05-23-2021, 08:57 AM
(05-23-2021, 12:29 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:(05-22-2021, 05:59 PM)ac3r Wrote: I don't actually believe this to be true. Yeah there are a good portion of idiots out there who are vehemently anti-vaccination, most people are rational and want to live a healthy, normal life. There are some groups that are reluctant to get it for different reasons - Indigenous, people of colour those with religious or cultural reasons - but I hope that when they see a huge portion of this country get it, they might reconsider. Some experts believe this virus will become endemic and be with us for good. Inevitably, this pandemic will end, but the virus could still circulate around enough to make it a seasonal thing. If people end up continually catching this virus, develop a disease and land themselves in the hospital they're probably going to stop being so hesitant.
I’m curious what you mean by “religious or cultural reasons”. Are there any bona fide cultures which have any sort of prohibition on vaccines?
The more I think about this the more I think that vaccination in accordance with public health guidelines should be a condition of employment for a huge range of jobs, including but not limited to anything medical or quasi-medical (e.g. nursing home workers). And to be honest I’m really not interested in the reasons why people in those occupations may be hesitant. They may be hesitant to follow all sorts of other procedures and rules related to their jobs, but we don’t entertain those objections as worth endangering the lives of their patients.
There are more than just "my culture is against this" problems...there are "my culture doesn't trust doctors" problems...and those are often well founded in "historically doctors used my people as human guineapigs".
The good news is these kinds of vaccine hesitant people are relatively easy to bring into the fold. You just need to establish trust with them by righting all historical and current wrongs perpetrated against minorities by the majority. Relatively being the key word, it's easy when compared with convincing people who are convinced you are trying to microchip them.
I mostly concur with requiring vaccination for certain activities or professions but I am also extremely cognizant of the fact that certain people have good reason that they may be hesitant to trust healthcare professionals, and how such requirements would affect them. And while I am being slightly sarcastic about it being easy, there are absolutely things we can do to help establish trust with hesitant people.
As for the loonie anti-vaxxers...I couldn't care less what they think.