FOR the benefit of Charlie Kerr (Letters, May 29) and others. It is known that having a Covid-19 infection does not necessarily confer immunity. No vaccine has ever been 100% effective. The longevity of immunity conferred by the vaccine is not yet understood.
My wife and I, both in a high-risk group for various reasons, are taking part in a study whereby we are swabbed for infection and blood is taken to test for antibodies once a month.
READ MORE: What's the point of delaying indyref2 if we might all be Covid carriers?
Neither of us has tested positive for the virus but, and it is the but that is the crux of John Swinney’s exhortation to be careful, antibodies are a different story.
Following our first vaccine in February we have had two blood tests. Both of these indicate that although my wife’s blood is positive for antibodies, mine is not!
We received our second vaccination last weekend and had blood samples taken again yesterday. I fully expect that my wife will continue to show antibodies but will not be surprised if I still do not.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon hints at 'less restrictive' Covid restrictions thanks to vaccine
It is in the nature of vaccines that they are not guaranteed to work for everybody: the objective is to create herd immunity by having a sufficient number of resistant individuals to protect the rest.
Unless you are tested for antibodies before you go on holiday, you have no idea whether you will, without displaying any symptoms, bring the virus back with you.
Les Hunter
Lanark
WITH reference to the recent letter “Sanctions alone won’t solve the Israel/Palestine conflict” (May 25), 2021, and in particular a pointless letter following on from Iain R Thomson which makes an obnoxious reference to the former liberty ship SS President Warfield, and its use of “carrying Zionists for the invasion of Palestine”.
Mr Thomson tells readers more about himself than about the SS President Warfield.
Readers will know little of this ship, commanded by Mr Thomson’s father as it lay decommissioned in Loch Fyne. But, renamed Exodus 1947, it played its part attempting to take 4,515 Holocaust survivors, including approximately 3,000 women and children, to safety in what was Palestine, then under British occupation and blockade of Jewish immigrants.
British naval forces succeeded in detaining those refugees and sending them back to Germany, to camps staffed by Germans – a point not missed by many – but only after clubbing one crew member to death and fatally shooting two passengers.
In 1958, the book Exodus by Leon Uris, based partly on the story of the ship, was published, and in 1960 the film Exodus, directed by Otto Preminger and starring Paul Newman, based on the above novel, was released.
Stanley Grossman
Glasgow
WITH Scotland edging ever closer to independence I wonder if it is wise for Boris Johnson to saddle his latest vanity project, the substitute royal yacht, with the name of what to him will become a foreign capital city. Then again, if we are made to pay toward the cost of this extravagance when we get our turn to use it, maybe we could just paint out the first two words and simply call it the SS Edinburgh.
Ni Holmes
St Andrews
A FRIEND of mine from the Western Isles surprised me by saying he was all in favour of the new £200 million Royal Yacht – or National Flagship if you prefer that term.
But only if it could have a car deck, be painted black, white and red and be subcontracted to Caledonian MacBrayne when not in use by Westminster politicians or the Clan Windsor and their friends.
Brian Lawson
Paisley
THE resignation of the SNP’s national treasurer will have many members scratching their heads thinking what is going on here?
His resignation follows on from the resignation of all three members of the party’s audit committee, who refused to sign off the party’s accounts. All of these members have experience in business and accounting and should know what they are talking about.
READ MORE: Douglas Chapman steps down as SNP treasurer citing lack of 'financial information'
It seems that someone within the SNP hierarchy is simply refusing to provide the required information to let the treasurer and audit committee know the real state of affairs of the party’s finances. I would be reluctant to blame these members – who are all volunteers and were all members of the party for a long time. They were elected by the party membership to oversee the party’s finances but party officials seem to think it is they who are in charge!
This cannot end well. No doubt the party’s chief exec feels he is free from any reprimand due to his relationship with the party leader – this is not healthy for party democracy. More and more members will be asking, where are the funds set aside for independence campaigning? Sticking your head in the sand isn’t the answer here – the party needs to open the books to the party treasurer. Not doing so only compounds concerns that something is amiss.
Willie Bruce
Johnstone
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