Crippen Cartoons cartoons at the cutting edge of disability

With all restrictions being lifted with regard to the coronavirus pandemic and Boris Johnson claiming that he’s “finally giving people back their freedom” we are once again seeing this government having a completer disregard for those of us with a health condition that means if we do catch the covid virus, even this so called ‘mild’ variant, it will probably mean the end of our lives.

How many of us have remained indoors as much as possible, only venturing out double masked and when there are less people around, restricting our contact with family and friends to video calls and doing almost all of our shopping online? We don’t do this because we have a secret hermit fetish or because we actually don’t like mixing with other people. We have had to take these precautions because if we hadn’t, and we caught the virus, then we would have followed many of our friends and colleagues who have died since this terrible contagion first reached our shores.

This ‘herd immunity’ thinking, which is what’s really behind this latest move, means that people will catch Covid and recover to have added immunity against further variants. That’s fine if we were all healthy and in our prime, but those of us who are elderly, disabled, or who have a lung disease (which in my case means all three!) the chances of recovering are greatly reduced.

But hey, we already know this don’t we. This government have shown that they have absolutely no interest in supporting those members of society who, to use a term popular in the early 1940s, are labelled as ‘useless eaters’ and a drain on resources.

I’m waiting to see the panic that will ensue when the new variant that is currently rampaging around Hong Kong reaches our shores. With no protection in place, people will look back at Johnson’s offer of ‘freedom’ as the double edged sword it really is.

Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software

Boris Johnson is shown standing on a plinth in front of a large crowd of people who are all cheering and throwing their covid masks in the air. A large card at his feet reads ‘All Covid restrictions are to be lifted!’ and he is saying to the crowd: “And I give you all your freedom!” However, rearing up behind the crowd is a large tsunami type wave with ‘Hong Kong Variant’ written on it.

© 2022. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence –  CC BY-NC-ND