, 08.03.2021 09:32 AM

My latest: to vaccinate or not?

To vaccinate, or not to vaccinate?

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With all apologies due to Shakespeare and Hamlet, that isn’t the question. Or it shouldn’t be.

Getting vaccinated — so, you know, you don’t get really sick or die, and/or so you don’t leave someone else sick or dying — shouldn’t be complicated. It should be easy.

But, for many, it isn’t.

Why?

The New York Times fronted a story about what it called “the unvaccinated” in Sunday’s paper. Above the fold, colour graphics, across three columns. Four bylines. Big story.

According to the Times, some 93 million Americans are unvaccinated. Given the fact that the satanic delta variant is rampaging across the U.S., sickening and killing those 93 million holdouts, the Times set out to answer the question: Why?

The 93 million aren’t a monolith. They are actually two groups in one.

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One group, unsurprisingly, are unrelenting in their opposition to vaccines. They are, the Times wrote, “disproportionately white, rural, evangelical Christian and politically conservative.”

Their opposition to vaccines isn’t about the vaccines per se. This constituency are against pretty much anything that is authored by government: Fluoridation, the metric system, bilingualism, seat belts, speed limits, you name it.

But there’s another group who are not so easily dismissed by the elites as backward, backwoods mouth-breathers. This second group, surprise surprise, “tend to be a more diverse and urban group, including many younger people, Black and Latino Americans, and Democrats.”

Democrats!

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This “diverse and urban” group aren’t as hardcore in their opposition. They aren’t saying “never” as much as “not yet.”

They have put off getting vaccinated or are waiting for more information. But therein lies a problem: The information they are getting is often bad.

Up here in the Great White North, too, government pandemic communications have ranged from incoherent to incomprehensible.

Remember our erstwhile federal minister of health demanding that we don’t wear masks? And then flip-flopping and insisting that we do? Or her insinuation that anyone who wanted to close our borders was a crypto-racist, and then reversing herself on that, too?

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Or the politicians and the alleged public health experts saying AstraZeneca was safe, then withdrawing it, then saying it was safe again, then withdrawing it yet again? All in a period of a few weeks?

With our leaders and experts so often publicly contradicting each other — and themselves — it should surprise no one that enthusiasm for getting a potentially life-saving jab would drop precipitously. Millions lack confidence in vaccines simply because they have lost confidence in the very governments who are pushing vaccines.

So, governments have tried all manner of tricks to encourage vaccination: Advertising, lotteries and tickets to special events. But millions of holdouts remain unconvinced and are still holding out.

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Plenty of other factors have contributed to our collective failure to achieve the elusive herd immunity. Geography, education, fear of deportation and lack of access to regular health care are all in the mix, too.

But conspiracy theories — as dark and despicable and dishonest as they are — have had an enormous impact on the attitudes of the unvaccinated. They’re everywhere, oozing up through dark corners on the Internet, persuading millions to take the risk of getting sick — or worse.

The conspiracy theories are myriad: That governments can track those who get a shot. That enough metal is being injected to make magnets stick to you. That they will make you infertile. That the U.S. government created COVID-19 as a “bio-weapon” to reduce their own population and defeat Donald Trump (seriously).

In Canada, we are finally doing better than the States in getting people fully vaccinated. But nearly 20% of Canadians still refuse to get a shot.

To vaccinate, or not to vaccinate? For millions, that remains a question, sure. But the answer is equally clear.

Get vaccinated. Please.

— Warren Kinsella was the Chief of Staff to a federal Liberal Minister of Health

35 Comments

  1. Robert White says:

    Sars-2-nCoV-19 is a deadly American manufactured Gain-of-Function Fourth Generation Biowarfare bioweapon manufactured for purposes of Fourth Generation Biowarfare against superpower finance rival China.

    It first leaked at Fort Detrick Maryland U.S. Army Biosecurity Level Four laboratory when Fort Detrick U.S. Army Epidemiologists tested the engineered Chimera on a herd of pigs held in an outdoor pen on the BSL-4 compound.

    Rural farm animals adjacent to the rural BSL-4 laboratory became infected with Sars-2-nCoV-19 when the Chimera became airborne as soon as it was tested on the herd of pigs. When the leak was detected the CDC shut the BSL-4 down in August of 2019, and the bioweapon was deployed against China post-Wuhan Military Games 2019 via glass ampule smashed onto the ground in the entrance way to the Hunan Seafood Market as instructed via Central Intelligence Agency senior manager.

    Deployment was achieved via an embedded IO within the American contingent of U.S. Army athletes.

    As a signatory & charter member of the 2014 Cambridge Working Group Call-to-Action on American manufactured deadly Gain-of-Function Biosecurity Level Four pandemic pathogens I, for one, can assure you and your readers that Sars-2-nCoV-19 is a Gain-of-Function bioweapon that was manufactured from Coronaviruses to become novelCorona [nCorona] which is a retrovirus rDNA and as as such has no known curative to ameliorate COVID-19 disease, or the concomitant mutations.

    I signed for Carleton University in 2014 and was actively aware of Gain-of-Function research from that juncture in 2014.

    http://www.cambridgeworkinggroup.org/

    I’m also a Counterintelligence researcher and have Enhanced Reliability Status under the Royal Canadian Mounted Police security clearance for purposes of Government of Canada employment.

    In brief, I am not a conspiracy theorist, and I don’t embellish facts, or lie whatsoever as I am an honest and reliable individual and always have been too. The RCMP knows who I am and CSIS follows every word I type on my keyboard, and will continue to monitor my commentary & research for the remainder of my life online.

    Sincerely, Robert G. White fm453@ncf.ca

    • Robert,

      Wow. That took an incredible amount of guts given who presides over the Canadian government. May our Lord bless you to the end of your days.

    • Interestingly enough, it was Trump that chose to re-open Fort Detrick. Just saying.

    • David Bronaugh says:

      From https://www.glebereport.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glebe-Report_sept_2014_web.pdf
      Robert White
      Honours B.A. in Experimental
      Psychology from Carleton University
      and a diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Algonquin College of
      Applied Arts and Technology.

      Can you explain why this makes you qualified to bring forward what appear to be conspiracy theories on this topic?

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        David,

        He sure can and has explained it here before. Wait for it.

      • Robert White says:

        I’m one of only a few Canadians that are 2014 CWG members. I’m also known by CSIS & RCMP as a Counterintelligence person.

        My skill set in terms of Counterintelligence is known by the Government of Canada Security Establishment and I have Enhanced Reliability Status under RCMP security clearance like I already stated.

        What qualifies me is my background and reputation of being an honest forthright individual with integrity.

        I’m also qualified academically too as I studied under Canada’s Chair of Neuroscience H. Anisman for Behavioural Medicine courses when I was getting my Experimental Psychology degree at Carleton.

        RW

      • Campbell says:

        Turns out his beliefs on Stage 2 LRT in Ottawa were equally fanciful.

        • Robert White says:

          Lets see you run up against Canada’s longest running veteran Mayor of the nation’s capital and come out of it without a few mistakes.

          I ran against Jim Watson because he is unbeatable as a Canadian politician and I thought I would learn the ropes of politics by doing so too.

          My bad.

          RW

    • Well that’s my comic relief for this evening….

    • david ray says:

      that dog won’t hunt. in fact, it won’t even leave the porch.

      • Robert White says:

        It’s August 5th in the holiday season, the dog’s name is Kujo, and the dog is waiting for the Spymaster to open the front door that the dog is patiently waiting to be opened.

        The Spymaster won’t open the door because the Spymaster knows Kujo is waiting patiently in wait on the front porch to greet his Spymaster.

        RW

    • Pipes says:

      WOW!

      I am the dumbest rhetorical virus in the lab, but wouldn’t deployment of the virus be an act of war?
      Is it possible that covid 19 was China’s response?

      • Robert White says:

        Deployment of the Fourth Generation Biowarfare bioweapon Sars-2-nCoV-19 is a preemptive first strike volley in Financial War, and precursor to kinetic thermonuclear hot conflagration.

        NATO is jockeying for position in a gambit to retain global finance Hegemony because China is eating their lunch and ripping America’s face off & ripping their eyeballs out too.

        China is not in the position financially to usurp via global Hegemony, but they are inching closer by the business quarter, and the U.S. Federal Reserve can’t balance their books or retire the debts it has taken on.

        There is a gradual build up towards thermonuclear World War Three as the finance conundrum plays out to reveal who is really swimming naked.

        The USA is $30 trillion in deficit now which does not lend confidence to foreign creditors that are heavily invested in U.S. Securities. If I was a foreign creditor to the USA I would call the loans on the corporation and force them into a margin call on the deficits.

        Congress knows that the financial situation is wholly unsustainable and will not last much longer before war breaks out.

        The one thing about Sars-2-nCoV-19 that is certainty is that it is being used as a preemptive first strike offensive weapon against China’s One Belt One Road initiative forwards.

        Financially, it is not possible that China would launch a bioweapons assault on the world. Theoretically it is not possible either because no logic backs a theory that would be tactically feasible.

        Logically it is an intentional act of war utilized as a precursor to hot kinetic war.

        RW

        • Ronald O'Dowd says:

          Robert,

          China has seen mixed results as is tries to flex its muscles economically and thereby intimidate or co-opt nation-states. A fine example of success is in Africa where China holds sway to a considerable extent. However, when economic and strategic pressure was put on Australia, it blew up right in their face to the point that both nations are now in cold-war status.

          Bellicose rhetoric against Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines makes perfect sense in the context of a reflexive defensive response to an American initiated threat — so make no mistake, if this explanation is entirely accurate, that makes Trump a war criminal and yes, it was indeed a quite deliberate act of war, that resulted in the deaths of 4.2 million people.

          Where I get off the bus is when considering Biden’s equally tough rhetorical response and the signaling that any military action against a western-aligned power would quickly lead to war. It’s my sense that China is prepared to deal with the western world in this context knowing full well that Biden did not, will not, nor would even contemplate action such as Trump allegedly took. So, it’s a hot and flammable peace going forward but neither superpower is crazy enough to directly or indirectly take action that will inevitably lead to MAD and the extinction of life on this planet.

          In the above context, I understand far better the aggressive posture and its origins which is clearly one of a country in a highly defensive posture. That is reassuring knowing that Xi would likely never initiate military operations that would amount to a precursor to WWIII.

          • Robert White says:

            China already fully understands they were attacked by the U.S. Army via the false flag progenitor outbreak in Wuhan Province. They acted accordingly by not participating in anymore of the bear baiting & serial antagonisms of the U.S. Pentagon or White House. At that juncture Trump became a complete liability for the U.S. admin and NATO because Trump lost leverage with his head fake Smoot-Hawley Act II trade war with China.

            Once Xi announced One Belt One Road initiatives in the face of a regime change in the U.S. admin it became easy to understand that China was announcing that they were no longer interested in being dictated to by a unilateral U.S. monopoly via trade terms.

            Now that America and NATO realizes that China & Xi Jinping are adamant about no longer tolerating U.S. dictatorial egocentricism via their go ahead with their own plans for 5G and One Belt One Road planning there will be a nexus of conflict that will ultimately turn kinetic as things spiraled out of control when Ukraine was challenged in the same manner via prior administration. Hong Kong was also a nexus of conflict between nations as they wrestle for dominance.

            America is at at disadvantage via manufacturing capacity if they foment war whereas China is strategically positioned to defend itself in war via their infrastructure investments made and their 5G manufacturing hubs that currently supply the entire world in trade.

            If trade routes get sclerotic via bottlenecks as is currently the case in myriad places we will see that the war planning has already advanced us all into this final stage of war preparation via the bioweapon Sars-2-nCoV-19 and Forth Generation Biowarfare shutdown of normal trading routes & hubs.

            Global Passports for vaccine identification is the next spike in the railroad ties to an actual war theater in so far as they are building the Next Berlin Wall out of COVID-19 passports so that the vaccinated can live in East Berlin and the unvaccinated can live in West Berlin.

            Next it will be Putin making the declaration to an American president to tear down these walls as the next iteration of geopolitics gets even uglier.

            Cold war can only last until the Federal Reserve decides that they are going to taper their spending.
            Once the Federal Reserve tapers it will be advised to man the battle stations.

            One thing I liked about the last cold war were the automobiles. They don’t make them like they used to.

            RW

  2. Doug says:

    Several points
    -claiming that white, Evangelical AMERICANS are opposed to vaccines, the metric system and bilingualism is a slip back to classic Liberal misinformation tactic to associate Canadian Conservatives with unsympathetic American conservatives. Bilingualism is a not an American issue and the metric systems hasn’t been for 45 years
    -along the same lines, linking opposition to Fluoridation to wingnuts must mean that residents of BC and Quebec are off their rockers, as those provinces have the lowest levels of Fluoridation: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/health/publications/healthy-living/community-water-fluoridation-across-canada-2017.html#tb1
    -prior to COVID, when vaccine hesitancy wasn’t prominent in the culture wars, the greatest rates were reported in #progressive areas like Williamsburg, New York, the PNW states, BC and Quebec: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0046958019894098

  3. Nasty Bob says:

    Problem is they’re doing it wrong . It’s time to fight fire with fire ie. more better conspiracy/ false info :
    “ New research indicated vaccinated people’s sex lives improved up to 500 %. Erections harder, longer lasting according to research soon to be published in the LanceIt – also women become uncontrollable nymphomaniacs “

    Publicly white conservative Christian men will point to the dangerous moral rot that the vaccine will wrought but secretly they’ll be getting a jab and forcing their wives/gfs to do the same.

    Problem solved- you’re welcome

  4. I’m sorry but in my book, it all boils down to two mental definitions: NPD and A(S)PD. Enough said.

  5. Steve T says:

    The best part of this whole diatribe is the statement “I am not a conspiracy theorist”.

    • Steve T says:

      This is for Robert White’s ramble, above.

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Steve,

        Stay tuned. Robert is more than the real deal.

        • Ronald O'Dowd says:

          It will start when they apply pressure on Warren more likely in person than by telephone. They will try to get this thread obliterated and they will very likely go after Robert as well.

          That doesn’t happen to so-called conspiracy theorists.

          • Robert White says:

            Nobody will pressure Warren, and in terms of intel I am allowed to do whatever I want to do,and nobody on the face of planet Earth has power over me, or my commentary. That includes the Canadian Security Establishment & Five Eyes flotsam & jetsam of the intel world.

            Warren has no worries here, and I would not bring him worries either.

            RW

    • Pedant says:

      Funny thing about conspiracy theories is that occasionally they become conspiracy fact. Not often, but occasionally.

      I have no idea whether Robert’s allegations are accurate. But he has included his real name and CV to back up his words. The fact that Warren allows the comment to be displayed on his website shows that Robert isn’t some crank off the street.

      Do you trust everything government officials tell you, be they Canadian, US, or other? For example, do you really believe Lee Harvey Oswald independently planned and executed a logistically perfect assassination of the President Kennedy? I don’t.

  6. Derek Pearce says:

    It’s going to take a serious MASS die-off among the unvaccinated in order for these culture warriors to take it seriously. And I’ll have zero fucking sympathy for them.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Derek,

      Ditto. They asked for it, they got it [INSERT CAR MANUFACTURER’S NAME HERE].

    • The Doctor says:

      Derek, Charlie Sykes explained this perfectly the other day in the Bulwark. People like De Santis will thrive politically almost no matter what. Even if Florida’s death rate goes sky-high, De Santis will still be a hero among the Trumpy crowd for being “brave” and “standing up to the Libs”.

      Basically, almost nothing short of the entire state of Florida dropping dead from covid would convince these goobers that maybe they’re wrong. Even then they would deny it was covid that killed these people.

      It’s fucking hopeless.

  7. In any event, this is a free country so each of you can believe or disbelieve. Whatever floats your boat. But let’s just say that further intelligence leaks are in the offing and some here will have egg on their face. The only positive around this whole thing is that the brinksmanship hasn’t as yet set off WWIII…now did somebody really repeatedly threaten to nuke Japan? I hope not, for all our sakes.

  8. Fred J Pertanson says:

    I am waiting for Novavax, which is based on proven technology.

    “Novavax announced its latest stunning trial results last week, and an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent even against coronavirus variants”

    “The recent results confirm that it has roughly the same efficacy as the two authorized mRNA vaccines, with the added benefit of being based on an older, more familiar science. The protein-subunit approach used by Novavax was first implemented for the hepatitis B vaccine, which has been used in the U.S. since 1986. The pertussis vaccine, which is required for almost all children in U.S. public schools, is also made this way. ¨

  9. Gilbert says:

    Let me remind readers that some people have legitimate medical reasons not to get vaccinated. They include an allergy to polyethylene glycol and a compromised immune system.

    Regarding Robert’s comments, I’m surprised. If the US created the coronavirus, did the US expect it to remain in China?

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Gilbert,

      We’re talking Trump here. He could have quite conceivably overuled the national security, intelligence and defence establishment. That’s what a president can do, especially one, to put it kindly, who is very far from level-headed. Trump always looks to get even first no matter the slight and damn the torpedoes. Sounds more than plausible to me.

    • Phil in London says:

      I fully agree with the sentiment but I’m guessing of the 20% unvaccinated that a number larger than 10% of the population is selfish and won’t vaccinate whereas I’m guessing under 5% can’t vaccinate.

      It’s that selfish group to whom I quote JFK “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”

      I know too many people who selfishly have re-opened their businesses because 80% of their community bought in and pushe the numbers up so they could open.

      The one’s I know owe their revenues to people who unlike themselves did vaccinate.

      I’m okay with no vaccine but I’m very okay with those people being second class citizens in terms of rights. Those who can’t get vaccinated are Liley okay with limiting their actions because they don’t want those who won’t to kill them.

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