Did over 80s think the vaccine had burst their bubble – and now they are mixing for trouble?

Manchester writer, Dorrie Bridge asks a question that matters for our elderly sacrificial lambs.

One of today’s headlines in the press is that a fair percentage of the over 80s, having had one dose of the vaccine – or two in some cases – have been breaking the lock-down.

In the main it seems to be that they are ‘mixing’…

… meeting people outside their ‘bubble’, and they are meeting indoors.

Now, we in this age group have been the ones who have stayed at home and, basically, been asked to Save the NHS. Again, some of us have followed the rules to the letter because of being warned by our GPs of our High Risk status.

Let’s get this straight, being over 80 doesn’t make you suddenly become sheep. The vigilance asked for by government and by science has been adhered to by individuals prepared to make the sacrifice, having thought through the reasons as they would have BEFORE they were 80.

You don’t suddenly stop reasoning or having logical thoughts – you are the same ‘thinking’ people in the main as you were at sixty five or seventy five.

Many who have made sacrifices have suffered great distress and anxiety. They have quite rightly occasionally thought they were being made into sacrificial lambs.

Now having been invited to the vaccination, being the first guinea pigs to take it so to speak, they are trying to pick up some kind of life.

Unfortunately the powers-that-be are not giving out the message clearly enough – the vaccine will not stop you getting the disease, it will mean that (in the older group) you are less likely to go into hospital and die.

However the vast majority of younger people are not yet vaccinated and the spread of Covid is still very high. This fact alone means that nobody can mix freely, whatever your age. I gather that the overall message which needs to given to the entire population is that when we get as near as possible everyone vaccinated, twice, that could result in ‘herd immunity’.

The attainment of this aim is some way in the future and also subject to confirmation and a close eye on the rest of the world to avoid re-infection from countries who may not have reached our ‘herd immunity.

I know that the figures out today about the over 80s feeling a false sense of security are not just statistics. We are all sick and mentally drained with isolation but can someone get this message across – and give us all a chance of freedom in the future.

Obviously this message needs broadcasting far and wide.

It isn’t just a percentage of the over 80s who are deciding they can now ‘mix’ – the more people who are vaccinated, in all age groups, the more they will precipitously mix. Keep up the precautions, ease them as advised and little by little our lives may start again.

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