By contrast, if people were dying of covid in the numbers the media would have us believe, why aren't we stepping over the bodies of people, especially homeless people, everywhere? Why don't we see unusually heavy activity at hospitals, doctors and nurses and emergency vehicles 24/7 so much so that the average person comments upon it.Good grief, JonDouglas, are you getting a Ph.D. in the subject? I thought this was an informal discussion forum!
Since nobody here is going to read all your footnotes and references, let me introduce some simple, common-sense thoughts on the subject.
1. If this vaccine, which was admittedly "rushed" (out of necessity) was causing deaths, horrifying reactions, etc., wouldn't there be some indication of that by now? People have been getting the vaccine in this country for half a year now.
2. The disease itself does cause many, many deaths (in the millions) and horrifying reactions. I have heard of very few, or none, from the vaccine.
3. I don't know about the correlation between education and receiving the vaccine. But the parts of the country with a higher proportion of educated people do have a higher rate of vaccination. The resistance seems to come largely from rural areas, which may or may not prove something about education.
4. Within the last few years, everyone I know has gotten the newest vaccines for shingles, flu, and pneumonia. Our doctors told us to get it, so we did. No big argument about it, that I have heard. Only this one has provoked so much anger, fear, insulting, skepticism, and nastiness often along political lines.
5. Any vaccine carries a certain amount of "risk," I suppose. We have to weigh the risk of the disease to ourselves against the risk of the vaccine. That is true of every vaccine in the world. From all I've read about this, the people who have received the vaccine are alive. Or at least, they haven't died from Covid or from the vaccine. And isn't that the bottom line?
Education has nothing to do with lining up for a vaccine. It's the mentality of the individual that will determine compliance, not their education level. The will of the collective will always be subordinate to that of the methodological individualist ie. autonomous individuals, people unafraid to think and decide for themselves. Trying to make a person feel ignorant because they have decided they do not want this vaccine is, well, ignorant in itself.
And what about people who cannot take the vaccine for medical or other reasons? Are they to be bullied and/or shunned for the rest of their lives for this decision? What of people on reservations or people with religious beliefs? And what about the homeless. I haven't ever seen them dying in greater numbers than before or do we just ignore homeless people because they don't count?
I believe there are a myriad of reasons why an individual may choose not to be vaccinated. This isn't a one size fits all situation.