Nelson Otto
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
There is a load of information available about the vaccines - good and bad. What really burns me is the attitude of the pro-vaccine people. The attitude is what every elitist out there has for everything, which is: "If you weren't so ignorant you would agree with me." "You don't care about others." "You are gullible and therefore misled by fake news and disinformation." "You need an incentive to get you to vaccinate cause you are too selfish to make the right choice without it." " You must do your duty to protect society." "You're just evil and want people to die."
The reality is that most people who don't want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 already have heard the facts. It is constantly being shoved down our throats at every turn. The real problem is the more pressure that is put on people to get vaccinated the more they will dig their heels in, resist and question the motives. High pressure sales tactics, hype, virtue signaling and incentives work on some people but in others it makes them distrustful. Not to mention trying to shame people or paint them as evil creates an adversarial dynamic so people are less likely to listen.
When it comes down to it, it is the choice of the individual, it is their body and haven't we been hearing "my body, my choice" for all these years when it comes to abortion? Didn't Roe v. Wade clearly define privacy which should offer us protections from vaccine passports? We, after all, wouldn't let a business fire a woman from her job for having an abortion, so why would we do so because of a vaccine? One might argue that not taking the vaccine "could" cost someone their life where we know for sure that a life was taken from an abortion. Just as abortion isn't the only option, neither are vaccines.
People will weigh the risks and rewards for themselves. While you might see a greater reward-to-risk ratio for the vaccine, someone else might see social distancing as a better option, someone else might see homeopathic vitamins and medicines, and others masks. So leaders stop forcing others to your beliefs as to what the best option is and let people have the God-given right to choose for themselves.