Let’s Get Vaccinated, Damn It!

Since we have had the internet and social networks, people mostly communicate in bubbles. If you are tired of mutual back-patting, I suggest you post a thought or two about vaccination, and your bubble will fizz and foam as if someone had thrown a handful of baking soda into your glass of Coca-Cola. Even if most people in your communication silo agree on most things, they certainly don’t agree on vaccination. Debates on this topic do not follow the patterns we see on other issues, and above all they do not match the division that in Slovenia—rather superficially and inaccurately, in my view—we call the split between left and right. Opinion polls in Slovenia show that people, regardless of their other political beliefs, are divided roughly in half on vaccination. This means that in your bubble, whether “left” or “right,” quite a large percentage of your otherwise like-minded friends will disagree with you.

I experienced this recently when I dared to make fun of some of the arguments of vaccine opponents on Facebook. Many reacted very strongly and indignantly. They accused me of all sorts of things, from a lack of empathy for those who suffered consequences after vaccination or even lost their lives, to supporting the greatest violation of human rights in human history. The first accusation is out of place and offensive. I sympathize with everyone who has suffered consequences in the pandemic, including the most tragic ones. A few, unfortunately, because of vaccination; many, incomparably more, because of the virus. I also feel compassion and responsibility towards everyone whose lives the pandemic turned upside down, whose schools it closed, whom it condemned to unemployment and poverty, and in whom it caused serious and long-lasting health and psychological problems. The fact is that no medical intervention is without risk, and vaccination is no exception. But the undesirable consequences of vaccination must be compared with the undesirable consequences of not vaccinating, for the individual and for society. And here science, facts and reason offer only one answer. People who do not get vaccinated expose themselves to an incomparably greater health risk than the vaccinated. If we applied anti-vaccine logic to all medical procedures, all we would have left in the fight against disease would be cold-water cures. Perhaps not even that. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, an average of 87 Americans drown in their own bathtubs every year.

On the other hand, the debate about human rights is legitimate, but it is not as clear-cut as the fighters against vaccination want to present it. The social contract of a modern, civilized and democratic society—and the system of human rights and freedoms that enables and protects this contract—is based not only on rights but also on responsibility and solidarity. It is a constant search for balance between individual rights and the public interest, which sometimes, especially in exceptional circumstances, also dictates restrictions. These must, of course, be adopted and enforced in a manner provided for by law and democratically; moreover, any restriction of rights must be necessary, which means that the effect cannot be achieved in another, less restrictive way. It must also be proportionate, since the interference with rights cannot pose a greater threat than the cause that dictates the restriction. Given our experience so far with measures adopted by the authorities in response to the virus, or under the cover of responding to it, criticism and vigilance are certainly warranted, but that does not change the fact that individual rights and freedoms are not unlimited and unconditional, and above all they end where they begin to threaten the rights—and health—of others. The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that compulsory vaccination of school-age children does not constitute a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It should worry us that anti-vaccine sentiment is driven by social, psychological and political triggers similar to those of populism. Both are fueled by discontent, anger, loss of trust and fear. Both may address some legitimate questions, but they offer the worst possible answer. For both, facts and science are a conspiracy of political and financial elites and the mainstream media. There is little difference between the “alternative facts” that Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway spoke of and all the gems collected from the internet that anti-vaxxers cite in support of their rejection of a response to the pandemic grounded in medical science. In today’s world, more and more people seek truth with their emotions, not their reason. The American historian Timothy Snyder says that freedom depends on citizens who are able to distinguish between the truth and what they want to hear. Authoritarianism arrives not because people say they want it, but because they lose the ability to distinguish between facts and desires.

Of course, not all anti-vaxxers should be lumped together. On the one hand, we are dealing with conspiracy theorists, the cognitive cousins of village eccentrics who believe the Earth is flat. We have activists who, in the fight against the profits of pharmaceutical multinationals, are prepared to sacrifice their own and your health. New Age my-body-is-my-temple enthusiasts who will defeat the virus with whole grains and yoga. Amateur pharmacists and Sunday epidemiologists. Defiers who won’t get vaccinated because they don’t like the government. Those who quietly don’t get vaccinated because they don’t dare, or aren’t allowed, to defy the government. And besides them, many people who are afraid, which is human and understandable. They need to be persuaded and informed. But at a certain point, even the hesitant of the “I’m not an anti-vaxxer, but…” type need to be reminded of the importance of trusting facts and science. It is not true that we don’t know. There is enough scientifically supported information proving not only the usefulness but the necessity of vaccination if we want to prevent the collapse of the health system, protect the most vulnerable and live normally again. If some people still don’t know this, perhaps it is because they don’t want to know it.

Anti-vaccine sentiment is also about a breakdown of solidarity. An individual decision to get vaccinated protects not only the vaccinated person but all of us. Without very high vaccination coverage, we will not be able to control the pandemic. The cry of me, me, me, rejecting any responsibility for others and for the common good, embodies the neoliberal attitude to society. Which, as Margaret Thatcher liked to say, does not exist; there are only individuals and their rights and interests. Let the invisible hand of the market take care of regulation. Or the invisible hand of the virus. After all, they say only the old and weak die. Some say that resistance to vaccination is a revolt of the humiliated and insulted, who have been deprived of everything, including their human dignity. Everything has been taken from them, so they fight for the last thing they have left, their body. I think there is some truth in this. But even justified frustrations are no excuse for rejecting rationality and solidarity, since in doing so we endanger not only our own and your health but also our freedom and our future. It is not only about Covid-19. We must ask ourselves how, without trust in science and without solidarity, we will tackle all the other social and global challenges. We are losing the fight against climate change because of the same patterns of behavior we see in anti-vaccine sentiment. It’s not true. I don’t care.

In this light, I find it increasingly hard to bear calls to treat anti-vaxxers only with reverence and kid gloves. Because they don’t take criticism well. Because they feel like victims. Because if we are not kind and understanding enough, they will be offended and even more determined not to get vaccinated. People who are still hesitating must certainly be persuaded and informed, but for God’s sake, let us stop behaving as if conspiracy theories and alternative facts were a fundamental human right. People whose hair otherwise stands on end at Pahor-style platitudes are, on vaccination, lamenting a new division and lecturing on the need to respect absolutely all different opinions, without any critical assessment of their value or consideration of the consequences for individuals and society. My dears, we are not divided into those who want to get vaccinated and those who don’t. No one wants to get vaccinated, just as no one wants an appendectomy. We are all worried and we all want to live normally again; it is just that some seek the solution in trust in science and in solidarity, and others on Facebook.