Hellhound wrote: ↑19 Oct 2021, 4:01pm
pwa wrote: ↑19 Oct 2021, 2:00pm
You must have been listening to the wrong stuff. From the very beginning Chris Whitty and the like have been talking about how we will have to gather data to inform us on how long the vaccines will remain sufficiently effective, and if / when a booster will be a good idea. That has been a point of discussion in Government briefings ever since the vaccines first made an appearance. Another constant point of discussion has been whether the booster should be tweaked to take account of new variants. And there is nothing new in any of this. Have you ever had a tetanus jab? I've had quite a few over the years.
The nearest equivalent to a Covid jab that we are already used to is the flu jab, and that is annual.
From what I saw Witty couldn't make his mind up from one day to the next so I stopped watching any of the briefings well over a year ago now.I did what was asked,as I am sure 1000s did,and now it appears they have decided to move the goal posts.I had the two required vaccinations,did the self-isolating and mask wearing and for me it's time to move on.
The flu jab is voluntary if you are the age to qualify.They have made the Covid jab all but compulsory by introducing the so called Covid passport not that I've been asked to prove I've had the vaccine yet.If I could go back 8 months I wouldn't have bothered.
I confess that I don't understand your attitude. The line taken by Whitty about the possibility of boosters being required was always that they would study how immunity stood up in those who had been vaccinated, and make a decision based on that. That is what they have done. Immunity stands up quite well over time, much better than some had feared, but it does taper off and getting people to have a booster will reduce admissions into hospitals at a time when we need to keep hospitals working on other conditions. The point about the flu jab being annual is that flu is a bit like Covid in needing a top up vaccine. We were always told that this would be the case and I am struggling to understand why you are surprised about it. And when you get right down to what you are being asked to do, which is to pop down to a health centre or whatever, roll your sleeve up and have a tiny bit of discomfort for two seconds, then go back to what you were doing, it really is the smallest bit of inconvenience. If us doing that results in hospitals having a bit more space and time to deal with the backlog in work, let's do it.
You will, of course, do what you will do, but I suggest you consider the booster as something you do for society rather than just for yourself. It should help us keep hospitals open for folk who need heart ops, new hips or whatever, and it should reduce the need for restrictions on the way we live our lives.