Mostly, I avoid writing about the "hot-button" issues of the day. For the most part, positions are so entrenched, that any attempt to be balanced results in me being condemned by both sides.
I'm making an exception.
If you are able to get vaccinated, you should do so. All of the evidence points to this as being the sanest, safest and most responsible course of action.
We are probably closer to the beginning of the pandemic than the end of it. Did you get that? We're not half way yet.
Those crazy kids in white coats that we call scientists, point out that pandemics tend to run for four years or so, and that the only real way to get the virus on the back foot is to build immunity in the general population.
Immunity comes two ways. The virus or the vaccine. (Thanks Dr Fleet for explaining it to me.)
While some people in the Western world dither over whether they should get a vaccination or not, a huge proportion of the world's population can only cross their fingers and hope that somebody, somewhere, will make some vaccine available to their village or town. Unless we can get vaccines to all corners of the planet, then lots of people are going to get their immunity through infection. Oh - except those who die, of course.
Let's keep things simple.
"The vaccines are an unknown quantity." To a certain extent, yes, that's true. However, so is the virus. Data (or volume of graves) suggest that the virus is a lot worse for you than the vaccine.
"I have the right to decline vaccination. It's a principal and a human right." I'm not a lawyer. However - choosing to decline vaccination makes you a contributor to the continued spread and mutation of the virus, and an attack vector to vulnerable people. Your ability to participate in society should, and will be limited, as a consequence of your choice.
"Governments are using the pandemic and the vaccination program to assert control over our lives. It's the beginning of an Orwellian world." Here's a thought. Vote them out at the next election. Ha! Foiled by the ballot box.
"Bill Gates is behind it all - injecting 5G into us." Firstly, I'm lucky enough to have had two jabs, and I still have no 5G reception. Secondly, Bill Gates has successfully taken money off everyone, (Windows did well, you know), and poured it into eradicating disease. Why on earth would he want to invent a new one?
I'm a Libertarian at heart, and have no love for anyone telling me what to do.
Nobody should force me to have a vaccine.
The evidence that I should get vaccinated is so gigantically overwhelming that nobody should need to force me.
Make a difference. If you can, get vaccinated.
