This is a good thing!

We all need to get the vaccination ASAP.

You see no problem with the government forcing people to vaccinate? 

Actually I don't have a problem with it in this case Tim and a year ago, I would have been vehemently, 100% of the opposite opinion.

A couple of things changed my mind.

Before last month, I had never received a flu shot. I had the flu 1 time in my life and have only been sick 1 time in 20 years. I have an autoimmune disorder with an over active immune system that needs to be suppressed with prednisone/steroids. When COVID started, I spent hundreds of  hours following and studying it, the flu and other virus's. 

One of the most stunnings things that become readily apparent, is the deaths of older people with COVID because they were more vulnerable health wise........much, much higher than the flu in part because old people are protected from the flu by vaccines. 

It's this population that receives flu shots at a higher rate than anybody else.  So it afforded me a unique opportunity to get a glimpse into  the effectiveness of the flu vaccine.

Looking at the stats and comparing people 65+ dying from a virus (the flu) that offers protection with a vaccine and comparing that to the stats of people 65+ dying from a virus(COVID) that we had zero protection from no vaccine available. Granted, COVID is more deadly.  However, after we all get vaccinated, just watch how the death toll plunges. 

In previous years, it was not uncommon for 50,000 people to die from the flu, so its not just like catching a cold.  I speculated that without the flu vaccine for the elderly, that would easily have been a 6 digit number, more than double that. It became clear how effective the flu vaccine is in protecting older people.

I am turning 65 in less than 2 months. I almost never get sick but have some physical issues including a bad heart arrhythmia. If I did get a bad flu or COVID, there is a good chance it could kill me, just like, the statistics prove, that it kills other people like me at MUCH higher rate.

I have strongly believed that vaccines are safe for decades. Any risk, is minuscule compared to the risk of getting the disease that the vaccine protects you from. Anybody that disagrees with that is using something other than science to form their opinion.

So for ME, the decision to change from never getting the flu vaccine to always getting it was an awakening based on looking closely at the facts/science for the first time.

However, having the opinion that others should be required to receive the COVID vaccine is taking this to another level. What changed my mind there?

I have a 95 year old dad. He has always refused the flu vaccine because he is convinced vaccines are not safe and he has never had the flu in his life. He has spent the last 9 months, cooped up in his assisted living facility with family only able to visit him at his window because of the high risk of COVID to all people in his situation. This facility has been fortunate without a COVID outbreak like many that killed people like my Dad. He has had a great immune system that protected him from the flu all these years but if he gets exposed to the COVID virus, it will be a completely different ball game. Odds are very high that an unprotected Dad would catch it if he were exposed and at 95, he would get very sick and possibly die. My  very healthy 32 year old son has it for the 2nd time right now and says he is sicker than at any time in his life. 

Dad insists that he will not take the COVID shot. I am KNOWING that this is totally irrational and totally based on his lacking of understanding of the authentic, proven science that would greatly protect his health and life. 

So its his health and life to make his decisions about right?

That only applies when your personal decisions have no affect on other people. COVID is massively contagious. People that get it, didn't get it from a bat or the water or the food. They always get it from another infected person. That infected person did not intentionally spread it to others. They don't have control over whether COVID infects them and whether COVID infects others when THEY are exposed to COVID in their environment(from another infected person). 

As it turns out(other than washing hands/social distancing) they WILL have control. The one item that give them the control is getting the vaccine. This item controls odds of them getting it AND IT DETERMINES ODDS OF THEM GIVING IT TO OTHERS.  This isn't a cold or even the flu. It's a very deadly disease during a pandemic. Dad is a very bright man who has made mostly smart decisions in his life based on exercising his freedoms to choose.

In this case, he is ignorant of facts/science, as everybody else afraid of the vaccine is(the MSM caused much of this because Trump was for the vaccine coming out early and they had to convince us that it might not be safe because they hate Trump).

Ignorance that hurts only you is one thing. Ignorance that kills other people is another.

I want my dad vaccinated for COVID based on knowing whats best for him but respect his choice of choosing not to get the shot.

I want my dad vaccinated for COVID based on knowing what best for people around him and DON'T respect his choosing not to get the shot  regarding this choice because this could kill other people. You should not be allowed to do things that kill other people. 

Driving drunk in a car? If you are the only person in the car and hit a tree at 70 mph, it kills only you.  If you hit another vehicle with innocent people, you can kill them.

Whether its a car or your body infected with COVID, we must make responsible decisions that don't result in the death of others. Again, this is not a cold or even the flu. COVID is actually killing multiple times more people than drunk drivers and is far more deadly and must be viewed from the vantage point of the risk of a COVID infected YOU pose to the general population which is elevated to a similar level of a drunk driver on the road.