Day: 28 December 2021

A summary of all the most interesting stories that have appeared about politicians’ efforts to control the virus — and other acts of hubris and folly – not just in Britain, but around the world.

Even though we now know Covid restrictions don't work, most political leaders have stuck to the original playbook, including Nicola Sturgeon, Mark Drakeford and Paul Givan. But Boris has show some backbone at last.

The last two weeks have brought three new studies finding negative efficacy for two vaccine doses, meaning the vaccinated are more likely to be infected than the unvaccinated.

A Canadian study has found that remote learning, brought in under Covid lockdowns, increases the risk of school-age children suffering from depression and anxiety.

We're publishing a guest post on the Daily Sceptic by our in-house doctor looking at the latest hospital data. Turns out, staff absences are the reason London hospitals are under pressure, not a surge in Covid admissions.

Professor Sir John Bell, who is a member of the Vaccines Taskforce, has supported the Government's move not to tighten Covid restrictions, commenting that mass deaths and hospitalisations are "now history".

The French Government is tightening the nation's Covid restrictions to stop a fifth wave of the virus. The new measures include stricter limits on venue capacity and a return to mask mandates.

We're publishing a guest post on the Daily Sceptic by two professors at King's College London disputing the claim, often made by vaccine enthusiasts, that J.S. Mill would have supported mandatory vaccinations.

A fourth study has found that natural immunity protects better against infection than the vaccines. Indian researchers estimated the protective effect of natural immunity to be 86%; vaccine effectiveness was only 32%.

Covid restrictions will NOT be tightened in England before the New Year, Boris Johnson has decided after reviewing the latest data on the spread of the Omicron variant. This is a decisive win for lockdown sceptics. The Telegraph has more. It means that New Year’s Eve parties can go ahead, although the possibility of new rules in January has not been ruled out.The public are also being urged to show “caution” in the coming week, including taking a lateral flow test before gatherings, keeping windows open where possible and wearing a mask when required.The Prime Minister is understood to have taken the decision not to bring in further restrictions at this stage because of signs in the data that Omicron may be a milder form of COVID-19, as suggested by previous scientific analysis. ... https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1475551613343485953?s=20 The number of people in hospital in England with Covid is less than half of what it was last year, despite there being three times as many reported cases.The number of daily cases fell on Monday to 98,515, from 108,893 on Boxing Day.And Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, revealed on Monday that 75% of eligible adults have received a booster jab, with the speed of the rollout being cited as one reason for not bringing in new restrictions.However, the move leaves England out of step ...