COVID-19 vaccine passports. Lots of people seem to think they steal freedom.
They do not. They do the opposite. Please allow me to explain:
You have the right to vaccinate or to not vaccinate, as you alone see fit. As far as I’m aware, nobody in a position of authority has suggested otherwise.
But the rest of us also have rights. We have the right to avoid inhaling your toxic breath if you have chosen not to vaccinate. The passport tells us who is safe and who needs to be avoided. It allows the rest of us to make informed choices about the people we keep around us, and about the precautions we need to take around the people we perceive as unsafe.
“But passports will make me a social pariah!!” you proclaim. Yeah. Good chance of that. Not our problem. If I were to go around licking people’s faces randomly, I’d probably also be a social pariah. When my choices make me unpopular, that’s MY problem. The vaccine passports identify the serial face-lickers. They give the rest of us the information we need to properly exercise OUR rights. They tell us which people are safe to have around us — and by process of elimination, which people need to be avoided — or at least, handled with hazmat suits.
The situation distills thusly: You make a choice (“I won’t vaccinate”) that makes the rest of us unhappy. That causes us to make a choice (“we don’t want you around”) that makes you unhappy. And your response to all of this is to keep us from knowing about your choice, so that you get to make it, but not suffer the resulting consequences. You take away our choice in order that you can make yours without any consequences to you.
“But the virus is harmless!!” you complain. “You’re shutting me out for no reason!!” You don’t get to make that decision for me. You’ve made your decision about it, and I made mine. And like you, I also have the right to base my actions on my conclusions. If I choose to stay the hell away from vaccine refusers, that is my right. By keeping your refusal to vaccinate secret from me, you’re effectively taking away my freedom to make informed choices about my own safety. You’re doing it so you can do what you want without allowing me to do what I want.
Vaccine passports provide two things: To those of us who take the virus seriously and choose to vaccinate ourselves, it provides the information we need to make important decisions about our own personal safety. To those of us who refuse to take the vaccine, it provides accountability for the impact of your choices upon the rest of humanity. That accountability thing can really be a bitch, can’t it?
And yes: I’m aware that there are people who simply cannot, for legitimate medical reasons, take the vaccine. That’s very unfortunate. We all, as humans, need to take such rare exceptions on a case-by-case basis. But in the end, the reasons why a person isn’t vaccinated aren’t really germane. Someone who is unvaccinated due to an immune system disorder is equally dangerous to humanity as someone who is unvaccinated due to stupidity. We *still* need the information in order to make informed decisions. And no: You aren’t forced to disclose confidential Personal Medical Information. I don’t need to know the reason why you’re unvaccinated if you don’t want to share it. I only need to know one thing: Are you vaccinated. And any argument you might think you have about your vaccination status *BEING* confidential PMI is rendered ridiculous by the overwhelming public interest. Once again, you don’t get to make that decision for the entirety of humanity. And if you choose to get vaccinated but keep it secret because you disagree with us about that overwhelming public interest… You’re still free to not disclose that information, if you so choose. But I’m also still free to not be around you. The argument is unchanged.