Even a family member stated that we would not know whether the vaccines are safe for 15 years. Personally I think that is ridiculous – the vaccines that were developed were adaptations from existing ones so not developed from scratch. For me to have the jab was a total no brainer. For children the situation is more nuanced. If they live in a care for a vulnerable person situation it is probably a jab, otherwise not jab!
there do seem to be more virus and things around this year which is to be expected after lockdown and mask wearing. With about 1/8th of the worlds population China has a lot of scope to develop variants, especially in rural areas where people are now heading for the Chinese New Year. I suspect world business leaders and politicians have leaned on the the Chinese leaders to relax restrictions – and the recent riots will have been influenced by access to media from around the world. To its credit China put people first, but I am not sure about their vaccinations and policy. Let us hope that we do not have another wave (although the south-west is increasing and the R rate is 0-9-1.2, but hopefully not virulent, although flu seems to be.
Bird Flu is also causing great distress in the environment and showing no sign of abatement.