Covidland

We’ve been surviving in Covidland for almost two years now. The mixed information and politicized agendas have forced the citizens of the nations into a divide. In the United States, we have always stood behind our God-given freedoms and our constitution. Now in Covidland, these freedoms are being threatened. Our already critically stressed healthcare system is on the verge of collapse.

Despite the chronic short staffing, caregiver burnout, and unprecedented mortality rates, the government passed a vaccination mandate that threatens to bring it all crumbling to the ground. Caregivers are being forced to become vaccinated or give up their careers. Is this still the country that promotes life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness when your freedoms are being stripped and extorted?

You must give up your medical autonomy and freedom or give up your financial security.

I had just gotten off a difficult 12-hour shift in the ICU and went to the local watering hole to get dinner. They had shut down with the first wave of covid and remained closed for 18 months until their staff could return under better conditions. I was craving their fish tacos and a reprieve from the stress of patients struggling to breathe even on ventilation. The only seat was by a gentleman in his 60’s and I pulled up a stool.

After placing my order, the man eventually turned and saw my scrubs. He decided to initiate a conversation, mostly of him talking at me. He had a lot to say about covid and what he thought of all the “Unvaccinated a**holes.” I nodded along with him hoping he’d get it off his chest so I could go back to relaxing. Instead, he decided to keep on for a good ten minutes about every way the unvaccinated are the problem and how they put everyone at risk.

What this man didn’t know, is that I had recently been forced to be vaccinated in order to finish my nursing degree and to keep from losing my job at the hospital.

My autonomy had been stripped, my body violated, and my rights stripped away.

All to take care of others and continue the career path I had set out on years before and invested thousands of dollars in. The school gave us two days to decide once Washington state mandated it in schools.

The day I was vaccinated I cried. My friend there for emotional support cried. The nurse who was vaccinating me cried. In the blink of an eye, the state and the school had forced me to comply or drop out of school, nine months away from achieving my RN.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and turned to look at him. “You are talking about everything the unvaccinated are taking from you, and the harm they are doing to others. You’ve said they are preventing herd immunity. I have some questions for you on that."

“Sure. Ask away.”

So, the following interaction began as I said:

You think the vaccine should be mandated to provide “herd” immunity. So, are you willing to answer some true and false questions? Keeping in mind there are no politics involved and you can only answer True or False.

He agreed and so I asked:

You believe that everyone should be vaccinated because it will protect others around them. True or False?

True.

This is based on vaccines like the smallpox vaccine that eradicated the disease from our current communities through herd immunity. True or False?

True.

The smallpox vaccine prevents people from acquiring the disease. True or False?

True.

The smallpox vaccine can be given to someone who has gotten the disease in the early stages as a treatment to cure smallpox. True or False?

True.

The Covid vaccine prevents you from getting Covid. True or False?

False.

The Covid vaccine prevents you from infecting others. True or False?

False.

The Covid vaccine may help decrease your symptoms and prevent hospitalization for you. True or False?

True.

By having milder symptoms, you may not know you have the Covid virus. True or False?

True.

By not recognizing that you are carrying the virus you are at a higher risk of infecting others. True or False?

True.

By still being transmittable, and by not providing you full immunity it is impossible to cause herd immunity. True or False?

True.

So, through all these questions we can surmise that the vaccine only benefits the person being vaccinated and not the people around them. True or False?

True

So, you are supporting a government mandate that will strip a person's medical autonomy and privacy rights to force them into a vaccine that in no way creates a herd immunity or benefits others to an extent that justifies it?

There he paused and really started looking at me. “Wait, you don’t support the vaccine?”

“That is not what I said,” I replied.

“You took one look at my scrubs and decided that I would agree with you, so it was safe to voice your opinions on the unvaccinated. You have said some downright rude things and put all the liability on those that are making personal choices, for their own personal health and beliefs. Yet based on your answers, you have no evidence that if they were vaccinated it would benefit the community. I believe in medical autonomy and personal freedoms. My political or personal beliefs have nothing to do with it. But when you strip it all away from the politics and look at the facts, how can you judge other people for making their own decisions?”

“I’ve never thought about it like that.” He was mind blown. He eventually thanked me for the conversation and went on his way.

This interaction has been weighing on my mind the last couple of weeks as we grow closer to the mandate in Washington state being enforced on October 18th. Doctors, nurses, CNA’s, EMS, Police officers, state workers… all professions who serve the public communities being stripped of their rights. Covidland is a terrifying place to live and will only get worse as this forces our healthcare to the brink of collapse.

I am writing this as a call to action. You don't have to agree with me. But question the facts and find the answers for yourself before blindly attacking your neighbors or those with who you don’t agree. Look into your own beliefs versus what you’re being told to believe. Take away the emotional charge and go back to the facts. Leave party politics out of the health care discussion. Make choices that are right for you and your family. Make a choice not to stigmatize others for doing the same.

Do not let them divide us with this mandate, as they have tried to divide us with race and other social disparities. Our enemies want us divided so they can watch us fall. President Eisenhower had it right when he insisted the pledge state,

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Indivisible should be our cry, stand with your neighbors, stand for liberty and justice for all.

Hold on to your freedoms and do not let them go silently into the night. There is a known truth in health care, it is easier to not start treatment than it is to stop a treatment once it has been started. The same is true with our freedoms. It is not easy to hold the line and keep them in the light, but it is easier than having to fight for them once they have been stripped away into the night. If we let the flame of liberty die out, the world will go dark, and it will not shine again for our generation.

#Indivisible.

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