Individual Choice vs Protecting Everybody Else?

            Medieval “Plague Doctors”

The latest strain of the COVID virus, labeled JN-1, currently accounts for 20% of all rising US based cases of the disease, suggesting a new vaccine is around the corner. But noting that the share prices of both Pfizer and Moderna have been halved by reason of the seriously reduced demand for boosters, there does seem to be a wave of vaccine fatigue among all of us. A healthy trend? Is natural or herd immunity our future? Is Kennedy clan black sheep Robert F, independent candidate for President, representative of our future? He is an antivaxxer on steroids.

Unfortunately, many bacteria and viruses have innate programming to survive and spread, perhaps nature’s way of culling the “people” herd in a Malthusian over-populated Earth. So, if you are on the side of reducing that 8 billion-and-growing population, with a long history of people inflicting massive damage to the planet and everything on it, you might just accept that vector as a necessary reality. But that also means that must accept that you yourself are “cullable”… and that is just fine with you.

Denial, conspiracy theories and mythology – a rejection of scientific and medical findings, no matter how well-vetted – are a coping mechanism from having to deal with inconveniences generated from plagues and the spread of fatal or debilitating diseases. Perhaps a “pandemic” or even something less. Unfortunately, if you are on the side of doing what is reasonably necessary to fight off these pernicious attackers, you have to be grateful for modern science, particularly flexible and easily modifiable modern mRNA vaccines, which can be expected to become more sophisticated with the advent of AI.

As for those genetically reactive “germs,” we should all be aware that “plagues” are definitely in our future. Further, without preventative measures being prioritized, diseases are likely to spread and infect an increasing number of “victims,” pitting those who wish to stem the evolution of mutating bacteria (increasingly antibiotic resistant) and viruses before they get “out of control” against those who simply reject modern methods of prevention for any number of reasons, most unscientific.

Conspiracy theories have spread far beyond political vectors… and are even more potent is rejecting science and medicine as manipulative quackery. To many, rejecting medical science has become a rightwing litmus test. Politicizing science may get votes, but nature does not care. She will do what she can to grow and spread her germy children to continue to cull the herd of a species with no serious traditional predators. I suspect nature is smiling.

But as LA Times OpEd contributor, Michael Hiltzik points out (in his December 20th piece): “Forecasting the future is difficult. But here’s an easy prediction: The anti-vaccination movement in the U.S. and globally is going to result in the deaths of more children.

“This grim portent comes to us courtesy of UNICEF, which is reporting that 30,601 confirmed cases of measles have been reported in Europe and Central Asia this year through Dec. 5… That’s up from 909 cases in those regions in 2022, or an increase of 3,266%.

“UNICEF expects the final annual tally to be considerably higher, because the measles rate nearly doubled in October and November, marking a longer-term surge… ‘There is no clearer sign of a breakdown in immunization coverage than an increase in cases of measles,’ says Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia.

“In the United States, measles has remained more or less under control since the 2019 spike to 1,274 cases: 41 cases reported so far this year, down from 121 in 2022… The 2019 surge was attributed to pockets of unvaccinated people spreading the virus. A spike also appeared in 2014, when more than half the 667 cases were attributed to unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio.

“That epidemiological pattern is what should give you qualms about what lies ahead for the U.S. That’s because the anti-vaccine movement is in full cry across the country, fueled by right-wing ideology and the presidential campaign, such as it is, of prominent anti-vaccine agitator Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“A key factor spurring the spread of anti-vaccine propaganda is the politicization of the COVID-19 vaccines. One leading public health advocate has called that phenomenon an ‘accelerant’ for the anti-vaccine movement, which likens it to a can of gasoline in the hands of an arsonist.

“For anti-vaxxers, it has been only a short step from opposition to COVID vaccine mandates to opposition to all childhood immunization mandates. This has often proceeded under the banner of ‘health freedom,’ the idea being that individuals should have the untrammeled right to decide for themselves what to put or not put in their bodies.

“That may be marginally defensible when it concerns individuals’ decisions to eat or drink themselves to death, but obviously vaccination is in a different category: A vaccine defends not only patients themselves, but everyone around them — fellow pupils, teachers, family members, strangers with whom they come into contact.

“Vaccination works best when it reaches coverage of about 95% of a population, producing what is sometimes described as ‘herd immunity,’ in which a disease is so well suppressed that even the few unvaccinated members are protected.” Rightwingers calling for “health freedom” while demanding government control of women’s reproductive rights over their own bodies?

I’m Peter Dekom, and at what point does your “health freedom” lead to my and my family’s potential demise… and why is that the correct choice for society?