Herd immunity by infection strategy is back. People need to…

is precisely the same disastrous idea from last year - it is the same as "send all the vulnerable people to Scotland and let the virus rip through the rest of the population." The only difference now is shielding by way of a vaccine and not by social distancing. The government's

plan will see enormous numbers of people infected, and enormous numbers of people very sick, and large numbers dying. The Oxford vaccine only has 70% efficacy, so up to a third of vulnerable people will still be susceptible to disease. But more than this - we should be aiming not

to allow the virus to rip through the population as soon as the most vulnerable are vaccinated - we should be aiming to get the virus to the lowest possible levels and keep it there. COVID does affect younger people. 40% of people being admitted to hospital now are under 65.

Everyone needs to know that this is the government's plan. It doesn't need to be this way - just as it didn't need to be that way last year. It is unbelievable that they are still doing this - that the opposition is not opposing it, and that journalists are not asking questions.

I am so exhausted with putting out these warning threads - as I have now been doing for a year.

There are other options. 1) Vaccinate much more of the population before ending restrictions. This is what most countries will do. 2) Use restrictions to bring virus levels very very low and control it with massive effort to find, test, trace, isolate, and support every case.

It is unbelievable also that this massive strategic decision is not being discussed in public - either by the government or its scientists. If they believe in it, they should come out in public and say it, and defend it. But instead we get fed with "there is no alternative."

Or treated like children who just want restrictions lifted. There are alternatives. They are supported by science, and by evidence gained from countries that have done things differently. There needs to be a big public debate about what strategy we want to see and why.

If anyone wants confirmation of the plan you can find it here. This is a massive disaster. https://t.co/XEPfrdJ4Zi

If people don't understand the consequences of this here are a few: 1) if you're in the UK you are not going to be able to travel anywhere in the world for a long time. 2) we will likely usher in a bunch more mutations of the virus, some will escape the immunity from vaccination.

3) huge parts of our population will develop long-COVID. 4) We will continue to see the economy blighted by the virus - far more than countries that opt for suppression (as we have already seen in the last year.)

The @UKLabour @theSNP @LibDems @Plaid_Cymru urgently need to oppose this in public for all the reasons set out above. There should be no widespread support for this enormously dangerous strategy.

I am also begging for members of SAGE and its committees to explicitly speak out against this failed strategy. @JeremyFarrar @ProfCalumSemple @mugecevik @SusanMichie @ProfJohnDrury

I'd also be very interested in the views of @Johnrashton47 on the consequences of everything above.