Comment by Anthony-G

I didn’t know this had a name but I was actually thinking about this idea while on holiday.

After putting on sun-cream and insect repellent, I’d be later considering if I had really needed to: Did I not get bit by mosquitoes because there weren’t any in that area at that time of day – or was it because of the insect repellent? Did I not get burnt because there had been enough cloud to block damaging ultra-violet radiation – or was it the sun-cream? At the start of the holiday, I was bad at estimating the risk (due to lack of experience) so called it wrong and ended up getting bitten and slightly sun-burnt.

I compared these experiences with those of acquaintances who had been vaccinated against Covid-19. When they and others they know personally finally got infected they concluded it wasn’t that bad and that the health services and the government had been over-reacting. I tried to persuade them that comparing Ireland against other countries that had less vaccination uptake showed that the decreased severity of the disease on a macro scale was most likely due to the vaccines doing their job.