The soft anti-vaxxness of the Great Barrington Declaration
I have pointed out many times that libertarian critics of lockdowns and vaccine mandates often promote vaccine hesitancy by downplaying the effectiveness of vaccines and exaggerating their risks and the benefits of natural immunity.
I had assumed that this anti-vax angle was a later addition to the libertarian playbook, a response to vaccine mandates and passports. The Great Barrington Declaration, which was published before vaccines were available and became the focal point of libertarian resistance to government pandemic policy, was primarily concerned with ending lockdowns.
But the FAQ for the Great Barrington Declaration includes this:
What is the role of vaccines in focused protection?
If wisely used, COVID-19 vaccines are an important additional tool for focused protection. The key is to vaccinate older high-risk people as well as their care givers, such as hospital and nursing home staff. Those who have already had COVID-19 do not need to be vaccinated.
This was written at a time – late 2020 – when there was great uncertainty over the efficacy of both vaccines and natural immunity – how long they would protect against illness, whether they would prevent infections and onward transmission, etc. But the authors of the GBD already knew that there was no need to vaccinate those who had recovered from Covid-19, or indeed anyone other than high-risk people and their caregivers.
The anti-vaxness was there from the get-go.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/08/world/europe/coronavirus-omicron-biden-boris-johnson.html
January 8, 2021
How Biden and Boris Johnson Reached the Same Place on Virus Policy
Two different leaders with differing approaches landed on a policy of coexisting with the virus. Analysts say they had little choice.
By Mark Landler
LONDON — On the evening of Dec. 21, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared from 10 Downing Street to tell anxious Britons they could “go ahead with their Christmas plans,” despite a surge in new coronavirus cases. At nearly the same moment, President Biden took to a White House podium to give Americans a similar greenlight.
It was a striking, if unintended, display of synchronicity from two leaders who began with very different approaches to the pandemic, to say nothing of politics. Their convergence in how to handle the Omicron variant says a lot about how countries are confronting the virus, more than two years after it first threatened the world….
[ How could it be that a policy tragedy is copied country to country? ]
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
January 8, 2022
Coronavirus
United Kingdom
Cases ( 14,333,794)
Deaths ( 150,057)
Deaths per million ( 2,193)
China
Cases ( 103,454)
Deaths ( 4,636)
Deaths per million ( 3)
[ There has been no coronavirus death on the Chinese mainland since January 2021. ]
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
January 8, 2022
Coronavirus
United States
Cases ( 60,954,028)
Deaths ( 859,046)
Deaths per million ( 2,572)
China
Cases ( 103,454)
Deaths ( 4,636)
Deaths per million ( 3)
[ The fully vaccinated level on the Chinese mainland has passed 1.21 billion or 86.25% of the population. There has been no coronavirus death on the Chinese mainland since January 2021. ]
My wife is angry at her late friends for their disbelief in Covid-19 vaccination. I am struck by the irony of those previously thought to best understand the dichotomy of the quick and the dead in John Wayne movies.
Chinese coronavirus vaccine yearly production capacity is more than 7 billion doses. Along with over 2.89 billion doses of Chinese vaccines administered domestically, more than 2 billion doses have already been distributed to more than 120 countries internationally. Nineteen countries are now producing Chinese vaccines from delivered raw materials.
Vaccination has not been mandated by the Chinese, rather carefully explained and encouraged with safety emphasized. Vaccination on an emergency basis with WHO approval began in June 2020. General vaccination began in December 2020, with primary emphasis on persons considered most at risk. Vaccination levels have been reported daily since January 2020.
Repeatedly, Chinese vaccines have been dismissed by the American state department and American media.
right wing media, and even some sites that are not so right wing, were all lit up this morning after fully vaccinated AOC turned up positive…most of the attacks on her are for dancing maskless in Florida, but you can bet they’re equally upset she was dancing with a black guy…
here’s the NY Post: