BoJo ripped for saying fully vaccinated people still can't meet indoors because jabs don't give '100% protection'

RT
Fri, 02 Apr 2021 12:46 UTC

© Twitter / @BorisJohnson

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was accused of undermining his government's vaccination program after he told Brits that those fully inoculated against Covid-19 could still not meet indoors as they were not completely protected.

In a Q&A video published on Friday, Johnson said vaccinated friends and family members could not meet one another indoors because "we're not yet at that stage".

"Even though your friends and family members may be vaccinated, the vaccines are not giving 100% protection, and that's why we just need to be cautious," he claimed, concluding that the government does not think vaccination removes the risk of transmitting the virus.

Social media users were quick to criticise Johnson for undermining the UK's vaccination program with his comments, and mocked the prime minister for inadvertently making an argument against vaccine passports, which he reportedly wants to implement.

"Feels like a slightly dangerous argument when govt trying to persuade everyone to get jabbed - and when road map suggests people will be able to meet indoors from next month," tweeted Daily Mail political editor Jason Groves, while another Brit questioned when life "require(d) 100% safety".

"Following that logic, almost everything would be banned," he wrote.

Times Radio presenter Stig Abell said he believes two fully vaccinated people should hug if they want to, "otherwise why bother with anything. And I think two fully vaccinated people will hug whether the government likes it or not."

Others pointed out that up to 30 people can currently be in a room together for funerals, whether they're vaccinated or not, and warned that Johnson's comments could make people stop following the coronavirus guidelines.

Pilot events for a vaccine passport system are reportedly being planned this month, and Johnson has previously said that pub landlords and other business owners could ban entry to those who have not been vaccinated or cannot provide a negative Covid-19 test result.

On Thursday, Johnson also claimed that vaccine passports would "definitely" soon be required for international travel and that a similar system could also be "useful" domestically.

Comment: This, from RT, is quite telling:

Covid-19 vaccination should be framed as 'racial inequality issue' to convince minorities to take jab, doctor tells Hancock

The government should promote the Covid-19 vaccine to skeptical minorities through the lens of racial 'health inequalities,' a doctor has told UK Health Minister Matt Hancock.

In a video published by the Department of Health and Social Care, Hancock asked Dr Charles Esene, chairman of Afro GP Herts & Beds, what he would say to someone who came to his clinic and said they were "worried" about being vaccinated.

"It depends on the race," replied Esene, explaining that if "the person is an ethnic minority, then of course you have a conversation about the existing health inequalities" and the impact of Covid-19 on the black community.

Esene also said the government should make minorities "understand that this is also trying to move the black community away from being the hard-to-reach, underserved community" and that "this is the beginning of the conversation about addressing the wider health inequalities in society."

When in doubt, play the race card! Keep in mind, if there were a real pandemic that was actually killing inordinate numbers of people, most people would not need to be convinced (or coerced) into taking protective measures.

Meanwhile, a top UK health adviser has admited that lockdowns won't make Covid disappear and society will have to 'manage it like the flu'. From RT:

Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, has conceded that Covid-19 lockdowns can't go on forever and won't eliminate the virus anyway - a view that might have helped before Britons endured months of draconian restrictions.

"Covid is not going to go away," Whitty said in a Royal Society of Medicine webinar on Thursday. "This is now a disease that for the rest of our careers is going to be around. So, it is clear that we are going to have to manage it, at some point, rather like we manage the flu."

...

"We need to work out some balance which actually keeps it at a low level, minimises deaths as best we can, but in a way that the population tolerates, through medical countermeasures like vaccines and in due course, drugs, which mean you can minimise mortality while not maximising the economic and social impacts on our fellow citizens," Whitty said.