fair play to them, imagine living the rest of our lives exactly as the scientific community allows, FFS, lol
@Hugo Bugo: yes enjoying the European Championship ….. fair enough…pity about the behaviour though.
Opening up / Brexiteers/ BoJo— BAD wet your bed,/ lockdown / panic GOOD,
We don’t need modeling, we can just watch the UK.
It should be stated and set up now that if Britain does open up all British people should not be allowed into the Republic. (including the Northern Ireland)
100%
have your say