Move towards more personal responsibility

[Orangeblossom7777]

Just seen this on the BBC. Thoughts?

Move to personal responsibility after Easter, says Hancock
Matt Hancock, who's faced two hours of questioning by MPs from the health and science committees, said there would be a shift to an emphasis on "personal responsibility" rather than social distancing restrictions after Easter - once the vaccine has reached the most vulnerable people.

He said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) had recommended that once all those aged 50 years and over had been vaccinated - group 10 on their priority list - social distancing restrictions that "damage" society were likely to be lifted.

"I think that, should we manage to get the number of deaths, the number of hospitalisations, down sharply because of the vaccination programme then essentially I think we will get to the point where we are protecting the most vulnerable and there [is)] the argument for more personal responsibility, he said.

Great, if that means everyone goes back to work after Easter, particularly the universities. I'd hope that the Unis would start preparing now for a return to full/normal lectures and face to face teaching for the final semester (Easter to Summer). Same with the NHS and other organisations. Life needs to be back to normal at/after Easter and businesses/organisations need to start planning for that now. It's good that the government are starting to send this message. Those who are afraid of returning to normal/work etc need to consider their positions.

Also some of the summer festivals such as Glastonbury will be able to go ahead. It will be nice to be able to plan things. And good riddance to nannying 'signs' everywhere.

Yes most definitely! This is brilliant news I hope it happens. Once the most vulnerable are vaccinated there’s no way I’m keeping to social distancing. Just not going to happen, I’m glad they are finally seeing sense

If people genuinely think the “vulnerable” will all be vaccinated you are either naive or sticking your fingers in your ears so you can have life as normal.

It's fine as long as the vulnerable have been vaccinated because whilst there are antibody trials, an immunosuppressed person can not have a live vaccine so the current vaccines can not be used.

THIS By April I’ll be 30 weeks pregnant. I don’t want my employer to suddenly drop all of the precautions they’ve put in place

More on the BBC:

"Health Secretary Matt Hancock found himself spending much of his appearance before the House of Common’s Health Committee defending his record – from decisions taken at the very start of the pandemic to the lack of success NHS test-and-trace had in stopping the second wave.

But there were also some hints on what we can expect in the future.

Easter was highlighted as the key date for when restrictions could be significantly eased, as by then the vast majority of the vulnerable population will be immunised, he said he hoped

also

What we learned from Hancock's grilling
Health Secretary Matt Hancock's two hours are up - dozens of questions were asked but these were the key points to come out of the joint inquiry:

Life will be "getting back to normal" after Easter, and the more “damaging interventions” into our lives and economy will be lifted if the vaccines are approved

@Orangeblossom7777

I do wonder of some may miss the shaming and blaming though and may be a bit sad for it to end, going by some posts on here. Maybe they will need to find something else to talk about perhaps

completely agree with this. Some MN posters will have some very empty lives without covid to justify their curtain twitching and judging. All the good news that keeps coming out about vaccines must be so disappointing for them.

Maybe they will have 'nostalgia' for it, talk sadly about it 'remember when' type thing...I have seen posts about nostalgia for lockdown already.

Or may be busy prepping for the next one perhaps

@Orangeblossom7777

If everyone over 50 and the vulnerable has been offered the vaccine the rest would be low risk presumably

My 7 year old dd is vulnerable (downgraded from CEV literally this week, still pretty high risk). No suggestion whatsoever that vulnerable or extremely vulnerable under-18s will be vaccinated. So this isn't strictly true op.

What about cev children? 49 year olds with well controlled diabetes (they are not currently on the cv list for a priority vaccine)? Covid will still be rampant among the majority of the population won’t it?

I’m the wrong side of 45 and obese. Have lost loads of weight, but still have loads to go. I don’t think I can “go back to normal” until I feel a bit safer.

Many won’t bother with personal responsibility so I’d rather we had rules until it’s safe.

It’s always been a balance. Don’t forget that restrictions also have a negative impact on lives and health.

There will come point where we need to get on with life. There were always risks to vulnerable people, even before Covid.

Sounds good to me.

Once hospitalisations decrease I don’t see that the benefit of SD restrictions outweigh the harm of them.

Exactly how it should be! We do not need a Government to tell us how to live our lives...

And this can’t come soon enough if you ask me! It fascinates me how much some people seem to be loving the government telling them what to do and how to live. I’m putting up with the restrictions for the sake of public health but once the vulnerable have been vaccinated and there is no risk of our precious NHS falling over, I’d welcome the government keeping its beak out of how I live my life thank you very much. Adults should be think and make decisions for themselves, like we always have done. If people choose to play fast and loose with their lives then good luck to them. Last I checked we weren’t a communist regime and I for one have no desire to live under one!

I honestly don't know what the people who aren't happy with this think should happen instead? Should we socially distance until, what, we've eradicated all known disease?

@Lemons1571

What about cev children? 49 year olds with well controlled diabetes (they are not currently on the cv list for a priority vaccine)? Covid will still be rampant among the majority of the population won’t it?

I’m the wrong side of 45 and obese. Have lost loads of weight, but still have loads to go. I don’t think I can “go back to normal” until I feel a bit safer.

That’s why they are saying personal responsibility. Like every other Illness. The most vulnerable will have been vaccinated so the main threat to the NHS sorted. The economy, mental health and general life can’t be put on hold after that risk is sorted. It will be up to everyone to decide what to do, those who want to stay in can and those who want to get back to normal can.

When will it be "safe"? Because it won't ever be, we won't eradicate Covid.

I feel safe on a personal level. Once there is a vaccine available for the most vulnerable then I'll be happy to take personal responsibility. As a healthy 30 year old white woman I won't be in line for the vaccine any time soon, I'm not waiting until I've had it to start living normally again.

Vaccinate the vulnerable and get on with life needs to be the way forward.

I think Easter might be a bit too early though (Good Friday is April 2nd).

For one thing several millions of vulnerable people will need to have been vaccinated with it shown to be working. And we'll need to be in a good position regarding Covid. The hospitalizations and death rates right down.

At that point then yeah we need to go back to normal, while taking sensible precautions and start to move away from masks and social distancing. At least as a rule.

Can we make a nationwide or even worldwide agreement that when this is all over we never ever use to word ‘safe’ again. I can’t cope with hearing it 40,000 times a day forever.

“ I’d rather we had rules until it’s safe.”

Define safe.

Bluntly, we don’t all not drive so absolutely nobody dies of road pollution related disease or in accidents. We don’t vaccinate against chickenpox to prevent a small number of children becoming ill and dying. We don’t restrict everyone during flu season to prevent flu deaths. We don’t ban the sale or public consumption of foods containing nuts, eggs, dairy or wheat despite a small proportion of people being anaphylactically allergic to them. At some point the needs of the vast majority to have jobs, education, public services, visit family and have normal social lives outweigh the needs of the very small minority who cannot be vaccinated to keep absolutely safe from covid. We don’t keep people absolutely safe from anything else. Or are people seriously suggesting we continue the restrictions of this year indefinitely?

The list I saw had type 1 diabetics above the over 50s so the 49 year old well controlled diabetic would likely be covered if they get through to those over 50

Exciting news. Im actually relieved those in power are now talking about this as i was beginning to wonder.

To anyone who thinks it's a bad idea - did you never leave your houses before lockdown??

@halcyondays

And pre Covid even those lucky enough to get full pay when off sick wouldn’t stay off every time they had a runny nose because they’d very soon get a warning for being off sick too much.

I'd like to see a shift towards people being made to work from home (if feasible) when they're ill, beyond Covid,.

Obviously not everyone can work from home, but it'd stop so much spread of illness in the community if sick people weren't working in offices and were thus off public transport etc.

WFH from this winter, it's nice not to be ill all the time with various colds and viruses that everyone brings in.