Quote Originally Posted by ozleeds View Post
Vaccines won't stop the virus so where do you get the idea of no masks. Even the lying pollies here have said masks will be here for years and we better get used to them.
Vaccines are to reduce the effect of the virus and they are not even sure how long the injection will last. People with full vaccination can still get the virus and pass it on.
We live with bacterial and viral infections all the time and we build immunity via recovery from infection and vaccination, which as you rightly state reduce the effect of those infections.

Unlike Australia and New Zealand where vaccination has been slow and focus has been on containment, there are new lockdowns (statewide and/or national) almost weekly. With the population distribution and geography/topology initial efforts at containment may have made sense, but not once adequate numbers and quantities of vaccines became available. You are paying for the smug self-satisfaction that was generated by the success if those early, distinctly short-term gains.

Here with nearly 90% single and over 75% double vaccinated adults we have seen infection rates rise as almost all restrictions (including the general use of masks) have been lifted nationally but hospital admissions haven't followed as they did in the first two surges, neither thankfully have deaths. Will protection last forever? No. Does protection via the flu virus last forever? Equally no. Viruses mutate. I would rather live with a need for a regular vaccine booster than wearing masks