I have a question for those who adopted the terms vaccine-hesitant or anti-vaxxer. It won’t be many of our readers, but they may know folks or interact with them. Legislators and activists will have met a few.
When someone uses either term, you should be able to ask to see their vaccine card. You know, the passport (to them, it’s not protected or private medical information, right?).
If you got the Jab, you’ve got agency and shared experience. If not, you can still play along. The goal is not ridicule but coalition building. I’m serious, so hang in there a moment.
Ask if they got both shots. Which ones? How about a booster? Did they get one, two, three, or more injections, and how about the new bivalent? Any side effects? Many of the wielders of these terms will have had one booster, maybe two, rarely three. Very few got the bivalent. Uptake is very low.
Do they plan to get it, and if not, why did they change their mind?
If they say it’s because they got the other vaccines, you could say well (if you are the anti-vaxxer), I got other vaccines. Like, all of them from my childhood up to and maybe including flu and pneumonia shots as you age – assuming that’s true. Don’t lie.
You may have even got one or two of the mRNA things when it was all the rage or to keep a job (etc.). But then something changed for you. You decided that was enough. What changed your mind?
If they stopped at two or three, what changed theirs?
Isn’t that vaccine-hesitant?
The FDA has just announced everyone needs a COVID shot annually. If getting the thing is the morally responsible act for the community, and the powers that decide what that means said you need boosters and now the bivalent, and at least one every year, are you on board or not interested?
If you need help, the New York Times and the Washington Post have cracked this Seventh Seal. Doubt and mistrust about the vaccine messaging and the messengers are no longer verboten. The experts lied, which is an opportunity to establish common ground, build alliances, and address the greater threat.
They lied about many things, and it is okay to be hesitant now. You just took a bit longer to build your suspicions.
A government and public health cabal abandoned its responsibility to protect its citizens. It ignored what was before its eyes in favor of the approved response. It suppressed or even shouted down those who dared to stand up and question anything or everything.
Maybe you believed them, but now you don’t.
Anyone who stopped buying in or is no longer on board with bivalents or annual boosters must have a reason. They might be a potential advocate for the cause of transparency. Maybe they will listen to other experts?
And maybe they could use someone to listen to their story, help them find resources, and perhaps that person is you.
Or they might be the women on The View, in which case, ridicule the crap out of them. They earned it.
