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England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

bbc.co.uk

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Re: England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

#152
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to go into a restaurant to eat. Which is what is now being asked in many places.

Well, now we do. At least in Hamburg, Germany. It was very quick to adapt, you flash your QR code and that’s it, we are back to supporting our local restaurants and other businesses we love. The alternative was to see them close one by one, I’m personally very happy with the way the EU vaccine pass has been implemented.

You understand that the restaurants were closing “one by one” because the government was closing them, and not because patrons were not attending them? It was a self-inflected wound.

Re: England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

#153
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blood donors are going to be underrepresentative of people with a fear of needles, people who don't trust the medical system, and be overrepresentative of selfless people. I suspect an extremely strong correlation between giving blood and being vaccinated.

I agree that there must be a strong correlation. I had a classmate who was horrified to learn I checked the organ donor box in my driver's license. Their parents told them if you check that box, the medical staff will be more likely to let you die so they can reuse your parts. I did't have any authoritative answer but the point is there are people out there with fears that sound rational but are completely in the rea…

> conspiracy theory

We don't call them that anymore. The new term is "spoiler alert"

Re: England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

#154
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we are long past "short" anything related to COVID. It is now clearly endemic and will persist indefinitely. People need to make their own decisions on how to protect themselves and get on with their lives.

So should we invest in vastly increasing hospital staffing and facilities because the current ICU loads are the new normal?

why not? it seems absurd to think that at no point in the future will there be infectious endemic diseases.

hospital infrastructure hardly seems like the wrong thing to overbuild.

Re: England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

#155
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we are long past "short" anything related to COVID. It is now clearly endemic and will persist indefinitely. People need to make their own decisions on how to protect themselves and get on with their lives.

So should we invest in vastly increasing hospital staffing and facilities because the current ICU loads are the new normal?

ICU load is now much lower for a given level of cases and barring new variants it will likely decrease further with boaster shots and more people recovered from infection and possible new therapeutics. Moderately increasing ICU capacity would be expensive but not vastly so. See "people in ventilator beds" in the link

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare

Re: England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

#157
post #6

As they should be, considering that the vaccines do not stop people from getting infected and infecting others. Making sure there are only vaccinated people in a bar does not mean the people inside can’t get infected so this measure does not help achieve that goal.

> vaccines do not stop people from getting infected and infecting others. ... does not mean the people inside can’t get infected so this measure does not help achieve that goal.

This is absolutist thinking - "people can still get infected, so this does not help at all" - this not true in the slightest:

"it can still happen" is not the same "as it happens at the same rate as before". And "It's not perfect" isn't the same as "does not help".

vaccination reduces the rate of infection, a lot, so it does help, a lot. None of this is binary, thinking in absolutes will lead you to false conclusions.

Re: England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voting?

In America it’s widely controversial to require ID when voting, but not so in the rest of the world.

> In America it’s widely controversial to require ID when voting

Yes, one party seems to think those of a non-white skin color are unable (through ignorance or lack of access) to obtain any form of ID so they can vote.

Re: England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voting?

In America it’s widely controversial to require ID when voting, but not so in the rest of the world.

This is not true. In the UK there is currently no requirement to show ID when voting.

There may be soon - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57723200 - but it certainly isn't common in the UK.

Re: England vaccine passport plans ditched, health secretary says

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vaccinated are actually at a lot lower risk to catch the disease and even less likely to actually develop symptoms and severe cases. Keeping unvaccinated out protects them from those who can spread it unknowingly.

Or you can not accept the nanny state and let people decide for themselves over things that affect themselves. Who knows, if you afford people that kind of respect they might even believe that states ideas on whether getting vaccinated is good for them.

How does this follow from your earlier point, or in any way answer the parent? It seems more like a change of topic.
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