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

So the at risk pople we were preventing spreading it to are no longer at risk... So spread away...

Nobody is celebrating NZ moving on from Zero Covid though?

There seems to be some strange snarky comments, especially on twitter, on this subject over the past two days. That somehow people are celebrating NZ's 'defeat' in this regard despite having 27 total deaths. They're missing the point so spectacularly that I'm wondering are they doing it on purpose.

What this is, is the final inarguable proof that it was a ridiculous strategy for Ireland that had no chance of working, the increased transmission of Delta notwithstanding. Despite most people realising this, it wasn't as if this was some sort of fringe idea. Our likely future leaders in government adopted this as their strategy of choice, as did others in opposition. The misguided public momentum behind it led to MHQ, causing hundreds of Irish citizens abroad to miss funerals of loved ones, a 2k fine for a trip to the airport and was the pressure behind a host of other draconian restrictions, including the reimposition of the 5k limit.

So while NZ accepting that the strategy no longer works isn't a cause for celebration, the humiliation of the likes of ISAG and the death of their dangerous idea absolutely is. Seeing their buzzword argument go up in smoke, and their final descent into the realms of laughing stock is both satisfying and positive for the future. An investigation into their funding and perhaps charges for their aim of deliberately 'spreading fear' would be fantastic next steps.

I remember pre vaccines when ireland was locked down due to 50 in icu. I found it surprising that such a low number was considered too much for the healthcare system. Now it's more than that and all restrictions are being dropped?

Ok.Makes sense.

It's not going to be voted against. Gov have the majority.

Also this is only the legislation relating to indoor hospitality and the use of vaccine certs.

The emergency powers that the minister has have already been extended by the maximum of 1 time a few months ago to run to start of February.

Indoor hospitality and vaccine certs is a different piece of legislation and therefore also needs a vote.

To note, just because the provision for legislation is extended doesn't mean it gets enacted

This day last year, NPHET recommended a 4 week level 5 lock down.

Ah yes

When Tony returned early to work and set off the bombshell

Reeling in the years will be unreal

It also needs to be tempered with a bit of caution. The WHO regularly raise the alarm over bird flu' but media stories tend to make it an undeniable "fact".

Yes, happens a lot to women - only if you'd had a fever as part of Covid though.

I expect the primary difference between vaccine immunity and natural immunity is the intensity of the invasion. The mRNA vaccines deliver a fixed dosage that instructs your body to produce a relatively fixed number of proteins that cause your immune system to react. The number of cells your body produces in response is therefore also relatively fixed.

With an active infection, there's a battle between your body producing cells and the virus which is continually attempting to replicate itself.

Thus it seems more likely that the peak number of cells the immune system produces to fight an active infection is higher than it is for a vaccine response.

Like you say, this probably results in a stronger immunity over the short term, but reducing until there's virtually no difference. That is, e.g. after 3 months natural immunity is 30% stronger, after 6 months it's 10% stronger and by 12 months is basically the same. (Figures just for illustration)

The other difference however is that mRNA vaccines only produce select proteins of the virus (S1/S2), whereas a natural infection will produce antibodies to the entire virus sequence. In theory this should yield most robust immune response to variant strains.