As the world struggles to deal with the continuing waves of COVID-19 outbreaks, nations are taking different approaches to the infection.
For instance, Canada is now mandating that all passengers and workers on commercial air flights in Canada will soon have to prove they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The new travel vaccination policy will apply to passengers and workers in the federally regulated air, rail and cruise ship sectors. It will be enacted “as soon as possible in the fall and no later than the end of October,” the Canadian Treasury Board said on Friday.”Canadians deserve to feel confident when traveling that the environment around them is safe,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said. “We need to regain public confidence in travel” to help the industry that’s been hobbled by the pandemic, he added.
In the U.S., Biden (or, more likely, his team of “advisors”) are eyeing more robust rules regarding vaccinations. And while no air-travel mandate is on the table . . . yet, it appears that the administration may soon be manipulating poll data and the U.S. Constitution to make vaccinations a requirement for air travel.
…[W]hile more severe measures — such as mandating vaccines for interstate travel or changing how the federal government reimburses treatment for those who are unvaccinated and become ill with COVID-19 — have been discussed, the administration worried that they would be too polarizing at this time. An administration official said the interstate travel vaccination requirement was not under consideration at the moment.That’s not to say they won’t be implemented in the future, as public opinion continues to shift toward requiring vaccinations as a means to restore normalcy.
As I noted in my post about Iceland, 93% of its population over 16 has been vaccinated, and there are still infections occurring. Furthermore, the vaccine’s effectiveness appears to decrease over time. Enhanced healthcare options, a focus on developing more treatment options, and a less hysterical response to this virus would be better approaches.
Perhaps Biden is hopeful we Americans will settle for restrictions less aggressive than those being implemented in Australia.
Hundreds more defence personnel will deploy next week to Sydney to help enforce the city’s lockdown after authorities on Friday reported the biggest daily rise in COVID-19 cases from the outbreak which is spreading beyond Australia’s largest city.”Unfortunately, this trend (in cases) will continue for at least the next few days,” New South Wales (NSW) state premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney, the state capital.As daily COVID-19 cases hit a record high in Sydney it is becoming increasingly unlikely the city will end its nine-week lockdown on Aug. 28 as originally planned. Authorities are talking about easing some restrictions if enough people are vaccinated and case numbers fall.
Contrast this approach with Sweden’s. The Nordic country shunned lockdowns and is approaching close to zero daily coronavirus deaths.
In the last 14 days, Sweden has recorded an average of 0.6 Covid deaths per day.In comparison, the UK has recorded an average of 74 deaths per day and the United States 329.
Meanwhile, a recently published paper suggests those who have had an infection retain wide-ranging immunity against another infection.
Recovered COVID-19 patients retain broad and effective longer-term immunity to the disease, suggests a recent Emory University study, which is the most comprehensive of its kind so far. The findings have implications for expanding understanding about human immune memory as well as future vaccine development for coronaviruses.The longitudinal study, published recently on Cell Reports Medicine, looked at 254 patients with mostly mild to moderate symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection over a period for more than eight months (250 days) and found that their immune response to the virus remained durable and strong.
I will make this prediction about Biden: The approach he chooses is likely to be ineffective and hurtful to the Americans.
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