It was interesting, not only to note the wide and ranging diversity of the petitions presented at this year’s Tynwald day, but also to be able to gauge the popularity of the various presentations as aired on local television.

One of the most viewed interviews was Nikola Brindley, Steve Wotton and Natalie Birchall’s, vaccine damaged petition.

Maybe it was due to the contentious nature of the subject, or the selfless way in which it was delivered, or simply because people are beginning to make connections previously dismissed as coincidence.

Whatever the reason, there were no cries demanding retribution, justice, or compensation but rather, a compassionate, if slightly breathless, plea to be recognised and acknowledged.

Follow this up with this week’s Manx Independent’s headline, ‘Did the Covid Jab kill my mum?’ referring to Steve Wotton’s shocking treatment by the authorities in his desperate bid to gain answers to his mother’s death.

There were 1,052 officially recorded adverse reaction entries later – and the, ‘elephant in the room,’ finally gets headline status.

It matters not whether you feel the Covid-19 vaccine is the best thing since penicillin, the spawn of Satan, or, somewhere in the middle, merely following mainstream media and government recommendations, the unalterable fact remains – there is no long-term data available for scrutiny. While this is the case, and preferably as a matter of good practice regardless, it should be within everybody’s interest to actively encourage the collection of all adverse reaction data.

It is easy to forget that the Covid 19 vaccine does not guarantee against infection, reinfection, contagion, or death but, instead, claims only to vastly reduce the likelihood or severity of these possibilities.

With such a health, cost/benefit, analysis, the gathering of relevant data, positive or otherwise, should be at the forefront of the vaccination initiative and not just cherry picked to avoid unpalatable truths.

An active attitude of enquiry could, for instance, discover a genetic link between all those that have had life-altering reactions to the vaccine roll out, thereby, providing a positive endorsement to the program while, at the same time, identifying a common denominator between all those adversely affected.

What parent wouldn’t give everything for a simple compatibility test, devised on the back of this data, on the off-chance that their child might be one of the, unfortunate few, who could be at risk?

So, back to brave Nikola and Steve’s petition – let us hope that Tynwald Fair Day has at last given them the platform from which to be heard because, an open and transparent government needs to operate on a level playing field for the benefit of everyone, or not at all.

Whatever your stance on the great Covid vaccine debate, one thing remains for certain, the petitioners’ brief moment in the sun, is ultimately for the benefit of us all.

Name and address supplied

This letter was first published in the Manx Independent of on July 27.

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