I am getting increasingly fed up with Government spokespeople – the people, I’d remind you, who have failed to control this virus, who rejected a lockdown until it was forced upon them, who failed to recognise the Christmas spike they were creating and who have u-turned on school attendance policies so many time they need a compass to work out which way they are now facing – telling us how wonderful things will be once we lift lockdown.
On Sunday we had Dominic Raab popping up to tell us that restrictions could be eased once the first wave of vaccinations is completed in February. The only thing he failed to add was the condition “…if you’ve all been good boys and girls”. He tells us that people get a “very high” level of protection on just one dose of the vaccine. Wow, “very high” eh? As much as that? And, pray tell me Dominic, how high is that exactly? What sort of real numbers are we talking about here?
Don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those clamouring for restrictions to be lifted. They need to stay in place as long as necessary to get the number of cases down and bring relief to the NHS, but let’s be realistic, every time they’ve lifted restrictions, it’s been premature. They have been late to the lockdown party, and one of the first to leave it every time so far. Making rash promises of easing restrictions is not what they should be doing, because when we get to the end of February, apart maybe from some of the pensioners who’ve had their jabs, the majority of the population will still need to carry on protecting themselves, avoiding other people, wearing the masks and schooling at home through until September.
Every day we hear NHS specialists tell us how “extreme” the circumstances are in their hospitals, and I’m very much worried the words will start to lose their effect. The truth is we have people working in the NHS under such terrible conditions at the moment who are bearing the brunt of the Government’s failure of control. They go on day after day dealing with the cramming of infected people into hospitals, the long and arduous working shifts and the heartbreak of seeing some of their patients die. “Extreme” has become the norm and it shouldn’t be like this. False promises of light at the end of the tunnel without evidence to prove it are not going help.