In spite of all the work spreading unfounded conspiracy theories and nonsense about vaccine deaths etc, the UK vaccination rate has hit 70% of adults with the 20 to 35 year old still to be added.
The sceptics moved on from arguing against restrictions, to arguing against vaccinations.
Where to go now?
We have now jabbed a sufficient number of people to have created the perfect environment for vaccine escape variants to emerge -- an army of people with some resistance to the virus, but not enough to limit viral loads by that much. This low level of viral load in so very many vaccinated people will drive the evolution of the escape of those individual's protection.
Note that the non-vaccinated do not drive the vaccine escape -- there is no evolutionary pressure for the virus in the non-vaccinated person to escape the vaccine. It might occur by random chance (all mutations arise by chance), but as there would be no selective advantage in that person the mutation would die off before it left that person's body. This is unlike that same mutation occurring in a vaccinated person's body, where the selective advantage would within a few viral replication cycles result in the mutation being dominant in that body, and thus able to be transmitted beyond that body by the usual means.
Once the virus has mutated to become partially resistant to the vaccine it will show a significant increase in numbers infected. In addition, it will show a significant spread due to the healthy-vaccinated acting as asymptomatic spreaders. This might not be immediately obvious because only those with symptoms will choose to become tested, and the majority of those vaccinated will be asymptomatic. At this stage there will be some impact on the vaccinated-vulnerable, but not too much, and the vaccines will be regarded as maintaining a reasonable level of protection.
It is likely that we are at this stage already (with the India variant).
The increase in virus infectiousness in the vaccinated will lead to a considerable increase in viral numbers across the whole population. As a significant number are vaccinated the evolutionary pressure for the virus to fully escape the vaccine will be enormous. Sooner or later (months, not years) we will have a variant that has escaped the vaccine sufficiently to give a significant mortality in the vaccinated-vulnerable.
Hopefully the vaccinated-non-vulnerable won't have any higher risk than in previous waves.
The non-vaccinated non-vulnerable probably will be under no greater risk than previously, but it is possible that the selective pressure to escape the vaccine will result in a mutation that has a lower infectivity in the unvaccinated compared with the vaccinated -- the sheer numbers of vaccinated in the population will result in the evolutionary pressure to escape the vaccine being greater than the evolutionary pressure of the virus to maintain infectiousness in the unvaccinated. This is by no means certain, but it is possible now that we have vaccinated such a great proportion of the population.
A few months ago the best way to have stopped this happening would have been to only vaccinate the most vulnerable and then insisted that they maintain social distancing. We have done the complete opposite. It is now probably too late to stop the full escape variants emerging.
Well the fact we have 70% vaccination and still unending brutal restrictions and endless scaremongering seemingly designed to deny vaccines are any good for starters.
Anyone remember 15M jabs to freedom? Or "normal by easter" or any other of Hancock's greatest hits?
In spite of all the work spreading unfounded conspiracy theories and nonsense about vaccine deaths etc, the UK vaccination rate has hit 70% of adults with the 20 to 35 year old still to be added.
The sceptics moved on from arguing against restrictions, to arguing against vaccinations.
Where to go now?
Aw, bless!
Wrong on so many counts: most of us are not anti-vaxxers, would not presume to impose our will on others, and would only consider this a failure if we were wrestled to the ground and jabbed without our consent.
Meanwhile, I will continue to labour for the restoration of our freedoms and abandonment of plans for digital ID and medical passes.
I'm just grateful to be self-employed with sufficient autonomy to tell authorities to eff off to some degree.
In spite of all the work spreading unfounded conspiracy theories and nonsense about vaccine deaths etc, the UK vaccination rate has hit 70% of adults with the 20 to 35 year old still to be added.
The sceptics moved on from arguing against restrictions, to arguing against vaccinations.
Where to go now?
Aw, bless!
Wrong on so many counts: most of us are not anti-vaxxers, would not presume to impose our will on others, and would only consider this a failure if we were wrestled to the ground and jabbed without our consent.
Meanwhile, I will continue to labour for the restoration of our freedoms and abandonment of plans for digital ID and medical passes.
I'm just grateful to be self-employed with sufficient autonomy to tell authorities to eff off to some degree.
Not anti-vaxx ........ And yet, there are so many posters supporting the ant-vaxx output of this bunch of nutcases and similar.
https://forums.lockdownsceptics.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3225
This forum is riddled with supporters for these misinformation peddlers and then there are some who make up their own garbage to support.
For instance, I would like to see a post that looks at actual vaccine caused deaths. This is obviously not the same as every reported death near to having a vaccine (at least to anyone with a working brain). But there are lots who say it is. Those people are either stupid, or malicious ant-vaxxers.
