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0 pointscle4y ago0 comments

> Shouldn't people have the right to choose what they take?

It's not this simple. Not taking a vaccine during a pandemic has negative externalities, since you're increasing the risk of infection and death of those you interact with, you increase the likelihood of consuming scarce resources (such as ICU beds), etc.

I largely agree with you, but framing it as a simple "individual choice" issue is reductive at best.

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6 comments · 2 top-level

c7DJTLrn4y ago· 3 in thread

1. Those who are vaccinated have a significant reduction in risk of death (not to mention that the risk is very minute for young people anyway), so that's a moot point

2. Some vaccinated people have been found to carry the same levels of the virus as unvaccinated people, so stating that unvaccinated people could be increasing risk to others is also a moot point

3. Once the so called "R" rate is below one, the virus is on a path to fizzling out

It's not as though unvaccinated people will be dying in their thousands for centuries to come. Herd immunity just needs to kick in which many countries have already achieved.

bluGill4y ago

> Some vaccinated people have been found to carry the same levels of the virus as unvaccinated people, so stating that unvaccinated people could be increasing risk to others is also a moot point

Some is in this case a small minority. In general you have the same level up to about day 5, then vaccinated drops down to zero over the next few days while vaccinated levels keep raising for several more days.

eightysixfour4y ago

1) It isn’t a moot point when vaccinated individuals need ICU beds for other emergencies, which are still happening. This isn’t a theoretical, this is happening in the Southeastern US.

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renaudg4y ago

Even with the "same level of virus" vaccinated people are much less contagious : https://twitter.com/apsmunro/status/1429449468261322759

bopbeepboop4y ago· 1 in thread

All of those externalities apply to driving a car.

Are you saying it would be legal to ban cars for those reasons?

cleOP4y ago

No, I'm not saying anything about whether vaccines should be mandatory or not. Whatever your beliefs, you should be taking these externalities into account. I think there are reasonable, good faith arguments for both voluntary and involuntary vaccination, that still account for these negative externalities--pretending they don't exist does nobody any favors, and we should disregard arguments that ignore them.

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