If only we had a safe, easy, effective way to protect ourselves from COVID-19

Or, stupid and arrogant is as stupid and arrogant does

CLEVELAND — As a fast-spreading new strain of the coronavirus swarms across the country, hospitals in Ohio running low on beds and staff recently took out a full-page newspaper advertisement pleading with unvaccinated Americans to finally get the shot. It read, simply: “Help.”

But in a suburban Ohio café, Jackie Rogers, 58, an accountant, offered an equally succinct response on behalf of unvaccinated America: “Never.”

In the year since the first shots began going into arms, opposition to vaccines has hardened from skepticism and wariness into something approaching an article of faith for the approximately 39 million American adults who have yet to get a single dose.

It’s the unfortunate aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. If only we have a safe, readily accessible, and FREE way for people to protect themselves and perhaps even save their lives. Wouldn’t it be great if Americans would take advantage of such an opportunity? Then, they could easily protect their health and maybe even save the lives of those with whom they come into contact.

Wouldn’t that be great?

Guess what? We can do that. In fact, we have THREE vaccines that the FDA has approved. They’ve proven to be safe, effective, and carry a minimum of side effects for most people. Best of all, they’re FREE, readily available, and available to about anyone who wants/needs one.

Yet, despite this, some refuse to get vaccinated. Some have succumbed to disinformation and are worried about things like microchips or DNA mutations (neither of which are real). They accept things they hear from friends or read on Facebook yet refuse guidance from trained medical professionals. Instead, they prefer to “do their own research,” which usually means doing a few Google searches and following wrong information down a rabbit hole.

The truth is that we end up with stupid people making stupid decisions for stupid reasons. More than 800,000 Americans have perished in the pandemic thus far, and it’s a good bet that most of those deaths were preventable. Whether it’s “owning the Libs,” not trusting science or the government, or believing Facebook groups over the medical profession, people are dying needlessly from sheer stupidity.

Even worse is the realization that too many people scoff at the idea that they are their brother’s keeper. As a result, they refuse to accept any responsibility to the broader community, and they cynically insist that the community owes THEM.

I would’ve thought that two years into this pandemic, the onset of a new COVID-19 variant would set people to do the right thing if they haven’t already. Instead, it seems that unvaccinated people are now even more unlikely to be swayed to move off their self-centered position and think of someone other than themselves.

Now, health experts say the roughly 15 percent of the adult population that remains stubbornly unvaccinated is at the greatest risk of severe illness and death from the Omicron variant, and could overwhelm hospitals that are already brimming with Covid patients.

It seems that those who remain unvaccinated are now not about to be swayed. So convinced are they of their righteousness that they see every aspect of the pandemic as an attack on their purity and righteousness. How DARE the government tell THEM what to do? How DARE anyone talk to them about a responsibility to the Greater Good when the wider community owes THEM?

I get it; free will means having the right to make stupid, selfish decisions of highly questionable maturity. Then again, I’m long past feeling sorry for those who refuse to get vaccinated, only to succumb to COVID-19. If you can’t see your way clear to taking advantage of a free, effective, and easy way to save your life, then you deserve what fate has in store for you. Call it karma, or natural selection, or whatever you might choose, but you don’t get to claim anything except for having brought it upon yourself.

If we look at this from a pure numbers perspective, almost all of those dying from COVID-19 are unvaccinated. The vast majority of the unvaccinated are Conservatives/Trumpers. The highest proportion of unvaccinated adults is in red states. So if you do the math, what you’ll come to understand is that Trump supporters are killing themselves off. As much as I’d like to sound sympathetic, I really can’t- because I’m not. These folks are making their own choices and suffering the consequences of those choices. They’ve had every opportunity to do the right thing- for themselves, their family, and their community- and they’ve chosen the stubborn and selfish thing.

If you’re provided with the occasion to save your life, and you refuse to do so, I’m not going to shed a tear for you. Of course, I’ll feel bad for those you leave behind and may have infected, but your fate is your own choice, and I won’t be wasting tears on you. There are plenty of others who’ve died during this pandemic who are far more worthy of my tears.

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