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Comment by TheBlight | Hacker News Reader

You've been duped into blaming an out-group for your problems.

This isn't the case where the actions of the group are harmless to me. Unvaccinated people and antimaskers are creating a more dangerous environment for me through their actions and inactions.

If you are vaccinated then you have nothing to worry about, right? ;-)

Not necessarily. The number of COVID infection cases related to new variants among the vaccinated population is increasing. That's why I'm back to wearing a mask again.

If everyone had been vaccinated as soon as the vaccine was available to them, and were using good mask and hand-washing hygiene, it might not have come to this.

No. I don't know if the winky face is to denote sarcasm, but it seems like it should still be noted that because so many people who could be vaccinated are refusing to get vaccinated, vaccinated people and people who can't get the vaccine still have to worry about a greater chance of catching a variant strain and also hospitals not being able to care for them (for any reason) because they're being bogged down treating preventable disease.

Variant strains are going to happen regardless of what we do, just like with the flu. This is an invalid argument that people keep using in ignorance. It's like people honestly believe the world was going to achieve 100% vaccination rate.

Likelihood of variant strains depends on the infection rate. Reduce the number of infections and you reduce the variants.

Talk to me about how near total vaccination rates are impossible the next time you contract smallpox or polio.

Those vaccines you mentioned actually worked to decrease infection rates though.

If the covid vaccine stopped the spread of the virus I would be agreeing with you.

Can you imagine if the Polio vaccine "wore off" like the Covid vaccine seems to?

You are making an extraordinary claim when you state that the vaccine does not prevent spread. Additionally, the flu vaccine becomes ineffective year after year expressly because of variant strains arising from unvaccinated people failing to take precautions like wearing masks, socially distancing during epidemics, and avoiding school and work while infectious.

You're right, comparing Covid to the flu is a much more apt comparison than Polio or Smallpox, which was pretty disingenuous.

The vaccines don't reliably prevent spread. That is hardly an extraordinary claim, it's an established scientific fact. Fortunately the vaccines are still very effective at preventing deaths.

https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-variant-made-herd-immu...

Are you looking for 100% effectiveness? That's not how anything in the world works. If I can reduce the probability of spreading infection, that is a clear benefit to society. If enough people reduce the probability of spread enough, we can reach a point where for all practical purposes, the virus is gone.

No one is realistically looking for 100% effectiveness. However the vaccines don't reduce spread enough to eliminate the virus. Eventually we'll all be exposed. The main benefit of the vaccines is preventing deaths.

https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-variant-made-herd-immu...

Are they? The vaccine doesn't even stop transmission of covid, and the effectiveness of non-N95 masks is dubious at best.

So really the only variable is whether you yourself are vaccinated or not.

You seem to be just parroting the media and Reddit.

Vaccines reduce transmission rates for the variant for which they are developed.

The wearing of masks for COVID had the unintended side effect of eliminating some strains of influenza.

I don't read Reddit, and I take my media with a healthy grain of salt, but we are talking about the basic function of virii and the immune system.

This is a fallacious line of reasoning that is incredibly vulnerable to slippery slope and moving goalposts.

While the saying is true that "your right to swing your arm ends where my nose begins," that argument falls apart when you try to apply it beyond one-on-one interactions with direct consequences into group generalities and indirect/indeterminable consequences, such as "creating a more dangerous environment."

It does not allow you to prohibit things, nor compel others, out of a feared or perceived potential for harm. That reasoning leads straight to 1984's "freedom is slavery."

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