I am not vaccinated. In a sane society, a personal decision like this would not warrant a column. But we do not live in a sane society. As a healthy 36-year-old woman, COVID-19 does not pose a statistically meaningful threat to my life. I have a 99.97 percent chance of survival. Why would I get a vaccine for a virus that I do not fear and that isn't a threat to my lifeparticularly when there is an element of risk from the vaccines? Despite this completely rational and data-driven viewpoint, the Biden White House recently broke its previous promise and issued federal mandates that will be applied to about 100 million Americans - two-thirds of all workers. In September, when the mandates were first announced, Biden said the guiding principle was to "protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated co-workers" and "reduce the spread of COVID-19." But the vaccines clearly haven't accomplished that goal to-date, so what exactly is the point of mandating vaccines that have thus far failed to stop the spread? What is the point of only testing the unvaccinated, when it is now clear that the vaccinated are also still spreading COVID? And why is natural immunity being completely ignored and denied any relevance whatsoever when over 100 research studies have affirmed its effectiveness? The vaccine helps protect the vaccinated from dying, but it does not protect the vaccinated from either getting or spreading COVID. The vaccine is a personal health benefit, not a public health benefit.
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