Let’s not press the panic button quite yet

Good evening,

Before we all start descending into a torrent of Covid variant gloom from which there is no escape, let’s not press the panic button quite yet.
Was another variant almost inevitable when so few developing countries are vaccinated? Yes. Did we know that at some point we might have to tweak the current vaccines in order to keep ahead of variants? Yes. And have the health experts been telling us for months that winter might provide some tricky moments in the fight against this virulent virus? Yes again.
So, the advent of the Omicron variant, while disappointing, might not be a complete disaster.
In fact, in some scientific circles, there is a suggestion that if this variant causes only mild disease, it might help us in the longer term, by exposing more people and giving immunity.
We won’t know whether that is the case for a few more weeks yet, so in the meantime it is right to take precautions and not put those most vulnerable in the firing line. At the moment, a traditional Christmas is still looking possible. Let’s hope it stays that way.