Inflation is always too much money chasing too few goods. Thus, the "hand-outs" do cause inflation if they are not accompanied by measures to increase supply. Inflation is just rationing by bargaining power. But it may in fact be the best way to ration scarce supplies. Policy makers need to act accordingly.

Maybe it's time for vaccinated people to "let it burn." We need to make this bug endemic and let the burden of it fall on those who are unvaccinated. If you are vaccinated and boosted and you get Omicron, you may have a bad cold, but it will pass and you won't get it again soon. This approach will be hard for the immunocompromised, but everyone is a statistic, and the deaths we can't see are as important to public policy as those we can see.