Thursday, August 20, 2020

A Shot In The Arm In The Dark

A reminder that if we do discover an effective vaccine for COVID-19, remember that state legislatures are stuffed with anti-science, anti-vaccine idiots who are definitely going to try to block anyone from being able to get it, and that they will have the support of a growing number of Americans who won't accept it. Ohio is a perfect example of the coming disaster that awaits us in 2021.

During an April video conference of one of Ohio’s prominent anti-vaccine political groups, members expressed their worries about what the legislative response to a looming COVID-19 vaccine might look like.

However, they took solace in a powerful ally.

The chairman of the Ohio House Health committee, Rep. Scott Lipps, R-Franklin, told members he would be happy to fight for Health Freedom Ohio, but he’ll need backup.

“I need help with members of the health committee, because we’re going to face a couple huge bills that are gonna matter,” he said.

“We’re gonna face a couple bills that this group does not like. And I have to have energy to stop this vaccine shit that’s coming.”

A month prior, House Speaker Pro Tempore Jim Butler, second in the caucus ranks, joined on HFO’s monthly call.

He praised the members for their work advancing “medical freedom,” a term generally referring to abolishing or weakening requirements that students or employees receive vaccines for various diseases.

“There has been a lot of progress,” he said. “I’ve been around a long time, almost 10 years now. From when I started to now, there are a whole lot more legislators who believe in medical freedom. It’s thanks to groups like this one that that’s happening.”

Vaccines offer protections not just to the person who takes them, but to those around them. If enough people in a population are vaccinated, everyone — including people who are immunosuppressed from things like AIDS or chemotherapy and cannot take vaccines — faces lower risk of infection.

Senator Peggy Lehner has noticed the growth of anti-vaccine attitudes in the legislature, often under the term “medical freedom.”

The individualistic worldview of medicine, she said, is part of the reason the U.S. has failed to control COVID-19.

“Medical freedom may bring about the death of others,” she said. “I don’t know that that could be called freedom. It doesn’t strike me as a very pro-life position.”


If the Food and Drug Administration does authorize one or several COVID-19 vaccine candidates (purportedly as early as year’s end), the Ohio legislature could have some questions to answer: Who gets the vaccine first? How do they get it? Who pays for it? Who, if anyone, must get it?

Dorit Reiss, a law professor at the University of California Hastings who specializes in vaccine law, says states could have a handful of these kinds of questions to answer. However, a more hostile legislature could stymie vaccine distribution efforts.

“The states could definitely step in to make it harder to get vaccinated,” she said.

Freedom to die and kill others. Hell, we can't even get a majority of Americans to wear masks in public in most states. A vaccine is going to be a nightmare, and I guarantee you there will be legislation passed in several states that will make vaccines all but useless in fighting COVID-19 and future pandemic waves.

And let's not forget the coming violence being telegraphed in states that make vaccines mandatory.

A veteran and business owner living in Shasta County, California is completely fed up with the authoritarian Covid lockdown orders so he gave a stern warning to the Board of Supervisors....

Carlos Zapata warned the masked officials in the Board of Supervisors chamber that a revolution is brewing....

“Right now we’re being peaceful and you better be happy we’re good citizens, that we’re peaceful citizens but it’s not gonna be peaceful much longer — and this isn’t a threat — I’m not a criminal, I’ve never been a criminal but I’m telling you real good citizens are going to turn into real concerned and revolutionary citizens real soon. And nobody else is gonna say that. I’m probably the only person that has the balls to say what I’m saying right now.”

“We’re building and we’re organizing and we’ll work with law enforcement or without law enforcement but you won’t stop us when the time comes because our families are starving!” he said.

“This is a warning for what’s coming because it’s not going to be peaceful for much longer! It’s gonna get real!” Zapata said adding he went to war for this country and he’s ready to fight for this country even if it’s against its own citizens.

The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will only be the beginning of the massive amount of work ahead of all of us to survive as a country.


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