Heath, you don’t appear to understand my comment about gaslighting or straw man argument any more than you understand that I’ve never accused you of racism. You appear to have read what you want to read and then gone off on a strop.
As for the issue, Deerey, Brexit is fundamental to the point raised in the OP because it’s at the centre of the entire spat to which Greylag is referring. Mental health comes very much into the discussion because it’s a direct result of lockdowns, which we’re only going to avoid by vaccinating our population.
After that we’ll have to continue vaccinations, possibly for years, and of course we should do everything possible to help other countries. The point about virtue signalling is relevant because it’s part of the argument about how we help other countries. Just as carbon offsetting is largely a way of salving guilt for, say, travelling — it does nothing to stop climate change — so giving money away is used by some as a way of salving their guilt over inaction to address a problem.
This is central to the question that Greylag raised. As I said earlier, it’s hardly unreasonable for a country’s own population to be vaccinated to a level whereby the spread of the virus is under control. Otherwise you’re doing nothing other than virtue-signalling.
As for deaths from lockdown, I completely understand the point you’re making, BRI, but I believe you’re seriously underestimating the numbers. SAGE has apparently put the number of non-covid deaths as a result of the pandemic at around 100,000; and while these will happen over a longer period of time the consequences will obviously be every bit as devastating.
Regarding mental health, my point was — and remains — that there’s every possibility this will overwhelm the NHS, with a great deal of this being directly the result of lockdowns. None of the silly comments above will reduce what is going to be an absolutely massive problem over the next few years.