Not Anti-Vaccine, but Anti-Mandate

I am not anti-vaccine. I’ve been vaccinated for a few things in my adult life because I think the risk of those vaccines is less than the risk or inconvenience of the diseases they are supposed to prevent.

I wouldn’t bother getting a quasi-vaccine that neither prevents the vaccinated from getting nor spreading a disease I’m not particularly worried about; a sort-of-vaccine that doesn’t even last a few years, to moderate a new, slightly more dangerous, cold virus.

A cold virus, which like all other cold viruses, will never go away.

It would be dishonest to call me an “anti-vaxxer.” I’m not one. I think some vaccines are very useful and are a great benefit. Just not this one for COVID-19.

If you want the vaccine because your opinion of the relative risks differs from mine, I want you to get it. If you get the vaccine, I hope it works or at least makes you feel safer — whatever you want it to do.

New data might change my mind and make me decide I want one of these vaccines, too — if the new data comes from a source I trust. A source more credible and trustworthy than those currently counting the numbers of cases and deaths. Government is not such a source.

Why would anyone assume the numbers reported by government agencies and other politicized entities are even close to true? It is an unsupported assumption. I don’t trust anyone connected to politics.

I oppose using government power and threats of violence to force others to get vaccinated or to wear masks. I also oppose using government power to forbid vaccinations and masks for those who voluntarily choose them and bear the full costs themselves.

I’m not anti-vaccine. I am anti-mandate.

In this case, I see no difference between bullies, governments, or corporations. No government or corporation has any right to do anything, since rights are individual, not collective. A collective can’t have the right to violate individuals’ rights.

Yes, private business owners have the right to require masks in their business. I also have the right to refuse to trade with those business owners.

I oppose anyone who helps government create vaccine passports of any sort. I oppose those who advocate for social division based on vaccination status. Even if I later decide to take the vaccination, I will always oppose “Papers, please,” and other authoritarian interference in life.