United We Stand, Divided We Fall – Resisting the Division over Vaccines

One of the most vilified groups in the United States currently is those who have chosen not to take the COVID-19 vaccination. Joe Biden went so far as to falsely accuse unvaccinated Americans of killing others through information posted on Facebook. It is unconscionable that a sitting President would make such a claim against his fellow countrymen. But why the push to ostracize a portion of the country and turn us against each other? It is not that surprising if you understand that socialism, and the socialist mindset, is all about turning people against each other.  It MUST turn us against each other to be successful.  If you believe in controlling other people’s lives, the people who don’t wish to be controlled need to be vilified. So today’s target . . . the unvaccinated.

Take a Step Back

I understand people wanting to take the vaccine.

I understand people not wanting to take the vaccine.

I don’t understand why those who have taken the vaccine are fearful of the unvaccinated, even to the point of desiring them to be removed from all sectors of society, denied public services or wishing them death.

As a reminder, the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is NOT designed to prevent you from contracting COVID. (Even though Joe Biden made this false statement during a town hall with absolutely no correction from the moderator.) Nor does it prevent you from spreading it. The vaccine is designed to reduce the severity of the reaction if contracting the virus to avoid complications including hospitalization and possible fatality. Assuming the vaccine works, there is no rational reason for those who are vaccinated to avoid interacting with those who are unvaccinated. Your protection is based on how you individually respond to the vaccine, not to how or where you might come in contact with the virus. (It is not rational to think that we can control our environment to the point of zero exposure. But fear is never rational and the desire to control is relentless.)

A scripture comes to mind while watching this reaction across our nation:

“You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:5

Our human nature is to want to “fix” everybody else while often ignoring or being blind to our own issues. We want to CONTROL others. But we can only take responsibility for our own actions. Ezekiel 18:20 says “The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity: the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.” (This scripture also rejects the notion of “white guilt”, a foundational principle of Critical Race Theory, where people are guilty of sins based on race rather than their personal choices.)

Let Them Eat Cake!

The glaring “rules for thee, but not for me” approach of our political class during the pandemic is yet more confirmation that inequality and selective enforcement are inherent to big government systems like socialism. The hypocrisy of leaders has dealt a serious blow to the arguments of those who think benevolent big government will lift us up instead of grind us down. Different rules for the ruling elite has been the standard in EVERY country that has implemented socialism. Here are some of the stand out examples of COVID hypocrisy during the past 18 months: (All of these examples are high profile Democratic officials. If you have an example of a Republican or Independent, please share it in the comments section below. I support equal opportunity accountability!!)

After directing Capitol police to arrest visitors and staff who fail to wear a mask in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was caught maskless with fellow Democrats in a crowded room. This comes after her infamous haircut during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.

As the rest of America struggles with uncertain employment status and school re-openings, shifting mask mandates, anxiety over vaccinations and variants, Barack Obama threw himself a huge, epic, three day birthday bash on Martha’s Vineyard. The Obamas hosted hundreds of guests, all free to go unmasked, while their 200 servers were reportedly forced to mask up. The tiny island’s residents, meanwhile, endured traffic and sudden road closures enforced by the Secret Service.

On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci went on “Meet the Press” to warn that the Sturgis, South Dakota, motorcycle rally might be a superspreader event. Fauci remained silent about Chicago’s Lollapalooza, a four-day music festival held in Chicago July 29 to August 1, attracting an estimated 100,000 attendees each day.

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who assailed GOP Sen. Rand Paul for urging Americans to resist new CDC guidelines, danced without a mask at an indoor wedding in a county in her home state with “substantial” COVID-19 transmission.

More examples of hypocrisy can be found here.

No wonder the vaccine is so politicized. No wonder there remains two Americas, despite aggrandizing promises to unite us. The hypocrisy between the demands of those making the rules and the rules they apply to themselves has reached epic proportions.

Why the Vaccine Hesitancy?

There are many reasons why people are hesitant to get the mRNA vaccine. Dismissing individual concern without any effort to understand their reasoning is causing unnecessary division in our country. One of the issues leading to vaccine hesitancy has been the potential adverse effects from taking the vaccine.

Adverse events from drugs and vaccines are common but traditionally underreported. Less than 0.3% of all adverse drug events and 1-13% of serious events are reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Likewise, fewer than 1% of vaccine adverse events are reported.

To encourage reporting, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) was established in 1990 as an early warning system to detect possible safety problems in U.S.-licensed vaccines. VAERS is co-managed by the CDC and FDA and accepts and analyzes reports of adverse events after a person has received a vaccination. VAERS is not exactly “user friendly” but does allow for data to be downloaded into other formats for easier navigation. One such alternate site is OpenVAERS, built directly from the HHS data. The OpenVAERS Project allows browsing and searching of the reports without need to compose an advanced search. You can sign up for weekly updates here.

According to OpenVAERS, as of July 30, 2021, the following adverse effects from the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine were reported on the government website:

12,366 deaths (8,508 from the Pfizer vaccine, 3,167 Moderna, 657 Janssen, 34 Unknown)

46,036 Hospitalizations

68,040 Urgent Care Visits

92,527 Office Visits

4,759 Anaphylaxis

4,044 Bell’s Palsy

1,381 Miscarriages

5,236 Heart Attacks

3,728 Myocarditis/Pericarditis

14,251 Permanently Disabled

More people have died from the Pfizer mRNA shot in the past seven months than any shot in the 30 year history of VAERS. In comparison, during the 1976 swine flu, the vaccine campaign was halted after 25 deaths and 500 cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome out of 40 MILLION doses administered. These adverse events cause legitimate concern and should be part of our national conversation regarding the mRNA vaccines. The ongoing censorship of information related to adverse effects will continue to sow seeds of division and mistrust.

In Summary

From our foundation to the current days, from different political parties and different races, there is one common theme that holds true: unity and support of each other makes America a great nation. During these difficult times we need to remember these principals and stand up for them. Choose understanding. Stand against hate. Spend more time understanding and less time judging those who disagree with us. Refuse to be manipulated through propaganda.

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” – Abraham Lincoln