Politics

Before you’re allowed to enter a bar, the doorman asks you if you’re on antidepressants. After all, there is an increased risk of committing mass shootings for people who are on SSRIs¹. Would this be acceptable? Of course not. In many countries, a person’s medical history, including whatever medications he or she might be prescribed, is considered private health information. In the United States, health privacy is one of the many things covered under legislation know as HIPPA. However, all the rules seem to have changed in the reaction to COVID-19. Now, people are not only proclaiming their medical information to everyone, but venues and employers are requiring disclosures of experimental medication in order to enter their premises. Whether you believe this is a justified request or not is irrelevant. It’s the end of medical privacy as we know it, and opens up an entirely new class of discrimination based on an individual’s choice to take a medication.

Many countries and municipalities around the world have started requiring vaccine passports. This has erupted in massive protests² and wide spread strikes³ in France⁴, the United Kingdom⁵ and other nations. In the United States, the Department of Justice issued a memorandum stating that private businesses are not prohibited from mandating COIVD-19 vaccines⁶. However, this is simply an opinion and has no legal bearing until the issues is brought before an actual court.

“…there’s some risk of unvaccinated workers lying on their attestation and then coming to work anyway, but those people also bear the risk from lying. They could end up losing their jobs. Now, employers have risks, too. If they say prove you’re vaccinated or you’re fired, then they risk losing employees … We can’t afford to fire them. And we can’t afford to suspend them. That’s just, unfortunately, the job market…“ -Noguchi, NPR⁷

In the United States, there doesn’t appear to be any real tracking at the time of injection, of who has received a vaccine. Many people have already thrown away their vaccination cards⁸, and a number of employers depend on individuals to self-report their vaccination status⁷. United Airlines is requiring employees to upload their vaccine cards by this fall⁹. Meanwhile, Delta, American Airlines and Southwest have announced they will not mandate vaccines for employees¹⁰.

Not every person can get vaccines. Some people might have conditions that would place them at high risk for vaccination. Some may have had anaphylactic reactions to other vaccinations in the past, or have compromised immune systems. Patients sometimes consult multiple doctors, and get secondary opinions, before settling on treatment options for a given condition. All of these factors have traditionally been held to strict confidentiality between a human being and his or her doctor. Now people may have to explain to the government, potentially even convince a government official, why they should be granted an exception to refuse specific prophylactic treatment. What makes anyone think this would stop with one vaccine? What is to keep the government from requiring more from its citizens? Our world leaders are removing our human rights, and then expect us to be thankful when they replace those rights with privileges for being obedient to the state.

San Fransisco will soon require proof of vaccination in order to enter indoor bars, restaurants, clubs, theaters and fitness centers¹¹. Students from Indiana University were denied emergency injunctive relief from the Supreme Court over vaccine mandates¹². California will require COVID-19 vaccines for all health care workers by the end of September¹³, and will also require all teachers must be vaccinated or tested weekly¹⁴. Despite the difficulty in tracking handwritten vaccine cards in the United States⁸, Andy Slavitt, one of Biden’s former pandemic advisors¹⁵, made a cryptic post about how that would change in three and a half weeks¹⁶.

A Vancouver clinic issued an apology for giving patients yellow starts after their vaccinations, reminiscent of another group of people forced to wear yellow stars at one point in history¹⁷. Meanwhile, a hat shop in Nashville was blasted for selling yellow star patches, with the words “Not Vaccinated” embroidered in the center¹⁸. In India, rural police officers have started to make citizens wear signs that either say “do not come near me, I am not vaccinated” or “I am a patriot as I am vaccinated.”

“It’s time for us to resist. They can’t arrest all of us. They can’t keep all of your kids home from school … We don’t have to accept the mandates, lock-downs and harmful policies of the petty tyrants and bureaucrats. We can simply say no, not again. Nancy Pelosi, you will not arrest or stop me or anyone on my staff from doing our jobs. We have either had COIVD, had the vaccine or been offered the vaccine. We will make our own health choices. We will not show you a passport. We will not wear a mask. We will not be forced into random screenings and testings so you can continue your drunk with power rein over the capitol…“ -Senator Rand Paul¹⁹ (R-Kentucky)

Our medical history is private information. Period. There should never be any exceptions to this. Mandating the medical choices of an individual, in order to participate in certain aspects of society, is medical tyranny. It removes the right of the individual, personal agency and body autonomy, and instead favors the rights of the collective. It does so, even if the collective may be working with incomplete information or be entirely wrong. Vaccine passports will add new tiers to society, as well as creating second class citizens²⁰. They can only divide nations, and create new means of authoritarianism and control.

There is only one correct response when asked about your vaccination status. The medications you take are nobody’s business but your own and your health care provider. Vaccines are simply a type of prophylactic medication. No business should be able to demand to know if you are, or are not, taking a particular medication, as a condition of entry. It should be particularly chilling that in recent street interviews by Mark Dice, a significant number of people he approached were willing to sign a petition that would jail people for not taking a vaccine²¹.

“The smallest minority on earth is the individual.” -Ayn Rand

By now, it should be clear that this is no longer about limiting the spread of a virus that will likely become endemic to humanity for decades, if not centuries to come. This is about authoritarian control, with rulers drunk on power, demanding what they deem to be the correct medical decisions for every citizen in their respective countries. As Senator Rand Paul states, we must do everything we can to resist such oppressive measures¹⁹ by our employers, schools and governments. Two weeks to flatten the curve turned into mandatory masks, shutting down businesses, removing personal agency and destroying the very fabric of our society. If anyone truly thinks things will get back to normal after everyone is forced to take the jab, they are being fooled. We are being collectively gaslit by abusive governments. Only non-compliance will restore the liberties that have been taken with such little resistance.