After what may very easily have been the worst year in all of human history, it seems like an end to the madness is finally within reach. With Coronavirus vaccines having finally been approved for widespread use in the United States, pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and BioNTech could very well save millions – nay, billions of lives with their revolutionary vaccines. Along with this progress, however, has come a growing movement of anti-vaxxers with close ties to Donald Trump and white supremacy.
Trump and Vaccinations
The “anti-vaxx” movement has been no stranger to the public eye over the past ten years or so, but has never received widespread support in the vein of what it is experiencing as a result of former president Donald Trump’s statements regarding “alternative” COVID-19 treatments. Subsequent conspiracy theories propagated by his supporters range from claims that “vaccine manufacturers are not liable for damages” to outright lies regarding the (sub-ten percent) rate of allergic reactions to vaccines. A and worrying number of Trump’s supporters and their white supremacist bedfellows have been spreading these harmful mistruths about the “dangers” of vaccination, and are quickly gaining traction among the less-educated members of American society. What the ignorant peddlers of these contentions fail to realize, however, is that regardless of whether or not you might die as a result of getting the vaccine – you should still get it.
It’s Not Only Your Life
Are you a hero? Would you risk your life to save another person? How about two people? Ten people? Ten billion people? These are the stakes presented by the Coronavirus, and to suggest otherwise is ignorant and dangerous. The world has reached a consensus over the past year, and that consensus is that COVID-19 is the single biggest threat to human existence that has possibly ever been – an entire planet of people, all at the mercy of a virus. Unless those people are vaccinated. Studies have shown that just one unvaccinated person in a population of millions who catches a viral disease such as the Coronavirus can result in a 100% infection (and possible death) rate among the rest of said population. When you refuse the COVID-19 vaccination, you put not only your family at risk, but the families of billions of other people. No matter the risk, to save the world is a greater pursuit than continuing to live in a post-apocalyptic disease-wracked world. The choice is yours: be the disease or be the cure. Me? I choose cure. That’s why I’m going to get vaccinated – even if it kills me. I choose to save the world.
