I've tried to steer away from politically charged posts, part of my 2020 New Year's resolution, but can't resist the occasional post or comments, especially in regard to anti-vaxxers. This really gets my goat. You would think that health and safety would be something everyone could agree on, but there are people out there who think it is their god-given right to spread viruses and the rest of the world be damned. It is understandable that an idiot like Marjorie Taylor Greene is an anti-vaxxer, as she is little more than trailer trash, but it is shocking when someone of Robert Kennedy Jr.'s pedigree becomes one of the most ardent anti-vaxxers in the COVID era. Yet, he is still allowed to spread his misinformation on twitter and fb. This I simply don't understand.
In Lithuania, a group managed to garner 100,000 signatures in protest to the green passes that the country requires to enter any major public venue, handing the huge petition over to the president. One of our friends was an active participant in this drive, trying to get us to sign the petition. The movement garnered a lot of press, principally because there were a few national celebrities attached to the group, notably strongman Žydrūnas Savickas, who carried the heavy roll. He was almost teary eyed in explaining that they are tired of being treated like second-class citizens for refusing to take the vaccine. The president has little say in the matter, so it is pretty much a lost cause. Nevertheless, the spread of misinformation continues in this country.
We are entering our third year of COVID, something we could have eradicated last year if there had simply been the political will to do so. Instead, certain politicians continue to use it as a divisive issue, not just in the US but all over the world. Looking at the figures, few countries have been able to achieve a full vaccination rate of 70 per cent, which is regarded as the threshold to reach herd immunity. The US and UK, which had the jump on vaccination back in spring of last year, hit a brick wall this past summer and stumbled along in the low to mid 60 percentile, although the UK has now hit 70 percent full vaccination. This is pretty sad for countries that are considered to have the best health care systems in the world.
It doesn't help when there is vacillation in the leadership, notably Boris Johnson, who has been slow to take up more stringent measures to curb the spread of the Omicron variant because he doesn't want to harm business. It is fortunate that despite the extremely high rate of transmission, hospitalization has been relatively low due to Omicron being less severe than the previous variants.
I worry because my daughter will return to London on Friday to finish her schooling. She is vaccinated and took her booster during the Christmas holidays, but can still be infected because there is little attempt to impose basic precautions like wearing masks on public transportation. Anyway, we take our own precautions, hoping to avoid being spreaders ourselves. The vaccine does not necessarily stop you from being a carrier, which is why it is so important to wear medical masks.
Part of the problem is that the media still engages in faux debates rather than shut these posers down. Lithuanian television has been particularly bad about this, giving anti-vaxxers a platform on a wide variety of news and entertainment shows. As a result, Lithuania has yet to reach the 70 percent threshold. The problem is global. There is a big debate whether to allow Novak Djokovic and other tennis anti-vaxxers to participate in the Australian Open this month, which has garnered international attention. They see it as their freedom of choice, without taking into account the message they send to young impressionable fans, who similarly have been rebelling against vaccine mandates.
I was really disappointed to hear that Asmik Grigorian turned down an opportunity to sing at the New York Metropolitan this past summer because she refused to comply with the vaccine mandate. She said she won't be told what to do, acting like an insolent child. She since walked back those comments, claiming she has been vaccinated, most likely after the incident, as many other opera houses also require vaccines. Like Novak, she felt having had COVID made her exempt.
My son had COVID last year too, but he took the vaccine and suffered through the after effects because he felt it was the right thing to do. He also took his booster, which wasn't pleasant for him either.
This is why I have no sympathy for anti-vaxxers. They are being purely selfish, and their ego-driven complaints are prolonging the agony of this pandemic and forcing countries to re-impose lockdowns to help offset the virulent spread of the Omicron variant. It isn't a freedom of choice, it is something you do for the public good. We seem to have lost sight of what it means to be part of a healthy society, one that places collective interest ahead of individual interest.
Dr. Fauci and other leading health officials are not engaged in some kind of conspiracy. They are simply looking after the public good, which is their job. If there had been this kind of resistance back in the 1950s and 60s, it is highly doubtful we would have eradicated polio and small pox. Even still, you find anti-vaxxers like RFK Jr. fighting against the MMR vaccine, which has resulted in small outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella throughout the US. COVID has only made this worse. Viruses continue to mutate, and unless you get everyone on board, these viruses are able to propagate at alarming rates. So, rather than be a self-indulgent fool hoping to sell your book to a gullible segment of society, let's make an effort to eradicate this coronavirus once and for all!
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