Anti-vaxxers utterly deluded
THE anti-vaxx Covid deniers who appear in court to answer the charges of attending protest gatherings in contravention of lockdown regulations, appear to be subject to a clinical condition called “derangement syndrome”– they struggle to distinguish fantasy from reality.
In an era of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories, amplified by computer algorithms, we are witnessing the consequences of the social media tech giants amassing content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccines and generates an online community that spends more time on the internet, yet actually grows less informed.
I have heard every crackpot theory there is to hear on why getting the jab is 10 times worse than quite possibly dying a slow and lonely death in an intensive care ward.
Amongst them; Bill Gates is using the vaccine rollout to microchip everybody and take over the world; a bloke claims he’s been told the vaccine has already killed lots of people; another bloke says that all doctors and nurses giving people their jabs can be tried as war criminals; another bloke says that Ant and Dec are at the centre of an evil cabal of light entertainment figures plotting to overthrow the Government and appoint Doctor Who as chief medical officer!
Luckily, there are people, celebrities even, at a time of life where they could be forgiven for napping in their armchairs with a pair of warm slippers and a cup of cocoa, who are urging us to employ common sense and not expire needlessly and prematurely.
We should dismiss the opinions of the criminally ignorant and the perceptually outraged, who have reached a stage in life where the urge to think independently has largely disappeared. When the Covid-denying, anti-mask militias complain about wearing face coverings, it’s because they actually believe that the fittest will survive, while the “unfit” must take their chances. They are complaining about a loss of privilege, not liberty.
In the meantime, let’s rejoice in the hope that those on the road to recovery are experiencing greater rude health than a Swedish naturists’ spa!
Hugh Rice
GIVE US JAB PASSPORTS
BORIS Johnson has implied that some people may not be able to have the Covid vaccine for health reasons. What are these reasons, if any?
Johnson has also said that some people may not want the vaccine for ethical reasons. These are just excuses to avoid a vaccine passport that will allow all sensible people to get on with their lives.
Give us the passports, and if some establishments require them for entry, and some countries require them for entry, then those who put the rest of us in danger will be quite rightly excluded.
David Allen