It is a well-rehearsed truism that free speech must have some limits.
Therefore, even in the most liberal of societies, you cannot shout “fire” in a crowded theatre.
After moderating comments here, I rarely interact with them, quite simply because it would be too time-consuming.
Over the past few days, I’ve noticed some “anti-vaxxer” sentiments.
This is the public health equivalent of shouting that word in a packed auditorium.
The featured image came from this tweet.
I do not know Professor Luke O’Neill, but he did teach two of my brood at Trinity College Dublin.
Both the Big Fella and Baby Doctor said that he was a star and because he understands his subject fully, he can explain it simply.
That is a fine skill to have.
Therefore, I’m not surprised that he has been a reassuring Irish voice in these perplexing times.
I have also noticed that the “anti-vaxxer” fraternity here in Ireland appear to be synonymous with the tinfoil hat far right.
Normally, such gobshitery can be ignored.
However, if they are listened to by enough gullible folk then it provides a habitable space to the virus.
This piece in the Irish Times noted that “more than 75% of patients admitted to ICU with Covid since April had no vaccine”.
So if you haven’t already then, please get the vaccine if you are offered it.
Then we can safely get back to crowded theatres.
Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin
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I’m astounded, astonished and amazed that folk still aren’t having the Covid vaccine because they don’t know what’s in it. I wonder do they know what is in the beef they eat which is full of steroids and antibiotics? Do they know that this country uses chemicals in the growing of vegetables that most other countries have banned? Do they know that there 7,000 different chemicals in a cigarette, 70 of which are carcinogenic? Do they know that their beer is made from GM wheat? Do they know that their processed food,including their daily bread, is full of salts, nitrates, preservatives and E numbers?
Those that “do their research” should try researching the agenda of those financing the anti-vaxx campaign. HH
Who would have thought it, Phil the Stenographer.
Gobshitery, brilliant
At the end of the day
Those who refrain from taking the vaccine will likely become very sick and many of them will die
Those of us who have had a double dose will likely still catch Covid eventually but it will be like a bad cold.
I know which group I am in
The anti vaccine brigade are some of the dumbest individuals on the plant
Remember this info is coming from the same people that say men can get pregnant.
I am presuming that all the hoaxers/anti-vaxxers will never be cosulting their GP ever again. Those 6 years studying were wasted. They know nothing. On the other hand, Dr Google, Dr somebody told somebody else who told me, and Dr Influencer are the real experts.It’s just a pity that the rest of us thickos aren’t given the names of these wonderful fountains of all knowledge.
10/10 to Phil for allowing for and against comments, only a truly great man dies that.
Oddly, the bbc have stopped comments on their house price articles because 80% are against the government pushing up the cost of shelter, which coincidentally profits them and their party funders.
Even odder, rishi sunak’s ex banker mate is the latest in a line of ex banker bbx chairman.
Odd, odd, odf.
Keep up the great work Phil
I don’t have a problem with anyone who doesn’t want a vaccine, Just stay away from hospitals. pubs .aircraft
buses trains and anywhere else you might infect other people,
Phil there is no such thing as an anti vaxxer just people who are Pro Immune System time you stopped spouting about something you know little about.
Yes, there are anti-vaxers. I know several, and most of them couldn’t spell Immune System they’re so bloody tbick. So stop spouting shite on something you clearly know little about.
Ha ha but I am sure they can spell thick though and use a spell checker try it some time.
You should try to remain civil , not everyone will share your views
This is a very dangerous statement Hugh. I would encourage you to read up on smallpox, polio, measles and think again about the immune system.
Dangerous really.
People see what they want to see Phil,you can’t change that.Some people didnt see Rangers die either.Keep up the excellent journalism pal HH
Thanks for all the great JOURNALISM you share with us all.
There appears to be a strong anti Vax theme to your last post.
While I fully respect everyone’s right to freedom of speech and the right to hold and express different views to my own. I am amazed that there are still so many anti Vax campaigners out there who delight in a very public show of their beliefs.
To my mind the answer is rather obvious.
Those who excerise their option not to have the vaccine have every right to do so.
The caveat should be that those who feel strongly enough that they refuse to be vaccinated should be asked to sign a simple disclaimer that they waive the right to any treatment regarding the virus in order to leave the very undervalued NHS staff free to continue with their lifesaving work with those unfortunate enough to contact this horrible disease in spite of taking all due precautions.
This may sound like a rather extreme point of view but we are living with a very extreme virus.
Hail Hail & keep up the good eork
So you should also get the right to sign a waiver that if the vaccine happens to kill you or damage anything in our bodies, that the government pay compensation! Works both ways my man, but hey the government don’t offer that guarantee because they don’t know each persons different reactions. Your views are one sided and not appreciated
That’s not a waiver. A waiver is when you forego something. I think you mean a contract entitling the individual to have legal recourse in the event of subsequent and consequential mishap. Hard to see how you could demand that for something you’re being given free of charge. But hey, why would you bother to think it through? Too busy pontificating.
Unfortunately these ARE the very people clogging up the NHS system. But hey, they know better than the scientists and the doctors, because they read it on some anonymous website.
Personally I like your idea but it could never be enforced. And, if a seriously ill person turns up at a hospital the staff WILL treat them. It’s what makes them who they are.
Brilliant idea I wonder just how many would actually sign such an agreement
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
I have 4 jabs a year for more than 10 years, I’ve also had tetanus jabs and jabs at the dentist. 24 years ago I had an hour and a half operation. So I’m not anti vaxx.
I won’t have the vaxx for covid because most people who get covid recover naturally, without going to hospital. IE… their own immune system copes with the virus. A relatively few people need hospital care, just like me when I needed an operation years ago. Sadly some people die, in Ireland it is said that most people who died of covid were nearly 2 years older than the average age of death, ie…. a couple of years over 80.
Therefore I’ll trust my immune system, it’s been protecting me for 63 years… is there something wrong with that..???
I might have T cell immunity… if they’d run out tests for this rather than the discredited PCR test, …..that even the Nobel prize doctor who invented the test allegedly said that PCR tests were for use in particular situations….
But then if T cell immunity is wide spread then vaccines would be needed… can’t have that can we.
The Daily Telegraph ran an article a few weeks ago saying that.. “psychology has had a good covid”… IE fear had been ramped up to Madness of Crowds levels.
As soon as I hear or read comments like, “It is said”, “they say”, “I read somewhere” or, “I heard somewhere”, I know in my heart of hearts that what follows is probably complete and utter tosh. And you know what? Experience has taught me that upwards of 95% of the time it is.
I suffer from an illness, that is relapsing at this very moment. I have to take drugs that basically kick the shit out of my immune system, bit like the way Moreless play’s his football. So hopefully I won’t be bumping into any people who have covid or are shit at football. I don’t get out much these days, which is both detrimental to my physical and mental health, I will not tell people to get vaccinated, that is up to them, plenty in this world I don’t agree with. There is a virus out there, some of us remember the sugar cube, back in the day. Yes we have had bad memories of thalidomide, and the rest.
Phil keep at them, it’s not always about football.
TAL 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
What’s wrong with it is, if you contract the virus there is a high risk you will pass it on to others and while you might feel few ill effects, others may not be so lucky. Yet another example of the I’m alright jack selfish and ignorant attitude of anti-vaxxers. And no-one can be certain how their body will react to the virus,
Keep pumping it out Phil, you’ll get a job at the BBC soon. There is just as much quality science out there opposed to your opinion, you really need to read both sides, it is quite enlightening.
Freedom of speech has its limits for you then I see, shouting fire in a crowded cinema is an infantile comparison.
There will soon be censorship will be the order of the day on this site soon.
Shame on you.
HH
Someone shouted there’s the polis, my pal ran to get away from these invisible polis he’s not here any more. Words mean different things, in different circumstances.
I have been an avid reader of this site for ten years now and have always found it on the whole to be a well balanced site
It appears to me now that it has turned into a vaccine, no vaccine discussion that will never reach a final solution but meantime racism and bigotry is still rife in my country
So thanks Phil for 10 years of informative journalism but I feel this is goodbye
Well said Phil… we follow the science but dont put blind faith in science – the overwellming evidence that we can research for ourselves is that the positives of vaccination outweigh negatives by factors of thousands. To say otherwise beggars belief and somehow involves every Government on earth in a worldwide conspiracy theory. Ask an anti-vaxer for credible evidence or a credible scientist to lso do the same and stony silence results
When I am told that some people have been ill in some way after a vaccine, I counter with the question ‘ do you know how many women have got pregant after the vaccine?’ and leave it at that…
As someone who has multiple comorbidities and had this “deadly virus” and recovered without any medical intervention then I will rely on my own immune system rather than a money making experimental mix of toxins. Remember when you tried to justify doing something stupid by saying everyone was doing it and your parents would say if the all jumped off a cliff would you well now we are seeing those who would.
So basically, I’m alright Jack? How very civic of you 👏👏👏
A vaccine only protect you, all vaccines are transmissable … soyes, look after yourself
Lets get this right, I would bet that some of these anti vaccers put quite a lot of junk food into their bodies, drink more alcohol than is recommended by health professionals, some will also pollute their lungs with nicotine, but they do not trust the vaccine that protects the vast majority of the population from serious illness. You sometimes despair of the human race, keep up the good work Phil in the fight against Covid.
Keep pumping it out Phil, you’ll get a job at the BBC soon. There is just as much quality science out there in opposition to your view. The difference between the worshipers at the alter of covid and myself is, I read both sides, try it, it’s quite enlightening.
It’ll be censorship and segregation on this site soon.
Shame on you.
HH
Personally not an anti vaxxer as I have had two jabs. However anyone reading and believing anything in the MSM needs a brain transplant.
They called us conspiracy theorists but how long before we need a vaccine passport? How many other lies have we been fed?
Three weeks to flatten the curve
Save the NHS
Just another couple of weeks
Deaths due to ANY cause within 28 days ( that’s a cracker )
The Vaccine will stop you catching Covid ( then changed when that was so obviously a lie )
And many, many more.
As for here in Scotland we were told after level zero we would be back to normal, well face masks are still compulsory and last I checked THAT was not normal before Covid.
The point is no one is suggesting Covid is not out there, what we are saying is, it’s just a bad flu and the woke generation are running to the NHS, when we ( the older generation) would have taken Asprin and stayed in bed for a couple of days.
So Phil I would respectfully suggest you stay away from health matters and concentrate on Sevco.
Phil, I have total respect for your work but a clinical trial for a new vaccine is normally 10 years, not 10 weeks.
This is a pandemic that might have killed 1% of the population, most of whom are elderly and probably going to die soon.
Given these numbers it should be peoples free choice on whether or not to be vacinated.
If the figures were 10% of the population or children being horrible disfigured for live I’d be 100% with you.
For the avoidance of doubt, I am double vaccinated and now suffer from severe joint pain and I am schedule for steroid injections, this occurred 1 week after getting this vaccine.
My brother in law was ill with Covid after being double jabbed, having not had it before, there is a fairly high chance the vaccine doesn’t work.
I will not, under any circumstance, agree to give this vaccine to my children.
In the meantime, the rich have being richer, bankers have stolen $10,000,000,000,000 worldwide, we have tent cities in the U.S. and food banks in the UK. The rich have used this money to push up their investments and asset ( land/house ) prices, what a convenient pandemic this was given the U.S monetary system was jammed in Dec 2019 and if I were a better man I’d say another financial crisis was well under way.
I’ll continue to read your blog with my joy but not everyone agrees with the handling or CV19, the vaccines and the profiteering by the bankers and government minister.
“bankers have stolen $10,000,000,000,000 worldwide” … where did you get that number from and can you actually spell it?
Vaccine = joint pain; Vaccine = infection; Vaccine doesn’t work… You jump to a lot of unsupportable conclusions, dontcha?
For those in the UK criticsing this post with their lame sub-QAnon verbiage. PLEASE. PLEASE. Stay away from the NHS. The staff in our hospitals are over-worked and under-paid. They don’t need covidiots filling the ICU beds whining that they now wish they had been vaccinated.
If the medical science which delivered you and your children safely was good enough for you, and the same medical science and services which you take for granted when you’re habitually pissed and falling over and injuring yourself is good enough for you, then the same medical science that delivered the vaccines should be good enough for you. If it’s not, and you want to bang a drum about it, then feck off from our health service and leave the A&E and ICU to taxpayers who truly appreciate what the researchers and overburdened fronline workers do for us.
During the lock down last year when nobody was vaccinated. I was cooped up in the house, my wife worked in the hospital where covid was rife…. what was I to do… isolate myself in the garage when she came home from work.
She is now vaccinated and I’m not, and I won’t be anytime soon…. maybe in 10 years once any side effects are out in the open
I’m with Tecumseh on this.
Once the Vaccines have proven themselves over a reasonable period bit more importantly against the newer strains then I would consider it.
Like him I’ve never been anti Vaccine especially with my own offspring.
But at the moment there is as much negative litterateur out there by scientists contradicting the general consensus to suggest these vaccines are no longer any real use against the current strains given that a percentage of those in Hospital have been double vaccinated AND have had Covid previously.
This hardly inspires confidence in Vaccines that we’re rushed through at an extraordinarily quick rate in reaction to the initial outbreak.
For me this thing is moving and changing quicker than science can keep up with it.
Also…
Interesting to note that the main Pharmaceutical Companies involved in creating Vaccines in the US were given blanket immunity by the US Govt so as to protect them from being sued should their vaccines cause any long lasting damage out with Covid.
Sorry but alarms bells started ringing when I became aware of this.
Almost as if they covered their own arse either way whilst simultaneously making an absolute fortune out of something designed by science in the first place.
What was it the Chinese Military Scientist called it again?
Weaponised SARS.
Meanwhile take this Kool Aid or we will label you a tinfoil hat wearer.
I’m cool with my baco foil bunnet if your Kool with your state controlled beverage 👍🏼
Phil, some on the flight still don’t get the mask wearing thingy even after their boss and teammates left behind. See a certain South Americans social media accounts. I can send the piccy if you can’t find..
Phil, attempting to make this political makes any point you make mute. I love your blog and never miss a story but the rhetoric surrounding people’s choices and freedoms and its seat in the ‘far right’ means your point is instantly lost. I’m a firefighter and am fully vaccinated. I made this choice on my own after my own research. Am I concerned or was I concerned about the vaccine? Of course. I decided that for me, I would get vaccinated because of my job and my desire for the public to feel more comfortable while I was at work. I firmly believe what was put twice in my arm will not hurt me. Fact is however, I’m a 40’s something healthy person and my immune system by the WHO’s own numbers provides me with more natural protection than the vaccine. I can still get it and give it just as easily as before the shots. I have co workers and others in my life that have decided not to get vaccinated. They are far from political and far from being described as ‘far right’. The most political of these people is a very progressive person, an atheist who is a staunch vegan and is very careful about anything they put into their body. Not in anyway the typical stereotype of a ‘Trump’ supporter. This person is by far the most active in fighting against forced vaccinations. We’ve had five of my co-workers test positive for Covid since our vaccinations. All five were fully vaccinated. All five remained healthy and made it back to work when they were cleared. These in vaccinated people have every right to decide what goes into their bodies. Despite the hard media push, they are not endangering anyone anymore than you and I are. I will never hold anything against them as they are correctly expressing their human rights, a gift awarded to us all by generations much greater than ours through blood, pain and sacrifice on a scale that our current population could never imagine, nor could ever handle.
Once you make something political, it’s over for you. You express your true self and your true motives! It’s a real shame that that’s what’s happened during your recent commentary. Love your posts Phil, stay safe and to everyone else the same. Up the Rebels.
It’s a shame that your point wasn’t mute.
Fantastic post Steph.
Stay safe 👍🏼
This site has been ‘political’ for as long as I’ve been reading it.
“Up the Rebels” … is there a non-political connotation to that?
Wow, Phil I gave been avid reader for years, truly disappointed by this post, you have obviously not done your due diligence.
Yes.
Whatever happened to ‘follow the money’ Phil?
Or even various, unconnected and independent sources. Your offspring, their teacher and (cough) the Irish Times hardly cut the mustard.
To remain latched to the MSM narrative here is not only hypocrisy from you, moreover, it is the shameful regurgitation of gushing pish.
These vaccines were not “rushed”. The reason why the 10-year research rule was bypassed is because of COMPUTERISATION!
Years ago, eminent scientific minds pored endlessly over research documents, debunking certain flawed research, whilst reinforcing good research. All of this was done by TRIAL AND ERROR.
Nowadays, each piece of research is fed meticulously into a network of computers, and the findings of a scientist in, say, Switzerland, can immediately interact with a research colleague in, perhaps, Australia. As they interact, they can instantly put their theses and research to the test.
I have no doubt that they became aware that, in very rare cases, blood clots would develop in some patients, but then again, most (if not all) medicines come with severe allergic reactions in rare cases?
I will put my faith in these vaccines that have been developed by those of a higher intelligence than me, in the same way that I trust the flight crew to get the plane safely to and from my holiday destination.
This should really read as ‘It causes severe side effects – Yes and this can include death’ as we are currently discovering not ‘for most…..’ Why try and soften that message? That causes suspicion, it looks like the guy is willing to deal in facts until they become uncomfortable.
The severe side effects answer could actually also be used to answer ‘does covid cause severe side effects’
Protect yourself, dont expect other to do it for you, and if you urge or pressure anyone to get the vaccine and something goes wrong are you going to hold your hand up as part responsible?
Well said, Phil. I have been double vaccinated but still managed to catch the virus and am now self-isolating (no, I’m not a member of the Sevco squad). But what is certain is that having had the vaccine (AstraZeneca in my case) has limited the severity of the infection and I am now looking forward to a coronavirus free autumn after suffering mild flu-like symptoms.
Unfortunately, the tinfoil-hat wearers are, ahem, thick on the ground. I have found myself arguing with apparently reasonable people not only about the advisability of being vaccinated but also about the efficacy of vaccines themselves! It is as if all the scientific and medical progress of a few centuries can be set aside on a whim.
So, if you have not been vaccinated out there, get along and get it done. You know it’s the right thing for as all!
Really you do not know that and now you never will. As soon as you mention tin foil hat then you have no credibility left. Would you expect someone to set themselves on fire because you were cold I rather think you would.
Keep the faith Hugh
There seems to be a lot of people willing to tell us about science,if countered on their assertions, start name calling
Luckily, they only seem to be online
“keep the faith”… says it all. Faith not Facts.
What a stupid analogy.
If you don’t trust the researchers, scientists, and medical staff who administer the medicines – stay away from public hospitals. But you won’t will you? You’re happy to dilute the Public Health messages but you’ll still avail yourself of the services of the people who still have to work around covidiots. Selfish doesn’t begin to describe you and your ilk.