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Comment by SilverElfin | Hacker News Reader

Good. Individuals should not be coerced into taking medicines or undergoing a treatment to live in society. That’s too authoritarian and bodily autonomy should really be a constitutional right. However, the current federal administration is also taking away individual agency by making it so covid boosters need a prescription if you’re under 65. That’s also not okay.

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I guess it's just too bad if you're immunocompromised, allergic to vaccines, too young to be vaccinated, in the middle of a virulent, highly transmissible pandemic, etc. -- wouldn't want to protect society from disease ravaged individuals because it might intrude on their "bodily autonomy."

People have to manage their own risks. If they don’t want to take on the low risks associated with COVID (and they are low based on numbers), they should limit their own exposure by staying home (as opposed to forcing others to stay home) or wearing masks or whatever. It shouldn’t result in others being compelled to inject things into their body.

On a personal level, I do agree it is logical and also nice to be vaccinated. But keep in mind, vaccination means something different now. You are not immune to covid and you are still able to transmit it to others. The chances may be lower - but we’re already talking about something that has a low chance of causing serious health issues. So if someone is truly concerned about their health, whether society is vaccinated or not doesn’t matter - they would need to stay home regardless. In which case, why force others to get vaccinated?

This news is about the elimination of childhood vaccine mandates - measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis, chicken pox, polio, etc. It has nothing to do with COVID.

I'd be fine with that if the unvaccinated were required to carry liability insurance and there was a strong system capable of investigation and enforcement against people responsible for outbreaks, but they're not, so fuck 'em.

> Individuals should not ... to live in society

This demonstrates an extreme lack of awareness of what it means to be part of a society. Have you really never thought about the fact that societies are entirely built out of small near-term individual sacrifices for persistent collective benefit?

As Cicero said, "We are slaves of the law so that we may be free."

I'm not being sarcastic or anything here. Accepting a few limitations on the theoretical extents of my personal freedom so that I can exist and not worry about being murdered for my possessions on a minute-by-minute basis seems like a pretty good deal.

The whole thing about society is that it's what you get when you receive benefits greater than you could achieve as an individual, in exchange for following rules and norms that create stability and benefits at the society level. If you want the absolute freedom of living with communicable diseases, that's a living in a cave by yourself lifestyle. That's not society.

This is about kids. Yes, adults can make medical decisions for kids.

Negligent or irresponsible parents are exactly that and larger society should protect the kids.

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