The biggest controversy in our world is the COVID-19 vaccine. Do we conform and do what the government tells us to do, or do we stand up for our rights as American citizens and have a say in what goes into our bodies? The propaganda floodgates have been open for months and continue to overflow with controversy. Being an American in the middle of a pandemic comes with a laundry list of consequences.
The question I always asked myself is why am I frowned upon, judged or exiled for opting to not get the COVID-19 vaccine? I’m 27 years old, living with a life-threatening disease that I was advised by a doctor to wait on getting the vaccine, yet I’m having to live with other’s judgment and opinions for looking out for my health.
Many people are dealing with the aftermath of risks to their own lives by getting the vaccine and having symptoms that land them into the ER or admitted into the hospital for further observations. In a recent article from WTOL, a local news station in Ohio, students of Bowling Green Ohio took a stance and peacefully protested outside of the University. Emily Smith, a graduate student and organizer of the protest, said, “We specifically want to protect medical privacy and people’s rights to free speech.” The current mandate, like many universities have, is requiring students to get a vaccine and submit their vaccination status to the school or get a weekly COVID-19 test and submit their results to the university. Emily mentions that this is a violation of medical privacy.
The problem is that many view people in this situation as anti-vax when we are anti mandate. I’m all for science and medicine coming together to help as many people as possible when a pandemic is taking over. I’m anti mandate because a vaccine is coming in between the right to an education, a career, a well-deserved vacation or even a football game. We are being stripped of our identity and the things we do to survive all because a shot determines our fate. I want control of what goes into my body, I want the right to say no and I want the right to live the life I want to live.
When the mandate went into effect in Washington just a few weeks ago, I saw so many people walk away from a job that they knew for 10, 20, even 30 years all because they wanted the right to their body and having the choice. It’s sad, scary and disrespectful to the men and women who put their lives on the line day in and day out to protect us all, the first responders. The fact that the government can fire someone because they choose not to have something injected into their bodies makes me sick. If you think back to a year ago, we were praising all these doctors and nurses that were doing endless amounts of work saving lives and doing what they could to help the patients that fell ill to COVID-19, now the government is saying you are disposable. Let that just sink in.
Take a minute, reflect on this pandemic. Would you want your children or your children’s children to fight the fight we’re fighting? Would you want to have the choice? America wash the window and see a clearer image, many Americans are not fighting the vaccine they are fighting the mandate, they are fighting for their right to live, really live.
But we cannot have such a world, and we cannot have such a peace, unless the United States has the vitality and the inspiration and the strength. – John F. Kennedy