Andrew Bolt: Don’t believe the fake certainties of the 100-per-centers

We’re all desperate for 100 per cent safety and certainty, but this magic number won’t save us during a global pandemic.

I’m sure sick of one thing in this pandemic — all the 100-per-centers that it’s unleashed.

From the most supposedly expert to the most tin-foil-hat conspiracy nutter, you now see a panicking mob that’s too scared to see all the greys.

Like the people who write me furious emails insisting vaccines are useless because they don’t stop 100 per cent of deaths.

The people who lecture us that lockdowns are needed until we are 100 per cent virus-free. The people who insist vaccine passports are useless because vaccinated people aren’t 100 per cent guaranteed not to be infectious.

The people — even the Queensland Premier — who damn the AstraZeneca vaccine because its one-in-a-million chance of fatal blood clots means it’s not 100 per cent safe.

The people who damn our politicians for “bungling” our virus fight — despite a death rate among the world’s lowest — because we didn’t stop deaths by 100 per cent.

This pandemic has unleashed the 100-per-centers. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

The people who say lockdowns are too cruel and crude in 100 per cent of cases.

What is with these 100-per-centers?

I think it’s their fear of freedom. It’s the fear of having to do what most politicians should in this pandemic: constantly make judgments, on balance, instead of lazily leaning on the fake certainties of the 100-per-centers.

No, vaccines are not perfect protection, nor perfectly safe, but – on balance – they’re our best hope of keeping alive and free.

Sure, I want this virus 100 per cent eradicated, but maybe – on balance – the cost is too horrific, especially if we can stop most of the dying anyway.

Yes, lockdowns cause shocking damage, and premiers have used them too often, but they can – on balance – be used to stop the virus from exploding in a city on the brink, as Sydney seems now.

While we can strive for 100 per cent certainty and safety, life never comes with that guarantee. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie.

I get it. People are desperate for 100 per cent certainty and safety.

But life never comes with that guarantee, and this virus laughs at all our plans and predictions.

So get used to a new age of uncertainty. Get used to years of considering fresh challenges each day from a virus that mutates fast, and having to make fresh decisions each day, too — decisions on balance. Weighing it all again.

Welcome to the burden of freedom — having to solve problems every day with your mind and not some 100 per cent rule.