What Pisses Me Off

Don’t worry – despite the title, this post will not start, “Longtemps je me suis couché de bonne heure”.  It will be short.  I am angry that my managers will not get vaccinated.

As of today, everyone from age 16 up in New York State can sign up for a COVID vaccine.  Before then, everyone above the age of 29 could get a shot.  To sign up, you call one of the state-run centers or you call one of the participating pharmacies, you set up an appointment, show up, and roll up your sleeve.  The process is free and well-run.  The government seems to have gotten the memo that the goal is to get shots into peoples’ arms, rather than to throw up bureaucratic obstacles.  I got my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine last Friday.  There was no more than a ten-minute wait, the National Guard personnel who ran the center were knowledgeable and helpful, and the shot did not hurt.  I had barely-perceptible fatigue and headache the next day, but they were gone the day after that.  The government did something right.  Eat your hearts out, EU-resident readers.

On Sunday, I sent an email to Dee Dee and Mike, the managers in my parks, asking them if they had gotten the shot.  I reminded them that it was now available for people in their age-groups and I suggested that they get it if they had not already done so.  Dee Dee’s response was, “No. I’m not comfortable with getting an experimental gene therapy vaccination for something that has a 98% recovery rate. There are proven therapeutics I trust more out there I would take first.”  Mike’s was an evasive, “Where do I start?”  I think that, embedded in each of those responses was an implied statement that they will not take the vaccine because they do not trust the information that the media has given us about the vaccine – and they do not trust the media because of their political prejudices.

Here’s the problem with that (and I apologize if this is preaching to the choir):

• This isn’t politics.  It is science.  The virus doesn’t give a shit if you are red, white, purple, rich or poor, voted for Trump or Pol Pot;

• Science is imperfect, but it is the best thing that we have found to understand and shape the natural world so far (if you know of something better, tell me – please).  Therapies backed by repeatable, peer-reviewed studies work better than Clorox, Laetril, or fish-bowl cleaner;

• The vaccine is a low-risk, high-reward proposition.  There is an almost infinitesimal risk of an allergic reaction.  There is a significant risk of slight flu-like symptoms in the day or two after receiving the shots.  There is a very high chance of avoiding, well, COVID.  If you can get those odds in Vegas, jump on them and repeat until rich;

• It’s not just about you.  The evidence is unclear as to whether a vaccinated person can be a vector, but it is clear that that risk is reduced;

• Mike and Dee Dee are both smart people who are easily intelligent enough to understand the foregoing;

• Mike and Dee Dee both come into close, repeated contact with our customers which creates a risk that they could catch or spread the disease in the course of performing their jobs if they do not get vaccinated; and,

• Both care deeply about the health and safety of our customers.

My response to Dee Dee’s email was, “Please do get vaccinated – for your own sake, and for the sake of the rest of the herd.”  I sent Mike an email with a link to local vaccination sites and encouragement to check them out.  In a better world, I would have told both, “If you get sick, I will be concerned.  If you die, I will be sad.  If you infect our residents because you distrust science, I will be angry” – but their heels are dug in, and anything more will just piss them off.

People should be punished for refusing to be vaccinated.  Vaccine refusal is socially irresponsible behavior, no different from driving recklessly or dumping toxic waste into the water supply.  I am pretty sure that, under existing law, I could fire them if they refuse a point-blank order to get vaccinated.  Employment contracts are at will.  Last I heard, listening to Fox News and Newsmax did not make you a protected class.  The governor and the legislature have indicated that they will not oppose vaccine requirements by private employers.  But, of course, I will not fire them.  If I did that, I would lose two great workers and two friends.  I would have to move into one of the parks until I replaced them.  I definitely wouldn’t find anyone better, and I probably wouldn’t find anyone more devoted to the Enlightenment.  So, I will chew my leather straps, get my own shot, and hope they stay well.