To be vaxxed where I live is a status symbol.
I’ve had my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. There’s one more to go so my friends aren’t holding any parties yet. Well, actually, we can’t. I live in Melbourne which has one of the harshest and longest lockdowns since the pandemic started.
As vaccination rates increase I’ve noticed a new trend. We’re dividing each other subconsciously into two groups: vaxxed, and those who refuse to get vaxxed (uneducated).
One of my good friends refuses to get vaccinated. His mother is a nurse and her employer made it mandatory for her to get a jab. With the encouragement of her immature son she refused. She gave up a career as a nurse over misinformation about vaccines.
My friend regularly posts on Instagram about the pandemic. He claims we’re all being fooled, that this isn’t real. He’s gone from gentle self-help quotes to full on conspiracies. He argues that a pill similar to the one Joe Rogan supposedly took is the answer to covid.
Recently he claimed covid is just the flu. It’s no big deal. Days later he got covid because he refused to stay home and wear a mask. His credibility has plummeted. One of his business partners called me the other day.
“What’s up with our mutual friend?”
Me: “His brain has been manipulated by the misinformation. Add in his newfound love of religion, conspiracies, and government bashing, and, well, I suggest you distance yourself.”
The unvaxxed seem to be susceptible more than ever to conspiracies. They listen to celebrity chefs who run health businesses — not hospitals — and the mothers of supermodels when it comes to making a decision about the vaccine.
Your personal source of news has become a big deal. If you choose social media over science then the chance of ending up in the unvaxxed category can increase.
The Great Divide
Plans for Christmas are underway. Some family and friends have chosen to have the vaccine. Some haven’t. Those who haven’t are being reevaluated in my social circles. Do we want to risk getting the contagious delta variant of covid, that we may spread to our elderly relatives? Nope.
Lockdowns haven’t worked in Australia. Record cases in both Sydney and Melbourne continue. Suppression just doesn’t work. The only way to slow down and rebuild from the pandemic is vaccinations. The longer it takes for the unvaxxed to wake up, the longer it takes for the slow return to some kind of normal to occur.
At this stage the unvaxxed are simply being selfish.
It doesn’t end there. Everybody being vaccinated with two jabs isn’t the end. Next comes the era of booster shots.
Governments are already implementing restrictions on the unvaxxed. It’s their choice but their selfishness means they won’t be able to participate in normal society. Restaurants, hairdressers, shopping malls, and international travel will be for the vaxxed.
The unvaxxed risk permanent exclusion. That’s a weird future to imagine.
You’re forced to choose a side
Quiet checking of people’s vaccine status has already begun in my network. Before we consider a post-lockdown coffee we ask the question “did you get vaxxed?” It feels weird to ask the question. On the surface the question is disguised as a moment to brag.
Deep down it’s an investigation.
Even when I get the answer, I go deeper. Anyone who has been vaccinated knows a few small details about what’s involved — where to get it, wait times, questions that get asked beforehand, brands of vaccine.
There are no vaccine passports where I live so trust determines whether you’re about to catch up with an unvaxxed drongo or a normal, functioning member of society who has lived through the pandemic and seeks for the devastation to slow down.
I find it funny in my own circles how those who refuse to listen are the same ones who are skeptical about vaccines and won’t take them. They’re the same people who told me Bitcoin was a scam, even though the cryptocurrency industry is now a $2 trillion+ market backed by the biggest financial institutions in the world. It just doesn’t matter to them.
They’re ignorant. They refuse to have an open mind. They won’t open an article you send them. They can’t see that the unvaccinated are clogging up our hospital system.
It’s all fun and games until you need a hospital.
Last week I tried to get an appointment with a specialist at the ear hospital about my hearing. They told me I’d have to wait six months. No amount of money or health insurance could get me an appointment. Think about that.
This is the very real reality created by the unvaccinated, who act like Batman and end up a Joker in the hospital. I’ve been lucky so far. Nobody close to me has got cancer.
My fiancé hasn’t been so lucky. Both her grandparents got sick (not covid). Their local hospital had no space due to covid so they were forced to stay home. Now, both her remaining grandparents have passed away. International border restrictions meant she couldn’t see them one last time. This is what can happen when hospitals are jammed up with unvaccinated people.
Thanks to everyone who is getting vaccinated
It’s not all bad news. I’m quietly proud of people all around the world doing their bit by getting vaxxed. “We’re all in this together” is the cheesy slogan the unvaxxed have forgotten about.
The unvaxxed are being selfish. Plain and simple.
The world can’t move on from the pandemic unless the unvaxxed *don’t* qualify for access to basic freedoms like restaurants. It’s sad to say but we’ve run out of patience.
Science doesn’t dispute the existence of covid. Governments get zero joy from lockdowns, and it’s not their evil plan. Getting everybody vaxxed once is the first step. The second step is to make booster shots the norm, the way flu shots are in many countries.
When you make plans with other people, whether you realize it or not, you have to choose a side: vaxxed or unvaxxed.
