I do think the politicians are getting terrified. They have been incompetent since at least the 90's. Until now, first world circumstances were good enough that nobody cared much.
Corona changed that. There is a need for coordination on a massive scale, and they simply aren't up to it. You can't blather your way out of Covid. People are looking at them, and it's almost impossible to notice they aren't good for just about anything.
Agreed about the politicians being terrified, but I tend to be more sanguine: this is a modern re-telling of Canute and the tide, but the leaders aren't intelligent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Canute_and_the_tide
The people are demanding that the tides be pushed back, and the leaders are doing the bidding of the people (and CNN is on 24/7, with Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon telling people that the tides are coming to get them and their children.)
The original sin here was giving them the power to take away our fundamental rights in the first place. The rest was sadly predictable.
No, not all elderly people -- I was careful to put "healthy" in there, and I meant it. Honestly, I probably should have added "not obese" as well. There is not enough risk stratification happening in discussions of this illness.
But sure, at a high level, if we want to put third doses in the arms of people over 65, I think that's more evidence-based than the current recommendations.
...and also don't need it (boosters for healthy, young people). The WHO has repeatedly begged the western world to stop prioritizing boosters for healthy people, but the west continues to do this, instead of getting shots to the rest of the world:
https://archive.md/BnEtn#a-scandal-who-says-the-rate-of-boos...
This all seems to be a tragic attempt by politicians to appease their terrified base, coupled with incompetent scientists who continue to pursue eradication as a goal.