Fingers crossed, the current surge in Covid infections, hospitalisations and deaths won’t be nearly as bad as previous waves. Or so the Government must hope. For as things stand, there is very little sign of planning for what happens if the vaccines aren’t enough, writes Jeremy Warner.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the war on Covid is once again looking like an on-the-hoof, chaotic mess. Obviously we must all hope for the best, but hope is not a strategy; ministers also need to prepare for the worst, and that means a fully thought through plan of action for avoiding the default option of renewed lockdown this winter – with all its attendant damage to education, the economy, the public finances, and general wellbeing.
It is admittedly still too early to be certain one way or the other, but worryingly we now have clear evidence that the effectiveness of vaccines wears off markedly after six months. Vaccines, it seems, may not be the salvation once assumed.
On the ground experience in Israel, which has been at the forefront of vaccine rollout, and a UK study headed by Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, have concluded that vaccine potency against infection is short lived. In other words, the destruction of another outbreak is beginning to look more likely than not.
Read the full column here.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-covid-vaccine-daily-cases-deaths-update/
