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A comment on Decline in effectiveness of all three US Covid-19 vaccines over time. Parent comment

Re:Decline in effectiveness of all three US Covid-19 vaccine... by noduerme on Sunday November 07, 2021 @06:17AM (#29138409)
It's bothersome that people who otherwise make sense equate these two things and totally miss the point about one personal decision having ramifications for society, while the other does not. The elision of that crucial point, or the intentional mixing of all regulations as being equally public necessities, helps prove to vaccine skeptics that rule-thumpers have no respect for individual choices and detracts/distracts from the actual harm that antivaxers do. And it's a position usually put forth by those in favor of public health controls.

If people can't separate emergencies (temporary) from other conditions, or the things that only affect one person from those that affect society, and use the virus and vax campaign as an excuse to reduce individual choice in a permanent way - by of all things, tying it to laws against harmful personal vices or other stupid choices - they will be speaking to their own echo chamber of fellow virtue signalers without accomplishing either of their supposed aims.

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Re:Decline in effectiveness of all three US Covid-19 vaccine... by overhero on Sunday November 07, 2021 @06:33AM (#29138525)
the point here is that It seems entiterly arbitrary to enforce seat-belts but not enforce vaccine-shots.

in a constitutional state mandates should not be arbitrarys, that's a defining characteristic actually.

so either you have seatbelt laws and vaccine mandates, or you have no vaccine mandates, but also don't enforce seatbelts.

then if you decide to enforce seatbelts, where do you stop? smokeing, obesity, extreme sports, going outside without a proper reason ... you needed to outlaw all of these "risky-activities" for the good of society then!

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Re:Decline in effectiveness of all three US Covid-19 vaccine... by ifyoubuildit on Sunday November 07, 2021 @08:52AM (#29139445)
One difference is that you can decide to stop wearing your seatbelt if we learn at some point that seat belts are actually more harmful than helpful.

Rather than saying if we mandate one thing, we should mandate everything, we could just evaluate each of them individually. And since that's what we actually do, and these decisions are made by different people at different times (because of elections, appointments, etc), some inconsistency seems inevitable.

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Re:Decline in effectiveness of all three US Covid-19 vaccine... by noduerme on Sunday November 07, 2021 @03:43PM (#29143337)
How dare you be logical on the internet.
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Re:Decline in effectiveness of all three US Covid-19 vaccine... by noduerme on Sunday November 07, 2021 @06:56AM (#29138682)
It's not arbitrary. There is a clear, bright line between things individuals do that only endanger themselves - or which are wildly unlikely to endanger others - versus those which do endanger others. That's why drunk driving is a felony and not wearing a seatbelt is a minor violation. Even more importantly, it's why drunk driving or not being vaccinated is unethical, while not wearing a seatbelt is merely unlawful.
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