The sacred right to be a variant factory
But but but my freedom to refuse to get vaccinated! My precious freedom I tell you!! Mine mine mine mine!!!
Unvaccinated people do more than merely risk their own health. They’re also a risk to everyone if they become infected with coronavirus, infectious disease specialists say.
That’s because the only source of new coronavirus variants is the body of an infected person.
“Unvaccinated people are potential variant factories,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told CNN Friday. “The more unvaccinated people there are, the more opportunities for the virus to multiply,” Schaffner said.
Yes but freedom. Freedom freedom.
The current vaccines protect well against all the variants so far, but that could change at any moment. That’s why doctors and public health officials want more people to get vaccinated.
“The more we allow the virus to spread, the more opportunity the virus has to change,” the World Health Organization advised last month.
Vaccines are not widely available in many countries. But in the US, there is plenty of supply, with slowing demand. Just 18 states have fully vaccinated more than half their residents, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But freedom.
Yes, you have the freedom to remain unvaccinated, as long as you never ever leave the doors of your own home. I’d support that.
While I am grateful to be vaccinated myself at this point, I don’t think the American citizens who have declined to do so are a danger to us all. They are mainly a danger to themselves and other unvaccinated people. Given the propensity of the virus to infect other species, I suspect that herd immunity is not going to be a viable option and variants will continue to arise. At best, all we can do is reduce the opportunity by vaccinating as many people as possible.
If we want to get serious about eliminating the opportunity for variants to arise in humans, then campaigning to get vaccines delivered to other countries will help far more than spending a lot of resources on persuading reluctant Americans to get it. I do wish I knew how to depoliticize it, which I think is the main issue leading people to forgo vaccination. The ‘wait-and-see’ hesitant folks are down to ~10% and they will hopefully eventually get vaccinated once the vaccine has been in use long enough to put their fears regarding unknown long term effects at rest. The rest of the non-vaccinating adults are mostly divided between the anti-vaccine people who don’t want to get any vaccines and the Trump supporters who think COVID itself is a huge hoax and there’s no need to vaccinate against a disease they don’t believe exists. Of course, there’s a good deal of overlap in the two groups, but plenty of anti-vaxxers are liberal and plenty of Trump supports are fine with other vaccines.
Proof of vaccination is already being required for travel to some other countries. It’s starting to be mandated by employers for healthcare workers and by schools for students to enroll. I suspect it may soon become a requirement to travel by air or attend large gatherings in arenas. What additional steps do you think need to be taken to improve vaccination rates here in the US?
Well, Schaffner said “The more unvaccinated people there are, the more opportunities for the virus to multiply,” not specifying Americans in that particular sentence, but why would Americans be an exception to the principle?
American’s are not an exception to the principle. What did I write that generated that question? What additional steps do you think need to be taken to improve vaccination rates here in the US?
I was responding to “If we want to get serious about eliminating the opportunity for variants to arise in humans, then campaigning to get vaccines delivered to other countries will help far more than spending a lot of resources on persuading reluctant Americans to get it.”
I don’t know what additional steps need to be taken to improve vaccination rates here in the US, but I don’t need to know that to find vaccination resistance stupid and dangerous.
I’m surprised that Typhoid Mary has not been evoked in the media.
From Snopes:
And a few ‘libertarian’ types have tried to recast her as a martyr to ‘freedom.’
Ophelia,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question. I don’t understand how you think that saying “If we want to get serious about eliminating the opportunity for variants to arise in humans, then campaigning to get vaccines delivered to other countries will help far more than spending a lot of resources on persuading reluctant Americans to get it.” implies thinking that Americans are an exception to the principle that the more unvaccinated people there are, the more opportunities for the virus to multiply.
I’ve been working on how to persuade my unvaccinated siblings that the vaccine is worth the risk, but given that we don’t agree on either the risk of the vaccine or the disease, it’s been difficult and frustrating. Portraying vaccination resistance as stupid and dangerous does not help to persuade. They aren’t stupid and they aren’t adverse to other vaccinations. But they do listen to right wing media. They have concerns about unknown long term effects of vaccination. I haven’t convinced them that the known long and short term effects of COVID are going to be worse. I wish I could.
We have a pretty good historical control group for this. Back in 1918, an H1N1 flu variant swept around the globe. Large numbers were infected but the mortality profile was pretty typical affecting mostly the very young or the elderly. Mortality rates were pretty consistent with similar flu outbreaks. Large numbers of military recruits were affected but most quickly recovered. Then, later in the year, having passed through millions of infected hosts, a mutated strain of virus appeared that would end up killing close to 5% of the world’s population. Many Americans don’t believe in evolution, but virology is an incredible accelerated teaching model for it. Millions of generations taking place in the span of a year. Delta variant – a classic case of natural selection – the strain is easier to transmit so it comes to dominate the case load. Without herd immunity (simply making it harder for virus to find it’s next research subject) every unvaccinated freedom fighter out there may become patient zero for something far worse.
Beth @ 7 – then why did you specify Americans at all in that comment? I didn’t bring up Americans, you did, so I pointed out that Schaffner didn’t mention Americans in the CNN story (at least not the parts I quoted). The post is about people resisting vaccination, and your comment is about Americans. You changed the subject.
Pliny – wasn’t the 1918 flu unusual in killing mostly people between young and old? I.e. young adults?
Ophelia, the second variant was as you described- it killed young adults by the millions. The initial outbreak (pre-mutation) was more typical in those it affected. FYI: there is evidence that American servicemen carried the lethal variant to Europe with them.
Ah, thanks Pliny.
Ophelia @ 9
I brought up Americans because I thought you were talking about Americans in the O.P. with regard to the freedom/vaccination issue. It wasn’t to imply that Americans are an exception to the rule but that access, not hesitancy, is the bottleneck issue for getting people vaccinated worldwide.
Thanks for answering my questions.
Ah, ok. No, I wasn’t really, although the source is US. There are vax resisters in other countries, so I wasn’t thinking just about Americans.