A single individual should get the vaccine to protect themselves, but if everyone that can be vaccinated is vaccinated, that protects everyone else. Herd immunity protects those at risk that can't be vaccinated, is immunocompromised, or just bad luck. The risk of contracting the disease from a symptomatic infectious vaccinated or unvaccinated person is probably similar. But the risk of encountering a symptomatic, infectious person is much lower if there is a higher vaccine uptake. That said, maybe the horse has left the barn already on vaccine mandates. With Delta cases dropping in most states, we may have already reached herd immunity through both vaccination and acquired immunity. Pretty much everything is open now and social distancing is mostly out the window, so I don't foresee anything that could increase the spread of covid19. Hundreds of thousands probably died unnecessarily due to vaccine hesitancy, but it's too late to do anything about that now. Knock on wood, but I think we've beaten covid19 through incredible scientific breakthroughs and sheer stubbornness and misinformation.
https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/covid-19-studies-natural-immunity-versus-vaccination Three key takeaways here: More than a third of COVID-19 infections result in zero protective antibodies Natural immunity fades faster than vaccine immunity Natural immunity alone is less than half as effective than natural immunity plus vaccination Even if natural immunity IS more effective than a vaccine (which is unknown), it doesn't last as long. Also, you're pushing back the expected date of herd immunity (which I don't believe is a foregone conclusion at all as you seem to), and you're further contributing to the risk of the virus staying alive, mutating, spreading, etc. There's no case you can make to me that not getting vaccinated is as good or better than getting vaccinated when it comes to reaching herd immunity. That logic just does not track.
I just dropped in to say, I'm over 65 and I just got my third vac. Darwin is lurking for you dumb MF's
I certainly don't disagree, and I would have preferred it if everyone had decided to get vaccinated. I'm just not for forcing people to make certain personal medical decisions when we're talking about something with such a low infection mortality rate. I think it's important that we let people make their own choices, even if we disagree with them. Personally a big part of why I bothered to get vaccinated was to encourage some of my coworkers who were scared to do the same. I'm, all for convincing people to make correct decisions for themselves, I'm not for forcing people against their will. There's a lot of decisions we could make for people that would be beneficial for them, but it's just not the right thing to do. I guarantee we have tons of tubby bastards who post here every day. It would be in their best interest to force them to give up sugar and go on a diet....but you can't force them to give up the fatty cakes and go touch some grass.
My wife and I are way, way younger than you and both vaccinated with Moderna. We both just had breakthrough infections in spite of no underlying health conditions which resulted in flu like symptoms for my wife and a very mild cold like symptoms for me. We strongly believe the vaccines made our cases mild but at your age I would still be careful because this Delta is evading this vaccine far more than people realize.
Again, where is the data behind this, "90% of covid patients in hospitals are unvaccinated and a lot of places are running out of beds."? I can't seem to find it anywhere. I think it was Reeko that said it was 98%.
I love it more, when someone living in Mom and Dad's basement (clearly evidenced by 53,000 posts - I mean what the **** do you do all day?), states they know more than the immunologists and doctors. I'm not lying and neither are the thousands of professionals that say you should get vaccinated. Please, take your MAGA talking points (lies) and crawl back into whatever dark basement or whole you came from. People like you are a health hazard. Ask yourself, if vaccines are just to protect you, why do schools not allow you to go without vaccines? So you don't spread the disease, moron.
I think it's down to a philosophical differences between us. In the matter of public health, I generally support government interventions. A covid vaccine mandate is no different than laws against drunk driving, second hand smoke, food handling safety, building codes, and food and drug safety. Obesity is unlikely to affect other people than that particularly individual while an infectious disease can affect other people. It's no longer a purely personal choice when that choice can negatively affect other people. It's not a black and white issue, but a sliding scale of personal freedom vs public health. If covid is 10x more infectious and 10x more deadly, then I'm sure you'll be more pro-vaccine mandate. If covid is 10x less infectious and 10x less deadly, then I would be against a vaccine mandate. We just have a different tipping point balancing freedom vs public safety. I am fine with people with different acceptable levels of risk as long as they understood what they signed up for. It's an especially difficult problem now with spread of misinformation in social media. There are many many people who underestimate the risk of being unvaccinated while in a high risk group. Misinformation like 'only 6% of people labeled as covid deaths are real covid deaths', 'hospitals are lying to make more money', 'covid is just a flu', 'secret societies are implanting vaccines to connect Black people to master computer for 'a plan of Satan'' are extremely dangerous.
In my opinion, hiding information isn't helpful and only fosters more distrust. Lack of trust is a big reason why people refuse to get vaccinated. There are a bunch of stubborn idiots that don't want to be told what to do also, but I think honesty is the best way to approach things. Stubborn idiots will latch on to anything to avoid being told what to do, but there are people with legitimate questions or concerns that need to be addressed. I think denouncing everyone that is not vaccinated turns a dynamic issue into a static, inflexible one. But yeah I do share your frustration with people that continually try to dismiss covid as a minor flu with no lasting side effects and who act like the vaccine is more dangerous than covid when it clearly is pretty damn safe. I wish we could take a blended approach with things, but I know that often isn't reality
... and I feel great @Bobby Honestly, I did this for the community and for the people I love the most. I never thought for a moment that I would catch this virus
You are F'ing clueless. The Polio Epidemic in early 50's killed less than 5,000 people and left 21,000 people disabled. Covid-19 has killed 700,000 people, and counting. The long term effects are yet to be fully discerned. Spew your stupidity and ignorance somewhere else.
