United Kingdom reverses vaccine passport plan.

 

The Hill

The United Kingdom has reversed a plan to implement a vaccine passport plan. The Hill. The plan would have required proof of vaccination to attend events and go to bars and nightclubs. England's Covid minister Sajid Javid said that the country should not do things just because other countries are doing so. He also said that he was uncomfortable with forcing people to show papers to do normal things. The UK has vaccinated about 2/3rds of their citizens but are still having more than 200,000 cases a week. 

My Comment:

It's fairly ironic that the UK, which has a reputation of violating human rights, has a less draconian policy than supposed bastion of freedom here in the United States. Vaccine passports are not the answer to the coronavirus pandemic and I am glad that another country is backing down. 

I don't think it is anyone's business if someone is vaccinated or not. So of course I am opposed to vaccines being necessary to participate in normal human activities. I also don't think there is any justification in preventing people from doing the most basic things just because they don't want to get vaccinated. 

I also don't think these vaccination mandates do anything to actually end the pandemic. You can still catch and spread the virus even if you are vaccinated. It's usually not as severe but even if we somehow magically achieved 100% vaccination, somehow ignoring all the people that won't or can't get the vaccine, you would still have this virus floating around with these vaccines. If the vaccines actually did stop infections then it might be a different story but at this point it's obvious they don't as even highly vaccinated countries are having major problems with the virus right now. 

I am not sure about the demographics of who is vaccinated in the United Kingdom but I think a lot of the low hanging fruit has been taken already. Most of the people who have gotten the vaccine are older people who are more vulnerable. It's mostly young people that haven't gotten the vaccine and considering their lower risk from the virus and the higher risk for some in that group from the vaccines themselves it's probably not the right idea to try and vaccinate these people against their will.

Either way, I think it's pretty obvious that we aren't going to vaccinate our way out of this pandemic. Unless a new vaccine is developed that actually prevents the spread of the virus (perhaps the more traditional Novavax vaccine?) we aren't going to stop the virus without natural immunity. That makes these vaccine mandates pretty pointless. 

As for choosing to vaccinate or not, I continue to say that it's a personal decision between yourself and your doctor. For many people it's the right choice. If you are older, in poor health, overweight or have some other risk factor for the virus you should probably get one of the vaccines. If you aren't than you probably don't need it. If you have natural immunity because you recovered from the virus you are probably ok to not to get vaccinated.