I’m a far-leftist Democrat who can’t get vaccinated without risking serious health problems. This leaves me at peace with my decision, but in the painful company of I-won’t-wear-a-mask Republicans and all the right-leaning critics of pandemic restrictions. They are not my people, but it feels like they’re the only ones who won’t judge me because I’m not vaccinated.
Being an unvaccinated person in heavily Democratic Chicago is an extremely lonely place to be.
Opinion pieces, blog posts and articles are published every day that express little understanding of those who are still unvaccinated. They include disgust with our ignorance and outrage at our selfishness. These pieces either plead with or order us to come to our senses and get vaccinated.
I have my own plea: please be respectful of those who are not vaccinated. The majority of us are not pro-Trump right-wingers who believe our liberties are more important than mask-wearing or too stupid to understand science.
The majority of us are unvaccinated because:
- Our work hours are so long that we can’t get to a vaccination center during the hours they’re open, or
- Our work hours aren’t that long, but we also have children and no child-care, or
- We live far from the nearest vaccination center and don’t have a way to get there, or
- We don’t live far from the nearest vaccination center, but we have mobility problems and there’s no one to drive us, or
- After a thorough discussion with our health care providers, we have decided that getting a COVID vaccine is too risky for our health, or
- We’d love to get vaccinated, but some other problem is keeping us from it.
I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety in the past year and a half, so I know as well as anyone the psychological effects of the pandemic. But can we try not to let our fear turn us against each other even more than we already were pre-pandemic? Children are being ostracized by schoolmates if their family is unvaccinated. Please, let’s stop teaching that attitude!
Once again Americans are doing that dehumanizing thing of only seeing a group in very narrow terms. People who are vaccinated are looking at people who are unvaccinated as if we are all destructive, hateful idiots who don’t give a damn about the safety of your unvaccinated little children. It’s possible there are unvaccinated Americans who are destructive, hateful idiots who don’t give a damn about the safety of your unvaccinated little children, but they’re the vocal minority. Please don’t believe such behavior characterizes the majority of us.
If someone can stay enraged, that often feels more powerful than sitting in fear. I understand that dehumanizing millions of Americans and staying angry makes one feel more in control than feeling terror of COVID. Seeing us all as right-wing idiots is easier than seeing us as complicated individuals with various problems that keep us from getting vaccinated.
Even given that, I still ask everyone to please stop raging at unvaccinated people. It piles pain on top of pain. Yeah, it’s that old do unto others grind. Think of me the next time you’re in a conversation or in a Facebook exchange that calls us names and says we shouldn’t be allowed to have jobs or be in the country, etc. If you don’t see unvaccinated Americans as deserving compassion, at least try not to say it where others can hear you. Don’t support the rage because that dynamic often leads to very bad things.
Thanks for these amazing words of wisdom!
So very well stated!
Thanks. I’m afraid that as the pandemic lasts into 2022 (and 2023) people will become increasingly disappointed and bitter, and they’ll take it out on the unvaccinated. It’s much more comfortable to see unvaccinated people as the cause of virus mutations and future waves of case counts than to admit that the vaccines were never going to be enough to end the pandemic. We’re just at the beginning of Americans facing that disappointment.