What's ironic in this mandate debate is that we were among the hardest hit nations by fatalities because of how much fatter and older we are. I don't mind mandates for a contagious, airborne, and novel virus. I disagree with mandating booster shots in this context, though if the virus remained as or more contagious and deadly through mutations, I'd def consider. Mandating implies the shots are fully subsidized. I've argued before that if costs were fully realized by the consumer (~$250), then there would be even more protesting at higher frequency against that macabre scenario. Given how limited supplies were at the beginning, price gouging would come into play along with ignoring the prioritization the most at-risk group. This is the classical disaster response playbook. It erodes some civil liberties to ensure security among it's people. If the public doesn't feel secure then it delegitimizes governments. As a corollary, when the threat has passed, democratic governments that doesn't return those civil liberties will be met by an increasingly unhappy voting base. You can't min-max democracies with rigid one-size-fits-all ideals. It has to be a constant dialogue between the public and republic (which we aren't fully at) in order to meet changing needs at the moment. Maybe the response was dumb or the return to normalcy delayed. Perfectly debatable but I don't think "never again" should be burned into our collective minds. It should always be on the table if the situation permits. They stuck their head in the sand then and are too proud to admit it now. On the flipside, there were plenty of family members who tried pleading to anti-vaxxers on the media by admitting their mistakes but were skewered online or socially with a "Told you so!" attitude. I'm sure that works against manning up to your fatal decision.
There's higher consequence for spreading a disease in critical jobs such as air traffic control, pilots, and emergency rooms. Particularly in hospitals where you have a lot more vulnerable people. Anything that can reduce the amount of viral transmission / risk, is something that should be considered for these roles.
But the vaccination doesn't stop spreading the disease. And mandates lead to a worsening of staff shortages, resulting in worse outcomes for patients.
lol first of all, terrible study secondly, this is for people who had covid and the vaccines thirdly, even if one were to assume that were true, the study itself say that the effect only lasts a few weeks (6% gain in likelihood of transmission per week)
As you have pointed out, most of the population has had covid. And it's 6% increase in transmission rate for every 5 weeks, not every week. A booster further reduced by 11%.
So would you then suggest that healthcare workers should be forced to get a booster shot every few months? For an extremely questionable and low evidence benefit? There are risks associated with these shots. What do you say to someone who gets forced to take the shot who ends up suffering severe consequences?
Playing the odds, the chances of severe effects from Covid19 are greater than the chances of severe effects from the vaccine.
I don't support blanket mandates. But it isn't correct that severe side effects related to the vaccine are less likely than side effects from covid is only true of old people.
I don't see where it's questionable and low evidence benefit is an opinion. It's a statistically significant result, and that is usually what is used to make decisions. Doctors and other health care workers face job requirements around their health with far less margins than this. And there is an extremely low chance of people suffering severe consequences from this vaccine. The data and statistics say that the vaccine and boosting will save lives in the healthcare system. Finally no one is being forced to get a shot. An health care employer has a legal liability to put policies in place that will decrease risk. A doctor or nurse who does not want to get a vaccine can chose to work in a private clinic for example, or find an employer that is willing to take the added risk of them not being vaccinated.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/31/texas-llano-library-books/ Sorry!!! I think the children will be ok.
