Here
and
Now

opinions

Why refusing the COVID-19 vaccine isn't just immoral – it's 'un-American'

23 Comments
By Christopher Beem

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© The Conversation

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

23 Comments
Login to comment

I think it is Un American to call someone Un American because they don’t follow your selfish beliefs. Americans have many nails sticking up and they should not all be pounded down to conform to what one person believes. America is not Japan.

I am totally pro science and vaccines by the way.

1 ( +11 / -10 )

I don't understand the meaning some people assign to the word "selfish." Being selfish is not doing something for yourself. It is asking others to do something for you. In this sense, it is selfish to push something like a vaccine on to others for your own benefit.

That being said, I, too, am totally pro science and vaccines. I get my second shot this Saturday. Can't wait for it.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

How about some real articles from real doctors, nurses working in hospitals and private practice etc. How about the evidence from the experts in Viruses, ex scientists from drug companies and evidence from people like ex CEO and chief scientist of Phizer. How about testimonies from the vaccine injured from around the world. All we get all the time are articles everywhere on how great the vaccine science is and how selfish it is of those people who don't want the jab at any cost.

How about the fact that these vaccines are in violation of the Nuremberg codes. --------------------------------

The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the

1 ( +8 / -7 )

What about those who cannot get it due to medical reasons? Are they "un-American"

What about those who have been tested with antibodies and don't need it? Are they "un-American"

It boils down to this, if you go against democrats opinions or ideology, you are racist, sexist, un=American, etc.

-3 ( +10 / -13 )

Confused. “Un-American”, when used by those who tend to see it as a bad thing,is usually a synonym for “intelligent”.

Not so here….

2 ( +6 / -4 )

The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the

When I was age six or so and getting my first polio vaccine that was pink colored on a sugar cube, I forgot to ask about my Geneva rights. Am I to blame?

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

There are many documented instances of vaccines contaminated with mercury and other toxins.

Pharmaceuticals companies exist to make as large a profit as possible, and have been legally granted immunity from any liability caused by their products.

Covid vaccines have been rushed to the market, bypassing standard testing done for previous vaccines and other drugs.

Calling the vaccine hesitant "unAmerican" is a deplorable propaganda tactic .

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

This writer does not understand what Consent means.

The FRIES acronym is helpful:

Nothing in the article infringe on anything of the acronym, maybe if you familiarize yourself better with it you would understand how the article is not against any of those concepts.

I think it is Un American to call someone Un American because they don’t follow your selfish beliefs.

How meta, specially if you replace "think" for "believe".

How about some real articles from real doctors, nurses working in hospitals and private practice etc. How about the evidence from the experts in Viruses, ex scientists from drug companies and evidence from people like ex CEO and chief scientist of Phizer. 

Yeah, how about that evidence, all the list you present are of people that present exactly zero evidence to prove their points, which means their personal opinions can be safely discarded as not scientific.

How about the fact that these vaccines are in violation of the Nuremberg codes. 

That is easy, they are not, first because they are not being applied on a situation of war (for which the Nuremberg codes specifically apply) and second because people are being vaccinated for the therapeutic value of the vaccine, not to be enrolled in any study. If you want to talk about ethics of medical treatment you should at least try to get the real references that apply to vaccines.

What about those who cannot get it due to medical reasons? Are they "un-American"

People with medical exceptions are obviously not "Refusing" the vaccines as written in the headline. They can't safely receive them which is a completely different thing.

What about those who have been tested with antibodies and don't need it? Are they "un-American"

Being infected is not the same as not needing the vaccine, but yeah sure, if someone chooses to have regular antibody tests to document they are at a level of protection equivalent to vaccination that can be one option, just too expensive and impractical for most people to actually consider (specially because antibody levels can drop quickly, making them lose their status).

There are many documented instances of vaccines contaminated with mercury and other toxins.

None of the COVID vaccines are. There are many documented instances of people opposing vaccines for personal profit, does that means opposing vaccines always means you are running a scam?

The vaccines have not been rushed, they have been on development for over 10 years, and tested over 6 months, the same as previous vaccines that have full approval. No bypassing was done, this is just disinformation.

4 ( +9 / -5 )

Oh boy, what exactly does it mean to be "un-american" today? That's just if anyone on any subject could be less polarizing than they were just yesterday.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

There are many documented instances of vaccines contaminated with mercury and other toxins.

Food poisoning is a well documented phenomenon. Therefore, we should stop selling food.

Strong argument. Let's all starve.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Unless i have already had Covid. Thank goodness they havent started asking about my other disease status

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I had COVID, thirteen months ago. It was freakishly awful, the worst flu I've ever had. But I didn't need hospitalization. I've had my two vaccinations, the last one a month ago. No reactions, just a bit of a sore shoulder muscle where I got the jabs, but that soreness disappeared within 24 hours. I'll stick with the science on this one. And I'm about as un-American as any other Canadian. That means 'not much'. Most Americans I've met are very nice people.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

> I think it is Un American to call someone Un American because they don’t follow your selfish beliefs. Americans have many nails sticking up and they should not all be pounded down to conform to what one person believes. America is not Japan.

I am totally pro science and vaccines by the way.

100% spot on. I couldn’t agree more.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Why take something unproven? Why trust it just because the government says its safe, but the bodies that the government regulate hasn't approved it. Why not do the same for all medical research release it with out the FDA approval. Why does this vaccine get the go ahead and others don't. The main reason why most AMERICANS don't want to trust the vaccine is what the government has done in the past that they will not own up to and that is the lies behind some of these vaccines. The military, mental institution, babies, and prisoners are the most trial experimental victims of the government. Research or Google the Tuskegee experiment and you will see why most African American or Americans don't trust vaccines!!! Any time your own government inject you with syphilis and try to hide it is enough to say NO!! That should make you be American expressing a so call RIGHT!!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Interesting.

So to begin with the US was founded on the idea of people were individualistic and selfish but were able to go past it for the collectivities, to band together as a group in time of need because they are not only individual but part of a group. Thus the current antivaccine and, for several, also anti preventive measure is unamerican by the idea in which it was created long ago.

So now the question is :

Is the author postulate of what was originally to be american wrong to begin with ? Or, did the american identity evolve and in that case what is to be american now ?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

America used to be the Land of Freedom of choice - slowly over time its changed, you have the right to choose - but only if you have the money to do so, otherwise you have to do as you're told.

No Abortion

Forced Vaccinations

etc.

etc.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Regarding THIS story and an author claiming to be a sociologist, opining on a disease by discussing only the opinions of ignorant and poorly educated people can hardly be taken seriously. Americans (for example) have been lied to by their Authorities all of their their lives and in their hearts they KNOW it. It is not the 'science' they distrust because they do not know any of it to 'distrust'. They cannot trust the VOICES, such as this wormtongued author, who push whatever AUTHORITY profits from, and have been burned numerous times and are VULNERABLE to other poisonous voices who encourage these doubts and disbeliefs to achieve their own ends which, in America, is to spread chaos and disunity for their own benefit. These confused people will give many 'reasons' for their disbelief as do so many who feel the need to 'appear' rational but the foundation of their disbelief is EXPERIENCE with the voices of their 'Authorities.'

Here, this author cites the MMR vaccine. The stunning media blowup that Big Pharma instigated against an innocent, but observant, physician in England who only suggested that perhaps the MMR should be further investigated because of the numbers of such correlations with subsequent Autism he was seeing in his own practice and was immediately branded a WITCH by Corporate voices who saw ONLY the massive liability and complete loss of credibility and, especially, the LOSS OF PROFIT they would suffer if such a claim were demonstrated to be true which, for the stunningly powerful hit to the infant child's nascent immune system of such a powerful combination of multiple antigens PLUS very powerful *adjuvent (learn this) could not be ruled out by ANY actual knowledge of the Human immune system we have today. So they went with WITCH HUNT, and their money bought huge media space with false claims of 'crazy people' and 'proof' and, generally, lies you will see if you choose to spend any time actually studying the biology. But, this huge MEDIA witch hunt ended abruptly when news of the massive and deadly vaccine FAILURE of a vaccine, Dengvaxia, in children in the Philippines was published in Scientific American (owned by Germans) in 2018 and, whew!, successfully suppressed from reaching the public. The lies echo on** in the self interest of people like this too self-loving author who works for and is paid by a Corporately sponsored political entity and exhorts us to TRUST our authorities and the crap they tell us. We've been there. We've done that. And look at the state of America today. And, now, of course, we will be witnessing the failure of COVID-19 vaccination with a simple mutant tweak called Delta and, perhaps Lambda, and who kows how much of the Greek alphabet we will see in our news as time goes on.

*The adjuvent used to shoot up American soldiers during the pathological "Gulf War" is the main, but of course 'disputed', suspect in the etiology of Gulf War Syndrome.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

No one denies that vaccination has been an almost miraculous development for Humanity but, very fortunately for us, old established viruses who have lived in Humans for ages such as Smallpox, Polio, do not have the hypervariability and proness to mutation that young respiratory and immunodeficiency and possibly hemorrhagic viruses seem to have.

It's good to see people blurting out their opinions sans any facts or historical evidence whatsoever. Freedom! Freedom to parrot factless hysterical political nonsense is STILL Freedom and one that poorly educated Americans will defend with their lives. Huzzah!

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

The stunning media blowup that Big Pharma instigated against an innocent, but observant, physician in England who only suggested that perhaps the MMR should be further investigated because of the numbers of such correlations with subsequent Autism he was seeing in his own practice and was immediately branded a WITCH by Corporate voices

Fantasy based scenarios are a very poor basis to criticize something, Wakefield was a crook with every requirement double checked, he conducted unethical human experimentation with children in order to manufacture fake evidence to discredit a rival vaccine so he could make better profits with his own, he was found out and the scientists and investigative reporters (not any "corporate voices") called on his immoral behavior.

His shameful legacy still lives on, giving excuses to antivaxxer groups to pretend vaccines are dangerous based on absolutely nothing, thousands of infections and deaths can be linked to his lies and anybody that actually have an interest on vaccines do know better than to believe he was just "innocently suggesting" anything.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136032/

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites