We were fully vaccinated in March. We live in a state that is 70% vaccinated, in a county that is 80% vaccinated. We wear our masks when we leave the house, and when we are arrant people we do not know. We do not socialize with those who are not vaccinated.
The willful ignorance that so may citizens share is the real epidemic. And we all know who throw gasoline on the fire.
I have witnessed a lot in my 68 years, but I have never been as worried about our country.
That sounds a lot like where I live, except that my county (Dukes, in MA) is Martha's Vineyard and the summer idiot hordes are here in earnest, most of them not wearing masks. And ditto about having seen a lot and never having been as worried. If people -- especially so-called "leaders" -- can't register what's happening right before their eyes and act on the basic facts of disease transmission, how the hell are they going to take climate change seriously enough to change their behavior?
We are going to have to treat the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers as complete social pariahs. They should be denied access to just about every place: banks, stores ( including grocery stores) all restaurants, libraries, and all sports and entertainment venues. Their children should be denied admission to all schools from day-care to universities. They are not fit to be part of civilized society— they are willfully ignorant, selfish monsters who are potential mass murderers and they should be treated that way.
And their names should be posted all around the towns where they live:”These people refuse to be vaccinated. They are ignorant, selfish, potential mass murderers.”
From what I've been reading lately, I don't believe that all or even most of the vaccine resisters are "willfully ignorant, selfish monsters." What seems to work with persuading the resisters to get vaccinated is seeing up close and personal (i.e., from friends and relatives) that the vaccine doesn't have terrible side effects. Being urged by someone they trust (e.g., their doctor) also helps -- and so, it seems, does realizing that some activities are denied to them if they aren't vaccinated. IOW, I think France is on the right track.
I disagree that “all or most” of those refusing to be vaccinated are good-hearted people who are just a bit “hesitant” to take the vaccine. According to everything I have read, refusal to be vaccinated corresponds more than 99 % with the reddest counties in the reddest states, which also have the highest death rates and the most hospitalizations. In other words, it’s mostly hard-core tRump worshipers who are dying, and I say good riddance!
On the whole I'd prefer Nuremberg-style trials for the purveyors of lies and disinformation, and compulsory (re?)education for their dupes. Staffing internment camps would tie up too many people who would be more productively employed elsewhere -- and probably attract too many of the people who are attracted to law enforcement for all the wrong reasons.
If only he had heard what he said-that just did in most of his concerts. Nobody goes to concerts to get sick and die from. He should have just shut up. His bottom line would not have been impacted so severely. Used to admire him, now he's just another covidiot to me.
He evidently based his decision on having some vaccine side effects and now acts as if his experience should set the policy standard for everyone else. Maybe in music, but certainly not in medicine.
Day after day I read stories of people who did not 'believe it was dangerous, deadly,' or that 'it's just like the flu, you're going to not die from this' and the next thing you know, they're dying in the ICU of COVID-19, and regretting having not believed the experts.
That's is what it is going to take, literally. It's going to take more people dying and suffering from long COVID, and regretting not taking this virus seriously to make people understand that this virus is nothing to fuck around with.
I did it myself-I work in a retail pharmacy chain (and used to be a pharmacy tech for 17 years) and I was in a panic to get my shots. I knew how bad this would get. I wasn't under any illusions about that.
So I got the last one in March, and immediately called up my 75 year old brother who lives in Alaska (an high infection rate state) to tell him that "I'm totally vaccinated! I feel so awesome!".
His SO called me back later on that month to thank me for doing that, because despite his being very intelligent and well read, had some 'serious misgivings' about the vaccine and was not going to get it.
My phone call made all the difference. He and she were going to get vaccinated (and they are now.)
I think that's what it is going to take-personal experiences of either bad or good outcomes and keep hammering home the message:
"COVID-19 is a deadly disease and will kill you or leave you maimed beyond belief if you do not get vaccinated."
Because you never expect the Spanish Inquisition, either-or the Black Death-but you might as well get prepared for them.
From what I've been reading lately, your experience with your brother is typical and your conclusion is absolutely right: personal experience makes a huge difference in persuading people to get vaccinated. The obvious challenge is that in plenty of places vaccine resisters are surrounded by other vaccine resisters, and their so-called leaders are a pack of idiots.
Lucian, reading this fine essay my fertile imagination conjured Peter Graves standing before a room filled with generals and scientists seated around a conference table explaining the alien pods or Godzilla and Mothra. We watched this saga at Saturday Matinees as Jonas Salk worked feverishly in Pittsburgh to save us from polio. The real monster that frightened our parents was the virus although it was the big ones on the big screen scared us more. We have not come too far or learned enough. The monster is on the small screen now, grinning and lying, grinning and lying as children begin to die in this hot humid ghastly summer. I do not know what it will take for reality and sanity to reach the standard ending of a black and white B-grade horror movie.
Thank you for shouting this from the rooftops (not that it will reach the folks who need to hear it most, because frankly, they're stupid). One of my nephews worked on the Moderna vaccine project; he said it very simply, and I paraphrase, as I'm not a PhD: "Ebola is a dumb virus. You can only get it by touching someone with Ebola. COVID is a smart virus. It spreads through the air and finds ways to survive."
The school district in the town next to mine has decided that masks will be optional for all vaccinated and UNVACCINATED high school students this year. I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone. Unbelievable! There are 12,000 students in that school district not including the teachers and the staff. It has been reported that there is an “Unmask My Child” campaign and big groups of people are going to these school board meetings and trying to convince the boards to not require masks. I also read an article that said the emergency use status is what is preventing the federal government/ states from issuing a mandate requiring vaccines. It said that Pfizer should receive FDA approval this fall and then mandates can begin.
We have the same movement here in Greenwich named, ironically, "Greenwich Patriots." Their posters attack masks with that same slogan, "unmask your children." They've also opposed vaccines and now add Critical Race Theory, although the Greenwich school superintendent continually states that CRT is not taught here. Doesn't matter. These "patriots" storm school board meetings and argue vehemently. When I see their professionally printed signs, I want to tear them down, but they've already told the police that signs have been "stolen." Their slogans lie, so how would we know if they're telling the truth about stolen signs, or complaining to gain more publicity?
Yes, they all have signs here as well. Some handmade but recently printed one's are showing up. These are the people who refuse to get vaccinated. AND they refuse to wear masks! They also have elementary school age children reading prepared speeches about how masks are uncomfortable, they stick to their mouth when they talk, etc... The Village I live in (Mt. Prospect) is having a controversy regarding a patch that our police wear. All of sudden there are people who are not residents at our Village board meetings. They are disruptive and cause chaos when an opposing view is brought forth. Our chief of police went on Fox News to talk about the controversy (that's a whole other disaster!) and all of a sudden these people started showing up. Illinois is a blue state and out Village is majority blue so this is "out of the ordinary" for us.
The rampant stupidity in this country is mind boggling. And demoralizing. It's really not that complicated. If only Mr. Darwin were around to add this episode to his research...
A news channel interviewed a patient in Louisiana who twanged,”I still would never get the vaccination…because the local, state and federal governments want to shove this down our throats…”
Well, let’s clarify something: THAT is not a “reason”—it’s an emotional REACTION. Fact has nothing to do with it. It’s childish and dangerous. Do we put three-year-olds in charge of adult decisions?
Secondly, who is paying the medical bills in this situation? That yin-yang surely can’t afford ICU/ isolation costs on top of the in-patient care etc, etc, …those that violate public health tenants should have to pay the debts they incur.
To its credit, the nyTimes began paying serious attention early to Linsey Marr, the Virginia Tech aerosol scientist/infectious disease specialist. Hers was a lonely voice in the wilderness crying out that the probability of airborne spread deserved much more concern than it was getting. The public was wrapping thin bandanas if anything over mouth and nose then, while scrubbing as if for surgery and leaving vigorously disinfected grocery containers in the garage for days before bringing them indoors.
What the Times passed along of Marr's research was so persuasive I watched what I breathed and never paid undo heed to all that disinfecting advice. (I did learn that my longtime fave homebrew, Clorox and white vinegar, is supposedly as deadly as the notorious Clorox and ammonia combination.)
W.H.0. finally stopped dragging its heels on aerosols only when absolutely forced to. I consider its and all agencies' guidelines compromised. If cases are on the rise around here I tighten my mask, if falling I eagerly dine outdoors unmasked with vaccinated friends. That's it. My age defines me as vulnerable. I guess I'm going to be masked in public, trying to keep my distance, the rest of my days. Booster shots for us will probably be inevitable.
I just want my vaccination passport. If measles, smallpox, and chickenpox vaccines can be mandated why the hell not Covid-19? The situation is idiotic.
My experience with influenza has taught me that I need a vaccination every year because the virus mutates and different strains need to be in this year's vaccines than were in last year's. Why would the COVID-19 virus be any different? I expect to need a booster every year.
Macron's decisive action underscores what we're missing in the U.S.: leadership. The scientists are doing what they're supposed to do. Making public policy isn't their job. Those who do make public policy need to listen closely to scientists and other experts, but then they have to make decisions based on information that is, and always will be, incomplete. That's what we're missing, and we were missing it long before Covid-19 showed up. The people whose job is to make public policy and *lead* are instead mostly obsessing about poll numbers and fundraising for the next campaign. For Republicans in particular, trashing anyone they don't like makes the approval ratings go up and the dollars roll in, so that's what they do. A good leader has to risk being wrong -- s/he can reduce the risk by gathering and analyzing information, but the risk can't be reduced to zero. I have no military background, but maybe military leadership has something to offer us here? In a crisis, endless dawdling and infighting aren't options. How to get that idea across to our elected officials?
Thank you for this column. You’re correct - at some point people WILL look back in bewilderment. WTF, indeed!
Ask people why there are few , if any, cases of Smallpox or polio anymore. Why? Vaccinations! I can’t believe how stupidly stubborn many of the anti-vaxxers seem to be. Do they REALLY think the vaccine is more dangerous than Covid? Maybe this proves Darwin’s theory of natural selection. It’s just so SAD that too many are being affected / infected as a result.
We were fully vaccinated in March. We live in a state that is 70% vaccinated, in a county that is 80% vaccinated. We wear our masks when we leave the house, and when we are arrant people we do not know. We do not socialize with those who are not vaccinated.
The willful ignorance that so may citizens share is the real epidemic. And we all know who throw gasoline on the fire.
I have witnessed a lot in my 68 years, but I have never been as worried about our country.
That sounds a lot like where I live, except that my county (Dukes, in MA) is Martha's Vineyard and the summer idiot hordes are here in earnest, most of them not wearing masks. And ditto about having seen a lot and never having been as worried. If people -- especially so-called "leaders" -- can't register what's happening right before their eyes and act on the basic facts of disease transmission, how the hell are they going to take climate change seriously enough to change their behavior?
We are going to have to treat the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers as complete social pariahs. They should be denied access to just about every place: banks, stores ( including grocery stores) all restaurants, libraries, and all sports and entertainment venues. Their children should be denied admission to all schools from day-care to universities. They are not fit to be part of civilized society— they are willfully ignorant, selfish monsters who are potential mass murderers and they should be treated that way.
And their names should be posted all around the towns where they live:”These people refuse to be vaccinated. They are ignorant, selfish, potential mass murderers.”
From what I've been reading lately, I don't believe that all or even most of the vaccine resisters are "willfully ignorant, selfish monsters." What seems to work with persuading the resisters to get vaccinated is seeing up close and personal (i.e., from friends and relatives) that the vaccine doesn't have terrible side effects. Being urged by someone they trust (e.g., their doctor) also helps -- and so, it seems, does realizing that some activities are denied to them if they aren't vaccinated. IOW, I think France is on the right track.
I disagree that “all or most” of those refusing to be vaccinated are good-hearted people who are just a bit “hesitant” to take the vaccine. According to everything I have read, refusal to be vaccinated corresponds more than 99 % with the reddest counties in the reddest states, which also have the highest death rates and the most hospitalizations. In other words, it’s mostly hard-core tRump worshipers who are dying, and I say good riddance!
Internment camps. Sorry not sorry. They are ruining the recovery and killing people.
On the whole I'd prefer Nuremberg-style trials for the purveyors of lies and disinformation, and compulsory (re?)education for their dupes. Staffing internment camps would tie up too many people who would be more productively employed elsewhere -- and probably attract too many of the people who are attracted to law enforcement for all the wrong reasons.
If only he had heard what he said-that just did in most of his concerts. Nobody goes to concerts to get sick and die from. He should have just shut up. His bottom line would not have been impacted so severely. Used to admire him, now he's just another covidiot to me.
He evidently based his decision on having some vaccine side effects and now acts as if his experience should set the policy standard for everyone else. Maybe in music, but certainly not in medicine.
I always loved his music, his voice. Now, I'm like, who's Eric Clapton?
Day after day I read stories of people who did not 'believe it was dangerous, deadly,' or that 'it's just like the flu, you're going to not die from this' and the next thing you know, they're dying in the ICU of COVID-19, and regretting having not believed the experts.
That's is what it is going to take, literally. It's going to take more people dying and suffering from long COVID, and regretting not taking this virus seriously to make people understand that this virus is nothing to fuck around with.
I did it myself-I work in a retail pharmacy chain (and used to be a pharmacy tech for 17 years) and I was in a panic to get my shots. I knew how bad this would get. I wasn't under any illusions about that.
So I got the last one in March, and immediately called up my 75 year old brother who lives in Alaska (an high infection rate state) to tell him that "I'm totally vaccinated! I feel so awesome!".
His SO called me back later on that month to thank me for doing that, because despite his being very intelligent and well read, had some 'serious misgivings' about the vaccine and was not going to get it.
My phone call made all the difference. He and she were going to get vaccinated (and they are now.)
I think that's what it is going to take-personal experiences of either bad or good outcomes and keep hammering home the message:
"COVID-19 is a deadly disease and will kill you or leave you maimed beyond belief if you do not get vaccinated."
Because you never expect the Spanish Inquisition, either-or the Black Death-but you might as well get prepared for them.
From what I've been reading lately, your experience with your brother is typical and your conclusion is absolutely right: personal experience makes a huge difference in persuading people to get vaccinated. The obvious challenge is that in plenty of places vaccine resisters are surrounded by other vaccine resisters, and their so-called leaders are a pack of idiots.
Lucian, reading this fine essay my fertile imagination conjured Peter Graves standing before a room filled with generals and scientists seated around a conference table explaining the alien pods or Godzilla and Mothra. We watched this saga at Saturday Matinees as Jonas Salk worked feverishly in Pittsburgh to save us from polio. The real monster that frightened our parents was the virus although it was the big ones on the big screen scared us more. We have not come too far or learned enough. The monster is on the small screen now, grinning and lying, grinning and lying as children begin to die in this hot humid ghastly summer. I do not know what it will take for reality and sanity to reach the standard ending of a black and white B-grade horror movie.
Exactly right.
Thank you for shouting this from the rooftops (not that it will reach the folks who need to hear it most, because frankly, they're stupid). One of my nephews worked on the Moderna vaccine project; he said it very simply, and I paraphrase, as I'm not a PhD: "Ebola is a dumb virus. You can only get it by touching someone with Ebola. COVID is a smart virus. It spreads through the air and finds ways to survive."
If ignorance truly is bliss, "we, the people" must be some ecstatic motherf*ckers!
The school district in the town next to mine has decided that masks will be optional for all vaccinated and UNVACCINATED high school students this year. I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone. Unbelievable! There are 12,000 students in that school district not including the teachers and the staff. It has been reported that there is an “Unmask My Child” campaign and big groups of people are going to these school board meetings and trying to convince the boards to not require masks. I also read an article that said the emergency use status is what is preventing the federal government/ states from issuing a mandate requiring vaccines. It said that Pfizer should receive FDA approval this fall and then mandates can begin.
We have the same movement here in Greenwich named, ironically, "Greenwich Patriots." Their posters attack masks with that same slogan, "unmask your children." They've also opposed vaccines and now add Critical Race Theory, although the Greenwich school superintendent continually states that CRT is not taught here. Doesn't matter. These "patriots" storm school board meetings and argue vehemently. When I see their professionally printed signs, I want to tear them down, but they've already told the police that signs have been "stolen." Their slogans lie, so how would we know if they're telling the truth about stolen signs, or complaining to gain more publicity?
Yes, they all have signs here as well. Some handmade but recently printed one's are showing up. These are the people who refuse to get vaccinated. AND they refuse to wear masks! They also have elementary school age children reading prepared speeches about how masks are uncomfortable, they stick to their mouth when they talk, etc... The Village I live in (Mt. Prospect) is having a controversy regarding a patch that our police wear. All of sudden there are people who are not residents at our Village board meetings. They are disruptive and cause chaos when an opposing view is brought forth. Our chief of police went on Fox News to talk about the controversy (that's a whole other disaster!) and all of a sudden these people started showing up. Illinois is a blue state and out Village is majority blue so this is "out of the ordinary" for us.
The rampant stupidity in this country is mind boggling. And demoralizing. It's really not that complicated. If only Mr. Darwin were around to add this episode to his research...
I agree. Our weekly reading aloud group is now doing The Origin of Species.
A news channel interviewed a patient in Louisiana who twanged,”I still would never get the vaccination…because the local, state and federal governments want to shove this down our throats…”
Well, let’s clarify something: THAT is not a “reason”—it’s an emotional REACTION. Fact has nothing to do with it. It’s childish and dangerous. Do we put three-year-olds in charge of adult decisions?
Secondly, who is paying the medical bills in this situation? That yin-yang surely can’t afford ICU/ isolation costs on top of the in-patient care etc, etc, …those that violate public health tenants should have to pay the debts they incur.
To its credit, the nyTimes began paying serious attention early to Linsey Marr, the Virginia Tech aerosol scientist/infectious disease specialist. Hers was a lonely voice in the wilderness crying out that the probability of airborne spread deserved much more concern than it was getting. The public was wrapping thin bandanas if anything over mouth and nose then, while scrubbing as if for surgery and leaving vigorously disinfected grocery containers in the garage for days before bringing them indoors.
What the Times passed along of Marr's research was so persuasive I watched what I breathed and never paid undo heed to all that disinfecting advice. (I did learn that my longtime fave homebrew, Clorox and white vinegar, is supposedly as deadly as the notorious Clorox and ammonia combination.)
W.H.0. finally stopped dragging its heels on aerosols only when absolutely forced to. I consider its and all agencies' guidelines compromised. If cases are on the rise around here I tighten my mask, if falling I eagerly dine outdoors unmasked with vaccinated friends. That's it. My age defines me as vulnerable. I guess I'm going to be masked in public, trying to keep my distance, the rest of my days. Booster shots for us will probably be inevitable.
I just want my vaccination passport. If measles, smallpox, and chickenpox vaccines can be mandated why the hell not Covid-19? The situation is idiotic.
————————
My experience with influenza has taught me that I need a vaccination every year because the virus mutates and different strains need to be in this year's vaccines than were in last year's. Why would the COVID-19 virus be any different? I expect to need a booster every year.
I couldn’t agree with you more….thank you for saying what I have been thinking….
Even DeSantis is now touting vaccination as well as assorted Fox drones...just in time.
Translation: Oh shit! We’re killing our rubes!
Macron's decisive action underscores what we're missing in the U.S.: leadership. The scientists are doing what they're supposed to do. Making public policy isn't their job. Those who do make public policy need to listen closely to scientists and other experts, but then they have to make decisions based on information that is, and always will be, incomplete. That's what we're missing, and we were missing it long before Covid-19 showed up. The people whose job is to make public policy and *lead* are instead mostly obsessing about poll numbers and fundraising for the next campaign. For Republicans in particular, trashing anyone they don't like makes the approval ratings go up and the dollars roll in, so that's what they do. A good leader has to risk being wrong -- s/he can reduce the risk by gathering and analyzing information, but the risk can't be reduced to zero. I have no military background, but maybe military leadership has something to offer us here? In a crisis, endless dawdling and infighting aren't options. How to get that idea across to our elected officials?
Thank you for this column. You’re correct - at some point people WILL look back in bewilderment. WTF, indeed!
Ask people why there are few , if any, cases of Smallpox or polio anymore. Why? Vaccinations! I can’t believe how stupidly stubborn many of the anti-vaxxers seem to be. Do they REALLY think the vaccine is more dangerous than Covid? Maybe this proves Darwin’s theory of natural selection. It’s just so SAD that too many are being affected / infected as a result.
The politicization of public health in some quarters is insane! Thank you for addressing this issue so cogently!