Politicizing it hasn’t worked, using celebrities to publically shame people hasn’t worked. Having the President angrily denounce a quarter of the population hasn’t worked. I’m all out of ideas too.
If you want to be all binary, and attempt to avoid to engage with the topic, sure. We’ve only successfully eradicated two diseases (smallpox and rinderpest, a disease of cattle) so we shouldn’t try to ameliorate any others.
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As you said, eradication isn’t going to happen. As for amelioration, your current approach of hammering people who are hesitant hasn’t gotten the results you wanted, so the answer is to hammer them harder? Good luck when the next global pandemic arrives.
But wasn’t the smallpox vaccine even more efficacious than the COVID ones?
I don’t recall fully but I don’t have a scar on my arm and I was born in 1963 so either I was lucky and didn’t get the scar or lucky and didn’t have to get the shot.
I think part of Roy’s point is that what we are doing isn’t working so maybe we need to try something other things that have seemed to work better. Forcing people actually has a more negative effect. Look at twig and I, people who are vaccinated and who would encourage those who aren’t vaccinated (and haven’t had COVID in some cases) to get vaccinated are against government mandates. Seems to me that the pushback on Bidens manate is much wider than just those who are against getting the vaccine. That can’t be good.
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Related/unrelated are companies starting to require everyone to go back in the office? From what I have heard it’s a bit mixed here in the metro area.
My company has required at least the finance associates (and I believe most associates, but I am a finance worker so I know this one for a fact) to be back in person (hybrid schedule) since June unless they have a doctor’s note. Mental health exemptions don’t count. Yeah, I’m obviously pretty happy about this.
I don’t understand this argument.
Shaming people may have a negative effect.
But if the government forces people to be vaccinated, then they will be, right? By that measure, things will not get worse.
Maybe the government shouldn’t be forcing people. Maybe it should, but not through executive order and OSHA. I have sympathy to those arguments.
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I bookmarked a Twitter thread about Denmark’s handling of the pandemic but have only skimmed it thus far and haven’t read the linked paper(s). Apparently they’ve lifted restrictions.
Delta has seen 25% of their unvaccinated work force get vaccinated since they announced a $200 a month surcharge on unvaccinated employees. I would not be surprised to see quite a few more before November 1.
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Why? You and twig seem to in the 26% of vaccinated people are not in favor of mandated vaccines.
Oddly enough the same poll showed that 28% of unvaccinated are in favor of vaccine mandates. I’m curious what that person looks like? Is it someone who wants the vaccine but is close to an anti-vaxxer who won’t let them get it without a mandate?
When a government thinks its people are too dumb to take care of themselves, that government will step in and protect them. Even putting up a stop sign is evidence of this.
And, some governments do this far too often.
Whether its people actually are too dumb to take care of themselves is the question.
For COVID, I think it is obvious that too many people are too dumb to take care of themselves and it puts the rest of the country at risk.
Just my opinion, though.
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A lot of them are people who are fine with vaccines, but are not fine (yet) with this vaccine. But keep pushing them, trying to force them. That’s a much better way to convince people than being patient. After all, everything else we’ve been told concerning COVID has been 100% factual.
You routinely stop at intersections which don’t have stop signs?
There are several streets within walking distance of my house that did not have stop signs when moved here that now do. I think I’ll start just driving through them because the impinge my freedom.
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This is not about me. Or you. It is about a large portion of the population.
But, since you asked, actually, I do. There is an intersection nearest my house without a stop sign. I don’t have to stop, since no stop sign, but it’s a “T” and I need to yield to the other street’s vehicles, because I know the law, which, as a government thing, is required because too many people are too dumb to know any better.
And, there is a van blocking the view 99% of the time. Stopping is the smart thing to do.
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I get it, because a person who is more hesitant than you over a particular vaccine is just like a person who ignores all stop signs.
So you don’t routinely stop at intersections which don’t have stop signs, just one intersection in particular for which you have familiarity. You’re comfortable stopping at this unsigned intersection because you understand all the reasons why you’re stopping.
Whatever makes you happy. I don’t think my time is worth it, though.
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What would you think about getting a traffic ticket for not stopping at this unsigned intersection? Do you think other people should get tickets for not stopping at the intersection?
I’m also opposed to this government mandate, as you can see from a couple of my comments above. Nonetheless, what has actually worked really well in the past is … government mandates. Government mandates have eradicated smallpox and mostly eliminated measles, mumps, rubella, and whooping cough.
I agree that the pushback isn’t good. And it’s partly because there’s so much pushback that I don’t think a government mandate – a tried and true tool that has worked really well in the past – is likely to be a good idea.
I also think this particular mandate (make employers do it) is government over-reach. I am much more comfortable with mandates to go to school, mandates to enter a library, or mandates that cover “large gatherings” (which might include some workplaces, but would mostly apply to things like stadiums and amusement parks) than with mandates that are aimed at employers.
But you are right that what we are doing isn’t working. So maybe it’s time to try mandates? I wish we’d tried incentives between “recommending” and “mandating”, including incentives to employers who give generous time off for hourly employees who might have side effects after vaccination. But a lot of states are running out of space in their intensive care units, so maybe it IS time to bring out the big guns?