Congratulations to the Supreme Committee for taking the unpopular step of implementing a full lockdown, as it appears from the last two week’s statistics that cases of Covid-19 and fatalities have sharply declined. Forgetting the social and public impacts for a moment, this must be like a blessing from heaven for a health service, and healthcare professionals and volunteers who must have been at their wits end, day after day, week after week, as their efforts appeared to offer them, or the communities, little respite. Please, all of you, take this literary hug from me, and others, as a massive, massive... thank you.
As for the rest of you, or the rest of us, depending how facile or profound were your own levels of compliance and integrity where both commonsense, and legal Covid compliance have been concerned. Some of you, I’m sorry to say, can take little or no credit whatsoever for the statistical downturn as you ignored all attempts to draw you in to community compliance, based on your own selfish wants and needs. You know who you are... you are the ones who have already thrown away all except one mask, which you keep for show, and who pat yourselves on the back for being clever! There really is a special place for you. Most however, did at least try. And to you should go your community’s thanks and prayers to remain safe. The Delta variant now poses the main challenge to a return towards, not to, national and global normality, so don’t think it’s over... far from it, but we are moving in the right direction.
The international Covid-19 landscape, and the diverse international responses and emerging scenarios tell us something about what the future may look like, and the Australian and New Zealand experiences tell us that an isolated existence has significant fragility, with Australia being plunged into a variety of interstate responses that run the full gamut of pandemic responsibility, to stall off rising case numbers, and fatalities. New Zealand, meanwhile, with only thirty fatalities during the whole pandemic, has recorded Delta cases, and immediately gone into national lockdown again, however based on the fact that they could not keep Covid out, even with the most stringent precautions, they are now rethinking their future strategy.
These, and other international experiences appear to lead us towards an understanding that total vaccination, and subsequent herd immunity, is the most effective way forward. Health authorities globally are reporting a slight fall in case numbers, but significantly reduced recovery times and greatly reduced fatalities are emerging on a pro rata basis, in response to rising vaccination numbers, and that surely is our way forward too, no?
I know, I’m going to get pushback from anti-vaxxers, but, the BBC reports, “The vast majority of vaccine-hesitant people do not have a political agenda and are not committed to an anti-scientific cause: they are simply undecided about their choice to take the injection.” Okay, and the others say... the vaccine was developed too quickly; the vaccine doesn’t work; the vaccine changes our DNA; the vaccines cause cancer; the cure is worse than the disease; only dissolute, unhealthy people get Covid; the vaccines infect more than they protect; Covid is a Steve Jobs ‘con-job,’ to make more money; the vaccine is implanting us with surveillance nano-bots; and so on, and so on... Yet, when they get sick... they will expect healthcare professionals to put themselves at risk to save them.
I have no time for their diatribes. My generation was vaccinated for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, influenza, chickenpox, rabies, hepatitis B, typhoid, tuberculosis, and numerous anti-malaria and goodness knows what else shots... and my generation has the longest life expectancy of all... and I’m not special! The Supreme Committee is right to ban people from travel, or public places without vaccination. Get with the programme people... or lose some of your rights.
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