The case against covid vaccine passports

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

In a recent episode of the UK-based Spectator TV, Adam Ritchie, Senior Project Manager in vaccine development at Oxford University's Jenner Institute, was asked how ethical it was for the UK and other high-income countries to be giving covid-19 vaccines to those less vulnerable to severe infection while at-risk groups in places such as India faced a long wait for a potentially life-saving jab.

Will the covid-19 jab be added to the International Certificate of Vaccinations booklet?

A jab for life

Considering the Jenner Institute works primarily on diseases that predominantly affect low- to middle-income countries Ritchie responded by saying, unsurprisingly, that he did, in a personal capacity, have some reservations about this.

On a similar theme, earlier this year I wrote about my indifference to be vaccinated, largely based on the assumption that I am in the low-risk category for covid. Subsequent events — being in close and enclosed company of people who, it transpired, had the virus at the time we were together — have made me feel, perhaps wrongly, that I may even be in a lower-than-low-risk bracket. (I am available for medical trials, if the price is right.)

When I published that vaccine article, one big unknown was whether or not inoculation helped reduce transmission.

Ironically enough, on the very day I uploaded the blog piece, preliminary studies were released that suggested the jab does indeed slow the rate of infection. This now seems to be largely accepted. (Do note, however, UK infection rates fell dramatically in the summer of 2020 which suggests that there are many factors at play in terms of contagion.)

This positive vaccine performance being so, the case against getting one is weakened somewhat. Somewhat that is.

There are still not-insignificant reasons why I and many others with similar profiles shouldn't be in a rush to get a vaccine.

For starters, we have that moral issue mentioned above. Is it right that somebody who appears immune and/or already has self-produced defences to covid is given a jab before a highly vulnerable person receives his/her shot?

(Now I know many of you would love for Wrong Way to live forever, but covid is far from the biggest threat to my and many others' existence right now. You must protect me from graver concerns if you want me to stick around for a long time to come.)

'If it is considered immoral for some people to get jabbed right now and even for a few years to come, then how can proof of vaccination in order to travel or whatever be seen as fair?'

Alongside this, owing to the nature of coronavirus, even those already vaccinated in high-risk groups will most likely need a booster dose before my first "turn" comes up — I refer to my turn as stipulated by Colombia's five-stage vaccine rollout programme.

For example, my 77-year-old father received his vaccine in March. To stay sufficiently protected, it's most likely he'll need at least one more jab inside the next year.

Immune to clear thinking

Globally speaking, we're far from having enough doses for all. Thus, for now, the focus should be on getting what we do have to those in greater need, wherever they may be.

Then there's the potential immunity issue. Do I and others like me even need a vaccine for something that doesn't appear to present any real risk to us? We've already seen during this pandemic the many problems that arise when treating the population as a homogeneous unit (do recall those worst-case-scenario models that saw much of the world scramble for the panic button and abandon all proper reasoning).

So taking all that into account, the idea of compulsory covid vaccine passports can also be seen as unethical. If one considers it immoral for some people to get jabbed right now and perhaps for a few years to come, then how on earth can proof of vaccination in order to travel or whatever be seen as fair?

What's more, it will hit the already squeezed under-40s disproportionately, just adding to the hardship brought about by the highly questionable coronavirus-containment measures. The idea of reaching
retirement age with a pension to fall back on seems a long way off for many in that category right now.

In many ways, in these crazy coronavirus times, one can't be too surprised with such a blatant disregard for large sections of our population. Our esteemed leaders' inability to think in any way clearly has been one of the many crippling side effects of the pandemic.

All one can do is to continue to highlight the many inconsistencies in the world's covid-containment battle in the hope that some of those currently controlling our lives will come to their senses. Events of the last 14 months don't instil one with much confidence, however.

What we might need is a new, deadlier global crisis to come along to snap these leaders out of their covid monomania madness.  
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

A dog's life in Colombia

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

OK, I must make an important declaration first. I'm not a pet lover. This isn't to say I'm anti-pets. I've no problem with them as long as I've little-to-no involvement when it comes to their care and attention.

Scene of the crime: Not the culpable dog in the picture, though!

It's the same way I feel towards children, really. Sure, I can interact with both children and pets for a while, safe in the knowledge that they're not my responsibility.

Dirty, rotten mongrel

So it does bug me quite a bit when pet owners appear to force their love for their balls of fur on me. In the same way that I dislike public displays of affection between couples, I don't want to see apparently grown-up folk being all lovey-dovey with their "best friend" and practically insisting that I feel the same way towards the "adorable" mongrel.

Yes, I'm using terms associated with dogs because it's mostly those canine creatures that I'm referring to here.

Now I must say that, traditionally, I've never been much of a cat lover either. In fact, in the past, I'd always say I preferred dogs to cats. However, these days I appreciate the more independent and, largely, not-bothered, selfish nature of cats. Dogs, on the whole, tend to be so much more demanding, not to mention noisier.

Nonetheless, even if a particular dog owner thinks his/her mutt is the greatest on the planet — they all think this way, don't they? — as long as he/she is a responsible, respectful owner then I'm OK with that.

It's with those who are anything but responsible that I have, um, quite the bone to pick.

Similar to how they probably raise any children they might have, these self-proclaimed animal lovers allow their fleabag to roam the land unrestrained. Should said fleabag inflict damage on an innocent passerby, they either deny that it was their bundle of joy who did it or blame the victim for provoking the incident.

'Impunity reigns supreme here. When it comes to looking for support from the Colombian state, indifference is the default reaction.'

It was the latter stance that was taken with me after a dog bit my left calf muscle, drawing blood in the process. 'Why are you walking around here?' 'Eh, it's a public road, I have a right to be here as much as anyone. Why can't you control your dog or put a muzzle on it?'

'Only our dogs run free'

Cue the typical Colombian response when confronted by a foreigner. 'It's none of your business, it's how we do things here. If you don't like it, don't come around these parts.'

In mitigation, the man who responded thus had, it seemed, the same number of cells in his brain as the average person has on the nail of their little finger.

The children who were with the dog when it bit me were more understanding. Perhaps there is hope for the future, although this thoughtful side to them will most likely disappear. The dominant culture of taking no responsibility for one's actions is sure to shine through.

I would, of course, have been within my rights to report the incident to authorities, especially with the general lack of remorse shown. Experience has taught me, though, that this is an utter waste of time.

Impunity reigns supreme here. In the main, when it comes to looking for support from the Colombian state, indifference is the default reaction. Trust in officialdom to act as an impartial arbiter is practically non-existent.

In such an environment, little wonder a community spirit is generally lacking. It's self-interest first and foremost, sometimes followed by a strong loyalty to family. (For an academic discussion on Colombia's 'weak state, weak society' listen to this interview with the renowned British economist and political scientist, James Robinson.)

The net result is that nobody tends to feel safe. It's every man, woman and child for him/herself. Only the dogs seem to truly run free. And Álvaro Uribe Vélez, to a lesser extent albeit.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

Along came a virus

@wwaycorrigan

The following is perhaps a sign that coronavirus has finally got the better of me, mentally that is (although some will say I've been having issues in my head that predate this pandemic). Covid-19 gets you one way or another, I guess.

Whatever the case, I've tentatively dipped into the world of poetry — if the three short verses penned below can be classed as a poem.

You can decide that. For an audio version of Along came a virus, click here.

Along came a virus

Ignored it could no longer be.
An alluring carefree independence,
Now filled my air with resplendence.
'Mind those ill winds, those pastures new,
That aren't quite so green in hue.'
It mattered nought, counsel I'd not sought.
'Twas all wrought
Before there came a virus.

Of my life, I'll take control.
No more the system's slave, on my terms I shall engage,
This is working for our age.
Suffering, it can't be defeated,
But best to toil alone than to be mistreated.
The time's right, no fool I'll delight.
I had the fight,
Till along came a virus.

Measures now must be obeyed.
Submit ourselves, it won't last long,
Yet as time goes on, hope seems all but gone.
'It's for the best, we'll come out stronger,
We just have to stay in it a bit longer.'
Empty words, follow the herd.
The future spurned
When along came that virus.

Sign of the times.

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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

Hardening the hands and strengthening the mind with an honest day's work

 @wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

'A hen can sit still and earn a living, a man can't.' Thus ran one of the "jokey" signs that hung in our family kitchen back in the day.

Wrong Way Corrigan trasteos: From truck to tabletop, more or less.

It fitted, indeed fits, well with the traditional model where the man goes out to work — to do "real" work with his hands, that is. 

For the likes of my father, born in early 1940s rural Ireland, such thinking ran deep. Physical labour outside the home was where it was at (let's conveniently skip over the fact that many housework chores require plenty of elbow grease, too).  

Soft hands

However, as has long been the case but even more so these days, it's the man or woman sitting relatively still, staring into a screen, who invariably makes a better living than those engaged in employment that is more physical in nature.  

For the majority of my working life, I've very much been in the former camp: the soft-hands brigade (minus any significant payment).

Nonetheless, I don't shy away from donkey work when the opportunity presents itself. 

In fact, with the adage 'a change is as good as a rest' in mind, I largely relish the chance to get my hands dirty these days. (No doubt it's also a case of 'what's seldom is wonderful' — not-so-fond memories of long, tiring days shovelling concrete during summer holidays from university help to keep things in their proper perspective.)

So it was with an amount of enthusiasm that I agreed to lend my modest lifting force for two recent substantial house moves, or trasteos as they call them in Colombia. 

Over a year of pandemic-induced monotony also has to be factored in. Anything that breaks the routine right now is largely welcome.  

While it might be a stretch to say these were wholly invigorating experiences, they certainly gave me a boost.

'I've always struggled to understand those who drive or take public transport to go relatively short distances and then pay for gym membership to run on a treadmill that goes nowhere.'

This is not to say I've been living a largely sedentary existence of late. The Google Maps record of my monthly movements, which isn't the whole story, shows I cover a minimum of eight kilometres per day on foot, plus another few kilometres by bicycle from time to time (I prefer power walking to cycling, especially considering the chunky bike I inherited isn't really made for speed).

The reason the house-moving work made me feel particularly good was, I figure, due to the novelty of it together with the need to use physical force to meet a clear, specific end. I felt I was doing something useful — and appreciated by others — with an immediate goal in sight.

Running to stand still

Digging more deeply into this, it ties in with my tendency to think in the short term. It's why, I guess, I've never been a big fan of going for runs or hitting the gym 'just because'. 

I generally like to see an immediate return when engaging in an activity. 'What's the benefit, the point of this, in the here and now?' It also explains why I prefer to play a game of football or whatever rather than just practise for it.

Of course, a slight change of mindset is all that's needed for me to view the likes of regular running in the same light. Rather than seeing it as mere 'running for running's sake' I could take a different approach, where I tell myself I'm achieving something tangible at the moment of action.

In fairness, this is what I do with my walking. If I have an engagement that's inside a 10-kilometre radius of where I am, I'll usually go on foot, should time allow, of course.

It's why I've always struggled to understand those who drive or take public transport to go relatively short distances and then pay for gym membership to run on a treadmill that goes nowhere. Why not just walk or cycle to the places you have to go to when going about your daily business?

That aside, all this just underscores why the 8-6 monotonous office job is not for me. Even though I see the benefit of routine, I enjoy having variety in what I do, variety that includes an amount of regular movement.

Old school this might be, but earning a living sitting still for the most part just doesn't sit well with me.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

 

Swimming against the Big Tech tide

@wwaycorrigan
[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]
I recently wrote about how Big Nanny State has facilitated a tendency amongst some in society to forego growing up and taking responsibility. 'Leave everything up to me, little ones. Simply submit, follow the rules, however arbitrary many may seem, and off with you to enjoy your highly regulated lives.'

The QR-code revolution: Wrong Way is not a fan.

Virtual reality

Cosily tucked up with Big Nanny State in her warm global bed is Big Tech, monitoring everything from our sleeping patterns and what we eat for breakfast to our favourite pastimes and guilty pleasures. While this might appear a rather clandestine undertaking, the reality is, it isn't.

The virtual world that practically all in higher-income countries plus the middle classes elsewhere have signed up to with countless usernames and passwords means we have voluntarily — or at least it was voluntarily initially — invited Big Tech and its associates into our lives. And while some folk seem fairly blasé about this, there does appear to be pushback fomenting in other quarters.

The question is, shy of a system overthrow or a complete retreat from society, how does one go about living in the 21st Century whilst endorsing minimalist technological use?

Unless you're already a "made" man, woman or whatever you wish to call yourself these days, not having the likes of WhatsApp and/or an email account together with being connected to the internet 24/7, leaves you at a distinct disadvantage. And even if you are comfortably settled on Easy Street, this doesn't mean you can effortlessly free yourself from Big Tech's dominance.

Many services, from the world of finance to dining and everything else in between, now expect the user to be equipped with a smartphone — a device that tends to sap any modicum of intelligence from said user.

'In the pandemic pandemonium where each fellow human being is seen as a Grim Reaper, QR-code menus take away one potential area of contagion.'

All of this is supposedly being done in the name of convenience. Fair enough, if you can do everything from the comfort of your own home or wherever, there's something to be said for that. However, when it's done to the detriment of being able to actually sit down and talk to somebody face to face should the need arise, while I'm all against it.

A mine of information

Just one manifestation of this — something that, thankfully, rarely affects me in my modest existence in Colombia — is the switch to QR-code menus and suchlike in restaurants. Some people think this is a wonderful development.

For one, in the pandemic pandemonium where each fellow human being is seen as a Grim Reaper, it takes away one potential area of contagion: the handling of reused menus. It also cuts down on paper by reducing the need for said menus, therefore, so it goes, it's good for the environment.

Both of those "plus points" are true, but one's smartphone doesn't exactly run on fresh air, does it? Plus, outside of its component parts — including those lithium batteries, mined in ethically questionable ways, to say the least — it has to be recharged regularly.

Speaking of mining, in places where you actually order electronically, how much personal information is hammered out of us in the process? Another aspect to Big Tech's perpetual profiling.

In the realm of finance, so far my bank in Colombia, Banco Caja Social, hasn't forced me to go fully mobile. Indeed, in some regards, this particular institution is too archaic and overly bureaucratic. Nonetheless, when it comes to money, you can't be too careful all the same.

In contrast, the only bank I currently do business with in Ireland, Bank of Ireland UK in Belfast, more or less forced me recently to download its app in order to continue having access to my account. Come on guys, there are only so many apps a bog-standard smartphone can hold!

The net result of this 'move to mobile' is that it leaves us at the mercy of a faceless Big Tech. Technology is the master. To borrow, in a way, from Winston Churchill, 'Never has so much power been in the hands of so few, controlling so many.'

Call me, if you will, a contrarian conservative fearful of what amounts to nothing more than innocent and innovative change.

However, in a world where we are ceding more and more of whatever independence we had to faceless forces, I will do what I can to resist, at least for a little while longer. It will, most likely, be a futile exercise.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

The price of independence

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where—' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'—so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'

As most of you will probably know, that exchange is from Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, often summarised as 'If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.'

A rocky road, but is it leading you to where you want to go?

Independent living

While it appears that today's modern society has many "lost souls" not knowing where they're going or where they want to get to, when it comes to that never-ending search for fulfilment, from a work perspective, I'm fairly sure where I don't want to go. It's a start, I guess.

That is, allowing for the fact that we're in a highly interconnected world where being fully independent is nigh on impossible, I don't want to work for people but rather work with them.

In a predominantly wage economy with an increasingly interfering state, this freelance/self-employed as-independent-as-can-be option is more difficult to achieve, particularly in higher-income countries it could be argued.

So, if for survival reasons I had to become a company employee again, I'd need to be as close to the top as possible. Just making up the numbers has never satisfied me. I don't tend to be a great follower.

Thus, knowing that much, one needs to frame one's life accordingly. In many ways, a 14-month company-employee stint aside, I've been able to maintain a fair amount of employment independence in the more than nine years I've been based in Colombia. The flip side is that it hasn't exactly resulted in putting me on a firm financial footing.

'Worrying about potential future problems to the extent one doesn't tackle current pressing matters is rather silly.'

Therein lies the crux of the matter. For if I was to focus more so on money I would stop writing this blog, stop making podcasts (speaking of which, I hope you've checked out Get Inglés!), stop co-presenting Bogotá Nights and, to stay independent in this country, use the additional time such moves would free up to look for more students to whom I could teach English — English teaching being about the easiest and most profitable independent activity a native speaker can do in these parts.

End of the road

I would more than likely feel less fulfilled overall doing that but I would probably have more pesos in my pocket. (I hasten to add, lest the two students I currently have think badly of me, that it's not exactly that I dislike teaching English, it's more a case that I don't want it to be a full-time gig.)

For sure, life is not all about money. Yet, to state the obvious, when it's in scarce supply living becomes much more complicated.

At this moment in time, one significant area where my independence is compromised is in having to house share — my misanthropic tendencies have increased to some extent during the pandemic.

In fairness, however, in an officially stratified country such as Colombia, renting a room in a leafier suburb rather than renting one's own place in a humbler barrio may be a false economy. 

In my own case, going it alone would probably also do wonders for my general mood, even if it were to cost more, at least at that initial making-a-house-a-home stage.

Bringing it back to a broader level, we must also remember that at some point the road ends for each one of us. And we're never fully certain when that will be. 

With that in mind, worrying about potential future problems to the extent one doesn't tackle current pressing matters is rather silly.

So while some of us are not sure where we're going, I think it's fair to say the majority of us know where we don't want to go. We would do well to follow and act upon those impulses.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

 

Growing up and taking responsibility

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

'Until 30 or 40 years ago what I did was totally normal. People are radical in their youth and then they stop. That was the pattern of life until the 1960s. Then it changed. In the 1960s people stopped growing up when they reached their 20s and continued to be teenagers all their lives ... Why should they grow up? ... The world was revolutionised in the 1960s to suit them ... Everything was made fantastically easy ... I preferred to grow up ... I felt it was time.'

The abridged version of words from the at times divisive English journalist, Peter Hitchens, expressed in an interview with me in January this year.

With rights come responsibilities. (Photo by Nicole Shelby.)

Forever young?

At the time of recording, those exact comments didn't really resonate with me. Erroneously, perhaps, I was more focused on moving the conversation to our common position of being coronavirus-lockdown sceptics. Things that go viral do tend to dominate the discourse after all, for better or for worse.

Shortly afterwards, however, I began to reflect more deeply on that particular Hitchens observation.

In some respects, as a 36-year-old single, childless, relatively free man who reaped some benefits from Celtic Tiger Ireland, it could be argued that, on the surface anyway, I'm ripe to be in that not-growing-up brigade.

Compared to my parents and with a lot of thanks owed to them — although I didn't think it at the time — everything was made fairly 'fantastically easy', at least until my mid-20s.

I went from secondary school straight to university. While not exactly stress-free, it was far from a chastening experience either.

After obtaining a BA degree followed by a higher diploma, I only had a few months' wait before landing a full-time broadcast journalist job. For sure, working in a busy newsroom comes with many pressures, but I couldn't say that I was learning life the hard way. It is, of course, all relative, that much is true.

Whatever the case, my decision to go travelling solo around the world after a switch of radio stations didn't go the way I thought it would, led to, arguably, the first time I really had to be fully responsible for myself. I was 23.

'People have become comfortable with Big Nanny State controlling practically every aspect of their lives.'

Brendan versus the big bad world. And first up it was the big bad world of South America. A baptism of fire you might say.

I certainly learnt much from that experience. It's open to debate whether I became more responsible but I think it's fair to say I became more streetwise. Either that or I was downright lucky on umpteen occasions.

An 18-month working interlude back in the relative comfort of Ireland followed that nine-month global adventure. After that, in 2011, came the return to South America.

Adolescents in adults' bodies

Fast forward ten years later and with Hitchens' opening salvo in mind, can I define myself as responsible and grown-up?

It depends on how one views it, really.

Money-wise, I'm independent, living within rather restricted means as I must. There's no Nanny State to speak of in Colombia to help those in need, in any case.

Even if there was, it would be rather impertinent of me to be looking for help considering I come from a higher-income country. Any foreigner from a First World economy based here who's looking for government handouts, well that surely is a sign that one lacks responsibility.

In some ways, Colombia is a capitalist country in its rawest form. It's every man, woman and child for him/herself. OK, there are those few in the upper classes who have had everything pretty much handed to them. You'll find such types the world over.

I like to think I have a fair appreciation of the balance between my rights and responsibilities. As a traditional conservative, I believe this is what Hitchens was getting at in terms of people not growing up, although he didn't explicitly say this in our interview.

In a UK and Republic of Ireland context, it comes back to the Nanny State. People have become comfortable with it controlling practically every aspect of their lives. As needy and selfish "grandchildren", they cry and throw the toys out of the pram each time they feel wronged. Rather than becoming more independent, more responsible, they confer upon Big Nanny State ever-greater powers of control.

For some, this is blissful. It means virtually nothing is ever their fault anymore. Everything is in the hands of Big Nanny State. And as long as she hands out the occasional sweet treat, all is fine.

For others, the realisation that their own lives have practically been outsourced to 'those who know best' in return for an 'easy existence' is slowly dawning. However, what was easily surrendered is proving much more difficult to take back.

What it requires is the radical spirit of the immature, irresponsible youth, but one not anchored to the extremes. The centre ground must find its bite before it's too late.

The responsible, grown-up adults in the room need to start behaving as such. The question is, have we enough of such types around to do this?
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".