Over my last few blogs, I have been discussing the upcoming debate between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. Things are becoming more heated as the unvaccinated becomes a minority in countries where countries have enough vaccines to protect their population.
I try to seek out the reasons behind the hesitation to get the vaccines via a few Clubhouse chat groups where they try to have an open discussion to listen to both sides of the story. The main argument for not taking the shot was “My body, my personal right”. This was followed up with some other explanations which I find hard to accept.
Firstly, they argued that the science behind the virus was not accurate and it is constantly changing. Duh!! We knew very little about the virus at the beginning of 2020 and had to react accordingly to it as we got more data while it is also evolving into new strains. Doing the same thing many times and expecting a different outcome is not the way to fight an ever-changing invisible enemy.
Then there were the hearsay arguments that are repeated trumped as gospel truths. That they or their FB “friends” see an empty ICU ward in their community and use it as evidence that the media is lying to them about overwhelmed facilities and the deadliness of Delta sweeping the country.
Next comes what I term is the “selfish” argument. If 99% of people who contacted COVID19 will recover and not die, why should they take it? What about your family and loved ones around you then? You could spread it to them and also become an agent to the development of a new mutation of the virus. Have you not heard of long Covid yet? Symptoms can remain for many months after you recover from the infection.
The virus is ever-evolving and governments are constantly trying to get ahead of the game over the last 18 months. It didn’t help that politics came into play and trumped science and common sense in the initial phase. This caused a setback of at least 6 months where many lives were unnecessarily lost. The vaccines arrived in Dec 2020 and the logistical nightmare to distribute them was huge.
Two things have happened since then. One, that more people in the privileged countries with sufficient supplies can get vaccinated. Tw0, that there is enough evidence to conclude that they do work to prevent hospitalization and death.
As the goal of achieving herd immunity through vaccination is slowly being reached, the unvaccinated will become a minority. When 70 to 80% of the population is vaccinated, the vaccinated majority will want their movement restrictions to be relaxed. The only problem is that the unvaccinated may stand in the way of reopening.
So what is the solution? Companies and governments naturally have to restrict the movements of the unvaccinated going forward, right? You cannot make the class stay back after school just because of one class bully. That’s not fair. Instead, you should only make the class bully remain in class.
The unvaccinated should now have to wear masks everywhere they go (which they have been protesting against for months LOL). They have to go for regular testing. Their rights to activities like dining out or group gatherings will have to be restricted. They cannot assume that life will return to normal for them as they are now a risk to society and themselves. Hospital facilities may be filled up by them if the next wave hits.
Vaccine immunity electronic passports will become the norm. Those that do not have them will not be welcomed to visit other countries. This will be for the greater good of the whole community. Welcome to the new normal.
The situation is dire for the countries that currently have low vaccination rates due to the inability to get enough vaccine supplies. I speak to my counterparts in Myanmar and things are getting from bad to worst. They are resigned to the fact that the probability of getting infected with COVID is high and they have to try their best to protect themselves. Vaccine supplies are not coming anytime soon. They just have to hunker down and hope for the best.
The whole of Asia is experiencing a surge of Delta cases now. Even China and Japan are not spared. Daily cases in America are also rising and the hospitalized are getting younger as 99% of deaths are from the unvaccinated. It seems like the latest wave is winning but yet the stock markets are still rising.
Our little red dot is embarking on a brave new experiment to treat COVID as an endemic event and not a pandemic anymore. It just announced measures to cautiously reopen again just when everyone else is trying to add more lockdowns. Even as we see 4 new deaths within the last week (all unvaccinated), the push to reopen is reinforced by the fact that 70% of the population will be vaccinated by next week.
By the end of Aug, that percentage will jump to 80%. It will mean that there is high confidence in knowing that there is a low probability of ICUs being overwhelmed. Hence the need to differentiate the treatment of the unvaccinated and allow the economy to function again.
Over the last few weeks of lockdown, I have personally seen a number of F&B outlets calling it quits for good. The start-stop lockdowns were death by a thousand paper cuts for them. It had finally completely eaten into their reserves and they have to throw in the towel. This reopening announcement had come in too late for them.
The virus is a formidable enemy. The GIF video below aptly describes the current situation where many curved balls have been served to the authorities who have to be nimble and change accordingly to react to the latest salvo. It is an uphill battle where each individual and authority try to fight on for the sake of society survival. We will get to the finishing line and many sacrifices have to be offered. The unvaccinated are the next in the line of sight for authorities and companies…
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