Denialism expressing itself in the oddest places
Soapboxing in the strangest places
Disappointingly pervasive misinformed protest and agitation
Even on platforms not appropriate for politics for some reason COVID attracts special attention. I see posts rejecting vaccination as totalitarian, and some sort of conspiratorial threat to individual freedom. And should one attempt to challenge or correct the blatantly false assertions the protestors bleat about invasion of their "safe spaces", which is ironic.
I have seen it expressed that since the vaccinated can still contract COVID, regardless of vaccination status they (and I quote) "are in effect not immunised at all and are still potentially lethal themselves". It is introducing absolutism to a situation where it simply does not belong.
*Over 90% reduction in the chance of an individual contracting an infection is not "unvaccinated at all". A significant reduction in the chance of passing on any infection they do carry is not "unvaccinated at all". A vast reduction in the chance of hospitalisation as a result of the disease, or need of intensive care is not "unvaccinated at all".*
Polio and small pox were not wiped out because their vaccines were 100% effective. They were wiped out because vaccination meant the disease disappeared through attrition. It took decades of concerted global effort.
To treat anything as ineffective merely because it is not 100% effective is false logic. It is like expecting seat belts to eradicate all RTA injuries, or carrying an umbrella to means one will never get wet in the rain. A ridiculous argument.
And the argument that natural immunity may be more effective than induced immunity, is utterly fatuous. The risk attached to gaining that natural immunity by catching the disease is potentially vastly more catastrophic.
I shake my head in disbelief at the supposedly smart people who I see getting caught up in tangled and convoluted logic to support what appears to be an emotional prejudice: being too afraid on a deeply subliminal level to acknowledge the real threat that this disease poses to life, and a sheer repugnance at society dictating any individual behaviours.
Certainly - international human rights charters enshrine the individual's right to choose in the matter of medical procedures. But choices come with consequences. There is nothing in those charters enshrining the right to ignore the evidence that the medical advice is predicated upon, or by making that choice to put others in society at risk. Make your own conscientious choice, by all means, but don't try to shirk the responsibilities coming with that choice.
