[Knut]

Originally Posted by Macindoc

I completely agree with you. the smallpox vaccine worked because it came before the rise of the anti-vax movement. If we had 100% vaccine compliance and timely roll-out of vaccine for everyone, COVID-19 could have been stopped in its tracks, at least in adults, and we would have had far less trouble with variant strains, if we even had any. It's too bad the minority who don't trust peer-reviewed research and prefer to get their medical advice from social media are driving the emergence of variant strains and increasing the risk for everyone else. They continue to argue about their right to choose but conveniently ignore the effects of their choices on everyone else, including increased health risks and the need to repeatedly shut down the economy.

It's funny, anti-vaxxers complain that society is trying to impose something a choice on them that they don't want, but they fail to take into account the consequences of their choices for everyone else. When you make a decision regarding prevention of an infectious disease, you are not only making a choice for yourself, you are making a choice for everyone in your community.

I'm not saying that anyone should be forced to have a vaccine. I am saying that nobody should be forced to be unnecessarily exposed to an unvaccinated person and unknowingly exposing themselves to a risk of being infected. So by making a choice to not be vaccinated, a person may also be making a choice to exclude themselves from non-essential activities, like attending a hockey game.

Actually there has always been Anti-vaxxers.

https://www.historyofvaccines.org/co...tion-movements