The COVID-19 pandemic

[jeffster]

You seem to watch a lot of Carlson -- didn't he get the vaccine?

Either way, one has to take American media, be it CNN or Fox, with a grain of salt, as it's more 'entertainment and drama' than news. I can't watch Fox, even though I am more 'central' on the political scale, at least compared to CNN, but Fox is crazy. The prime time line-up with CNN gets out of control as well. I love those guys, but they all need to be medicated.

As for the comparison I made, this is what I have heard over and over again. I couldn't have made that up myself. That said, I don't disagree with it, at least if it comes to random strangers. Would you be OK if you were out with your family or SO and someone came up to you and asked if you(s) were vaccinated? I think it's one thing if it's a business that has a mandate, and that has been clearly established, but otherwise, I don't think so.

That said, no one has asked me yet, other than someone in a medical office, who was 'shocked' that myself and 2 kids have been vaccinated. It was almost like vaccine shaming. This hasn't been from far right wing extremists, but rather left-wing nuts.

I don’t watch any Carlson directly, but I watch a certain number of videos by commentators commenting on him, so I see bits of him “in quotation”.

Many believe, and I am inclined to agree, that he is indeed vaccinated, but doesn’t want to say so because his audience of useful idiots would be less interested in watching him if they knew he was vaccinated. He’s not stupid, he just plays stupid on TV. Essentially, if he showed the leadership that one should be able to expect of a public figure, his answer would be “of course I am, it’s crazy not to be vaccinated”; but then almost everything he says on his show would be different from what it is. In short, Tucker wouldn’t be Tucker.

I do actually agree that it’s weird to walk up to random people and ask that question, but then it’s weird to walk up to random people and say pretty much anything at all to them. But in the context of getting together as a group or inviting someone into one’s home, it’s an entirely reasonable question and I would suspect any objector of being an anti-vaxxer. Also there is a difference between considering the question out of line in a particular situation (reasonable, depending on the situation) and considering it on a par with a question about intimate relations (absurd).

Finally people in medical offices have no business expressing or even intimating anti-vax sentiments on the job. That’s not free speech; it’s medical malpractice. As long as they’re vaccinated they’re OK to work in a medical office, but they need to keep the anti-vax stuff to their off hours and not use their medical credentials in any way.

Pretty much agree with everything there.

This medical person is NOT vaccinated, yet they have quite a bit of contact with people. To be clear, they're OK with masks, though not loving it either. They, along with others in some medical office, as well as different work locations with highly educated people, really believe that the vaccine might be worse than coronavirus, at least for healthy people, and simply don't want to risk the unknown.

I have found locally, vaccine hesitation (or simply not knowing how to get it) is concentrated in: highly educated individuals (MBA's and doctorates), people with issues with authority (I agree that WRPS shouldn't be taking the lead here, especially since some that I have spoken with don't trust Hilton), conspiracy theorists (mostly far right), the "my body, my choice" crowd, anti-vaxxers, pharmaceuticals are evil capitalists (mostly left and far left) and of course, those not in the "know", like immigrants that haven't adjusted yet.

Of that group, we can reach out to immigrants, we can alter prep for vaccinations for people with issues with the WRPS or authority in general, and maybe the highly educated. The conspiracy theorists, anti-capitalists, anti-vaxxers, and 'my body, my choice' crowd are likely never going to get their shot.