Covid 19 – Freedoms getting closer? Part 1 – UK lessons
We have heard the term “freedom day” coined by the press here. It’s very misleading. This term was used in the U.K. to denote the day when ALL restrictions were removed at once.
In the UK more than 74 percent of its adult population has received two doses, and 89 percent of adults have been jabbed at least once.
Doctors and scientists have written an open letter accusing Boris Johnson of conducting a “dangerous and unethical experiment” by relaxing all measures and causing unnecessary deaths. The letter continues stating, “We have about 20 million young people, including children who are completely unvaccinated at this point in time, they have the highest rates of infections right now and they are increasing rapidly.”
The scientists also warn many will end up with chronic illness and long COVID in large numbers and encourage the emergence of yet another hypercontagious variant.
“It is herd immunity by infection, not herd immunity by the safe and effective path of vaccines, when vaccines are available.”
COVID is not going away any time soon. Despite many great medical advancements, humans have only eradicated one infectious disease, smallpox.
However, vaccines are not 100% effective. There are also some people who cannot get vaccinated, because of underlying health issues preventing vaccination, or they are too young, and those who do not want to be inoculated. So, some people will get sick.
Variants risk undermining recent vaccine successes and have swept across the planet with different letters of the Greek alphabet.
While vaccines are much less effective against the highly infectious Delta variant (amongst others), they still reduces the severity of infection, so that hospitalizations rates are down by 93% for those who have been vaccinated, but a new more evasive variant could come along at any time.
But as winter approaches in the UK, people will retreat indoors, where transmission is higher. The vast majority of COVID transmission is through the air. This is less likely in well ventilated buildings. The government should encourage better ventilation in premises where people congregate. This would also reduce the risk from other respiratory illnesses, as well as from indoor pollution which often leads to headaches, allergies, asthma, rashes and sinusitis.
What England is now going through may also serve as a warning against reopening too quickly.
The upsurge in cases also highlights the growing difficulty of reaching herd immunity and why the future of the pandemic in rich nations will increasingly centre on the unvaccinated.
The sicker the population, the higher the chance of another more aggressive variant worse than Delta!
Need an Appointment?
If you’d like to book an appointment with the dentist at Seymour Dental then call us in Dulwich Hill, Sydney on (02) 9564 2397 or
contact us
Next week
Covid 19 – Freedoms getting closer? Part 2 - Dentistry lessons