Life in a flu bubble
Re: "Covid cases hit 33k last week", (BP, May 19) & "Covid alert as six die last week,' (BP, May 13).
I will start this letter by saying that any loss of life is something to be deeply concerned about.
That said, as I have walked in & out of clouds of Covid-19 in my high school classrooms. I'm not vaccinated, don't wear a mask, don't worry about it, am now immune to it and have something to politely say:
Move on.
Coronaviruses (the flu) have been with us since we were cavemen. The hysteria regarding Covid-19 is over outside Thailand, and Western media attempts to start a new round of hysteria regarding "bird flu" have no traction because, as long as you live, you will eventually get a cold or the flu.
You could move to your own island and still get the flu. You could move to the hottest places on earth and maybe not get the flu, but then could get dengue fever, or maybe be bitten by a poisonous spider, or maybe space junk could crash upon your head like the failed Russian Venus probe which just slammed into (experts think) the Indian Ocean.
Sadly, a small number of people cannot survive the flu, but that's life unless you want to live inside a full body latex condom. Risk is part of the game if you want to live and be happy, and if you get the flu, the odds are 99.999% that you will be just fine with a little Kleenex.
Jason A Jellison
Ignore the sceptics
Re: "Jabs raise red flags", (PostBag, May 14).
See our favourite anti-vaccine fearmongerer has been at it again.
Michael Setter claims "Both influenza and Covid vaccines have been shown to have negative effectiveness in protecting against disease or reducing the severity of symptoms."
Presumably this is based on the exceptional number of infections reported in a non-peer-reviewed article by Cleveland Clinic researchers titled "Effectiveness of the Influenza Vaccine During the 2024-2025 Respiratory Viral Season"'.
Of course, the absurd conclusion drawn in the Youtube video from which Mr Setter no doubt gleaned this little gem failed to mention that more people are likely to contract Covid in a healthcare setting such as the Cleveland Clinic.
It also fails to mention that the vaccine is developed well in advance of the actual flu season, meaning they don't always correctly predict the most successful variants in advance.
In other words, the effectiveness of the vaccines cannot be predicted each year.
To quote Robert H Hopkins Jr, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, "People should be aware that the effectiveness of flu vaccines vary from year to year, but even when flu vaccination does not prevent infection completely, it can make the illness milder and prevent serious complications, including hospitalisation and death."
In other words, ignore anti-vaccine misinformation when making health care choices for you and your family.
Tarquin Chufflebottom.
