The IMF reckons the world could “end the pandemic” in mid-2022 by spending $50 billion on vaccines. Doing so would be worth $9 trillion to the world economy – a hundred and eighty times as much (not to mention the millions of lives saved). That’s an amazing return, probably the best investment that it’s ever …
Tag archives: Covid
Vaccination MoT
It ought to be self-evident that everyone has the right to choose what is put into their own bodies. It’s similarly obvious that we should not discriminate based on this. So what about Covid vaccines and Covid passports? The parallel I see is cars. To be licenced for the public roads a car needs to …
Unlockdowning II
Saint Nic is due to present Scottish lockdown unwinding plans this afternoon. What do you bet they’ll be as different as possible to the filthy Saxons’? [Later] Yup.
Unlockdowning I
Honest Boris announced “Data not Dates”, then gave a list of dates. Actually the approach sounds sensible enough. Good to see there’s a monitoring period between each unwind (let’s see if he can stick to it). After a year of the rash optimism of someone with no scientific or mathematical education and a life of …
Fresh air travel
Commercial air travel causes 2-3% of greenhouse gas emissions, so COVID is an environmental boon. But don’t open the Champagne yet, travel’s expected to be back where it was in three years. And it’s been growing rapidly and inexorably over the last fifty years, don’t expect it to change without some help. It’s getting relatively …
Vaccine Passports
It’s looking like Covid will be with us for a long time. As the virus mutates faster than we can ever conceivably vaccinate the planet the likelihood increases that we’ll be living with some form of restrictions for a while. How should we deal with it? I won’t answer that more specifically than “test lots …
Shops, cities and insulation (1)
The news is another chain of shops went bust and an internet retailer bought the brands but not the lossmaking premises. Eh, not much news really. What is news is that there’s much agonising in the media over this and the future of ‘The High Street’. It seems the commentariat have had their heads in …