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Don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get mine. Not that I think it will do me much good, mind you – but mainly just to read the comments from readers. Anyway here’s the latest:
A new national Covid vaccine programme for all adults is on the way because of a lack of protection against new variants as the Taoiseach admitted to being “worried” about the impact of the virus this winter.
The virus “still retains a very strong disruptive capacity, which I think has been underestimated by people,” Micheál Martin told the Irish Independent, referring to both the hard-hit health system and wider economy.
Mr Martin said rollout of the fourth round of Covid vaccines is likely in the autumn due to an “evolution of the virus”.
I’m joking, by the way. As things stand, I don’t think there’ll be a fourth jab for me, and the Taoiseach’s phrasing above goes a long way towards explaining why.
Note that he says we need to take a fourth shot because of the “evolution of the virus”. Isn’t that the point? The virus has, indeed, evolved. The covid vaccines – at least those approved for use – have not. You’re taking a jab of a vaccine developed to combat the first iteration of the novel coronavirus, which may, or may not (and my money is on “may not”) be much use against whatever the newest variant is.
Then there’s the matter of personal experience. I have not had covid 19, thankfully, and perhaps the three doses of Moderna in my system have provided some protection against that, at some point. Maybe.
But we know for a fact that the vaccines do not prevent infection. In that sense, they are not truly “vaccines” at all, but prophylactics. Taking one works much the same way, in theory, as dosing up on vitamin C does if your spouse has a cold. It won’t stop you getting it, but your immune system will be better prepared if you do get it.
Then, in my personal calculations, there is also the matter of the side effects. I have had, as I mentioned, three doses of the vaccine – two original, and one booster – all with no ill effect other than a sore arm after jab one. But frankly, the evidence of side effects recorded by scientists is reaching a level where, for me, the risk/benefit analysis of jab four just doesn’t make much sense. For better or worse, and perhaps foolishly, I am more worried about myocarditis and heart inflammation than I am about covid, and the evidence is that the vaccine does slightly – but meaningfully – increase that risk.
When you balance that – an out-of-date vaccine against known side effects for a virus that has a very low fatality rate – I am inclined, as they say, to take my chances.
Still, those of us who are in favour of a liberal and non-alarmist approach to covid should probably welcome this announcement, assuming it comes without mandates and coercion. There is a substantial section of the population who are very alarmed still about covid – witness the level of mask wearing, for example, at any rural mass. Those people may be reassured by another vaccine, and, if they were not, Government might feel obliged to move back in the general direction of restrictions and lockdowns in the event of another big covid wave.
As ever, the right general policy here is one of choice. It is perfectly acceptable to come to a different conclusion to my (tentative) one about taking another dose. It is not unreasonable for Government to make that dose available to the very large number of people who will be very eager to take it. As a matter of public health, if a fourth dose manages to ease pressure on hospitals, even at the fringes, it may well be worthwhile.
What we should oppose at all costs, though, vaccine enthusiast and sceptic alike, is any return to coercion, and vaccine passports on phones, and having to prove oneself vaccinated to enter into buildings.
The case for all of those things was based on the now definitively disproven notion that the vaccine prevented, or substantially interrupted, transmission of covid 19. It does not. Therefore, there is no case for anything like that. I hope, and suspect, that this is a fact that has been quietly accepted by those in power. But as ever, we will wait and see.
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