Vaccine, Vaccine Über Alles. By Dr Geoffrey Brushwood

Soon after the US election, I had planned and taken some annual leave, from my work as a General Practitioner in the U.K. National Health Service (NHS). But, of habit I kept following my work emails.

I was surprised to find that there was plenty of email traffic about a Covid vaccine immediately after it was suggested that Biden would win.

Then, on Tuesday, 10th November, we had a webinar with NHS England. And in fact, a huge nationwide vaccination programme was announced.

We were given targets with the coercion that if those targets weren’t met, then some of the funding would be cut for primary care providers.

With such an incentive at stake, attempting to meet these targets would mean dropping everything else, such as examining suspected cancer patients and making a diagnosis or managing patients with chronic illnesses such as asthma diabetes and heart disease to meet their ongoing needs.

We won’t even have time to engage in routine newborn baby checks, an essential part of a primary care physician’s work, when congenital problems could be picked up early in newborns and addressed.

We wouldn’t have time for patients who are suicidal and depressed. We wouldn’t even have the time to look after patients dying with cancer in their homes, who may need additional pain relief or symptomatic relief. No! We would just be too busy being vaccine injectors.

It was revealed that £150 million has been set aside - not for staff wages or for vaccine costs - these would be a separate cost - but simply to cover logistics such as renting out large spaces etc. An enormous plan with an enormous budget.

This all seems to spring out from thin air. Almost miraculously a vaccine is found. Suddenly, Trump’s claims about vaccines later this year or perhaps early next year, seem not so ludicrous after all.

Wasn’t this a remarkable coincidence? Biden projected to win the US election, and a humongous vaccination program is launched on this side of the pond.