Unless covid-19 develops a mutation that renders vaccines less effective, booster doses will help to keep the worst at bay
ago the northern hemisphere was about to embark on its first winter of the covid-19 pandemic. In western Europe and America cases were rising rapidly, and scores of deaths were soon to follow. Many countries, including Britain, entered strict lockdowns for the holiday season.A daily newsletter with the best of our journalismToday, there is little sign yet that Western governments will reimpose draconian restrictions on behaviour.
Part of the reason that covid is spreading so rampantly in Britain is the government has loosened restrictions faster than in other Western countries, and been slower to vaccinate under-18s. Only in September did Britain start offering jabs to 12- to 15-year-olds; America has been doing so since May. And nightclubs, for example, which include some of the most crowded and poorly-ventilated venues imaginable, are open without restrictions.
Since March 2020 YouGov, a pollster, has asked a representative sample of adults in countries around the world whether they wear a mask in public. Even during 2021, as vaccination rates increased, mask-wearing stayed remarkably firm . In France and Italy, three-quarters of people say they wear masks, and in Britain and Germany two-thirds say they do. Even in America, where mask-wearing has been a partisan issue, compliance rose in July in response to rising levels of infections.
Despite worries about waning efficacy, vaccines continue to be highly effective in keeping case-fatality rates low. In western Europe, people 12 and over have received 1.5 doses of a covid-19 vaccine on average. Although in America that figure is 1.4, large pockets of unvaccinated people help fuel the virus. Yet unless it developsthat renders vaccines less effective, booster doses will help to keep the worst at bay.
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