President Biden on Thursday announced sweeping national vaccine mandates, which are still to be written. Timing remains uncertain, but federal workers will have to be vaccinated. So will federal contractors. And most health care workers. And anyone employed by a company with over 100 workers (though weekly testing will be an alternative). Federal workers, of course get a 75 day grace period and only then will begin the ‘standard H.R. process’ such as it is.
This announcement puts a move made by United Airlines just the day before in a new light. United Airlines was specifically called out as an example by President Biden in his speech announcing plans to have OSHA require employers with over 100 employees impose vaccine mandates or weekly Covid-19 testing.
This was just one day after United doubled down on its own vaccine mandate declaring there would be no one working with an exemption – that anyone who did not get vaccinated would go on unpaid leave until a date to be determined either when the pandemic had subsided or new requirements were put in place. And on the same day airlines committed to increase their use of biofuels at a White House event on curtailing carbon emissions.
None of the timing here can be a coincidence.
- Airlines are one of the most heavily regulated industries, their bosses are in Washington. This surprises people because they think of ‘deregulation’ in 1978 – which really just meant that the federal government stopped telling airlines which routes to fly and what to charge.
Airports are mostly owned by governments in the U.S. Airport security mostly carried out by the federal government. Air traffic control is directly handled by the federal government. Even giving hand sanitizer to passengers on planes requires multiple layers of government permission.
- Airlines have become even greater wards of the state, having received $79 billion in direct taxpayer support during the pandemic and with the U.S. Treasury taking effective ownership stakes in U.S. carriers via stock warrants.
- Knowing that who pays the fiddler calls the tune, Airlines quickly got on board with the President’s agenda after inauguration, explicitly looking for more subsidies.
- United Airlines in particular tries to signal ‘correct’ politics
Some have advocated a vaccination requirement for travel. I’d choose an airline that required vaccination over one that didn’t.
Make no mistake, despite gaslighting in social media, the vaccines that have been developed are remarkable.
- Highly effective even against infection, the Pfizer vaccine in particular seems to show declining sterilizing immunity several months after administration. Perhaps dosing should have been more spread out initially. However a booster shot more than makes up for this.
- Even this ‘waning effectiveness’ is still remarkable against severe disease, with Israeli data showing a two dose regimen remaining over 90% effective against hospitalization after six months. This is the effectiveness we care about because it means keeping people alive and keeping hospitals from being overrun.
- And vaccinated people aren’t just less likely to get the virus, they’re less likely to spread it as well, an effect that’s compounded by clearing the virus more quickly than someone who is unvaccinated.
At the same time a federal mandate on employers with $14,000 per incident fines is going to be cumbersome. And it’s not clear how requiring vaccination for those who work entirely from home is necessary for the workplace safety of others. With the alternative to vaccination being weekly testing, the rules bring new relief to how the FDA has refused to allow inexpensive testing the way there is in Europe – a year ago I wrote that cheap $1 tests could bring life back to normal and many readers were skeptical this was possible, but it’s exactly what’s now available in Europe.
And the mandate, once promulgated, is unlikely to follow the science. For instance it’s unlikely to take account of natural immunity from prior infection. We know that recovering from Covid-19 and having a single shot of an mRNA vaccine is more effective than someone that hasn’t had the virus getting two shots. From a science standpoint, and to make more doses available to the world, there’s no reason to ask most people who have had the virus to get two shots.
Hey Gary,
Any data on boosters? You say they “more than make up for” declining efficacy if the first 2 shots. That doesn’t make sense.
I’m needle-phobic but if needing a booster shot will keep me and my family safe, I’ll do it. It’s been almost 2 years. Get the damn vaccines already!
Any federal mandate on private employers is sure to invite a legal challenge. In addition the state of Montana prohibits employers from discriminating against those who are unvaccinated or those who wish to keep their vaccination status private.
1600 dying daily from COVID—most could be prevented with the vaccine . Carrots aren’t working. Ivermectin clearly is not working. Glasses of bleach aren’t working. It’s time for the sticks. What a warped notion of freedom it is when it allows people to go around and get others sick when it can easily be otherwise.
@Brian – boosters are showing to generate more antibodies than people get after their second shot.
You’re still not a doctor. Shut up.
@Brian and @Gary Leff–correct. And boosters (3rd jab OR a case of Covid) are proving to infiltrate bone marrow cells, which would provide lifetime protection. Also, there are preliminary studies coming out showing that an mRNA 2x vaccine regimen mixed with a dead virus or altered virus for the 3x jab–Sputnik, SinoVac, JNJ–is providing even more potent antibodies.
I’ve had 2x Pfizer. When I go in for my 3rd doze it’s going to be a JNJ.
Thank God for this mandate. Our US economy is sputtering and at risk of going into recession. The cost to continue to provide medical care for the sick, to provide services and testing nationwide, the labor shortage, the business shutdowns, curtailed social activities–these issues are greatly hindering our US economy to recover, and the longer we continue limping along, increasing our debt, the further behind we are as a superpower. China and Russia are rubbing their hands with glee at our stupidity.
Those freedom-loving, so-called “patriots” who espouse the U-S-A and want to remain #1 globally but refuse to be vaxxed or wear a mask need to realize that they, not the government, are the greatest threat to our democracy.
You’re right about United having a long record of working hand in hand with the government – I mean even Jeff Smisek knew a thing or two about that. @Gary likes to knock “how to get upgrade” tips, but I think even he’d agree a good way to get free upgrades is “be the chairman of the Port Authority”? And if you’re OK creating a weekend flight just for one regulator, it seems like “actually doing the right thing for the world with respect to Covid vaccines” is just a drop in the bucket non-brainer.
So much disinfo in this post. The injections DO NOT reduce spread. These injections are also not sterilizing. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/05/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html
Your injection protects you, but not me, making a mandate antiscientific nonsense. It is only a tool of control, nothing more.
In any event, natural immunity is FAR BETTER than injection induced immunity. We have always known this, it is now confirmed in a LARGE Israeli study. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1
It’s up to conservatives to start being leaders and stop being followers of leftist laws. All conservative majority areas should replace all law enforcement officers with patriots who won’t enforce any law or court order as part of this mandate or any leftist law. Laws only have an impact if they are allowed to be enforced. Economic disenfranchisement of anyone who does not wish to have an unnatural foreign substance put into his or her body is unacceptable.
Pfizer vaccine 88% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 from the Delta variant in an UK study: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2108891
United was simply willing to do what other airlines are requiring governments at one level or the other to mandate.
And there are fairly high percentages of the population that simply do not want to get a vaccine. As much as people argue otherwise, the death rate for non-obese non-seniors is low. As with most respiratory illnesses, the majority of people who are dying from covid are seniors and/or those with complicating factors. There isn’t a single vaccine that is mandatory for American adults and it is precisely the combination of low mortality for the majority of the population.
As someone who is vaccinated, I don’t understand why the majority of people who aren’t getting vaccinated but I am capable of listening to other people and not thinking that they should follow my belief structure.
And there are a host of Republican governors and legislators that said they will fight Biden’s orders – not because they aren’t vaccinated but because they do not believe Biden has the legal authority to impose health mandates. Based on the rulings from the Supreme Court on other issues which have come before the Court, there is a good chance that Biden will be forced to work through Congress – which might or might not get his agenda through.
So, no, United didn’t move forward because it knew what was coming but because it decided it was willing to throw its employees under the nosewheel as its revenue was tanking and after it had to pull its profit estimates.
The Federal government has extensive operational influence over US-flagged carriers.
Their airline bailout warrants, however, are no where near the level of ownership that the government took in AIG or Citi. They don’t exercise control through ownership, and getting a few warrants for being the lender of last resort isn’t crazy.
Local airport authorities (i.e.: PANYNJ, LAWA) have the most dramatic control over airlines, in that they can revoke gate rights. Freely. Shareholders should read their annual reports carefully.
Seems highly unlikely that the employer mandate survives a court challenge. The intention seems to be to use OSHA’s authority to mandate this, and this goes far beyond any such action OSHA has made in the past. Furthermore, the Federal Government is giving the game away by exempting the 640,000+ employees of USPS (because the number of workers who might walk would probably collapse the mail system). This is both an admission that the mandate isn’t absolutely necessary as well as an admission that is potentially catastrophic to industries in which there are a lot of unvaccinated workers. It is also worth noting that the White House waited to announce these measures until the R0 was under 1 in 45/50 states, giving them a high likelihood of being able to claim some measure of victory in a couple of months. I am vaccinated, and think it is a good idea for everyone to get vaccinated, particularly if you haven’t previously been infected. These measures, however are authoritarian unscientific overreach.
I’m in agreement with Doug. I see virtually zero chance this plan by Biden survives court challenges without major changes, to say nothing of the political challenges the plan will face in a Congress with razor thin majorities. When it comes time to pass a budget (or some other must-pass legislation), the road for this will get rather bumpy.
What OSHA inspector would risk his life walking into a large employer and demanding their papers? Seriously, America’s well armed populace will not respond like Australian sheep.
@ Jackson Waterson
But, Jackson, mRNA is not a unnatural foreign substance at all. It’s THE essential type of messenger molecule produced within the cells of your body;
https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/translation-dna-to-mrna-to-protein-393/
Here’s a basic intro to mRNA vaccines:
https://theconversation.com/messenger-rna-how-it-works-in-nature-and-in-making-vaccines-166975
Ironically, when you become infected by COVID, the virus will harness you cellular apparatus to make copies of….drumroll….RNA. Congratulations, your cells just got injected by a virus:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02039-y
When this happens you can transmit the virus to others and make them very sick or cause their death – 675,000 Americans are dead. The various vaccines are THE way to stop that, aside from lockdowns and restrictions.
But unfortunately, quite unlike most of the other countries on the planet, COVID has become politicised in the USA. Based on surveys undertaken most of those refusing the opportunity of vaccination are right wing.
Maybe most are simply just scared of a needle, and too cowardly to admit the truth.
They complain about unnatural substances but won’t think twice about eating processed foods laced with all sorts of chemicals added for taste, colour and preservative.
Ironically, the vast majority of these people will have relied upon some sort of medicine or another at some point in their lives.
But they’ll be queuing for those monoclonal antibodies when they test positive for COVID.
And they’ll be sending tragic messages from ICU about how stupid they were not to embrace vaccination:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/06/virginia-man-hospitalized-putoff-covid-19-vaccine-pleads-people-getit/
If they behaved responsibly there wouldn’t need to be a law.
In Denmark, for example, 86% of those eligible for vaccination (total people of 12 years) have been vaccinated against a government target off 90% (or about 74% of all people):
https://www.euronews.com/2021/09/01/denmark-s-high-vaccination-rate-sees-covid-pass-ended-for-restaurants
That delivers freedom from other measures. No need for heavy handed policy because folk did the right thing. They embraced their communities, respected the old, the frail, the sick and those who can’t be vaccinated for health reasons.
Be well.
@ Chas
Australian democracy is based on the rule of law and separation of powers (parliament, judiciary, executive). Our governments do not make laws under threat of violence. The laws are in place to counter over-reach by parliament. We do not need a guns. We do not walk in fear of each other. Our workplace health and safety practices are not dictated by threat of violence, of fear of guns. They are determined by common sense, determined by robust risk analysis. We are smart. We do not storm our parliament as armed terrorists and anarchists refusing valid election results intent on the assassination of our elected parliamentarians. We are peaceful. We engage our elected representatives in rational discourse, we do not threaten them with our weapons. We are respectful to one another. We do not tolerate multiple murder through mass shootings. We are civilised. Whilst the USA has lost 675,000 to COVID, we have lost 1,076. We are responsible. Most of the people I personally know from the USA are just like us. They will stand up to cowards who need to hide behind a gun.
Comparing Australia to the U.S. is not just comparing apples to oranges, it’s comparing apples to lobsters!
A pretty homogeneous country of around 25 million compared to a very diverse country of about 340 million?
Also, news reports paint an extreme picture of the Australian Covid response that doesn’t reflect well on the country. More like a fascist response than a balanced risk response.
It looks as if extreme fear has taken over with all its unwelcome after effects.
The man in the elevator without a mask being a most wanted man in Australia?
Talk about extremes here!
Imagine the state of Texas or the state of Florida, both with populations comparable to Australia instituting such an extreme response. There will be a revolt in no time.
Living in a state of an apparent never ending lock down is not at all healthy.
Now, one should ask the question; Would living in Texas, Florida, or Australia is most preferable?
The Australian response to the virus is like abolishing all cars because of a few car accident deaths. Fear induced imbalance to risk-reward reality.
In any case, with an “obedient” population of only 25 million the Australian vaccination rate should be close to 100% by now not to where it is of around 30%.
I found it interesting that George Washington mandated small pox vaccine for all the troops.
The Biden administration has been and is using the strategy of “we’ll impose our will until we are defeated by the courts”.
It is a lawless, “sue me if you want” course of action that essentially makes a mockery of the U.S. Constitutional system.
Not to mention a violation of the oath the Biden Administration members took to obey and enforce the U.S. Constitution.
And, since the court process tends to be a lengthy one, at least we’ll accomplish some of our aims.
The Biden administration used the CDC to delay housing evictions until months later it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, and now it’s using OSHA to mandate vaccines.
This also will be ruled unconstitutional but, most likely, by that time tens of thousands will get the vaccine under threat of dismissal.
Meanwhile no testing required for the thousands of people swarming over the southern border.
Biden and his caregivers turn a blind eye. And yes I got the vaccine 6 months ago.
@platy-Canadians also like to do this same sort of comparison to the U.S. As if a grape to Grapefruit comparison has any useful purpose or validity, which it doesn’t. But it’s good for your national ego, I guess.
@Chas
OSHA inspectors (and their state program counterparts in some states like CalOSHA, IOSHA, etc.) walk into employers every day and ask for training, OSHA 300, and other medical-related records. This would be nothing new to them but the fines are just much higher and likely to be contested in court. It seems that we are starting to hit the freedom wall.
@Oliver – that’s not exactly true, it’s something more extreme than that. There were no smallpox vaccines yet. what he mandated was variolation – controlled exposure to small doses of the virus to help troops develop immunity (and so that they wouldn’t catch it at an inopportune time). some reports suggest this had a 5% fatality rate but was an important battle strategy.
Through all of society we need to stop those four deadly words, “regardless of vaccine status,” which make it so convenient not to be vaccinated, and replace them with, “proof of vaccine required.” Most people will get vaccinated if it becomes essential for the activities of life that require interaction with people, such as attending school or college; meeting the public in a workplace; attending indoor events and restaurants; traveling on an airplane, train or bus. We have coddled, implored and reasoned with the unvaccinated long enough. They are filling our hospitals and preventing our return to normal life. Time to get serious. Kudos to United and every other employer who values the health and safety of their employees and those they come in contact with.
@ Radio Flyer — And the Republican’s strategy re the unconstitutional Texas abortion law is different how?
Implanting gps trackers and microphones under our skin at birth would solve so many public safety problems. Kidnappings would be so much easier to solve. Burglaries, murders, pretty much most crime would be solvable if everyone had these implanted. So many lives saved, so much safety! It’s not about freedom, it’s about SAFETY. We’re the government. We’re here to help you.
@ Don — No need. The moronic anti-vaxxers happily carry their cell phones everywhere.
So we need to mandate people get a vaccine that will protect them from disease so it will protect me who has received this great protecting vaccine from disease.
Guys, admit it, there is no critical thinking left. Your arguments for mandating others getting vaccines are so thin, and have nothing to do with science. Either the vaccines work on protecting you or they don’t. And this all for a disease with a 99% survival rate WITHOUT A VACCINE.
We’re not talking about smallpox or polio here.
Disclaimer: vaxxed and living life
@Gene – not sure you made any point with that statement other than pointing out how much disdain you have for a certain segment of the population. Never got over your high school bullying, did you?
@Gary I wonder if the vaccine requirement for all (including those who currently work from home, as you mention) is with the hope that with increased vaccination, more people will return to working in an office, which will boost employment for all sorts of businesses around office complexes (restaurants, dry cleaners, drug stores, etc.).
IMO, it is likely, first of all, a public health move (more vaccination is good, regardless of economical affects), but there’s also an financial incentive as well.
Finally someone is taking control and putting the anti-vaxxer children in their place. For too long in this country these covidiots have dragged the country down and harmed our nation. Personally I think the better route was to just isolate them if they didn’t want to get vaccinated via a national vaccine passport as seen in France, Italy etc. I think that should have been an intermediate step and would have gotten a lot of people off the sidelines. The federal worker mandate makes sense but when it comes to private companies I think a national vaccine passport where people would need to show it before going in `anywhere should have been tried first and that could have been used to help open up international travel.
The USPS are included. That story was updated/corrected.
@Gene is same type of person like Hitler who wanted to kill all those who opposed his views.
@Vijay, You raise a valid point, how is unvaccinated a threat to anyone who is vaccinated. If unvaccinated is a threat to the vaccinated then what is the purpose of the vaccine. Also all those millions of people who got COVID and recovered have natural protection.
I’m vaccinated and I strongly urge everyone especially those who never tested COVID 19 to get vaccinated. Having said that, I believe natural immunity has much more protection since I’m a believer of science.
@Bill, You do remember last year this time both Joe and Kamala were against vaccine because they thought it was Trump vaccine.
If you don’t understand politicians talks and actions then you are too naive to be in the adult group.
@Blackhill Umm they were never against the vaccine. What they were against was trusting Trump a man who lies constantly, about whether or not it was safe and they wanted to hear from legitimate experts. Big difference there but nice try with your conspiracy theories.
@KimmieA I “mixed & matched”. I got Pfizer X 2 (mRNA) in January and J & J (adenovirus vector) 6 weeks ago. The theory is that mRNA’s give good antibody levels & viral vector vaccines are better at T-cell levels. But there are no (completed) studies to support this yet. And I AM a doctor.
Ha. I consult with several large companies. They have absolutely no intention of following this. It’s illegal on it’s face.
Just like the eviction ban, passing a known illegal law and hoping it takes time to be ruled illegal is a little bitch move.
@Dale I guess all the anti vaxxers will claim to be moving to Montana. But it wont work. Take it to court. public health laws have been decided by the Supreme Court several times. Its a pandemic. Its not chicken pox. The lengths people will go. But let them try.
Why does everyone forget that the Supreme Court already decided that the government can mandate vaccinations? This case has not been challenged. The decision still stands.
Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the authority of states to enforce compulsory vaccination laws. The Court’s decision articulated the view that individual liberty is not absolute and is subject to the police power of the state.
States can mandate vaccinations. Accept that you are only making the nation sicker by not vaccinating. For this pandemic to stop every one needs to vaccinate with only a small group of exceptions.
@JohnB – Jacobson calls on the state’s general police power, which the federal government lacks. Here the question, for 100+ employers, is whether Congress delegated the authority to OSHA in general language the power to mandate vaccination for employees (e.g. whether dangers from a virus are similar to a toxic substance, whether getting vaccinated outside of work is similar enough to workplace behavior).
As a legal matter it’s a pretty complicated question whether the Biden Administration’s actions are kosher or not, and I don’t think it’s obvious at all.
Although the Supreme Court did have a *discussion* of this during oral argument of NFIB v Sebelius (the Obamacare case)
https://joshblackman.com/blog/2015/02/03/does-congress-have-the-power-to-enact-a-federal-vaccination-mandate-after-nfib-v-sebelius/
JUSTICE BREYER: I’m just picking on something. I’d like to just — if it turned out there was some terrible epidemic sweeping the United States, and we couldn’t say that more than 40 or 50 percent — I can make the number as high as I want — but the — the — you’d say the Federal Government doesn’t have the power to get people inoculated, to require them to be inoculated, because that’s just statistical.
MR. CARVIN: Well, in all candor, I think Morrison must have decided that issue, right? Because people who commit violence against –
JUSTICE BREYER: Is your answer to that yes or no?
MR. CARVIN: Oh, I’m sorry; my answer is no, they couldn’t do it, because Morrison –
JUSTICE BREYER: No, they could not do it.
MR. CARVIN: Yes.
JUSTICE BREYER: They cannot require people even if this disease is sweeping the country to be inoculated. The Federal Government has no power, and if there’s — okay, fine. Go ahead.
@ JetAway
My post is in response to ignorant comments about Australia.
People can choose to embrace prejudiced and ill-informed viewpoints, or they can self educate. Most on this blog are stuck in the former camp – they have entirely incorrect perceptions about other countries such as Australia.
Folk can suck from the bowl of false opinion or they can apply their critical faculties. Most on this blog do the former. A few basic facts blow apart some strongly held views herein. The comparisons thereby become relevant.
One country has 675,000 dead and another 1,067: the smart person would ask why to save the lives of their compatriots.
One country has five times the homicide rate than another: the curious person will ask how did that come about to make society a safer and freer place to live.
One country provides clear messaging about vaccines and achieves a 90% (“eligible population” of over 12 years) vaccination rate enabling cessation of measures to control the virus and another struggles with high rates of vaccine resistance which is politically aligned. Concerned citizens would ask how to improve their vaccination rates for the benefit of all.
Of course folk hate the comparisons, they are stark reminders of failures of governance and expose a woefully selfish attitude by some in their society. Although these folk are in the minority they have the capacity to ruin the lives of many others.
Vaccination is your pathway to freedom – freedom from illness, death and various health measures.
Pfizer against severe disease was close to 90%, but no longer true. In the July 27 report by Hebrew University, Vaccine effectiveness in preventing serious illness falls to 80%. Mayo clinic reports Pfizer against serious illness drops from 85% in July to 75% in August. During the same period, Moderna drops from 95% to 85%.
@ Radio Flyer
Thankfully we have some excellent apples and all manner of delicious lobsters in Australia.
Incidentally, Australia is a country of diversity, so you’re off to bad start. These articles may assist your self education:
https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/education/face-facts-cultural-diversity
https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0~2016~Main%20Features~Cultural%20Diversity%20Data%20Summary~30
Admittedly, if you ignorantly embrace some media (such as this very blog, Sky News, etc) you might be forgiven for your misinformed views. You’ve been sucked in the sensationalist nonsense that passes for “news” on these issues.
Now you have a choice – you can blindly believe what you read or you can search out facts and figures to develop an informed opinion.
For example, you can easily access data on arrivals and departures to discover over 500,000 Australians have returned home during the pandemic – so much for a fortress and prison. You can read our government websites on border restrictions and find out that Australians are NOT banned from returning from overseas as some claim.
You can easily search our local news outlets online to learn about the federal and state governments plans for “living with COVID” and relaxation of border controls, which is currently planned from December.
You can track the daily improvements in the vaccination rates to see when targets are reached.
You can read the scientific report with all of the modelling of vaccination rates against COVID impacts and various control measures being used by governments to guide their decisions (The Doherty Report is available online).
You can even compare the policies of Australia articulated on government websites with those of other countries for context and perspective. Japan, for example, is closed to non-residents from over 250 countries. The only country in Europe, which did not use lock-downs has been Sweden. Most countries ion the world still deploy some sort of travel restrictions due to COVID.
The reality is that most Australians for most of the COVID pandemic have lived without restrictions because COVID was virtually eliminated in he country through initial lock downs. The notable exceptions were several outbreaks on Melbourne Victoria.
For perspective – my wife and I have experienced about 75 days of lockdown in the last 530 days (roughly).
The arrival of the Delta VOC has challenged all countries. Yet the states / territories of Queensland, Northern Territory, West Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania have so far contained the Delta VOC outbreaks to be virtually zero through very short snap early lockdowns of a few days or a couple of weeks.
The Delta has hit Sydney and Melbourne since early June.
The aforementioned Doherty Report is a comprehensive document enabling the federal and state governments to balance risk (probability and impact) of various policy decisions.
You can read it for yourself. Of course you might prefer not to, but rather continue to rant about your (factually incorrect) perceptions of fascism and fear, and adopt histrionic nonsense about wanted people in lifts. Talk about extreme delusion.
Compare Texas and Florida with any country in the world (extreme perhaps, Sweden) and you’ll instantly see that it is those states and not the rest of the world who is out of step.
The seven-day average COVID case-load in Florida is 14,276 against a backdrop of 3.4 million cases and nearly 50,000 deaths. The COVID related deaths for the week are 2,448 (to 10 September 2021)
Australia has a larger population and a total of 1,076 deaths throughout the whole pandemic.
Some in USA, apparently, too busy bickering about masks to worry about the death around them, too blindly political to put the wellbeing of others into their thoughts.
We don’t have never ending lockdowns. But believe it, maybe that helps you to justify the appalling failure of Americans to manage COVID or even to go and get vaccinated.
In my city we are currently living without lockdowns, masks, any restrictions. There have been a couple of cases of the Delta – its spread was immediately contained, as has been the case for the whole state of Queensland.
In a couple of months the vaccination rates will have (finally) reached a point at which the measures in play on Sydney and Melbourne can be relaxed (regional areas of the state of NSW were relaxed overnight) and the borders gradually opened.
No, thank, you, I’ll live in my own city with zero COVID and zero restrictions, not amongst the overwhelmed hospitals and death of Florida and Texas. My wife and I are already vaccinated (Pfizer) and ready to travel when the national vaccination rates are such to take the burden for controlling the risks of COVID.
In your car analogy we get to drive the car and not risk dying in an accident. Zero risk and full reward. We live with confidence and in the absence of fear. An excellent example of how cooperative behaviour (“altruism”) in society can triumph over selfish behaviour (certain right wing elements and median in the USA). (Or if you don’t believe in “altruism” you can model the game applying the Nash Equilibrium where all benefit despite being in competition). Only a fool would confuse “obedience” with such.
The vaccination roll out was initially sluggish due to various stuff ups by our incompetent federal (right wing) government (over procurement and initial roll outs). The vaccination rate reflects this. Top note that our various state governments manage health care.
Incidentally, COVID management has been executed under special powers in various state health statutes. These are subject to legal scrutiny to moderate over reach by government. When vaccine targets are attained such powers will become less defensible legally creating a natural check and balance.
I encourage you to research a topic before engaging in ill-informed rants – you just make yourself look stupid . Please be well and travel safe.
All should be fully aware of the scientific fact of this type of virus that sooner or later every one WILL get infected, whether vaccinated or not.
Unless one is a hermit living in a mountain cave who grows/hunts his own food.
The critical point here is that the vaccinated will shake the virus in a few/several days like a common cold or a mild case of the flu, while those not vaccinated risk severe illness and a miserable death, and if survived very unpleasant long-haul health effects.
But, according to the concept of free will, no human should ever be forced either directly or indirectly to take any vaccine.
The U.S. Supreme Court will rule on that sooner or later.
One view of the USA from Australia:
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/americans-slam-australias-covid-policies-as-their-own-epidemic-spirals-out-of-control/news-story/02eeb07fe3ee2757e287be16ad76ccbc
@ platy. Thought your PM has thrown in the towel in face of Delta. Meanwhile you are far behind in vaccinations. I have been forced to spend time in your country. People exhibit the smugness you have shown here with the general deportment (esp. when abroad as in Bali) that we usually call “white trash.” Racist also.
“Personal choice” was a complete fiasco that prolonged the pandemic. Thankful that this silly experiment is being ended and mandates implemented.
We will nave recover the time wasted nor the thousand lives lost.
This 9/11, remember that in the next two days more people will die from the failure to handle the pandemic than did in the terrorist attacks 20 years ago. Same the following two days, and so on.
To whom ever asked if one would choose to live in Texas, Florida, or Australia, my answer would be a full-throated Australia! There is no way in hell I would live in Texas or Florida. I only go through Texas to change planes and haven’t set foot in DeathSantis’ state since my mother died years ago. Stupid question. JFC.