ozimoron

Sounds good to me.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-evergrande-bondholders-limbo-over-debt-resolution-2021-09-24/

There does appear to be a strong correlation between anti vaxers and narcissism. They babble on about "freedom of choice" while completely ignoring the danger to others of their recklessness. Nobody would care if the only danger posed was to themselves.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday endorsed booster shots for millions of older or otherwise vulnerable Americans, opening a major new phase in the U.S vaccination drive against COVID-19. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on a series of recommendations from a panel of advisers late Thursday. The advisers said boosters should be offered to people 65 and older, nursing home residents and those ages 50 to 64 who have risky underlying health problems. The extra dose would be given once they are at least six months past their last Pfizer shot.

Luckily we have laws and public policy to curb the worst instincts of fools who reject common sense in pursuit of a political agenda..

The natural history of coronaviruses is that they do slowly become less virulent over time. This makes good evolutionary sense because it’s against a virus’ interest to kill its host. If it mutates into a milder form it can remain in the host, replicate efficiently and assure its own survival. So, is the virus that causes COVID-19 taking this expected path? Not yet, say experts, although it may happen in the long term. Professor Lyn Gilbert, senior researcher at Sydney’s Marie Bashir Institute for Emerging Infections and Biosecurity, believes the virus has not weakened. “If you have serious risk factors, get infected and have optimal care in ICU, you are no less likely to die now as you were six months ago,” she says. “While I think this virus may adapt to the host and become less virulent, it could take a long time because we have to get a level of herd immunity which is clearly not happening at anything like the rate at which we hoped it might happen.” Peter Collignon, professor of microbiology at the Australian National University, says there is currently no evidence that the virus is weakening. https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/is-the-virus-growing-weaker-20200713-p55bif

She does not suggest that the virus will become less deadly or less infectious, only that we will control it with vaccines just as we control the common cold.

Stop lying. Covid-19 will eventually become like the other coronaviruses which circulate widely and cause the common cold, a world-leading scientist has said. Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, whose work led to the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab, told a Royal Society of Medicine webinar the virus will weaken over time and “eventually” become like the others. “We already live with four different human coronaviruses that we don’t really ever think about very much and eventually Sars-CoV-2 will become one of those,” she said. “It’s just a question of how long it’s going to take to get there and what measures we’re going to have to take to manage it in the meantime.” https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/covid-eventually-become-common-cold-080246392.html

Those who have had the virus are not immune from reinfection and can still spread the virus. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/can-you-get-covid-19-more-than-once/

That's your choice but stop spreading misinformation and proselytizing your political agenda.

Here is a more complete version of what she said instead of the selective quoting by the Murdoch rag. She is far from downplaying the severity of the virus The Washington Post spoke with Gilbert and Pollard in separate video calls about conducting research under intense public scrutiny, how worried the world should be about the rise of variants and what it will take to get the pandemic under control. Should we be freaking out about variants? Both scientists stressed that virus mutations are to be expected — especially in a novel coronavirus, which is evolving to survive in its new host, a human. The B.1.1.7 variant discovered in Britain is 30 to 70 percent more transmissible, and it is spreading fast in the United States and Europe. Early research suggests it might cause more severe illness. The variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil are also worrying, perhaps more so. “And as we start to see immune selection pressure on the virus, it’s likely to make mutations that will evade the immune response, either from the first infections or from the vaccines,” Gilbert said. But she offered reassurance that the virus can mutate only so much and remain a contagious pathogen. The spike protein that the virus uses to bind to a human cell will keep changing, but those reconfigurations in structure are not infinite. “So whatever the spike protein turns into, the immune system can make antibodies against it, so there’s nothing that’s so bad,” she said. What would it take to adapt the vaccine for variants? Gilbert has long worked on seasonal flu vaccines, a complex guessing game but a well-established one. She said all vaccine developers may need to roll out new versions of their coronavirus booster shots every year to confront the variants. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/andew-pollard-sarah-gilbert-oxford-vaccine/2021/02/18/2b633764-6d71-11eb-a66e-e27046e9e898_story.html

But not as much as those who have been infected and then vaccinated.

I was referring to those who have been infected but not vaccinated.

‘Long COVID’ may occur in more than half of all hospitalised cases: research ‘Much of the messaging around COVID-19 has been about the risk of death, and I think that’s created a perception that if you recover from infection, you’re fine,’ Dr Hyde told newsGP. ‘In reality, long COVID may actually be an equally serious outcome in terms of its impact on health and quality of life, society, and the economy.’ ‘While mortality from COVID-19 is thankfully very low in children, the same can’t be said for long COVID,’ Dr Hyde said. ‘Data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics show that 13% of children report persistent symptoms five weeks after testing positive [for COVID-19], compared to 22% for the population overall.’ https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/long-covid-may-occur-in-more-than-half-of-all-case

The UK culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, told Sky News on Friday the government had committed to starting the booster programme in September and it would begin this month. “We will start the booster programme later in September. We’re just awaiting the final JCVI advice on exactly who will be getting that booster and the exact criteria for that. “I don’t know exactly when the JCVI are going to make their announcement. But we’re committed to it in September so I would expect it very shortly.” Responding to Gilbert, Dowden said: “There’s a range of opinion among scientists that’s why we have JCVI to give us the authoritative advice and we’ll follow that advice.

Regardless, the numbers are still very significant, my point remains. And that's only one source. The issue is not binary

It's a Murdoch rag.

You have no idea. Here is some data. Where is your data? https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2021/09/16/how-common-is-long-covid-that-depends-on-how-you-measure-it/

why? do you imagine that they are immune? or won't die if they become infected a second time?

Right, just like the Spanish Flu, not really bad at all.

My guess is that their passport would be irrelevant and the national ID card would be used. Only a guess, I have no insight.

That leaves 20% who likely will suffer from long covid if they don't die. Long covid includes major organ damage and mental issues. The public health cost is going to be astronomical. You anti vaxxers just want to downplay the reality for political purposes.

Not to mention the vastly increased likelihood of a new immunity escape variant resulting from large numbers of unvaxxed people.

That's a misinterpretation of the data. The 49% is relative to an unvaccinated person and does not represent the probability of infection from exposure.

Open a thread, I'd like a discussion about that. hint: It's popular among republicans too so not necessarily politically charged.