Absolutely … Thanks, #MotherJones#Repost @motherjonesmag ・・・ America’s anti-vaxxe
Absolutely … Thanks, #MotherJones #Repost @motherjonesmag ・・・ America’s anti-vaxxers are more dangerous than ever. For a few brief weeks in the spring, it seemed as if the United States was poised to announce a small victory in the fight against the pandemic, wrote Nathalie Baptiste. A vaccine had arrived in record time. It was proven effective against serious illness and hospitalization, as an average of 2 million adults were getting inoculated each day and there seemed to be plenty of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson doses to go around. The media scrambled to write pieces about how to stay safe while still breaking free of isolation, and there were seemingly millions of rhapsodic tweets about our Hot Vax Summer. But then, predictably, the anti-vaxxers and their BFFs the anti-maskers had other plans. As this particular unvaccinated group has asserted its importance and become a public health menace, it seems dangerous to dismiss them as an undifferentiated collective. Some are motivated by political convictions, others by accepting scientific misinformation, and a third group has bought into conspiracy theories. Clearly there are no bright lines distinguishing them, and the Venn diagram might have a few intersections, but the unholy trinity can be found whining to reporters, delivering delusional speeches at City Hall meetings, or loudly protesting outside local schools. Of course, anti-vaxxers are not a pandemic-created phenomenon. Even in the 1700s, one could find doctors railing against vaccinating children for diseases like smallpox. But what all these people have in common is the dire consequences of their actions. Their refusal can and already has harmed vulnerable people. And the most alarming part isn’t that they don’t care about collective health; after all, individualism is one of the founding principles of American conservatism. Rather it’s astonishing to see how little regard they seem to have for their own lives. Denial is a powerful move. Baptiste’s column from August of this year sadly feels all too relevant many months later. To read more go to Mother Jones’ IG? Page. (: Caroline Brehman/ZUMA) (at , ) https://www.instagram.com/p/CX0GUYDMtsq/?utm_medium=tumblr -- source link
#motherjones#repost