I was contemplating what to write Monday morning when a news bulletin came across that the FDA had granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine. My plans and thoughts instantly changed.

If other than the exact timing you were surprised, then you either haven’t been paying attention, are caught up in disinformation or are just willfully ignorant – (some less kind people might call you stubborn and stupid). The vaccine, free doses of which are widely available in America to anyone 12 or older, is not perfect but is both highly effective and safe.

I now wonder what “excuse” the right wing will come up with for opposing the vaccine. In reality it doesn’t matter because it will be malarkey (I’m being polite in my verbiage today) and the time for pandering has passed.

Somewhere around 20% of the country opposes the vaccine. They are a vocal minority. They are vocal but make no mistake, they are distinctly a minority! While I want to accommodate those with special challenges getting vaccinated, we can no longer afford to coddle this minority who are a clear and present threat to America. About a thousand Americans are dying daily of COVID-19; that’s more than two 9/11s a week. Well over 90% of those deaths are of the unvaccinated. With the exception of those under 12 and the less than 2% who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons all those deaths were unnecessary.

There is an element on the political right that is raising concerns about taking in Afghans who helped the US because they feel some terrorists might slip in in the process. (In reality they have no such fear, white supremacy is their motivation.) In one week, they are killing more than twice as many Americans than died on 9/11 which was the terrorists’ most deadly attack on American soil.

My education comes into play in my next thought. There is an “opportunity cost” to treating the unvaccinated. How many other people die because they put off medical procedures or in the worst hit areas of the country the medical system is overwhelmed and there is “no room at the inn”?

America was one of the few nations on earth capable of containing the pandemic within its borders. (After we got a capable administration on the afternoon of January 20, 2021 that is.) Because of these dangerous obstructionists we blew it. To our current knowledge the world has been lucky to date in that the virus has not morphed into a form that we cannot control. How long can our luck hold out?

The carrots haven’t worked and now the sticks have to come out in full force. Vaccines must become mandatory for all but those under 12 and the small group with a legitimate medical excuse.

It seems like I’m “blowing this same horn” most days lately and fortunately more and more employers and governments are coming along. In places like Florida and Texas where Republican Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott appear to have death wishes we need the courts, businesses and other levels of government to stand up to them and negate their insanity.

America can no longer afford to accommodate those among us incapable of critical thinking or unwilling to face reality! We cannot allow the least among us to blow our opportunity for survival!

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