Too many wrong virus assumptions

DAVID Turner appears to have made a number of erroneous assumptions in his letter (Telegraph, September 24).

He seems to think that anybody who is not vaccinated is a superspreader. This assumes that everybody who is not vaccinated automatically must have the virus and be deliberately trying to infect people.

By his assumption, prior to the introduction of the vaccine, everybody, including himself, was a super-spreader. In which case, surely everybody would have been infected prior to the introduction of the vaccine and have built up immunity.

Included in the number of non-vaccinated are children who are not yet eligible and individuals whose medical condition makes it extremely inadvisable for them to have the vaccine. The NHS leaflet that accompanies invitation to be vaccinated explicitly states that vaccination does not prevent you catching the virus, nor does it prevent you passing it on.

Therefore, people who have been vaccinated are just as capable of being super-spreaders as those who have not. I expect that people who have been vaccinated wrongly believe they are not at risk and no threat and are therefore likely to take a lot more risks than those who are not vaccinated.

If so, those who are vaccinated are much more likely to be guilty of spreading the disease. I do not believe there are very many individuals, vaccinated or otherwise, who actively seek to harm others by deliberately spreading a virus that can have serious consequences for those who are elderly or have underlying health conditions.

Furthermore, the virus is spread principally by sneezing, coughing, spitting or getting much too close to another individual. Those who are asymptomatic are unlikely to cough or sneeze and few people are so antisocial that they would deliberately spit at another person, with the express intention of infecting them, or invade the personal space of a stranger.

It is not the case that all scientists are of one mind on the vaccine. There are a very significant number of highly qualified professional epidemiologists (people who study epidemics, including pandemics), virologists (people who study viruses) and immunologists (people who study vaccines) who do not agree with the opinions published in the media.

Many of these individuals, who choose to speak out, do so at the risk of losing their income and reputation. On the other hand, most qualified professionals, who are in favour of compulsory vaccination for all are making large amounts of money out of the promotion of the vaccine.

Peter Binks,

by email