Display MoreThe arguments over vaccine mandates are interesting and I find myself on the fence. Not because I think "individual rights" are breached by requirements to get vaccinated in certain jobs, or to enter certain public areas. But because I am unsure when vaccine mandates help reduce vaccine hesitancy and increase overall safety. Whether they do or not depends on a whole load of behavioural science (= we don't really know).
Here is a discussion of the Alice-in-Wonderland-like US politics on vaccine mandates, from a pro-mandate viewpoint.
I just think politicians should be honest (on both sides).
- Vaccine mandates are about reducing vaccine hesitancy, which is good for society in reducing pressure on health systems (primarily).
- They can also help the economy if people feel more comfortable going places where they know others are vaccinated.
- They can also reduce (no way eliminate) risks of COVID infection in sensitive places - Care homes, Hospitals
https://sciencebasedmedicine.o…-proves-immunity-forever/
Some fun (well, also were I a Florida citizen deeply worrying) blatantly political stuff (which I know you get on both sides):
Before we move on, let me update you on Dr. Ladapo’s tenure as Florida’s Surgeon General, as he’s been in the news near-continuously since he was introduced to SBM readers in September, where his casting doubt on vaccines, cheerleading for hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, spreading misinformation about masks, and dumpster-diving in VAERS was reported. Since then, Dr. Ladapo has packed quite a bit of controversy into less than four months in office. Dr. Ladapo
- got his Florida medical license in record time (two days) and then had a complaint filed against him with the medical board speedily dismissed;
- was awarded an annual salary of $437,000 (the highest ever paid), including tens of thousands of dollars from the University of Florida’s medical school, where he was also hired, and given tenure, in record time (for teaching and research) on the suggestion of a wealthy DeSantis donor, although the press reports that Dr. Ladapo has yet to show up for work there;
- continued to spread misinformation;
- been kicked out of a state Senator’s office for refusing her request to wear a mask due to what she described to him as a “serious condition”, later identified as breast cancer, for which she was undergoing treatment. He has yet to apologize, instead making up a lame excuse about not be able to “communicate” while wearing a mask; and
- starred in a PSA that barely mentioned vaccines, left out testing and mask wearing altogether, yet promoted treatments of questionable effectiveness (again).
With that, let’s turn to the exemptions to private employer vaccine mandates created by the legislature and Dr. Ladapo’s new rules implementing those exemptions.
THH
Do these lives matter? Not in some doctors eyes, do they in yours Thomas?