Increasingly, vaccination is no longer a matter of choice. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of workplaces and schools are instituting COVID-19 vaccine mandates, with more expected following formal FDA licensure of the vaccines. But mandating people and their children who have consciously chosen not to get vaccinated — a group that tends to be younger, less educated, Republican, non-white and uninsured — is a recipe for creating new and deeper fractures within our society, the kind of fractures we may profoundly regret in hindsight.
Let’s not sugarcoat it: This is a new form of institutionalized segregation. Yes, some unvaccinated adults may swallow this bitter pill and comply as a way of doing their part in making America safer. But many will see it — along with requirements that the unvaccinated wear masks or undergo regular COVID testing — as a thinly veiled attempt at public shaming. After all, if the goal is to maximize the interruption of spread, then surely all people should be masked irrespective of vaccination status.
Forced compliance will come with future consequences. The ensuing anger, resentment and loss of trust forms a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Are we ready to add this mandate to the list of issues helping erode the fabric of our society?
These practices diverge substantially from the historical norm of equal opportunity. For all other required vaccines, religious and philosophical exemptions allow unvaccinated children to enjoy the same educational experience as the vaccinated. This is because exemptions reflect a social value that in the United States, there are valid reasons for refusing treatments or vaccines, and these reasons will be respected. Once exempt, there are no sanctions experienced in everyday life. But with COVID vaccine mandates, even those with exemptions are being sanctioned, sending another clear message: We really don’t care about your reasons.
And in schools, where a child’s experience will be shaped by their parents’ decisions and those of policymakers, the situation could become tragic. If schools invite vaccinated children to lose their masks, what was once an act of social responsibility could morph into a mark of disease.
What should we anticipate? Children of different ages being barred from mingling. Children being bullied, ridiculed and mocked, with taunts using terms like “covidiot.” Differential treatment toward unvaccinated children by some teachers (who are, just like everyone else, individuals with their own views about COVID vaccines). And families deciding to withdraw from formal education, choosing instead to home-school.
1 comment:
The Adults are the issue, kids will play with one another, they don't see color, hate, or Covid BS like Adults IMO! It's therefore a learned behavior coming from Adults if a kiddo bullies, becomes racist, or thinks Covid-jabs are the greatest thing since ice-cream, in my opinion.
Frankly, the hard part are those that are strong and stick to their convictions not to be experimented on with a failing injection of poisons that feel like those that do cave are weak; We must not judge, forgive, be kind, and this is hard to do with folks whom are so weak they believe the sky is falling from non-vaccinated people. To bring this level playing field about, illegal corrupted mandates must be done away with, and freedom to choose, or not, to get a Covid shot or two or three, or whatever, should be a purely personal choice, IMO! It's all but over, Covid is mute at this point, people die every year with something, Covid can be cured without a shot that can kill you possibly, so sooner than later, Covid, Mandates, Biden, stupidity, will go away, no one wants to play this mamma drama game anymore, it's wasting time we all should be enjoying and celebrating living, life, having joyful times on Earth; Life is full of Cycles, some are great, some are definitely not anything but waste of precious time, this is just plain dumb, dumb, dumbest, times, in my opinion. Believe good wins over this nasty evil plot to sell lies! Sell through propaganda,
fears, threats, and old timer's who are fading into the sunset, missing their mark, IMO!
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