CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“HIGH TIME
TO TAX THE UNVAXXED”
California
has tried paying people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus plague. That
only helped a little. Some counties are trying out banning the unvaccinated
from gyms, restaurants and public gatherings. That also is making only a small
dent in the corps of uninoculated.
Many
of the unvaccinated still cling to false beliefs and shibboleths long pushed by
anti-vaccination lobbyists even in the halcyon days before COVID-19 caused
lockdowns, showdowns and myriad business failures.
There’s
the myth that vaccines can create zombies, a distortion of a 1990s film.
There’s the false belief that minuscule tracking devices are injected into the
arms of millions right along with vaccines. There’s the conviction once pushed
on the internet that getting jabbed will somehow make you a clone of
billionaire Bill Gates – minus the bank account. There’s also the belief that
God will somehow protect the unvaccinated.
Even
that last has proven invalid, as some of the most moral, observantly religious
folks in America have been infected and died.
As
non-vaccinated element clings to such beliefs, pushed on some social media
outlets, the vaccinated are paying for their fellow citizens’ stubbornness in
inconvenience and out-of-pocket dollars.
Not
only must the vaccinated now carry proof of that status, either electronic or
on small white cards handed out along with Covid shots, but they’re also back
to masking, once again waiting for elective surgeries in some hospitals because
of Covid case crowding and suffering occasional “breakthrough” infections of
their own, even if those are mild compared to what’s hitting the unvaccinated.
Health
insurance premiums are going up again in part because of emergency room and
intensive care unit costs rung up by the unvaccinated. Schools and stores must
disinfect almost everything in sight, and frequently. Airlines and other public
transit must keep sanitizing.
All
this because of the persistently unvaccinated among us, who insist their
unfounded fears trump the rights of the majority, who have gotten vaxxed in
order to be safer and more free.
It’s
time to make them pay. Why should responsible citizens pay for the stupidity of
the willingly unvaccinated, folks who are eligible and medically able to be
inoculated, but refuse nevertheless?
So
let’s tax them. If travelers want to ride trains or airplanes without
vaccinations, let them, so long as they can show a very recent negative test
for the virus. But make them pay extra for the privilege, just as most airlines
now charge for checked baggage.
Even
athletic leagues are beginning to “tax” their members if significant numbers of
players refuse to get vaccinated, and with no protests from any team. The Pac 12 conference, for example, declared
the other day its schools will forfeit games when they have to be cancelled and
one side is “at fault.” Same with the Big 12. No one explained what “at fault”
means, but the clear implication was that if significant numbers are not
vaccinated on a team that cannot play because of a Covid outbreak, that club
will forfeit and the other side will get a win in the standings.
More
and more employers are also getting savvy, setting deadlines by which their
workers must be vaccinated or be gone. That’s a very effective way to tax the unvaccinated,
and might motivate enough people to help bring California to the herd immunity
needed for unmasking and more freedoms.
Cruise
lines are doing the same, some refusing to carry the unvaccinated and others
charging those who refuse inoculations extra to cover the expense of regular
COVID-19 tests.
Yet,
the unvaccinated continue to insist they are within their rights. Yes, they do
have the right to be unvaccinated, but no, they do not have the right to impose
inconvenience, contagion or expenses on others.
This
may be one time when movie muscleman and ex-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it
best. “Screw your freedom!” he said on CNN. “With freedom come obligations and
responsibilities; you cannot just say, ‘I have the right to do X,Y or Z. When
you affect other people, that’s when it gets serious.”
The
pandemic is once again serious today, which makes it high time to give the
stubbornly unvaccinated a big push. If that means taxation in various forms, so
be it.
-30-
Email
Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough,
The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch
It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias
columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
No comments:
Post a Comment