How is it even possible that we still have so many anti-vaxxers among us?
With everything that we have been going through in the last year and will most likely continue to go through for another year, how is it possible?
With all the access we have to information; with all the deaths we have seen and heard of all over the world, how can anti-vaxxers even still exist?
Like Joburg is experiencing now, our own hospitals were bursting at the seams and our mortuaries were overflowing only a few short months ago.
Every other day, we heard of another friend’s close relative having succumbed to Covid.
We all prayed for some way to fight back.
And now we watch in sympathy as India and Brazil buckle under the relentless pressure of a constantly-mutating virus that just won’t abate.
Now, under new restrictions necessitated by our third wave, why do we still have so many irresponsible people spreading confusion on social media?
And so many of them unashamedly claim their entitlement to freedom of speech, with no regard for their audience, who may be even more uninformed than they are, and who will therefore take their word as gospel.
It’s the certainty with which they speak that bothers me so much.
They spew their ignorance so arrogantly, seemingly without a complete understanding of how they are impacting the bigger picture; moving us further and further away from herd immunity.
By all means, go ahead and believe your own theories about the danger of vaccines.
But there is no need to broadcast that to others, who may well die as a result of following your advice.
If you believe the vaccine was developed too quickly, that we are being used as guinea pigs and that there is a global conspiracy to wipe out humanity, then that is your prerogative.
The literature to refute all of that is overwhelming and you really should read more widely.
If you plan to wait it out, to see the vaccine’s side-effects in others, then by all means go ahead and expose yourself to infection while you wait.
But don’t look for disciples by encouraging others to do the same.
Because if enough people decide to wait it out, then we will still be having this conversation in 10 years’ time.
I have said this before, but let me say it again.
You need to constantly interrogate your own convictions, especially if you cannot seriously entertain a majority opinion that is different to yours.
Because self-confidence is one thing, but when it leads to self-delusion, then you are a danger to society.