What are your thoughts on the vaccine?

[Zeke]

Of course I am aware of it but you are talking about something completely different.
You want to get technical ok you are right the federal government can not mandate masks - but they can suggest them - and state governments can make such a mandate, and so can private businesses. While federal government may not be able to general mandate them, they sure can on their property - just like you could in your home if you choose to.
But yes I could go on about a lot there but first off that would be more for the political section, and second, while not done entirely correctly - not by constitutional amendment either - meaning it could be somewhat easily taken back, you just need to be willing to make enough noise over it. BUT there are also a few basics that you need to take care of first, or you will not get anywhere like (sorry guys just making a point then I will stop unless he wants to take it up in the right section) for example - the right to representation - any more the people are not represented, just parties - and by extension, the wealthy. But a lot are gripping so tight to the 2nd amendment (and you should pay attention to it, but not exclusively) you are not really noticing, caring, or doing anything about anything else!
Now again there is a lot there, you are right - but NOT in this section - but I will be happy to debate you on it all in the correct section - likely agree on quite a bit, but maybe not what to do about it.
But not going in to it here - that little bit - just making a point because of your statement.

EVERYONE ELSE: Sorry about that - just had to make my point with this guy - I promise that's it, only mentioned because he insisted on going there to start with, and... Well I hope you get the idea.

The 2nd amendment was placed in the Bill of Rights, by the founding fathers, to protect all the other amendments in the Bill of Rights from a tyrannical government.

 

[sinceiwassmall]

I’m not scared of masks or vaccines. I am scared that we’re so willing giving up the constitutional rights that were fought so hard to obtain and defend up to the past couple of generations. Spend some time researching a real pandemic, the 1918 so called “Spanish flu”. That is if you can still find accurate information on that pandemic. The data and documentaries on this event have been being disappeared with the big push to promote the Wuhan virus as a pandemic. Bodies were being piled up like cordwood during the 1918 virus as undertakers and grave diggers couldn’t keep up with the demand. Healthy 20-40 year olds would feel fine in the morning and be dead by midnight. The population was far less then, but the death toll exceeded what this virus has caused even with the inflated death rate being padded by anyone that tests positive for Covid being counted regardless of what actually CAUSED their death. And the PCR test for Covid that runs 35 amplification cycles results in positive results for those that aren’t symptomatic nor contagious.

Virtually everything you said here is widely debunked disinformation.

The idea that information on the 1918 pandemic is “being disappeared” is particularly a waving red flag that your sources include full-on conspiracy theory spreaders.

There has never been more interest in the 1918 pandemic, or talk about it, in our lifetimes. There are many scholarly, popular and medical studies on how the two events are and aren’t similar.

Please name and share a single credible source, anywhere, that says COVID death tolls have been exaggerated by hospitals for any reason (let alone your repetition of the denialist echo chamber claim of them lying for profit). That claim is such a kick in the face to frontline healthcare providers who have been risking their lives looking after very sick people.

It is the universal position of reputable health bodies that the pandemic death toll has been substantially undercounted.

 

[nwm]

The 2nd amendment was placed in the Bill of Rights, by the founding fathers, to protect all the other amendments in the Bill of Rights from a tyrannical government.

I KNOW THAT! But you have to watch EVERYTHING!
AGAIN - PLEASE NOT HERE - more than willing, but in the right section!

 

[sinceiwassmall]

The 2nd amendment was placed in the Bill of Rights, by the founding fathers, to protect all the other amendments in the Bill of Rights from a tyrannical government.

This is a mix of something true — your country was born in revolution, and it’s a strong presence in your founding documents — and something never before seen in your country’s history.

Thanks to the relentless campaigning of people who used to be ultra-fringe libertarian extremists, you have large numbers of people in the US now who think that any belief in the common good is an assault on their freedom. This is not your history and it‘s happened in roughly one generation. Those views used to be beyond the pale in either political party. And for good reason: no society can survive them for long.

You’re being used and manipulated. The main spreaders of these views are ultra-rich, do things that are destructive of the common good, and want it to stay that way. And they LOVE your support in doing it.

 

[Zeke]

I KNOW THAT! But you have to watch EVERYTHING!
AGAIN - PLEASE NOT HERE - more than willing, but in the right section!

Let’s just call a ceasefire and agree to disagree. I strongly suspect that I won’t be changing your mind and I’m even more sure that I won’t be changing my views.

 

[AnalogRTO]

The federal government of the United States has been taking more and more rights away from the states and their citizens every since the early ’60s. You will wake up one day and know exactly what it’s like to live in a communist country if we continue on this way. The federal government has no constitutional authority over anything that’s not enumerated and designated to it in the Constitution, but the states have been folding like cheap suits as the feds take what should be the state’s authority. If you don’t feel your constitutional rights disappearing you’re either unaware of your situation, not old enough to remember what freedom was truly like, or you’re willing submitting to groupthink and having the government run your life. It’s a real shame that they don’t teach Civics in schools anymore or you’d be far more aware of our government’s unconstitutional power grab.

Again, what rights have been taken away? If you can't say, what's to make me believe that anything has happened? What's the power grab?

Without any examples to back you up, your words are no more than low-grade fertilizer...

 

[TeddyBearCowboy]

So if the vaccinations work and you have yours, your safe. Why do you care what anyone else does?

I am pretty certain that others have already responded, but it is late and I don't have time to go through all of the other posts. The bottom line is that the vaccines are pretty darn good at keeping people from getting it, or from being hospitalized with it, but they aren't 100 percent effective either. Hence, some folks who get vaccinated will still get the disease and some of them may even die from it, despite their efforts to keep from doing so. If a vaccine is 90% effective, that means 1 in 10 people still can get the disease.

If you read my post, you will see that my brother who was vaccinated got very sick with COVID and was bedridden for a week. All because there remains too high of a percentage of people who haven't gotten the vaccine and hence will easily get it. They then loiter around schools, grocery stores, markets, and everywhere, placing COVID around either while not yet feeling the results of it, or having a mild case, or even folks who are really sick and still go out because they don't give a shit if they give it to someone else and that the someone else may die.t

I am a real life cowboy and I vaccinate all of my herd against all sorts of diseases. I don't just vaccinate some of the cattle, but all them. The vaccines for these diseases aren't 100% either, but they have a high efficacy rate. As such, the chances of the livestock getting one of the diseases and spreading it is quite low.

Let's take an example of having a neighbor's bull break through the fence and start roaming around all of the cows as he has certain things on his mind. Say this bull was not vaccinated for BRSV (bovine respiratory syncytial virus) and has the disease. However, I had vaccinated all of my cows aginst this. Well, he is likely only going to be closely around a small number of cows that are in heat, and as such there is a limited population he will expose the disease to. If the vaccine is say 80% effective, then 2 in 10 might still be at risk of getting it. But if there were only 20 head in heat that he was close to out of a 100 head, then maybe 4 of them could potentially catch it. They may or may not get it, but that is 4 out of 100. Simple math, right?

But, if only half had the vaccine, then there would actually be 10 unvaccinated cows plus another 2 head that could get it. That would be 12 out of 100 that may or may not get it. The odds just increased exponentially. And if even a couple of them get it, then these cows are roaming around the other cows for a longer time, and potentially exposing most of them. This would be the total 50 head of unvaccinated cows plus the 10 head of vaccinated cows that didn't have a full response to the vaccine. Now you have 60 head of 100 that could potentially get it, and the odds of it spreading keeps increasing.

Does that make sense to you? In other words, a person's decision not to be vaccinated can be likened the same. Unless we have sufficient people who accept the reality of the need for being vaccinated, then COVID will continue to spread, our ICUs will be filled to capacity (as is the case in many places again today), the economy will be in the toilet, we will not be allowed to travel to other countries, inflation will rise, and we will not be able to enjoy the many things that we used to, all because folks are not willing to accept the actual cure.

Whether you are a religious person or not, perhaps you have heard of the story of the children of Isreal in the wilderness who were afflicted with serpents (snakes) that were somehow abundant where they were at for a period of time. The serpents were very poisonous and when people were bitten, they were likely to die. Well, again, accept it if you have these beliefs, or simply use it as an analogy of folklore. But in this story, God told Moses to make an image of the serpent and put it on a pole, and that if people would look upon the pole when they were bitten, they would live. Pretty simple task, wouldn't you think? Those that did this, lived. But many couldn't accept such a simple cure as they did not understand how this would help or believe in it. And as such, even though they had the opportunity to look upon it and be healed from the snakes venom, they would not, and they died. This is the roots of why physicians have the serpent (snake) on the pole as their emblem of their profession of healing. Again, I don't expect you to believe this, but I wanted to point out this story.

How similar is this of today? We have a simple cure. A vaccine.

We have had vaccines for how long now? They have been proven to work for many, many diseases. But they only work if people get them. It is simple. Not quite as simple as looking at the symbol of the serpent on the staff as in the days of Moses, but pretty much the same. Why is there such opposition to doing this? Is it not the same ideaolgy that those in Moses' day had for not looking on the staff? They didn't believe it could work. They thought it was hocus pocus or some such thing and simply refused it, as they thought it was against their morals, culture, or belief system? Hmmm.... sounds damn familiar.

But ironically, people who are unvaccinated and get so sick as to be hospitalized then tend to look to that serpent on the staff (called doctors, scientists, and physicians) to help them. They again are overwhelming healthcare workers and putting them at risk of getting the disease themselves. My cousin is a nurse and got COVID despite being vaccinated too. While she had minor symptoms, she still got it. And I have to wonder who else maybe got it, including potentially other non-covid patients until she had symptoms and was tested. This all happened because folks who are too stuborn to get the vaccine. Yet ironically the don't believe in the call to be vaccinated from the same scientists and doctors they later call upon as they no longer can breathe and still deny that they are dying because of COVID. But I digress.

Yes, as I said before, everyone has the right to choose or not choose to get vaccinated. But they cannot hide from the consequences of their actions, not ignore the consequences they place on others. When you choose to drink and drive, you make the choice for not only yourself, but also others who you might maim or kill as a result of a crash while intoxicated. Choosing not to be vaccinated when there is no medical reason not to be and you simply have your head in the sand as to what is actually going on, is the same as someone denying the effects of driving under the influence.

In my earlier post, I told about the helicopter mechanic who grounded the whole crew and put the helicopter out of service for mulitiple days because he refused to be vaccinated, got covid and the whole crew had to be quarantined until testing proved they didn't have it. I just came from another major wildfire where unvaccinated members on a 20 person crew got covid and the entire crew was sent home in order to keep it from spreading. 20 people! Do you know how important they were for helping to fight the fires there? Right now because of all of the fires going on, it isn't like you can just reach out and get another 20 people that easy! We are having to mobilize the Army and others and train them to fight fire because there just isn't enough people out there. So yet again, folks who choose not to get vaccinated are causing hell of consequences when they get it and then impact just how many people and their homes, their livlihoods, and even their lives.

So again, I fully support a person's right to choose whether to get the vaccine. But if they choose not too, then they should have to accept the consequences, which may mean not being able to attend public schools, hold important positions where they have to interact with others, may not be able to fly or attend public events. For their choice certainly does impact others and put them at risk and does NOTHING to help us get past the pandemic and move on in a productive lifestyle again. It is only prolinging the process and hurting others as a result. What possible good comes from indifference and doing nothing in the midst of a disaster? Instead of being part of the solution, inaction becomes part of the problem. There are differing statistics out there, but the number of hospitalized patients with COVID are generally over 94% people who are unvaccinated.

So why Teddy then do you care about those who are unvaccinated as you are vaccinated? Doesn't this prove that most people who are unvaccinated are just harming themselves?

BULLSHIT! If upwards of 80 to 100% of ICUs are full because of COVID, then if I get bucked off my horse and break my neck, where in the hell am I going to get the critical care I need? What if I need an operation because of Cancer, but I can't get it scheduled because healthcare resources are maxed out. What if my child is injured in an accident and there is no available doctors or nurses to help him? This is all just health stuff! But beyond that, the EU just recommended cancelling non-essential travel from U.S. to European nations due to the level of COVID in our country. Just how do you think that affects our economy?

Wake up folks! This isn't about politics, religion, culture or any of that stuff. Stop making it into something it is not. There is a simple solution out there and it isn't that difficult. Hell, you can get it for free! STOP THE NONSENSE!

Sorry for the rant. I am usually a very docile teddy bear who gives hugs and tries to make everyone feel better, as that is what Teddy Bears are about and we do. But I can't sit here and see people I know suffer and literally die because of the indifference of folks making this a political or other statement. It is just foolishness! There is a solution and a cure. But it cannot happen unless people stop the being so divided. We need to unite against this problem and solve it. And the solution is staring us in the face.

I apologize if I have offended folks, but I do not stray from my statements.

In my opinion, if you choose not to get vaccinated, then you are part of the ongoing problem, not the cure. Tell me how what you are doing by not get vaccinated is helping in any way to stop the pain, suffering, and harm of so many people? The proof is out there. It isn't a fantasy, religion, political view, or anything of the like. The COVID vaccines are saving lives and are key to getting past this pandemic and moving on in a productive manner. Those who choose not to accept this reality are living a pipe dream. They are not contributing in any productive manner to solving the terrible issue at hand. (If you disagree, can you share how the inaction is helping stop the spread of the disease? I welcome your comments, as I just don't get it)

Instead, inaction continues to contribute to ongoing illness caused by the disease, ongoing recession and inflation, and ultimately a poorer quality of life for everyone. Is that the goal?

 

[TeddyBearCowboy]

The federal government of the United States has been taking more and more rights away from the states and their citizens every since the early ’60s. You will wake up one day and know exactly what it’s like to live in a communist country if we continue on this way. The federal government has no constitutional authority over anything that’s not enumerated and designated to it in the Constitution, but the states have been folding like cheap suits as the feds take what should be the state’s authority. If you don’t feel your constitutional rights disappearing you’re either unaware of your situation, not old enough to remember what freedom was truly like, or you’re willing submitting to groupthink and having the government run your life. It’s a real shame that they don’t teach Civics in schools anymore or you’d be far more aware of our government’s unconstitutional power grab.

Zeke, I have to disagree. I don't want to cause offense, as I know this is a heated topic, but I can't just stand by and not share some very strong thoughts I have on this.

Right now I would argue that those who fail to acknowledge the huge death toll, ongoing health issues, and economic downturn because of COVID are much more infringing upon my rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as any sort of Federal power grab. The whole COVID situation has turned into a political mockery of science and reality. This isn't about the U.S. constitution, this isn't about democrat or republican, this isn't about government at all. It is about a GLOBAL pandemic reaching almost every nation and certainly every continent. Why are folks making this into something it is not?!!

Vaccines are real. I use them every year on my livestock and without them, I likely would not be in business. My grandfather who had polio and was crippled all of his life would have certainly wished he had gotten the polio vaccine before he contracted it as a child. I have to wonder if a co-worker who just died (three days mind you after getting serious symptoms) would have wished he got the COVID vaccine a few months ago rather than be planted in the ground right now. My friend who used to run marathons and now has continuing lung issues after getting COVID more than a year ago (before the vaccine was available) would likewise undoubtedly say he wishes he could have had the vaccine before getting it.

If someone thinks this is all just some government conspiracy, then brother, I would think they would have to be either are an isolationist who just doesn't know many other people who have been directly impacted by the disease, or have blinders on that they just can't see what is going on around them. We started on the path of getting past this, as people were getting vaccinated and wearing masks, and the spread was greatly reduced. But all to many people did not get the vaccine and when things opened back up for regular commerce, well, the disease has again spread and despite many being vaccinated, we are back in the throws of having our healthcare system overwhelmed.

If someone was the nurse that is having to work day in and out and overtime and continually see people dying and suffering and their families, I wonder if they would still be so nonchalant in their comments? It is easy if one hasn't experienced something to deny its existence or the effect it has upon others who have.

This isn't about Federal government over-reach my friend. It is about helping each other through a terrible ongoing pandemic that would be equal or greater to the 1918 pandemic if we didn't have the healthcare we have now. We certainly didn't have ventilators and the ICU care that we have in 1918. In another post, you made reference that this isn't as bad as in 1918, well, can I ask why is that, do you think? Do we not have drugs and technology and doctors and hospitals and facilities that were non-existent back then? But yet those same saving resources are the same idealology and science that created the vaccines that are now saving so many lives. Why do you want to politicize this? What gain is there by doing so?

Yes, I agree, the Federal government has more overreach than it should, but to take this as a conspiracy theory and place it in the realm of saving lives and helping people is just non-sense. There are more people who have died of COVID in the U.S. than in all of the wars of our nation has ever experienced. That is an irrefutable statistic! To try to poo poo the number of people who have died from COVID as being a non-pandemic is like saying the earth is flat, ignoring every bit of science and evidence that proves we are a globe, not a piece of paper. And shame on anyone who downplays the loss of life and how it has affected families and others who have lost someone they loved. Shame on folks for downplaying the significance of the pain and sorrow that has hurt so many. There have been over 656,000 people who have died of COVID in the U.S. SHAME ON WHOEVER DOWNPLAYS THIS STATISTIC!!! If you are the wife, husband, son, daughter, father, mother, sister, or brother of these folks, do you think that COVID-19 is significant? Would you wish your loved one could have had a vaccine or cure that kept them alive where you could still be with them?

4.5 million people have died from COVID-19 in less than a year and a half.

Yet folks think it is a conspiracy theory and an infringement of their rights to require vaccinations to be in certain public settings. While I agree that you shouldn't be forced to be vaccinated, I have to agree that if you choose not to, then you forfeit being able to do certain other things, as it has been more than PROVEN that unvaccinated individuals are the ones passing on this disease to others and causing the continued healthcare crisis, economic regression, and stifling being able to move on to a healthy and productive pursuit of life, liberty and happiness associated with the American dream and way of life.

I'm sorry, but there is ZERO evidence that not getting vaccinated is doing anything to help us get past the pandemic, but every evidence that getting vaccinated is reducing cases of COVID and would otherwise put us on the track of recovery if enough people do so. If 94% of patients hospitalized with COVID right now are unvaccinated, does that not give you a pretty good idea that the vaccines are working and if the patients in the hospitals right now with COVID had been vaccinated, then there wouldn't be very many at all in there?????

HMMM.... I am no Einstein, but if only 6% of the 94% that are hospitalized would have gotten the disease in a manner requiring hospitalization had they been vaccinated, then that would leave around 5% of the total hospitalizations out there... And even less considering that it had fewer paths to spread, bringing this down to likely less than 1% of current cases if everyone was vaccinated. Hmm... maybe life could return to normal and we could go again about our business of trying to control government overreach?

Why then is this some damn conspiracy and government overreach? Seems folks have outsmarted themselves into believing there has to be witchcraft and conspiracy at hand. In my Teddy Bear view, it just makes sense to get vaccinated! Those who refuse to do so, are not just harming themselves, but others as they prolong any recovery.

 

[HomeAlone]

I am pretty certain that others have already responded, but it is late and I don't have time to go through all of the other posts. The bottom line is that the vaccines are pretty darn good at keeping people from getting it, or from being hospitalized with it, but they aren't 100 percent effective either. Hence, some folks who get vaccinated will still get the disease and some of them may even die from it, despite their efforts to keep from doing so. If a vaccine is 90% effective, that means 1 in 10 people still can get the disease.

If you read my post, you will see that my brother who was vaccinated got very sick with COVID and was bedridden for a week. All because there remains too high of a percentage of people who haven't gotten the vaccine and hence will easily get it. They then loiter around schools, grocery stores, markets, and everywhere, placing COVID around either while not yet feeling the results of it, or having a mild case, or even folks who are really sick and still go out because they don't give a shit if they give it to someone else and that the someone else may die.t

I am a real life cowboy and I vaccinate all of my herd against all sorts of diseases. I don't just vaccinate some of the cattle, but all them. The vaccines for these diseases aren't 100% either, but they have a high efficacy rate. As such, the chances of the livestock getting one of the diseases and spreading it is quite low.

Let's take an example of having a neighbor's bull break through the fence and start roaming around all of the cows as he has certain things on his mind. Say this bull was not vaccinated for BRSV (bovine respiratory syncytial virus) and has the disease. However, I had vaccinated all of my cows aginst this. Well, he is likely only going to be closely around a small number of cows that are in heat, and as such there is a limited population he will expose the disease to. If the vaccine is say 80% effective, then 2 in 10 might still be at risk of getting it. But if there were only 20 head in heat that he was close to out of a 100 head, then maybe 4 of them could potentially catch it. They may or may not get it, but that is 4 out of 100. Simple math, right?

But, if only half had the vaccine, then there would actually be 10 unvaccinated cows plus another 2 head that could get it. That would be 12 out of 100 that may or may not get it. The odds just increased exponentially. And if even a couple of them get it, then these cows are roaming around the other cows for a longer time, and potentially exposing most of them. This would be the total 50 head of unvaccinated cows plus the 10 head of vaccinated cows that didn't have a full response to the vaccine. Now you have 60 head of 100 that could potentially get it, and the odds of it spreading keeps increasing.

Does that make sense to you? In other words, a person's decision not to be vaccinated can be likened the same. Unless we have sufficient people who accept the reality of the need for being vaccinated, then COVID will continue to spread, our ICUs will be filled to capacity (as is the case in many places again today), the economy will be in the toilet, we will not be allowed to travel to other countries, inflation will rise, and we will not be able to enjoy the many things that we used to, all because folks are not willing to accept the actual cure.

Whether you are a religious person or not, perhaps you have heard of the story of the children of Isreal in the wilderness who were afflicted with serpents (snakes) that were somehow abundant where they were at for a period of time. The serpents were very poisonous and when people were bitten, they were likely to die. Well, again, accept it if you have these beliefs, or simply use it as an analogy of folklore. But in this story, God told Moses to make an image of the serpent and put it on a pole, and that if people would look upon the pole when they were bitten, they would live. Pretty simple task, wouldn't you think? Those that did this, lived. But many couldn't accept such a simple cure as they did not understand how this would help or believe in it. And as such, even though they had the opportunity to look upon it and be healed from the snakes venom, they would not, and they died. This is the roots of why physicians have the serpent (snake) on the pole as their emblem of their profession of healing. Again, I don't expect you to believe this, but I wanted to point out this story.

How similar is this of today? We have a simple cure. A vaccine.

We have had vaccines for how long now? They have been proven to work for many, many diseases. But they only work if people get them. It is simple. Not quite as simple as looking at the symbol of the serpent on the staff as in the days of Moses, but pretty much the same. Why is there such opposition to doing this? Is it not the same ideaolgy that those in Moses' day had for not looking on the staff? They didn't believe it could work. They thought it was hocus pocus or some such thing and simply refused it, as they thought it was against their morals, culture, or belief system? Hmmm.... sounds damn familiar.

But ironically, people who are unvaccinated and get so sick as to be hospitalized then tend to look to that serpent on the staff (called doctors, scientists, and physicians) to help them. They again are overwhelming healthcare workers and putting them at risk of getting the disease themselves. My cousin is a nurse and got COVID despite being vaccinated too. While she had minor symptoms, she still got it. And I have to wonder who else maybe got it, including potentially other non-covid patients until she had symptoms and was tested. This all happened because folks who are too stuborn to get the vaccine. Yet ironically the don't believe in the call to be vaccinated from the same scientists and doctors they later call upon as they no longer can breathe and still deny that they are dying because of COVID. But I digress.

Yes, as I said before, everyone has the right to choose or not choose to get vaccinated. But they cannot hide from the consequences of their actions, not ignore the consequences they place on others. When you choose to drink and drive, you make the choice for not only yourself, but also others who you might maim or kill as a result of a crash while intoxicated. Choosing not to be vaccinated when there is no medical reason not to be and you simply have your head in the sand as to what is actually going on, is the same as someone denying the effects of driving under the influence.

In my earlier post, I told about the helicopter mechanic who grounded the whole crew and put the helicopter out of service for mulitiple days because he refused to be vaccinated, got covid and the whole crew had to be quarantined until testing proved they didn't have it. I just came from another major wildfire where unvaccinated members on a 20 person crew got covid and the entire crew was sent home in order to keep it from spreading. 20 people! Do you know how important they were for helping to fight the fires there? Right now because of all of the fires going on, it isn't like you can just reach out and get another 20 people that easy! We are having to mobilize the Army and others and train them to fight fire because there just isn't enough people out there. So yet again, folks who choose not to get vaccinated are causing hell of consequences when they get it and then impact just how many people and their homes, their livlihoods, and even their lives.

So again, I fully support a person's right to choose whether to get the vaccine. But if they choose not too, then they should have to accept the consequences, which may mean not being able to attend public schools, hold important positions where they have to interact with others, may not be able to fly or attend public events. For their choice certainly does impact others and put them at risk and does NOTHING to help us get past the pandemic and move on in a productive lifestyle again. It is only prolinging the process and hurting others as a result. What possible good comes from indifference and doing nothing in the midst of a disaster? Instead of being part of the solution, inaction becomes part of the problem. There are differing statistics out there, but the number of hospitalized patients with COVID are generally over 94% people who are unvaccinated.

So why Teddy then do you care about those who are unvaccinated as you are vaccinated? Doesn't this prove that most people who are unvaccinated are just harming themselves?

BULLSHIT! If upwards of 80 to 100% of ICUs are full because of COVID, then if I get bucked off my horse and break my neck, where in the hell am I going to get the critical care I need? What if I need an operation because of Cancer, but I can't get it scheduled because healthcare resources are maxed out. What if my child is injured in an accident and there is no available doctors or nurses to help him? This is all just health stuff! But beyond that, the EU just recommended cancelling non-essential travel from U.S. to European nations due to the level of COVID in our country. Just how do you think that affects our economy?

Wake up folks! This isn't about politics, religion, culture or any of that stuff. Stop making it into something it is not. There is a simple solution out there and it isn't that difficult. Hell, you can get it for free! STOP THE NONSENSE!

Sorry for the rant. I am usually a very docile teddy bear who gives hugs and tries to make everyone feel better, as that is what Teddy Bears are about and we do. But I can't sit here and see people I know suffer and literally die because of the indifference of folks making this a political or other statement. It is just foolishness! There is a solution and a cure. But it cannot happen unless people stop the being so divided. We need to unite against this problem and solve it. And the solution is staring us in the face.

I apologize if I have offended folks, but I do not stray from my statements.

In my opinion, if you choose not to get vaccinated, then you are part of the ongoing problem, not the cure. Tell me how what you are doing by not get vaccinated is helping in any way to stop the pain, suffering, and harm of so many people? The proof is out there. It isn't a fantasy, religion, political view, or anything of the like. The COVID vaccines are saving lives and are key to getting past this pandemic and moving on in a productive manner. Those who choose not to accept this reality are living a pipe dream. They are not contributing in any productive manner to solving the terrible issue at hand. (If you disagree, can you share how the inaction is helping stop the spread of the disease? I welcome your comments, as I just don't get it)

Instead, inaction continues to contribute to ongoing illness caused by the disease, ongoing recession and inflation, and ultimately a poorer quality of life for everyone. Is that the goal?

In Austin, my friend's uncle died of complications from his gall bladder because there was no where his family could find a hospital with room to treat him. He died of a relatively benign condition and it was totally treatable. But there are no ICU beds and no staff in Travis county for anything but COVID patients right now. 93% of whom are unvaxxed. The vaxxed patients? Overwhelmingly nursing home patients who got exposed by their unvaxxed staff. Not getting vaccinated kills people. That is a 100% true statement and if you aren't vaxxed, you are killing people.