Bloody typical, isn’t it? I’m having my Covid booster jab next week, just in time for winter, but not in time for me, having had Covid just over a month ago, which has left me with a lasting, albeit occasional, uncontrollable cough, breathlessness and lingering tiredness, just like when I had it last time. Never mind. All being well, I won’t catch it again this winter, nor, I hope, will I get influenza because I’m having that jab, too.
While Covid isn’t killing as many of us as it did in its earlier days, I strongly recommend not catching it. It’s very encouraging when I talk to family and friends who have either never had Covid, or have been asymptomatic when they have. This was my second bout and it was as bad, if not worse, than my first experience of it. The first time, the cough disappeared within days. This time, it’s hung around and combined with my asthma, which always gets worse as it gets colder, it’s been an uncomfortable time. Even last night, I woke up shortly after 1.00 am with a minor coughing fit and being me, with a brain that rarely switches off, even though it doesn’t always work terribly well, sleep was then light and intermittent.
At least I don’t have to pay for my my vaccine due to a) old age and b) chronic asthma (which just means having had asthma for years), but everyone else would have to and given what it costs, I doubt that many will. Moderna’s vaccine will cost you £102 which, in certain circumstances, could be good value, but obviously not if you can’t afford it. But it’s how that price has come about that troubles me.
It costs Moderna £19.85 to make a single dose of the vaccine, which they then sell to the NHS at £25, which in itself is a very big mark-up. But the government flogs it on at a profit of £80 a dose. How can this be? I’m afraid we come back to the man with fingers in lots of pies: near billionaire Rishi Sunak.
Before becoming chancer … sorry … chancellor of the exchequer, Sunak was a hedge fund manager, which invested heavily in Moderna. Although he has stated that his investments are held in a ‘blind trust’, Sunak still continued to benefit from investments held in tax havens in the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands when he was chancellor. It is important to say that there is no suggestion that Sunak has been guilty of any wrongdoing – is that okay m’lud? – but when Sunak was asked whether he benefited by way of his investments in Moderna, he refused to say. Well, that’s that all cleared up, then.
My own highly controversial view is that if people want a Covid and flu jab, they should be able to have them for nothing or at knockdown prices. Why do we value people’s health in terms of money? That’s what they do in America. “Ooh, it will cost the taxpayer a fortune!” Well, so what? Somehow, the government managed to find £7.6 billion to fund two aircraft carriers we don’t need and keep well-paid MOD bean counters in work, so there must be the cash somewhere. I’m sure saving lives and helping people avoid getting very ill is something worth spending money on? But then, maybe I’m a little old fashioned valuing people’s lives above profit?
Despite the positive opinion polls, I am far from convinced that the next election is a done deal and Keir Starmer will be prime minister. Labour needs to win 123 seats more than it did in 2019 to get a majority of one and the Conservatives are the most successful electoral machine on the planet, even if they fuck up the country every time they win. And if, somehow, they win again, if I were you I’d be very afraid of what the future would bring, particularly in terms of health care. It has not been a coincidence that the NHS has been run into the ground under David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now Rishi Sunak (who didn’t even have an NHS GP until one of his spin doctors told him he should, even if he prefers to use private healthcare). As the Tory party lurches ever rightwards, the NHS, which is regarded by the Tory evangelists as part of the hated public sector (you know: schools, police officers, benefit fraud investigators – basically all these wrong ‘uns) and they would love to get rid of it. I am in no doubt that if the Tories are returned to office, the NHS will not exist for long and everything will cost.
As well as that, Covid has been disastrous for business, as staff and customers go sick and you would have thought ensuring people get their jabs would be a priority, but in broken Britain none of that matters. If something is worth having, goes the mantra, it’s best to charge you for it.
So, I’m having my free jabs next week and I wish you were, too. I’ve seen people suffer and indeed die from Covid and even though the current variant isn’t apparently the killer it once was, it’s still horrible. Sunak is probably too busy counting his cash to worry about the lumpen proletariat but that’s just him, an entitled billionaire who doesn’t give a toss about anyone else, unless they are as rich as he is. Sunak out, Moderna in, please.
