Opinion: It Is Time to Take Action to Stop Anti-Vaxxer Attacks on Americans and Health Care Workers.

Although it makes zero sense to even semi-intelligent people, one has to respect the rights of the tin-foil hat crowd that refuse to be protected from imminent harm – to a certain extent, that is.

With the veritable explosion of the so-called “anti-vaxxer” crowd, and coupled with a highly infectious disease that has claimed the lives of well over half-a-million Americans, the militant opposition to other Americans being vaccinated must be crushed immediately and with extreme prejudice. Tens of thousands of American lives are at stake and none more-so than America’s children.

Not only are kids under 12 not candidates for any current vaccination, they are being struck sick by Republican governors pandering to anti-vaxxers in the name of “individual liberty,” and to project the Republicans’ new-found authoritarianism.

Now, however, spurred on by Republican governors banning mask and vaccination mandates in schools, government, and private enterprise, an alarming number of reports are coming that individual citizens are adversely affecting other Americans ability to be vaccinated.

This past week in Colorado a public health entity had to shut down mobile vaccination clinics because of harassment and abuse from the anti-vaxxer crowd targeting staff.

Seriously, it isn’t enough that some people are endangering their own families and communities by refusing to be vaccinated or wear a mask, an increasing number are doing everything in their power to prevent other Americans from protecting themselves, their families, and their communities by being vaccinated and “masking up.”

On Tuesday past, Dr. Dawn Comstock, the executive director of Jefferson County Public Health, described the harassment public health officials had to endure from “radicals;” including one nurse having an unidentified liquid thrown at them.”

Dr. Comstock said:

“Cars drove by screaming obscenities at vaccine staff and throwing garbage at them. I will not put the hard-working public health staff in harm’s way. Hostility and abuse toward public health and medical workers in Jefferson County is not new, and others around the country have unfortunately been dealing with similar traumatic experiences.

 While this behavior appears to be from a small group of radical-minded individuals who are empowered by disinformation and lies, these incidents appear to be occurring more frequently and with more intensity.

This violence toward public health is unacceptable. We will be working with our law enforcement partners to try to ensure this handful of extremists are not able to infringe on the rights of those who want to get vaccinated.”

According to Jefferson County Public Health, the abusive incidents last weekend “are not the first incidents” at its vaccination sites or events.

A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Public Health told Newsweek that its staff “has had live fireworks thrown into their space, people threaten to start physical altercations and people attempt to steal or destroy supplies.”

It was the same scenario in Georgia where public health officials had to shut down a mobile vaccination clinic after anti-vaxxers harassed staff. The commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Public Health, Dr. Kathleen Toomey, echoed any reasonable person’s sentiment regarding this dangerous and bizarre activity. She said:

“This is wrong. This is absolutely wrong. These people are giving their lives to help others and to help us in this state. We in Georgia can do better. We should be thanking these individuals trying to get life-saving vaccines to our state. These events are unacceptable, but unfortunately are becoming more common.”

Even in California, where Republicans are attempting to recall Governor Newsom over the state’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts, and successes, a clinic had to shut down because a nasty character who refused to be vaccinated “attacked two health care workers after they refused to give him a vaccination card.”

It is not just savages attacking health care workers either.

In Pensacola Florida a man ripped a mask off of a woman’s face at a rally.

In Tennessee, a state highway patrol officer lost his job and was charged with assault for “ripping a face mask off a man” during a traffic stop.

In Texas, an angry parent “physically assaulted” a school teacher and ripped her mask off during a “Meet the Teacher” event at the school.

And in Pennsylvania, a man ripped a mask off of an employee’s face “taking her eyeglasses and hat with it” at a beer store telling her:

“Take that (expletive) off. You don’t need that. This is all (expletive) anyway.”

It is a travesty, but the above are just a sampling of the kind of vicious actions being perpetrated by barbarians who should not be allowed to exist in a civilized society. However, although the perpetrators are vile human beings, they have been supported, and incited to bad actions, by Republican leaders who claim mitigation efforts are an infringement on personal freedom. But these brutish bullies are taking their savagery a step farther and infringing on other Americans personal freedom to protect themselves, their families, and communities from a deadly disease.

No-one really wants the anti-everything crowd to suffer a horrid disease like COVID-19 or any of its variants; it is a brutal disease. But if they persist in aiding the spread of the disease by disrupting vaccination clinics and assaulting other Americans because they are being responsible, it may be time to send them to a highly-guarded quarantine area and let them have their way with COVID-19 and endanger each other’s health.

It is not an unreasonable suggestion because they are responsible for spreading the disease and preventing the rest of the population from returning to a sense of normalcy; and they are purposely endangering public health ,which seems to be their real intent.

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Rmuse

Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.

Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.

Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.

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