[makomk]

It is not possible to reduce R below 1 through vaccination alone with the current vaccines and the current Delta variant. The press has had a tendency to downplay or even outright lie about this, especially in countries with lower vaccine uptakes where it's politically convenient, but the British press and medical experts seem to be a bit more upfront with this now that 75% of adults are fully vaccinated and almost 90% have had at least one shot: https://www.politico.eu/article/herd-immunity-not-a-possibil... (This is about the goal countries like Australia and South Korea have been pointing to as the point where they can start rolling back restrictions.)

[_abox]

But what about the current vaccines + Delta + some minor measures?

This is what works in most EU countries now.

I'd much rather deal with some minor distancing instead of having to ID myself everywhere I go.

Also, most people in the UK have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca which is much less effective (and this Pollard guy has a huge commercial interest in that so this won't factor into his story)

[makomk]

The current vaccines + some minor measures probably wouldn't be enough. It's quite plausible that the Delta variant spreads as effectively in a fully vaccinated population as the original variant did in an entirely unvaccinated one, and you can probably remember what it took to get that somewhat under control. The UK does to have relatively stable case and infection numbers without major official restrictions, but we have a lot of natural immunity and large voluntary reductions in the level of social interaction, plus it's summer here.

[_abox]

The vaccines limit the mortality rate a lot though so it's much less of an issue. Eventually we will all have to build up natural immunity anyway because the virus will not go away. And natural immunity is adaptive. And a low mortality risk makes it much less of an issue to let it spread IMO. The biggest issue with Covid is that it's a 'novel' virus that nobody had any immunity to. Once we do it'll take the edge off it and it'll just be another of those minor illnesses we shouldn't worry too much about.