I live in a conservative area and I have heard the grand majority of reasons not to get the vaccine. Many of them are the same reasons anti-vaxxers have given for years. And pretty soon, the reason that it is not fully FDA approved will disappear. You do have a choice on whether or not to get the vaccine in this country. The point most of us are trying to make us that your choice will come with consequences you may not like. You don’t get to have your cake and eat it too, as they say. If a business or school wants to require vaccinations, then don’t use those schools or businesses. If that limits where you go or what you do, as a result of your choice, than that is on you. There are things I can’t do in life because of the choices I made. Accepting responsibility for one’s choices is part of living in a free society.
Again, who is forcing others to do anything? You made a choice. Live with the consequences of it (which were easily foreseeable, given vaccines aren’t new), or make another one. It is extremely unfortunate that the pandemic is real and vaccines are the best way to end it, but that is the base issue.
I don’t know how much we’ll care whether unvaccinated people (however many there will end up being, but the fewer the better) are “excluded” because there’s a way out of being excluded which most of us agree is safe, based on observable evidence.
Even though I disagree with @BamaJ on the substance of the issue (and I agree with you), BamaJ has been very respectful in her tone and posts and accepting of those who disagree with her. You likely don’t mean it this way, but I suspect your reply may come off as harsh. I hope we can keep those with dissenting opinions involved in the discussion rather than chase them away. There are enough echo chambers out there in other places/forums.
We do not make public policy based on what we think might happen to the people who do not comply.
“We just did that for an entire year.”
No, we made public policy based on the best advice we had from epidemiologists, infectious disease doctors, virologists, et all. Again, these decisions don’t live in a vacuum; if there was a way to ensure that people who don’t want to wear a mask and don’t want to be vaccinated a) don’t ever pass it on to anyone else who is doing their best not to catch it and b) never utilize scarce health care resources over someone else in danger, I’d buy that argument completely. But again, we live in a community. Do I think the current danger of Covid in the US requires mandatory vaccines? No. Do I think it was required when smallpox was on the loose? Absolutely. Do I think that Covid (or another disease) could mutate into something that would require it again? Again, absolutely. We had more than three times as many cases of Covid in the world last year as we ever had of smallpox at any given year; it’s just that the case mortality rate of smallpox (the most common type) is 30% instead of 2%. If we had something like that break out? There’s a reason it’s illegal to knowingly spread HIV; there’s a reason Typhoid Mary got thrown in jail all the time.
I’m so happy to see us sending the vaccine to more parts of the globe! It’s sorely needed.
Thank you all for letting me share my thoughts. I feel heard, though not sure I’m completely understood. At the end of the day, I’m thankful I had the opportunity to do so, and feel comfortable I did my due diligence.
Amazingly so!!!
I have to ask because this is the second time you have posted something similar to this. What do you mean by this. I am trying to gauge if you are trying to hint at something here?
@qwerty6 tagging you because of discussion of natural infection with sources tagged.
Also adding that anecdotally, a childhood friend’s father (early 60s) had a mild case of COVID last summer. He got it again in April. 5 weeks of hospitalization, multi-organ failure, multiple rounds of convalescent plasma, ended up with lungs full of blood clots.
He is about to discharge from the rehab facility with what appears to be permanent lung damage. On oxygen with months of therapy ahead of him.
That’s awful.
SO sad!!!
(all I can think of is: This is NOT the flu people!!!)
Oh, no!
I just can’t imagine what the long term impact is going to be on our healthcare system, both direct impacts (long covid) and indirect (delays in other types of health care and such).
Yes all of this is of great concern! Especially for those w/o health insurance. Will Covid be considered a preexisting condition?
I am absolutely shocked that NY got to this point before Disney!
We get weekly messages from our district superintendent. Today is the last day of school and we got our last update. Next year the expectation is a traditional school year. No mandated face masks and 5 days per week in-person. Face masks will be optional for those who want to wear them at school. The vaccine will not be required for students or staff. The Cyber Academy is continuing next year as well, for those that want that option.
This will make my DW happy, hearing positive neighboring school reports. She would love normalcy. (she is a teacher)
New York CITY public schools announced that we are still masks mandatory.
All systems have the OPTION. Unlike FL where apparently what the demigod says is ultimate law, Cuomo gave school systems the option to keep them.
We are keeping masks through the end of the school year…even the kids who can be vaccinated will not be 2 weeks from their 2nd dose until after the last day of school. Kids have been incredible wearing them.
Our school district did that as well. Our last day was yesterday.