On my early morning bike ride this morning I was thinking about the coronavirus and dragged up in my mind a cartoon from years ago that made me chuckle again. It came from the "mad cow" time - was two young mums smoking - looking into a butchers shop window saying "you won't catch me eating beef ! ".
In the same way there is masses on social media from people claiming they will not take a corona virus vaccination - because it cannot be trusted or it may not be safe. It is their right to do so - nothing in this life can be a 100% guaranteed.
However there is some irony - some hypocrisy - some objective nonsense being pedalled here by many?
People are "concerned" about their health,
But :
ILLICIT DRUGS - pills, substances, etc produced by criminals. Those that buy them and take them have no effective control over what is in those pills or substances. There is no regulation. They take it all on chance!
- NHS report 2019 - 18000 hospital admissions from poisoning from drug misuse. 2917 deaths.
- 9.4% of adults use illicit drugs. 20.3% of young adults use illicit drugs.
ALCOHOL - 24% of adults regularly drink over the prescribed limits. England - over 750k dependent drinkers. 2018/19 1.26 million hospital admissions directly related to alcohol. England 2018 - 24700 alcohol deaths.
CORONA VIRUS VACCINE - it has been produced quickly - true. Why/how? There is a very urgent need. (Corona virus is paralysing our way of life. An irony here is that NICE (or whatever it is called now) are regularly critiscised for being slow to approve drugs.) The kitchen sink has been thrown at it. It is a massive priority. True there is a profit motive but there is vigourous independent testing under controlled conditions. Every vaccine that is offered will have been reputedly sourced and its contents fully documented. Contrast that with the illicit drugs so many - particularly young people are prepared to ingest!
Obviously it will be down to each individual to decide if they want to take an offered covid vaccine or not. Rightly so. However those not taking the vaccine will benefit from those that do. It will perhaps be a step too far to prioritise hospital treatment for those that take the vaccine over those that don't but I think it would be quite reasonable to require a vaccination certificate in certain circumstances. It is likely to be a travel requirement almost certainly unless you are prepared to enter self isolation.
One thing that is annoying about these anti vax people is their me me me focus. (why should I take a vaccine when I am healthy?) They do not seem to have considered there is another reason to be vaccinated - to stop the virus spreading to those that are more vulnerable. They are ok - but what about their elderly parents or grandmother?
A quick point regarding the hapless conspiracy theorists typical of today's social media.They have almost certainly had Polio, Whooping Cough and Tetanus jabs because their parents had the good sense to take the opportunity to protect both them and our wider society. I expect some time in their life they have taken penicillin. Can you imagine the nonsense they would be spouting now if these (wonderfully beneficial) vaccines/drugs had only just been discovered !?
And of course the sad irony - those that are medically unfit through illicit drug use, excess weight, excess drinking or smoking are often the ones most vulnerable to covid complications and death. (I have no tangible proof but suspect there is a correlation with many keyboard warriors). They are the ones more likely to need an ICU bed. They are the ones likely to place most strain on the NHS. They are the ones that if they had any sense would be pressing to join the queue to grab the chance of a covid vaccination that could save their life and be grateful for it. It would be the decent and sensible thing to do - but alas too many are caught up in pedalling silly irresponsible conspiracy theories.
