All I would add is that the vaccine refusal trend is a concern.
The antis contend it is a personal decision that shouldn't worry anybody else because we can all get vaccinated. That misses the major opportunity of mass vaccination which is that the disease can effectively be eliminated or restricted to small, self-extinguishing outbreaks.
Between 5% and 10% of people who are vaccinated will not become immune. Others may not be able to receive the vaccine for medical reasons. These are the people that could be protected very effectively by herd immunity, just as unvaccinated babies are from measles. If upwards of 30% refuse a vaccine then they and the proportion of the vaccinated who don't get immunity will be vulnerable and will continue to provide a vector for infection.
The anti-vaxxers don't acknowledge this even if they understand it. The other thing they seem not to grasp is that while vaccines do damage some people, it seems extremely unlikely that the risk from the vaccine is as high as the risk from not having it, low as that might be. At the individual level the case fatality risk may well be sub-1%, and nearer 0.1% excluding over 60's, but if the disease remains unnecessarily endemic we could still see hundreds of deaths per year - far more than might reasonably be feared from tested vaccines.
Participating in mass vaccination is for community benefit. Refusing to do so without good reason, while a legitimate right, is anti-social and selfish.
I see they are now railing against parliament debating whether restrictions be put on people refusing a vaccine. This debate is only scheduled because their petition against any restrictions got 300,000 signatures which obliges parliament to have it.
A tinfoil-hat-wearing near neighbour of mine tells me those wearing masks etc are 'sheeple' and are victims of mind control. I tell him there is indeed mind control going on, but it's not the socially responsible mask-wearers who are being controlled.
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