The unvaccinated don't have the right to give us COVID. Crack down on them, not us.

[PA Democrat]

Interesting op-ed in USA Today by Richard Florida and Arthur Caplan:

People are free to make all the bad choices they want when it comes to themselves, but not when they put others in danger and incur costs that we all must pay. This is where we find ourselves today with the COVID-19 vaccine. Until now, the default has been to err on the side of liberty, allowing individuals a maximum of free choice and personal responsibility.

But as the pandemic has evolved, this model is no longer viable. With the highly infectious delta variant surging, the unvaccinated are posing direct risks to the health and well-being of the immunocompromised, the frail and the elderly, and especially young children, who cannot yet be vaccinated. The ethical challenge is crystal clear: The actions – or, in this case, the inactions – of the unvaccinated pose clear risks for society writ large. As the old saying goes: Your right to swing your arm ends where my nose begins.

And more:

Ethical dilemmas often entail tough choices, but this one is easy. The choice to not vaccinate does far more harm than any infringement of the rights of the unvaccinated. While society cannot and should not force anyone to vaccinate, we can and should require them to take responsibility for their choices.

The unvaccinated should be required to disclose their status, so that the people they come into contact with can make informed decisions about their own health and safety. They should be required to mask and distance when they are in public spaces. They should be required to quarantine when they travel. To make all this possible, we need to accelerate the use of effective vaccine passports. And health insurance companies can and should impose added costs on the unvaccinated, just as they do for smokers.

Worth reading the entire op-ed at:

https://news.yahoo.com/unvaccinated-dont-us-covid-crack-071502406.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

[mdelaguna]

1. Have been wondering about insurance cos.

“ And health insurance companies can and should impose added costs on the unvaccinated, just as they do for smokers.”

[Tiger8]

12. And deny them entry, just like they did smokers

Do you recall the great "smoker's rights" debate of the 1990's?

Rush Limbaugh was leading the charge, saying that 2nd hand cigarette smoke was not dangerous, and it was a bunch of liberal ninnies trying to restrict people from enjoying the "freedumb" to smoke in restaurants, sports arenas and airplanes.

Rush even joked about how he himself was surrounded by, "wafts of smoke from a fine, premium cigar" and people would call in and say, "cigar smoking dittos Rush" and told of how they enjoyed smoking in public, just to piss off the libruls.

[Botany]

2. It is time for America to be like France.

You don't have to get the vaccine but then you don't have the right to go to work,
get on a plane, train, bus, or ship, go to a restaurant, go to sporting event, go unmasked
to a store, or get medical treatment when you get C-19.

No more being Mr. Nice Guy about the disease and that includes the large number of
African Americans and Hispanics who refuse to get vaccinated too.

[LiberatedUSA]

3. And a mandatory sentence for forging vaccine cards.

[Botany]

4. And penalties for letting somebody else use your vaccine card too.

n/t

[OnlinePoker]

14. Canada fined two travellers from U.S. $20k each for false Covid info.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/canada-fines-travelers-covid-documentation/index.html

[tanyev]

5. There's a reason toddlers throw hissy-fits.

The people around them often decide it's just easier to give the toddler whatever he or she wants than to deal with the screaming toddler.

[OldBaldy1701E]

27. Yep

This has been the M.O. for most people in this country for some time. This is why I will not work in sales or customer service ever again. I have dealt with too many 40 year old toddlers.

[Hortensis]

6. Yes, with delta this message is now showing up on MSNBC and CNN.

I do wonder how much elsewhere, but in any case it's a trend in the right direction. Those who didn't bother to get vaccinated so they wouldn't spread a deadly virus to others are just as guilty as the those who spread it out of factional malice.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Bingo!!

[oldsoftie]

8. The burden of the unvaxed shouldnt be placed on the vaxed

I'll wear a mask where I'm asked to or where I feel I should. Elsewhere, its not my fault if YOU wont get the shot.

[Demobrat]

11. We shouldn't have to pay for them either.

We all will, in the form of higher insurance premiums.

[OldBaldy1701E]

28. Well

We have allowed the insurance thing to take over our lives. We are not allowed to do many things without it. Why complain now? No, we shouldn't have to pay for it, but we allowed this set up in the first place...

[Demobrat]

9. It is absolutely unacceptable

that anybody should be denied necessary health care because the system is overwhelmed by unvaccinated Covid patients.

Screw them and their freedom. They need to go to the end of the line and stay there.

[The Mouth]

10. And I don't care *WHAT* your reason is for not getting vaxxed

I'd done with cultural sensitivity, trying to respect your skepticism of government and I do not CARE what sources of information you use. No excuses are valid any more.

Willfully unvaccinated people should be treated exactly like drunk drivers, rioting arsonists or people firing guns into random buildings or crowds.

[COL Mustard]

13. The Big Exception To That Is People Who Can't Get Vaccinated

I'm talking kids for whom the vaccine is not yet approved, and people who have a legitimate medical reason for not getting vaccinated (compromised immune system, on chemo or something like that)...a pretty small number. For people who can but don't, I have only a big old EFF EWE.

[The Mouth]

20. Yes, that's why I said "willfully unvaccinated"

They are the ones who bear the guilt if folks who CAN'T get vaccinated get ill or die

[lindysalsagal]

15. They needed to be "special" and now they're becoming the untouchable underclass

The very reason they clung to tfg in the first place. Ironic, isn't it?

[dlk]

17. The freedom argument is bogus

It’s no different than claiming a “freedom” to drive drunk and harming others. It’s a public safety issue as Paul Krugman wrote about it in a recent op-ed. He pointed out the anti-mask issue is grounded in privilege.

I wonder if it would be effective to use the same approach as MADD with the anti-maskers.

[OldBaldy1701E]

29. Is it 'privilege'

Or is it 'ego'? I don't think it is as much 'I am entitled to it' as it is 'I am better than everyone and therefore I don't have to do anything I don't want to'.

[dlk]

31. Yes

Just think of the enormous additional costs we are all paying for emergency healthcare resulting from their self-righteous idiocy.

[roamer65]

19. I agree 💯 pct.

They are killing children.

[Phoenix61]

21. Couldn't agree more.

I don’t think hospitals should assign so many beds to covid patients. Why should someone who needs a hip replacement or a cancerous tumor removed have to wait because some jack ass couldn’t be bothered to get a vaccine. They shouldn’t be taking over the ER either. Why should a car accident victim have to be exposed to them or have an exhausted health care worker because they are selfish jerks. I’m just so over them.

[The Mouth]

22. Well said

Thanks.

[RicROC]

23. I drove my Trumpian cousin to the hospital this past Saturday...

due to his 2 week long self-diagnosis of gall bladder pain. Turns out, he was unvax'd and has covid.

He has no health insurance and has railed against the immigrants who are parasites.
Who will pay for his medical care?

Where is that mirror for him to look at himself.

[OldBaldy1701E]

30. It wouldn't matter

Even if the mirror was a mile across and mile high... even if you propped their eyes open and made them look into it... they would not see what they do not want to see. That is what we face.

[uponit7771]

24. K&R,

[SallyHemmings]

25. We have shut them out of family events

We have 7 grand babies under 9. GB-1 is 14 and vaccinated.

I love my 55 year old younger brother but he is being willfully stubborn. He also still smokes.

Our 86 year old Dad is in a skilled facility. He is finally able to have visitors...

He told him, when you are vaccinated, you are welcome.

Hell. Dad was the first to get vaccinated.


Enough already.

[Dorn]

26. AITINH