Why I'm Against Vaccine Mandates
We Have Not Hit The Necessary Requirements For a Mandate - Here's Why:
Mandates for vaccines ARE necessary… in some situations. Hypothetically, if there was a virus that was a death sentence for anyone, while also being hyper contagious and a vaccine came along that had a zero failure rate - you would struggle to find someone who would be against mandating this vaccine. The difference with Covid-19 is that people have greatly overestimated the lethality of it.
A Gallup poll asked Americans what percentage of people who have been infected with Covid needed to be hospitalised. Do you know the answer to this? Have a guess now, and read below what the answer is. Don’t feel bad if you get it wrong, 90% of Democrats and 74% of Republicans got it wrong as well.
Only 1 - 5% of people who get Covid need to be hospitalised. This is without the vaccine, and hospitalisation does not necessarily mean death.
Risk assessment.
When I drive to the store to buy some bread, I do not take into consideration that I could get into a car crash and die. Even though 350+ people die every year on New Zealand roads, this does not effect my decision because of how insignificantly small the chances of me dying in a car crash are. Same goes for the millions of people who gets into a vehicle every day. When the risk of dying is insignificant, we don’t factor this into our daily decisions.
The same can almost be said for getting Covid. Although we have greatly overestimated the deadliness of this virus to the average individual, the chances of dying does depend on demographics and an individual’s situation. Being overweight, old, or having some comorbidities (diabetes, asthma, etc) compared to being young, fit and healthy, should depend how you react to this virus. Those who are in the former category and are more at risk, should take more precautionary methods to protect themselves than others.
The risk of dying from Covid for most, would be like getting in a car crash while driving to the store. The risk of dying from Covid for those at risk, would be like driving down the motorway intoxicated. Yes, this virus has around a 98% survival rate. But you cannot apply that number to each individual as we all have different risk categories. Remember, all I’m talking about here is the risk to the individual, not the risk of spreading this to others which I will address later.
So we’ve established that this virus is not quite as dangerous as we first thought. In fairness, I do see how it can be better for us overestimate it and take more precautionary measures, rather than the other way around. But we have a different understanding of this virus now, so our response to it should change.
Now let’s talk about the vaccine.
I believe the vaccine works. It reduces the possibility of hospitalisation and death, and whether it stops the transmission, well apparently that’s still up for debate. You should note that in a time like this, we don’t know what exact data and information is real. We know what people’s opinions are, like the one I linked above. But in terms of science, there are contradicting studies everyday. We won’t really know the truth until we’re fully out of this.
But, it is my understanding that although the vaccine helps fight against the virus, it is not 100% effective at slowing the spread, or lowering the mortality. But it’s not 0% effective either. Would I recommend people get it? Majority of people in the majority of circumstances, yes. Should this be a choice? Absolutely. And I don’t believe that a consequence of this (supposedly) free choice should be being removed from certain parts of society, or losing your job. Health care workers, those who deal with people who are immune compromised, I have different feelings about, but working at a retail store or a bartender? No. Their personal choice supersedes the risk. If they want to take the personal risk, they should have every right to.
The alternative is setting the precedent that the government has the power to force you to undergo an irreversible medical procedure against your will. A procedure where there is a non-zero chance of being harmed or dying, all for the greater good. This is an extremely dangerous precedent to set. This is something to be discussed and thought about for much longer if we are going to permentantly change our relationship with the state in this way.
So far I have only focused on the individual. Some of you will be screaming right now asking “but what if they pass it onto OTHERS who then could have complications and then die?”, which is an awfully fair point.
“The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.”
- H. L. Mencken
Freedom versus Risk.
The world has now become more dangerous for people. Specifically, the unhealthy. Freedom breeds risk. I value freedom as one of the highest priorities that we should strive for and this means that some people will inevitably die due us having our freedoms back. If there were a way to have both freedoms and no deaths, then obviously I would take it. People die from the flu every year. They die from car crashes, smoking, fast food. All which could be prevented if we were to restrict people’s freedoms. We could stop 100% of all motor vehicle accidents if we banned people from driving. But we don’t, because we value freedom while having full recognition that people will die because of this. That’s the price of freedom.
Covid is here to stay and people will die from this. Unfortunately, that’s just the reality. We must restore our freedoms. Otherwise, what’s the alternative? Living life with unnecessary restrictions based on what the government thinks I should have? No.
My freedom is not up for dispute.
This may sound cruel, selfish or unforgiving, but remember, whose fault is this? China. This is all China’s doing and they owe the world a great deal, yet they are too busy denying it and instead teaching their children that Covid-19 started in the United States rather than taking responsibility for their actions.
So to quickly wrap up why I am against vaccine mandates: due to the fact that this virus is not as dangerous as we thought, and the vaccine is not as effective as once promised, we cannot mandate this. One’s personal freedoms trumps that of the mandate. There may come a time when mandating a vaccine against a virus is necessary like we have done in the past. But Covid-19 does not meet that standard. If you think this makes me anti-vax, go away and learn how to think.