Vaccine success
Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock delivered more good vaccine news — a first dose of both the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines reduce the chances of hospitalisation by over 80 per cent, in a study of people over 80.
This is a further boon to the Oxford vaccine. It also flies in the face of the French President Emmanuel Macron’s damaging — and now provably false assertion — that the Oxford vaccine is “quasi-ineffective” for people over 65. France is now expected to lift restrictions on the jab for older people.
This is not about gloating, though Boris Johnson is enjoying a huge vaccine boost to his ratings. It is further evidence of the astonishing work carried out by scientists in Britain and around the world, who have developed efficacious and life-saving vaccines in record time.
Holiday with the kids?
Vaccine passports raise the obvious question — if our young people are not set to get the jab by summer, can they go on foreign holidays and will a test be enough?
For millions of parents, after months of moonlighting as teaching assistants, cooks and entertainers the answer might be “we hope not”. Every parent knows that a holiday with children does not necessarily constitute a week of relaxation.
In these limited circumstances, a law requiring the kids to stay at home may not be so unpopular.
