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0 pointsacdha4y ago0 comments

The problem is that it’s not that simple because your choices significantly impact other people: I can’t choose whether or not to receive the viruses you spread, so I have an interest in you spreading far fewer of them. My 4 year old child can’t be vaccinated so he, along with many immune-compromised people or those with certain medical conditions, is dependent on other people getting vaccinated to sharply reduce spread. Anyone who needs medical care is dependent on those facilities not being overloaded by people who chose to remain at high risk for a preventable disease.

This is not new: only the most libertarian fringes reject the idea that living in a society comes with obligations. We avoided millions of life-altering diseases with vaccination and politicizing medical care is going to go down in history as the worst move since the CIA decided to use public health workers as a cover story.

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thesis4y ago

Should the flu be mandatory as well? Flu & Covid have similar risks in children: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm https://www.npr.org/2021/05/21/999241558/in-kids-the-risk-of...

acdhaOP4y ago

I think so, but note that the NPR piece you linked to is based on obsolete pre-Delta data in the United States and by all accounts hospitals are seeing more sick kids than they did last year (some combination of known greater virulence and what the CDC classes as probable greater severity).

The best argument for treating COVID more seriously is that we have a better understanding of influenza’s long-term effects. In both cases, however, I’d argue that it makes sense to require vaccination simply to reduce the impact on childcare and education: even if dying from the flu is relatively low-risk, it’s stressful and disruptive when it rips through a class and vaccination is quite cheap in comparison.

6gvONxR4sf7o4y ago

There are a few vaccines I had to have for school when I was younger. What’s the difference?

the_doctah4y ago

Compare the severity of those viruses in children to Covid.

A more apt comparison is Covid to Influenza. You don't need flu shots to attend school.

adventured4y ago

You're legally an adult, you have full legal control over your body, you're legally fully responsible for your choices, and you're not in school any longer.

You mean other than that?

015a4y ago

Except, the current choice of vaccines appear to have issues offering broad sterilizing immunity. Vaccinated people are still "getting" COVID Delta, often with zero symptoms, but are still spreading it.

So they're not even all that good at providing the one thing companies may argue is necessary to go back-to-work; stopping spread. Similar with cruise lines and airplanes requiring it. Yes, the vaccines are very good at saving peoples' lives, but industry doesn't care about that, and it alone is not a good enough reason to mandate it.

You say everyone needs to get vaccinated so we can protect the people who can't get the vaccine or for whom it doesn't work. I have very bad news for you; the vaccine won't help. You can still get COVID, and you can still spread it to your four year old. I can still get it and spread it to my immunocompromised sister. It sucks. That's the reality we live in.

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