Pandemically Pessimistic: Why I Can No Longer Deal with Anti-Vaxers

 

I've written something like this and deleted it many times over, because I hadn't wanted to anger or offend those that I love and care for… but I can't hold it in any more. Because, honestly, I'm angered. I'm offended. And more troubling, I'm heartbroken. It guts me to see members of my family and friends buying into COVID-19 misinformation so fully that they refuse to get vaccinated. Because, of those I know, there is absolutely no legitimate reason whatsoever, no religious exemption, no underlying medical condition, nothing that should prevent them from getting vaccinated. The only thing standing in their way is a dangerous mix of misinformation and willful ignorance.

 

Let's start with this: Literally half of the entire human race is vaccinated at this point with at least one dose; over a third is fully vaccinated. And no, I'm not exaggerating. Half of all of humanity, billions of human beings world-wide. And you're worried about, what, exactly? Do you think the vaccine is going to start a zombie apocalypse or something? This isn't a movie. This is real life. This is a massive, global effort to ensure the health and safety of the human race. What in any way makes you as an individual more important than that?

 

The level of misinformation out there is absolutely mindboggling. What pains me even more is that those I love are listening to it. Just this morning I commented on someone's post pointing out the flagrant mistruths upon which others commenting on the post are relying in defiance of vaccination. In the one case, I literally quoted a US Supreme Court decision that contradicted the commenter's grossly inaccurate statement. The result? Rather than accept that they were wrong, or engage in a reasoned discourse about why they might feel I was wrong, the person blocked me. Thus they are effectively creating an echo chamber for the person I care about by only accepting commentary that falls in line with their ideology, even when the basis of such ideology was so quickly and easily proven false. The echo chamber notion is something that shamefully I used to participate in until someone else I care for pointed out that fact. Rather than dismiss them, I listened, and changed how I communicate and relate to others. If I can do it, so can you.

 

I am blessed in my life to have within my circle of family, friendship and acquaintance dozens of highly educated, respected, medical professionals, including the head of the entire Department of Emergency Medicine at one of the nation's best health care systems, a medical school dean, a renowned surgeon, a pathologist, a professor of oncology, and others. There is not one among them that recommends anything other than vaccination.  

 

It pains me to no end to see people I find important so willing to listen to conjecture or get their "information" from biased news outlets, blogs, and other sources that so blatantly spew false narrative on this subject. It hurts me to know that they'd rather do so than undertake the effort to actually learn rather than simply accept what unreliable sources tell them.

 

I have personally known people who have died from COVID-19. I know many folks who've lost family and friends to the disease. Care to take a guess at what the common denominator is for all those that have died?

 

Not a single one was vaccinated.

 

Wanna guess how many people I know that are vaccinated that have died? Even those that still somehow contracted a breakthrough strain of the virus?

 

Zero.

 

It's almost as if vaccination helps prevent or lessen the effects of debilitating and often terminal diseases.

 

I have two small children that are not able to get vaccinated. My oldest has now had to undergo multiple quarantines because another child in her class, a child, had contracted COVID-19. Don't believe masks work? My child wearing a mask could quite possibly be the only thing that prevented her from contacting the disease herself. But I have zero control of what happens out there. And yes it scares the shit out of me. As a parent my sole purpose in life is ensuring my children a safe and happy life, and to do so I'm trying to make sure I avail myself of every available reliable resource in doing so.

 

Let me redirect the discussion in a way I hope makes this a little more relatable. Ever eat a hot dog? Any kind of processed food? Use commercial deodorant or shampoo? Take any kind of over-the-counter medication? Because if you have, any argument against vaccination on the basis of "not knowing what's in it" is invalid. Allowing chemicals to absorb into your body, chemicals that a lot of people can't even pronounce, on a daily basis to avoid body odor without question while refusing a vaccine because you don't know what's in it is not only hypocritical, it's nonsensical.

 

Won't do it because it's "experimental?' Every single medication, every single commercially processed food you've ever put in your bodies through your entire life started off as experimental. So now you draw the line? And this can't even be considered experimental. The vaccine was the result of decades of research into novel coronavirus disease. This isn't something they developed overnight. What they did was expedite their research to adapt known science, research and development to combat COVID-19. For fuck's sake! Isn't that EXACTLY what we want medical advancement to do? And when it finally does, all of sudden you have a problem with it?

 

And don't even go down the "freedom" road. Vaccine mandates are not a violation of your freedom.  I know some people that I hope read this are parents with children that attended public schools… after getting mandatory vaccinations. Vaccinations that have virtually wiped out whooping cough, measles… vaccinations you took your children to the doctor to get, and then provided proof of to the school. But NOW you have a problem? No., vaccine mandates are not a violation of your freedom. You're not a protected class of citizens against whom enforcement would be unconstitutional. And guess what? If you are, such as one claiming a religious exemption, there are exceptions.

 

Drive a car? Is needing a license a violation of your freedom? Is wearing a seatbelt a violation of your freedom? Is not being able to drive drunk? Again, let's try this from a different angle. Set everything you know aside.

 

Someone says to you "look, there's a new disease going around. We don't know a lot about it, but there's a likelihood wearing these masks could help prevent its spread. I'm immunocompromised, so I'm vulnerable. Would you mind wearing this mask?"

 

If your first reaction isn't "sure, it's no big deal. I'm happy to help," but is rather "my freedom!" you're no patriot. You're kind of an asshole… and proving the worldwide stereotype that Americans are ignorant, selfish, narcissistic jerks who refuse to do something for the greater good because they perceive it as a personal affront or don't believe its efficacy. If there was even a slightest of chance wearing a mask will help, why wouldn't you do it as an act of kindness and empathy to those around you? What is so personally offensive to you that you can't put aside your perceived notion of "freedom" for twenty goddamn minutes in the grocery store?

 

I'm tired. I'm tired of having this conversation with people. I'm tired of being concerned about people I love who refuse to take the effort to truly educate themselves. It's exhausting. And I'm done biting my tongue, because no amount of reason, or logic, or medical/legal proof that I try to present is making any difference.

 

And it breaks my heart.