Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bill Agnew, of Charlotte, an arborist who works with all manner of trees.
Something clicked when I read the headline “Officials encourage Vermonters to talk to their families about getting vaccinated” on VTDigger’s website. I didn’t bother reading the story; it wasn’t necessary. It’s the same message I’ve been reading and hearing all over the national news media: how to convince the percentage of unvaccinated population that they need to get their shot.
Amy Walter, national editor of Cook Political Report, has noted that an overlay of the 2020 voting map onto the vaccination map was pretty much a direct fit. Voters who supported Trump are not getting vaccinated (or at least, getting the shot at diminished rates) while those who voted for Biden break along high vaccination rate lines. And then there is the rural-urban divide. Such is how a personal medical decision gets politicized in our current environment.
My gut reaction is it’s time to flip the script. We need to change the conversation and re-align our priorities.
Really, what business is it of mine whether or not someone chooses to get a Covid-19 vaccine? Why should I even care? Aren’t these, at the end of the day, personal decisions that revolve around the level of risk one is willing to assume?
The numbers bear such a perspective out. Fully vaccinated individuals have very little to fear about catching Covid-19, and if they do the vaccine still protects them from a worst-case scenario in the overwhelming majority of cases. Still, I can see that variants spreading in a low-vaccinated population could spawn a new version that current vaccines are less effective against. It’s also possible I could get struck by lightning or by the stray, gun-violence bullet that has my name on it. It’s not something I worry about when stepping out the door in the morning. I have more realistic dangers to worry about on a daily level. Whether or not the patron next to me in the local post office has had their shot, frankly, doesn’t rise to the level of concern for me.
I’m one of those individuals who, when pushed to do something, reflexively pushes back. I think this is the story a lot of the time with getting vaccinated. If people are skeptical or hesitant, I fail to see how my urgings are suddenly going to change their perspective on the matter. Hasn’t there been sufficient public outreach by now laying out the myriad, logical, reasons for getting vaccinated? Is it likely that even more rational explanations will tip the undecided in the direction of getting the jab? I don’t see it.
I suggest we stop trying to change peoples’ minds about vaccinations and start respecting individuals’ decisions.
Dr. Mark Levine should be applauded for the effort he’s spearheaded in getting Vermonters vaccinated at the highest rate in the entire nation. Job well done! But now we are in a transition zone where risk has been lowered substantially, allowing us to resume normal daily activities. We can see the danger ahead, though. In the fall people will move back indoors, and with the under-vaccinated population of children returning to school the fast spreading Delta variant becoming more prevalent there could be another pandemic-like outbreak. We’ll be right back where we were a year ago: masking, social distancing, and perhaps having to lock down and self-isolate again.
The mainstream solution seems to be bringing the mass population vaccination levels up so that this worst-case scenario can be avoided. It’s time to start thumping Bibles and organizing large revival events so the unwashed masses can hear that sweet message from above and be healed-come on everyone, altogether on the count of THREE let’s all yell “Hallelujah”!
Or maybe we could just let people experience their lives on their own terms. Most who get infected will recover without medical intervention. Some will eventually listen to the people in their lives they love and care about most and take steps for their sake, even if personally ambivalent. Some will die, but then, we’re all going to suffer that fate.
I believe people can make informed decisions that are in their own best interests. They need to be given the space to do so. The consequences of Covid-19 provide their own incentives.
Perhaps we would be wise to take a collective deep breath, step back from all the messaging, and trust Americans to make their own best decisions. Such optimism apparently works for former President Jimmy Carter; it might just for me, too.
