The discussion around vaccination rates for COVID is currently raging across the globe. In some places, the “vaccine police” is going door-to-door looking for people who haven’t gotten their jabs. The new “Delta Variant” of COVID is the fear-mongering topic of the day for a media industry that is forever in search of scary new headlines to get people’s attention and advertising dollars. One scare is that vaccines developed up to this point were all directed at the original COVID strain. All the while, some politicians are looking to enact Nazi-Germany era type “travel papers” for citizens to carry with them and prove they have been vaccinated in order to obtain permission to travel on planes, trains, and other public transportation. So with all this, why would a die-hard, freedom-loving, self-reliant libertarian such as myself opt to get vaccinated?
I’m not a medical expert even though I work for the medical industrial complex and I don’t have any more knowledge of COVID than what is generally known in the news. Even the so-called “recognized experts” you often see and hear in the media don’t always agree with each other on COVID issues. What experts do agree on is that COVID patients have a 99.5% survival rate and that the new MRNA treatments boosts survivability rates even higher. So with the high survival rates and new treatment options, why get the vaccine?
Let’s also take a close look at the dismal effectiveness of the influenza “flu” vaccine. On average, the flu is responsible for about half a million hospitalizations and approximately 36,000 deaths each year. In preparation for the annual flu season, the medical profession urges people to get their flu shots. However, what is less known is the fact that flu vaccines are only about 30% effective in the best of times. The reason for the poor effectiveness is because scientists have to guess at the composition of the flu virus that is coming for that particular year and they don’t always guess right.
So with all that said, why did I get the COVID vaccine? It’s pretty much the same reason I get an annual flu shot. I’ve had really bad experience with the flu and I don’t desire to have any more such experiences even if I have to put my faith in a flu shot that is marginally effective at best. But equally important in my consideration is that I will now take the position that I have “gone along” with the team. My family had gone through the quarantine and suffered the lock-down. The kids have had to do virtual learning where the teachers have had little to no time to prepare a coherent virtual agenda. When the vaccine was released, I was one of the first to stand in line for it. We as a free society has done everything asked of us up to this point, reasonable or not. I see the COVID vaccine as the one final bulletproof reason to no longer “get with the program” and having to abide by government overreach on masking and other restrictions.
As soon as I got vaccinated, I started walking into stores without a mask even if they still had signs about everyone having to wear masks. I was prepared to respond to anyone who challenges me not wearing a mask. My answer would have been “I am following the CDC guidelines, what guidelines is your store following?”. However, no one did ever challenged me.
I am not in the at-risk population of being over 65 years of age and/or having pre-existing, chronic respiratory conditions. I got vaccinated because I see this as improving my chances (however low it might be) of avoiding having a serious complication from catching COVID. I also got vaccinated because I see this as a legitimate reason to ignore future government COVID-related mandates and a reason to open up our economy and society again. I’ve had more types of vaccinations than most people on account of my military service. I continue to get flu and other shots as needed and so does my family. COVID is no different. On the unlikely possibility that I should suffer some sort of medical issue because of the vaccine, my family is fully insured and I hope they would sue the pants off the government and the biotech companies for putting a harmful product on the market. All in all, getting the COVID vaccine for me is not a huge risk either way. As a libertarian, I took the information available, weighed the pros and cons, and took the responsibility for my choice.
