The coronavirus has probably been with us for about two years now. We have shut down, we have vaccinated, we have socially distanced, and we have masked, and the virus is still with us. The hospitalization and death rates seem to be decreasing, but the virus is still with us. Is is because 100 percent of the people are not vaccinated? Evidently not.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, The American Spectator<\/a> posted an article titled, “Irish Quandary: Who to Blame When Everyone\u2019s Vaxxed?” That is a really good question.<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n D<\/span>uring his Thursday town hall<\/span><\/a> meeting with CNN\u2019s Anderson Cooper, President Joe Biden blithely dismissed the most basic assertion of those who have chosen to resist a COVID-19 vaccination. \u201cFreedom? I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID,\u201d scoffed Biden. \u201cNo, I mean come on \u2014 freedom.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n In his literally mindless way, Biden said out loud what health officials everywhere have been implying since the vaccines became widely available. Those who are not vaccinated are killing their more responsible peers.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Republic of Ireland, however, health officials are running out of people to blame. This has becoming embarrassingly obvious in County Waterford. As reported in the Irish Times<\/span><\/a><\/em>, the nation\u2019s establishment newspaper, two of the three most COVID-infected electoral areas in Ireland are located in the county \u201cwith the highest rate of vaccination in the country.\u201d In Waterford, a remarkable 99.7 percent of adults over the age of 18 is fully vaccinated.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Waterford news caught my attention because the first American \u201cCashills\u201d hail from County Waterford. My great-great-grandfather came to America in 1847, \u201cBlack 47\u201d as they called it, the mid-point of a potato famine that saw more than one million Irish die from starvation or disease and another million flee the country. For all their travails, the Irish were a hardy, freedom-loving people then. With some notable exceptions, they are neither anymore.<\/strong><\/p>\n I suspect that is also about the time my Irish ancestors came to America.<\/p>\n The article reports some startling numbers:<\/p>\n The arbitrary evolution of Irish COVID policy over the past 18 months has made it clear that public health officials and government policy makers have no idea what they are doing. If proof were needed, County Waterford provides it. <\/span>According to data published on October 21, Waterford City South has the nation\u2019s highest 14-day incidence rate at 1,486 cases per 100,000 and Tramore-Waterford City West has the third highest at 1,122 cases per 100,000. This is despite internal travel bans and the county\u2019s more than 90 percent<\/a> vaccination rate.<\/strong><\/p>\n Although Waterford is running three times the rate of the nation writ large, Ireland as a whole is not faring particularly well, especially given its draconian restrictions. In the seven days preceding October 21, Ireland reported 2,026 new cases<\/span><\/a>. To put that number in perspective, wide-open Florida had 2,262 cases<\/span><\/a> during that same period with a population more than four times greater than the Irish Republic\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article concludes:<\/p>\n Indeed, to dissent on just about any COVID-related issue comes at a price. The case of former University College\u2013Dublin professor and Irish Freedom Party chair, Dolores Cahill, is instructive. Prior to her emergence in the anti-vaccination movement, Cahill had been considered \u201csuperstar\u201d<\/span><\/a> of Irish scientific research.<\/strong><\/p>\n Cahill\u2019s standing in polite society began to unravel in March 2021<\/span><\/a> when she was induced to resign her Freedom Party chairmanship after \u201cmaking unsubstantiated claims at an anti-lockdown rally.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n In August 2021, readers of the Irish Times<\/em><\/span><\/a> learned that a bench warrant had been issued in London for the arrest of the \u201cprominent Covid sceptic and anti-vaccination campaigner.\u201d Among other offenses Cahill was charged with holding \u201ca gathering of more than six people in any place.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n By October 2021, the same month that the Waterford numbers were making a hash out of all official vaccination claims, the\u00a0Irish<\/em> Times<\/em><\/span><\/a> was trashing the now \u201cformer\u201d UCD professor as a \u201cconspiracy theorist\u201d and \u201cone of the main purveyors of anti-vaccination misinformation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n As the County Waterford numbers make clear, Irish health officials and policymakers do not know what \u201cmisinformation\u201d is. They do, however, know what power is, and they will do what they must to hang on to it, freedom be damned.<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe vaccines are not the answer?<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The coronavirus has probably been with us for about two years now. We have shut down, we have vaccinated, we have socially distanced, and we have masked, and the virus is still with us. The hospitalization and death rates seem … Continue reading