Get your god-damn COVID shot (if you want) 💉

I am a bit annoyed with the current White House administration putting limits on COVID shots, especially in Red States that haven’t decided to over-ride the federal guidance. When I got my COVID booster and flu shot this year, it was a very straightforward process – fill out a quick form online, check in at the pharmacy, wait five minutes, give them my birthdate, then the nurse said it was COVID shot and then flu shot. And I was done. Whatever, my arm was a bit sore the next day but it meant that I have at least a somewhat lower chance of getting COVID and the flu this year or if I do get it, not nearly as ill as I might otherwise get. But alas, you can’t prove a negative.

I was never a fan of vaccine mandates or social distancing – at least the overly moralistic terms it was put in. Stay home, to keep grandma or the crippled safe. Don’t you know there are immunocompromised individuals relying on you to stay home and get vaccinated during the pandemic? If you don’t get your damn vaccine, that’s like pulling the trigger on old grandma’s head. After all, the virus will spread like wildfire through the old folks home. Do it for the disabled and sick was the chant!

But I always thought a better reason for staying home during the pandemic, was to avoid getting yourself sick. Likewise, the best reason to get vaccinated was to keep yourself healthy. Vaccines have some risk, but the risk is quite low for most healthy individuals and benefits of a five minute appointment and a potentially slightly sore arm the next day are worth it. Seriously though, with the 2025 COVID booster and flu shots I didn’t even feel the shot and only my arm was a bit sore the next day. Beats potentially weeks in bed or a hospital visit. And I didn’t do it for grandma or the cripples in the home for retards.

I think the overly moralistic tone, and the idea that the experts know best without question really lead us to where we are now. Trump 2.0 didn’t pop out of nowhere, he and the people he hired – namely Robert F. Kennedy – are a reflection of American mood which was tired of the experts know best without question. Every public policy has risks, costs and benefits, and public should be treated like adults and be allowed to make informed decisions with the facts both pro and con. People are really fed up with being looked down by the government and experts.

I can’t say if you should get your COVID vaccine or not. Whether or not you should smoke or wear a seat belt. Do review the facts and be thoughtful about the risks you want to take. I don’t buy the idea such personal decisions have some public costs – such as health care costs on aggregates – and that the public should decide for you. Instead, people shouldn’t be denied the COVID or flu shots – or denied a job because they aren’t vaccinated – but be informed about the pros and cons.