Joe Biden and other political leaders are doing everything they can to get the vaccine stragglers to do their patriotic, civic duty and get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Ohio has begun a million-dollar lottery to encourage people to take the vaccine. Other states are giving out free beer for getting jabbed or other enticements.
But Joe Biden thinks that strong-arming the American people into getting jabbed will be effective. The president gave a talk about progress against the virus at the White House on Monday,
The president highlighted that “deaths are down from COVID by 81%,” which he said was “their lowest level since April of 2020.”
But he cautioned that “I can’t promise that will continue this way. We know there will be advances and setbacks and we know that may flareups could occur. But if the unvaccinated get vaccinated, they’ll protect themselves and other unvaccinated people around them.”
Biden repeated the point, adding that states with low vaccine rates may backslide into Covid hell.
And the president warned that “if they do not, states with low vaccination rates may see those rates, may see this progress, reversed. Ultimately, those who are not vaccinated will end up paying the price. The vaccinated will continue to be protected against severe illnesses, but others may not be if you’re not vaccinated.”
The president stressed that “we’re not done fighting this virus. We still have tens of millions left to vaccinate. But we are making significant progress. In fact, when tomorrow’s vaccination numbers come out, they’ll show that 60% of Americans have received at least one shot.”
Using fear to get people vaccinated won’t work. Those fearful of serious illness or death have almost all been inoculated by now. It’s mostly healthy young adults and children who have yet to get vaccinated and you’re not going to find a lot of twenty-somethings dying of Covid. Or children, for that matter.
Those who are most vulnerable — the old, the sick, those with compromised immune systems — have largely been vaccinated already. The rest are at low risk of becoming seriously ill. Many may have already been infected by Covid-19 and dismissed the symptoms as a mild case of the flu or a cold.
And that includes many who are “vaccine-hesitant.” It’s no one’s business why someone doesn’t want to get jabbed. No matter how often you preach that it would be best for everyone, there will be millions of Americans who will resist.
It could be that they’re scared of needles. Perhaps they think the side effects are worse than being reported, or that deaths from taking the vaccine aren’t being written about. Maybe they don’t want Bill Gates knowing everything about their lives. The reasons are unimportant. All that matters is that they have a choice and have made it.
It’s still to be determined whether getting vaccinated against the coronavirus will have to be done yearly, like a flu shot, or whether we’ll need a “booster shot” eventually, or whether the vaccine is effective for life. That means that we might not have seen the last of the government’s “hard sell” when it comes to the vaccine.
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