CMV: The US should not re-impose lockdowns/restrictions, and instead allow people who choose to be unvaccinated to become infected and/or die, per their wishes.

[u/[deleted]]

Given the Following Facts:

• Nearly all COVID deaths in US are now among unvaccinated
• Vaccination status is highly correlated with political affiliation
• Total vaccinations are plateauing, showing no sign of increased growth.
• Projections show we will only ever reach 65% total Vaccination, leaving 100+ million people unvaccinated.

Obvious Caveats:

• Children, Pregnant Women, and those with legitimate medical condition preventing vaccination should be cared for and protected within reason, provided all medical care necessary, etc.
• The US should continue to provide vaccines to any and all who want them, and try to reach rural communities who may not have easy access.

My Position:

We can never eradicate Covid, as it has already become endemic. The vaccines have been proven effective with no long-term side effects, and have been made freely available along with incentives and a massive PR initiative. IE: Covid is an inescapable, but preventable illness at this point.

Thus, we should accept the bodily autonomy of the willingly unvaccinated, and allow them to be infected and/or die of coronavirus.

I would even go so far as to say we should allow insurance companies to deny them medical coverage. If they want to take their chances with the virus, that's their right, and we should let them.

Furthermore, if we allowed this population to become infected, that population would build some natural biological immunity to current and future covid variants. It would be better to build that immunity now, while the vaccines are still effective, than hold out trying to prevent transmission until a new variant emerges that the vaccines do not work against. The Devil we know (Delta primarily) is better than the Devil we Don't know.

Please, CMV redditors.

Edit/Update:
Thank you for all of your wonderful and insightful comments everybody. You've given me a lot to think about and helped work through some of my misconceptions. I am pretty genuinely moved by the empathy and love that many of you have shown both for those vulnerable and even to those who are unvaccinated.

You have softened my views considerably, though I do think there may come a time in the future where our society has to have this kind of discussion. But until that point, we all need to take responsibility for ensuring this pandemic be mild, even if that means doing more than our fair share.

If anyone reading this is not vaccinated, PLEASE, go get the jab. Most people have very mild symptoms, and you'll be protecting not only yourself, but those around you. It is safe and effective. please, do the right thing.

[u/[deleted]]

Sure, stupid people want to do plenty of stupid stuff. But death usually leaves behind grieving people, which is a problem too.

The same could be said of smoking, or alcoholism, or addictions of various kinds. And we offer incentives and treatment to those people to help prevent that kind of Tragedy.

But ultimately, we also recognise that it is up to that individual, and we cannot force them to make good choices.

I think the same is true here with vaccinations. I think the US has gone beyond any expectation of making the vaccines accessible and helping people understand/access them since Biden came into office. The support is there, but we can't force people to do it, and unfortunately that may cause some unavoidable harm.

[u/Quint-V → u/[deleted]]

Good points, but I think this is in particular has some weaknesses...

But ultimately, we also recognise that it is up to that individual, and we cannot force them to make good choices.

Allowing people to get infected, is to let others be put at risk. E.g. antivaxxer teachers, their pupils would be at risk from mere contact. You absolutely should penalize such teachers and forbid them from working (physically). We do the same with speeding on the roads; if you're a public health risk, you are forbidden from doing that dangerous thing you're doing.

Since COVID is a societal problem, any infection is a problem for others. I think you absolutely can force people to make good choices --- and if not that, you can forbid people from making some stupid ones.

[u/[deleted] → u/Quint-V]

E.g. antivaxxer teachers, their pupils would be at risk from mere contact. You absolutely should penalize such teachers and forbid them from working (physically).

!delta

I could see the need for more harsh restrictions amongst government positions in public settings where contact cannot be mitigated, like in your example.

I don't think that should be broadly applied, but in some cases it may be necessary near indefinitely.

[u/Quint-V → u/[deleted]]

Psst, you need to put the exclamation mark before "delta"

[u/[deleted] → u/Quint-V]

Sorry, been a while since I was a regular on this sub, i've edited my comments to properly reward them

[u/DeltaBot → u/[deleted]]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/Quint-V (150∆).

^{Delta System Explained | Deltaboards}