Mistermix, earlier:
As I sat and enjoyed the feeling, I thought about the idiots who won’t partake in this massive free benefit. My attitude towards them is similar to the attitude I’d have towards someone who won’t visit a national park, or who won’t take a nice walk on a nature trail, or have some religious objection to riding a bike. I can sum it up as “more for me.” The more red staters who refuse vaccination, the more likely that my young relatives in red states will be vaccinated early. These anti-vax idiots make it more likely that my elementary and middle school relatives will be vaccinated before school this Fall, as soon as the EUAs come through for their age groups.
I am sure it will come as no great surprise that my thoughts on these fuckers is less charitable. Personally, I think anyone who had the opportunity to get vaccinated and chose not to for any reason other than medical advice, upon contracting the disease and needing treatment, be locked into a hermetically sealed room with meals thrown in occasionally until they either die or get better.
And let me be clear about medical advice- I mean if your doctor, a licensed physician practicing modern medicine, says you should not be vaccinated for whatever legitimate reason, whether it be pre-existing condition or whatever, then fine. That’s why everyone else is getting it- to protect those who can not protect themselves.
I am not, however, talking about the earthy chick who teaches your hot yoga class and sells DoTerra on the side whose only “medical” training is a three day homeopathic remedy retreat outside Bend, OR, that she heard about during Burning Man in her hippy days. I am not talking about your buddy from the army who read a book on biology while mining bitcoins and became a youtube certified epidemiologist over the past few months.
Look- I am not opposed to alternative “medicines” in many contexts, and think if having your pressure points manipulated or you getting cupped or having accupuncture brings you relief, good on you. I value mindfulness and am a big fan of deep tissue massages, something I get frequently for my shoulder pain when we are not in the midst of a plague.
But we are in the shit now, and this is a very deadly disease that has disrupted our lives for too long and KILLED MILLIONS worldwide. It is your fucking duty as an American citizen and to your fellow man to get vaccinated if it is medically sound (and for 95+% of the population it is).
I find these idiots, like your stay at home mom friend Karen from Marin County who refused to vaccinate her kids because it causes autism but she’s not worried because she feeds them only organic whole foods, to be absolutely fucking maddening. Every fucking school and restaurant in the god damned nation has liability insurance and special training so a handful of kids don’t die from eating a fucking peanut every year, but now we have something that is multiple orders of magnitude more serious, a solution ready and available, and motherfuckers won’t do the right thing because they’ve decided their right to be a fucking dipshit trumps other people’s rights to not die.
Tl:DR- Get vaccinated assholes.
Captain C
To quote (or paraphrase) the narrator from Stephen King’s The Body, “Go out alone and you’re a hero. Take anyone with you and you’re dog piss.”
kindness
And not getting it because Trump said it was bad is an even worse badge of shame. The people saying it don’t think so but they are.
VeniceRiley
That’s precisely how I feel about it. But saying that to them does not work. And believe me when I say how frustrated I am that that is the case.
raven
Fuck em if they can’t take a joke.
dmsilev
Equally, vaccinations should absolutely be required by colleges and, once approved for younger kids, high schools and eventually middle/elementary. Employers should be ‘no jab no job’. That includes the US Marine Corps, since apparently some forty or so percent of them have decided to live down to the jarhead stereotype. Want to go to a concert or a football game? Mandatory 5G chip scan.
And yes, this will all have to wait until non-emergency authorization is issued, but that’s coming.
Parfigliano
I quit caring about the idiot contingent years ago. Life is to short to care about assholes.
trollhattan
Just had a Teams meeting with work where they 1. want us back in our chairs 50%, because, reasons and B. claim they can’t require or even track employee vaccines because HIPAA. IDK if that second is true, as I read plenty of employers are requiring vaccinations, but I damn well want to know if anybody wanting to talk to me or hold a meeting in a meeting room has had theirs.
jl
I have sympathy for Cole’s views. I’ve run into people who don’t want the vaccine because ‘I never get colds or flu.’
But another strand of thinking in Cole’s post is that results matters for issues involving mass quantities of death. So, try reasoning with them first, looking at things from their point of view, even if it is ignorant or silly. You can always yell at them later if nothing works.
Bottom line is that the more people get the vaccine as quickly as possible, the quicker and simpler the pandemic will end. For those of us who got the vax, it is not only the welfare of those who for medical reasons cannot, or the vaccine may be less effective, and for us (the very tiny risk of a breakthrough infection), but also less fuss and muss and confusion in lifting all remaining restrictions.
And if the vaccine’s continue to work as amazingly well as current evidence indicates, we can go back to a normal new normal, keeping only those things from the pandemic that will make life better. Like more flexibility in working from home, and more outside activities, especially in streets with less traffic
Edit: in SF Bay, growing sentiment that many of the streets converted to no or slow traffic, and outdoor dining or mini-parks should stay that way. Would also get more people back into mass transit to help get that off life support.
raven
Funny, my buddy who packed up from LA and came back to work his organic farm is married to a great lady who went to the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and sells DoTerra. He got the J&J last Saturday and got really ill, like puking blood ill. He’s also a first rate deep tissue masseuse and has been tearing me up lately!
debbie
A co-worker who knew I’d been vaccinated pinged me this afternoon to talk about her hesitations, and we spent about a half hour going over her concerns. She had been signed up for J&J tomorrow, was disappointed she couldn’t get it, and wasn’t sure if she really wanted Pfizer or Moderna. She didn’t believe vaccination was a fake news kind of thing, but it was clear that the voices of experts had been drowned out by the clowns who had gotten through and into her hearing space. I thought it was a good sign that she reached out for feedback and I’m hoping she sticks to her plan to get either Pfizer or Moderna.
Brachiator
Agree 1 hunnert percent
Roger Moore
Thanks, John. You’ve summarized my view on this very nicely. There’s a reason our reaction to disease is called public health, not private health. We demand people get vaccinated for many other things, so it’s not unreasonable to demand it for COVID, too.
Cameron
When we still have huge numbers of people who refuse to get vaccinated, we’re screwed, as a nation and a planet. All of these bozos are potential breweries for COVID variants, and I’m not confident that the science can keep up (not slagging on the scientists, slagging on the anti-vax morons).
Kent
We need some truly high profile anti-vaxers to get Covid and fucking die. Especially after having the chance to get vaccinated and turning it down.
It is one thing to have caught Covid and died in 2020. That was tragic. Another thing entirely to catch it and die in the second half of 2021. That’s just evolution selecting out the profoundly stupid.
I honestly have a passel of anti-vax relatives. I need a couple of them to die of Covid so I can post on Facebook: “Well…on the positive side she didn’t have to suffer any side effects from the vaccine”
I’m beyond giving a fuck about these people. Seriously.
dmsilev
@trollhattan: My employer is tracking vaccination status as part of managing our reopening, but it’s opt-in; you can just fail to fill out the form without any consequence. That may change at some point, and we absolutely will be requiring students either have the shots or have medical documentation saying that they can’t before letting them into the dorms in the fall.
smith
@trollhattan:
Not true about HIPAA.
Mary G
@dmsilev: A couple of Marines I know say the 40% figure isn’t the whole story. They got tired of waiting to hear from the force and since they qualified as healthcare workers, got them the same way we got ours, either through the county or CVS. So when the Marines got around to signing up the force, they declined since they’d already gotten theirs. So had a bunch who had volunteered to direct traffic at the mass vaccination sites. But the Marines counted them all as “declined the vaccine.”
trollhattan
@Kent:
I nominate RFK Jr.
The Thin Black Duke
Anti-vaxers are suicide bombers who want you to hold their hand while they’re yelling at you.
trollhattan
@smith:
Ooh, thank you!
jl
@Roger Moore: After the vaccines are fully approved, a lot of companies will require proof of vaccination for full return to work. Schools, medical facilities, other places have had what amounts to vaccine passports for years.
They were big after the many yellow fever epidemics in US history going back to the first decades of the US. But, back then, a passport was that you didn’t die, and were willing to go out and about while the epidemic was raging. We have a better system for that now.
Still, I don’t think government should jump in and mandating them without a lot of thought and planning, and I’m not even sure I approve of the idea.
Edit: if the US can get > 70 percent of the population vaccinated, covid will be like measles (again, if current evidence on effectiveness of vaccines holds up). So, might become a non-issue. I don’t think enough research is being done on handling the epidemic fade out to sporadic outbreaks (which we should be able to handle using the usual SOP practices we do for measles, whooping cough, bacterial meningitis, etc.). It’s kind of unknown territory since not much history of mass immunization in middle of an epidemic. Gov Newsom is talking about mask requirements through next year, which is not going down well in CA.
dmsilev
@Mary G: That’s good to hear. Thanks.
Kent
@dmsilev: My employer is the local school district. They brought in medical providers to run shot clinics for teachers and staff in the schools as soon as teacher’s hit the tier for vaccines last month. I didn’t hear about any vaccine resistance. Only about how many had already stealthily gotten the vaccine other ways like by going across the river to Oregon or just claiming various pre-existing conditions or whatever to jump the line. In 2-3 days they were done vaccinating the whole teaching staff.
No teacher sitting in a room full of unvaccinated kids with questionable HVAC circulation wants to risk going bareback. We aren’t that stupid.
Kent
@trollhattan: Yeah.. And the blonde chick.
Plus we need some old GOPers to die too. Or maybe some SCOTUS folks.
Hoodie
Right there with you. My wife is a teacher and I’m sick of hearing stories about dipshit parents who don’t want to get vaccinated and then go on freaking vacation to Mexico. Kid shows up for class, bang, Covid positive. Coworker won’t get vaccinated because she’s pregnant, but goes to a freaking wedding that turns out to be a superspreader event; she’s positive, stupid wingnut husband has pneumonia.
As you allude to, the insidious thing is the way in which a bunch of yahoos think they’re qualified to make judgments about stuff like medical care and epidemiology. I partially blame the internet for this. Sure, experts in the sciences can be wrong, but they’re right far more often than some schlub using Google.
HumboldtBlue
I get second shot on May 1 and will continue to mask wear from thereafter.
If you need a morale-booster, here’s Maxine Waters telling Jim Jordan to shut the fuck up. In the nice way Waters does.
narya
My brother–who probably had it a couple of months ago but never got tested–got his first shot today. I truly did not think he’d do it, so I am ecstatic that he did so, and so are my very old parents.
West of the Rockies
Lotta west coast examples of VaccHoles here… what about Texas and the Dakotas and Florida
I mean, we have them, to be sure… but we ain’t alone.
Spanky
Without the comma, this sentence brings all sorts of interesting questions, none of which I will be asking.
Roger Moore
@Parfigliano:
Life doesn’t work that way. Assholes are perfectly capable of inserting themselves into your life regardless of your preferences. That’s what makes them assholes. Their refusal to get vaccinated isn’t some quirky personal foible; it’s something that very much affects the rest of us. That gives our society the right and responsibility to force them to get vaccinated if it is medically safe for them to do so.
Betsy
We have one of those truly vile doTERRA wellness consultants here. She was on Facebook telling her good friend that she wasn’t going to mask up even as her good friend cared for elderly hospice-bound mother at home. Said “friend” was saying if you have a problem with vulnerability that’s your problem but I’m not going to mask for you. And here was the Christian friend saying well that is your opinion, and I respect it and you are still my good friend. There they were pledging their good friendship to each other even as the one little psychopath was telling the other things that would end any normal friendship. Meanwhile the Covidiot was hawking her “wellness” products as a “certified consultant.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m pretty unsympathetic to vaccine refusers. And it really pisses me off that we can’t just let them stew in their own virus soup because they’re prolonging the pandemic and spreading disease to the rest of us
jl
@Spanky: Well, to be fair, covid fecal clouds when you flushed the john used to be a thing.
Kelly
Mrs Kelly and I have just returned from getting Pfizer shot #2. Making reservations on the Oregon coast for the lowest low tides of the year May 27 & 28. We love tidepools.
jl
@Betsy: The ‘certification’ was making some $ off covid?
dmsilev
@Kent: We’ve done several clinics of various forms. On campus, through the city public health department (that’s what I did), etc. We have a few refusers, but not many, a few percent of the total campus population last I heard. I suspect some of those are ‘soft’ refusals that will come around eventually, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.
The city public health department has really been doing a good job; at the latest update, they reported that roughly 98% of seniors (65+) have gotten at least a first dose. That bodes well for the rest of the campaign.
VeniceRiley
I’d settle for a signed declination of any treatment or coverage in the event they get covid. That or get the shot. Their choice.
Snarki, child of Loki
One way or the other, they should get shot.
Don’t want the vaccine? 45 is your number.
smith
Alas, I saw a news article a while back that all of SCOTUS has been vaccinated. I’d had some hope for Thomas or Alito…
Spanky
@Kelly: Mrs. Spanky got Pfizer #2 this afternoon. She had to shitcan the rest of the workday from feeling fatigue, but hark! I think she’s roaming around the kitchen right now.
Starfish
@dmsilev: I was thinking about the employers, and I think that these tech companies that are moving to a more work-from-home culture should just tell their anti-vaxxers to just work from home forever.
Starfish
@Parfigliano: Their shiny unvaxxed children go to school with my child, and I believe in communicable diseases. I don’t want my kid to get sick because some other kid’s parent believes in a philosophical vaccine exemption.
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue:
Rep. Waters has a very fine wingnut pelt collection on her trophy wall. I approve.
dmsilev
@Spanky:I was the same way. Tired for the afternoon after the shot, fine the next morning, but then worn out again next afternoon. Following day was just fine.
Starfish
@trollhattan: HIPAA doesn’t work that way. HIPAA means that people in HR are supposed to not go around blabbing about your medical conditions. A lot of anti-vaccine doorknobs have been yelling HIPAA or ADA at everyone, and I am unimpressed.
trollhattan
@Starfish:
CA public schools require vaccines among all children, with only medical exemptions and no more religious exemptions, thanks to State Senator Pan. Of course that created an industry of drive-by docs who issue “medical” exemptions but grifters gonna grift.
HumboldtBlue
@trollhattan:
Indeed.
Chetan Murthy
100% with Cole. 100%. Here in SF, I learned that my gym isn’t requiring proof of vaccination for indoor access. Ugh. Really? Really? Ugh. I sent mail to the City and to Santa Clara County, and both responded likewise. Again: Really? Really?
Sigh. I don’t understand at all. Really don’t. I can understand that places that are *essential* (hence, been open all along for indoor access) would not make such a requirement. But the ones reopening now? They should, they MUST. And I don’t understand the county health departments, not making this a requirement.
Instead, my gym’s pool will be under strict, strict rules: no towels, no kickboards, no zoomers, no nuthin. One person to a lane. I can understand such strict rules AND requiring vaccination. But without the latter? That’s just *stupid*.
trollhattan
@Starfish:
Sounds right. “I hate laws, except laws that let me hide behind them.”
germy
Risk of blood clots:
J&J vaccine .00001%
Birth control pills: .05%
COVID infection: 16%
(CDC)
Raoul Paste
“ a YouTube certified epidemiologist ….”
That gave me a smile
Starfish
@trollhattan: Colorado still considers all the nonsense reasons that you do not want to vaccinate your child to be valid. You simply check a box, and your kid is off to school to spread measles to their peers.
West of the Rockies
@germy:
That puts shit into perspective…
debbie
@raven:
My eyes water just reading that. Great stuff, but deep tissue work is so painful!
Wyatt Salamanca
I agree with Cole 100%. Those individuals refusing to get vaccinated are assholes plain and simple.
Speaking of assholes, is anyone here familiar with Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin?
This clown was interviewed by Megyn Kelly for her dumb podcast and spun some bullshit conspiracy nonsense that I suppose will get picked up by Fox News and some Rethuglicans in Congress
h/t https://www.mediaite.com/news/washington-posts-josh-rogin-calls-out-media-for-ignoring-faucis-potential-connection-to-wuhan-lab/
germy
Only 5,800 Americans have contracted COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine, a small percentage of the more than 75 million people who’ve been fully vaccinated. Seventy-four fully vaccinated people have died (1% of those infected) and 7% were hospitalized.
Starfish
@germy: The cerebral blood clots caused by the vaccine are different than the blood clots that are caused by the birth control pill.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I have 2 hate follows on the book of faces. I check their latest anti-vaxxing ramblings once in a while. It’s Fucking maddening.
germy
Upstate NY “conservatives” don’t want to get vaccinated. They’ll “feel like getting the shot” never.
Alison Rose
As someone who was born and raised in Marin County, I can confirm there are sadly many of this breed of Karen™ living there. And they’re all rich as fuck, too. “Belvedere Bitches” as one of my high school friends used to call them (which included her dad’s side-piece).
germy
@Starfish:
In what way?
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
The state has two ways of countering that:
California really seems to have had a come to Jesus moment after the last big measles outbreak here, and we aren’t messing around anymore.
Just Chuck
If only the source of transmission were easier to prove, I’d love to see murder charges against anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers who infect others.
Just Chuck
@Wyatt Salamanca: Fauci ought to sue Rogin for libel.
Brachiator
@VeniceRiley:
I have one relative who is not getting a vaccination. This relative lives in Texas.
My mother lives with my sister in Texas. This relative is not allowed to enter the house. My sister feels no pain in keeping them out.
The way things are now, she will probably require that he show a vaccination card if he changes his mind.
I don’t debate the issue of vaccination with people.
I have a co-worker who a year ago said the whole thing was a hoax or government play acting. He has toned this tone a lot, but still clings to conspiracy theories. But conspiracies are his thing.
satby
Dude, it’s like you’re my soulmate.
?BillinGlendaleCA
As are mine.
NotMax
For want of a comma, the kingdom was lost.
:)
Starfish
@germy: I think the blood clots associated with the vaccine are cerebral venus sinus thrombosis. They are all happening to a vein inside the head. This type of clot is supposed to be a 1 in 5,000,000 rare condition that is happening for every 1 in 1,000,000 for the vaccine group.
I think that the blood clots from birth control can be either arterial or venus, and they are not all in the head.
JaneE
My alma mater requires all kinds of vaccines for admission. The list doesn’t include Covid-19 yet, probably because of lack of availability, especially for foreign students. I expect it will be a requirement next year or the year after, if they don’t do something to get all students vaccinated themselves at the student health center. Private school, so they can set any rules they want.
MobiusKlein
As somebody with an actual Marin County Karen Mom friend who is into various alt medical practices, she is pro vaccine also. Not all Marin Karens ™
Brachiator
@Wyatt Salamanca:
The world is a big place, and Fauci does not run it.
Doctors and medical researchers all over the world are pretty much on the same page. Even the Swedish authorities are not veering too far from standard practice.
The dopes who claim to know some secret truth should surely be able to find some country that would give them the time of day. Except that they are full of shit. And so their crap gets flushed down the toilet.
R-Jud
Huh, you didn’t tell me you know my youngest sister.
Mary G
Housemate took Housemate husband for his first Moderna shot yesterday. He really is needle phobic, turned green and broke out in a heavy sweat, and the nurse asked a couple of questions, but Housemate was like “I took time off work, so you’re getting it.” He stayed home today and spent most of it on his fainting couch, though I did ask him for help in taming the mass of cables on and under my desk and it is all nice and neat now.
Starfish
@jl:
I yelled at one at a party a few years ago, and the people who threw the party are delighted to tell me how excited she was to get her vaccine. This warms my heart.
John S.
The joke is on Karen — my kid already has autism, so I can get him vaccinated (once it’s approved for 13 year olds).
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax:
But everyone’s asshole was vaccinated.
Winston
9.7% of USA population has been infected by covid 19. 90.3% has not been infected according to worldometer.info. (32.2M/332.5M). Additionally 38%(125.8M/332.5) of USA population has received at least one vax dose according to the Washington Post, which totals to approximately 47.7% of the USA (9.7+38) gaining some immunity to the virus as a result of getting the disease or vax, reducing the population at high risk to 159M (332.5*52.3) which is a little more than half of what it was a year or so ago. If 9.7% of the remaining population get the disease then there should be no more than 15.4 M more cases and 30,000 more deaths given a 2% DR if the total of new cases and vax equal 159M+15.4M. We should see declining cases and DR as vax rates increase in the remaining unvaxed population. Check my numbers.
mrmoshpotato
@Kent:
Are you talking about the world’s leading Internet medical expert, Jenny McCarthy, MD*?
*Motherfucker’s dumb
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Line from a verse discarded by Shel Silvertsein?
:)
dmsilev
@Winston: You’re assuming that there’s no overlap between ‘had the disease’ and ‘got the vaccine’. That’s not correct, there’s definitely a big overlap in those two populations.
Morzer
Apparently MAGAmoronworld is furious that Ivanka got the vaccination. As far as I am concerned, if those wretched creatures want to commit suicide by COVID, I am not going to stand in their way. Lotteries are a tax on stupidity and those losers are free to buy all the tickets they like.
smith
@Winston: There are also an unknown number of people who have had asymptomatic or undiagnosed COVID, who probably acquired some resistance. That should make the end a little nearer, even if we can’t say by how much.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Brachiator:
For me, one of the more nauseating aspects of this pandemic is the hysterical demonization of Fauci.
Redshift
I’m with the Rude Pundit:
Danielx
@R-Jud:
She didn’t tell you she knows Cole, either.
Skepticat
It turns out that my friend (from Marin County, incidentally) who had been bitching about how unnecessarily overstressed everyone is about the pandemic is fully immunized and never once whined about getting the test required to come in and then another five days after arriving here in The Bahamas. This was a relief, as I had envisioned a friendship about to evaporate, as I don’t suffer fools (other than myself) gladly.
Winston
@dmsilev: True. That would extend the end. Unfortunately there are no easily assessable stats on that.
mrmoshpotato
@Wyatt Salamanca: Dr. Fauci: Wear a mask around others. Stay away from others if you can. Wash your hands.
Selfish slapdicks: Fauci is a mean poopoo head who’s not the boss of me!
JML
needles are one of my biggest phobias in life. but as soon as I was allowed to schedule an appointment, I jumped on it. I drove 90 minutes for it, because I could get it sooner that way. (I’m literally counting the days until round 2) I had to tell the practitioner administering the shot to not wave the needle around in front of me and could we please just do this without me looking at it? (she was cool. when I told her I had a problem with needles, she just wanted to know if I was gonna pass out. when I said I was good as long as I didn’t have to watch, she was all “I got you.”)
TL,DR: If I can hack this, everyone can sack up and get the damn shot.
Brachiator
@Wyatt Salamanca:
I heard or some some right wing dope apply the following “logic…”
It is just wild that these fools think that conservative ideology is on the same level as science.
Skepticat
@smith:
I’ve been surprised by the number of people I know who suspect or have discovered belatedly that they had and survived it with no or few symptoms.
Winston
@smith: It would actually dilute the number of still at risk, but I just want to establish a base line I can track of the next few months to see if additional vax is making the predicted difference.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
The idea that Fauci can personally spike somebody’s funding is laughable. He doesn’t have time to do his own work, much less read every grant application to NIAID to make sure they’re toeing the party line on COVID. And everyone who’s actually applying for funding knows it. This whole thing is a pack of lies, and I would love to see Fauci sue him for spreading it.
debbie
@Brachiator:
Did you see Peter Navarro’s angry rant? He is rebranding COVID as the Fauci virus. ?
FelonyGovt
I have a friend who is a trans man and is a self-proclaimed “libertarian” who says “both major parties are bad”- which already makes me nuts. Guess what, he’s not “comfortable” getting the vaccine, thinks it’s fine because he lives out in a remote area in Arizona.
Winston
I read today that Moderna is developing a booster shot for the variants to be available late summer or early fall.
Roger Moore
@JML:
I assure you, this is not the first rodeo for the person giving you your vaccination. Unless you do something crazy like faint the moment someone mentions sewing, they have encountered someone who is even more afraid of needles than you are.
Ken
Same here, because sometimes you have to laugh or start screaming.
Brachiator
@debbie:
I try to avoid angry rants, especially the dumb ones.
Matt McIrvin
I actually had to turn down a dose for actual doctor’s advice reasons: I’d just gotten an unrelated vaccination, expecting that I wouldn’t be able to get the COVID shot until the 19th anyway, so the CDC-recommended two-week buffer wouldn’t be a problem. And it was a J&J, so that particular opportunity isn’t going to repeat itself immediately. I’m still feeling a little chagrined about it.
Oh well. Tomorrow I’m clear. Hoping an opportunity arises quickly.
NotMax
@Winston
Pretty good piece on that subject referenced in the latest COVID thread.
Matt McIrvin
@JML:
I salute you! I’m not particularly needle-phobic but I generally don’t look at it either. I think most people don’t.
I’ve heard that some people have a big problem with the stock photography they always use in stories about vaccination, which seems contrived to upset the needle-phobic.
Ken
Reminds me of this classic skit.
smith
@Winston: Here’s another way to look at it: Israel is being considered a model for how the virus can be quelled by vaccination. They also had a time this spring when cases started creeping up again, but when their vaccination program had reached a large enough portion of the population, cases dropped decisively from an average of over 3,000/day to under 200/day. Looking at the graphs given here, the day this turnaround began seems to be about March 7. At that point 53.9% of Israel’s population had had at least one shot. As of today, 37.9% of the US population has had at least one shot. If our population follows the Israel pattern (and of course there are many possible reasons it might not), we have to vaccinate another 16% of the population to reach the tipping point. That would be about 54M people. Currently we are vaccinating 2M “new” people/day (new people being ones without a previous shot), so at this rate we’ll have 54% vaccinated in 27 days. It will be interesting then to see if any noticeable change in new cases is affected the way it was in Israel.
Matt McIrvin
@Winston: The other thing is that the infection fatality rate is probably going down, because the oldest, highest-risk people are now more likely to already be vaccinated.
There’s some speculation we’re already seeing effects of this in some states, particularly Massachusetts. Cases started increasing about 5 weeks ago, but the death rate is still way down. It’s probably because a very large fraction of our senior-citizen population is now vaccinated–we had a hellish problem in MA with the thing ripping through nursing homes and just killing everybody, but we finally got on top of that.
J R in WV
Get Vaccinated, or go home, stay there until you change your mind.
Get a vaccination, or:
NO FUN!!! None~!~
If anyone you meet with comes down with Covid, GO TO JAIL~!!!~
Matt McIrvin
@smith: The thing about resistance from mild infections is that it probably wears off more quickly than resistance from vaccination.
PrairieLogic
The John Cole I know has emerged from hibernation… I am so very glad you are feeling better and getting back to your old self… Missed you!
Original Lee
Co-sign.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
What about the elderly who have been fed misinformation about the vaccine and aren’t savvy enough to know how to tell what’s true or not? And they’re surrounded by evangelical numnuts who tell them God will protect them. That’s my 86 yr old mother. I’ve got a religious nut for a sister who sends the stupidest crap to my mom and then her elderly friends are constantly sending her stories like the Gates Foundation is trying to kill conservatives by tricking them into getting the vaccine. I just don’t have the energy to fight the stoopid anymore. I just don’t.
EmanG
There he is.
Redshift
@Brachiator: The “logic” I see retweeted by the guy I follow to have a window into wingnut world tends to be:
Fauci (or whoever) was wrong about something, therefore he’s not so smart and my opinion is just as good as his expertise.
Frequently accompanied by “these ‘experts’ told us they knew everything and we had to do exactly what they said.”
Which, of course they didn’t; if you listened to them instead of what Fox told you they said, you’d know they repeatedly said this is a new virus and we’re giving you the best information we have right now.
Villago Delenda Est
Those who refuse to be vaccinated should be allowed to catch COVID and suffer.
Matt McIrvin
@Redshift: Once a scientist said a thing and then they said a different thing, therefore my random guesses are as good as their science!
quakerinabasement
This world needs more people like John Cole.
AnotherBruce
@germy: well put.
Uncle Cosmo
Hey, how ’bout we hit the refuseniks in the wallet?
Let’s mandate that your health insurers cover expenses for COVID-related conditions so long as you are (1) Vaccinated; (2) In process of being vaccinated; (3) Waiting for a vaccination appointment that you can readily keep; or (4) Contra-indicated for vaccination due to medical condition certified in writing by an MD. (ETA: Certifying MDs to be investigated at random and severely sanctioned for abusing the privilege.)
Otherwise you bear all the costs of COVID-related treatment, including hospitalization. Or you specifically pay your insurer a premium, the amount set by your insurer, for covering such costs.
Fund local health departments to assist unvaccinated folks who have difficulties reaching a vaccination site, even to the extent of sending out a mobile team to inoculate them at home.
Let this policy go into effect, say, 90 days after the vaccines obtain authorization for routine (non-emergency) use and there are sufficient doses available for every American.
I confidently predict that once antivaxxers see how much more it’s going to cost them to remain unvaxxed, many if not most will change their tune.