Vaccine Refusers Don't Get to Dictate Terms Anymore

[babylonsister]

Vaccine Refusers Don’t Get to Dictate Terms Anymore
People who opt out of shots shouldn’t expect their employers, health insurers, and fellow citizens to accommodate them.
By Juliette Kayyem
Anti-vaccine protesters holding up signs
John Lamparski / NurPhoto / AP
6:30 AM ET
About the author: Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary for homeland security under President Barack Obama, is the faculty chair of the homeland-security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She is the author of Security Mom: An Unclassified Guide to Protecting Our Homeland and Your Home.


For months, institutions and companies have been drafting plans to aggressively promote vaccination or require it outright, and last week the FDA gave them license to click the “send” button. The same day the agency granted full approval to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, New York City’s public school system announced that its teachers and other employees will be required to get shots. The next day, Louisiana State University made a similar demand of its students and faculty. Within about 24 hours of the FDA move, other major employers, such as Chevron and Goldman Sachs, rolled out new vaccine mandates. In a novel twist, Delta Airlines announced that it would impose a $200-a-month health-insurance surcharge on unvaccinated employees. Regardless of the reasons for their hesitancy, unvaccinated employees will literally have to pay for it.

What all of these decisions show is that the adults running major institutions in our society want to move forward, and they are done waiting around for vaccine refusers to change their mind. Outside of executive suites and human-resources offices, plenty of other Americans are also craving more certainty. Bars and restaurants that want to stay open are beginning to check vaccination cards—at least in states where supposedly freedom-loving lawmakers haven’t forbidden private businesses from keeping their own customers and employees safe. Couples throwing weddings are demanding that their guests upload proof of vaccination. These people disinviting their anti-vaxxer relatives are saying something important: Getting a shot to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 is both a social responsibility and the best way to hasten the end of the pandemic, and if you don’t believe that, we’re not waiting around for you to step up.

More than 70 percent of eligible Americans have now received at least one dose. Since January, public-health researchers, news reporters, and pollsters have all tried to unearth the reasons that a significant fraction of American adults have not yet gotten a shot. Some are broadly misinformed; others are afraid of needles or potential side effects; still others are deeply suspicious of the medical system; some have had COVID-19 already and believe that the level of natural immunity they have developed is enough. Some refusers say they definitely won’t get vaccinated; others say they haven’t yet gotten to it. But the specific feelings and concerns of vaccine refusers should be largely irrelevant to vaccinated people who are eager to move on with their lives. Americans are entitled to make their own decisions, but their employers, health insurers, and fellow citizens are not required to accommodate them.

The vaccinated have for too long carried the burden of the pandemic. In theory, unvaccinated people should be taking greater precautions. A recent poll conducted for the Associated Press found that vaccinated adults have been more likely than unvaccinated ones to wear masks in public settings, refrain from unnecessary travel, and avoid large group settings.

Public-health officials can keep trying to figure out ways to persuade the unvaccinated to get shots, and maybe at this late point they can still discover some new message that succeeds where all others have failed. If so, that would be fantastic. But begging is not a strategy. It is not a coincidence that many of the entities pushing hardest for mandatory vaccination are in industries—higher education, travel, entertainment—that have been badly disrupted by unpredictable waves of infection and are existentially threatened by a pandemic that goes on without end.

more...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/vaccine-refusers-hesitancy-mandates-fda-delta/619918/

[ProfessorGAC]

1. K&R!

Solid piece.

[littlemissmartypants]

2. I'm totally done. Time to get with the program. nt

[KS Toronado]

5. Problem is I believe......

Many reQublicOns enjoy or don't care if they hurt other people, it's all ME ME ME

[monkeyman1]

4. put them at end of the line ! no more wet nursing little cry babies !

WANT FREEDUMB ! EARN IT !! WE HAVE !

[dalton99a]

6. No more pleading or begging. FIRE THEM

If they get sick, LET THEM DIE

[Volaris]

15. Yep go get your shot or gtfo. Nobody wants your nasty cooties.

[yaesu]

8. mask refusers still do, they are still telling school districts they will cut off funds is they

make masks mandatory.

[DownriverDem]

9. It can work

Businesses/employers have to do it to make it work. Folks won't listen to the government. They need to be ostracized.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

16. Been thinking the same thing

The time for passivity is over. Do what you can to get these abusive pieces of shit to not attack people .

Knock the living shit out of them if they hurt others,bully,or try to rip off your mask or someone else's.

We have to become the limit that they cannot cross. It's time to become a force of justice or karma personified.

[Fiendish Thingy]

11. Just waiting for the first anti-vax, anti-mask mass shooting...

You know it’s going to happen, probably at a workplace that laid off a vax refuser.

I’d love to be wrong.

[Aussie105]

13. Have gun, will look for a target . . .

But that's a different pandemic, not a virus but bullets.

The refuseniks are welcome to go off into the desert and form their own colony.
Local authorities could air drop them needed supplies, food water, clean underwear. Coffins.

[FakeNoose]

12. We need to be more like Pocahontas

Pocahontas: See all the fucks I give

Get the shots - Wear a mask everywhere, especially indoors - Stay 6 feet away from everyone, especially indoors - Wash hands frequently - Make smart choices to protect your loved ones - Get the booster shot as soon as it's available.

[RicROC]

14. and if you decide not to get vax'd....

Wear a mask everywhere, especially indoors - Stay 6 feet away from everyone, especially indoors - Wash hands frequently - Make smart choices to protect your loved ones.

Frankly, I'm advocating...you don't want to get vax'd? stay indoors during normal hours. shop for groceries at 2:00AM, don't eat inside any restaurant, if you go to church-sit in the balcony, don't go to the dentist, physician or optometrist, don't play mahjong with your friends.

See it's simple. you have your freedoms- just be responsible and don't show your face around us normal people until this pandemic is over.

Normal people you ask? yes, the ones who are vax'd and try to bring our community back to normal?

[deelee]

19. So we get vaccinated and still have to live like we're not?

That's not for me.

When this thing first started and we had no defense (vaccine), wearing masks everywhere and distancing was our only protection. Then a literal scientific miracle (of our own making) occurred. Vaccines were developed, tested and approved in less than a year. Problem should have been solved. But the non-vaxxers are prolonging it for the dumbest reasons (including spite). THEY need to pay the price.

By all accounts I've read and seen, if you're exposed to the disease while vaccinated, it's very much like the flu. First of all, you're most likely to not even contract it all. If you do contract it, you're extremely likely to have a relatively mild case. Some very very rare cases will result in more serious illness. So, it seems it really DOES behave like the "common" flu among the fully vaxxed. Yet, we don't spend our Autumns and Winters masked up for the flu. We don't stay away from others or hide in our homes due to the flu. We live our lives.

It's time to start letting the vaccinated live, start penalizing the non-vaxxed and let's go

[stamperman]

20. Agreed....Dont see why the vaccinated should have to worry about the unvaccinated.

As you stated, the vaccinated would have a very mild case if they got it. So why should they have to live their lives in fear?

The unvaccinated are just doing all of us a favor by further cleaning the gene pool.

[sheshe2]

26. Really?

Agreed....Dont see why the vaccinated should have to worry about the unvaccinated.

Perhaps it is because the vaccinated can still spread the virus to their family and friends. They can spread it to their children who are to young to be vaccinated. Their own children can die from it. No one wants to be responsible for another dying by being to selfish to protect all people.

I am vaxed and will continue to wear a mask, Why? I care. It is not about Fear, it is about being smart and protecting those around you.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. THIS

I have grand-nieces and nephews (along with one of my youngest nephews), who are too young to be vaccinated.

[sheshe2]

30. Hi, BRDS.

The youngest grand nieces are now 2 and 5. They have both been tested for COVID at least twice now, symptom scare. Mom and dad are teachers and now they are testing the girls weekly as they are in school/ preschool.

The now 5 year old has worn a mask from the beginning. She was a trooper, no whining, crying or tantrums. She has good parents.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. One of my nephews is 32 and his youngest is turning 2 this year

and he and his "invincible" friends all tested positive last year but recovered. I'm not sure about his little one but then that was with the alpha strain and I am hoping they learned their lessons about being cavalier about this pandemic.

One of my other nieces is in her 40s and has one starting college this year (and his little brother is 7 and hangs out with my youngest sister's little one who is also 7, almost 8), and they mask up like champs.

In fact my little nephew was like "Don't be a Karen, just mask up".

[sheshe2]

33. Your little nephew is a hoot.

"Don't be a Karen, just mask up".

I see he hangs with Auntie BRDS alot.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. My sister said he likes to watch a few cartoons and kids shows on youtube

and apparently got it from there.

I was cracking up that he said that. He doesn't miss a trick.

[George II]

38. Too many people forget, or just don't care, that those under 12 can't get vaccinated yet....

But who cares, as republicans might say, "hey, I got mine!"

[sheshe2]

40. Yes.

I got mine. The rest can just F*** O**.

It isn't just about me and my own, am doing my best to protect others.

[lapucelle]

29. Children are among the unvaccinated.

[SheltieLover]

34. As are many with allergies & other disorders!

[sheshe2]

41. Our babies?

They are troopers. They are strong, no whine, no crying...they wear a mask.

[George II]

42. You're not worried about children under 12? Reminder - THEY CAN'T GET VACCINATED! No choice.

SMDFH.

[sheshe2]

43. .....

[stamperman]

45. No.

Children dying from covid is extremely rare. Besides getting the vaccine does not prevent you from getting the virus and spreading it just like the unvaccinated. So from that perspective vaccine/no vaccine is a moot point. From what I can discern, and its hard to tell with all the contradictory information out there, the vax only makes your symptoms more survivable? So I just dont quite understand the rage directed at Trumpers for not getting the vax. If they refuse just dust off your sandals and let nature take its course.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. "So, it seems it really DOES behave like the "common" flu"

No it does NOT "behave like the 'common' flu".

That type of statement is akin to saying that if I am sneezing and coughing due to allergies or dust, then COVID-19 "does behave" like "common" allergies, so I'm fine.

The "common" flu, as a respiratory illness, does NOT have its viral components attaching to and replicating inside cells from vital organs like the kidneys or brain or heart or the digestive system, let alone what a large load does to the lungs.

If enough of it gets to those locations, you can almost kiss yourself goodbye.

Front. Med., 03 December 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2020.594495

Body Localization of ACE-2: On the Trail of the Keyhole of SARS-CoV-2

Francesca Salamanna1, Melania Maglio1*, Maria Paola Landini2 and Milena Fini1

1Surgical Sciences and Technologies, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy
2Scientific Direction, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy

(snip)

SARS-CoV-2 Clinical Characteristics

Since its discovery in December 2019 the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the transmission of a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia, infected more than 37,800,000 people worldwide and caused more than 1,080,000 deaths until October, 2020. COVID-19 patients mainly displayed pneumonia-associated symptoms, such as fever, shortness of breath, cough, sputum production, and myalgia or fatigue (1, 2). However, despite SARS-CoV-2 infection is manifested as a respiratory tract infection, it may causes symptoms associated to multiple organs, including intestine and stomach (diarrhea, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain), liver (abnormal enzymes levels), pancreas (pancreatitis), kidney (protein and blood in their urine, abnormal creatinine level), brain (strokes, seizures, confusion, and brain inflammation), heart and blood vessels (elevations of cardiac injury biomarkers, palmus, chest distress, cardiac inflammation and injury, arrhythmias, and blood clots), eyes (conjunctivitis, inflammation of the membrane that lines the front of the eye, and inner eyelid), nose (anosmia), ect (3–11). This multiple organ involvement can lead to a poorer outcome to the viral infection and often result in hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admittance (12–14). Despite the mechanisms for high morbidity and mortality induced by SARS-CoV-2 are currently unknown, based on available literature data in public databases, it is known that the risk of infection and mortality increases with advancing age and also seems to show a sexual dimorphism, male elderly subjects are at higher risk of infection, as well as death (1, 2). In addition, despite COVID-19 is a non-discriminatory disease, involving both healthy individuals and those with comorbidity conditions, it is well-documented that mortality further increases in presence of pre-existent pathologies, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, chronic pulmonary disease, and cancer (12–14). Despite, the biological mechanisms behind these observations are still unclear, virus/host cell interaction, immunological differences, and sex-based hormonal differences are likely to be involved.

(snip)

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2020.594495/full

Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2021 Jan 3 : 1–15.
doi: 10.1007/s10096-020-04138-6 [Epub ahead of print]
PMCID: PMC7778857
PMID: 33389262

COVID-19: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) expression and tissue susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Stephany Beyerstedt,1 Expedito Barbosa Casaro,1 and Érika Bevilaqua Rangelcorresponding author1,2
Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer
This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Associated Data

Data Availability Statement


Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic is caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is not only an enzyme but also a functional receptor on cell surfaces through which SARS-CoV-2 enters the host cells and is highly expressed in the heart, kidneys, and lungs and shed into the plasma. ACE2 is a key regulator of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS). SARS-CoV-2 causes ACE/ACE2 balance disruption and RAAS activation, which leads ultimately to COVID-19 progression, especially in patients with comorbidities, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, ACE2 expression may have paradoxical effects, aiding SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity, yet conversely limiting viral infection. This article reviews the existing literature and knowledge of ACE2 in COVID-19 setting and focuses on its pathophysiologic involvement in disease progression, clinical outcomes, and therapeutic potential.
Keywords: Angiotensin-converting enzyme, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Tissue damage

(snip)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7778857/

[SheltieLover]

23. Well stated!

[BumRushDaShow]

24. It basically comes down to the fact that COVID-19 is not "the flu".

If you look at the stats for say, the flu season completely before COVID-19 (2018 - 2019), you have this -

Estimated Influenza Illnesses, Medical visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths in the United States — 2018–2019 influenza season

Introduction

This web page provides estimates on the burden of influenza in the United States for the 2018–2019 influenza season. For the past several years, CDC has estimated the numbers of influenza illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths(1–4). The methods used to calculate the estimates have been described previously3. CDC uses the estimates of the burden of influenza in the population to inform policy and communications related to influenza.

Influenza activity in the United States during the 2018–2019 season began to increase in November and remained at high levels for several weeks during January–February(5). Influenza A viruses were the predominant circulating viruses last year. While influenza A(H1N1pdm09) viruses predominated from October 2018 – mid February 2019, influenza A(H3N2) viruses were more commonly reported starting in late February 2019. Influenza B viruses were not commonly reported among circulating viruses during the 2018–2019 season. The season had moderate severity based on levels of outpatient influenza-like illness, hospitalizations rates, and proportions of pneumonia and influenza-associated deaths.


CDC estimates that the burden of illness during the 2018–2019 season included an estimated 35.5 million people getting sick with influenza, 16.5 million people going to a health care provider for their illness, 490,600 hospitalizations, and 34,200 deaths from influenza (Table 1). The number of influenza-associated illnesses that occurred last season was similar to the estimated number of influenza-associated illnesses during the 2012–2013 influenza season when an estimated 34 million people had symptomatic influenza illness(6).

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html

Flu deaths (2018 - 2019) = 34,200
COVID-19 deaths (2019 - 2020) = 385,259 (with flu fatalities that year "only" 8,786)

[SheltieLover]

25. It is definitely not "just the flu!"

[sheshe2]

31. +1000

Teach!

[sheshe2]

36. Yes.

So we get vaccinated and still have to live like we're not?

That's not for me.

Yes, we do. We are living in a whole new world now. It isn't just about you. Not me. Us.

Vaccines were developed, tested and approved in less than a year. Problem should have been solved. But the non-vaxxers are prolonging it for the dumbest reasons (including spite). THEY need to pay the price.

Yes we have vaccines that are trying to lessen the impact of the virus. We also have selfish people that refuse to follow guidelines and now it is mutating. It keeps changing as do the rules and guidelines on how to protect ourselves and others. It is spreading and fully vaccinated people CAN spread it as easily as the un-vaccinated. All children under 12 cannot at this time be vaccinated.

I am vaccinated and still where a mask to protect the vulnerable ones. It is not just about me.

We don't stay away from others or hide in our homes due to the flu. We live our lives.

Welp, this isn't the flu and the world has changed. This is a mutating virus that is out of control, not just because of the un-vaxed...the vaxed think they are now invincible and are spreading it by not following simple guidelines. Funny how the adults become children and stamp their feet...FREEDOM. The children? The children I know and love wore masks. One at three years old and still does. Our baby girl never whined, cried, threw a tantrum or pulled her mask down below her nose. Mommy and Daddy taught her well. They taught her to protect others.

Bless their hearts. I love them all.

[lagomorph777]

37. Wow, Putin's really doubling down on the maskhole/freedumb campaign today.

[George II]

39. Do you have children? Any under 12 are "non-vaxxed" and have no choice about it. So screw them....

...huh? They'll catch COVID, not "the flu"!

[canetoad]

44. In this vast

Semi-vaccinated world, how did you two (deelee and stamperman) find each other? Congratulations kids.

[Hekate]

17. Carrot & stick. I've been waiting for Big Busine$$ to get fed up...

…and realize they aren’t going to be able to get people back to work without demanding some compliance. It’s all about money to them, but if the end result is better health, I’m all for it.

Big Entities in general employ or influence huge numbers of people. To the Pentagon it’s about military preparedness. To the health in$urance industry, major money.

“But the specific feelings and concerns of vaccine refusers should be largely irrelevant to vaccinated people who are eager to move on with their lives. Americans are entitled to make their own decisions, but their employers, health insurers, and fellow citizens are not required to accommodate them.” From the article

[ShazzieB]

27. This bit that you quoted from the article is going to be my motto going forward!

“But the specific feelings and concerns of vaccine refusers should be largely irrelevant to vaccinated people who are eager to move on with their lives. Americans are entitled to make their own decisions, but their employers, health insurers, and fellow citizens are not required to accommodate them.”

I feel like printing this out in the size of a credit card and laminating it so I can carry it around with me, just as a reminder.

Those of us who are vaccine-compliant have every right to get on with our lives without having to constantly accommodate maskholes and antivaxxers, and we should feel no compunction about speaking up for ourselves. We've been listening to them spouting off about their "freedom" and their "rights" for months now. Well, WE have rights, too, dadgum it, and we should not hesitate to express and assert those rights!

[Moebym]

22. Their defiance is all about feeling powerful.

The pleading from doctors, scientists, local, state, and federal officials to get vaccinated might as well be the pleading of a peasant who displeased the king to be spared from punishment. Begging and pleading for them to do the right thing only feeds these people's inflated egos.

It's about time we reminded them who's in charge around here. Our recovery from this pandemic depends on it.