My concern is the complete lack of nuance or open debate at the point we've reached. We've developed a global appetite for being in two horse races where you're either in one team or the other. A degree of inaccuracy or sometimes a downright lie is ok if you're doing it for the right reasons it seems.

This goes both ways. I saw a social media post where the author shared a video of an 'ambulance crew' pushing a gurney on a pavement then doing multiple takes. This was claimed to be evidence of crisis actors but was in fact the taping of a scene for Holby City. At the same time ITV used an actual crisis actor (whose professional profile is still online) doing his best puppy dog eyes saying he wished he'd been jabbed. Others have also been used.

You have Dr Hillary saying 90% of admissions are unjabbed when the actual figure was 35%. Granted he is widely known as an oily little weasel but even The Economist quoted 80%-90% around the same time before discreetly saying the data was 'out of date'.

I personally have no idea what level of protection the vaccine gives. I do remember the 'trial' results of 95% protection and whichever meaningful studies you now use (ie not Javid et al's favourite of '32 times more likely' etc) it's clearly way less than that. At the same time there is a clear uplift in protection and I can't see how this can be denied.

Early on there was a brief push on the issue of personal health and fitness. It just stopped. Telling people that some of their problems might be their own fault is never a good idea when the other side will tell them it isn't.

Someone has used the usual comeback to the comparison with smokers, the obese etc, being 'you can't catch them'. Aside from the risk of passive smoking that is true.

However there is a multitude of studies showing that the obese have far higher chances of worse outcomes and more severe infection even than people who are just overweight. There were also other studies (admittedly pre vaccine) which showed that based on actual droplet output 80% of transmission was caused by 20% of people. The main drivers? Level of infection (heavily influenced by obesity), age and BMI. Whenever the media gleefully come across an unvaxxed patient who 'wishes they'd had the jab' they are usually described either as 'having no underlying conditions' or 'fit and healthy', yet they are almost invariably enormous.


Obesity is rising alarmingly fast (up 22% even before lockdown no.1). In 2018 11,000 people were admitted to hospital with obesity itself listed as the primary factor). Given that the justification for every wave of cancelled non-covid appointments, missed diagnoses, increases in depression, suicide, domestic violence, child abuse etc is usually 'to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed' why is covid so special?

One of my best friends spent 3 years at AZ and from his experience what are referred to as 'lifestyle drugs' are massively profitable and are of course most welcome. Yet what will protect the NHS from increased admissions due to poor lifestyle choices?

There are clearly people whose risk profile means that the vaccine is a very good bet for them. My children and I, for example, are clearly not.

It is extremely difficult to separate the factual truth from the rest at the best of times but it has never been harder than it is now. The outright censorship of views which don't at least unquestioningly back the efficacy of vaccines is cause for concern in itself. Social media fastidiously scrubs itself clean yet the Taliban have a Twitter account when vaccine scepticism is seen as dangerous. The mental gymnastics which are being attempted even to avoid a conversation about the increased instances of heart scares etc in athletes are astonishing. Just have the conversation, be honest about vested interests and don't feel you always have to back 'the team'. It's ok not to have a clue but to try to mitigate your own risk whilst considering others as best you can