Quote Originally Posted by Wales-Bales View Post
Taking the politics out of it, does this mean there is another way to deal with Covid19? We have been told a vaccine is the only solution, and we must remain in lockdown until it is ready. So if they ramp up the production of these new experimental drugs can life get back to normal sooner, without being dependent on a working vaccine?
Not sure that is remotely true. As far as I can see most people fit into one of four groups:

i) not had coronavirus and won't ever get it
ii) had coronavirus and had short term mild symptoms or were asymptomatic. Unknown how long they are immune for.
iii) had coronavirus and had very difficult time of it but survived with no longer term effects or had coronavirus and have what is now being described as "long covid" where fatigue or other symptoms last 90 days plus.
iv) had coronavirus and died

This is a novel virus so initially, and now during the first winter, a lot of the concern is that we know it's potentially deadly and spreads rapidly but we don't know much else. Each passing month we are closer to living with it in relative safety because we understand it more and make different breakthroughs which are trialed to high enough standards that they are then mass produced.

Life will largely return to normal before a vaccine is available to everyone in the UK. The lockdown (from China to Sweden) was never about guaranteed safety but the risk was too high with too many unknowns and no way of protecting those who would have smallest chance of survival.