In November, 2020, Pfizer and Moderna were ready for FDA emergency use approval for their vaccines. And, yet, it was the Democrats that opposed it. California Governor Newsom said FDA approval wasn't enough. New York Governor Cuomo said it should be delayed until Biden becomes president. Biden and Harris vowed they wouldn't trust a vaccine offered by Trump.
Although mass vaccinations began in December, 2020, due to Trump's Operation Warp Speed, Biden took credit for the vaccine even though more than 15 million had been vaccinated when he took office. And having secured the credit, now it's the Democrats' turn to complain. Everybody knows who the anti-vaxxers are -- it's those Trump people. Never mind that Trump himself has encouraged people to get the vaccine. It's those Republicans, those white men, those white evangelicals. No self-respecting, intelligent human being would put others at risk like this. Well, of course, unless you're talking about the "anti-vaxxer" Democrats in 2020. But their opposition, you see, was intelligent and well-founded; they hated Trump.
So we get these totally bizarre messages. We get vaccinated people coming down with COVID and the message is, "See? You all needed to get vaccinated right away!" The report is that "herd immunity" occurs around 70% and 68% have had their vaccinations added to the survivors of the virus, so we're almost there, but it's not good enough. We are told that the vaccine does not prevent you from getting or spreading COVID -- it is supposed to decrease the chances and decrease the effects -- but the message is, "The only pandemic we have is in the unvaccinated." We are shouted at, "Believe the science!" while they deny the scientific studies that have said that between 40 and 60% of us have natural immunity (according to a study from July, 2020) and that those who have recovered from COVID might have 17 years of immunity. (That last study is in the NIH director's blog.) The problem we now have is the dangerous and stupid "vaccine holdouts." I sat in a room with vaccinated people, all masked and some double masked, complaining that we all need to get the vaccine because the vaccinated are not safe until the unvaccinated get vaccinated. They were discussing it because of recent reports of vaccinated people getting COVID. Frustrated by the inability to nationally force everyone to take the vaccine, government and so on are urging employers to mandate it. The NFL will fine players who aren't vaccinated and teams will forfeit games for it. The loudest voices are declaring anyone who hasn't gotten the vaccine a dangerous and stupid and selfish individual.
A report from Kaiser Family Foundation says that 36% of black frontline health care workers and 53% of black adults are not confident about the vaccines. (How does that correlate with "white Republicans are the problem" line of attack?) The report says that 57% of white health care workers are vaccinated but only 39% of black health care workers have received at least one dose. What do they say is holding people back? It isn't politics. It is 1) concern about possible side effects, 2) concern that the vaccine is too new, and 3) finally, a lack of trust in the government.
But, it doesn't matter, does it? We no longer live in a world that can ask those kinds of questions. You will take the medicine and you will stop asking questions because you're presenting "dangerous misinformation" and you will submit or ... well ... there will be consequences. A world where we can ask these questions doesn't exist anymore. Free thinkers are not free. Toe the line or there will be trouble. "Set yourself free! Just think like we do!" It's 2021, but it sure feels like 1984.
3 comments:
I just saw that Cuomo announced that NY will stop being nice and start using coercion to get people to get the vaccine.
It seems strange to think that the left thinks that telling people who've been vaccinated that they still have to wear masks, is a good way to motivate people to get vaccinated.
If, as I heard on the news, the best possible way to get immunity is to be vaccinated and to have had COVID then shouldn't we be welcoming a variant that spreads faster but is less deadly?
Finally, what happened to "My body, my choice"?
I was unable to find the Cuomo story, but there was one today about requiring vaccinated people to wear masks indoors ... because this vaccine is so effective? Science doesn't matter. Reason doesn't matter. "Rights" don't matter. I can't actually divine all the motivations here -- political, financial, fear, on and on -- but people are suddenly too scared to make sense, apparently. And I'm not even an "anti-vaxxer."
I agree. I got the vaccine pretty early, because I decided that it would be helpful beyond it's medicinal powers.
Clearly we're not talking about the "science" in any sense that is helpful. The fact the the "guidance" on masks has gone from one extreme to the other, and the fact that the vaccine doesn't function like any previous vaccine indicate that we're simply following the vagaries of real time research and that they have no idea what the outcome will be. If we look at the "curve" chart you'll notice that the biggest spike in cases was after the mask mandate, yet all we hear is that we need to go back to that (apparently ineffective) measure because of a small uptick in cases.
While I'm not an anti vaxxer, I do appreciate that people should be able to control their exposure to an experimental vaccine. I'm especially sensitive to the women who are between 21-40 who are still planning to have children. I really don't think I'd be willing to put my ability to bear children on the line for a vaccine to a disease with a survival rate of well over 90%.
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