In March of 2021, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told us confidently that vaccines were “our way out” of the pandemic.
In fairness, he didn’t specify how many doses it would take to get there. And even now, we still don’t know.
As reported in Newstalk today:
“Booster certs will eventually be needed to access bars and restaurants, the Taoiseach has confirmed.
Under new rules adopted by the European Commission last month, the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate will soon only be valid for nine months.
…
Currently, booster doses are not recorded on COVID certs; however, the Government this afternoon confirmed that they will be updated in the coming weeks.Speaking after this morning’s Cabinet meeting, the Taoiseach said boosters would eventually be needed to enter bars and restaurants.”
Good news with regard to the EU Digital Covid Cert. In line with EU commitments, the certs will be updated to reflect third doses, by January 15th.
— Alan Farrell TD (@AlanFarrell) January 5, 2022
Note that this is the same cert policy which Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told us would only last “a number of weeks” back in July of last year. Now it’s proven to be about as temporary as the USC, as anyone who knows the government could have predicted.
The Tánaiste says he hopes that people don't see the reopening of indoor hospitality – for fully vaccinated people – as discrimination. He says that it is a public health measure and will only last a number of weeks | https://t.co/Rm6LXv63dA pic.twitter.com/G4icCq2KkL
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 12, 2021
Once again, we are being given a masterclass in timekeeping by a government that thinks “2 weeks to stop the spread” should last 2 years, and that sets re-opening dates that don’t exist, like “June 31st”.
Ireland's Covid vaccine rollout is not a race to the “31st of June”, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said. With just 30 days in the month of June, the Minister’s gaffe is now trending on social media. https://t.co/AJvkvpSdj1
— breakingnews.ie (@breakingnewsie) April 28, 2021
What’s next? Will the new budget be dropping on the 32nd of “No-Wonder”? Whatever you do, don’t ask these lads for the time if you want to arrive at your destination within the century.
Regardless, make no mistake about it; one booster will not be enough to secure a Covid Cert long term. I mean, sure, it might buy you a bit of time – but so did the first two doses, and those are now about to expire.
Already, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar is hinting at a need for not two, not three, but four vaccine doses – and this acceleration occurred in the space of a few weeks.
In the space of a few weeks, Leo Varadkar has gone from saying you need two vaccine doses to be fully-vaccinated, to three, to four. At this rate, @Ben_Scallan says he wouldn't be surprised if it was forty four by Christmas.#gript #nphet #taoiseach https://t.co/P1W6NK8liY
— gript (@griptmedia) December 10, 2021
And by European standards, even those are rookie numbers. As reported by Newsweek, just after Christmas the Dutch Health Minister announced a plan to give their citizens six doses of Covid vaccine.
Netherlands Announces Plan To Give People Up to Six Doses of COVID Vaccine https://t.co/jHGkNZMLhM
— James Hirsen (@thejimjams) December 30, 2021
By the time this is over we’ll all look like Pinhead (both the movie character, and the descriptor).
https://twitter.com/Ben_Scallan/status/1479080460089180169
No doubt, there are some people who will happily gobble up as many vaccines as Pfizer could throw at them. If they could, they’d sit at the end of the factory conveyor belt guzzling them down like Pacman. If Tony Holohan told them that wearing clown makeup and an adult nappy could stop Covid, they’d have pampers in one hand and dye in the other before the press conference was over. Those people surely exist.
But I find it hard to credit that it’s a majority of people, or anything like it. Most people are fundamentally sane, and rational, and just want their life back. They don’t want to become a human pin cushion and have to be injected every 3 months to retain their fundamental freedoms – they just won’t do it.
A small minority of 6% unvaccinated people are easy to crush. But make millions of double jabbed people “unvaccinated” by revoking their status until they get a booster, and the government may begin to run into difficulty rather quickly. People won’t continue to bang their head against the wall forever.
It’s quite possible that this never ending rollout and cert combination could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back as regards the public’s Covid patience – though only time will tell.