🧵 on vaccine mandates for C-19. I'm writing this only because I agreed to do so & I'm trying to stick to my word - my tolerance for these debates is at an end. I'm also not a public health or public policy expert or a noted *anything* on this topic, but here goes anyway. 1/ Firstly, all pro-vaccine folks need to confront a sad & uncomfortable fact - there are far more hesitant & anti-vaccine (or anti-covid-vaccine) people in SA than we (or at least I) had assumed. We don't know exact numbers, but it looks like well over 50%. 2/

Follow up PSA 🧵: The QR codes used for Covid vaccine certificates are *totally safe* unless you share photographs of them publicly. In my zeal to get the word out to protect people from unintentional privacy leaks, I didn't get to all the details. Here are some vital things 1/ Private details like name and ID number *are* embedded in the QR codes but this is by design and a necessary evil. They must be able to replicate the same usability as paper certificates. That means they cannot rely on internet connections or bespoke encryption solutions 2/

PSA: Folks, do not share photos of yourself with your new vaccine QR code visible. The code has your personal details (incl. ID number) embedded in it (and not encrypted). Please share this widely (you don't have to RT, I don't give a shit about cred, just share). Argh, forgot to thank @EvanJKnowles for the heads up on this.

Thought experiment: what would our collective response to the pandemic have looked like if the mortality curve were reversed - i.e. babies were the most likely to die, then infants, then toddlers. We all know it would have been an entirely different story. But why? 1/ The idea that we see old people as "disposable" has never been more true. You have anti-lockdown advocates sayings, out loud, "these people are older than the life expectancy of their country so fuck 'em". 2/

PSA: A few quick counter-arguments to the more recent and persistent anti-vaxx or vaxx-doubting memes & tropes:
1. No vaccine grants complete immunity. Polio was 80% - 90%. Measles - one of the best - has a 3% breakthrough rate. Do not accept "dictionary definition" arguments. 2. Scientists & experts who are pushing covid or vaccine doubts, or alternative therapies, are not "free from bias" because they happen to be on the opposite side to "Big Pharma". They have seen the opportunity of a lifetime to become world famous. Some are selling alt meds.

This is the mechanism of truly effective disinformation at work. Reply to a false claim that you are your cronies have asserted ("jabs are actually *causing* infections") with a study which "proves" your point. Except it doesn't - at all... 1/ What the study *actually* says is - we've found that some people's immune systems are briefly attenuated after the vaccine, so that healthcare workers in daily contact with the virus *may* be more likely to catch it *for a couple of weeks*. 2/

A lot of what end up being called skirmishes in the "culture war" are just a case of both sides being a bit silly, and then one (or both) sides escalating to the point of abuse or violence. Case in point is this foolishness: theguardian.com/books/2021/aug… ...which then resulted in this ugliness: badformreview.com/read/yo21 (although, not without significant ugliness from both sides, it must be said)

You know when you post about something for sale and you list the price, how to contact you, when it will be available & how it will be shipped or collected? Then the first 10 questions are "How much?" & "Can I email you?" - that's what arguing with anti-vaxx peeps is like. "But it doesn't confer complete immunity!"
- We never said it would - it just helps enormously at scale
"Some people still go to hospital!"
- Yes, like we said they would, but far fewer of them die
"You can get side effects!"
- Yes, exactly like we said, but they are rare!