Covid-19: What we’re dealing with now is the surge of the unvaccinated

I have a 13 year old son and I’ll be taking him to get vaccinated.

The CMOs used balanced medical evidence and scientific advice. They didn’t pluck the decision off Facebook or out of thin air.

I have always been a reasonably obedient person. If I trust the competence of an individual, like a teacher or priest, I follow their advice.

I don’t listen to conspiracy theories and I certainly don’t depend on social media.

Decisions are not taken lightly.

Turning to testing, it is irresponsible to just decide yourself that it isn’t COVID.

If you have a new cough, going on for a few weeks, joint pains, flu like illness or other viral symptoms, you must get a COVID test.

The persistence of the virus in the community and the high numbers we are seeing allows the virus to mutate and become more resistant.

We are currently in a surge although we probably all want to ignore it as we are sick of it. This is the surge of the unvaccinated.

We are dealing with more contacts now with COVID than we did in April 2020 and as many, if not more, than this time last year.

People are still dying, ICU is full and the hospital cannot staff outpatient clinics due to the number of nurses off sick or completely burnt out.

We cannot ignore the problem or kid ourselves that it’s over.

○ Dr Paul Molloy is a general practitioner based in Derry.