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Our broken politics is costing us lives

The terrible toll of the pandemic–nearly 700,000 dead Americans and counting–is, in part, a result of our political divisions. Upwards of 25% of adult Americans won’t take the vaccine to save themselves or end the pandemic.

CDC Director Walensky has said that COVID-19 is now “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Those without the shot die at more than eleven times the rate of the vaccinated (CDC). If you look at a map of the states Donald Trump won in 2020, these are also the states where vaccine take-up is the lowest and COVID deaths are the highest (The New York Times). How did we arrive at this regretful juncture?

These last twenty months have seen continual resistance to government and public health authorities’ policies and actions. Initially, COVID was deemed a hoax, but when the dead bodies started piling up, that argument was no longer tenable. Next, COVID was said to be no worse than the flu and just 5,000-10,000 deaths could be expected. Then came the fight over masking and social distancing. COVID deniers have been wrong at every point.

In this pluralistic society, we can have debates about the extent of lockdowns and school closings, but denying the efficacy of the vaccine is turning our back on science and common sense.

This has been the history of vaccines since they were first used in the eighteenth century. Then, as now, charlatans minimized the threat of the disease; they said the vaccine caused the disease; subsequently, they labeled vaccines as a government conspiracy to control populations. But, the history of pandemics has been, disease after disease was brought under control and some eradicated. All the while, we’ve had anti-vaxxers spreading their dangerous message (University of Oxford).

And now the latest challenge is to mandatory vaccines in the work place. People want choice and control over what goes into their bodies–they say. Sounds reasonable, but they speak endlessly about their personal rights and seldom of their responsibilities toward society.

In Western democracies, individual rights and personal freedom are paramount. But to make society work, we have had to develop some well-known rules for curbing personal behavior and choice. We may not shout fire in a crowded theatre; you are not free to dump your pollution into the water and air; we must have a driver’s license and auto insurance; your children must be inoculated to attend public school.

And, yes, we are not free to exhale COVID-infected breath on the rest of society–we have decided that personal freedoms can be abridged when our behavior harms others. That is why this so-called debate about personal freedom is a phony debate. There is no freedom to harm others. We have highly effective vaccines that save lives and therefore people are not free to go around infecting the rest of society.

This anti-social behavior is killing anti-vaxxers themselves, burdening our health care system, prolonging the pandemic with new strains of the virus and imperiling our economy. To be sure, a tiny portion have genuine health problems that rule out use of the vaccine, but the shot is suitable for the vast majority of us.

We have been indulging vaccine resisters for too long–we are in the middle of a deadly pandemic for God’s sake! It is time for vaccine passports and time to take the fun things away. If you want to go to a bar or restaurant–get a shot; if you want to attend an athletic event or concert–get the jab.

Anti-vaxxers should weigh the moral implications of exposing healthcare workers and first responders to the disease. Moreover, should hospitals treat non-vaccinated COVID cases before other serious illnesses? Anti-vaxxers should reflect on this moral dilemma.

Some politicians and broadcasters are encouraging the anti-vaccination movement by stoking conspiracy theories and peddling misinformation to keep their ratings high. History will judge them harshly (especially those who got the vaccination themselves) for their role in keeping the deaths of their followers needlessly high.

It’s time to talk about our responsibilities toward one another and not just about our personal rights. Please get the vax and let’s end this pandemic.

Editors note: Jesse W. Wright is a Marquette resident and occasional Mining Journal opinion writer.

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