The New Luddites

 Anti-Vaxxers are the newest Luddites ...

Getting Anti-Vaxxers To Admit They Are Wrong Takes Force

 .... harsh? Maybe, but its the only conclusion one can reach if you look at their behaviour in denying vaccines and its impacts.

Now lets just recap the arguments they put forward. In the reasonable camp, those who have refused to get vaccinated when offered will put forward seemingly mild and reasonable reasons for their refusal.

1. Every medication has a risk v benefit decision and choice, and just because a drug has been approved by the relevant regulatory authorities doesn't make it safe either.
2. If people don't want to get their shots (or any other medication), then that is their own personal choice to make. 
3. It is morally wrong to force medication on anyone, of any kind, not just this.
4. It has been shown that vaccinated people can spread COVID as much as non-vaccinated people - possibly even more so. Therefore the 'anti-vaxxers' are no more to blame for the spread of COVID in the under 50's than those who are vaccinated. 
5. The vaccine doesn't stop you getting it, but it lessens the symptoms for some and thus reduces some hospitalisations and some deaths.

All very reasonable sounding, and kinda hard to refute outright (especially as some of these arguments are not necessarily science based) ... but what the hell, lets look at them.

1. Yes, every medication has a risk v benefit, which is exactly why we have regulatory authorities to minimise the risks and ensure the benefits outweigh them.
   
2. Yes its OK if someone refuses treatment for a condition, or as a preventive (e,g, HIV treatment), as that is their choice, BUT not if their refusal puts other people at risk of illness or death. For example if a person risks getting the bubonic plague, but refuses a preventative treatment such as a vaccine, then they risk killing millions. 
3. Yes, vaccinated people can spread Covid (via nasal droplets), but there is evidence that this depends on the COVID variant they have contracted since their last shots and the latest science suggests at a much lower rate ... so the jury actually says that they are not as likely to spread it as the non vaccinated. 
4. It is a fact, that three quarters of the under-50s currently in hospital in the UK with coronavirus are unvaccinated. So while the anti-vaxxers may be no more responsible for the spread of COVID within that group, its certainly them that are populating most of the hospital beds and putting the NHS under strain. The recent Covid surge in Germany is also in the unvaccinated population. And finally ...
   
5. The latest statistical analysis shows that vaccination has prevented an estimated 7.2 million infections and 27,000 deaths in England alone ... so the arguments for mass vaccination appear sound. 

Now we move into the slightly more dodgy claims by those who refuse vaccinations:

1. There have been many side effects reported for the vaccination, all of which are censored from the web/Internet.
2. These vaccines also aren't proven, they are experimental, while the childhood vaccines are proven.
3. If they have their shots, then people, have nothing to worry about from those who chose not to be vaccinated.

These of course are somewhat fallacious points: 

1. As far as I am aware the possible side effects have been thoroughly reported. There are countless anti-vaxxer sites on a multitude of social media platforms. But just 12 anti-vaxxer influencers are responsible for 65 per cent of their misinformation.
   
2. All vaccines go through the same rigorous trials. The childhood vaccines were developed and then tested on animals, then via human trials, then approved by the same medical regulatory authorities, and then deployed in exactly the same process used by the Covid Vaccine creators (at least in the West). So if you had all your childhood shots then why not your COVID shot? 94 million shots administered in the UK and few if any reactive deaths. So out of that high a number of shots delivered, you would expect to get one or two reactions to needles, for any type of shot.
3. This would be true if all groups had taken up vaccination at the same levels, but there is higher vaccination refusal rates amongst those under the age of 50 than above, so this age group are actually at risk of infecting each other and developing more serious symptoms. e.g. The leading cause of death for police in the US is Covid-19 , according to the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP), a non-profit organisation that tracks police officer deaths. On average in the decade before the Covid-19 pandemic, 166 US police officers died in the line of duty each year, according to ODMP. However last year, 374 officers died - 245 of them due to Covid-19, more than any other cause combined. This is because as many as half of them have declined vaccination.
   

Finally we get to the conspiracy anti-vaxxers (who increasingly hold other conspiracy views, such as on climate change), a group of whom 'invaded' Colchester General hospital in October 2021, and started distributing leaflets in the form of bogus legal papers to the staff. The protestors insisted that the papers 'prove that coronavirus is an absolute plandemic, a hoax'. 

They also went on-line (and I note, were not censored), with footage in which one of the groups leaders stated that the Colchester Hospital staff are 'operating illegally' and that the Pope, as 'head of the  businesses across the world', has made NHS workers personally liable for legal action. 

The hospital staff were also accused of 'crimes against humanity,' and of violating the Nuremberg Code. The Essex police arrived and the group left peacefully (without arrests), but only after the leader advised the hospital workers that 'I suggest you get your lawyers to have a look at that.' 

Anti-Vaxxers In Tennessee Taunt A Doctors Husband ....

Now all I can say to this lunatic nonsense, is that those who think that their refusal to get vaccinated is reasonable, should consider where that position ends up .... with nutters invading hospitals, and staff, nurses, doctors (and their families), being abused or threatened, just for doing their jobs.

To put all this in some context, globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases worldwide have died, but that figure includes the higher mortality rates for the unvaccinated, who are more likely to get hospitalised. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected. In order to reach the first level of  herd immunity for COVID-19, and effectively start ending the epidemic, it has been suggested that approximately two thirds (67%) of the population would need to be Covid infected, either by catching it or via full vaccination.

In the UK, currently 98% of those expectant mothers who are admitted to hospital or into intensive care for Covid-19 are unvaccinated. Worldwide, in the Netherlands, about 84% of Dutch adults have been fully vaccinated however most of the Covid patients currently in Dutch hospitals have not had their vaccination jabs. Hospital admissions have recently gone up 31% in just a week, mostly from the unvaccinated population. Result Lockdown again.

In Germany the double vaccine jab rate is only about 66% (while 80% of people in Spain are double jabbed) and the unvaccinated are making up the majority of the Covid hospital cases. Germany recorded more than 37,000 daily Covid cases on the 5th of November, a record high for the second day running. The incidence rate per 100,000 people in Germany is now higher than it was in April, at 169.9 (but still below the level in the UK). Germany has introduced restrictions for unvaccinated people in areas with high Covid hospital admissions, that will affect 12 of Germany's 16 states.

Meanwhile its southern neighbour Austria, where only about 65% of the population is fully vaccinated - one of the lowest rates in Western Europe, had announced that about two million people who have not been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, would be placed in lockdown, but now the whole country has been placed in lockdown. They have also decided that there would be a legal requirement to get vaccinated from 1 February 2022 ... resistance from the anti-vaxxers is to be quashed.

Elsewhere the Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger has announced that what he called a lockdown for the unvaccinated would start on Monday, and the Czech government is also limiting access to a variety of services for the unvaccinated.

While only 32% of Russians were fully vaccinated by October 2021. In Russia, more than 8,100 deaths were recorded in the week up until the 5th of November, and in the Ukraine over the same period, reported 3,800 deaths. Both countries have very low rates of vaccination and the Ukraine announced a record 27,377 new cases in the 24 hours pre-5th November.

Romania recorded its highest number of deaths in 24 hours at 591, while in Hungary, daily Covid infections have more than doubled in the past week to 6,268. Croatia recorded 6,310 new cases on the 4th of November, its highest number so far. Slovakia has reported its second highest number of cases and Czech infections have returned to levels last seen in spring.

In New Zealand just 61% of eligible Maori people are fully vaccinated, and some 77% have only received their first dose. This after anti-vaxxers have been targetting them. The Maori leadership have banned anti-vaxxers from performing the Haka at their demonstrations, and issued a statement "Many of our tupuna [ancestors] lost their lives in previous pandemics ... we are absolutely clear that the COVID-19 vaccine is the best protection we have available to us, and we are committed to supporting our whānau [family] to get vaccinated as soon as possible." New Zealand's targeted rate of vaccination is 90% among its eligible population.  

The WHO Europe head Hans Kluge said the European continent could see half a million more deaths by February. He blamed insufficient vaccine take-up for the rise. Prof Van-Tam in the UK warned: ".... too many people believed the pandemic was over. There are some hard months to come in the winter."

Finally Dr Abraar Karan, an infectious disease expert at Stanford University said about the anti-vaxxers "We know that vaccines are safe ... I think the risk to others is something we need to consider more seriously." Amen to that.