To be honest Americans have just turned this whole ordeal into a political issue rather than what it was intended to be- a discussion of public health and epidemiology.
I keep seeing Americans online (granted, there are people from other countries doing this too, but it is mainly Americans honestly) circle jerking about their moral superiority and how they hope "le trumptard redneck unvaccinated people" all die off en masse, no matter what their reasoning is for declining.
On the other side of the coin, you have some unvaccinated people who view themselves as Neo incarnate, boasting that they are smarter than the "sheep" and wishing ill will upon those who chose to take the vaccine.
It is just pathetic. I blame the American media outlets for stoking this massive fire and creating a cultural divide that serves no purpose other than to further divide an already fractured population and sow the seeds for more strife and disarray. Instead of bringing people together they have created a scapegoat for the government's poor decision making.
You have older vunerable people out there who absolutely would reap rewards from the vaccine once you do a cost benefit analysis, but refuse to take it for various reasons. Should we force them? Absolutely not.
They can make their own decisions regarding their health, no matter how asinine anyone else may find their choices. At this stage of the game, they have accepted the risk of a disease that poses a considerable threat to their demographic, and that's the risk they're willing to take. No one will make them budge.
Then we have the complete opposite of this, people who are absolutely hysterical despite having recovered from covid themselves, receiving the vaccine, and possessing the knowledge that they have a negligible chance of developing a complication from the disease.
Seriously, I am seeing so many Americans rushing to get their 5-10 year old children jabbed, when they don't need it. None of this is out of concern for their children, mind you, but because they are afraid their own kids will bloody kill their young, healthy parents by transmitting covid.
You can show them data from the CDC and numerous esteemed medical journals that children do not develop severe symptoms unless they are extremely immunocompromised/serious existing comorbidity, but they still won't believe it. They don't believe anyone should have a choice in this matter. Covid vaccination should be forced, out of some delusion of moral good.
To me, this is incredibly fucked up. It is a slippery slope towards mandating medical procedures, when the ends do not justify the means. I am speaking as someone who got CFS from another viral infection, I would never support forcing anyone to take a flu jab "for my safety" because I don't think it's the responsibility of other people to make medical decisions out of some supposed moral obligation for me.
I didn't take it because I was afraid it could worsen my existing conditions, as I have had bad responses to vaccines since I became ill. There was genuinely no way to ask questions or have an honest discussion about it because the health services here advise you to take it unless you will literally die of anaphylaxis.
I don't care about dying, I just don't want my mediocre quality of life to become even worse. No one has been able to answer any of my questions about how this vaccine effects people with CFS, because there's no data except surveys on chronic illness forums, which are anecdotal.
I am so glad I do not live in North America under these draconian mandates, which are causing nothing but more hatred and division- with very little gain for the vunerable. You're either a fox news watcher or a supposed NPC in the matrix, there is no in between.
There's no room for nuance or for changes in data and scientific inquiries, it is now a matter of being on the right political team so you don't look like you're "on the other side." I hate it. American politics are an absolute cancer.
