Vaccine priorities show not all lives given same value
Lockdown critic and former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption says some lives are less valuable than others (Metro, Mon). Debating the question of whether lockdown was ‘punishing too many for the greater good’, he said the older you were, the less valuable your life was because there was less of it left.
I am sure many people are outraged by Lord Sumption’s comments.
I guess we will find out soon enough whom the government deems ‘more valuable’ with the vaccine rollout once the older groups are done.
Will it be teachers, bus drivers, security guards, rich people, MPs or Tory voters?
I think it should be front-line supermarket workers but I bet it will be policemen because support for ‘Harpers law’ – which would see anyone who caused the death of an emergency worker given a life sentence – implies they are ‘more valuable’ than the rest of humanity.
George, Weymouth
(Not A Supermarket Worker)
Only six weeks ago my husband, who is 70, underwent major surgery for cancer. I feel grateful every day that this was possible in our current climate.
Even more so to the NHS and the surgeons, doctors and intensive care unit team who cared for him and got him through this at a time when loved ones are not able to visit. Nobody has a right to judge whether someone’s life is valuable or not – be it from age one to 100!
We have to put a value on life because time, money and manpower are limited.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) decides which drugs should be bought by the NHS.
It has a limit of around £30,000 to win a patient one extra year of life. According to economists, the extra years of life gained by lockdowns will cost several million pounds each. That means far less money for cancer treatment and everything else for years to come.
Peter, Leeds
Lord Sumption is absolutely right! These decisions are made in every hospital every day. If it was a choice you had to make between yourself or your child, whose life is worth more?
John, via email
I believe Lord Sumption was speaking the truth. No one wants to die but doctors are already having to make these decisions about whose life is more valuable.
Who would not give up their life to save their sons or daughters? Millions of people did that in two world wars – the young are the future of the planet, of our life.
I would not like to be the person making these tough decisions. I’m sure our doctors do not want this put on to them either but they are having it forced on them. Please don’t go off on a tangent, finger-pointing and blaming people for what’s happening. Be grateful for what we have and not for what you want. Live long and be happy.
Lord Sumption suggests ‘ministers are keeping Britons under house arrest’.
He also says ‘he does not doubt the seriousness of the epidemic’ but that there is a collective hysteria behind these measures. He needs to make up his mind which camp he’s in.
The virus does not move around under its own steam – it needs a lift by moving from person to person in close proximity to each other or via recently touched surfaces.
It’s a no-brainer that to avoid being that ‘host’, if your situation means you can possibly stay at home without putting yourself in harm’s way, you should do so. That is not being kept
under house arrest – that is good old common sense.
If you’re of the ‘I’m not being told by anyone what I can do or can’t do’ group, well, that’s your choice – but if you think it’s all rubbish or don’t value your safety, respect those that do.
S Gill, Warrington
Darrell (MetroTalk, Mon) says ‘sod your rights’ in favour of the everincreasing draconian measures being placed into our law.
Incredibly dangerous rhetoric like this leads to totalitarian societies. Blindly following authority without the full facts is not healthy.