I am frustrated and sad to learn from the news that only 45% of African Americans in California are fully vaccinated and that the majority of COVID patients in California are also African American. In California, 100% of COVID patients are unvaccinated! These low vaccination rates among African Americans is the outcome of years of mistrust, extreme caution, and an abundance of misinformation. And then there are the Republicans.   I’m angry that according to CNN reporting, 47% of Republicans say they will never take the vaccine. It is inexcusable that Fox News and Republican leaders have made vaccines and mask wearing into political talking points about liberty as opposed to public health. Who in their right mind knowingly risks the health and lives of fellow human beings for political gain?Â
Any rational human being knows that it is not okay to endanger the lives of others under the banner of personal liberty. We banned cigarette smoking in restaurants, airplanes, and public buildings because we finally realized that secondhand smoke endangered the lives of others. We banned drunk driving because innocent lives were being lost to careless drinkers. We enforce seatbelt laws to protect each other in the case of car accidents. And we now know with certainty that wearing a mask in public helps to protect us and others from possible COVID infection and that vaccines also provide protection from severe disease and death. So what are we doing with this knowledge? Not enough!
These anti-vaccine and anti-mask people, whether out of ignorance, fear, or misguided patriotism are the reason for the upsurge in COVID cases in every state. Given the chance to beat COVID by acting together, too many Americans have chosen a deadly path and the rest of us are allowing it. I was so enraged and frustrated the other day that I cursed the stubborn and ignorant, saying that maybe nature will rid us of these stupid humans. Of course, I immediately regretted my words because each of these “stupid” humans is surrounded by family and friends who love them and wish they would do the right thing and get vaccinated and wear a mask. I’ve watched as family members publicly lament how their deceased loved one listened to Fox commentators or social media and believed that COVID was a hoax or that the vaccine was a government ploy to control us. Preventable deaths are the hardest to accept.
In my thinking, what is at stake here is whether or not our collective public health is a priority. If it takes proof of vaccine cards or mask mandates, I’m all for it. We must protect our children and the vulnerable among us. That is what a civil society does. And a civil society holds those who violate the public trust accountable. It is not freedom of speech to falsely yell fire in a crowed public space. So, why should it be protected speech to knowingly spread misinformation about vaccines and masks in the middle of a deadly pandemic?   It shouldn’t. If one of my loved ones died as a result of these political talking points, I would be hiring a lawyer to hold Fox News or the individual political leader responsible.
In the meantime, although vaccinated, I continue to wear a mask in public.
I’ve had more than a few women in both Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley compliment me on my mask. A few have asked where I got it and I tell them: Amazon. Like me, they want to encourage others to get vaccinated and they still want to continue wearing their masks out of an abundance of caution. One lady went so far as to say that she did not want people to mistake her for an anti-vaccine person because was wearing a mask. I had a mask-less young man respectfully inform me that I didn’t need to wear a mask since I’ve been vaccinated. I smiled and said to him that I have a vaccinated but vulnerable husband at home who can’t afford even the slightest COVID infection. He nodded politely and I could tell that he wished he hadn’t said anything. But I also realized that he learned something about why others might still be wearing masks. Perhaps I should have asked him if he was vaccinated.
I feel for the Biden Administration as they try to figure out how to combat false narratives and vaccine hesitancy in the face of another deadly upsurge in COVID cases, hospitalizations, and ultimately deaths. But we as citizens have a role to play, too.
First, we can proudly wear our masks in public and get the vaccine if not already vaccinated. Second, we can reach out to our unvaccinated family and friends and share our vaccine experience and explain why it is important for them to be vaccinated. Third, for the health and safety of loved ones, we must gently exclude unvaccinated family and friends from social gatherings because their presence is dangerous for them and others. And finally, we need to put pressure on lawmakers to hold each other accountable for the collective public health whether that is putting rightful limits on speech, enforcing mask mandates in public, or requiring vaccine passports.
The time to fight together against this common enemy is now and it’s a fight we must be determined to win.