Vaccination against Covid is not a real issue

HOORAY, there is a third vaccine emerging! Maybe soon, there will be a fourth vaccine, and then a fifth!

Science is getting on top of this nasty little critter of a virus. Humanity shall beat it!

But this does not mean we should let up and drop our guard – oh no, that would be to throw away the great efforts made so far and the sacrifices shown. We were living in peace and prosperity, then the virus erupts, and we had to deal with it.

Arguably the Government was slow and inept in dealing with it when it first emerged. Johnson as PM made a point of shaking hands with coronavirus patients, which was absurd. Would anyone do that now? It was irresponsible.

The Tories must accept blame for their early avoidable failures. Coronavirus was Grenfell writ large. It was avoidable.

So we must not now drop our guard. We must continue with the basic things: washing our hands regularly, avoiding touching the face, wearing a mask, maintaining distance so that the virus cannot travel.

Virus deniers might need to be forcibly quarantined, so be it – you cannot endanger other people by your actions.

And the anti-vaxxers are fools. They are wrong. Vaccination works.

These vaccines will be regulated. Moscow and Vladimir Putin pump out anti-vaccination propaganda in order to weaken the West. The Russians use social media to spread lies and falsehoods. Beware their poison!

The anti-vaxxers do not understand the science. If we need to have mandatory vaccination, then so be it. Seatbelts are now compulsory and nobody in their right mind now complains about that, but they did when they came in. They have saved thousands of lives. Vaccination will do the same.

20mph limits were also opposed by mindless provocative people who did not understand or accept the evidence, but they too save lives each year in Bristol and save the NHS £15 million a year.

Vaccines are great news, and if we can maintain our practical measures until the spring, we are setting ourselves up for a better life, and Bristol can do well in this future – a centre of excellence for science, the digital economy, and public health practice.

Doug Henderson

Bristol