Get Ready, The Covid Vaccine Shaming Is Coming
So, we’ve clocked one year since the global pandemic started. You'd think that with the introduction of multiple vaccines against COVID on the market, everyone would come together, catch a breather, and resume life as normal, right? Well, you’re wrong.
As if it isn’t bad enough that there’s a segment of society who would stoop to inflicting guilt on people who refuse to wear a mask (even when there’s no solid evidence that masks work in preventing the spread of coronavirus), it looks like the next step after mask shaming is going to be…vaccine shaming.
The Pressure of Social Shaming
Multiple outlets, such as Bustle and Christianity Today, have published pieces pressuring the public into accepting universal vaccination for the COVID-19 virus. We read stories about lifelong friendships being terminated because one friend didn’t want to take the experimental mRNA vaccine. We read about how congregations who refuse to take the vaccine should be forbidden from going to church.
Is social shaming against people who refuse to receive an experimental vaccine justified?
But is this fair? Is the social shaming against people who refuse to receive the experimental mRNA vaccine justified? After all, we’re witnessing countries like Ireland, Thailand, and Denmark suspend their nationwide vaccine rollout over fears of blood clots and unexpected deaths.
Why It’s Rational for a Young and Healthy Person To Reject Vaccination
The mRNA vaccines have been shown to have more negative side effects on younger people. According to an article from the AARP, 65% of all participants under the age of 50 experienced side effects. But the same vaccine given to older people from the age of 50 to 64 years old, only 25% showed any side effects. Only 4% of those between the ages of 65 to 74 showed any side effects. Normally, a regular flu vaccine logs only 1% to 2% of people who will have a fever as a side effect.
65% of all participants under the age of 50 experienced side effects.
So, knowing that the mRNA vaccine will cause a higher rate of side effects for younger people (where the rate of recovery and survival of COVID-19 is at 99.2%), it’s perfectly sensible for a young and healthy person to choose not to be inoculated against COVID-19, since the experimental vaccine has a 65% chance of side effects. It’s a simple matter of risk assessment, where the side effects of the vaccine itself might end up being worse than the coronavirus for young people.
Image Source: WorldOMeter
Also, the fewer healthy and young people who get in line to acquire the vaccine for themselves, the more it will be readily available for elderly people who need it more. And on top of everything, there has been no evidence to suggest that taking the vaccine will even stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. So why the vaccine shaming?
Shame and Guilt as a Means To Control
Like everything else that has been politicized, it’s perfectly clear why we’re seeing the rise of social shaming of those who refuse to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19. In the Bustle article that was previously referred to, one of the people who was interviewed stated that they persuaded their friend to cancel their decade-long tradition of meeting once a year. “Even if it is safe, the optics of these things look really bad.”
“The optics look really bad” is basically just another way of saying that “we have to keep up the illusion,” even when reality disproves the illusion. It isn’t an accident that the word “optics” is in reference to the optical illusion in magic tricks used to divert or fool audiences. Like a magician who uses optical illusion to control his audiences’ perception, political optics are used to control the way a situation is perceived by the general public.
Political optics are used to control the way a situation is perceived by the general public.
In this case, because the public has been led to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic was a cataclysmic public health disaster – whereby it permitted the destruction of livelihoods through the shutdowns, the eradication of social life and childhood education through the lockdowns, the unprecedented overreach of mandatory masking by politicians – are we surprised that the next authoritarian step would be the forcing of vaccines as another means of control?
Closing Thoughts
Yes, it’s dumb to demonize vaccinations when they have been proven to work in eradicating catastrophic diseases (like measles and smallpox) that used to wipe out major populations. It also makes sense to vaccinate when we’re dealing with diseases that inflict the risk of permanent disability (like polio). Following that judgment, if you’re in a higher risk category, then it makes sense to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because the risk of mortality is greater when it comes to the elderly population
However, if you’re young and healthy, it’s wise to proceed with an abundance of caution when it comes to injecting your body with an experimental mRNA vaccine. Regardless, it's certainly ill-advised to make a judgment to vaccinate yourself because you’re terrorized by fear. Don’t allow anyone to guilt or shame you for your own judgment on what you think is best for yourself. Making your own life decisions is an important part of being an adult.
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