I would hardly call it "blindly" pro-vax. Personally, I grew up in a politically conservative area, and while my childhood friends have gone their own way politically, they are split along the liberal-conservative political spectrum, and apparently along with that, a pro-vax/anti-vax spectrum. One childhood friend of mine got COVID durin…
I would hardly call it "blindly" pro-vax. Personally, I grew up in a politically conservative area, and while my childhood friends have gone their own way politically, they are split along the liberal-conservative political spectrum, and apparently along with that, a pro-vax/anti-vax spectrum. One childhood friend of mine got COVID during the delta wave. This guy is almost exactly like me physically: Not old, not young (literally he was in my same class so he's the same age as me, 50 years old), physically fit (he was an avid runner, I'm an avid cyclist) and not obese (particularly compared to other American males of the same age), and no other health issues. Politically he leans more conservative, but hardly a Trumper, and not anti-vax or pro-vax. Likely he just didn't know who to believe, hesitated and never got vaccinated. He spent five weeks in an ICU, had several very close calls, but eventually did make it, but his life will never be the same again. A year and a half later, he's still unable to return to work and physical therapy meant he had to start all over again.
According to many antivaxxers, the simple fact that he did not die means he never needed to get the vaccine. The guy nearly died. His life will never be the same again. You cannot possibly tell me if his immune system had a head start if he was vaccinated that the results would have been exactly the same. It defies every single scientific convention and absolutely zero data supports it.
This pisses me off to no end. This is not some ideological point scoring for me. This literally almost killed him, and forever changed his life, and not getting vaccinated, I have to believe the outcome would be better. This is not ideological. This is just facts and science.
To many, this is an ideological point. The data portends a particular political point. To them, the idea that vaccines work portends that vaccine mandates are a good idea. If you are opposed to all government intervention, then the idea of vaccine mandates are a bad idea, so you need to attack the reason for them, which is the fact that vaccines work. We've seen this so many times, with mask mandates, with climate change proposals, if these problems portend government intervention, and you have no other proposal to combat these problems, then you have to attack the facts that portend that solution.
This is not political to me. This is personal. I don't care who you voted for, and I have every belief that my friend and I disagree on almost everything politically. Unfortunately, that damn near killed him, and given the fact that we almost identical in our demographics, there's little doubt that could have happened to me. For me, I've been vaccinated, I've been twice boosted, I've had zero problems, and I did eventually get COVID (albeit omicron) and it was like bad allergies, not over a month in the ICU. I didn't even miss a single day of work (remotely) and my life has not changed, as it clearly did with him.
I am not "blindly" "pro-vax". I'm blindly "pro-friend", regardless who they voted for.
@Joe Carlin: It's refreshing to hear that some folks can really agree to disagree. Life is too short. Let's accept that some people can remain friends if only they will accept the other's viewpoint but that viewpoint doesn't have to be adopted/swallowed entirely. Maybe certain points he makes are more valid than others. Why would you hate or reject someone that might educate you with alternative views? We tend to demonize alternative opinions. I can still consider my viewpoint more correct without actually hating my friend who "doesn't get it" (according to my experiences, education, and biases).
I would hardly call it "blindly" pro-vax. Personally, I grew up in a politically conservative area, and while my childhood friends have gone their own way politically, they are split along the liberal-conservative political spectrum, and apparently along with that, a pro-vax/anti-vax spectrum. One childhood friend of mine got COVID during the delta wave. This guy is almost exactly like me physically: Not old, not young (literally he was in my same class so he's the same age as me, 50 years old), physically fit (he was an avid runner, I'm an avid cyclist) and not obese (particularly compared to other American males of the same age), and no other health issues. Politically he leans more conservative, but hardly a Trumper, and not anti-vax or pro-vax. Likely he just didn't know who to believe, hesitated and never got vaccinated. He spent five weeks in an ICU, had several very close calls, but eventually did make it, but his life will never be the same again. A year and a half later, he's still unable to return to work and physical therapy meant he had to start all over again.
According to many antivaxxers, the simple fact that he did not die means he never needed to get the vaccine. The guy nearly died. His life will never be the same again. You cannot possibly tell me if his immune system had a head start if he was vaccinated that the results would have been exactly the same. It defies every single scientific convention and absolutely zero data supports it.
This pisses me off to no end. This is not some ideological point scoring for me. This literally almost killed him, and forever changed his life, and not getting vaccinated, I have to believe the outcome would be better. This is not ideological. This is just facts and science.
To many, this is an ideological point. The data portends a particular political point. To them, the idea that vaccines work portends that vaccine mandates are a good idea. If you are opposed to all government intervention, then the idea of vaccine mandates are a bad idea, so you need to attack the reason for them, which is the fact that vaccines work. We've seen this so many times, with mask mandates, with climate change proposals, if these problems portend government intervention, and you have no other proposal to combat these problems, then you have to attack the facts that portend that solution.
This is not political to me. This is personal. I don't care who you voted for, and I have every belief that my friend and I disagree on almost everything politically. Unfortunately, that damn near killed him, and given the fact that we almost identical in our demographics, there's little doubt that could have happened to me. For me, I've been vaccinated, I've been twice boosted, I've had zero problems, and I did eventually get COVID (albeit omicron) and it was like bad allergies, not over a month in the ICU. I didn't even miss a single day of work (remotely) and my life has not changed, as it clearly did with him.
I am not "blindly" "pro-vax". I'm blindly "pro-friend", regardless who they voted for.
@Joe Carlin: It's refreshing to hear that some folks can really agree to disagree. Life is too short. Let's accept that some people can remain friends if only they will accept the other's viewpoint but that viewpoint doesn't have to be adopted/swallowed entirely. Maybe certain points he makes are more valid than others. Why would you hate or reject someone that might educate you with alternative views? We tend to demonize alternative opinions. I can still consider my viewpoint more correct without actually hating my friend who "doesn't get it" (according to my experiences, education, and biases).