This past weekend I had an email exchange with a man who refuses to get a Covid vaccine.
He initiated the exchange when he wrote to say he was offended by my describing the reasons people refuse to be vaccinated in a previous blog as “the stupid.” He assured me his position was carefully thought out and based on good evidence.
For example, he said that according to the CDC more than 15,000 people had died from the vaccines.
Not true, but he believes it is because he didn’t understand the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Effects Report System) page on the CDC website. As I have written before, VAERS is simply a platform established by the CDC in 1990 for people to post anecdotal stories of adverse vaccine events, none of which the CDC ever verifies. It only monitors these posts to see if any discernible patterns of adverse effects from different people’s experience show up that warrant CDC follow-up.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, about the VAERS posting should be used as facts or reliable information, but when I pointed this out to him it had no impact. Instead, he switched the subject to other sources, all of which produce disinformation he believes is true.
The Children’s Health Defense organization was one, founded by Joseph Kennedy, Jr. whose anti-vaccine extremism is well documented, including the fact that it is based on research done by British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, falsely connecting rubella measles vaccine with autism. Wakefield’s work was later proven to be fraudulent and he was removed from the British Medical Registry. He continues to be embraced by anti-vaccers such as Kennedy.
No one knows who is behind the Swiss Policy Research website my email debater also likes. What we do know is that it minimizes the dangers of Covid-19 and promotes conspiracy theories including QAnon being an FBI psyop effort to manipulate the public.
America’s Frontline Doctors is another of his sources, a right-wing disinformation group founded by Dr. Simone Gold, a Los Angeles physician who was later arrested during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
I tried to explain that these groups were sources of vaccine disinformation rather than reliable facts. Once again, it didn’t matter. He said he didn’t trust the Covid vaccines anyway because none of them has been given final authority. When I asked why he would say that he said the FDA itself says the Pfizer vaccine has not been given final approval, that instead a drug named Comirnaty nobody knows anything about was what got approved.
I told him that he was confused, that the FDA website says quite explicitly that Comirnaty is the marketing name for the Pfizer vaccine, that they are in fact one and the same. His come back was that it didn’t matter because people can still get the virus after being vaccinated, which he was convinced proved that they don’t really work anyway.
I thought perhaps the following data might make him see that the vaccines are actually proving to be amazingly effective: (1) At the height of the pandemic more than 3500 Americans were dying each day from Covid, but once the vaccines began to be administered the number had fallen to a few hundred deaths per day by June; (2) the people who are promoting disinformation about the vaccines such as Tucker Carlson on Fix News have all been vaccinated; (3) several conservative radio jocks who told people not to get vaccinated died of Covid this summer; (4) the decline in Covid cases changed by early summer when the Delta variant hit and we’re back up to 2000 deaths per day as of October 1, primarily among the unvaccinated; (5) the infection rate for people fully vaccinated (break-through cases) is 0.004%, and the death rate is even smaller – 0.001%.
I was wrong. The information had no impact. That’s when I realized something I think I had felt, but had not put into words. We are living in an age of nonsense.
I suppose it was inevitable once a third of the population decided that truth no longer matters, that the only thing that does is their constitutional right to believe whatever they want to no matter how false it is.
No wonder this man’s determination to remain unvaccinated made no sense to me. You cannot make sense of something when there is no sense to be made of it. It’s like trying to understand how up is down, in is out, good is bad, bad is good.
One good thing did come from my email conversation. It strengthened my resolve never to be like the unvaccinated.
I don’t want to be consumed with myself, with my rights, with my individual freedom, to the point where I refuse to make even the smallest sacrifice to help my country defeat a pandemic that has killed over 700,000 Americans of all ages and over four million people around the world.
I don’t want to be the kind of person who takes a hospital bed from someone who really needs it because I was too stubborn to get a shot that would have likely kept me out of the hospital in the first place.
I don’t want my grandchildren to think their grandfather is the kind of person who is anti- science, believes conspiracy theories, or shows no regard for the truth. How could they ever trust anything I tell them if that is who they think I am. Why should they?
No, I don’t ever want to be the kind of person the unvaccinated in this country are proving themselves to be.
It’s possible some of them have better reasons for not getting vaccinated than I’m giving them credit for, but at the end of the day the effect of their actions is the same.
Whatever they believe, whatever reasons they have for refusing to be vaccinated, they are still being selfish in putting others at risk, in giving the virus time to mutate even more, and in expecting doctors and nurses who have already sacrificed more than the rest of us to stop the pandemic to sacrifice even more by caring for them when they do get Covid.
Yes, they have the right to be that kind of person, and I have a responsibility to make sure I never am.
linnposts.com 
Excellent post! I might add that claiming religious exemption is also aggravating, hypocritical and hollow if the rebels take any vaccinations, prescription or over-the-counter meds, etc. The anti-vaxxers seem to be stubborn just to make sure they can prove “you’re not the boss of me.”
It is so unsettling to know that the unvaccinated who are hospitalized will get medical preference over those of us who have followed advice and taken every precautions, simply because they are younger and could have a more positive outcome. In some places, that is happening and is documented; no available beds for accident victims, heart attacks, or other emergencies.
(Glad you connected me with my dear brother Wil.)
Yes, just yesterday a very sick friend struggle with cancer was held in the ER because there were no hospital beds due in part to unvaccinated Covid patients. (Delighted to make the connection between Wilbur and you).
There is a thing in Cognitive Science that explains, at least in part, what’s going on here. Base Rate Fallacy. Read about it here:
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/base-rate-fallacy/
Thanks, Rollie.
Excellent link, Rollie – thank you!
They remind me of rebellious adolescents! Struggling to have some power.
You hit the nail on the head, Kay.
we are in the era of “alternate facts” as Conway so shamelessly coined on a news interview. The “CRT” BS, Masking, along with the Vaccine is a leftist conspiracy. truly the age of ignorance.
Ignorance, nonsense, the lack of sense. It’s all present, Guy because people are choosing to be that way.
Thanks, Jan! So well written and researched! An old friend kind of sums it up this way…sometimes, you just can’t fix stupid! All the best… Joe
Joseph P. L. Payne 501 V.E.S. Road, C711 Lynchburg, VA 24503 Cell:434.944.7678 Land: 434.386.3810 jplp6854@me.com Sent from my iPhone
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Hi Joe. I tried to be a little more diplomatic, but at bottom your friend got it right. Good to hear from you. Thank you for reading my blog.
Excellent, informative post Jan. Appreciate the research that you’ve done.
Thank you, Wilbur.
“Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired” – Jonathan Swift
Thank you for sharing that quote more than a decade ago – it has stuck with me ever since!
My version has always been, “You can’t take out of a person’s mind with reason what reason didn’t put into it in the first place.” Thanks, Dirk.
Jan,
Your sad example of the friend with cancer stuck in the ER due to no other beds being available puts a fine point on what selfish anti-vaxers are doing to others. These people are ignorant in every sense of the word.
Bill Blackwell
And they believe it’s their right to be that way as if no one else is affected. Thanks, Bill.
Jan,
This is an excellent, though painful, explanation of the impossibility of trying to convince those who are willfully ignorant of a given subject. A very good friend, now deceased, told me at the beginning of my teaching career, “Gene, ignorance will beat you every time.” In the half century since, I’ve not found a way out of that morass. Sadly, but true.
That, however, is no reason not to behave responsibility in all matter civic, as you clearly point out. We can’t convince the willfully ignorant, but we can act on intelligence, sound information and commonsense.
Cheerz!
Gene
Gene, you said all that needs to be said and better than I did in my blog. Thank you for this very helpful comment. I guess it’s too much to hope for that some unvaccinated people will see it.
Jan,
You are too kind.
Cheerz!
Gene
https://planetlockdownfilm.com/full-interviews/
I am Richard S., the nonsensical😉 person Jan exchanged emails with recently about my decision to not be vaccinated. I feel I have taken the time to understand why others strongly
believe in the need to be vaccinated. I want to ask your blog readers to please view the above link to better understand others decision not to. It provides interviews from people around the world who share my beliefs and better articulate them than I could. It’s much more complex than simply misinformed, selfish, irresponsibility.
Richard S.
(Jan’s note:
For everyone reading this blog. I approved Richard’s comment only to show his persistence in choosing resources that promote pandemic disinformation and nonsense. This film has been thoroughly debunked as not only spewing disinformation, but raw propaganda. It makes pernicious claims such as the vaccines cause infertility, that the shots contain microchips the government can use to monitor our activities, and promotes Trump’s Big Lie about election fraud. Both Facebook and YouTube banned use of the the film’s content soon after it was released last February.
Richard, you can believe whatever you want to, but nothing will change the fact that it is nonsense, or that you and others like you bear full responsibility for the harm you are doing to others. And please note that I will NOT allow you to use my blog as a means to disseminate your false information. Therefore, do not send my more links. They will be immediately deleted.
I can only say “Look at the credentials of those being interviewed”. Michael Yeadon was a former Vice President and Chief Science Officer at Pfizer for 16 years. Vaclav Klaus is the former Prime Minister of The Czech Rep. These people deserve to be heard at the very least. To dismiss what they have to say without even listening to them, based on someone else’s critical review, seems foolish. I hope you, Jan, will allow my reply. It will be my last one. Contempt prior to to investigation will keep a person in everlasting ignorance.
Richard S.
I listened to the people, but who they are does not mean they “deserve” to be heard when what they are saying is false. They may believe what they’re saying. They may not, but as I have said to you, believing something doesn’t make it true. We KNOW they are making false claims that reliable evidence proves to be false. I simply don’t understand why anyone would believe a few people and reject the overwhelming consensus that is open with evidence that proves what they say in untrue or intentionally deceptive. I assume you do remember the fact that for years the tobacco industry paid scientists to insist that tobacco was safe and not a health hazard. Until recently the oil industry did the same thing regarding climate change. The same thing is happening with vaccines and, yet. people like you refuse to learn from history. As I have said, makes no sense and never will.
Richard, have you read this?https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/02/12/planet-lockdown-film-spreading-unfounded-claims-about-covid-19-vaccines-and-coronavirus/?sh=876ec012a8f5
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Jan, this is one of the most fascinating dialogues that helps to explain the Great Divide in America. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. Your last sentence in response to oregon57 is a very appropriate comment, because his strong point of view literally “makes no sense and never will”. So I continue to ask myself why do they not listen to logic or at least do some exploration to really find out “the truth”. For me, I have come up with a few possibilities that might help explain and yet does not satisfy my need to understand and accept their points of view. The first dynamic that might “explain” their points of view is that today in life and politics “staying neutral” is one of the hardest things to do. It is almost impossible to do. That being said, they have been conditioned over time (a long time) to “believe” that their points of view are correct. And when we believe things strong enough over time, we “become what we believe”. It is literally in their DNA, so to speak, to believe that the ends justify the means. Yes they have been brainwashed by extreme media and extreme religion to the extent that what ever logic we may attempt to suggest, will be rejected as our own version of conspiracy theories to distract them. So, they then become “contemptuous” in their own cult like attitudes and behaviors. Oregon 57 proved his own “unrecognizeable guilt” by his last sentence to you: “Contempt prior to investigation will keep a person in everlasting ignorance”. And so he signed off in contempt and in everlasting ignorance never to be heard from again. John Hamerski
Perfect ending, John, poetic, even. Thank you. Jan
John,
Excellent post; I only wish “never to be heard from again” were true everywhere rather than only in Jan’s blog.
Good to hear from you.
Cheerz!
Gene
Hi John, please understand that I did not sign off in contempt, but in respect for Jan and his blog. I want to hear others remarks. I love to learn. I enjoy finding reasons to be wrong, as it helps me evolve.
Gene, I have been following you contributions admiringly. Yes, point well taken on “never to be heard from again”.
Rich, I try to live my values-driven life where “respect for the individual” is probably the number one value that drives my life. So, I will respect your comments to me and hope that you become a great deal more enlightened by truth as you evolve. I will also pray that you get vaccinated soon, not just for others, but for yourself. John
John, this is my email (rds5719@gmail.com) Are you interested in an email exchange? Maybe we can learn from each other.
No I am not. You are on your own, and you must learn how to take accountability for you own life, and the effect you have on others.
John,
Excellent response.
Cheerz!
Gene
John, I agree with Gene wholeheartedly. What an honest and appropriate response. Thank you!
I will start wearing my yellow star tomorrow.
Along with hundreds of thousands of US military, healthcare workers, first responders, etc. Millions more worldwide. We all understand how misinformed and selfish we are because we are not willing to get jabbed with an experimental gene therapy that has not undergone proper testing for an illness that has a 99.7% survival rate. That’s a lot of yellow stars!
I want to add :
1) with Covid-19, the liability protection for drug manufacturers has expanded to completely shielding them from having to pay for vaccine injuries under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP).
2) researchers have been trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-1) outbreak in 2002. None of them have succeeded, and many have demonstrated serious, sometimes fatal, side effects. It’s also important to remember that mRNA vaccines have never before been licensed for use in humans. There is no data in humans studied over time that might give us an indication about what types of long-term effects from COVID-19 vaccines we can expect in years to come. To expect these experimental fast tracked coronavirus vaccines to succeed when others that have been tested over far longer periods of time have failed miserably is pure folly.
Don’t add anything else about this subject, Richard. You are obviously determined to disregard facts, truth, reason, and plain old common sense in favor of the absurd argument that the vaccines don’t work, are unsafe, and, besides, over 700,000 deaths are not that big of a deal anyway. You’ve had your say. The rest of us are good and don’t need to hear anymore of this nonsense.
This is an unacceptable comment, Richard. For you to compare yourself to the persecution of Jews in Europe is at best inappropriate, and at worst morally repugnant.
Hey Jan,…Catching up on old blogs. Love this one especially.
I am proposing to our faith community that we deny funding organizations that don’t have a mandatory vaccine policy. Some suggest this is racist attaching my value to how others run their programs. But your blog helps me stand firm in my conviction that our funding must affirm good public policy. The budget meeting to disperse $120 K to 20 organizations (preferential to minority run this year) is tonight.
I hope your community made the right decision. I think progressive Christians, and progressives in general, need to recognize our complicity in undermining personal responsibility. There is no justification for being unvaccinated, period, none. Grievances don’t excuse irresponsible behavior. To accuse you of being racist for expecting organizations to have a vaccine mandate is liberalism run amuck, and I think anyone who knows me knows I am as liberal as they come. Frankly, I am tired of such people running the show. They weaken the impact of genuine liberalism, genuine compassion, and genuine anti-racism.
The debate on this continues and I am deeper set in my conviction to find no one w/o a vaccine policy. Reconsidering my community pledge I am so troubled by it and give directly to minority-run non profits who I know do have a mandated policy.
Dixcy, I think one of the huge mistakes progressive Christians make is believing fighting back is unChristian or anti-compassion. Permissive love is little more than appeasement, too weak to do any good, and too stubborn to admit it. Hold firm. You are right and they are wrong.