The pressure to vaccinate against COVID 19 by the federal government, big business, major universities and big Pharma has been intense and persistent, despite the ebb of the crisis. The vaccines (mRNA shots), we have been constantly told, are safe and effective. But that message has changed over the course of the pandemic. The earlier warnings and advice have been pushed aside in favor of new warnings and advice (e.g. from the vaccines will prevent the spread to the vaccines will prevent severe illness), to the merely advisory (e.g. the CDC’s recent pronouncements relaxing the restrictions).
So, what are we to believe? Much of what we hear, many think, is politically motivated and the debate rages between warring liberal and conservative factions as to what is true and what we need to do (or not do). The centerpiece of all this has been the mandates to get vaccinated. Here is where we separate fact from politically self-serving fiction, and suppression from democracy. For many, the vaccine is a must in order to keep us all safe, and those who resist are criminally negligent.
Thus, we are confronted with the current problem of using propogandized “science” for political purposes. To paraphrase the good Dr. Krauthammer this is a case of Covid derangement syndrome. First it was one shot, then two. Then a booster. Then annual boosters. Vaccines forever. Now new vaccines for new “variants.” Pretty soon a “cocktail” for all of the above. Endless. But why? To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, everything is about COVID except COVID, COVID is about power. This is politics, not science, the left will not yield.
We need to be pro-choice on the vaccines, keep democracy in the forefront of the debate, and not be panicked into another round of mandates by authoritarians in sheep’s clothing if and when the next surge of COVID strikes.
Blue Star Press 