Il-considered

I don’t understand the argument. I don’t know why some folks choose not to be vaccinated against Covid. I understand reluctance. I understand some instinctive resistance. I also get the I’m-young-and healthy-so-the-virus-won’t-kill-me thinking. I think it is wrong on the available evidence— but I understand the motivating idea. What I don’t understand is whether they are concious of the impact their decision is having on others.

I refuse to believe a swath of our population are sociopaths— that they are oblivious to the risk their decision poses to neighbours, friends, children’s classmates, fellow church members. But what other conclusion can be reached? Other than that they haven’t fully thought through the potential outcome of their choices.

None of it is new. Resistance to the smallpox vaccine was widespread when this lifegiving serum was introduced in the 1800s. That fear spawned anti-vaccination movements around the globe. Since then, protests have erupted against vaccines for diptheria, tetanus, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella.

Then, as is now, the anti-vaccination fever was allowed to take hold and flourish due to a mistrust of institutions and their motivations.

History suggests there is something in our evolutionary wiring that spooks a portion of the human herd from using the tools of science to protect us from these natural scourges. One might have believed that this counter-productive instinct would have drained away in the intervening century and a half. Presumably, they use man-made bridges to cross rivers? Or live in houses to protect from the elements. Alas…

Now, before I go further on this track, I must acknowledge that some folks with preexisting conditions have chosen to put off vaccinations. Some have done so with guidance from medical folks. I may worry about how widely they have consulted, but I don’t question their motives—especially if they are isolating and wearing masks.

But these folks are among a wee minority. Far more folks contend they are making a stand for personal liberty, that governmentcan’t- tell-me-what-to-put-in-my-body. Again, I get it on an instinctive level—but we have long been capable of acting and making decisions beyond our base instinct. And we have progressed.

Very early on our species figured out that having more folks on our side of the river meant a better likelihood of surviving attacks from the other side of the river. We do it every day. We make decisions to work as a collective. For our betterment.

Something about a man-made vaccine for some, however, seems a bridge too far.

Ultimately, however, this isn’t a personal decision. It is a choice that affects all those around us. Mostly the ones we love. This is where the reasoning breaks down for me. Completely.

It isn’t altruism to want to protect your children. It isn’t heroic or noble to shelter our parents and grandparents from threats that come with ageing. It is in our nature.

It does not require an epidemiologist or academic to illustrate the risk posed by the unvaccinated. Consider only your child or your parent. Or the network of folks with whom they come in contact in a week. This choice is affecting them. And their wellbeing.

Perhaps they are vaccinated. They may have some protection. But as long as the virus is permitted to burn through the population, it will. Whether it is this variant or the ten more that follow. So far, Covid has largely spared children. But a basic understanding of the virus suggests it will continue to mutate until it finds this vulnerable, exposed population. It seems only time.

The public health region encompassing Hastings Prince Edward is now a red zone. We used to pat ourselves on the back for managing to limit the cases in the County. No more. There are currently 164 active cases. Six are hospitalized. Three are in ICU. It is bad.

Eighty-three per cent of those eligible for vaccination have received at least one dose. That means 27,420 folks—more than the population of the County—remain unvaccinated. It is no longer a matter of availability. Those who remain unvaccinated have chosen to do so. It is a staggering number of vaccine-eligible folks who have decided that their personal integrity requires the utter rejection of collective responsibility.

I just don’t believe they have thought through the consequences of their choice. I can’t believe it.

Surely, the unvaccinated can visualize the child that comes over to play with their kids. The grandparent living in the room next to theirs. The elderly parent of the clerk at the grocery store. I must believe that if compelled to consider how their choice affects others—and it will—they would choose this modest imposition. The alternative is too frightening.

So I appeal to the better angels of our nature. We are all called upon to make sacrifices for our family, friends and neighbours from time to time. This is such a time. Preserve your principles—but do this thing for others around you.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca