Unvaccinated are putting healthcare system at risk
By Letter to the Editor on November 5, 2021.
Editor:
While I sympathize with some, not all, people’s aversion to COVID vaccinations, I strongly support mandatory shots in public places.
This not some simple flu but a deadly epidemic putting us all at risk. The intensive care units in our hospitals are full, staff over-worked and some patients have to be flown to other provinces.
Over 90 per cent of these people are unvaccinated.
Anyone who refuses the vaccine and puts the rest of us and our health system at risk should go to the back of the line when they contact the disease.
Larry Mackillop
Nanton
-1
boy are you out of touch with reality. take a breath and do some research and realize the real truth, not the truth of the media.
It’s sad deluded 80 year olds like you have internet access.
Question for you: Do you think it’s a good idea to search out worldviews different from your own?
When I read this comment, I thought to myself, what would Norm Macdonald say?
‘Worldviews’? From the guy that says the ‘mainstream media’ can’t be trusted? Knock it off!
Yes, from the guy who thinks the mainstream sometimes gets it wrong. Why knock it off? Are you saying questions shouldn’t be asked?
To clarify — with which statement do you disagree?
The more research I do the more you loony deniers are proven wrong. You need to do more research than just looking at some whackos on the back pages of FB with all their “knowledge”.
What about the double vaccinated who are in the hospital with COVD? They don’t affect the medical system?
Pretty sure that’s a low number.. less than 10%
Yes, breakthrough infections do happen, but in comparison with the non-vaccinated, the percentage of COVID patients in hospital who are double vaccinated is extremely low, and that figure is even lower for ICU admissions. That said, waning immunity is an issue, and so without boosters we are likely in for another rough ride.
You deniers are pricelessly stupid. I had Covid after being double vaxxed but it was very minor so no hospital time needed. The very few vaxxed that end up in care are usually only there a day or so and not 3 months. Your comment is laughable.
The PRIMARY reason that double-vacs’d are being hospitalised is DUE to the unvacs’d population continuing to be the best vectors for the Virus to get around and mutate.
That, and the plain fact that the vacs’d are in the smaller percentage of hospitalisations.
It would be comedically ironic that the Virus is killing folks who are in a certain political subset these days…if it wasn’t sad as Hell.
the issue is not about whether the vaxes work – it is about autonomy over one;s body. as it is playing out, somehow the state – with the blessing of far too many- feels it has the right to determine what we have to ingest, as well as what we cannot ingest. that is unacceptable.
so far, roughly 1.7 million cdns have tested positive for fovid…and, about 1.7 million have recovered. and, somehow, this is enough to panic people into feeling they have the right to force people to vax. it is as outrageous as it is egregious to the most fundamental freedom one has – the sole right to their body. that so many vaxed have come to overlook this suggests that maybe the vaxed make people stupider, or fascist fools.
you take vaxes with the idea of protecting yourself. your being vaxed does little to protect me – and even it did more than little, please do not vax for me. you vax for you. it is supposed to protect you, and if it does, you do not need anyone else vaxed, just you. if an unvaxed gets sick that is their problem
the latest propaganda commercial from the alberta govt has folk telling us how their cancer surgeries and the like have been postponed because of covid taking up health resources. almost brings a tear, until one realsies that it is the alberta govt choosing to prioritise covid issues over pretty much all other issues. that is not at all due to covid unvaxed: it is due to govt making the wrong call, and/or to a health system that has been systematically undermined over the last 20 plus years. .
“The Government” is mandating that I set my clocks back before I go to bed tonight, but I’m going to do MY OWN research, thank you very much.
My clocks, my choice.
h2zero: how come never bright? – no matter what the hour.
I could go on and on about the level of stupidity in your post but I will just
say….dumb and dumber!!!
your comment is without merit. perhaps you have something to contribute? you have 3 entries in this thread, each without substance but laden with insult…just like h2zero.
Yeah, you’re entries are substance ..a rather brown one.
biff: I have a couple of suggestions for you Because there is no free lunch in this world, should you be unfortunate enough to contract COVID and become so ill that you need to be hospitalized — which is something I do not hope you for you — I suggest two things. First, that upon release from the hospital you must write a cheque payable to the “Taxpayers of Alberta” to pay for your treatment. And then you need to send an apology card to every person whose surgery was postponed because you occupied a surgical-recovery bed during your treatment.
And one more thing, please locate the shift key on you keyboard. You obviously know how to use periods and you are acquainted with the colon — although its application in your comment is rather, shall we say, idiosyncratic — but your refusal to use capital letters properly is rather juvenile.
Don’t go after biff and his fear of using capitol letters..he’s gotta be him..he’s special and wants all of us to know it. Now he confuses letters with numbers.
Mental illness or a frail ego. Which is it ‘biff’?
typical, as a bully you now pile on…
typical, the great majority of your posts are to insult, are abusive, rejoice in juvenile ignorance, and do not present as a contribution to meaningful discussion.
i do not confuse letters with numbers: i know a zero when i see one.
So…frail ego it is?
it sure is curious that some take issue with my not using capital letters. they strike me as redundant, seeing as we use periods.
i find it a rather simple view to determine that non-vaxed write cheques if they need covid care; as well, to believe that the covid unvaxed are responsible for slow downs to health care and the like. perhaps one will agree that our health care has been diminished and under attack for quite some time already. is that not the truer issue? perhaps one will agree it is time we have some serious discussions to address the increasing strains upon the system that long predated covid. is this not particularly necessary given that there may be far greater challenges ahead than what covid and its greek alphabet strains have presented?
thank you for not wishing covid on me. alas, i have had it, and, like double vaxed sharkmeister, i managed to survive, only as an unvaxed. not a surprise, given that, at that time, over 1.6 million cdns before me had already had covid and – this is an amazing stat- over 1.6 million cdns had also already survived.
save for one tougher night and day, it was like a long lasting cold. mind you, my experience with colds and flus (never really know the difference when i get them) is they always linger on for weeks with after effects. such was the case with covid. the one tougher night was punctuated by poor breathing. the idea of emergency came to mind (survival instincts, i suppose), even though i had already made a choice to not use emergency for covid when i chose to not covid vax. so, i stuck it out, and was at times actually concerned that i may come to tap out in bed. of course, not at all a “hero,” but i was satisfied that i was able to honour my position that i may not deserve the health care system on this. i survived, and now live to write about that…albeit, all in lowercase.
i am curious about your suggestion that nonvaxed should owe money for emergency care should they need/use it. it brings up some scenarios. do you feel any of the following should be denied public health services: people that eat fast foods and other processed foods; people that do not exercise; people that smoke (tobacco, pot); people that drink alcohol; people that gorge on gmo foods; people that ingest copious quantities of herbicides and pesticides due to their food choices; people that contribute to the inescapable toxic fallout associated with almost all aspects of our consumerist society; people that play sports or take other risks in their recreational endeavours (rock climbing, hiking, skiing…)? i suggest it is a low flag day for freedom when people support using the health system as a means for controlling the lifestyle preferences of each.
Really, biff, regarding my comment about capitalization, must you take a swing at every pitch that’s high and inside? But, hey, the good news is that because of COVID measures, including vaccinations, the number of hospital admission was down to 608 yesterday and only 128 COVID patients are in ICU. That means there will be room for you, should the need arise.
Plain fact that your self-centred word salad seems to completely miss:
I got vaccinated to protect others first.
Myself second.
And even with your complete lack of understanding that YES: Me being vaccinated DOES protect you (Do your damned research before saying something so ridiculous please).
Being vaccinated not only reduces transmission rate (By up to 65%), it also reduces MUTATION RATE.
Delta isn’t the original version of the Virus.
And every pod of unvaccinated folks creates the potential for another mutation to occur.
My freedom comes from my understanding of Social Contract. And that in a Democracy, we have responsibility to each other as WELL as ourselves.
I also understand Science to a reasonable degree: And while there’s a LOT to understand about the exact what/why of the Pandemic, there’s very little that disagrees with the How part.
And I do mean Science here: Not some Facebooker’s link to a discredited Nurse or Doctor’s whacko theories (Or outright attempt at Conning some idiot out of their money).
As to your attempted assertion that “1.7 million have been infected, and 1.7 million have recovered”. It’s an interesting attempt at deflection:
It not only minimises the nearly 30 thousand that died, it also minimises the fact we are lucky enough to have the medical system we have.
It also minimises the measures that were taken to slow the spread (Though that reaction could have been better).
*Sigh* I do realise that I’ve been dragged into rabbit hole that has no bottom.
As the Libertarian “me first” view is so deeply entrenched in some people’s mindset.
Ah well. bet they think “public road” means “My personal super speedway”.
Yes. You covered it, including the juvenile libertarian “mindset.”
while libertarians might be majority opposed to covid vaxes, i am not a libertarian. where i will agree with that camp is on the right we must each have to be the sole arbiter of our bodies.
further, i do not discount the basis that brought you – and others – to their choice to vax. however, i am quite certain the great majority did not vax for others, they vaxed for themselves so they could feel safe, gather in bars, restaurants and stadiums, and of course, travel. without exception, these are the points that the vaxed have articulated during conversations about why one vaxed. no one – of quite many – has said to me they vaxed to protect others.
that said, i also do not discount that vaxes may be the best way to avoid covid. however, in the light of the right we must each have to be sole arbiter of body, one has the right to say no. you know, no means no. the rights of one stop at the body of another. it is one thing to go and cough into someone’s face. however, it is fair and reasonable that an uvaxed person without symptoms of being contagious with something move from place to place in order to earn a living, shop, exercise – and socialise, each of which are essential aspects of living.
as for one’s understanding of the social contract – which is in fact a nebulous piece of thought riddled with contradictions – it is curious how it comes to be referenced so often now with regard to coercing and otherwise mandating covid vaxes. where is the social contract and the “we are all in this together” bravado heretofore when it comes to the massive discrepancies in the living standards of all hard working people; when it comes to sundry selfish pursuits and consumerism that undermine the health and well being of all? the social contract my arse, but i do not say that with any disrespect to anyone, just to the idea there really is much of a social contract that does much to ameliorate ridiculous inequality and the ruination of our shared space/environment. surely we can acknowledge the massive loss of health and life due to the effects of impoverishment and toxic living spaces.
people have right to choice – even in the light of the farce that is our democracy which one references. they have the right to be right, or wrong…that is the basis upon which choices teeter. if one is wrong to over indulge sugar, so be it. if one is wrong to be sedentary, so be it. if one os wrong to not vax, so be it. society cannot coerce or enforce choices with regard to one’s body. it absolutely cannot use social institutions, such as health care, to coerce and manipulate lifestyle choices.
as for the basis of my covid vax reticence: 1) i do not trust pharms…that is my right, right or wrong; 2) i do not respect govt, and i have a very difficult time believing what they say anymore..my choice, right or wrong; 3) i felt safer taking my chances with covid over the vaxes…my choice and my right (although i did isolate when i had covid, and i wear masks in public…my duty to do as much); 4) i am ethically and entirely opposed to animal cruelty, and big pharm’s armies of white lab coat donned torturers do not make the acts of massive animal torture any less cruel. squealing, crying, convulsing-in agony-and-distress sentient creatures are not to be the basis of my existence…my choice, my right.
i am not judging the choices of others: fear, insecurity, the primal instinct of survival makes us each do things we might otherwise not. but know this: your rights stop at the body of another – always.
it is also worth note in an honest discussion that viruses also mutate to circumvent defences such as vaccines. might it not make sense that a virus has no need to mutate, at least for the worst, if it is able to enjoy a welcoming host and, therefore, readily survive; however, a virus will need to mutate in order survive when faced with an obstruction such as a vaccine might present? with that in mind, here is an interesting article on the topic of how a virus has mutated, perhaps in response to multiple vaccines.
“If you don’t have these pathogens evolving in response to vaccines, then we really don’t understand natural selection.”
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-vaccines-can-drive-pathogens-to-evolve-20180510/
Sorry, but to suggest that the COVID virus has mutated in order to circumvent a vaccine is neo-Lamarckian claptrap.
i am open to realities. the article discusses a reality. at least some viruses mutate as a result of vaccines.
curious, now that we got past the grand issue of my not using capitals, you have entirely chosen to overlook each of the concerns i have expressed.
Those of us who wisely choose to wear masks should be able to arm ourselves with a can of Lysol spray, to be used on persons seen without a mask.