WHEN WILL WE BE ABLE TO HUG OUR GRANDCHILDREN?

As the public loses its patience while vaccine scandals mount, here are some questions the Government needs to answer about how we can build a future once the dust settles

THE Government’s plan to navigate us through the Covid crisis between now and summer all depends on how well it lives up to its commitments to vaccinate the bulk of the population. Up to this, it has been hostage to the wellpublicised vagrancies of vaccine supply. But, in recent days, Government Ministers seem to be much more confident about a massive ramping up of supply over the next three months.

They need to succeed in this, if they are to bring the bulk of the public with them. As the rollout gathers pace, it will be vital that people maintain the basic preventative measures. And also that the powers-that-be operate, using fairness and hard public health data as their guiding principles.

But, as we have witnessed many times, whenever there have been instances of flouting of the rules, the wider public tend to let down their guard. They wonder why they should continue to put up with huge impositions on their lives, while others adopt a blatant disregard for the rules.

Cynical

Throughout the pandemic we have examples of how some feel they are above the law.

The events surrounding Golfgate, whereby politicians, judges, media, and others thumbed their noses at the restrictions, are a case in point. The public were rightly cynical in their view that it was one law for them, and another law for the rest of us. Mind you, despite the widespread public perception that the elite always get away with it, most, though not all, of the highprofile figures involved in that case paid a heavy price for their infractions.

The antics of leading figures in RTÉ surrounding a retirement party and group photographs is another case in point. It remains to be seen if they will suffer a similar fate to the Golfgate situation.

There are other examples of people blatantly, and purposely, ignoring the rules, while the rest of us try our best to stay the course, as the Government keeps asking.

The complete flouting of the physical-distancing rules by leading Sinn Féin figures and other mourners at the Bobby Storey funeral demonstrate an attitude that is worth noting by the wider population as to how Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and her colleagues might behave if they ever they get into government here.

Thousands of families across this island have had to endure what is turning out to be one of the most awful aspects of Covid, that is, to bury a loved one with only a handful of immediate family at the funeral.

How hurt they must feel when they hear the justifications used by Sinn Féin figures for the way in which that Storey funeral was handled.

And, last week, we have yet another calculated breaking of the rules by members of the Dublin GAA team who, in the early hours, obviously to avoid attention, organised a training session totally against the rules. Quite apart from the insult to the rest of us, it showed complete disrespect to the rest of the GAA teams, up and down the country, who continue to abide by the rules.

In my view, the punishment meted out did not sufficiently demonstrate the gravity of the blatant breach of the rules.

But if anything shows a better example of privilege assumed, it has to be the way in which spare doses of the vaccine were handled in the Coombe and Beacon Hospitals, aided and abetted by the school and the medical figures involved, while the rest of the population anxiously wait their turn.

Indeed, I’ve heard of a number of other cases whereby people with a rather tenuous connection to the health service have received the vaccine, despite the fact that those involved have no direct contact with the public as part of their job.

Much has been made of the Government’s decision to go along with the experts advice to vaccinate the rest of the population on an age-related basis. Many groups have cried foul, but the facts speak for themselves.

There has been a dramatic drop in positive cases in our hospitals, nursing and care homes where the most vulnerable have had the benefit of the vaccine. And, again, the statistics clearly show that the older cohort of the population are far more likely to be struck down by the virus.

A person in the age cohort of 65-69 is 70 times more likely to get Covid than someone between 30-35! How can anyone justify a healthy young person in their 20s, being bumped up the list while an elderly person awaits their turn?

Of course, there will be hard cases arising which will be difficult to defend, but, if the vaccine is rolled out in the promised numbers, those type of cases should be quickly dealt with.

Assuming that the vaccine rollout goes to plan over the next few months, what will the landscape look like then? We need to be given some indication as what restrictions are expected to be continued in place.

Will the hospitality trade get back up and running, in a normal fashion? Will we have to wear those accursed masks, way into the future?

Immunity

Will we get to travel as we wish? Will the Government bring in a passport regime for going to the cinema or such other mass gathering? The UK is currently contemplating such a scheme. Will we be able to shake someone’s hand? Hug our grandchildren? To most of these questions, I fear we all know the answer.

If we succeed in getting almost all of the population on this island vaccinated, will we achieve the much-heralded herd immunity necessary to prevent recurrences of the virus? Maybe so, but what use is that if we cannot travel off the island!

Or perhaps, for our economy, what’s the point if we have to prevent other nationalities coming to our shores? As our own Mike Ryan of the WHO stated, the basic preventative measures will be with us for some time to come.

So, while we each scramble to get our vaccine, we need to appreciate that the jab is not the panacea for all our ills. Yes, it will help to dampen the virus across the globe. But, it seems to me that we will still be under significant personal restrictions for a long time to come.

And the Government and the health experts need, now, to start preparing the ground to ensure that the public are not under any misapprehension.