It’s done. The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine went into my left arm Tuesday; I sought out the single-dose option, because there’s no way I’m going back.
Of course I didn’t virtue signal with a photo or claim my life is forever changed. I took the vaccine begrudgingly, after four months of hearing others boast and encourage me.
But I mainly did it since my parents won’t otherwise see me, and it’s been nearly two years. My commonsensical wife, who holds a medical doctorate, received her shot back on New Year’s Day, yet didn’t force me.
Like many, we’ve been living normally during the entire pandemic: working every day, traveling to over 30 states, attending baseball games, playing golf, and eating out.
The anti-science crowd doesn’t care. Even the left-leaning Atlantic noted Tuesday, “liberal policy makers have left scientific evidence behind.”
Yes. They’re a financially comfortable group of mostly over-educated partisans. We all know them. While some folks take advantage of unemployment benefits, others have stable work-at-home jobs or generous pensions; they therefore don’t care about contract or blue-collar workers toughing it out. That’s called privilege.
The serious risk of coronavirus to people under 50 is infinitesimal. Our typical daily activities incur more risk.
And partially because of ignoring simple facts, left-wing bullies pushed their own folks to the right.
“Before March 2020, I was a solid progressive Democrat,” a New York City lawyer told the Atlantic. “I am so disturbed by the Democrats’ failure to recognize the importance of civil liberties. I’ll vote for anyone who takes a strong stand for civil liberties and doesn’t permit the erosion of our fundamental rights that we are seeing now.”
We know Democrats express more worry about the pandemic than Republicans. People who describe themselves as “very liberal” are extremely anxious. And younger people, who are least at risk, are ironically most concerned.
Normal folks who won’t get the jab, to me, are more understandable. Most aren’t “anti-vaccine”; they’re making a conscientious choice and are perhaps “anti this vaccine,” because many find it unnecessary to their lifestyle. Isn’t that better than fatuous Kamala Harris refusing a vaccine if she doesn’t like who’s president?
A railroader I met last week in Iowa said, “I work and travel constantly. Nothing changed for me personally during the pandemic. I’m 34 and pretty healthy. I think I’ve probably got the antibodies by now, so why take the risk of an injection?”
Some hard-left folks are predictably using the global crisis to push their domestic political agenda. The Atlantic piece quotes a progressive PR consultant saying, “among progressive political leaders around here, there’s a lot of talk around: We’re not going back to normal, because normal wasn’t good enough.”
The paternalistic alarmists lost. They were wrong to mock vaccine progress last year, and wrong on outcomes in Florida, Georgia and most recently Texas.
As evidence, blue states like Connecticut, New Jersey and New York now follow successful red states’ leads, rather than the White House or CDC.
“Our public health guidelines are not dictated by public health metrics,” Commentary’s Noah Rothman said on their Tuesday podcast. “They’re dictated by elite opinion.”
And unrepentant alarmism from local-turned-national “experts” like Dr. Michael Osterholm was consistently proven untrue.
Since we’re now told that we won’t reach herd immunity, I tend to agree with Matt Walsh’s nuanced stance: “Make your own choice. It’s totally up to you. I think people who push vaccines on others are weird. I also think people who push people away from vaccines are weird. This is a definite ‘mind your own business’ issue.”
A.J. Kaufman
A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.
