Iceland a good example on vaccines

LUKE Martin (Talking point September 4) anticipates community division regarding the opening of our borders when the vaccine threshold is reached later this year. He quotes a saying attributed to Pliny the Elder: “The only certainty is uncertainty.”

I choose to quote Sir Winston Churchill; “I am an optimist. It doesn’t seem to be much use to be anything else.”

Let me elucidate: Iceland has reached a vaccine target of 85 per cent. After coming out of lockdown in June and easing restrictions including social distancing and masks, Covid-19 spread quickly, infecting thousands. Hospitals were under strain and medical staff suffered burnout. Although some people became seriously ill, there were no deaths.

About 97 per cent of those vaccinated had no symptoms or much milder forms of the disease in the latest wave. Iceland has a population of around 360,000, or twothirds of Tasmania’s 540,000.

I’m just an “armchair” expert; however, this tells me that we may do better than Iceland if we initially vaccinate most of our population before opening; more than 80 per cent if possible. Then maintain social distancing, look after our hygiene, sanitising, etc, and start wearing masks for certain situations, even when we are all mostly vaccinated.

It’s called common sense. To quote that overused phrase: We can’t stay locked down forever. Bill Perry

Kingston