A group calling itself by the misleading name ‘Canadian Frontline Nurses’ is planning cross-country protests in Canada rejecting vaccine passports and COVID-19 public health measures. Among them are anti-vaxxers. Interestingly, two of the group’s primary leaders travelled to Washington last January for a rally organized by ‘Global Frontline Nurses’, an organization that claims there is no evidence that social distancing is helpful in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and that “lockdowns do not work,” both positions widely disputed by public-health experts. Unfortunately, the planned protests are expected to occur in the vicinity of hospitals where the real frontline medical staff is having to cope with increasing COVID-19 cases, particularly involving unvaccinated patients who make up the majority of such cases.
In light of the current fourth wave created by the Delta variant, the best way to prevent more COVID-related hospitalizations and potential deaths is through having more people vaccinated. The cold hard statistical facts are that unvaccinated individuals are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized and 9 times more likely to die.
Now that we are hearing more about vaccine mandating and vaccine passports to enter non-essential venues, those that didn’t support public health restrictions such as lockdowns, masking and social distancing have resurfaced under new slogans. “I’m not anti-anything. I’m pro-choice and pro-freedom.” Reminds one of: “Give me liberty or give me death”.
Think about it. Most American states and Canadian provinces already strictly mandate vaccines, which have not drawn opposition from most elected officials. For example, they require children to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and other diseases to attend school. Even states like Mississippi and Alabama, which reacted angrily to the coronavirus vaccine mandates President Biden recently imposed on private businesses, go a step further than most states by barring parents from claiming “religious, philosophical or conscientious” exemptions for mandated child vaccinations. In the past, even the U.S. Supreme Court has twice upheld vaccine mandates, reasoning that a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.
Let’s face it. I would hope that conservatives and so-called libertarians care about getting beyond this pandemic every bit as much as most of us do. Unfortunately, there are politicians and groups who are more than happy to exploit this issue for political or ideological gain. The anti-vaxxers, including some of those among the wellness influencers, have jumped on the libertarian bandwagon. They continue to spread misinformation about the vaccines. Sprinkled throughout social media, there are posts to their followers that continue to question the safety of the vaccines. For example, one study found a large cluster of Facebook groups that focused on posting and spreading COVID-19 misinformation, including anti-vaccine messages. This is despite the fact that Facebook enacted stricter rules against coronavirus misinformation over the course of the pandemic.
Vaccine mandates are not new, nor is resistance to vaccination. Moreover, there is a clear and established principle behind mandated vaccinations. It is that the safety of the community supersedes personal liberty when everyone is at risk from a communicable disease. In our struggle to contain COVID-19, these remarkable vaccines are a critical tool that community members can employ along with other preventive measures. Each one of us has a choice, especially those of us who are parents. To put it bluntly, no one can deny you the right to choose how you die. What’s crucial is whether your choices could lead to the death of someone in your family or in your community?
FROLITICKS 