"Professor J Savulescu from the University of Oxford said incentives would help to overcome rising vaccine hesitancy due to perceived safety concerns... he writes in the Journal of Medical Ethics."
Take the vaccine & get cash or a "get out of mask free" card.
Medical Ethics?!?!
The idea of offering someone you've half scared to death and have deprived of normal life (and much more) a partial release from the madness, or some cash, if they agree to accept the risk of a vaccine does not belong in anything that has the word "ethics" in it's title.
Unsurprisingly, also from the same article,
"Prof Savulescu says that there is a case for mandatory vaccination because of the "grave" threat to public health."
To be clear & I'm not commenting here on the usefulness or otherwise of a vaccine, should one become available in the future. I am commenting simply on the appalling totalitarian lack of ethics in the ideas of compulsion or "persuasion" being increasingly suggested.
"Covid: Nine ways England's lockdown is different from last time" - BBC
UK truly leads the world when it comes to freedom. Behold 9 incredible advances we've made this year. You never had it so good!
Here's the list:
...
1. You can meet one friend... with your children. 2. Schools and universities are staying open. 3. Public toilets will not be closed 4. 'Bubbles' exist 5. Click and collect services will be available
6. Sitting on a bench is allowed 7. You can take unlimited exercise 8. Dentist and opticians are staying open 9. Nobody will formally shield
"Coronavirus: T-cell immunity exists six months after infection, study finds" - Sky
This must come as quite a shock. Who'd have thought there could be more to immunity than antibody levels?
Of course that's not the whole article...
The article goes on to say...
"But the researchers, from Public Health England and the UK Coronavirus Immunity Consortium, warn that it's still not clear whether the T-cell levels were high enough to protect against re-infection."
I suggest refering to known science as a starting point. There used to be quite a lot of it around, although we seem to have mislaid it recently.
What actually matters though is not just the probability of succumbing to the virus if infected but also the probability of becoming infected in the first place.
Population Fatality Rate (PFR) = probability of infection X IFR
ICL UK STUDY SHOWS DECLINING ANTIBODY LEVELS,
“DASHING HOPES OF HERD IMMUNITY”
ANALYSIS
An ICL led study of population antibody levels found that, between late June & late September “the number of people testing positive dropped by 26.5%” imperial.ac.uk/news/207333/co…
[27 Oct 2020v1]
The interpretation reported in the media - & seemingly widely believed - is that only those with measurable antibody levels possess immunity & that, if those fade, people become susceptible to re-reinfection.
e.g. news.sky.com/story/coronavi…
& bbc.co.uk/news/health-54…
This ignores well established knowledge regarding the immune system, which is more complex than mere possession of measurable levels of antibodies. In fairness some articles do mention this.
However, the true judge is reality, which we can attempt to study through the data.
CZECH REPUBLIC & HUNGARY
are currently reporting higher daily Covid-19 deaths per M than other European countries. Current daily deaths are significantly higher than their spring peaks. Interestingly, both experienced far lower earlier total deaths than many other countries.
One possibility is that the lower earlier totals correspond to fewer infections, leaving a larger proportion of the population still susceptible.
Incidentally, I do agree with people who've pointed out the unpleasantness of treating this sort of comparison almost as a macabre spectator sport. That should not be the intention. The purpose is to use the information to learn about the virus, value of measures taken etc.
AUTUMN 2020 CORONAVIRUS GROWTH
IN UK, FRANCE, ITALY & SPAIN
APPEARS TO BE MUCH MILDER THAN SPRING
An analysis:
[14 Oct 2020 v1]
[Notes added to charts in grey bubbles are my own.]
[Analysis, opinions & errors my own.]
Several countries that experienced relatively high fatalities in the spring have seen an autumn increase. The patterns are similar.
Comparing the recent increases to the spring suggests that the underlying situation might be significantly less severe than generally believed.
TESTING: See notes on chart.
Despite numerous issues relating to testing, we will treat the data as accurate here so as to err on the side of caution & good faith. This should give us a worst case picture, with the reality being likely somewhat milder.