Government threatens to extend lockdown if ‘enough’ don’t vaccinate

As is so common in modern British politics, what is said to be and what is are two very different things.

I wrote yesterday that the vaccination programme would likely end up being ‘voluntary in name only’ — that restrictions on daily life would push those unwilling to take the vaccine to conform. Another indicator of this has emerged today, with the Government warning that lockdown will continue for longer if not enough people vaccinate.

The Times reports:

‘Boris Johnson has appealed for the final two million people who are over 70 or work in healthcare and who have not yet been vaccinated to come forward, warning that leaving large numbers unprotected could delay the easing of lockdown…

‘Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, warned that the easing of restrictions would have to be slower if large numbers of vulnerable people remained unvaccinated, as this would risk a rapid increase in deaths and pressure on the NHS. He said that even with very high uptake ‘there’s still a large number of people who aren’t vaccinated . . . and those people remain at risk. So it’s important that we go cautiously in opening up in order to be able to measure the effects’.’

The whole classroom is to be punished for the actions of the (relatively) few non-conformists. So how can the Government continue to say that the vaccine is voluntary? How can the vaccine minister claim that forcing people to ‘take the jab’ is ‘not how we do things in the U.K.’?

As is so common in modern British politics, what is said to be and what is are two very different things.