I Have No Sympathy For Anti-Vaxers

It’s been 530 days since March 11, 2020, the date of America’s initial COVID-19 shutdown. Since then, there have been 37.7 million cases and 634k COVID-19 related deaths nationwide. And the numbers are only increasing. Unfortunately, instead of uniting a divided country to fight against a common cause, COVID-19 has done nothing but further the political and social polarization in the United States. After America saw its lowest COVID-19 numbers in over a year, hospitalizations and deaths are on the rise yet again. Contrary to the constant ad campaigns advertising that COVID-19 has ended, that is not at all the case. 

As the virus has continued to mutate, we’ve arrived at the next hurdle in the eradication of COVID-19, the Delta Variant, which, without question, is the most deadly and easily transmittable COVID variant. As this strain continues to wreak havoc on America, an alarming percentage of American adults insistently refuse to get vaccinated.  In the first eleven months of the pandemic, ‘anti-maskers’ fueled the already politicized virus with senseless rants backed by a baseless call for “freedom.” The ignorance only progressed as the vaccine began to rollout. After Donald Trump, a man who perpetuated blatant lies about the pandemic took credit for the vaccine, his blind supporters proceeded to boycott the vaccine, again backed by ignorant claims cloaked with the excuse of “freedom.” Refusing to get vaccinated as a petty political statement is  a blatant disregard of the health of your peers. While I acknowledge the constant stress of quarantine and COVID-19 guidelines, that doesn’t excuse risking others lives due to your frustration. The refusal to listen to science not only causes concerns for the state of misinformation in America, but it also poses serious health risks for those around you. Death counts are rising, hospitals are overflowing, and to quote Kourtney Kardashian “Kim, people are dying.” Risking your own safety is one thing, but risking the health and safety of those around you because of disproven conspiracy theories is selfish and wrong. I have no understanding nor sympathy for those who refuse to get vaccinated. There is no factual information to support opposition to the vaccine and anyone who continues to dismiss the opinions of health officials is being willfully ignorant. 

Part of the widespread COVID-19 misinformation can be attributed to social media; though social media platforms have made efforts to flag misinformation surrounding COVID-19, dangerous lies about the virus have continued to spread online. “According to a Pew Research Service study from January, more than eight-in-ten U.S. adults (86 percent) said they get their news from a smartphone. It is easy to see why misinformation continues to spread.” While many COVID restrictions have been put back in place as the Delta variant tears through America, it is not enough. The only way to keep the virus from spreading and mutating is vaccination.

 I’m tired of selfish stupidity killing Americans. I’m tired of taking all the necessary COVID precautions to protect people who refuse to protect themselves. I’m tired of ignorance in America. Get the vaccine so we can finally end this nightmare of a pandemic.

By Sawyer Sugarman