Covid 19 Part XXXV-956,720 ROI (5,952 deaths) 452,946 NI (3,002 deaths) (08/01) Read OP

The 50% you've referenced will make the headlines but that's listed as the "worst case scenario"

"Prof Spector continued: "Waning protection is to be expected and is not a reason to not get vaccinated.

"Vaccines still provide high levels of protection for the majority of the population, especially against the Delta variant, so we still need as many people as possible to get fully vaccinated."

With boosters to probably end up like a regular flu vaccine then I wouldn't see why they wouldn't hold their nerve, you either live with it or you don't

What we have learnt during this is that the health system will take something nuclear to collapse. It might become more dysfunctional under the pressure but it will survive.

It still ultimately all comes down to the "what then" question you ask of any action.

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We lock down. What then? We suppress the virus and live with it.

That doesn't work. What then?

We lock down again. What then? We wait for vaccines and we roll them out. What then? We reopen.

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If that doesn't work, and we ask "what then", the only option is is to remain open and keep going.

There is no "we lock down until we roll out boosters" option, because if you ask "what then", you get into an endless loop of lockdowns and boosters.

Even waning after six moths, the level of protection afforded by the original two doses is more than enough to protect the vast majority of the population. Vulnerable groups are still protected, just less so. Which means we can roll out boosters to the older/vulnerable groups without having to implement any new restrictions or maintain the mandatory basis of others.

To keep FF voters happy, thats what.

If they realised they would have to bring vaccine passes and mask up there would be outrage when 40k people realise how burdensome all this really is.

Best tactic is to hide it for the most part, and bring it in slowly. Boiling frog comes to mind.

The honest answer to the GAA question is that the permitted crowd numbers are written in the emergency legislation, and so reducing the numbers now (or allowing larger gigs), would require recalling the Dail and making TDs do some work. Likewise mandating vaccine checks would require changes to the legislation.

So they won't do it.

Wouldn't be overly concerned about the mask or vaccine thing with Croke Park. It's entirely open. The only indoor areas are for private events and VIP ticket holders; were/are they even open?

The huge disparity between sports and other outdoors activities though is going to be something they'll be punished for. It was a pretty big oversight to not build in a more flexible mechanism for proscribing the permitted numbers at gigs. At the moment it's actually written in the bills. They should have set it up so that the relevant minister over an area had the power to issue or revoke special licences, or something like that.

The most vulnerable were not fully vaccinated until mid-late July. "Europe" did not have a single unified reopening plan in May, and it would have been ill-advised to just blindly follow the path of others, given our unique geopolitical situation.

In the vast majority of cases, "reopening" consisted of vaccine certs and/or recent tests. Which is a path we didn't want to go down. In hindsight sticking doggedly to that was a mistake, but given how many people are still whinging about vaccine certs and indoor dining, you can imagine the shitstorm.

There's also zero excuse for not having vaccine checks or masks at the matches. That's a no-brainer.

I agree entirely, and for everyone over the past 18 months who complained, "Well why can't we have matches outside where it's safe", these scenes illustrated exactly the problem. All of the naysayers who dismissed the congregating as a concern can now see exactly what happens.

Like I say, fundamentally the problem here is not these scenes at the weekend. They're actually fine at this stage in the pandemic. The problem is how far behind reality the government legislation is. I said it at the time; they should never have taken their recess. In the middle of a pandemic, at a crucial stage in our reopening plan, and they all **** off on holidays.

They pegged weeks in advance to permit the GAA to have large crowds, but ignored the fact that this is bread-and-butter for the GAA, who can spin up a massive sporting event within a week. Other outdoor events need weeks, if not months to get everything in place and so can't be left at the mercy of the Government only deciding whether their event is feasible with a couple of weeks' notice.

Relevant ministers should have had the powers to licence events. That would open up a new avenue of complaining about favouritism, but at least there would be scope for it.

Vaccine checks at matches are not covered by the legislation. The GAA could choose to do it, but why would they? Would any event organiser choose to do it if they didn't have to?

The GAA is almost running this country.

Not a PCR test, recovery cert or a vaccine cert needed to be in a crowd of 40k people, not to mention masks or social distancing...meanwhile I need to show my qr cert to have a coffee inside the door of a practically empty coffee shop.

What group's were not vaccinated until mid July?

Most of those not vaccinated by early June were at a much reduced risk of severe disease, people in their 20's on immune suppressant drugs were vaccinated in May(certainly people in my area)

Whats this about a sh#t storm over needing a negative Antigen test? Many countries provided testing free on a Friday for citizens to enjoy their weekend socialising. This of course helped reduce case numbers as many cases were identified that subsequently isolated.

In Ireland we decide to restrict all access to those liberties to those who had availed of a limited resource, (vaccine) that's what the outrage was over

The religious/purist position of NPHET on antigen testing is baffling.

I'd rather GAA to run the country than group of academics from Nphet

I wasnt fully vaccinated until Mid June . Nor were my friends all in Cohort 5 ( 60-69 ) Four weeks later was mid July