Alec Hogg: UK data: Covid mostly kills 80+, unvaccinated

The downside of a pandemic rapidly approaching its second anniversary is Covid fatigue. The upside is that the longer it drags on, the more data we have from which to make rational decisions. And the more that emerges, the greater the argument for open-mindedness rather than buckling to bureaucratic diktat.

In May last year, SA's only living Nobel science laureate, Stanford professor Michael Levitt told the world lockdowns were "a huge mistake". Instead of closing economies he said only the elderly should be isolated. He also predicted lockdown-averse Sweden would be one of the big winners.

This week the UK's Office for National Statistics, analysing comprehensive mortality data from the country's umbrella National Health Service, proves Prof Levitt's case. Virtually since the outset, the median age of Covid deaths has been at 82 years old. The latest data also shows, just like in SA, only a tiny fraction of the mortalities were among vaccinated people.

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