Vaccine hesitancy, passports and mandates.
It looks as if there are 90 million American adults eligible to be vaccinated but not yet vaccinated. Some are adamant in their refusals; others are merely hesitant.
It’s a mix of people for a variety of reasons. Some are Trump supporters; some are evangelical Christians; some are ethnic minorities, particularly blacks and Hispanics. Large numbers live in the South and in rural communities. They share a distrust of government based on past negative experiences. Many have had little access to, or had bad experiences with, or may harbor a distrust of the American health system. Many are otherwise young and healthy. Some may be undocumented immigrants fearful of deportation.
We are all now facing a Delta variant of the Covid virus which is much more contagious and virulent among the unvaccinated young adults who are being hospitalized and facing death in steadily increasing numbers. Some Republican leaders like Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas have begun to see the light and are urging more vaccinations, more mask wearing and more careful social distancing. Other GOP Governors like Abbott in Texas and DeSantis in Florida are not budging from their “heads stuck in the sand” postures.
Meanwhile, Mayor DiBlasio of NYC is requiring proof of vaccination for indoor dining, entertainment and indoor gyms. Mayor Garcetti of LA is requiring mask wearing in indoor settings for both the unvaccinated and the vaccinated. Indoor Mega (over 5,000 attendees) event operators must require vaccinations or proof of vaccination for all staff and participants. LA City workers must now get vaccinated or be regularly tested. Governor Newsom has ordered California state workers and health care workers to be vaccinated or regularly tested. Major California employers and the major health care associations are in full agreement with Governor Newsom and are requiring their own employees to get vaccinated or regularly tested. President Biden is requiring federal employees and contractors to get vaccinated or be regularly tested. The Secretary of Defense has ordered all military personnel to get vaccinated no later than September 15. Their messages are getting ever more forceful as Delta reignites the pandemic, overwhelms health care institutions and spreads in work, social, family and community settings.
The virus could not care less whether you voted for Donald Trump or Joe Biden or did not vote at all. The virus does not care whether you are Catholic or Jewish, evangelical Christian or Muslim, whether you are a true believer or agnostic, whether you are pro-choice or pro-life. The virus does discriminate between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, and those who are unvaccinated stand a far higher chance of getting sick, infecting others, being hospitalized, being on a ventilator in the ICU or dying. The Orange County Board of Supervisors report that 90% of those hospitalized are not vaccinated. LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer reports that if you are not vaccinated, you are 18 times more likely to be hospitalized than those who have been vaccinated.
I fail to get the point being made by those who oppose the vaccines, the masks, the social distancing and the other small, daily, public health inconveniences so vital to keep themselves, their friends and relatives and indeed all of us alive. I cannot comprehend those politicians who are so unwilling to tell their constituents the basic fundamentals of this pandemic and the responses necessary to put a stop to its spread and its mutations.
As one who hates needles, this was one vaccination I readily welcomed. This is a super safe and highly effective vaccine. I hope you get vaccinated soon too.