Perhaps vaccines should go elsewhere
I’VE just had my booster jab, so this is easy for me to say, but I’m starting to think we should slow down the vaccine rollout in the UK. Bear with me. The Delta variant sent cases soaring through 2021, then it became Delta Plus and only made matters worse. And now the Omicron variant picked up the baton in November and is threatening to ruin Christmas for us all.
Viruses mutate, it’s their defence mechanism, it’s possibly even a good sign that we’re starting to win the war against it, but each new variant that comes out has the potential to bypass our vaccines and wreak havoc. So we need to stop coronavirus from becoming something far worse than it’s always been.
And I’m not a scientist, but it’s becoming pretty obvious that, to stop the new variants emerging, we need to focus on the breeding grounds. Mutations
will emerge where the virus is still rife. And the Omicron variant, which emerged from South Africa, where fewer than a third of the population has had a jab, backs this up.
And look at the Delta variant. It was first identified in India at a time when the country hadn’t really started giving out vaccines.
What will be next? Huge swathes of Africa are a long way behind in their vaccination programmes. How many more new variants will emerge? How long will the pandemic last if we keep letting Covid mutate?
It’s important for me to emphasise I have no formal scientific qualifications, so this is just my theory, but I’ve spoken to plenty of people who really know their stuff, and they endorse my belief that our attention should now turn to the global population.
The UK is very well protected, the data speaks for itself, but there are countries out there that can’t afford a vaccination programme.
As a nation, we in the UK have a good track record of sending out aid packages to countries in crisis, but this time the world is in crisis, and all we need to do is sign up with other countries that are flush with Pfizer, or have more than enough Moderna to go around, and get the doses shipped out to the communities that are getting left behind.
Rather than focus on topping up our own protection, let’s look at the long game and cut off Covid’s life support. If it can’t spread, it can’t reproduce, and if it can’t reproduce it can’t mutate.
We’re not worried about the original coronavirus any more, because most of us are protected. The problem now is new variants of concern.
So, in my head at least, it makes sense to stop fighting a local battle and look at the bigger picture.
Because, at the current rate, I’m worried we’re going to run out of letters on the Greek alphabet before we put a stop to the pandemic.
Rather than focus on topping up our own protection, let’s look at the long game and cut off Covid’s life support.